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[ He must be sleeping very deeply to have not stirred when she said his name. She can infer quite a bit from that. Nina frowns, shifts enough so that she can keep watching him, and does not try to wake him. ]

[ Sleeping deeply only when curled up with his trusted friends or not, Matthias is a Morning Person. He breathes in, and his eyes open, blinking to take her in, and that she's looking at him. ]

Nina.

[ He sits up, stretching out an arm to the side. Trass bumps the back of his palm. ]

Is it already past eight bells?

Probably not.

[ Except when absolutely necessary, time (and morning) is something that happens to Other People. Knowing this, Matthias may wish to take her assessment with a grain of salt.

She shifts and extends a hand down to him. ]

You could have woke me.

[ She's uniquely difficult to wake. It's hard to believe she is so dangerous, that she's even a soldier. To him Nina is more like a princess in her little castle. ]

I would have.

[ He takes her hand only lightly, to acknowledge she reached out for him. But stands up himself, stretching out all the stiffness from that position. It's been years since he had to curl up around Trassel, who is giving him a baleful look, like they should do this more often, be all together like this. ]

Are you hungry?

[ He's letting her go and being dodgy. He's wrong if he thinks that's going to work. The baleful look given him by Trassel is almost perfectly mirrored by Nina's expression. He slept under her hammock.

She glances around; there are too many people here to corner Matthias properly. She hates this part of where they are staying in particular. ]

Help me up? I think my foot's asleep.

[ She extends her hand to him again. ]

[ It takes him a moment (several) to decide what to be more offended by, the fact that she is doing her absurd theatrics, (like stumbling, in the snow, and luring him to kneel and look at her ankle for injury) or the fact that he is absolutely going to check her leg right now and help her up. ]

[ Nina's excuses are open doors. Grudgingly, he shoves it open with a metaphorical shoulder and glares at the welcome inside as though it is targeted and personal (it is, she doesn't offer this to just anyone). ]

Yes. Give it a moment.

[ He doesn't take her hand, choosing instead to stand near her such that it rests on his forearm, the rest of him almost brushing side by side. ]

[ Look, Nina's never slept in a hammock before, and the chances are very good that she could just fall out on her face... if her foot was, in fact, asleep, and she wasn't just oddly tense and Not Having him stonewall her. Good luck stonewalling her when she takes him up on his every invitation, using him as a foundation and support. She wraps her hand around his forearm and pays zero attention to how her skirt twists up in the process of hauling her legs out of the hammock and comes to stand a breath away from him. She does not let go of his arm, she looks up at him, and the look is a knock and a search light. ]

Walk with me?

[ So they can talk and be together and not be surrounded by other people if the time comes for her to do more than knock. ]

[ Of course he catches the flash of her ankle and the lower calf. That foot wasn't asleep, and she is holding onto him, as if he is the very foundation of her world, its unshakeable, unchanging root. ]

[ — and this is also a Plot. Togetherness brings things out in the open, she prods him, he talks. He doesn't know what they're going to talk about now — only that something is up, and Matthias isn't of a mind to walk into a trap. ]

To breakfast?

[ Nina would like to know how you are assessing whether or not her foot is asleep just by looking, and would doubtless invite you for a closer inspection and comparison just to further demonstrate your technique, if she knew judgement had been passed.

She hates the openness of this place, the many strung hammocks and the way it invites denial.

She lets go of him to run her hands through her hair; what a mess. She doesn't even have a comb to fix it. Either it.

Does he really think he can just show up beneath her hammock and have her not ask, not be worried? She doesn't bother hiding the flicker of distress at the corners of her lips, the way her eyes narrow before she turns away. She takes a deep breath. ]

I suppose we should get breakfast.

[ A hungry isenulf to feed and all. ]

[ Pressure on the foot, movement of a body. She's not the only one who knows some particulars. But if he wants to call her on it, the moment passes, and he doesn't, besides. ]

That would be wise.

[ — as if he debates, in this moment, whether he wants to choose wisdom. They have woken up out of eggs, hale and whole, if a little worn from travel, and they can be whatever they want to be except not quite, because he hasn't stopped being who he is and he won't leave his wolf behind. ]

[ But he can't turn away from Nina either. That's a worse choice, between uncomfortable and worse... ]

Let's go.

