DEDICATED HENRATURRA POST;

[vecna]

(( when the sun sets, we're both the same ))

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[vecna]

And that doesn’t change my point. Accept the compliment.

[velluminous]

[ rolls over, facing away ]

[vecna]

[she has not accepted the compliment]

Sprezzatura... What's really bothering you?

[velluminous]

Ohh. I don't know.

[vecna]

Is it- [Surely she must have an idea?] ...are you afraid of disappointing them?

[velluminous]

I don't know.

[ she can't with the prying. and it does feel like prying. a knot in her stomach... ]

[vecna]

[Hm. He is sorely tempted to sweep her mind with his own; it's always so much easier than trying to earn an answer from her when she's like this.

...


But instead, he sits up again and assesses the fort.]

Maybe if we use some of my books, instead.

[His collection since he's arrived in this world is not nearly as impressive as hers, but he has enough.]

[velluminous]

[ he is much, much more heartfelt than she is. he would drift in this direction, wouldn't he? yet she chafes against the idea of any books being used in this manor—even those which are not her own. ]

Henry... [ a lingering and heavy sigh. ] It will be fine. They will not be upset.

[vecna]

But it’ll make you feel better. Won’t it?

[velluminous]

I am not even having reason for feeling worse.

[vecna]

But you are. I don't even have to use my powers to know.

[velluminous]

[ :T!!! ]

Fine.

[vecna]

[You're his gf, he can read you pretty well by now, Sprezzatura!!

Well. He will work on rearranging the fort — mostly with his telekinesis, because it's so much easier that way. He has just enough books to begin replacing hers (setting them aside neatly in a stack) with his own, making the "pillars" of each corner of the fort until he can rearrange a few pillows and sheets.

If she wants to help, he suspects she will. If not? Then it's fine, he doesn't mind doing this himself. It reminds him of being young again, too, when he'd make similar things to hide away in.]

[velluminous]

[ he does it all by his lonesome; Sprezzatura laying quiet on the bed with her face tilted to watch. sometimes it is difficult to marry the man he seems to be with the man she knows he has been. ]

Always so good with children.

[vecna]

[The fort is taking shape again; he's actually made it a little wider, a little taller, than how it started.]

It's easier to know what they're thinking. The things they want are always pretty simple, I think.

[velluminous]

[ self-aware: ] Not like we grown fools.

[vecna]

Time makes everything more complicated.

[He pauses briefly to look at her, smiling but wan.]

Life wears us down. That’s just how it is, sometimes.

[velluminous]

[ with that, he hits her in the stomach. her mouth tastes sour all at once; she pinches her brows together and only notices it when she makes herself smooth her face out again. her exhale, while deep and meant to calm, trembles and jumps as she lets it out. ]

I wanted more than this. Henry.

[ there's the crux. ]

[vecna]

I know.

[This is not news to him. He knows her well at this point. Knows that she wants to be recognized, wants to tear open the folds of the universe to reveal the secrets within, and be respected for it. She wants to learn freely without the weight of a sullied reputation. She wants her parents to suffer greatly.]

I want you to have all those things. I want you to feel like you can use me in any way you need to achieve them. I’m completely yours.

[And surely dating a lich called Vecna is only ever an ace up the sleeve?]

[velluminous]

[ a face that can only be described as ;^;

she reaches across the bed for him. he is too far away to properly touch, and so her knuckles brush across the small of Henry's back and then linger there, touching him. ]

My Henry.

[vecna]

[That touch compels him to lean back, propped up on an elbow and twisting on his side just enough to look at her.]

My Sprezzatura, I really wish you would just use me to help you. I mean it, you know.

[He would do anything for her. Even bad things. But surely she knows that.]

[velluminous]

It has to be me, Henry. You know this.

[vecna]

It can still be you. I'm just a tool for you to use along the way.

[velluminous]

I will not do that.

[ she will not use him that way. she won't. ]

Enough in your life have already done. You get to be person now.

[vecna]

[Oh 🥺]

Part of the person I want to be, now… That includes being a part of yours. In every way that matters.