cactusy | IC contact for lastvoyages

[Worming her hand down between their bodies in an effort to reach her hoodie's front pocket without displacing Root, Shaw fishes out the baseball-sized glassy orb. It is, as it usually is, primarily a swirling cloud of gray, but quick little lightning strikes of aqua surge through it. Faintly visible underneath the gray, a reddish pink gradient can be seen, intermingling with burnt orange hues.

Shaw holds the orb out for both of them to see, studying it. There. Emotion ball.]

[ Oh! Okay! Root gets it now! She thinks. What's in the ball must react to Shaw's emotions. Root watches the cloud with its lightning and what looks like a sunset hidden inside, her smile softening with curiosity and wonder.

Then, arching her eyebrows, she holds out a hand. Can she hold it? She wants to look at it up close. ]

[She likes the way Root looks at it, and the reddish-pink mixture blooms: not getting any brighter, but taking up more surface area.]

If you touch it, it'll change to show what you're feeling.

[Which is not a no; she just wants to make sure Root knows what to expect if she hands it over.]

[ Oh, it shows the emotions of anyone as long as they're holding it. Fascinating.

The spreading sunset hues are mesmerizing. ]

Okay. [ She meets Shaw's gaze. ] Yours are beautiful.

Yeah?

[She asks - studying Root's face, not handing it over juuuuust yet.]

Yours will look pretty different; other people don't have all the cloudy stuff.

I figured.

[ Where Shaw's emotions are less obvious, Root's are loud. She's very curious to see how they look in the emotion ball. But first-- ]

Have you ever lived somewhere with a climate like Texas? Sometimes you go so long without rain. Then, when you finally get rain, that cloudy sky is the most beautiful thing. [ She nods at the ball in Shaw's hand. ] Gray is beautiful to me.

[Oh, Root.

Shaw just looks at her a while longer, with an expression that would be unreadable if it weren't for all that red under the gray. Then she scoots back to lie on the couch, trying to tug Root right along with her.]

C'mere.

[ Dark clouds against a sunset sky? Downright breathtaking. Root lies down with her, hooking a leg over Shaw's calf. ]

I can ask to take off from my shift if you want me to stay with you all day.

You don't have to baby me; I'm fine.

[Still holding the orb in one hand, she settles the other arm around Root, pressing her leg against that hooked thigh.]

I didn't cheat on you.

[Look, she'd previously admitted to having invented and competed in the Sex Olympics to stave off boredom before Root arrived onboard. She has no idea if Root is wondering about her activities during her coma, and she wouldn't blame her if she were.]

It wouldn't be babying. It'd be catching up and making up for lost time.

[ A month and a half is a long time on just about every level, and it's not as if they're not aware of how thirsty (winkwonk) they can be. ]

I know. I trust you. [ And honestly, Root wouldn't blame her if she had. She knows who Shaw comes home to, where her emotions are. ] That some of the catching up we have to do. Six weeks is a really long time.

As much as I like the idea of making up for lost time... I have work, too.

[Which means that she can't stay in all day, but it certainly doesn't mean that she can't enjoy some quality time - and she'll start it off by finally handing over the orb, pressing it into the hollow of Root's palm.

The surface explodes with color, not even a hint of gray to be seen. There's red and pink and yellow and light blue and lavender, all swirling around each other and blending into each other to create new shades. It's chaotic, but in a way that feels beautiful and natural and so, so Root.

Shaw finds that she can't tear her eyes away.]

[ Oh. So this is Root's emotional skyscape. Shaw's is sunset on a cloudy day, and Root's is sunshine bouncing off every available particle and reflecting back an ever-shifting, kaleidoscopic display. It's pretty, but it doesn't draw Root in the way Shaw's did, so it's not long before she's studying Shaw's face, memorizing every detail like they aren't already hard coded into her neurons. ]

What do the colors mean?

[Shaw doesn't even notice that she's being looked at: with brow furrowed and her lips slightly pursed, she's too busy watching the orb.]

I, uh-- I got a cheat sheet if you wanna see it, but gray is the only one I looked up; I wanted to try to figure out the rest myself. Red and pink are good. That shade of blue is interest, I think, but darker shades of blue are bad. Dark purple's not great, either, but I don't know about light purple.

You're the only cheat sheet I need.

[ Root leans in and hides her face against Shaw's neck, breathing her in, nuzzling the soft, delicious skin. She has so much cuddling to do in the next few days. ]

[Or, consider: Shaw is going to scoot down a few inches so that she find Root's mouth with her own instead. Shhhh, only kisses now.]

[ Soft kisses, the occasional little bite, and a whole lot of smiling and pleased noises. Whatever the color for aroused is, it's now flickering in the emotion ball, wrapped in red and pink. ]

[Red and pink and electric blue twine together on the orb's surface, but Shaw isn't looking at it anymore. She's just here to enjoy Root--

-- or, at least, she's enjoying Root until out of fucking nowhere Bear leaps up onto the couch, landing square on Root's back.]

[ And knocks the air out of her. And jostles her so she smacks into Shaw's face while mid kiss. Which means their teeth clack together, and there's definitely a bit of lip caught here and there, so there bruising at least and bleeding at most.

And she drops the emotion ball, which rolls under the couch. ]

Bear--

[ Root has forgotten what little Dutch she knows. It's fine, though. More important is pulling back enough to make sure Shaw isn't bleeding, or not bleeding much. ]

Owwww.

[Complains the woman who likes more than a little pain during sex. Context is important, okay.]

Bear, foei, af, zit--

[Bear does as commanded, immediately jumping off the couch and sitting on the floor. Unfortunately, he's replaced by Jet a split second later - Jet, who is about twice as exuberant and a third as well-trained.

It's fine. Shaw's lip and tongue (which she may or may not have bitten when their teeth clacked together) are only bleeding a little bit.]

[ At least Root is more prepared this time, sort of. She's not relaxed and focused on just Shaw, at any rate, so they're both spared additional injuries. ]

Jet--!

[ Aaand she's immediately distracted by the blood on Shaw's lips. ]

Oh no, sweetie--

[ Time to fuss, gently wiping at the blood with her thumb. ]

[Jet snuffles Root's hair, and Root fusses at Shaw's mouth, and Shaw meets her eye... and grins. A little laugh even burbles out of her.]

Told you the dogs would mob you.

[ Everyone is okay, good. Shaw's laugh makes Root relax, giving a grin of her own. ]

I love it.

[ She kisses the tip of Shaw's nose and straighten up enough to get Jet off her back. Once the dogs are both settled in the floor, Root sits on the edge of the couch and positively smothers them with pets and scratches. ]

[Shaw sits up on her elbows, still grinning faintly as she watches them: her girl, her dogs.]

That's the first thing in days that's felt real.

[And now that you've admitted to that out loud, like an idiot, the simulation will try to trick you with more silly you-can't-make-this-shit-up moments.

She swallows, and pushes the thought away.]

[ Lucky that Root has the dogs to focus on so she doesn't react to that. She needs to graduate from here so she can go back and destroy Samaritan. She must. It can't get away with what it did to Shaw. It won't.

Satisfied for now with showering the dogs with affection, she shifts to face Shaw and smiles at her. ]

You really do look so good with blood on your lips.

You look good covered in dogs.

[Shaw retorts, grabbing Root's arm and trying to tug her back over.]

So what'd you say about pancakes?

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