duplicity inbox | un: prince

[rosebyanyother]

"Morrigan Prince. I'm afraid I'm too busy to answer at the moment, but leave a message and I promise to respond as soon as I'm able."

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[oinkoink]

[Peter has this easy way about him that...well, it doesn't make her feel more confident, but it does help her lose some of the tension that she's generally always carrying around with her. Sally cracks a bit of a smile at the tongue-in-cheek question, and she nods. With luck, traditional won't be up to Duplicity code.]

I'm ready if you are.

[The line's free at the moment, so with a breath and praying for normalcy, Sally steps up to the bell and waits, timing it so they'll reach out to ring it together.]

[rosebyanyother]

[And ring it together they do. Internally, at least, Peter braces himself a bit for any potential foolishness of Duplicity's variety.

That doesn't come, at least. He glances over at Sally and feels no particular urge. Nothing stirring between his legs. Thank god....

But just as he's preparing to be relieved, something else wells up. Not attraction, although the feeling does cause him to take a step or two closer to her, wanting suddenly to be near. No. Not attraction. Devotion, though. A desire to have her be happy with him. It feels less desperate than the way he wanted her to like him last month.

For now.]

What were your plans for the rest of the day? I could...assist you?

[Peter wants to help but more importantly he wants to be close by.]

[oinkoink]

[As far as she can tell, everything seems...normal. Except for the sudden, abrupt idea that Peter has better things to do, and she'd really rather hang out with him longer. But how does she even go about bringing that up? They don't really have a lot in common, after all. And she's so, so...]

Really? I mean, er...of course! I don't have plans, though. I never have plans. I mean, except when I'm working? But I'm not working, on account of the holiday. I don't have holiday plans. Outside of this, I mean.

[Why is she getting so worked up? It's not like she has a crush on him, or anything. That's what this kind of panic is usually reserved for. Sally just feels suddenly, almost desperately, like...well, it would be nice if he approved of her. She'd like him to know that she cares. And the deluge of insecurities pours out of her, an internal barrage of self-loathing.

Listen to you, Oink. Could you possibly be more pathetic? Bad enough that you look the way that you do, but at least you could make yourself sound less intolerable. No one will ever want to spend time with you, really, who could blame them?]

[rosebyanyother]

[It is a bit of a fumbled answer but Peter is honestly sort of used to that from Sally at this point. He is attentive throughout, not wanting to interrupt her. All the stumbling does not seem to put him off.]

In that case, is there anything you would like to do? Anything.

[He is willing to do it. And then, because his brain does not quite correctly parse the extra input it gets as...well, extra. Non-auditory:]

I wouldn't say you sound intolerable at all. [More than a bit unsure with yourself, of course-- no, no need to point that out.] And I wouldn't have offered to spend time with you if I didn't mean it.

[Of course I suspect something is--

And then Peter realizes that he isn't positive that he heard that last bit from her out loud and abruptly his eyes widen.]

[oinkoink]

[Sally doesn't have the chance to respond to his question about what she'd like to do, her pondering cut off by the response she hears...to her own thoughts. This stops her short, and Sally stares openly at Peter, completely boggled.]

What the fuck?

[What the fuck?]

Did you hear...did I hear...?

[rosebyanyother]

[Peter simply....raises a hand to his forehead, rubbing it back and forth. Of course it couldn't just be simple. He'd been fine with a general sense of compulsion to want to be nearby Sally. But no, it's more than that.

What a mess. I'll have to be very careful. It's a good thing I have practice with not- no, don't think that.]

He cuts himself off mentally and very firmly pictures...space. Just....space. A black nothingness that hopefully prevents any transmissible thought.]

I'm....afraid so. I think.

[oinkoink]

[Sally, in comparison, seems utterly incapable of shutting off her facet of thoughts, giving him a completely open stream-of-consciousness style panic.]

God, I'm sorry. This is my fault, I was just trying...I mean, I thought we could...

[Bonding, seriously? Well, now he's gonna know every annoying little aspect about you, Oink, because you just had to go and play around with anything the city--stop, stop thinking, christ!]