Mona timeeee. Pretties later
“I know you do,” Thalia smiled as Desdemona swung their hands forward and back, “But really, you also have to take care of your own self. And besides, really, I’m okay, I can handle my own self, today was Just a little rough morning, that’s all.” Now, Thalia wasn’t too sure of the ‘i can handle my own self’ part, but maybe if she could convince herself and Desdemona enough, it will come true.
It was rather sweet the way that Thalia concerned for Desdemona. She did not find her obsessive or intoxicatingly close, but instead thought of her as being considerate. How peculiar that was.
For someone who desired to resist the assistance of others, Thalia behaved quite uniquely. If she were a lesser woman, perhaps she might view Desdemona as annoying, or a loser. What kind of college girl had only one friend? And only one friend that was her whole world at that. From that angle she could almost look pathetic; like a meek, and easy target to be manipulated and told what to do and think, someone who would be no one without her. But instead, Thalia did find affection in her presence. Perhaps it was because Desdemona was beautiful, so her attempts were well-received by superficiality, if not lust. Or perhaps… contrary to her own thoughts, she was not so opposed to receiving guidance.
Desdémona said nothing in response to Thalias ongoing argument, choosing to quietly nod instead, a small smile clad by her lips. If the girl would not surrender, then Desdémona determined that it was best if she did. Maybe she would recycle that philosophy when she felt unimportant again.
Without hesitation, she answered all of Thalias questions.
“I think… if it wasn’t an accident, then someone was probably trying to hurt her. I just don’t know why they would do that. She seemed really nice.” Mona said with somber innocence laced into her words.
“I can’t remember the rest of the story Atlas told me, but I think he said something about another man….” She thought aloud, “but like you said, it probably wasn’t true, so maybe we shouldn’t focus on that.”
Although Desdémona had been in her element earlier into their conversation, she felt like that spark lit in her mind had died down since the change of topic. Outside of her circle, she tended to be quite clueless. In her active thoughts, she was very insightful. While the couple had been dancing, she saw the man in the corner of the room watching them. She had noticed his overgrown, short brown hair, and the mark he had near his lip. She watched Esther run away after waking up, she had seen the farcical smirk that Atlas wore. And Desdémona could remember traces of it, but she found herself completely unable to articulate them, like her mouth had turned to idle wood incapable of creating sound. Before she could repeat them, all of her thoughts liked to betray her by disintegrating to nothing. It was one of the things she admired about Thalia, how she could have so many thoughts and remember all of them. She wondered if that was on purpose, too, but she hadn’t the ability to say it. There were runes written on the walls of her mind that she was never meant to translate, even if she held a candle to them and put forth her best effort.
She apologized for asking questions, but Desdémona paid no mind to it. She had not been fazed by any of them, and, on the contrary, was happy to answer each one for her. “What do you mean?” She asked curiously, confused as to why she was apologizing. “I don’t mind.”
”Think of super man,” said Thalia, and Desdémona giggled, her chocolate colored eyes brightening. The comparison she used sounded at first like she was trying to be very gentle with a way for Desdémona to understand her. It was kind of cute.
As she kept talking, though, the analogy began to make more sense. “I guess that’s true,” she concurred. “I did feel very different in my masquerade outfit,” she agreed, thinking that the dress had made her act more mature and different than usual, when she had still been the same old Mona.
Although Desdémona had decided to be the merciful one before, Thalia had agreed this time, stating that she could not blame the man either. Desdémona nodded at that, grateful for her reciprocity of her gentle approach. What she did not acknowledge was the possible way that Thalia could be a liar like her, as well. It was the pinnacle of their experience as Ciphers, how they existed to, with their magic, turn life into words. Yet half of their words were lies, with only their mischevious demeanor to blame, the evil within them begging to hide the truth because it was often too painful to bring to life. Likely, their lies were what kept them weak, denying the power of their truths for the comfort of lies, perhaps that was why Hayes’ friend was targeted by whatever force took him. He was too powerful. Too honest.
Desdémona did not say it out loud, but she knew internally that Thalia was loyal to sneaky behavior. It was why she knew she had to look after her, she was lost. Only time would tell though, if Desdémona had the strength to find her in the sandstorms she got herself into.
She noticed it when Thalia got out her phone, using that bit of knowledge she had for Thalia only to piece together what she was most likely annotating. She had let go of Desdemona’s hands to do it, which made the girl feel a bit embarassed. Of course she didn’t matter as much as Thalia’s conspiracies, she was stupid.
Of course, she decided to make no explicit comment about her gesture. She didn’t want to stir the girl, so she just watched her put the phone down and put it back where it was.
“If it helps, I don’t think Atlas did anything sinister. Maybe he was kind of dramatic, but I knew I felt a bad energy from something, I did, and I know it wasn’t him,” she said, trying to defend this new stranger because like Thalia thought, she did consider them friends, and Desdémona was very faithful to hers.
After pushing her away, Desdemona snapped back to reality, a wave of guilt crashing over her when she realized what she had done. She expected some sort of punishment to hit her, maybe not from Thalia, but she was explicitly raised to act gracefully at all times. And that was not graceful. If Mom and Dad had seen her do that, they would have been very angry with her.
To her surprise, however, Thalia was very gentle about it, agreeing to abide by her wishes. She sighed a breath of relief, realizing that it was Thalia she was speaking to, and Thalia wouldn’t hurt her. She was a friend, she had a friend when she was with Thalia. She looked at her with a smile, and remnants of fear in her light brown eyes.
She also realized that Thalia wanted to know the truth, but Desdémona knew she couldn’t. It was a secret, so she pursed her lips, coming up with something close to the truth. “I just- I don’t like adults,” that was true. “I only like mom and dad,” lie. But they were connected to the truth, so she deemed her explanation good enough to leave that way.
Laying on her bed, Desdemona turned her head to see Thalia lying beside her with playful eyes, “No,” she said , and for a moment, Desdemona was worried by her statement, due to her inability to detect standard sarcasm. But quickly, she took her sentence back, and Desdemona’s lips melted into a genuine smile again, like Rapunzel watching lanterns rise into the night sky as a little girl. That smile, but with a hint of when your dog licks the side of your face, but you call it a kiss because you are just that affectionate with your animal.
She rolled once over to get closer to her on the bed, sweetened by her loving words, and turned onto her side, wrapping her arm around Thalia’s torso with a very deliberate movement. She placed her chin on the girls’ shoulder, and lowered her forehead into the slope of her neck, ignorant to the images that she clicked through on the device. Softly, she suspired onto her shoulder. It was just something she did when she really loved the person she was embracing.
“Alright, let’s take a little journey through Wyndham together,” she said, her tone light and playful.
Desdémona angled her chin back up, but still didn’t take herself off of Thalia. The top of her head met the hybrid space shared by her brown hair and her right ear, watching the slideshow of pictures play. They were each special in different ways, capturing the feelings that Thalia had and Desdémona craved to understand. They saw the garden, the students, and the architecture of Wyndham without even having to leave her bed. How beautiful it was to spectate, and see without being perceived.
“Here,” Thalia said, pausing on a particularly scenic shot of the sunset painting the sky in hues of pink and gold, “is where we’ll make countless memories together.” Desdemona laughed, enchanted by the pieces of herself that Thalia had showed her, and then her expression sobered, knowing that Thalia expected more of a response from her.
She backed up a bit, and then cupped Thalia’s cheek, similar to the way that the girl had touched her earlier, and then turned her face around so that she was looking at her. A smile cracked on her lips when they saw each other. “I can’t wait.”