eyemind | Sing them a riddle, something in minor and smooth

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Sing them a riddle, something in minor and smooth

WHO: Alex Reagan and Simon Reese [Closed.]
WHAT: Talking about what happened with the shadows and the demons.
WHERE: Simon's cabin on the fourth floor.
WHEN: Backdated to two days after the last event happened.
WARNINGS: Possible discussion of demons, the end of the world, sacred geometry, etc.

It takes Alex two days to work up the courage to head to Simon's floor to find him. What had happened, the nightmare that she'd been in has taken this long to be able to shake off to the level of actually going to physically face it again. She's been skipping meals in favor of stuff from the garden in order to avoid the fourth floor, and of course Alex hasn't slept a wink. Every time she tries to sleep, the old racing of her thoughts has been augmented by the new things that the nightmare had let her see, and the old thoughts were hard enough to deal with even without this new and fresh terror.

There is a reason that Alex hasn't slept in two years back home, and it sounds like she's still not sleeping in the future which is totally something to look forward to then! She's sure it will be fine just like now.

Simon being Simon, Alex knows that he's not going to talk to her. At the best of times, it can be hard to wring answers from him, and this is hardly the best of times. While she wishes that he'd come and find her rather than her going to go find him, she knows he's not going to do it. Still, it takes her two tries before she can even screw up the courage to take the step off the open door of the lift. Without meaning to, Alex closes her eyes and uses squared breathing in an effort to calm her racing heartbeat, but then she choses to keep them closed until she gets mostly down the hallway and through the crucible of shadows and fear to Simon's door. Knocking on it without preamble, Alex just adds quickly: "Simon, open up. We need to talk about what happened."

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During the ordeal Simon wasn't exactly going out, trapped as much as they were within the nightmares even if he was playing a wholly different function. It sapped an unreasonable amount of energy doing that whole entirely haunted nightmare ship thing, even if it wasn't intentional or even under his control. As it turned out, pairing two nightmare monsters together really wasn't one of Navi's greatest decisions.

Simon being Simon meant he was absolutely aggressively avoiding dealing with any of this. Partially because he was completely drained and exhausted now, so much so that the haunted hallway wasn't even especially haunted anymore, and partially because Simon did not have great coping skills. Seven years locked up in a hospital and he'd learned absolutely nothing other than being mute was an excellent way to avoid having to talk to anyone.

What if he just... didn't open the door? He could do that. Just not. He even considered for a very long time just not answering the door, or speaking up at all, and flat out pretending he wasn't even there. Eventually, after a very, very long time of Simon decidedly not answering the door latch would click open just a crack, a shadow scooting away in the darkness as he retreated without really opening the door fully.

It's as much of an invitation as she's going to get. If she were anyone else... well he just wouldn't have answered at all.

If there is one thing that Alex is aware of, it's that she knows that Simon wouldn't let anyone else in, possibly on the ship, possibly from the world. She knows that, and she knows that Simon probably doesn't even want to see her right now either and he's only letting her in because she's herself. Honestly, as much as she'd like to say that she wouldn't have blamed him if he didn't open the door, Alex knows herself and she knows that she can be a bit judgy, especially when she's scared and Alex has been powerfully scared over the last few weeks and it's not something that has gone away as much as she wishes that it wasn't. Wishing that she wasn't scared wasn't something that has ever worked for Alex Reagan, and it wasn't about to start now.

That said, if there's something that Alex is good at, and that has worked for her, it's that that she uses her fear as fuel. It doesn't ever go away, but she can work with it, and that's something that Alex is doing now. She's using her fear, and denying it the power over her in order to step into the door that Simon opened for her. She's using her fear to look at him and most importantly, Alex is using it not to blame him. While Alex doesn't doubt that he would do it to other people, she doesn't think that he would do it to her if he could have avoided it. Sure, Simon could make Alex cry, and he could scare her and manipulate her and twist her life around, but she doesn't think that he would leave her in that place. Without thinking about it, Alex makes sure that her sleeves are down so he doesn't worry about the scratches that had happened when she was so fucking afraid.

A slow deep breath and she peered into the shadows that he'd scurried into, and without saying anything at first, Alex reached into her blazer pocket and she pulls out a large bag of the closest things to M&Ms that she'd found on the last planet, and she offers him them because she knows without even asking that Simon hasn't been eating and some sugar is better than nothing.

