Let's Play!

Ansel smiled inspite of himself.

"I'm real glad about that. "

Willow smiled back a little before going back to eating her bagels.

"Thanks for the food."

"Absolutely. .... are you sure it's enough? "

Willow nodded.

"See? I'm already mostly better," she told him as she worked on the last half of her second sandwich.

Ansel looked dubiously at the plate. Maybe. It didn't feel like enough.

"What's the other feeling? "

He was catching echos from her, some sort of need, but he couldn't get it

Willow looked at the plate and the empty water glass and then at herself as though she'd never seen her own body before.

"What feeling?"

She covered her mouth after a second and let out a little burp.

".... that, I think. It's gone now? "

He offered in confusion. Oh if it was, that was something he hadn't anticipated. Maybe he needed to figure out what things were needs that the body did solo and which might need support from outside sources..... like himself.

Willow's embarrassment colored her cheeks.

"Um. Excuse me?"

She glanced down at her stomach.

"Surely you've burped before?"

"Yeah.... but that..... I didn't realize what it was. "

He admitted after a bit of thought

"my burps feel different from your burps?"

Ansel nodded sheepishly, looking at his wife.

"They must? Or maybe I don't notice mine? "

He was not trying to be difficult. He was still figuring it all out.

Willow cut him a sideways glance.

"I don't normally notice mine unless they're trapped and my stomach is uncomfortable."

Or they've been pointed out by someone.

Ansel nodded a slow motion nod as his eyes turned to search his wife.

"I'm so sorry. "

He offered, realizing that he might have made her feel uncomfortable.

Willow blinked a couple times in surprise, her insides relaxing.

"It's okay. I'm just..."

She shrugged and poked a crumb around her empty plate.

"Looking at me that close doesn't feel like a good idea. That's when you start to notice everything that just not quite right."

Willow wasn't feeling bad about herself at the moment so much as explaining.

Ansel leaned forward and kissed her.

"I love all of you. "

Willow slid the plate onto his lap with a little shake of her head.

"You've barely gotten started. It's only been one day."

"Welp. It's a choice. I chose to keep loving you. All of you."

Including burps and toots.

It was too big to swallow, so she just shrugged a little. She did smile some too, though, leaning forward to kiss him instead this time.

"I'd like to be that lucky."

Ansel nuzzled her after the kiss, looking completely content with his lot in life as he reached up to stroke her cheek.

"I hope to show it to you. "

He answered simply.

"I am sure you'll be just what you need to be," she answered supportively, if a bit noncommittally.

Willow lifted a shoulder and then got up again. She was tired, though not in any acute way. She just needed the break to continue instead of having to get right back to the hard parts. Driven enough by a subconscious instinct to fuel her needs, she wandered around the house before stopping to settle on the floor next to the window with the best view. She wasn't exactly ignoring him, but she was more focused on the outside.

"It's pretty here, even with the rain."

Ansel looked to the window, smiling to himself.

"I am glad we've had a nice place just for us to enjoy. "

He agreed, not pointing out that he was much more thankful to be able to see her

Willow cracked the window just enough to slide her fingers through, laying her head on the sill to breathe the thin waft of outside air.

"I like how it smells."

Ansel sniffed at the air, resembling a cat so strongly as he slank from bed to her side, sniffing again at the cracked window.

"It's crisp and clean. "

He sounded in agreement, though he was slightly unsure if she was also including the pine smell. He didn't love that bit. Almost offensive to his senses, honestly

Willow simply sat there for a while, brushing her fingers across the raindrops that splashed onto the outside sill.

"It makes me think of the forests around the citadel."

The thought drifted by, floating absently on a trickle of melancholy.

Ansel watched her, pulling her into his lap slowly.

"Do you want to go back there? "

He asked her gently, worried for her now.

"That place doesn't exist anymore."

Any feelings she had about it were mere echoes, the faintest remnants of something she'd come to terms with a long time ago. It no longer hurt. Just more of that soft melancholy.

"But the forests are similar. They both kind of... They feel like they have something a little special, at least in my opinion."

Ansel watched her, nuzzling his face into her hair after a bit.

/ It has changed greatly, but the land still stands. ..... this forest once houses many a creature. /

Still did, including fun little pixies, sprites, and brownies. The larger creatures no longer called it home, but the small and delicate more easily adapted to the humans and found space for themselves still.

Willow lifted the window a fraction more so she could still reach to touch the outside air.

"Well then, it's pretty for an empty forest."

Ansel couldn't help his chuckle as his mind pulled her in lightly to see memories of all the little glittery people he'd seen in this very forest. He shifted to lightly run his fingers up and down her arms, sharing all the other animals and critters.

/Scarcely empty, my dear love. /

"you said 'once housed' so I assumed it didn't anymore."

Willow tilted her head to the side as he showed her things.

"You've seen so much," she observed in awe, albeit somewhat wistfully.

"Not even a fraction of what I hope to share with you over the coming years. "

He promised with love.

Willow bit her barbell and lowered her eyes. She didn't loose her tongue until she'd found something simple and unassuming enough to say.

"Maybe just tomorrow."

But that was more than the single todays he'd been getting from her, so maybe it was still a win?

Ansel was happy with tomorrow, tilting her head back so he could steal a kiss or three from her, hugging her tight.

/ The pixies are close by....we could visit them later? /

Willow's chest hitched as his hand caught her under the jaw and tipped her back for those kisses.

/I... I don't know./

She was truly a little uncertain, but her hesitation was mostly from her trying to wade through the mental fuzziness caused by the rush of hormones that had caught her off guard.

Ansel couldn't help but snicket, nipping at her jaw.

"Well. We could do other things? "

/you said later?/ She pondered, turning the suggestions over in her head for a second before she processed the snicker.

"Why are you laughing at me?"

She even poked him as emphasis.

Ansel grinned.

"I had no idea you were this..... invested in my behaviors. "

He was certainly delighted by it.

"I'm pretty sure you did this to me. My body feels so different."

Pursed lips turned into a pout for a second before she glanced up at him and trailed a hand down her own front.

"You can't tell me that you're totally used to it all yet?"

Yes, it was a purposefully evocative thing to do. However, it was at least 75% rooted in a pure desire to antagonize him just a little bit. A tiny revenge.

Ansel growled deep in his chest, hand catching her own lighting on his grip.

/ Oh that's something that will never, ever grow old./

But unless she desired others, he intended to make the pixies wait.

Willow bit her lip in an effort not to grin with delight over her perceived triumph. Deep inside herself, the playful parts doused in hormones indulged the tiniest moment of imagining teasing him in response. Knowing it would be a mistake, she pushed the idea away just as quickly as it had formed, squirreling the thought away like a guilty pleasure.

No, she'd let him have what he wanted without any trouble.

"... There goes our streak for longest-amount-of-time-out-of-bed."