Loren's support was more welcome than Jigano was willing to admit aloud, but he only gave a slight shake of his head, finding a wistful smile for his Healing friend. "I... perhaps. But she is not the only one with impossible standards. I suppose that's why we have to work so hard for what comes so easily to others." He exhaled slowly, seeking to put into words feelings he usually shied away from examining. "Once, I considered her the closest thing I had to family in this strange world. Part of me still does, even now," he admitted quietly. Part of him still yearning for the closeness they'd once had. "Only Rory can wrap me more thoroughly around his finger than she can. But.. she never asked for that power over me. And... I don't know even now how to take back what I had never intended to give in the first place. It just... happened." He shrugged helplessly, but there was a rare blush on his face, embarrassment burning in the Attuned bond to be admitting something so personal and private aloud to another. It was weakness. It was a weapon, to be turned against him some day. But he made the decision to trust Loren in this, handing the summoner one of the few keys to the bard's heart. "Please... keep that to yourself," he asked, half aloud and half through the bond.
Future dinners might still be awkward because Sam could still manage to be a bit in the socially tactless side, but then again all three of them were guilty of that at one time or another. Jigano tilted his head in acknowledgment that at least any strained conversation would be for other reasons than previous romantic entanglements and left it at that.
"I don't think I've told anyone else about it, either," he admitted wryly. "It's not the sort of thing I share casually." A man of many secrets, was Jigano, but Loren was a friend, and one Jigano could finally relax around now that they'd been through trials and tribulations together and emerged stronger than ever from the ashes. "I hope it's something that you can work out without being in mortal danger, at least. Some of these shifts and magics seem to be stubborn that way." His voice rueful, he remembered his own bet with Remi, seasons back, as to who could find a shift that arose without calamity to trigger it first.
Future dinners might still be awkward because Sam could still manage to be a bit in the socially tactless side, but then again all three of them were guilty of that at one time or another. Jigano tilted his head in acknowledgment that at least any strained conversation would be for other reasons than previous romantic entanglements and left it at that.
"I don't think I've told anyone else about it, either," he admitted wryly. "It's not the sort of thing I share casually." A man of many secrets, was Jigano, but Loren was a friend, and one Jigano could finally relax around now that they'd been through trials and tribulations together and emerged stronger than ever from the ashes. "I hope it's something that you can work out without being in mortal danger, at least. Some of these shifts and magics seem to be stubborn that way." His voice rueful, he remembered his own bet with Remi, seasons back, as to who could find a shift that arose without calamity to trigger it first.
