[ Just because your body would regen doesn't mean your sanity would, Claire!! ]
I'm coming to quite dislike science. [ Understatement of the century. ] I'm not sure why anyone would create half the things I see here except to cause misery. It's bloody ridiculous.
[ She looks over her shoulder at him, and the angle she's leaning at means that she has to look back more than just look up, and maybe for the first time since the jump, she's actually actively trying not to grin. When you're convinced that you should be mired in misery, it's hard not to wallow, but there are times when it is equally hard not to laugh.
Also, shut up about her sanity, already. She's absolutely not a crazy person. ]
[ Severus seems like he's about to say something when he realizes - maybe?! - that she's teasing him, and his eyes narrow. It's not really very scary. ]
'Maths'. It's short for mathematics, so it should be maths, or else you're shortening 'mathematic'. Which isn't a word.
[ Leaning slightly away anticipating some kind of retaliation-- ] And maths are easy.
[ Severus Snape. Spy. Former Death Eater. Imposing teacher to small children all over Scotland. Arguing grammar and arithmetic with a Polly Pocket sized blonde. That scowl is so nonthreatening. ]
The rules of grammar and spelling have changed. There's such a thing as creative license. For example, ending a sentence in a preposition isn't a crime against humanity anymore. Also there's this whole group of people who think that it makes sense to stick a 'u' in words for some reason. I've never understood it but I guess it's a thing.
[ There's no retaliation. Except that. Crazy European people. ]
[ She absolutely believes that 99.9% of the essays that have ever come under the careful scrutiny of his red pen have been handed back looking like they just came out on the losing side of a civil war.
Regardless, Claire is just going to smack him in the face with her pillow. ]
[ The brief, impossibly rare sound of his laughter is rusty-sounding but genuine. Severus barks a laugh when she whacks him, but grabs the pillow after to prevent further assault. ]
Oi-- [ cut off by forcing himself to stop laughing, though he can't quite blank his expression. ]
[ Severely lacking in the tools necessary to adequately assault him with a pillow, Claire is forced to settle for trying to pinch him. It's either that or sit on him, and she really isn't sure how that one would work out for anyone involved. ]
Jerk.
[ She's admonishing but hardly seriously, not laughing as openly as he has but letting it lurk under the surface and really show in the sly slant of her eyes and the way her lips press together. So not laughing, but really trying not to. ]
Ah-- stop that. [ He's swatting at her hand now, obviously coming into this with negative a billion percent experience in playful roughhousing, but going along with it anyway. Hilariously feebly, but. Whatever. At least he's stopped laughing!! Dignity. ] That might be one of the nicer things anyone's called me.
[ Claire isn't so sure about that. It's refreshing to hear him do something other than glower. He might be out of practice but that doesn't mean it's a bad sound. For her part, Claire just holds her hands up in mock surrender. ]
Well, implied indignities about Americanisms only get you to the 'jerk' level on name calling. If you insult my cooking, it'll be all out war. [ Meanwhile, she is taking her pillow back now, just in case. ] Give that back.
[ She's been wondering where all those chocolate chips have been disappearing to. She should have known to look for smudgy evidence when she began suspecting. Of course, it could have been Kate. Maybe they're working as a unit. This bears further investigation.
For a moment, Claire looks at him openly, and there's a very slight almost imperceptible flush across her cheeks at the praise and then she's arching an eyebrow, conniving. ]
You could think that, but you'd be wrong.
[ It does feel a little weird, and a little wrong in its own right. But it also feels nice and there has been such a lack of that lately. ]
[ 'Chocolate' chips. Space imitation chocolate. But everyone can dream. ]
What's it doing, then? [ Pale, spindly fingers tap over the pillow's edge, spiderlike. He watches her blush and wonders-- but it's distant, because he's distant. But he's a little pleased, too. ]
You- oh. [ Sliiightly stumbling over himself there, and it's his turn to have a moment of looking a bit red, though it dissipates as he shakes his head to toss his hair away from his eyes. ] Inefficient. Is it.
