PENUMBRA (how the flowers grow)

7. Pinky

She wakes with her bones feeling like lead, head aching. The shame from yesterday floods in, slow going. She stares at the ceiling of the room and wonders how long she can avoid this if she just goes back to sleep. She closes her eyes with full intention of forcing herself back into a sleep as dreamless as last night's was, but the world has other plans.

"Good morning," Tuluvey greets, as chipper as ever. "How are you feeling?"

Sabina rolls over, squishing her face into the pillows. "Tired."

"Par for the course, then. You'll feel better once you get some food in you. Up, up."

Tuluvey returns to singing again as he grows some flowers in his hair, this time opting for petunias, red and white striped ones. The Faerie song sounds sweet, but he could be singing about killing people and taking their money for all she knows. She catches a few words- something about a celebration- but most of it goes over her head.

Sabina reluctantly clambers out of bed to the wash basin. She scrubs at her face with a wet cloth and combs her fingers through her hair. She sleeps in her clothes, always does, though Tuluvey has managed to convince her to stop sleeping in her shoes when they're in taverns. His argument included her being able to beat people up, even without shoes, despite the fact he's never seen her fight. It worked, regardless. The only downside so far is he's now been subtly-not-subtly hinting that she could totally take her gloves off, if she wants to. Her hands are clammy and gross under her gloves and that's fine (it's fine).

"Let's go," Tuluvey cheers and is out the door before she can get a word in.

She leaves her stuff in the room, which she's still against, but it's easier to just do that since they plan to stay here for longer than a night. Sabina doesn't care much for being sedentary. Tuluvey doesn't appear to have any qualms about it.

Sabina follows him downstairs and they seat themselves at a table. The breakfast the tavern served is all the same, so it's not long before a waiter comes with bowls of steaming oatmeal and berries.

Sabina eats in spite of not feeling hungry. She knows it's pointless to reject a meal, especially since she already paid for it when she rented out their room. She gets glared at far less here than she does in the countryside.

I guess that's one good thing about this city. That and Tuluvey likes it. Even though I had to freak out in the middle of the day like that.

Strangely enough, she feels closer to him than she did the day before, like all she had to do was have an embarrassing breakdown in front of him to realize she trusts him more than anyone else on this continent. Even still... Gods, what a shitshow.

"Sorry about last night," Sabina says. She goes to add more, but the words don't work.

Tuluvey frowns momentarily, but his sunny disposition returns not long after. "You don't have to apologize, but I'll accept it if it makes you feel better."

She shrugs. "I don't know. I just felt like I had to."

It's the only way she knows how to make up for anything. Arthur and Vess never prepared her for things like this. She was never meant to talk to anyone outside of a mission. It's different, on a job like that. She knows what has to be done. She doesn't know what's okay anymore and Tuluvey is so disparate to anyone she's ever known for longer than a day.

Tuluvey smiles at her. "Don't worry about it."

She awkwardly smiles back.

"We should probably find a job since we're going to be here for a while," Tuluvey points out, changing the subject.