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[rosarianoath]

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[noburden]

"Do you want it?"

A simple question, but Jill can feel a tenseness in her neck.

[rosarianoath]

Clive feels the temperature drop, at the very least metaphorically.

“No,” he says, to be cautious. “Give it away, then.”

[noburden]

Torgal might like it as a toy if she knots it up. Jill tosses it aside.

"It doesn't suit you."

[rosarianoath]

“You look at me more than I do,” he defers, but he feels compelled to put his nose in his book and not linger on a topic that upsets her.

[noburden]

Jill makes some noise of agreement, and continues with the laundry in silence. Save for, perhaps, the loud opening and closing of the machine doors.

[rosarianoath]

Clive stews in it, glancing up at her occasionally. He wonders just how angry she is, and he’s not sure why it bothers her so much — or him.

“Would you prefer I tell her not to buy me clothes, next time?” he asks, gently, after some time.

[noburden]

She's just set the machine to run when he asks. She wants to bristle. It takes a moment of her hands pressed flat on the washer, calming herself, before she turns back around to look at him.

"It's not necessary for her to buy you clothing. You can tell her I said that."

[rosarianoath]

Oh, she's pissed. He really should slink out.

"Hopefully she'll take you more seriously than she does me."

[noburden]

"I can tell her myself, if you think that will help," she offers, crossing her arms. "You're clothed. Well clothed."

[rosarianoath]

"She hasn't bought me clothes for three months," he says. "Perhaps that was the last time, and there'll be no need for confrontation at all."

[noburden]

Jill's lips press together as she clearly wishes to argue. What was even the name of that woman, anyway? She can't even recall. Maybe it's unimportant. As unimportant as that shirt.

Ridiculous.

"I wish I wasn't like this," she says abruptly. "Jealous."

It's shameful.

[rosarianoath]

He looks away for a moment, and then back to her mouth, the taut pinch of her lips.

"Come here, Jill."

He sets the book and the beer both aside.

[noburden]

She feels like a child about to get her knuckles rapped. Still, she approaches him, stopping before his knees and sighing, trying to ease the tension from her shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Clive."

[rosarianoath]

“Don’t be,” he says, leaning forward just enough to find her hands with his. He pulls her in, turning her to sit on his knee. “Talk with me a moment.”

[noburden]

She sits, and she feels more embarrassed for her reaction over the shirt with each passing moment.

"If shame doesn't claim me..."

That's not helpful. She sighs again, looking to him.

"I must share you with whatever home we live in, and those that inhabit it. I know."

[rosarianoath]

“You must share me,” he agrees soberly, winding his fingers around hers. “What is it you fear about this? It’s just a shirt, one I evidently pay little attention to.”

[noburden]

It's easier to look at their fingers than his face. Hers are so small compared to his.

"It's silly," she says, as she so often does. "There's... so little that is just ours. Just mine. I--suppose I took pride in being the one to buy you shirts."

The more she talks, the more she'd like to sink into the abyss.

[rosarianoath]

“I do not think my caseworker dropping off clothes and seeing me dressed for a ball matters in any way I care about,” he says.

[noburden]

"Which makes it all the more ridiculous that it upset me," she says.

[rosarianoath]

It’s rare to see her vulnerable like this, and though his heart is pounding at the thought that she might turn on him for it, it feels like something to not flee the conversation at all.

“What do you think she means by it?”

[noburden]

"I don't know. Probably nothing," she admits. The logcal answer. Jill keeps her eyes on their joined hands.

"I dislike it when people act too familiar with you, I think. It bothers me."

[rosarianoath]

"I do not get the impression she has any particular sentiments towards me," he says. He looks up at her face. "I understood it when it was Isabelle. But the rest, not so much..."

[noburden]

"I don't know if there's much sense to be found in how I feel," she says, looking back at him.

"I know I need to work on it."

[rosarianoath]

He frowns, his eyes sad.

"There must be some reason," he says.

[noburden]

She hates to be the cause of that look. So, she tries.

"I know some of it. Some of it is because I constantly lose what is important to me. And I worry you'll..."

Well, he can't very much do worse than what she's already experienced at home or here, but something within her seethes at the prospect of another woman being involved in any regard.

"It fills me with shame to think of you like that."