[ She's still sitting over there, it's working perfectly. ]
[ She counts that a victory, on some level, never mind that she isn't looking for it or expecting it. All the same, she's somehow not surprised to find it there, coloring his face and then covering it up in the same turn. For her part, Claire just tries to look smug in order to keep up pretenses of the game.
What were they playing again? ]
Well, now it just sounds like you're asking me to prove to you that I do, in fact, sit on people.
I think you're projecting slightly-- [ though he doesn't sound opposed to this strange turn of events, exactly. ] You could just. Ask. I mean it's fine.
[ She's laughing without laughing. If he looks at her dead-on, he won't be able to miss it. She is, however, making that difficult, by pulling her feet up off the floor and angling them out to the side. Rather than sitting on him - which is a real threat that she will surely capitalize on one day - she is just going to lean on him and angle her head until it finds the correct groove along his shoulder to fall against.
Oh, and she is taking that pillow back, thank you. ]
[ Ahaha. Well. At least she likes idiots, then. Severus sits still so she can flop against him, and is glad she can't see him go slightly red again. Awkwardness threatens to arrest him entirely again, but he decides to tell it to fuck off for a moment - and coils one arm around her instead. She's short, and it's nice, because he's not anything more than average height himself. What a dumb thing to think about, he reflects. ]
[ Get it right, Severus. It's nerds or bust. Which has no line of direction here, in this room, in this situation, because she's stopped boiling attraction up to this or that and just decided to not think about it. When you get down to brass tacks, it's never going to matter in the end, and if she doesn't ever just do things then she'll spend the rest of her life just doing nothing at all because that was the safer course of action. Ironic for someone who would get flattened by a steam roller just to see what would happen afterward, but the physicality of life has never been difficult in that capacity.
This is hard, even if it doesn't seem like, and yet it seems so easy that she can barely believe they were ever at odds about being friends, let alone being whatever. Claire, meanwhile, flattens the pillow in her lap and folds her hands over it. ]
I really do appreciate you coming by. It's a lot harder to wallow when someone else is in the room.
[ If they're both bad at this and confused, then the playing field is even, and that's okay; he wonders if she thinks about the fact that he's killed people, that she knows he's been a terrorist. And he's still here, on her bed, with her snuggled into his side. All of that is probably less okay - but he thinks about the things she's told him about her life. Maybe it's fine. ]
I suppose you still could. [ He shifts slightly so he can hold her easier, finding this at least to be easily automatic. His tone is a little teasing, but gentles. ] It's the least I can do.
[ She's had to accept the reality that she isn't normal and the people in her life and her relationships with them are never going to be normal so many times she could probably take a written exam on the subject. That's even without counting the fact that all of them, now, are on an actual spaceship that tries to kill them every so often. Maybe Claire should look the other way in regards to him. She won't, though. She can respect someone who goes through hell and comes out the other side, regardless of whether or not they're fundamentally changed, and she appreciates the fact that he's stuck around all this time, even when he was butting heads with her to let him pull back. ]
No, it means a lot. People will walk on eggshells around you when they know you've lost someone, in whatever way. [ Her face turns up toward him, and the expression there tries to be comical despite the somberness of the topic being addressed. ] Besides, I'm a very ugly crier.
[ Do they walk on eggshells? Severus doesn't notice her looking at him for a moment, frowning slightly as he stares into the distance and considers. Are muggles just less callous about it to each other? Perhaps they're less used to death.
--And then he does notice, and he squeezes her, a little playfully. ] I wouldn't care about that. I mean, I reckon you always look beautiful no matter what, anyway.
[ Do girls like hearing that? He... thinks so? Genuinely, Severus sounds a little mystified. Being beautiful is low on his list of reasons he likes Claire, but it's still undeniable that she is. Which makes it even weirder that she's having a go at a cuddle with him of all people. ]
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I'm coming to quite dislike science. [ Understatement of the century. ] I'm not sure why anyone would create half the things I see here except to cause misery. It's bloody ridiculous.
