Rolled 11, 7, 2, 19, 14, 13 = 66 (6d20)
>>5986218>>5986226>>5986229>>5986218Maybe it’s the swell of confidence you’re still feeling from taking stock of your accomplishments, but you decide not to let this matter lie. You might not be quite the social butterfly that Costella Fanucci is, but you’re not quite so awkward as Izirina Henzler, and that means you clearly recognize exactly what she’s doing… Maybe even before SHE does, in fact.
“Izzy,” you say, “you’re being a little passive aggressive.”
Your tone is gentle, but Izirina still recoils as if slapped. Costella gasps softly, and raises her hands to her mouth. You bristle a little, realizing that in some ways the relationship dynamic between the three of you has become a little unhealthy... No, it’s ALWAYS been like this.
Well, maybe not always; when you were younger, you weren’t afraid to butt heads with Izzy—‘Henzler’, as you more often called her—and you were NEVER afraid to call her out. Sometimes you were even a little unfair about it, you realize with hindsight and in light of newer, fonder feelings. As you got to know about her history, her adoptive stepmother, and her chimeric ‘condition’, and as your envy turned to fascinating and then to love, that all shifted. You began to walk on eggshells around her, to keep things from her to spare her feelings or avoid confrontation. Well, no longer.
“I am not,” Izirina says stiffly. “I’m just focused on the trip which the two of you both promised me as a way of making up for—”
“For nothing, Izirina,” you say. “this trip isn’t to ‘make up’ for anything. It’s because we love you, and want to spend time together, with you, doing something we all enjoy.”
“So you don’t even think you’ve doing anything WRONG?” Izzy demands, voice low and cold.
(There it is.)
“Iz, we just—” Costella begins.
“We ended up in town later than expected,” you interrupt, shooting Costella an apologetic look but not yet willing to relinquish the reins of the conversation, or to cede to her more conciliatory instincts. “We stayed at an inn. We were attacked by Costella’s ‘other suitor, if you can call him that. It was a bit of a debacle, but we got it sorted out.”
Izzy’s eyebrow raise slightly at the mention of the attack, and you think you see a flicker of concern pass across her otherwise rigid features, but then she simply turns away again.
“Of course,” she says. “You have nothing to fear from any layperson, Tips. We both know that. I was never worried about you.”
“Not about our well-being, maybe,” you say.
Izirina reaches into one of her robe’s many hidden pockets, withdrawing her shaded glasses. She flips open the arms and raises them to her face.
“What else is there to worry about?” she asks coldly.
