[ A smile changes the sound of the words that pass through it. He hears it, it takes him out of his own pain and not only for the glimmer of heartsick hope it sparks in him. It's the shimmer of pleasant, warm Thumos, a mere thread between them when he replies against the shell of her ear: ]
Wasn't aware we were still keeping score.
[ A calling back to more than six years ago.
Though, it's not entirely true. He's been keeping score ever since, the score was what prompted that vindicated smile when they encountered each other in Spain, the bitterness when they did in Andovale at the Trident, still high on their survival of the flood.
He's reminded, then, of the benefits of Thumos that often go unnoticed in such times of peace, the way it files off the sharpest corners of his pain, makes this into less of an exercise in sheer endurance. His left hand leaves the horn of the saddle, laying across the taut plane of her belly. Pushing his luck, certainly, counting on Ada to sharply tell him if he's crossed a line. ]
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Wasn't aware we were still keeping score.
[ A calling back to more than six years ago.
Though, it's not entirely true. He's been keeping score ever since, the score was what prompted that vindicated smile when they encountered each other in Spain, the bitterness when they did in Andovale at the Trident, still high on their survival of the flood.
He's reminded, then, of the benefits of Thumos that often go unnoticed in such times of peace, the way it files off the sharpest corners of his pain, makes this into less of an exercise in sheer endurance. His left hand leaves the horn of the saddle, laying across the taut plane of her belly. Pushing his luck, certainly, counting on Ada to sharply tell him if he's crossed a line. ]