He certainly doesn't want to see her right now. He doesn't want to see anyone, he just wants to hide in his shame until he can pull himself back together in private. Put his composure back in place, shove the emotions back down in the dark where they belong. Just like he always has, always does. It's better that way.

He doesn't really feel like talking. But he'll listen, if that's what she wants.

Unfortunately Navi was too small for him to disappear on properly. Couldn't just send himself around the world and disappear into some war-torn little country while he put his own machinations in place silently. Choosing only to speak when he's good and ready. Now Alex can track him down and probably pound on his door until he couldn't take the sound any longer. She'd hold it against him, probably, he knew that. There wasn't anything he could do to change what had happened.

He'll worry anyway, he just won't say anything about it. Just like he doesn't bring up a lot of things. As for the candy... he hesitates, but does take the offering gently before again retreating into the room expecting that she'll follow. He finds a chair to curl up in and wait for her to speak. Apparently Simon really isn't feeling up to speaking right now.

Alex follows, and she drops into a chair herself, watching him for a moment. She's not psychic, she doesn't have the same sort of powers that either Simon or Strand have but she's good at reading people, and now she'd add Simon to that number considering how he can't run away from her here about Navi even when he wished that he could. Honestly, Alex gets it, considering everything that he's been through, and how young he still is on the inside where it counts. He'd never learned to deal with anything well and Alex realizes that she's probably somewhere in the middle of the analogy of pots and kettles, but Simon takes it to extremes.

Knowing that she might need to hold this conversation in knocks even though they're once in the same room, Alex just pulls her knees up until she sits cross-legged and then she puts words to what she wants to say. Words are easier for her than most anything, considering Alex is probably going to liveblog the apocalypse when it finally hits (that she's caused at least in part) but it takes her a second to find and settle on the right thing to say when it comes to this. In the end, honestly Alex just keeps it simple, and she doesn't look away from him when she finally speaks.

"I know it wasn't on purpose, Simon. I know that you wouldn't do that to me if you could help it, even with all of the stuff from home that was involved with it. I don't blame you for it. At all." Alex rarely lies, and it's always clear in her face and voice when she really means something and she really does mean this.

Being psychic isn't necessary to reading people, it just helps when you're a socially stunted selective mute. He's definitely easier to read when he can't just hide behind a phone, voice message, or speaker. His security's been removed, and that definitely leaves him feeling far more vulnerable than he'd like to admit.

It's not as bad as being grilled by doctors day in and day out, but it's awfully close to equally as uncomfortable. No, Simon has no real coping skills and yes he is absolutely guilty of being a massive hypocrite. One of the worst, perhaps.

Simon did relax a little when she finally started talking, he'd been sitting hunched and staring that weird unblinking stare of his, shoulders hunched and tense. When she admitted she understood it wasn't intentional those did loosen, just a little, enough to show that he'd been dreading her accusing him for it.

Still silent, but a little more open, he watches her expectantly. If she didn't blame him, why was she there? She'd not said anything he could easily respond to with a yes or no so knocks weren't forthcoming just yet. He does look relieved that she's not blaming him.

Well, at least that was something. Alex herself looks a little relieved at that. Because of course there's more that she's going to say, it was just important to get the basis out there first. But the second part is more important, and Alex just keeps her focus on Simon. While she wishes that he was less than a touch me not, Alex doesn't breech the space to touch him right now. She knows that he's fragile, and she doesn't want to do anything that's going to make him feel worse. It's better just to have her say and let that be enough.

"You don't get to blame yourself either, though. Whatever happened, it was an accident, and you didn't so it on purpose." And then, just as importantly, because Alex is always going to Alex. "And if anyone else tries blaming you, they're going to have to go through me. Yeah, I'm short but I'm feisty and scrappy, and you shouldn't have to deal with anyone being an ass to you about this." Especially Strand if he tries, but Alex hides that truth in a half-joke.

Of course there's more. Alex didn't come all the way up there just to tell him she didn't blame him. That wasn't her way. Feeling a little better about things Simon did finally get around to opening the bag of candy Alex had brought him to nibble on a few pieces. He was pretty hungry, in a faint and distant kind of way. Like his physical body was less real now than the shadowy horror he was slowly blending into...

Maybe best not to think too hard about why that might be.

