It was nice just to ... be like this. It
wasn't necessarily nice that she had been crying, that she unsettled her own emotions, and that she was trying to convince him to leave something he found entirely impossible, but this closeness afterward was comforting. He liked having her wrapped up in his arms. He liked listening to her regulate herself by breathing in and out.
Was the outburst doing anything for her argument?
No, not really. If anything, Fulgurite felt even more aware of what he'd be leaving behind if he did find a way out. He'd be like her -- without his biological family, forever, trapped into pining after being around them again ... forever. It was something that was hard to negotiate and he wasn't sure if he ever wanted to despite how much being in the Negaverse actively grated him and stressed him out. It was easier to just exist in it.
Because the situation was hopeless, as it always was, even if Nectaris herself was not.
At least she was letting it go for tonight.
"Good," Fulgurite's laughter was airy and untrue. "Wouldn't be able to, anyway. Not right now," if ever. How would he tell everyone who he was close to he was disappearing? Sorry Cryo, he had to leave now. Sorry Orah, he got a cool floral apprenticeship. Sorry Dad, he got offered a cross-country opportunity and he couldn't refuse it--
He shuddered.
"Just content to stay like this until it feels unsafe to do so."
He didn't know what he would do then.
