Six (lack of) Sleep note. Game night. Audio as always sn@pnwsalex

[11calls]

[Hey look, it's yet another post that does not happen at three in the morning. It seems that Alex is actually sleeping for the most part. It's kind of amazing. And she's also sounding extremely chipper, even if there is the faintest of whispers of 'Richard' from somewhere behind her. Look, she locked the thing in the drawer of her desk and it still keeps saying the name of the person she has a crush on. It's all Jeff's fault. But she's not going to mention it at all. Nope, it's not even happening. Instead, she's focused on something else.]

So I was talking with a friend recently, or at least recently-ish anyway about games. Like board games and things like that. Did you know that dice and games were used before recorded history on Earth? And that dice were found in tombs in Iran that date back to 2800–2500 BCE? So honestly, playing games is like something that really seems universal and kind of timeless as well.

Which brings me to my next question, and trust me I really do have a point. What sort of games did you play at home? Do you have copies here? What sort of games do you want to see if you have copies of?

I'm putting together a game night, either renting out a cafe, or if need be the school, and I'd like to include something from everywhere if possible. Board games, dice games, card games, it's all going to be welcome here. If nothing else, it'll be a nice distraction from everything else. [Everything else here meaning all of the love festival stuff that's going down.] And the goal is to play five games you've never played before, so come on down.

I'm not even limiting games like Monopoly or Uno or whatever. [Even though she probably should just based on her experience. She's also definitely not bringing Mario Kart. Alex does have some sense of fair play and wanting to keep friendships in tact. For now anyway.]

Also hi if you don't know who I am. I'm Alex. Alex Reagan. Welcome.

Comments

[11calls]

[Or have you considered that you are a neat freak, Richard. Not that Alex is going to mention that, as that stupid paper thing keeps shouting his name.]

You know, PNWS does pretty well for itself, Richard.

[Before the main two producers got their stupid selves entangled with him and demons or TARDIS cabins.]

[nobasisinfact]

So you've said.

[He takes a drink of his tea, smirking.]

Countless times.

[11calls]

It's still true.

[She's just going to repeat him with a smirk.]

Countless times. And you better be careful, love. I'm sure I could find another one of those stupid things to tell people your crush.

[She's not an idiot, she knows that it's not going to stay fluttering around their office shouting off his name.]

[nobasisinfact]

I'd burn it.

[Immidiately and with no remorse. The damn thing would barely be able to get her name out.]

[11calls]

[Alex just snorted, because of course he would. Unlike her, Richard didn't hold to such sentiment.]

I bet I can bribe the kid to make you an entire flock. It can be your very own Harry Potter scene.

[nobasisinfact]

We still have the mixtures you bought.

[He WILL fight fire with fire.]

[11calls]

Yeah, but the difference is that I accept what fixes them, remember?

[Try it, Richard. Try it.]

[nobasisinfact]

The implication is not appreciated.

[He's frowning now. Good job Alex, implying that Richard doesn't admit to being in love with her. He may not say it, but he's fairly certain that his actions give his feelings away more than words would.]

[11calls]

Richard.

[Alex's voice is soft, as she reaches out for him quickly.]

You know that's not what I meant. What I meant is that I would end up locking myself down by your side until the effects passed.

[nobasisinfact]

[Maybe that was what he wanted, but not after her last comment. It stuck, it hit him in a place he'd thought had healed. Like any of the number of fights, he'd had with Coralee. Any of the implied accusations that he didn't love her enough, that he didn't want to be with her enough.]

Of course it was.

[He doesn't push off, doesn't walk away. Doing so would betray how deep her comment had cut him. He can't let anyone see that. Even though she has, more times than he had black tapes.]

[11calls]

[He doesn't need to push off or walk away, because Alex sees him, and she knows and she just frowns and holds onto him all the more tightly for it. Well, with one arm any way, her hand goes to his face and cups it.]

