Coffee. I can't live without it.

A self care night.

I'd have to say April 25. Because it's not too hot, not too cold

Nikolai tilts his head in consideration, listening closely. The lack of title grates on him, the way she doesn’t even look him has him yearning to grasp her by the face to force her to look at him as she speaks. But he doesn’t move. This situation doesn’t call for a reactionary response, it calls for collaboration and even in his current state, a part of him knows that and that fact has him anchored where he sits. Nikolai is silent until the very last word leaves her mouth and she comes to a natural pause, giving her the time and space to express herself, as promised. When she finally looks up at him, he leans forward a bit, “One, you know I don’t mince words. You know I’m quite blunt when I want to be and I don’t waste time with frilly language. I don’t regret what I said but perhaps I could have been a bit more approachable. I’ll admit that. You have my apology for any hurt you’re feeling. And before you mention your sister, I have reached out to her already.” He pauses before continuing. “What would you like for me to do, Quinn?” His tone is even, not a hint of malice in his words. “What are you looking for here? Do you expect me to lay my head on your shoulder and pathetically regale you with the tales of how almost everything has gone to utter shit? I’m the Dominant, in case you’ve forgotten. You are the submissive. Meaning I make the rules and you follow them. I tell you what I want to tell you and you listen. I maintain control, I take care of you. And quite frankly? Even if I were the type to lean on a submissive, leaning on someone who left is a bit of a challenge, no matter what the reasons were. I say that not to throw it in your face but- that hasn’t gone away. It is still there, looming. Each and every time you spend the night and my eyes take longer than five seconds to find you…” I’m worried you’ve run off again. The rest dies on his tongue. A slight nod of his head to signal that he’s done for the moment and that it’s her move. 

There’s a muscle in Quinn’s jaw that ticks as she has to hold her tongue from lashing out. She isn’t sure how many more times she can stand to have her mistake brought back up as if it isn’t something he can move past. “If you’re constantly waiting for other shoe to drop, almost expecting me to walk out in the middle of the night, then why are we even trying in the first place? I’m not sure what else you want me to do to prove to you that I’m not leaving.” She sighs and leans back with her hands bracing her weight against the floor and her head drops back, her eyes staring up at the ceiling. Her movements seem to offend the little fur ball in her lap who hops up and trots over to curl up somewhere near Nik’s feet and resumes her nap. Quinn watches and rolls her eyes before looking back up the ceiling. “That is all well and good, but what good are you going to be to me if you can’t even take care of yourself?” Her hands comes up and to gesture around her. She is an observant person so it didn’t take her but a few seconds of being in his room and seeing even the faintest hint of things being out of place. She can only take that as an extension of his mental well being because he won’t tell her anything else. She realizes her words could be a little harsh and she sits up to look at him to let him know she has no ill intention. “What I mean to say is what happens, and I’m not saying this will happen, but what happens if you have a breakdown from shouldering the responsibilities for everyone else? How are you ever going to take care of anyone else at that point if it ever gets that bad? I’m not looking for you to talk to me in the same manner you would your family or even your Dominant friends. I’m not looking for you to become some soft spoken Dominant who thinks everyone is made out of sunshine and rainbows because if I wanted that then I wouldn’t be here. However, I am looking for you to let me be there for you. Yes I am the submissive, but you wanted me because I’m a strong submissive, correct? So then let me be that for you when you need it. Please.” Quinn is grateful she has long since learned to compartmentalize her emotions, or else she may have started to cry. She shifts in her seat, wanting to close the distance between the two of them to sit at his feet with her head in his lap. She knows it would ground her when everything going on in her head felt like utter chaos, but she wants to get all of this out first.

Ahsan: Uh, yeah. Horror is good with me. We'll have to check with Dan too, but I'm on board. If not there are plenty of other options.

AHSAN: Hey there! From the looks of things, you're 1/3 of our Valentines Trio! I'd like to hear your thoughts, you can tell me what you're looking for from this, and we can go from there. Speak your mind, I'm not judging, just feeling things out.

Yeah? I see you got yourself a yapper. 

I’ve only had her for a day but I would already die for her. 

And she finally speaks. He was wondering when she may open her mouth. The issue is that what comes out of her mouth takes him by surprise, though he doesn’t allow that to show on his face. Ah yes. The one hour allowance he’s permitted for her to say whatever she’d like, in whatever manner she’d like. Something he suspects may soon become the bane of his existence, if her opening statement is anything to go by. As per usual as of late, he wears a practiced yet cold look and glances up from his book after memorizing the page number. He places it to the side and gestures with a small motion of his hand and slightly raised brows. I disagree, but- “Continue.” 

Quinn understands she has the opportunity to say what’s her mind in a rude way if she truly wants to, but the problem is she doesn’t want to. If it were anyone else, she would be trying to cut them down, attack them where she knows it would hurt them the most, but she couldn’t bring herself to do that with Nikolai. Taking a few moments, she thinks about how to wants to articulate herself. “I get that you’re going through something because of everything going on,” she had figured that he had something going on with Genevieve given their spectacle a little while ago and the way he had responded only confirms her suspicious, but that isn’t her problem. “The problem is how dismissive you are when you are going through something. The way you worded things was rude even for you. It was almost hurtful.” And I can’t spend the rest of my life with someone who can do easily dismiss me. She doesn’t look up from the dog in her lap and the smile on her face doesn’t match the tone of the conversation at all. “I haven’t quite figured out if you know that you do it, but I find it hard to believe that you would be so unaware of who you are as a person so that leads me a line of other questions. Does he mean to hurt people? Does he do it because he wants to appear strong? Does all of this come from his traditionalist views? Or does he truly not know?” She finally looks up at him. “So which one is the question I should be asking?”