River wiggles her eyebrows at Ned's not quite covered laughter. "Whatever it is," she repeats mischievously, reaching over to poke him in the knee this time, "smells an awful lot like peach pie in the middle of the night."
Of course she immediately erupts into giggles again at Ned's question; in her mind this is going to be a 'gangsters!' moment for Ned, as he's actually seen Charles and Erik interact together, but then again? Maybe not. Either way she has to let all that laughter out before she can consider the benefits and drawbacks of circumventing her promise to the two. Namely that she wouldn't tell.
"Don't tell anyone and don't tell Erik I told you." A pause. "No. Don't volunteer, that I told you to him, if he asks be honest. Always be honest." Ned is her brother, and her dearest friend, so she can trust him to keep it to himself. Even if he didn't, the most reasonable connection would be to Daneel, who may or may not already be aware of Erik's 'fondness' for Charles, and thus isn't much of a concern anyway. The rest of Ned's housemates? Are variables, with variating connections to the pair or to her, but she simply shakes off the idea that she'll have to concern herself with that information spreading too rapidly. "If Charles asks he half knows so may as well say it."
River gives Ned a beat to let that sink in (and to see if he adds all whole numbers to infinity and comes up with negative one over twelve). "Charles was the first like himself Erik ever met and that could've been enough? He thought he was alone, an the path he's on is immovable from beneath his feet, but he only saw the end of that path and nothing else. No continuations, no future. Driving and driven, it was all Erik knew and then he met Charles.
It would be enough! It would be enough for what most people see when they look at the two of them, this friendship that checks and balances against itself constantly, harmonizing or unwinding in tandem like the unzipping of deoxyribonucleic acid. It would be enough, but ...but Charles showed him the truth, that Erik could rewind entire planetary pathways if he so chose, that there was more to him than the anger that had been the linchpin for so long. He gave him back things he'd thought he'd lost. Emotions and memories and showed him the limitless depths of what he could do and Charles ...Charles loves so much, but he loves Erik in a way he could never turn from."
River sets her plate down and lays on the table, covering her eyes. "They are contradictory and complimentary and even when they fight I just want to shout because it's better than a fairy tale it's real. But I can't, because Charles turns red and Erik makes faces and they made me promise that I wouldn't but maybe this'll be good. Maybe this will be the opposite of history that Erik has seen."
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Of course she immediately erupts into giggles again at Ned's question; in her mind this is going to be a 'gangsters!' moment for Ned, as he's actually seen Charles and Erik interact together, but then again? Maybe not. Either way she has to let all that laughter out before she can consider the benefits and drawbacks of circumventing her promise to the two. Namely that she wouldn't tell.
"Don't tell anyone and don't tell Erik I told you." A pause. "No. Don't volunteer, that I told you to him, if he asks be honest. Always be honest." Ned is her brother, and her dearest friend, so she can trust him to keep it to himself. Even if he didn't, the most reasonable connection would be to Daneel, who may or may not already be aware of Erik's 'fondness' for Charles, and thus isn't much of a concern anyway. The rest of Ned's housemates? Are variables, with variating connections to the pair or to her, but she simply shakes off the idea that she'll have to concern herself with that information spreading too rapidly. "If Charles asks he half knows so may as well say it."
River gives Ned a beat to let that sink in (and to see if he adds all whole numbers to infinity and comes up with negative one over twelve). "Charles was the first like himself Erik ever met and that could've been enough? He thought he was alone, an the path he's on is immovable from beneath his feet, but he only saw the end of that path and nothing else. No continuations, no future. Driving and driven, it was all Erik knew and then he met Charles.
It would be enough! It would be enough for what most people see when they look at the two of them, this friendship that checks and balances against itself constantly, harmonizing or unwinding in tandem like the unzipping of deoxyribonucleic acid. It would be enough, but ...but Charles showed him the truth, that Erik could rewind entire planetary pathways if he so chose, that there was more to him than the anger that had been the linchpin for so long. He gave him back things he'd thought he'd lost. Emotions and memories and showed him the limitless depths of what he could do and Charles ...Charles loves so much, but he loves Erik in a way he could never turn from."
River sets her plate down and lays on the table, covering her eyes. "They are contradictory and complimentary and even when they fight I just want to shout because it's better than a fairy tale it's real. But I can't, because Charles turns red and Erik makes faces and they made me promise that I wouldn't but maybe this'll be good. Maybe this will be the opposite of history that Erik has seen."