eiattu_pride | (no subject)

The door to the apartments opens, and if Rial could possibly have missed that, there is also a voice and shoes being noisily kicked off.

"Yes." Pause. "Yes, do that. Thank you." The comm clicks off, and then Rial has a tired wife dropping onto his calves and curling up against that side of the sofa, her own datapad in hand.

He reaches down a hand to lightly ruffle her hair.

"Hey. Bad day?"

"Long day," she says, shaking away his hand (but with the start of a smile).

"Mmm-hmm."

He stretches, and wriggles his toes.

"Me too."

Plourr looks at his toes with some bemusement, given that she's still sitting square on his legs. She rests a hand on his knee, her head tilted against the sofa back. "It seems like everyone on-planet wants a piece of me before tomorrow."

"Who wouldn't want a piece of you? Though really, I'd hate to share."

Rial smirks at her.

She lets her head roll to the side on the back of the couch, and she smiles at him, raising her eyebrows. "Rial Pernon, was that a come-on?"

"I wouldn't dream of such a thing."

"Well, yeah. Kind of."

She grins and readily drops the datapad on the table, sliding up him til her face is at a level with his. "It was very subtle," she murmurs.

"I pride myself on subtlety," he informs her, kissing the very tip of her nose.

"Mmm," she says thoughtfully, settling between his legs. "Well, you should be subtle like that more often." A smile quirks. "It's sexy."

Rial laughs.

"Have you noticed that most of out conversations seem to end in sex, these days?"

Plourr rests her head beside his. "We're making up for lost time," she rationalizes with a bright grin. "You're not complaining, are you?"

"Me? Complaining? Never."

But he sobers for a second, watching the wall.

"When're you going back?"

She watches him quietly. "Two days."

He nods, and runs his hand through her hair.

"Okay."

She presses her forehead against his temple. "Okay."

Leaving places usually isn't hard.

"It'll be fine."

He's reassuring himself as much as her.

"Of course it will. I'll be back as soon as we've trained a few replacements." Again, she doesn't say.

"I'll await with eagar joy," he says, and the smile is there and firm (and somehow not).

"Still have two days, Rial," she reminds him softly.

"I know."

And he does.

"We'll make them last, hmm? And then you can go have your fun."

They're her friends and it's what she loves, it is, but--

She says quietly, "I'll just be waiting til I can come home."

Home. It's a strange word; one that she hasn't used much in her lifetime, if ever. But this is. He is.

Rial smiles quietly.

"Okay. Don't forget to have a little fun, though."

She smiles into his shoulder, resting her hand on his chest. "I won't."