Because it is everything the cruel, capricious, selfish, blood-soaked worst of me treasures.
[Me, now, not she. It counts. She agreed with another half-him, will always agree, it counts.]
Because it has the power to hurt and horrify someone I love very much, moreso if I sought it.
So. Neither of us asked for our presents.
[Let the record show. I didn't ask for this, your honor. I can't be expected to resist, not when it was literally gift-wrapped for me.
She leans in even closer, for a moment, rests - hides - her face in his shoulder, breathes in the smell of him, minutely different from his predecessor. The musty wood of the cabin, no engine oil, a trace of flour from his new job assignment. She is almost whispering now, and all of it is full of weight, intoned, like a sacred thing, like an invocation of terrible powers. Like the words were commanded in just this arrangement centuries ago, and it is her unshakable duty and her fervent honor to speak them.]
Thank you for thinking of me.
[It was a thoughtful gift, in that he thought about it, in that he intended it for a specific purpose. That he has accomplished something else entirely is of no import to her gratitude.]
[ Spam ]
[Me, now, not she. It counts. She agreed with another half-him, will always agree, it counts.]
Because it has the power to hurt and horrify someone I love very much, moreso if I sought it.
So. Neither of us asked for our presents.
[Let the record show. I didn't ask for this, your honor. I can't be expected to resist, not when it was literally gift-wrapped for me.
She leans in even closer, for a moment, rests - hides - her face in his shoulder, breathes in the smell of him, minutely different from his predecessor. The musty wood of the cabin, no engine oil, a trace of flour from his new job assignment. She is almost whispering now, and all of it is full of weight, intoned, like a sacred thing, like an invocation of terrible powers. Like the words were commanded in just this arrangement centuries ago, and it is her unshakable duty and her fervent honor to speak them.]
Thank you for thinking of me.
[It was a thoughtful gift, in that he thought about it, in that he intended it for a specific purpose. That he has accomplished something else entirely is of no import to her gratitude.]