[ This does not immediately register in any particular way to them, but then the words begin to sink in to their head. Which they turn in slow motion to look at her. One blink, maybe two, and then they are on their feet, coffee dashed to the ground. ]
[this is why she had wanted to text the news instead, but here they are. she doesn't stand, but she does look Pitou directly in the eyes, challenging them to do something that isn't listening.]
I know you're not fond of him, but it was my choice to say yes.
[ None of those things Grell has said sound accurate to Pitou. They like Ardyn just fine. They just don't like anyone dating Grell but can't actually say that out loud ever because it is fucking childish and needy. Marrying her is even worse.
Grell is theirs. One of their things, one of their people.
Pitou's hands ball up into fists at their sides, all but trembling with a anger. ]
[she reaches out with one hand to touch one of Pitou's fists. look at her. be angry all you want, but look at her. whatever Pitou thinks, it's not changing Grell's mind on this - not when she gets to be happy.]
Sit back down? And listen to me for a moment. Please.
[she says please, but it's in a tone that Pitou would have rarely heard - enough emphasis to almost make it a command instead of a request.]
[ Why would they sit back down?! They have a filthy fucking lawyer to chase out of town. Maybe carve him up with these stupid fucking claws a little bit so he didn't forget whose belongings he'd trifled with.
Pitou sits down with a growl. ]
You've made your decision, what am I listening to?
You're listening to me telling you something important.
[she doesn't let go of Pitou at this moment, staring them down.]
All of this changes nothing about our friendship. Not one bit of it. Call it whatever you want to evade that fact, but as someone who might as well be your mentor as well as your friend, that needs to get through your skull. I can take you disliking this situation with grace, but I won't forgive you if you actually decide to be stupid and do something. For the sake of us, take a second to breathe.
[she lets that hang in the air a second.]
I'm not going to leave you just because I've gotten engaged. These things happen to people in their lives - they grow, new things happen, new opportunities come up. It doesn't mean they trash the old things that they value in the bargain. But he makes me happy, and you need to relax a little and let me go ahead with my own life. If it was you, finding someone who made you happy, then you know I'd be there beside you ready to support your happiness.
Have faith in me, if you can't have it in both of us, that I'm not going to let us drift apart or anything really change.
[ . . . ]
Besides, he has three cats at his house. Friendly, beautiful creatures.
[ Pitou bristles, hating every wretched word of it. As if they need Grell or her bloody forgiveness. When have they ever needed anyone other than themselves? They'd started their life that way and had carried on despite all the whispers and pitying looks and offers to help that were just disguises for others trying to control them.
That's all they think of this too. Fucking pairing up like you were expected to, as prescribed. They resent that the idea of it makes her happy. That somehow they can't be just fine on their own in this city, with their friends and their careers. Knows there's never going to be someone who made them happy, because they can do it all alone. Can wear the clothes of either role any day of the week: no partner required.
And maybe, all the way down at the bottom, they're upset that they were just figuring out how to manage Ardyn Izunia and he had to change all the rules again. ]
I'm leaving.
[ It's too big an idea to get all the way in their skull in one go. They clearly need to sulk on it longer. ]
[she doesn't say anything, only takes her hand off Pitou's, closing her eyes for a second and then opening them. nodding once. she knows how Pitou works well enough, knows that sometimes she has to be firm and sometimes she has to watch them go, proud sort they are. as much as it rankles them to hear it, the words needed to be said, and frankly, Grell wasn't going to go and hide this part of her life for the sake of someone else's inability to understand that people could have many different relationships of equal importance.
all Grell can do is be patient now for them to come back to her. it was what it was, and she rises carefully, with a queen's dignity. before she turns and leaves the way she came, leaving Pitou to their thoughts. it'll take time, but she's confident that if nothing else, there will come a time when Pitou comes to talk again. what about, she can't predict.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
I'm going to kill him.
no subject
[this is why she had wanted to text the news instead, but here they are. she doesn't stand, but she does look Pitou directly in the eyes, challenging them to do something that isn't listening.]
I know you're not fond of him, but it was my choice to say yes.
no subject
Grell is theirs. One of their things, one of their people.
Pitou's hands ball up into fists at their sides, all but trembling with a anger. ]
Absolutely not.
no subject
[she reaches out with one hand to touch one of Pitou's fists. look at her. be angry all you want, but look at her. whatever Pitou thinks, it's not changing Grell's mind on this - not when she gets to be happy.]
Sit back down? And listen to me for a moment. Please.
[she says please, but it's in a tone that Pitou would have rarely heard - enough emphasis to almost make it a command instead of a request.]
no subject
Pitou sits down with a growl. ]
You've made your decision, what am I listening to?
[ Traitors!!!!! ]
no subject
[she doesn't let go of Pitou at this moment, staring them down.]
All of this changes nothing about our friendship. Not one bit of it. Call it whatever you want to evade that fact, but as someone who might as well be your mentor as well as your friend, that needs to get through your skull. I can take you disliking this situation with grace, but I won't forgive you if you actually decide to be stupid and do something. For the sake of us, take a second to breathe.
[she lets that hang in the air a second.]
I'm not going to leave you just because I've gotten engaged. These things happen to people in their lives - they grow, new things happen, new opportunities come up. It doesn't mean they trash the old things that they value in the bargain. But he makes me happy, and you need to relax a little and let me go ahead with my own life. If it was you, finding someone who made you happy, then you know I'd be there beside you ready to support your happiness.
Have faith in me, if you can't have it in both of us, that I'm not going to let us drift apart or anything really change.
[ . . . ]
Besides, he has three cats at his house. Friendly, beautiful creatures.
no subject
That's all they think of this too. Fucking pairing up like you were expected to, as prescribed. They resent that the idea of it makes her happy. That somehow they can't be just fine on their own in this city, with their friends and their careers. Knows there's never going to be someone who made them happy, because they can do it all alone. Can wear the clothes of either role any day of the week: no partner required.
And maybe, all the way down at the bottom, they're upset that they were just figuring out how to manage Ardyn Izunia and he had to change all the rules again. ]
I'm leaving.
[ It's too big an idea to get all the way in their skull in one go. They clearly need to sulk on it longer. ]
no subject
all Grell can do is be patient now for them to come back to her. it was what it was, and she rises carefully, with a queen's dignity. before she turns and leaves the way she came, leaving Pitou to their thoughts. it'll take time, but she's confident that if nothing else, there will come a time when Pitou comes to talk again. what about, she can't predict.]