He does frown faintly at her insistence, considering quietly for a time before reaching out to tap gently on the table twice. No, he didn't do it on purpose, but also he couldn't completely agree to not blaming himself. If only a little. Simon wasn't the type to wallow in guilt, but he was responsible... even if indirectly.

Finally, after several more long moments of that awkward silence between them... "Are you alright?" He offered quietly. Yeah, at the end of it all Simon's more worried about Alex than himself. His fate is inevitable, hers... he doesn't know yet.

Okay. While Alex had thought that she was prepared for a conversation through knocks, the reality of it is something entirely different. His knocking causes something to twist up inside herself: a worried sort of pain that what had happened on Navi may have undone all of the ways that Simon had gotten better since she'd met him. Yes, he was someone who was far too easy with murder, and yes she wished that he'd be more open with her, but Alex knows that she wasn't lying when it came to calling Simon a friend in the third season of the show. Alex cares and she doesn't want him to retreat into silent despair.

So, Alex just bites her lip and forces herself to sit with him in silence until he decides to break it. Silence is never easy for Alex to provide because so much of her life involves talking and her words but if there's someone who has earned the effort of it, it's Simon Reese. Forgiving him, wanting him to forgive himself means that she accepts the fact that he's not ready to talk yet. But at least he'd started to eat something. Getting him actual food would have meant moving down the fourth floor to the kitchen and going past his door and Alex didn't want that for him.

Relief floods her when he asks her a question though, and Alex just gives him a little smile and nod. "I'm okay. Really. It was scary at the time, and felt hard to get out of, but my sleep is already so screwed up that it doesn't even matter at this point." A pause and she adds: "I'm way more worried about you than me."

Simon isn't so delicate he'd regress entirely, not that Alex knew that. Of course, that didn't stop him from slipping into old habits, sinking into being mute because honestly things were just easier that way. He couldn't just hang up when he didn't want to talk anymore, so this was all he had left.

Still... Alex deserved better than that. He'd inflicted nightmares upon her, unwillingly yes, but all the same it happened. Worse it just confirmed what they already knew was happening: Simon was losing himself. Would his mind go as well, or only his body? If it was the latter he could live with that. Somehow he'd make it work.

"No you're not," He responded pointedly, giving her one of those classic Simon unblinking stares. When she had been getting sleep, now she was back to being at her worst. That wasn't "okay" by a long shot. This place was supposed to be a break from all that. Besides, he knows living through those nightmares was worse than she was letting on. "You need to worry more about you." He's already lost.

"It's not like I haven't been living with for eighteen months, you know. I know how my brain is on this stuff, and honestly? This kind of feels more familiar than it doesn't." Alex just shrugs one-sidedly, her eyes not leaving his own. Simon's unblinking stares were entirely Simon and Alex tried to match them as best that she could. Of course she's not had the sort of time and practice at it as Simon has. Those nightmares were terrible, of course they were. Every fear that Alex Reagan had ever had was writ large as it could possibly be during that nightmare. And what was worse was that for the most part Alex felt alone.

She faced down the metaphorical end of the world alone. Alex Reagan is well aware that this story is leading her into the most dangerous places that could be for someone like her. That wasn't...well, it wasn't fine but she'd had plans for facing Tiamat or whatever head on. The difference is that Alex had expected that for better or worse Richard and yes, Simon would have been with her. One of Alex's greatest fears was that something would happen to them, or worse: that they would abandon her to it.

And in the nightmare, they did.

Letting out a little shudder, because she didn't want to think about that anymore, Alex just rubs her hands across her blazer and she shivers before Alex takes that fear and changes it. If there's one thing that Alex Reagan has done consistently it's been to transform her fear into a battery to power up what she felt like needed to be done next. Back home, it had been the story, and now it's trying to save Simon.

"Listen, I've been doing a lot of thinking, and there has got to be a way to stop this. Like somehow, and I'm not going to give up on you, Simon Reese. I'm going to make sure that you see sunsets and you're not going to become just that. But I think I figured out something that I've been wondering about for a long time."

Alex unfolds her legs from her chest and she stands up and walks over to him, and then she holds out her hand to him. "And I think I may be able to at least do something about it."

Simon just gives her a look that clearly said 'that's not a good thing, Alex.' Not that he can really talk, Simon Reese is equally bad at taking proper care of himself and or getting enough sleep. Or food, for that matter. Even so, he was going to give her that look all the same. In Simon's opinion he was allowed to fall apart, he was just a mental patient after all. Alex Reagan was once upon a time a well respected journalist. Now shamed in the eyes of her peers, yes, but he still respected her for who she was and what she was capable of.

