Welcome to Gaia! ::

Brielle sat on the couch in a cami and a pair of pajama shorts, one window cracked so that she could feel the spring breeze on her skin. She was reading plays on her iPad. This one was called Topdog Underdog, and although the plot had caught her interest, it didn't stop her from glancing up at the clock every few minutes.

She knew she shouldn't worry. Siegrfried was in space. It wasn't like he'd gone off to face Faustite in single combat, which she wouldn't put past him if he had the chance. It wasn't like he was doing any of the recklessly protective things that she loved to see him do, but that made her heart skip beats now and the all the same

After her last time in the hospital, she'd promised him that she'd always come home, that she'd stay alive, and she trusted him to try to take care of himself in turn. That didn't change the fact that it was war, though. It didn't change the fact that things happened.

Brielle treasured every moment with her loved ones because she knew there was no guarantee about how much time they would have.

She always begged the universe for more time, though. She always watched the clock.

It hadn't been long enough that she should start worrying yet. Part of it was just that something had been off about his powers, and now he was on a mission for the Code that she couldn't do anything to help with. It felt a little awkward to be reading at a time like this.

He'd be fine, she reminded herself. She flipped a virtual page and sighed.

Every speck of anxiety vanished the moment she heard the door click open, and then the familiar footsteps of her husband. All of her attention was on him as he stepped into the room. She looked at his hair, at his jaw, at the way he smiled as he saw her.

She leaned into the forehead kiss, and sh returned it with a kiss of her own to his cheek, but then she settled into the couch next to him and tilted the screen in his direction so he could see a bit of the script.

"It's about toxic family dynamics and racism," she told him. "It's good, but really it's no wonder that all of the things that theater fans obsess over are the romances and the blockbuster musicals. So many of these other plays are just so sad."

Brielle didn't mind. Things like this, or Death of a Salesman, were like snapshots of life in all its complexity, and it helped a bit with filling in the pieces of humanity that the Negaverse had taken from her. They were still best in small doses, though, and she didn't mind setting it aside to talk to Tavi.

"What about you? Did you figure things out with your magic?"

"It's true," said Brielle. When it seemed like Tavi was done looking at the script, she put the tablet off to the side on and end table, so that she could fully melt into his arms with no distractions. These moments were everything. There was a warmth in her chest from just existing here that she couldn't quite describe. "Jokes and sex sell. The repression?" She shifted enough that she could look him in the face without having to move from the embrace. "Critics love it, but it's more of a niche audience."

Hearing about the code was more interesting. Brielle listened, noting the ring as he shifted his hand, and running her fingers over it as she looked it over.

"The Code was being rude to you?" she asked with a half-frown. "You know I can go talk to it for you, if you'd like." Cozy as she was, there was a protective glint in her eyes. "I know where it lives." She'd been to the Moon, and there were pieces on Cybele now, too.

Then she felt a hint of wetness on her shirt as a tear rolled down her husband's face. Her brows stayed close together, but she pressed a kiss to Tavi's knuckles, near the ring, and then she tucked herself even closer, leaning most of her weight against his shoulder.

"Do you want to talk about him?" she asked. "Rio?"