Inbox

[sealeted]

ⒾⒹ: ℍAKUNON mailaudiovideoother

 

credit

Comments

[guerrilla]

[He stares straight at the wall as he responds, refusing to even so much as glance in her direction.]

...You're worth it.

[Blackmore himself had certainly thought so, at least. Robin, as harsh as it seems to say, isn't entirely convinced yet.

But he knows that even if she isn't now, she's working toward it. She'll be working to feel like she's worth that many lives for as long as she's breathing. He doesn't know if she'll get there - he knows he never would - but striving to be worth the sacrifices of other people is admirable in itself.]

If you weren't, I'd have killed you the second I saw you here.

[In defeating Blackmore, she'd given him some sort of salvation, and while it's a sad excuse for a consolation prize, at least he was given one at all.]

[sealeted]

That might be one of the nicest things that you've ever said to me.

[It may or may not be a stab at levity.

Her voice, the fingers on his skin, the slow breath she blows out, they're all trembling too much to make it seem like a joke. And, as ever, she's utterly sincere.]

[guerrilla]

[It might be the nicest thing he's said to her, since most of the nice things he says to her are only nice after the surface sarcasm is removed.]

You deserve to hear it once in a while. And it's the least I can do to apologize for bringing up something that unpleasant.

[It didn't work out in his favor in any sense of the word, but she's still fought harder than he's ever seen anyone fight. She had to fight to live - to prove that she had the right to live in the first place.]

...That's what friends do, right?

[sealeted]

[Well, it's not like he would actually apologize for that, but in a way what he actually said meant far more than a simple 'sorry' ever could. The trembling subsides soon enough, and shortly after she shifts up on her knees, and braces against him. Just enough to angle forward and brush a kiss across his cheek, and then she settles back down.]

Thanks, Robin. You're a pretty great friend.

[And to prove it, she starts the massage back up again, this time working over both shoulders.]

[guerrilla]

No, I'm not.

[But he's trying.

He leans back into her touch, sighing quietly to himself.]

You're good at this.

[Or maybe not? He can't tell, since he's never had a massage before.]

[sealeted]

You are by my standards.

[For whatever that might be worth.]

Thanks. If it helps, I could do it more often; I could use the practice anyways for our anatomy coursework.

[guerrilla]

You just want an excuse to touch my arms.

[Though he can't say he'd be dismayed if that really were the reason.]

Just...no oils, okay? I don't want them sticking to the cloak or my uniform and making them smell funny.

[sealeted]

Yeah, I figured as much. Maybe I could find a scentless lotion...

[Or he could take a bath right after, but that might be stretching it. Also, she is very emphatically turning her thoughts away from him bathing right now.]

Also, if you think about it, I've barely even touched your arms so far.

[guerrilla]

You can't weasel your way out of this after giving 40 out of 100 points to them.

[Just because she hasn't doesn't mean she doesn't want to, or something.]

[sealeted]

I'm not weaseling out of anything! Arms and shoulders are different.

[...sort of.]

[guerrilla]

In that case, I suppose I should congratulate you for holding yourself back?

[He is never letting her live this down.]

[sealeted]

Honestly.

[She puffs up her cheeks in a pout, then petulantly blows out right on the nape of his neck.]

I'm not some pervert. I've made it months without assaulting you.

[guerrilla]

[A jolt goes down his spine at the feeling of her breath on the back of his neck, tensing up those muscles she'd so diligently relaxed for just a moment.]

You're not a pervert, but you take enough time out of your war routine to check out your enemies.

[The logic checks out.]

[sealeted]

...?

[She gets to work on all those new knots, making an uncertain noise.]

I don't take any extra time, though? I can recognize people as attractive and deadly at the same time.

[guerrilla]

[It takes a lot less effort to get him to relax again, though on his end, it's a little more distracting than it used to be.]

So can I, but I don't break it down into numbers.

[sealeted]

Wha...

[She gives him a slight shove. It barely moves him half an inch.]

You asked me to figure out the rankings! I didn't just... have them waiting.

[guerrilla]

Yes you did! You just threw twenty percent out there from nowhere!

[Can it be? Will Robin finally Win??? (Probably not.)]

[sealeted]

Well, yeah, but only for you!

[Hakuno, that sounds...]

I live with you. I see you just about everyday.

[guerrilla]

I see you every day too, and it has never once occurred to me to break down your charm points into percentages.

[Charm points, plural, which means he's at least gotten as far as finding them.]

[sealeted]

We were bantering. I literally had no numbers before today.

[These are all rough, off-the-cuff estimates. Why is he taking it so personally...]

[guerrilla]

[Why, indeed?]

So you adjusted numbers that didn't exist before today to account for my eye.

[That could be why. It's not, but it's the only thing he's giving her to go on.]

[sealeted]

Look. There were. Nebulous rankings about your attractiveness, maybe.

[How dare he make her say this with her own mouth.]

But I don't have some graph somewhere dedicated to it, or anything.

[guerrilla]

[This is it, he decides to himself. Robin: 1, Hakuno: however many rounds of banter they've been in, except for this one.]

That's fine. As long as you've got one in your head somewhere I win this time.

[The real question now becomes: Are you just gonna sit there and take that, Hakuno?]

[sealeted]

You know what? Fine. Tease me for it if you want. It's fine.

[Is it really, though?]

But, in return, you have to tell me my rankings, even if you only think them up right now.

[guerrilla]

I don't see why I have to bother making them up in the first place, especially since you're just going to find some way to turn them against me later.

[Or immediately, depending on how wrathful she's feeling at the moment.]