he's such a prude though

[if_at_first]

Sylvi settles in very thoroughly. She makes a point of going out on her wooden horse and wandering the city every day or two, even if she has no specific errand to run (although she does also place orders for lenses and very fine-tipped pens and new notebooks). She hugs Avedan when he has bad dreams and he hugs her when she does, if they successfully wake one another despite the long pillow between them on the bed. And she plows through piles and piles of old notes, and condenses her childhood for inclusion in the same library for future 'bels.

As of this moment she is up to her specialization in shines. Write write write.

Comments

[if_at_first]

Sylvi is indeed showing all the signs of being someone who wants to kiss him. And of having married him three times now, albeit remembering only a fraction of the involved kissing.

[do_over]

Hurray! All of those are good things. As are kisses. Mmmmkisses.

[if_at_first]

Mmmmmmmmmmkisses.

Eventually:

"I would forgive the linguistic lapse if you claimed to need kisses."

[do_over]

"Technically," he corrects, "I don't need them. Just - want them. A lot."

[if_at_first]

"Ooh, a lot." She stands up so the angle's less awkward and kisses him again.

[do_over]

He makes a little sound in his throat, and happily goes back to kissing her. Turns out - practice from past lives is useful in this sort of situation.

[if_at_first]

It is! Aren't they lucky!

And a bit later on:

"Do you by any chance have a forecast for when you will want things that are not solely kisses?"

[do_over]

"I feel like the pillow has been silly for a long time now," snorts Avedan. "And. I'm - nnnot sure?"

[if_at_first]

"We can dispense with the pillow. And wait for you to be sure, elsewise."

[do_over]

"Okay." Kiss. "Thank you."

[if_at_first]

"I'm so magnanimous. No self-interest here, not me."

[do_over]

"Not even a little? Aw, I'm disappointed."

[if_at_first]

"I am one hundred percent unadulterated altrusim."

[do_over]

"Are you? That sounds dangerous, how do you fit it all in there?"

[if_at_first]

"Lots of surface area. Like Charp."

[do_over]

"I see. That makes sense."

[if_at_first]

"Of course. Kiss me some more."

[do_over]

"Gladly."

Then he does!

[if_at_first]

Mmmmmmmmmm.

And that night the long pillow is removed, and Sylvi cuddles up in her sleep.

[do_over]

Avedan cuddles her back. Snuggle, snuggle.



Then: there is a library.

[if_at_first]

Aly can't find the book she wants anywhere. The librarian says it hasn't been taken out, so where -?

Oh, there it is.

"Excuse me, do you need this?" she asks, tapping the stranger's copy of Advanced Topics in Autonomous Golem Engineering.

[do_over]

The stranger looks up at her. There are an awful lot of books surrounding him.

"No," he says. "Sorry, I neglected to put it back. This one's better," he motions to another book that is making up the book fort: Golems: An Expert Engineer's Guide, "that one's more theory instead of instruction."

[if_at_first]

"It's not bad theory, is it? My friend recommended it."

[do_over]

"It's not bad, just - not helpful if you would like to do the theories it mentions. It's excellent if you're looking to see if you want to get into golem creation before you actually do."

[if_at_first]

"Oh. I have a project in mind, just - well, are you using the better one right now?"