[ Venat is correct on all accounts, more correct than even she knows. It's plainly evident in the gratitude in Maruki's voice, pained and comforted in equal measure.
It's sad, really. How badly he's needed this, for how long. So much of what he's put himself through over the years could have been avoided if he had someone to simply be there the way Venat is – if he had opened himself up to the possibility at all.
It's a strange, beautiful thing to come out of a life held captive in Somnius. He won't take it for granted.
Maruki laughs again, tight in his throat, and shakes his head. ]
Nothing to forgive. I'm glad I can help make up for lost time. There's a lot more I can show you, actually, here–
[ And with that, yeah, he is actually going to try to lift Venat off her feet. He untucks his face from her shoulder, slides his grip up around her back and does his level best to haul her even an inch off the ground. It's ridiculous, and the hardest he's laughed so far in Somnius, some uncomplicated joy seeping into the cracks of an old pain. ]
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It's sad, really. How badly he's needed this, for how long. So much of what he's put himself through over the years could have been avoided if he had someone to simply be there the way Venat is – if he had opened himself up to the possibility at all.
It's a strange, beautiful thing to come out of a life held captive in Somnius. He won't take it for granted.
Maruki laughs again, tight in his throat, and shakes his head. ]
Nothing to forgive. I'm glad I can help make up for lost time. There's a lot more I can show you, actually, here–
[ And with that, yeah, he is actually going to try to lift Venat off her feet. He untucks his face from her shoulder, slides his grip up around her back and does his level best to haul her even an inch off the ground. It's ridiculous, and the hardest he's laughed so far in Somnius, some uncomplicated joy seeping into the cracks of an old pain. ]