As for the nightmares themselves there hadn't been a whole lot he could do to interfere, spread thin as he was. It had been like being taffy pulled out across the entirety of the ship. He could touch them all, but trying to maintain enough coherence to interact was an exercise in futility. Simon didn't have the kind of hunger that Jack's Beast did, nor the ability to gobble it all up like that. Otherwise he would have tried to not let Alex be alone for hers.

"What did you figure out?" He ventured, nibbling on a few more space M&Ms. He watched her, obviously perplexed when she came up to him and offered her hand. For the moment he just looked at her, clearly unsure what he was supposed to do.

"What?" Simon take her hand you doofus.

"Take it." A beat, because come on Simon, really? "My hand I mean. Also I know that I'm probably making a lot of leaps here and every other thing that Richard would say about my gut instincts and processes, but whatever." Alex just watches him, with the clear idea that she wasn't going to tell him about what she thinks she's figured out until she may or may not be able to prove it. Damn, that was probably something else that she'd picked up from Richard.

Oh well.

Alex's face is serious, and her eyes don't shift away from his own, for once almost holding her own with that fifty yard stare.

Another beat because yes, Simon, really. "Have you been wrong?" He asked, because of course it isn't a conversation with Simon if he's not a little bit cryptic. He hesitated, but after a few beats more he finally relented and reached out to take the offered hand. Simon wasn't exactly the touchy sort, so getting him to do that much is a fairly impressive feat.

While he looked uncertain he was willing to trust her. Show him what you're planning.

"When I talked to Cheryl about Richard and his childhood, she brought up the idea of 'drifting' to me but refused to actually talk about what it meant." Nope, instead Strand's sister had told her oh-so-cryptically, 'you'll find out.' It's odd almost how she does expect Simon to have listened to her show now. Oh, she's not talking about the season that only head, Alex is also including the first two seasons in her thoughts.

"But what if drifting is what's happening you're in that demon guise?" Alex has a very clear picture of it in her mind's eye, thanks to both the visuals that the later version of herself had what had happened that nightmare event. "What if it's what happens when you like drift away from stuff? Like not having something to hold you to the real world in your human form? How do you feel right now?"

It's not too odd, Simon had confirmed early on he'd been listening. That habit hadn't stopped just because he left Three Rivers. Alex surely knew he'd been using her show to help in his hunting down cultists, even if it was a fact neither of them particularly wanted to touch on. He's listened to everything. He did remember that conversation with Cheryl.

"Drifting." He mused the word aloud thoughtfully... it wasn't an entirely ridiculous concept. Simon was good at bilocating, better than most as Alex has witnessed first hand throughout her researching the tapes. She's seen what Simon can do, heard him, understands the suggestions he's not quite outright stated such as how he escaped Three Rivers. Honestly one could potentially say he spent more time bilocating than he did in his own body, given how much he practiced to perfect the art of staying undetected. "You think I'm losing grip?" Which... given what he said at the end of Season 3 made sense.

It made too much sense.

As for her question. "Tired," A beat. "Awkward." That one was with a faint smirk at the admission. But she was right, there was something to be said about not feeling quite... connected. "Distant." Finally did come, quieter.

"I don't know if it's as much losing grip or being spread too thinly. Stretching too far, that sort of thing. Like there's too much space between you and your body. Being connected to the ship like that and everyone who was having the nightmares definitely could do the same thing here. And yes, it's totally awkward but I want to see something."

Alex just lets go of his hand after a second, and then she looks to him again. "How do you feel now?"

He thought on that while she explained. It might not be as crazy as she thinks, after all he had felt spread far too thin, that was why he was still so tired after the nightmares. The fact he didn't eat enough was probably only making that worse. "Could be both." He added after a moment or two. Why not? A mixture of going too far and losing connection. One thing Simon was good at was holding onto his sense of purpose, even if it didn't make much sense to anyone else. His aggressive defiance of what the cult wanted him to be kept him who he was, he'd have to remember to hold onto that here.

Once she released his hand he curled back up in his chair looking thoughtful. She really might be on to something. He didn't have the words to quite describe it but now that he wasn't thinking about how awkward it was he realized how even more distant he felt after. His brows furrowed, concerned.

Was it happening here, too? "Disconnected." Should they be worried?