[ Fuss fuss. ]
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Also, shut up about her sanity, already. She's absolutely not a crazy person. ]
That's how I feel about math. Absolute misery.
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'Maths'. It's short for mathematics, so it should be maths, or else you're shortening 'mathematic'. Which isn't a word.
[ Leaning slightly away anticipating some kind of retaliation-- ] And maths are easy.
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The rules of grammar and spelling have changed. There's such a thing as creative license. For example, ending a sentence in a preposition isn't a crime against humanity anymore. Also there's this whole group of people who think that it makes sense to stick a 'u' in words for some reason. I've never understood it but I guess it's a thing.
[ There's no retaliation. Except that. Crazy European people. ]
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[ If you don't think he redpens the shit out of grammar on essays even though it has nothing to do with potions, though, you are sorely mistaken. ]
And herb has an 'h' in it.
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Regardless, Claire is just going to smack him in the face with her pillow. ]
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Oi-- [ cut off by forcing himself to stop laughing, though he can't quite blank his expression. ]
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Jerk.
[ She's admonishing but hardly seriously, not laughing as openly as he has but letting it lurk under the surface and really show in the sly slant of her eyes and the way her lips press together. So not laughing, but really trying not to. ]
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Well, implied indignities about Americanisms only get you to the 'jerk' level on name calling. If you insult my cooking, it'll be all out war. [ Meanwhile, she is taking her pillow back now, just in case. ] Give that back.
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[ Probably obviously. He eats everything she gives him and occasionally steals cookies.
(This all feels a little weird, but for the moment, he's just going with it and not reminding himself he needs to lock up.) ]
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For a moment, Claire looks at him openly, and there's a very slight almost imperceptible flush across her cheeks at the praise and then she's arching an eyebrow, conniving. ]
You could think that, but you'd be wrong.
[ It does feel a little weird, and a little wrong in its own right. But it also feels nice and there has been such a lack of that lately. ]
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What's it doing, then? [ Pale, spindly fingers tap over the pillow's edge, spiderlike. He watches her blush and wonders-- but it's distant, because he's distant. But he's a little pleased, too. ]
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Serving as an inefficient barrier between you and me sitting on you, basically.
[ At this point, Claire has absolutely no idea what she's doing. But she's enjoying it. ]
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[ She's still sitting over there, it's working perfectly. ]
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What were they playing again? ]
Well, now it just sounds like you're asking me to prove to you that I do, in fact, sit on people.
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[ A pause. ]
I sound like an idiot, I think.
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Ask to sit on you?
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[ hELP ]
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[ She's laughing without laughing. If he looks at her dead-on, he won't be able to miss it. She is, however, making that difficult, by pulling her feet up off the floor and angling them out to the side. Rather than sitting on him - which is a real threat that she will surely capitalize on one day - she is just going to lean on him and angle her head until it finds the correct groove along his shoulder to fall against.
Oh, and she is taking that pillow back, thank you. ]
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This is hard, even if it doesn't seem like, and yet it seems so easy that she can barely believe they were ever at odds about being friends, let alone being whatever. Claire, meanwhile, flattens the pillow in her lap and folds her hands over it. ]
I really do appreciate you coming by. It's a lot harder to wallow when someone else is in the room.
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I suppose you still could. [ He shifts slightly so he can hold her easier, finding this at least to be easily automatic. His tone is a little teasing, but gentles. ] It's the least I can do.
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No, it means a lot. People will walk on eggshells around you when they know you've lost someone, in whatever way. [ Her face turns up toward him, and the expression there tries to be comical despite the somberness of the topic being addressed. ] Besides, I'm a very ugly crier.
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--And then he does notice, and he squeezes her, a little playfully. ] I wouldn't care about that. I mean, I reckon you always look beautiful no matter what, anyway.
[ Do girls like hearing that? He... thinks so? Genuinely, Severus sounds a little mystified. Being beautiful is low on his list of reasons he likes Claire, but it's still undeniable that she is. Which makes it even weirder that she's having a go at a cuddle with him of all people. ]
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