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[illithidnapped]

[The temptation's there, pressed to the edge of his tongue. He could say it was harmless, that he never set out to hurt her, or to do anything but ensure they'd both be on their best behavior.

Instead his fangs grit where they're pressed tight against one another, silence settled so heavily across his shoulders that it almost feels like a shroud.]

All right. [Set down like stone, and just as weighted.]

I won't.

[He doesn't promise. Doesn't swear it. But in his world, oaths and apologies are only ever false flattery. Entirely empty at their core.

So he chooses not lean on them now.]

[notathreat]

[She doesn't miss the lack of a promise, or the heaviness of his words. Just like she didn't miss the way he called her by her name, or the quality of the silence now.

Ellie swallows back the feeling, fights it down, and takes a deep breath. Lets her fingers relax from where they're biting into her palms.]

Okay.

[illithidnapped]

[Okay.

And he takes it as a sign that this is it. This is as far as the both of them can crawl tonight— between his fear and her own, and the exhaustion that it brings, dragging them both down to the barest marrow of themselves.

All he offers is a low sound. A kind of hum in concession. Or finality. Or...whatever this is they're trading off when everything else is done and dusted.]

Goodnight, then, darling.

[A pause, before:]

Sweet dreams.

[notathreat]

Goodnight.

[They both sound wrenched dry. Neither of them have anything left tonight. She's not upset anymore, not really. Not in any way that won't boil off overnight.

Still, she's unlikely to sleep for hours yet, her thoughts a fuzzy static.]

You too. When you get there.