Oh, but how were we to know?

[lucre]

Who: Joshua and Lucrezia
What: to carnage or not to carnage; that is the question
When: after Lloyd's departure
Where: the creepy mansion
Rating: adults beware, children welcome let's say PG-13!

The letter came bearing the name Lloyd Irving; easy enough to recognize when he was the only man to have crafted for her the first real set of pearls in Paradisa. There is still a difference between objects that appear out of thin air and those that take hard work and care to pound and carve into shape. The latter has value, albeit mostly sentimental, while the former has none whatsoever. To think he would send a letter to Joshua, most curious.

Lucrezia must make an incongruous sight with the lavish pearls now about her neck, with her bare feet and otherwise plain white nightgown (never mind that it's already late in the morning), like a child playing dress-up with her mother's jewelry. At least her hair is loosely coiled down her back, if only to show the earrings more clearly and make her quiet enough to sneak up on Joshua, as if that's even possible. She needs only to follow the music to its source, the sound of the piano echoing through all the hallways, holding her breath as she walks on tiptoes behind him.

She thinks he must already notice her presence even before she stepped into the room, but it is fun to pretend. Sometimes he might be distracted enough that he might be genuinely surprised, or perhaps he would pretend for her. She moves to tickle his sides even as she wraps her arms about his waist, giggling in his ear in lieu of a hello.

Comments

[lucre]

Lucrezia lets go of his hand, but just one of them and only so she can push back the hair from his face to tuck the longer strand behind his ears. Testing the waters. It seems they are forever going one step forward two steps back, or sideways, somewhere other than where they are meant to go. She wonders if there will come a time when enough is enough, but not now.

"Everyone but us?"

[ofhope]

No.

Joshua will never be so gone, so far away among the abandoned Astral Line that he can ever forget that knowledge that Aion had drilled into his mind even more than the noise could. That noise which has surely caused his ears to bleed by now. It would feel better if they could bleed, maybe that's all that needed to get out. No, he needs to focus. Her touch helps, rather than hurts.

"I'm not...that strong."

To encompass all of Paradisa would take immense energy. And while it's no guarantee, it's highly likely that doing so would stop him as well. It would consume all, for he is after all still human. Like Joshua had said earlier... And me.

"Everyone."

[lucre]

When it comes down to it, Lucrezia doesn't want to die.

Even if he stops her, Joshua could bring her back if he chooses to, unless that dreaded purple light takes him too. Then there will be no going back. Even death cannot touch her then, let alone the castle free her. With no sign of him reacting badly to her touch, she drops her hand to the nape of his neck that she might draw him into an embrace, awkward as it might be. She hopes keeping him warm will keep him present.

Her voice is but a whisper. He can hear her regardless, and did he not give her the choice? "Let me hold you. Tonight. And in the morning I will give you my answer."