reverie overflow.

[retroductions]

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some threads may be nsfw!!

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[velluminous]

[ her expression is pinched, a little maudlin, a little self-pitying. it's the expression of someone who feels abruptly let down, that's right—or something close to feeling let down. ]

Higher society is all complicated webs, but... this place puts even it to shame. Everyone so entangled with one another.

[retroductions]

[In that case, her expression is very telling.]

Are you disappointed? No matter how tangled the web gets, more and more with each passing day, this does not change how I feel about you.

[velluminous]

[ can't even meet his eye. ]

I told you I'm selfish, Herlock. I can't stand to be "other woman".

[retroductions]

[Here, he frowns.]

Why do you think that label would be the first thing to apply? "Other". As though you would not be not held in equal regard.

[velluminous]

[ because not even her family held her there. she brings a hand up to her temple ]

I don't... That is just what it is called.

[retroductions]

No, that is the implication of someone who is...

[This is tricky, for a man like him. Who has never cared to ruminate on the complexities of relationships that formed all around him in his era, and the societal strings attached to nearly all of them. His brother would be laughing at him now, he's sure.

Waves a hand about.]

Not as important.

[velluminous]

[ well. she has literally no answer to that, so she doesn't say anything, just gazing quietly at her coffee cup and the strings hanging off them both. ]

[retroductions]

[...Sholmes reaches out, to place two fingers gently beneath her chin, urging so that she will look at him.]

That would never be the case.

[That she'd be less important.]

[velluminous]

[ well. he manages. ]

You cannot split yourself into. infinitely smaller pieces. You have to make something your priority.

[ she believes this because this is how it has always been for her ]

[retroductions]

“Infinitely smaller pieces?” It is but you and Mr Inui.

[To clarify.]

But surely you do not believe that. Amongst those that you have feelings for, do you feel as though only one is your priority?

[velluminous]

Yes! Oh, my god, why do you not understand? Whichever one is before me, that's—that's who—

[ he's so rational, so reasonable and calm, and it makes her feel truly wrong, twisted to one side, like maybe if she could just get it right again, then she wouldn't have to feel this way, but she can't, because it's broken off in a way she can't make it move, and everything that is easy for everyone else makes her feel like being slowly buried in sand.

this woman is starting to. cry. pure frustration, the sense of someone too used to her own competency, and trying so hard and it finally not being enough ]

[retroductions]

[Does she hear Henry telling her, “I told you so” in her head, at this point?

Sholmes, however, cannot view such a sight without his stomach dropping. He has seen her cry before, of course, but he had hoped to provide her comfort then — now, he is not certain he can, not when the distress is interlinked with him, or at least the circumstances which surround his relationship with her.

Difficult, difficult. And more than that, he just wishes he could find a single solution to this problem, like it were a case to solve; but the heart is so, so much more complex than solving a torrid murder, it would appear.]

Sprezzatura, in the end… The decision is yours to make. But I want you to be able to make it based on what you want, not what you are afraid of what might happen. My dear, I’ve already made you so overwrought, and I am sorry for it. Please don't cry.

[What can a detective glean? Would she be receptive to being held at a time like this?]

[velluminous]

[ it doesn't look like it; she's pulling her hands away from him so she can cover her eyes, turning clumsily on her barstool so her back is to him. very quiet crying, but crying nonetheless, and her stomach burns with it. what an utter disappointment she's being—not to Eunoia and Selcouth Vaux, but to herself. ]

I wish I knew why I became like this.

[retroductions]

[Then as much as it pains him, he does not make any attempt to touch her. Not for now.]

...Like what?

[velluminous]

Paralysed by choice. "Opportunity", it used to be.

[retroductions]

Is it not as I said? Fear. In making one choice, you fear of losing the other.

[Gently-] ...You needn't make any decisions today.

[velluminous]

I can't make decision today. [ wiping her eyes, she turns back to him, but only with reluctance ] Not when I can see what my words are doing.

[retroductions]

Sprezzatura, it will take more than your uncertainty in this one moment to change the color of my string. I am not so fickle when it comes to relationships that I truly care about.

[But, of course, she can have the time she needs.]

[velluminous]

Then... is it me?

[ she's the fickle one? ]

[retroductions]

[Oh, Sprezzatura. Now, Sholmes does chance a touch, but just a very light one on her arm.]

What? Fickle? No. If your regard changed as often as the direction of the wind, then would this affect you so? I think not.

[velluminous]

I feel like I am... whirring in place.

[retroductions]

Then let someone help ground you so that you do not feel as though you are running in place and making no headway for it. I am always at your disposal, you know.