#jilljo

"What did you do to her?" She asked, tilting her head.

"She practiced narrative jumping with Sarah, I didn't do anything beyond making sure neither of them got irreversibly lost in the strands of the metaverse."

Jill rolled her eyes, and yet, the smile didn't fade. If Lloyd had looked up from his book, he'd question what was making the woman so determined, rather than the goals she normally flittered to and from at the slightest distraction, or maybe he'd ask why there was such a glint in her eye, a rare one that didn't exactly promise mischief.

"Leinie?" Jill gently called as she knocked on the door to the room that Marjolein had claimed in this narrative. There was no response, her lips quirking into a small frown.

Maybe she was just asleep, Jill understood the appeal of afternoon naps and early nights more than anyone, and yet, it wouldn't be the first time Marjolein had woken at the sound of Jill's voice, excited to meet with her girlfriend, even if it was in the middle of the night.

"Leinie?" She called again. No response. She couldn't even hear movement on the other side.

A few steps to the side and a glance down the hall told her the door to the bathroom was open, so she wasn't in there. A quick dash downstairs told her that she wasn't in the kitchen, where Jill could steal any food she'd made, claiming she was hungry, and that if Marjolein wanted it back she could kiss her for it. Sarah was alone in the backyard, if Jill didn't count the horse in a farming field next door she was trying to lure over with a bag of apples and carrots.

Maybe Marjolein was just out. Maybe Lloyd had missed her leaving. Maybe Jill would have to wait until dinner - or after that, when they weren't all sat around the dinner table - or even after that, when Marjolein and Raven had finished tackling dishes duty together, inevitably resulting in one of them with wet sleeves and the other with wet hair.

Jill couldn't help but sulk slightly, as she made the journey back upstairs, pushing open the door to the room she had, intending to finally put away the spell ingredients she had found on her journey.

She paused in the doorway.

Marjolein lay, curled up on top of the unmade blankets on Jill's bed, her chest steadily rising and falling.

Jill stood, staring for a long few moments. At the messy hair and crumpled clothes and the uncomfortable position of her girlfriend.

And then she grinned once more.

Marjolein's eyes fluttered as Jill sat on the bed, disturbed by the dipping of the mattress, but Jill just gave a small hushing sound, pushing a strand of hair out of her face.

"Couldn't sleep in your own room?" Jill teased.

"I missed you." Marjolein's eyes were still half closed as she spoke, her voice little more than a sleepy mumble.

"It was only a few days, Leinie."

Marjolein opened her eyes wide enough to lightheartedly glare at the woman.

"I'm coming with you next time."