reverie overflow.

[retroductions]

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some threads may be nsfw!!

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[retroductions]

[Her drifting gaze is indicative of so much; as it often is with anyone. Was someone not so kind about the end of the game?

...Perhaps it is not worth talking about it now, with her mind so overwrought.]

Sit, please.

[He guides her to sit at the edge of the bed.]

Do you ache anywhere?

[velluminous]

[ oh no. he's getting pulled down with her ]

I did not fall eight, nine storeys.

[retroductions]

[Whoop, and down he goes with a knee pressed into the bed, which means he is somewhat precariously hovering over her, looking down.]

But I am healed. Did you tend to yourself in the same manner, I wonder?

[He doesn’t have to wonder. He can guess by how she moves, at times, that she must still feel sore in places.]

[velluminous]

[ her voice is haggard, but she manages to roll her eyes ]

Oh, my god, Herlock. Do you think clerics run around casting Healing Words on everyone with paper cut?

[retroductions]

[Brow quirking.]

I do not think a paper cut is what I was referring to. Shall I deduce, from your body language, where you may be feeling sore?

[velluminous]

[ ...straightens out painfully, poised and prim. a challenge, is it? ]

Go ahead.

[retroductions]

[Hmm.]

Let's see.

[He assumes she doesn't not mind his touch, at least if he's gentle, and so both hands start at her hips, trailing up with flat palms, applying very little pressure. His eyes are fixed on her the whole while as those hands move higher along her sides, head tilted down, to see if her expression gives anything away -- even a microexpression.]

[velluminous]

[ her ribs: the corners of her mouth tighten, she pulls in a thready breath without meaning to. it hurts just to breathe. ]

[retroductions]

[To Sholmes, her reaction might as well be a neon sign, saying "cracked ribs here".]

Breathe in deeply.

[To verify.]

[velluminous]

[ s-shallow inhale; she sets her jaw and shakes her head minutely ]

I can't.

[retroductions]

[Tsks his tongue.]

Of course you can’t, because one or more of your ribs are cracked. Truly ridiculous, Sprezzatura, that you would compare such a thing to a paper cut.

[Don’t mind him as he shifts his hips a little just so he can reach into his back pocket and pull out a Lovers card. Guess who bought an extra?]

Let me heal you now; then I might touch you without worrying I’m only causing you excess pain.

[velluminous]

[ how could you dare to use sex as a bribe like this.

wan, lips pressed tight together. she flicks the card from between his fingers—and it goes up in flame, wisping away to nothing. Sprezzatura immediately sags in relief. ]

Aytch...

[retroductions]

[How else would he get you to agree.

Now, then. Hand in the same spot, he presses gently again.]

And now?

[velluminous]

[ it just feels like pressure. ]

Perfect bill of health.

[retroductions]

[Good. He smiles, his fussing hereby receding. Sholmes' hand remains where it is as he leans in.]

As it should be. See, that was not so difficult.

[Gives her a kiss; it's almost a thank you for letting him heal her.]

Now we might do whatever we please.

[velluminous]

[ she gets the distinct impression that she was, in fact, bribed. like this, though, you can almost pretend neither of them just had to play that awful elevator game, and no one died. no one's blood is on her hands. you can almost pretend. ]

What would please you, detective?

[retroductions]

[Is there not merit in taking comfort in others in the wake of something to terrible? Something to put distance between the memory of swaying up so high, of plummeting downwards so quickly.]

Firstly...

[An arm around her, bringing them both down to flop onto the mattress together, side by side.]

To lie these weary bones down. And after that, perhaps you'd let me touch you, in ways that I have not been able to in such a long while?

[velluminous]

[ it's nearly been a month, she realizes with a strange pang. is it right to call it a pang? ]

Oh, please.

[retroductions]

[Puts an arm across her first, brings her close.]

If you’d rather only rest…

[velluminous]

No, no.

[retroductions]

[He didn’t think so.]

Good.

[Now that her ribs won’t bother her, surely she won’t mind Sholmes moving his hand down lower to slip it beneath her top? His touch is warm; she feels warmer.]

[velluminous]

[ no, she won't. in fact, she quietly takes his wrist and urges his hand further beneath, skin on skin. both of us living. ]

[retroductions]

[Both of us living, both of us survived to tell the tale.

He smiles at her, softly. His hand smooths over the curves of her body, trailing up above her hip and the valley of her waist that follows after.]

It’s comforting, to feel you like this.

[velluminous]

[ quiet, eyes half-lidded. her hair spills around her ]

And you say you are not romantic.

[retroductions]

[His own blond, poofy hair is strewn as haphazardly as one might expect from Sholmes. His thumb strokes at her skin - calloused fingers.]

Hmm. Shall I tell you a secret?