[private] i only know how to go too far

[Enoch]

The Curiosity grows stronger with every word, a burning candle with an uncut wick, sputtering and flaring and smoking, and Enoch lets himself ride the wild bucking longer than he should, perhaps, because the strength of it is something new. Ischia as it is rarely lends itself to erratic emotions, with its warm sand, bright sun, blue water (and ghosts, he reminds himself, thinking of Maurtia and her friends, but they still don't speak to him no matter how hard he tries to feel them.)

The young stallion rides the rollercoaster that the golden Pampeian sets up for him, and when he is ready to get off, he derails it with a heavy dose of Indifference fed into the well. He does it almost without thinking, without realizing that she is the source of the feedback of emotion. He does it because there is so much family history with exactly this sort of game, like a genetic memory buried in his DNA that, once recovered, kicks into overdrive as if to make up for lost time.

"I am extraordinary," he agrees readily, the taste of Artifice on his tongue. (His? Hers?)

"But how will she get your message if we both go? No, I think it would be better if you stayed." The armored boy laces his words with Interest and Attachment. He cannot imagine why she thinks he is made for life among the flower beds.

Image by Vakrai

ooc: enoch is returning the favor and attempting to hold @Aela hostage for one BQ year so they can hang out and be best buds.