After a minute he manages a strangled "I appreciate the clarification."

"Will you have trouble not sleeping with me today if I kiss you?" chirps Cir.

"- I enjoy kissing you."

"Yes, I know. Do you enjoy it too much for me to do it right now what with your having decided not to sleep with me today," says Cir, still smirking. "I hope you aren't expecting that I'd do anything about it if you changed your mind there, I'd probably tease you but I'm not sure I'm ever going to have that much impulse control and also you could pick me up with one hand, did I mention that, I forget if I mentioned that."

He whimpers. "You're cheating."

"I'm not even trying very hard, if I were trying very hard I would kiss you without pausing to investigate your self-control and there would be a sentence starting with 'I can't stop thinking about'."

"I meant what I promised and you can kiss me and start sentences however you like but you are definitely cheating."

Cir kisses him for a good long time and comes up for air and whispers in his ear, "I can't stop thinking about your hair, is it as soft as it looks -"

"Yes. Tomorrow."

Kiss.

Kiss. "Should ask my fork if he was this thickheaded - could've warned me -"

"That'd be fascinating. I'd sort of like to meet your fork, actually - your alts are really interesting to look at, I can't guess exactly how much overlap there is in what I know but I can tell it's a lot, I'd just get more false reads than with you." Snuggle.

"You can meet him. His older kid's near your age - maturity, I mean, Elves your age aren't out of diapers - he might judge me."

"That'd be hypocritical of him and you can judge him right back."

"Hypocritical?"

"He could've been you, the day before you were forked from there was just him and then -" Fork-evocative gesture.

"And then it was just him, for fourteen hundred years, and then I got plucked out of the past. He was me once but it was a really long time ago, and lots of people do judge their past selves."

"I guess. Maybe hypocritical's the wrong word. Still."

Squeeze. "I am going to go sing and think."

"Aww. Okay." Cir disentangles.

"No being disappointed, it's you who gave me so much to sing and think about. And maybe Milliways'll make it five minutes for you, anyway. Do you usually experience as long as me when I'm gone for weeks?"

"No, but days."

Squeeze.

Outside.

He doesn't actually sing, it would make it pretty easy for everyone else to guess what the problem is and that doesn't sound helpful.

Cam has apparently been out flying around. He swoops down, after Bright's been outside for about fifteen minutes. "Hey. What's up?"

"Am I that obviously out of sorts, I've been spending too much time around the person who can magically read me perfectly even when I'm lying and perhaps it's making me careless."