Of course they should be worried. Alex was always going to be worried. Worried is practically one of Alex's core emotions at this point given everything. So she just sits back down again, and clearly has her thinking face on. Honestly, she'd get up and pace but that feels like too much energy right now, and she'd rather expend what little she has on something much more important: what's happening to Simon.

"Okay." Alex just says it after a moment. "I'm not psychic," that she knows of, "and I can't do what you and Richard can do." Which also happens to be a question mark that Alex is going to be ignoring forever, thank you. "But I do get feeling disconnected. It happened when I wasn't sleeping and stuff. Like the real world wasn't quite there. So, what I think we need to do is find ways to help you at least stay in your body for now. Not bilocating if you can help it, actually having food and water and sleep."

And pause, and Alex just reaches out and touches his arm this time. "And if it's feeling too bad, then let me know and I'll help if it makes you feel more connected." It's not a hug, but when it comes to Simon Reese that hand may as well have been.

She's right, they should worry. Whatever happened at the Vatican could just as easily happen out here. Simon had been over confident in writing it off as unlikely before all of this, now he had a pretty good idea of just how easy that slip would be. In truth he was lucky things hadn't escalated worse.

Her not being able to do what he and Richard can wasn't such a bad thing, really. Sure, Alex probably would have put a lot of it to very good use in her career, but there was something to be said for not knowing too much as well. It was very noisy in their world. He nods at her assessment, popping a few more candies into his mouth. Their world isn't very real, he's said as much to her before. It's barely there, and now he's growing ever more distant from it. "No bilocating," He muttered under his breath, uncertain. "...That's going to be hard to do." It's like asking Alex to give up coffee!

So he's going to have to try to be semi-functional. It's not impossible, Simon lived a very structured life back at the hospital. He of course immediately tossed all of that off as soon as he left, and trying to maintain it on his own was proving extremely difficult. Too many cultists to hunt down for him to have a scheduled meal time.

He was busy considering when she reached out to touch him, bringing him back out of his own thoughts to look over at her. Tense at first, as she well knew he wasn't exactly the touching sort, but he did relax after a brief moment and offer a sober nod. He'll try. That hand may as well have been as good as a hug. Enough to convince him that he needed to take this seriously. Stop isolating and spooking around, unless he wants to get himself stuck as a demon already. "I will."

Until everything with the nightmares, Alex had definitely assumed that the world of back home wasn't going to be one that bothered them too badly. Sure, things would complicated as hell if like Warren or Coralee (or even Nic now, because Alex has no idea how she'd explain any of this to her friend) showed up, but this was supposed to be a bubble from that. Navi was complete with dangers of their own, as was the journey (Alex had died once, and that's not something that you forget) but Simon becoming a demon wasn't one.

Even if Alex couldn't help him back home (yet anyway. She'd figured it out once which means that she'd figure it out again and there she'd be able to do something about it because she refuses to believe she can't.) she'd thought he was safe here. Simon had caused her worry for a while now, even back home but actually being around him rather than having the Cheshire Cat experience has made it all the more pressing. It's so weird how things can be both more pressing and less all at the same time, but honestly what else could Alex expect considering the way everything was always being turned on it's head?

"I know it's going to be hard, Simon." Alex isn't under any illusions that his not bilocating is going to be easy considering it's been the one defense and escape and coping mechanism that he's had for most of his life. "And I don't mean forever or anything like that." Because yeah, she gets the coffee thing "But for a little while, until you feel more connected to your body. And the food and sleep will help with that, even though I know it's definitely a pot and kettle thing. But we can try together? Hold one another accountable? I still remember how you told me to go the fuck to sleep."

Perhaps they had all grown too confident that the dangers of their world couldn't follow them here. It made sense for Richard and Alex not to know, but Simon should have known better. He carried it with him, whether he liked it or not it was forever a part of him now. He just hadn't acknowledged how much that was the case until now.

No use sulking about it, what's done is done and now they've learned a valuable lesson: Simon Reese is still a doorway. One that shouldn't be opened. The lack of distance complicated matters. Simon couldn't do what he usually did and vanish into the shadows to compose himself. In truth, that might be for the best, not that he recognizes that. He's been on his own so long Simon no longer entirely trusts letting other people close enough to see him vulnerable. And yet here he can't escape. It's more than a little upsetting. He didn't like it, but it wasn't like he could stop it either so he wasn't putting up much of a fight. Not against Alex anyway.

