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There was not a time in Mimsy's recent memory that he appeared to be caught off his guard, and panic slowly set in as she assumed that he might have been thinking about something that she didn't want him to think about, or he'd remembered something she was trying to keep his mind away from, or--

Oh. This had a simple solution.

"You're not? My apologies. I did not intend to trivialize your position as my scribe. On the subject of your appearance, however..."

She leaned close enough to lightly kiss his cheek, lips twitching into a smile against his skin before she sat back. Her hands began to shake again, so she clutched his more tightly, a hopeful plea that she'd look like she knew what she was doing.

"I am of the opinion that you look like Robert, and that you can be any 'kinda' guy that you would like to be. A prince, a scribe, and a dungeon master are all absolutely within your capability."

What was she saying.

Thankfully, she thought to stop herself before she began listing a variety of other occupational types, which would have included things like 'astrophysicist, molecular biologist, astronaut', and...well.

When she felt his hands move, Mimsy could only stare - she was certain that he was going to pull away, to get up and leave, and that this had been the line she was not supposed to cross. It was only a matter of time, but she hadn't expected it to be so soon.

But he put his hands over hers instead, and she watched with a puzzled frown as they covered her pale fingers. What did that mean? She wanted to pull her hands away and put them on top again, but it didn't feel terrible, so...if this was what he needed, it was feasible to deal with it.

His question posed a greater difficulty. That was information that should not be shared, safely guarded, but she could not neglect to notice that such things were becoming more and more obvious.

"No," she relented, clasping her hands beneath his. "It was not. I am attempting to learn to be capable of doing what I would like to do, regardless of its simplicity."

She smiled a crooked smile.

"I have quite a bit of gained experience to attribute to someone in another timeline. Another world, perhaps." Her eyes watched his carefully, interested in finding any signs of recognition, any flicker of familiarity. Before now, there were only short mentions that gave her any indication that he remembered, but none were enough. Not yet, at least.

"Offend me?" Mimsy cautiously asked, and any further questions were caught in her throat when he released her hands and walked away from her. s**t. She'd ruined it. She knew she had--

But he hadn't walked away at all. His arms were around her, and she did not turn to stone, because she was in close proximity to Robert, not an Insanity monster; but her shoulders did tighten, and she did stare blankly at nothing, in spite of her lack of molecular change. There was a small shift of movement when he began to speak again, something nervous, then relieved. How could she have been offended by that? Offended at his preference of calculated brilliance over wanton stupidity?

"I understand." She slowly exhaled and reminded herself to breathe. "More than my cousin, as well?"

He 'loved that b***h', after all, and like and love and everything in between was surely quantifiable in varied amounts on a scale from least to greatest. One of them would be above the other, and this was always going to be a competition.

Though she had still not quite relaxed into the hug, she made no indication that she planned on shoving him or leaving. That had the potential to change depending on his answer, of course.

How did he not know? Mimsy finally moved, twisting to look up at him with a look of childish wonder. There was actually someone who didn't know about the childhood feuds and the release and destruction of her spiders and the lifetime of rivalry. At least not in its entirety, if he didn't know who she referred to.

"Clerise," she said, astounded that there was somehow still someone who didn't know. It wasn't as if they had kept it secret, and both of them had been loud and adamant about denouncing their status as relatives - especially when Caelius became involved in the equation.

Her eyes had been busily scanning his face, as if it might help her understand what the ********>, but they stopped when she hit the need to clarify.

"With an 's'." Leave it to Clerise to complicate situations posthumously. She should have expected as much, considering how she had already complicated this one by simply existing here before Mimsy's arrival.

"There is only one other relative of mine that I know of on this island. I have learned that I share some sort of ancestry with Caelius, but I was referring to Clerise. She was not particularly pleased when she discovered that I created a link that connected our bloodlines, making Caelius her cousin, too." She smiled wryly. "He did not value his connection to her as his cousin either, if the circumstances of her death were any indication."

Nio Love

"I have learned that my twin, Caelius, is also on this island..."

A month ago, Mimsy might have wondered what was so bad about Caelius that news of her relation to him continued to elicit this response, over and over and over again.

Now she knew: he tried to steal everything important for himself.

The confirmation that she was higher on that scale than Clerise had been - or was currently, at least - earned a genuine smile. It grew a little strained when he called the most disgusting person she'd ever known 'awesome', but still remained.

"No," she quietly countered, her fingertips gently brushing his cheek. "She wasn't."

Then the smile was gone, replaced by neutrality once more.

"I never viewed the information myself. I have no desire to determine how closely related we are, and it was Clerise that claimed he and I were cousins, so the verity is questionable. We did not grow up together, and it is not as if we are siblings. I would have paid little attention to this fact, had it not troubled Clerise so much."

"Is that the point?" Her thumb traced his jaw, and came to rest just below his ear. "We have no choice on our preference of family. I choose my connections both carefully and sparingly, and opt only for those that I want most. That is why...well. This."

She still didn't know what 'this' meant, and hoped that being vague could carry her along until she manged to figure that much out.

The single noise that Robert made caused Mimsy to question everything all at once. Why had he said that? Was he just as confused about the definition of 'this' as she was? Had she jeopardized everything by trying to discover the boundaries?

What was she doing?

<What you should be! Silurving and tormbaling and then...kissing!> Svensyl asserted, once her thoughts began to lull.

Exceedingly helpful, as per usual.

She sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder, letting her hand drop. This was beginning to feel as if it would be too confusing to bear. She didn't know what she was supposed to be doing, no matter how long she pretended that she did. Maybe she should...no, no, unfavorable results did not signify the end of an experiment, and it did not signify the end of this.

"Would you prefer to change the topic of discussion?" she asked, staring at her boots. The bee faces stared lifelessly back up at her. "Or we could just simply continue to rest in the shade. Unless this is making you uncomfortable."

Her ongoing struggle with her innate lack of comfort made it a little hypocritical for her to say as much, but it still sounded a lot like a dare.

Initially, that did not at all sound like a better idea. Upon further inspection of the idea, and the offer that he could tell her facts in return...was it that simple?

"Anything else..." The most serious of secrets had already been spoken, and there were no other relatives that Mimsy knew about. Of course, it was difficult to tell what was 'important' to everyone else, considering how little she cared about most things. Maybe she could just make a small list of general things.

Especially if it would gain her some important intelligence surrounding her personal mission.

"Dwight recruited me. I suspect that he would like to have sex with me. My favorite childhood book was 'Alice in Wonderland'. I have existed in approximately seven alternate universes thus far. Kostya is my first human friend. I do not have a favorite color. These are a birthmark." She pointed to the little spots beneath her right eye.

Oh, this was fun when information of no consequence could be exchanged for something she wanted to know. There were so few left, however, that she decided to just start making them up to be safe. "Clerise was confused about Caelius - the relative that I know about on this island is Lucky. He is my brother. I declined the offer to be an astronaut aboard the International Space Station. I know classified secrets about Mars. Your turn."

She smiled and waited expectantly to trade more, until he pulled on her braid. Oh no, what was--

"Don't do that!" she cried, swatting at his hand. "It is time consuming, but it allows time to think and concentrate on something to clear my mind. I honestly do not recall why I started, but I have been dying it for twelve years."