vecna | reverie overflow.

[Rests his elbows on the table again.] Hm?

Do you like me? Am I unbearably difficult woman?

[ their interactions vacillate so wildly back and forth that she sincerely can't tell ]

[Oh. Another difficult to answer question. There are so very few people in his lifetime that he’s met that Henry has sincerely liked.

But if one were to turn their assessment towards their past interactions—limited as they are so far—he cannot say he has been more displeased than intrigued. Amused, in his own way. Perhaps there is something about this prison that strips away at a person’s need to play at pretenses; he almost hates to call it refreshing.

But—]

Can both not apply? You have been difficult, but the circumstances of this prison aren’t easy.

Have I given you reason to think that I don’t like you?

[ her brows pinch and her expression hangs as she thinks, very sincerely, about bringing up the tantrum room again. or how his gaze had been like a knife's edge after she ordered him after her into the ocean.

but at last she grunts and rakes her clawed fingers through her hair. it'll have to do, for now. ]

I have difficulty telling these things.

[He would have spared such looks for anyone. She is not immune to them now, even if their newest interaction makes it a less likely prospect than before.

His smile is gentle, as always.]

You're assuming I'd hate you for throwing me into the ocean. That's not an unreasonable thought.

How comforting.

Well, I don't.

[ a strange tension leaves her; she rests her forehead on the heel of one hand, sighs until there's nothing left. ]

Spared for another day.

Believe me, it’s one of the least offensive things I’ve had happen to me.

[Not that he wants it to happen again MIND YOU.]

You worry often about what people think of you?

Appearances and impressions are everything in world of nobility.

[ and, having been discredited, expelled, ostracized... what people make of her is possibly the most important thing in her life now ]

Your mind will only get you so far if no one else will listen to you.

[Ah, so her world is not so fantastical at all. It has its ugly parts, just like his own.]

That sounds tiresome. I'm not nobility and I never was, but many things in my world are the same. So much importance placed on appearances.