"Very," He agrees. Because honestly? That's most of how Simon gets around. Hell that's most of how he navigates. He'll be blinding himself in a manner of speaking, it's going to be extremely uncomfortable not being able to see things from more than one angle at all times. How will he cope with that? It might be time to eat more than a few of those very illicit drugs he picked up on the party planet just to make it through this.

Don't judge him.

"It's... not a bad idea." He just really doesn't want to do it. That last bit earned something of a rueful smirk and huff of amusement. "I knew you'd hear it eventually." She'd get it, Alex always got it.

Alex had thought, despite the memory share that she'd had before that revealed the possibility of her having been one of those kids. (A kid from Oneida now, because that's what makes the most sense considering how it seemed like there was a running connection between the town and everything else that had gone along with it.) That this place was safe for them. Doors would be closed, the progression of demons and the like would be stopped from trampling through their lives, and that they didn't need to fill the places that destiny seemed to have created as holes with them in mind. (Alex definitely doesn't want to thing that the places had been prescribed for them even before they'd been born.) But now here was Simon, here was Simon who was disconnected and who would eventually turn into a demon.--it made her stomach clench just like she knows it always will.

But she's going to fix it. Alex has to fix it. She's not going to let him just drift away. Which actually brings her to a question that she's been wondering about for a while, since Alex had first become aware of the fact that Simon was near her in his bilocated. There's actual evidence (whether Strand or Nic believe it or not, Alex does believe it and has since she'd first heard it.) that Simon had bilocated around her back home, and she's pretty sure that Simon's been doing it here as well when he wasn't spread as thin as he was now.

Her voice is soft, and her head is tilted to one side when she asks: "does you being around me make you feel more grounded and connected or worse. Like just in general?"

Alex had always been a part of it, even if she didn't know. Even if her memories were long forgotten shadows buried deep within her subconscious. No matter how far away those intangible threads of home still clung to them like cobwebs. Trailing nightmares along behind. Alex might be out of reach, Strand even... but not Simon. Simon had been too deep before he came here. His connections too strong. How could he hope to escape his fate?

He didn't know the answer to that. If there was a way, if anyone could find it, it would be Alex. But how? For once Simon didn't have the answers. It left him feeling even more untethered the more he thought about it. Not a great feeling given the circumstances.

He's quiet, for a time, mulling on all of those unasked questions and unspoken assumptions that he knew that question carried with it. His answer, he knows, will out him... But really... he already knew she knew. Even if no one else believed her.

"...More." It wasn't the only reason he hung around, but it was one.

Alex just nods, because honestly, it's what she's expected. Of course Simon felt more connected to his body when he was around her--he had been connected to her even when he was in Three Rivers, and would be even after Alex had gotten back from Turkey. "Okay." Her voice is soft, and she just looks at him and she smiles. This is probably a bad idea, and Alex knows it's a bad idea but if there's anyone who has made bad ideas part of their personality it's Alex Reagan--which is something that Simon is aware of.

"So until you're feeling more attached and connected to your body on your own," which Alex doesn't even know considering how much Simon had been bilocating everywhere and the like even before he'd been aboard the ship. "Then I think what we need to do is apply stitches to help that sort of like stick together. Like you know, with a cut. It needs to be stitched up so that it can heal properly." Which yes, Alex knows isn't a great metaphor, but it's one that works and also can be applied to Peter Pan and his shadow from the movie but this is probably a better one for Simon.

"I'm gonna be stitches, damn it." Is there that determination that one would expect from Alex Reagan? Of course there is. Who would she be if she wasn't. "So, we buddy up. Both of us need to get better about food, and both of us need to get better about actually sleeping so consider me your roommate, Simon."

Simon frowns. He knows she's going to suggest something that's probably a bad idea before she opens her mouth and, as usual, she doesn't disappoint. Out comes a suggestion that is probably terrible yet not without merit. A stitch for the soul wasn't an idea he'd considered but now that Alex had given it a voice Simon couldn't come up with an argument against her logic. If it worked for a wound, why not for a soul?

It sounded a little outlandish, but Simon was willing to try anything to keep himself from turning into a demon. He was silent while she spoke, as Simon often is, considering and weighing her words and his own response carefully.

