Re: (After)life: Nel L & Lear L
"It takes quite a lot to draw my interest," Nel said without demurring. There had been a time when she wasn't particularly picky, but that had ceased being the case long ago. "It takes quite a lot more to keep my interest," she added, and the information was offered up nonchalantly. She had nothing to prove, and she felt no pressure to be anything at all. It showed in the easy and careless way she moved upon that couch. This was her domain, but she was a woman who would be equally at ease beyond these walls. Power crackled at her fingertips, and her confidence was visible in posture and gaze, but it was an understated confidence that didn't feel the need to declare itself defensively.
Nel—Hel then—had missed him when he'd gone. She'd yearned for a good rain for nearly a year, and then she'd accepted that Uncle Ozzie was an unforgivable bastard. She'd been a dark thing as a child, but she hadn't been dreadful. After Jorgi went, she'd become quite a handful, and she suspected everyone was rather pleased when the time came for her to be sent on down to her realm. But the joke was on them, and now her brother was here. This little town and its wonders, so far it had not let Nel down.
She watched him wander, and she made a mental note to check the computer once he'd gone. "I haven't been to the Capital yet," she said, but she suspected he knew that, and then he was leaning against the sofa and her thumb was on his lower lip. Her hand drew away as he climbed over the back of the furniture, and she leaned forward to ash her cigarette on the ground. Must get an ashtray, she thought, and then she allowed herself the momentary pleasure of leaning against his shoulder. "I rather think there's more to playing than just devouring something whole," she told him, and then she leaned an elbow on the back of the couch, between them and with just enough space to twine a strand of unfamiliar blond from his crown around her fingers. "I want to go unnoticed." She offered that odd truth with a smile. She was hardly the type of woman to go unnoticed.