"Mmm, but--" Abasi looked up at Loren with a hint of a smile on his lips. "--She has not killed you yet. I do not doubt at all if she wished to truly she would." While it was clearly not an ideal relationship, he felt it could probably be worse - tolerating was at least a form of getting along.
His lips opened to explain his use of 'lovesick', but Abasi realised he did not have an explanation other than...well. One that he did not feel prepared to give. "In truth I do not know how to be childlike. Even as a child, I was focused on my future and my studies." In fact, he only really had one memory of careless youth and it was hardly wholesome nor typical.
Loren's squeeze of his knee, his soft words...Abasi wasn't sure he believed them, but they drew a smile from him anyway. "Oh, they did. You would not believe the ways I have changed since arriving here. As for regrets? ...Mmm. I do not know. I don't think I'd like to be married to any of the women I rejected, yet I did not know them well. Maybe I could have found happiness with one." He shrugged. "If I was destined to end up in this world anyway, it is probably for the best. I would leave a woman without a husband and my own heart broken."
Hearing the answer he had hoped for to his question, Abasi hesitated for just a second before explaining: "Well. The house beside my Mortuary...it is empty and the structure within is sturdy enough that one could live there. I've been going in to clean it every so often. Originally I thought it might make good storage, but then it came to me that...it might...make a good home. A suitable place..." Slowly he rose his eyes to meet Lorens. "For the both of us. The manor feels awfully like it does not belong to the either of us. You would be away from your family, we could...attempt to do something akin to starting new...I..." Uncertainty was not common in Abasi's tone, but it crept in at the edges.
"I suppose you might consider this too fast. I am just...suggesting the idea." He was suddenly very interested in his sandwich, though he still watched Loren carefully, wanting to see the Summoner's answer.
ABASI
it's sad to know that we are not alone
it's sad to know there's no honest way out