She's going to be the stitches. That finally earned a faintly amused look, because there was one other issue at play here Simon wasn't going to address directly. But he was going to address it all the same. "Won't Dr. Strand disagree with that arrangement?" Oh yes, he's aware they're a thing, how could he not be? That was always inevitable. At least Richard finally pulled his head out of his ass long enough to see it.

She will note it's not a disagreement.

Alex will admit that she didn't think of that when she'd come up with the idea. The idea of a relationship, of being in a relationship with Richard Strand was all still so new that she'd not considered how he'd feel about it. After all, it hadn't been that long ago that they were at one another's throats and were barely on speaking terms. In some ways, there were still parts of her that had a hard time believing that the bottom wasn't all going to drop out on her the next time they disagree.

While Alex doesn't want to do something that would is going to cause that disagreement, keeping Simon from tumbling too far into being a demon isn't something that she's going to be able to do. Alex cares for Simon, and she doesn't want that for him, and it's not merely guilt or something like that which explains that the reasoning for why she doesn't want it to happen to him. She wouldn't want it to happen to anyone, and Alex does care for Simon. So she just lets out a little breath, and considers that, because she definitely did note that's not a no.

"We'll figure that out. You're important and this is important. If nothing else, I can alternate days that I spend with each of you." When Alex says 'days' what she actually does mean is 'night's of course, but she's not opening the door of equating the two nights with sex--Alex cares about Simon, but she doesn't care about him in that way something that she knows that he knows. Hopefully, Richard knows that too. If he doesn't, then Alex will explain it, but most importantly: "but I still think that it's what needs to happen, at least until you're more connected."

Simon's not one to forget the details. He has, after all, been the one who often appeared to put Alex back on track. The more things change the more they stay the same. Her newfound relationship with Strand was young yet, and Simon couldn't deny any chance to dig at Richard delighted him. Of course, that was very low on the list of reasons to accept her offer, really more of a mild side perk.

"Shared custody?" He teased with a mild smirk, at least he seemed to be feeling a little better the longer they talked. He won't mention the wording or make any implications beyond Richard's jealousy which they both know is going to be a problem, it always is. While Simon may have something of an ill-advised crush he's perfectly aware that that would never go anywhere and Alex doesn't feel the same. He won't make it weird.

"How should we do this?" Sleeping arrangements, that is. It's not like he has a spare bed and he's not eager to volunteer to sleep on the floor.

"Yeah," the word comes with a little smile, because at this point she expects Simon to take some of the wind out of Richard's sails--they wouldn't be who they were without it. And she also knows that Simon is probably going to use some of that jealousy that Richard has against him. Considering how everything had progressed with Jon, Alex isn't that surprised or that against it as much as she should be. If he doesn't trust her not to be having sex with someone else, that's his own fault. She's not that sort of person and Simon is Simon. That's not a place she's going with him. "Shared custody."

But she does look around his room, because Alex isn't going to kick him out of his own bed, and she wouldn't make him sleep on the floor. On the other hand, she's definitely not going to sleep in the same bed as him even if it wouldn't make Richard insanely jealous--it's just not something that she'd feel comfortable doing. There is however one answer that is fairly obvious. "We'll grab a mattress from one of the empty cabins on this level. When I'm not here you can lean it against the wall if you'd like more space."

It's Simon's solemn duty, and pleasure, to keep Richard knocked down a few pegs. His ego was quick to blow up and fly away with him otherwise. Alex knew this well, Simon just wasn't going to put up with it. Richard Strand needs to learn to deal with his jealousy and trust Alex to also be an autonomous adult here. The mental patient shouldn't be the more reasonable of the two. It'll be good practice for Dr. Strand.

The shared custody confirmation did earn something of a faint smirk, the idea was highly amusing and he was already imagining Richard getting all huffy about it. That's a bridge he'll deal with when they come to it.

While Simon would share in a pinch these beds probably weren't the most comfortable for two people who weren't intending to be all up in each other's space to sleep. Given that they were both light and restless sleepers already that would just absolutely ruin what little sleep they both managed to get anyway. They needed another option. Fortunately Alex came up with one quickly. "Good idea," Simon conceded quickly. No need to ponder on that one, it would work out perfectly. He moved to untangle himself from his chair and his own drawn up legs, leaving the M&Ms temporarily forgotten. They might as well go grab one now. "I don't use much of the room, we can make it fit." At least their cabins were fairly spacious.

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Sing them a riddle, something in minor and smooth

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