Allen slowly opened his eyes on another day, surprised to find his vision completely absent of the usual morning blur. He flexed every part of his body to make sure it all still worked. His legs were a bit sore, but that was expected. In fact, he'd probably feel a bit robbed if they weren't.
His hand wandered around the bed, but didn't find Val next to him. Lifting his head, he saw her standing up, dressed in her usual skimpy outfit, staring out the small window into the world. He allowed himself a little smile. No woman could stand like Val, so sure of her body, uncaring if either no one or everyone was staring at her with so much exposed and six extra limbs. It wasn't a show she put on, either. Just a natural state that was so uniquely her.
"Can't say that's ever happened to me before," said Allen while he sat up.
Val turned from the window, eyes a touch vacant as they landed on him. "What are you talking about?"
"Cumming so hard I passed out." He yawned. "I figure I should've at least had the strength to flop over and stare at the ceiling for a while."
"I do tend to have that effect on people." There's the grin. Allen wanted to make a snide comment about her morning attitude, but decided letting it go once in a while might not be too bad. Besides, this was a pretty great morning.
"Doing some people-watching?"
"People-watching?"
Allen fumbled with clothing himself before walking over to Val. "Yeah. Watching people. Kinda self-explanatory." He got up on his toes to look out the window, curious if there was anything in particular that might have caught her attention. Nothing stuck out. "Well, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't mind every day ending like yesterday." He practically skipped to the kitchen, bypassing the coffee and nabbing a bagel. Plopping himself down at his small table, he rested his feet on it and smiled up at Val who'd gone back to staring out the window.
"I did enjoy it."
"'I did enjoy it'? Damn, woman, you almost sound disappointed. I know I ain't some kind of sex fiend, but I'm not a limp fish, either!"
"Sorry, I didn't mean it that way. It enjoyed it thoroughly."
Allen narrowed his eyes. "So what was that little hesitation for right while we were in the middle of things?"
"Sorry?"
"We were going light speed, hot and heavy, everything was great, and then you froze up."
"Yes, I do remember it. I'm afraid my mind had run off for a moment." Her gaze turned away from the window, but not to Allen. "I am sorry. I do not mean to annoy you or be dismissive. Yesterday was wonderful and I would do it again in a heartbeat."
"I hear a 'but' in there."
"But I feel a touch irresponsible at the timing. Right after I found out my sister was on the loose, I went and enjoyed a nice dinner? There are much more important things for me to be doing."
"You know, it's okay to take a day off every now and then. Do that whole 'relax' thing. I remember a certain night when you all but forced me to take it easy."
"You were being unreasonable."
"And you aren't now? I mean, yeah, we're in a pretty tough spot here, but that doesn't mean we've gotta spend every waking moment worrying about it." He stuffed his face with more bagel.
Val's demeanor had gone right back to what he'd seen when they'd gone to find Lust. It annoyed Allen just thinking about it. Val—the perky, reasonable, funny chick who'd run around the city with him, somehow not only tolerating his rough edges but forgiving the transgression that first brought them together as well—turned into a hopeless pessimist the moment she thought about her sister. Not only did it make him queasy to see her face fall and hear the life drain from her voice, but the way she dismissed every practical suggestion thrown her way made Allen want to punch a hole in the wall.
"I have been thinking. About my sister."
"No shit."
She shot him a disparaging gaze before continuing. "My methods have shamed me to such extremes, all I can think about is if I made the right choice, took the right path. And even if I did, did I act in a fashion of cruelty or merit?" All of her arms dropped to her sides, limp. "The spirits of old are still out there, somewhere, somehow. The fact that humanity still thrives is proof of it. They are fickle, Allen. Nosy. Curious. Absolute. Part of me wonders if this is a chance they gave me to reform myself."
Allen slowly sat up, eyes sharpening with focus. "What are you saying?"
"I think I should try something else with my sister. Perhaps I need not imprison her again."
"Woah there! I get she's your sister. I get it's not easy putting her back in whatever limbo you had her in, especially knowing that's where you're headed too. But if what you told me about her is true, this is the fate of the entire human race you're playing with. Not cool!"
She turned to Allen, eyes pleading. "It's been so many years, though. She may have changed her mind, just like I'm thinking about changing my own!"
"Yeah, and maybe she hasn't, and when you go to her with eight open arms and she shanks you in the heart, where's that put humans?" He shook his head furiously "Damn, Val, this is not the time for cold feet!"
"Shank me?" She placed four hands on her hips and loomed over Allen. "She's my sister! She would never try to kill me! She knows just as well as I the balance between us must be maintained!"
"Oh, she wouldn't kill you? Just like you'd never try to imprison her? If you know her so well, why don't you tell me why she decided to fuck over the human race? Or, even better, talk her out of it? This is reality, not your dream world, and in reality, people don't just change." He shoved his face into hers and jabbed at her chest with a finger.
"Spirits are not people."
"Oh, so you're better than us?"
"I believe by definition we are superior."
"Ah, I get it." Allen thumbed his nose and paced around the room. If he stood in Val's face any longer he was liable to do something stupid. "Humans are expendable. Why should you care about them?" He threw his hands up. "Shit, why should I care? Not like I've got much to look forward to anyways."
The glare in Val's eyes cracked, if only a little. "Allen, I did not mean humans are worthless. But you must understand this is not the sort of conflict you could easily understand. What I did by imprisoning my sister was nothing less than a calamity among spirits."
"Yeah, no, I get it. It's fine. A lowly little human couldn't possibly understand you. God knows why I even tried."
"Please, don't take this the wrong way. I'm not trying to put the human race in jeopardy! Quite the opposite, in fact!"