Richard, don't. I don't have any complaints about our relationship alright? I know you love me. I don't ever need you to say it.

[nobasisinfact]

[When she cups his face there's no reaction.]

There's no reason to say it.

[The comment is blatant. There's no reason to restate a fact that hasn't changed.]

[11calls]

[Alex expects a lot of things, but she doesn't expect that, and she just frowns at him, his hurt easily reflected with that remark.]

Okay.

[nobasisinfact]

[He knows he's hurt her. People, apparently, want to be told that they're loved. He knows differently about those words though. That they're just words. Coralee told him she loved him, and she did. That didn't stop her from walking away and ruining his life. It didn't stop her from abandoning him a second time, even though she still loved him (so Alex said).

'I love you' held no guarantees. Till death didn't hold true to that promise, but that didn't mean he loved Alex any less. It didn't mean he wouldn't die to keep her safe (as stupidly dramatic as the thought was.)

Still, she was hurt that he didn't say it, that much was clear by the hurt he knew she was conveying now. Still, he wouldn't say it, on principle and simply due to the man that he was now.]

You're, angry, that I don't. Even though you say you aren't.

[11calls]

[Well, this was not at all going the way that she expected, and Alex stepped away from him shaking her head.]

No, I'm not angry that you don't say it! I don't expect you to say it. I never have. I'm angry because you don't seem to think that Ihave a reason to say it. To you.

[Which was honestly more than a little bewildering to her, for multiple reasons honestly.]

I'm hurt and I'm angry because I like saying it to you. Because I think you like hearing it. Was I wrong? And don't turn it around because you think I'm upset you don't say it. I'm not. This is about me saying it to you.

[Because Alex said it all the time, without reservation. She never needed an excuse to tell him it, never an occasion or something. She told him because she liked the smile on his face that he let himself get sometimes, he liked how he argued with her decisions, and she liked whispering it to him when he was half-asleep as if it could chase off bad dreams. She never expected anything like it from him in return.]

[nobasisinfact]

I don't mind.

[And he didn't. Alex was a person to whom things like that were important. It was the way she was.]

But even if you didn't, I'd know.

[11calls]

[Alex would argue, if she needed to that one of the reasons she said it so much was because there was that period after he came back from Charlie, and she came back from Turkey where everything was murky and buried beneath hurt and uncertainty and the like. So she said it now because she never wanted there to be any doubt between them on it. She loved him, and he knew. He loved her and she knew. And fuck everyone else.

Which is why she just agreed with him softly:]

I know too.

[nobasisinfact]

Good.

[Because he's not going to change.]

[11calls]

Good.

[And she's not going to say it, even though it's on the tip of her tongue to do it right now.]

[nobasisinfact]

[It doesn't change anything for him. He knows how she feels, and vice versa. That phrase has been used as a weapon against him too many times for him to take stock in it being true.

So instead of saying anything he just drinks his tea, watching the note flying around and screaming his name.]

[11calls]

[Alex watches that stupid note fly around too before she picks up her coffee again, and takes a sip out of it.]

I need to find the Cards Against Humanity set I left here that time after I came over from PNWS game night. Do you have any idea where it is? Black box about so big?

[Subject change GO.]

[nobasisinfact]

They're on the top shelf in the study.

[For once it wasn't a jab at her height, it was just somewhere out of the way.

Also, he noticed that subject change.]

[11calls]

I seriously need to get a stepping stool.

[The words come with a quick grin, because well, thank for going with that, Richard.]

I can't climb onto the counter there.

[nobasisinfact]

You shouldn't be stepping on the counters at all.

[He frowns before smirking slightly.]

Maybe you should invest in platform shoes instead.

[11calls]

You mean like some Wiley Coyote ones? And here I thought you liked having me relatively intact, Richard.

[Alex just smirked up at him for a moment.]

Cisco was supposed to make some flying shoes for me at one point, but other things got away. It's too bad they'd be useful for things like getting stuff on the top shelf and kissing you.