[ Even without the exhale, her words do plenty to make the feeling behind them clear. Something he understands or mostly does from their past conversations in where it comes from, and something which he understands why she feels that way even if it's a mismatch to his own thoughts. But this is also a topic that requires more thought than simply responding to say as much; that'd be dismissing what she's trying to tell him as he looks at her and waits to meet her gaze when her eyes open. It can wait. ]
My parents.
[ The answer doesn't take longer than a second for him to find considering it's true. There's much about his parents he's considered lately while trying (and failing) to avoid the ache of homesickness very much there when there's only so much sporadic letters can do over the years. But most of all, Claude finds himself considering their relationship more and more with the sort of contemplation distance and no longer being a child brings about.
And more than that - it ties into this, too, when he can loop it back to what it probably seems he's let go of for now. ]
They aren't perfect, but I've always thought they were perfect together. My mother has a temper which earned her the nickname 'demon queen' and it can be turned on anyone at any time. My grandfather told me once she'd been headstrong since she was a kid. And my father, he's always been tough. He had to be since he grew up with the same competition for the throne I'll face someday and had to prove himself. They both taught me to solve things myself or more accurately, to lean on only myself.
[ While speaking Claude lets his hand on her back trail up and down it slowly, sketching a pattern here or there with a fingertip while setting out all of those memories. They must feel like non sequiturs for them as gods, but the more he's thought about it, the more he's pulled apart some of what he'd done, the more similarities he'd seen beneath the distortions and even more so in where they'd led. ]
They frustrate each other all the time and sometimes my father's divided attention makes it worse. But they also love each other like something out of a book, [ maybe one book in particular he's not going to mention, ] and it's something I've always wanted, too, even if I spent years being afraid of it and more so when I realized it was in front of me instead of doing what I should have years ago.
no subject
My parents.
[ The answer doesn't take longer than a second for him to find considering it's true. There's much about his parents he's considered lately while trying (and failing) to avoid the ache of homesickness very much there when there's only so much sporadic letters can do over the years. But most of all, Claude finds himself considering their relationship more and more with the sort of contemplation distance and no longer being a child brings about.
And more than that - it ties into this, too, when he can loop it back to what it probably seems he's let go of for now. ]
They aren't perfect, but I've always thought they were perfect together. My mother has a temper which earned her the nickname 'demon queen' and it can be turned on anyone at any time. My grandfather told me once she'd been headstrong since she was a kid. And my father, he's always been tough. He had to be since he grew up with the same competition for the throne I'll face someday and had to prove himself. They both taught me to solve things myself or more accurately, to lean on only myself.
[ While speaking Claude lets his hand on her back trail up and down it slowly, sketching a pattern here or there with a fingertip while setting out all of those memories. They must feel like non sequiturs for them as gods, but the more he's thought about it, the more he's pulled apart some of what he'd done, the more similarities he'd seen beneath the distortions and even more so in where they'd led. ]
They frustrate each other all the time and sometimes my father's divided attention makes it worse. But they also love each other like something out of a book, [ maybe one book in particular he's not going to mention, ] and it's something I've always wanted, too, even if I spent years being afraid of it and more so when I realized it was in front of me instead of doing what I should have years ago.