Canāt articulate it yet but something about how quickly Dorian has gone fromĀ āew scary lady who keeps getting goo on meā toĀ āhuman pillow with perks.ā Because itās one thing to tolerate someone, even to like them to an extent and still - sheās basically made of fear, but whatever Dorian is afraid of looks nothing like her. Not really. Oh, when she tries itās a thing that happens, but heās learned a long time ago that the people trying to scare you are hardly ever the ones to actually fear. And this lady with too many bones and not enough cartilage to hold them - sheās nice like Fearne and kind like Orym, and he didnāt really think heād get luckier than he has with them and the two theyāve left for now but here they are. He certainly never imagined getting somewhat adopted by someone who drips goo and someone who can read his thoughts - two of his worst fears and deeply misplaced. Heās not scared of being dirty, heās scared of the faƧade slipping. Heās not scared of people who can read his mind, heās scared of what theyāll do with what they learn.
But Laudnaās grime comes off harmlessly and when he finds a spot heās missed he just huffs a little laugh to himself. Imogen looks away from him as he plays his flute in a way he knows is too intentional not to be focused on him. His fingers freeze for a moment, and then they relax again. Itās all vulnerability, and in the helplessness to do anything about his boundaries being pushed he finds that just maybe, with the right people, being heard when heās not speaking can be good. Can beā¦healing, maybe.
Laudna touches his shoulder and says Bertrandās death wasnāt his fault. He gives her a thin smile and looks at the dark handprint on his cloak for a long, long moment later before cleaning it off. When he rests his head on Laudnaās shoulder and feels the give of the socket, the crunch in his ear, he doesnāt even startle. The softness here has not much to do with the shape of Laudna; heād known what he was going in for when he leaned in the first place.
Through his cracked eyelids, he can see Imogen watching them with her chin in her hand. Her smile is partially obscured, but itās genuine in a way he suspects is rare from her. He would know - most of his tend to look like that too.