five years in the making

it's hard to concentrate when senses are tuned in as high as that. every pore aware, seething, straining to pick up some signal, pulse racing to the beat of a triphammer, trying to understand.

trying to figure out how this bargain will be upheld.

it is as palpable as it is raw as it is unchanged from the first, no matter what has been said. reason and emotion make no sense against the laws of this land. everything is chemical, everything is wrong against the larger picture but somehow it seems to work. as long as you don't ask it to be more than what it is.

quiet. fierce. soft. spacious.

eyes saying everything the players need to hear.

i know what these hands have seen. i know what those eyes have done. i know what this body wants. but i also know what the rest of the party has left to give.

i've waited this long, even if he just thinks it's flattery.