[ Sensing some of the tornado within her, Trassel moves to nose at her hand, flip his head beneath her hand so it rests about his ears, leans his body against her leg. Comfort. From an isenulf.

While his partner - his brother - pretends nothing is wrong at her as hard as he possibly can, as stoic as the blank face of a cliff.

"Be careful, Nina."

She doesn't turn back to him; her lips are pressed tightly together. ]

Let's.

[ She starts walking, not having anything that needs to be grabbed or packed. This is not the end; it is at most a reprieve. ]

[ He watches his wolf — his brother — betray his side for Nina's. Charmed by a drusje. It's still a joke. Matthias has no jealousy in this regard, feels nothing but relieved that his dearest friend in all the world has accepted Nina without a moment's hesitation. And even offers her his presence for comfort. ]

[ As they walk, ]

I thought it might be better to go to the gym first.

[ A little sheepishly. Exercise, bathe, and then eat, that's a good routine. He's just thinking aloud. ]

But I think we should eat.

Exercise right after waking? Torture, [ Nina responds lightly, her hand still resting on Trassel's head. This is her life right now. ] I wouldn't mind stopping first in the bathroom, though. There's not much I can do without a comb, but I would like to at least wash my face.

[ She's so hard to wake, and now she doesn't even want to exercise? This is no warrior's training, not to be instantly ready — he can't blame her for not feeling refreshed, he isn't, either. ]

All right.

[ They stop in front of the communal bathrooms and she lifts her hand from Trassel's head; he can't come in. She steps forward and then glances back at him. ]

Coming?

[ This is not an invitation to shower or anything more intimate; there will be sinks and other facilities and it's silly for him to have to wait for her. ]

Edited 2021-06-22 02:47 (UTC)

[ — he could wait, it's not an issue, he doesn't really enjoy being inside... ]

[ But he also does need to wash his face and flatten his hair a little. Matthias nods, once, briskly. To Trass, he issues a short command to wait. ]

[ She does not ambush him when he enters the bathroom. She doesn't even look at him, concentrating on doing what she can to get somewhat presentable. She does not ambush him when they leave the bathroom. She does not even ambush him as they start walking to breakfast.

No, she waits until they're very nearly there, and there is a likely crevice along the way. Then she puts both hands above her head and stretches. ]

Oh, I do not like sleeping in those hammocks.

[ How on earth is she a spy, she is the most obvious person in the world... ]

[ Matthias gives her a bit of a Look, but cannot help just the quick follow-up look of appreciation. Ugh. ]

They are not ideal, [ he says, agreeably. ] I would prefer to sleep on the ground.

[ She cuts an assessing glance his way. ]

You should have woken me up. I'd have joined you.

[ Since you did sleep on the ground. Under her hammock.

She's not going to be tricky about this. She's not going to lead him down a merry path and pick up what he feels in his heartbeat. Instead, this is his last chance to tell her before she asks him. ]

[ He sighs, his shoulders moving with it. ]

I just did it without thinking.

[ — is the soft confession. The dreams had woken him, and he'd sought out the nearest comforting thing. Like a cold night, shored up against the biting wind, him and Trass. And knowing they both slept under Nina's hammock, keeping her safe. ]

Maybe next time I will wake you, but it is unlikely.

[ He would balk at the comfort she would offer him, it would just be annoying. ]

[ --it is unlikely. It's a cold slap, and she doesn't stop to consider why that might be. She just stops walking and turns to look at him. ]

Oh? And why is that?

[ And returned in kind by the way she looks at him. Matthias blinks. ]

I... didn't want to disturb you.

[ And for what? To open the door to an old wound, strip for her in a way he has never done for anyone, to show the root of those dreams? No thanks. ]

[ Nina blinks, absorbs that, acknowledges it as valid, and presses in anyway, reaching for his arm with all her bravery. ]

You can disturb me, though. I rather think that's the point.

[ Isn't it? Of being... what they are to each other? Isn't being able to disturb each other (or not) the point? Are they still... even after yesterday? ]

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