[ Hilda's not going to buy the entirely put upon tone of innocence in his voice for a second like he's wounded she's questioning it and Claude hides a grin against her neck because he knows it. That's not going to stop him from trying this out anyway like it's a viable way to escape her chiding, even if he's careful not to overstep whatever line it is which earned that chiding push. Mostly. Hilda's no exception to his desire to be difficult even if it's of a far softer variety now than what most people encounter from him on any given day.
There's also still the feeling ghosting along his skin of where her lips had touched - something he's also now realizing he can't quantify how long it's been since that's happened. Does he include the time only since they've been in Abraxas? Should it also encapsulate the time before back in Derdriu where the war's ended and all the horizons seem bright, and where he was no closer to knowing where the two of them stand. Or maybe, even more confusingly, it includes his time here and away from that which adds up - startingly - to a year. Or more like two which is even more troubling. It's so much time.
Too much, he thinks guiltily even while moving his mouth along the underside of her jaw as though that will make up for it without having to speak it aloud. It's all that time and distance he's been carrying with him unfairly, but how to resolve it is a question mark. The old doubts begin to creep in like unwelcome ghosts: it's not the first time one of them has had a far too close brush with death. That if that was all it would take to clarify things - then wouldn't it have happened any number of those times before? Claude can't pretend like he knows that answer for himself given he's also avoided it, but just as quickly decides as he has every time before that this can be enough. It's enough to have her here, and maybe that's more than he's ever deserved past or present.
With one hand still wound into her hair and fingers trailing down to cradle the back of her neck, Claude presses his lips to a spot beneath her ear in an mirroring of what she's done, humming as he does so like something's just occurred to him. ]
Maybe a better question I should be asking is if it's working.
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[ Hilda's not going to buy the entirely put upon tone of innocence in his voice for a second like he's wounded she's questioning it and Claude hides a grin against her neck because he knows it. That's not going to stop him from trying this out anyway like it's a viable way to escape her chiding, even if he's careful not to overstep whatever line it is which earned that chiding push. Mostly. Hilda's no exception to his desire to be difficult even if it's of a far softer variety now than what most people encounter from him on any given day.
There's also still the feeling ghosting along his skin of where her lips had touched - something he's also now realizing he can't quantify how long it's been since that's happened. Does he include the time only since they've been in Abraxas? Should it also encapsulate the time before back in Derdriu where the war's ended and all the horizons seem bright, and where he was no closer to knowing where the two of them stand. Or maybe, even more confusingly, it includes his time here and away from that which adds up - startingly - to a year. Or more like two which is even more troubling. It's so much time.
Too much, he thinks guiltily even while moving his mouth along the underside of her jaw as though that will make up for it without having to speak it aloud. It's all that time and distance he's been carrying with him unfairly, but how to resolve it is a question mark. The old doubts begin to creep in like unwelcome ghosts: it's not the first time one of them has had a far too close brush with death. That if that was all it would take to clarify things - then wouldn't it have happened any number of those times before? Claude can't pretend like he knows that answer for himself given he's also avoided it, but just as quickly decides as he has every time before that this can be enough. It's enough to have her here, and maybe that's more than he's ever deserved past or present.
With one hand still wound into her hair and fingers trailing down to cradle the back of her neck, Claude presses his lips to a spot beneath her ear in an mirroring of what she's done, humming as he does so like something's just occurred to him. ]
Maybe a better question I should be asking is if it's working.