Kylun sings to Paige
Jun. 8th, 2005 10:42 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsAfter a heavy work out, Kylun comes to see Paige for their daily bedtime reading. But they're sleepy. Yes, that's correct, more mush. Mushmushmush. You secretly like it.
Bone-tired, Kylun might have been from a grueling Danger Room session, his fur slightly damp from a long, hot shower, but he still had time – made time – to look in on Paige, as he tried to do every day. He entered her room quietly, so as not to wake her from her rare and fitful sleep, and smiled warmly as he saw that she was in fact awake. "Hello, Paige," he said, fingers brushing the cover of a book lying on a small table near the door. "How are you feeling tonight? Would you like me to read to you?"
"I was waiting," she said quietly, this newer husk seeming to absorb everything that passed her lips, making it sound like it came from a distance. Sitting up a little, she moved over to make room for him, at the same time reaching to the foot of the bed for the buffer they'd invented – a rather flexible mattress pad so the shards of diamond jutting from her at odd angles wouldn't hurt him – and pulling it up and around her. "I'm about as tired as you look, honestly. I like the shampoo that you're using."
"No improvement without effort," Kylun said wryly, settling himself comfortably onto the bed. "But I will be feeling the cost of today's improvement tomorrow." He stifled a yawn. "In truth, I do not know if I can read to you for very long tonight, but I will, if that is what you wish."
Paige shook her head with what vaguely translated to a gentle smile; it was hard to tell like this, unless you saw her often. "That's all right. I think I can free you a little early, given my respect for what I'm assuming made you so tired," she said, a hint of her former cheekiness in there – did the cute little farm girl just elude to, oh, surely not – before adding a small yawn of her own. On top of how hypocritical it would be for her to deny him a premature retreat, given it was training, she also remembered how she had managed a double dose of reading time yesterday. "Could you just... stay until I fall asleep? Maybe?"
Even through the near-black diamond of Paige's face, the wistful expression showed through, and his heart went out to her as it always did. Just so had he asked Zz'ria to stay with him, when the nightmares threatened; just so, he imagined, he would have stayed with the child he and Sa'tneen would never have. "Of course I will," he said gently. "Until you fall asleep – and perhaps a little longer," he added, chuckling around another yawn, "if I fall asleep myself. But perhaps I can avoid that . . ." Softly, he began a traditional lullaby of the monastery, the ancient language's hissing consonants and musical vowels as soothing as a gentle snowfall.
Smiling at him in a mixture of emotions, appreciation and adoration at the top of the list, Paige let herself snuggle into her blankets and pillows, mindful of where the barrier between them was through overly cautious previous experience. Her eyes had already been sleepy when he'd appeared, but now she allowed them to close, the gentle sounds he gave her beckoning her towards a sound slumber. "Thank you," she murmured, just as she had done every night so far.
Kylun smiled through his song, repeating the gentle verse until he was sure she was asleep. The familiar song was lulling him, as well, and Paige's gentle breathing seemed to be pulling his eyes closed.
If he moved, Kylun thought, she might wake up, and that would defeat the point. If he stayed, she might have a better chance at restful sleep, and if he were needed elsewhere, or if Paige's therapy required that he leave, Jean would tell him. A short nap would not hurt, and if she woke, and needed someone, he would be there.
As Kylun drifted off to sleep, his song changed, and his voice with it, though he would not remember in the morning. Rahne or Moira might have recognized the song, and could easily have placed the Edinburgh accent, if either had been there to hear; but the woman's voice, soft and rather more loving than musical, even Kylun himself would not have remembered, except perhaps as a rumor of comfort in the dim memories of his earliest dreams.
Bone-tired, Kylun might have been from a grueling Danger Room session, his fur slightly damp from a long, hot shower, but he still had time – made time – to look in on Paige, as he tried to do every day. He entered her room quietly, so as not to wake her from her rare and fitful sleep, and smiled warmly as he saw that she was in fact awake. "Hello, Paige," he said, fingers brushing the cover of a book lying on a small table near the door. "How are you feeling tonight? Would you like me to read to you?"
"I was waiting," she said quietly, this newer husk seeming to absorb everything that passed her lips, making it sound like it came from a distance. Sitting up a little, she moved over to make room for him, at the same time reaching to the foot of the bed for the buffer they'd invented – a rather flexible mattress pad so the shards of diamond jutting from her at odd angles wouldn't hurt him – and pulling it up and around her. "I'm about as tired as you look, honestly. I like the shampoo that you're using."
"No improvement without effort," Kylun said wryly, settling himself comfortably onto the bed. "But I will be feeling the cost of today's improvement tomorrow." He stifled a yawn. "In truth, I do not know if I can read to you for very long tonight, but I will, if that is what you wish."
Paige shook her head with what vaguely translated to a gentle smile; it was hard to tell like this, unless you saw her often. "That's all right. I think I can free you a little early, given my respect for what I'm assuming made you so tired," she said, a hint of her former cheekiness in there – did the cute little farm girl just elude to, oh, surely not – before adding a small yawn of her own. On top of how hypocritical it would be for her to deny him a premature retreat, given it was training, she also remembered how she had managed a double dose of reading time yesterday. "Could you just... stay until I fall asleep? Maybe?"
Even through the near-black diamond of Paige's face, the wistful expression showed through, and his heart went out to her as it always did. Just so had he asked Zz'ria to stay with him, when the nightmares threatened; just so, he imagined, he would have stayed with the child he and Sa'tneen would never have. "Of course I will," he said gently. "Until you fall asleep – and perhaps a little longer," he added, chuckling around another yawn, "if I fall asleep myself. But perhaps I can avoid that . . ." Softly, he began a traditional lullaby of the monastery, the ancient language's hissing consonants and musical vowels as soothing as a gentle snowfall.
Smiling at him in a mixture of emotions, appreciation and adoration at the top of the list, Paige let herself snuggle into her blankets and pillows, mindful of where the barrier between them was through overly cautious previous experience. Her eyes had already been sleepy when he'd appeared, but now she allowed them to close, the gentle sounds he gave her beckoning her towards a sound slumber. "Thank you," she murmured, just as she had done every night so far.
Kylun smiled through his song, repeating the gentle verse until he was sure she was asleep. The familiar song was lulling him, as well, and Paige's gentle breathing seemed to be pulling his eyes closed.
If he moved, Kylun thought, she might wake up, and that would defeat the point. If he stayed, she might have a better chance at restful sleep, and if he were needed elsewhere, or if Paige's therapy required that he leave, Jean would tell him. A short nap would not hurt, and if she woke, and needed someone, he would be there.
As Kylun drifted off to sleep, his song changed, and his voice with it, though he would not remember in the morning. Rahne or Moira might have recognized the song, and could easily have placed the Edinburgh accent, if either had been there to hear; but the woman's voice, soft and rather more loving than musical, even Kylun himself would not have remembered, except perhaps as a rumor of comfort in the dim memories of his earliest dreams.
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