Broken Boulder el torito

her answer both confirms his fear and flashes irritation in him, as if she should know what he's talking about, as if time should be unstuck until he is made correct. only things never work that way and this is still the timeline he's on, the one where everyone dies or leaves, and most of the time he can't do anything about it.

but that doesn't mean he shouldn't.

dropping his pretenses, delight takes a step closer, his expression shifting into something urgent. "queenie," he breathes, "solomon and brilliance are gone. i haven't been able to find them. i thought -- that maybe -- maybe they'd gone after you. but if you don't know where they are..." whatever maternal instincts queenie claims to have, delight hopes they are real and active -- what was he thinking, waiting uselessly for his young children to return to him? he needs an ally in this and it can't be --

it can't be alarian. not after everything, not with where they are right now. and it can't be seabreeze -- perfect seabreeze who is doing so much for him, he does not need to further her burdens. 

so that leaves: the mother, who should be his companion in this -- but will she, is, of course, an unknown, and his stomach twists unpleasantly as he waits for her to react.