Intoxicated I Love You

"Well we wouldn't want that now, would we? I might end up uglier than I am," he joked. Iskra narrowed her eyes, studying his features for a moment as she tried to decide if he had actually sort of meant that. Deciding not to risk the possibility that he did and let it go unchecked, she moved to bump against him and try to give his ear a nip. "Impossible," she declared, "You, ugly? Unfathomable. Couldn't happen." Light as her tone was, the assertion was genuine and heartfelt. No matter how complicated their lives had gotten, she cared for him deeply. Even loved him, much as she didn't want to think she had any right to use that word after how much worry and pain he'd had to endure because of her, it was true.

It still made her chest tighten with that familiar crushing guilt when the awkward silence began to fill the seemingly endless void between them. Sometimes it still felt like they were sitting on opposite sites of a bottomless pit, unable to truly reach across to each other. Maybe that was just Iskra though... Maybe her conscience just didn't want to let her live without paying for her mistakes in full.

Dragon went on to ask how she was and Iskra, ensuring she was lightly touching his side, shrugged and huffed, "I was dreadfully bored before to be quite honest, not a whole lot going on here it seems. Winter might be the worst season. And you? What have you been up to?" Why was it so hard to just feel normal?