(closed) but our hearts always beat like this: I have / to leave

[levered]

WHO: Lexa & Clarke
WHAT: Purely professional concern, with a side of puppy
WHEN: When the anchor plot people return
WHERE: Valley
NOTES: /o/

That she brings Dally is completely intentional. Bellamy is back, same as Lexa, and Clarke could have left the puppy with him. He and the puppy both might have been grateful for it. But Clarke leads, carries, and drags Dally along. Intentional, and also ninety percent self-serving: she doesn't first think about how Lexa's been through a lot lately and Lexa likes the dog and Lexa might be glad to see her, but about Lexa being chronically disarmed by the dog and Dally being a good distraction, if things grow awkward, and an even better excuse to leave abruptly.

Halfway there, when Dally runs behind a stack of barrels and Clarke is considering just leaving her there to become a feral barrel dog, then she does think that Lexa has been through a lot lately, and Lexa likes the dog. That gives her the necessary push to lie down on the ground in front of everyone, feeling foolish and exposed, and coax the puppy back out.

There's still dirt-grey snow caught in her collar and in the crevices of her coat when she sees one of Lexa's guards. She lifts Dally in her arms, a shruggy motion, as if that's why she's here.

Comments

[levered]

"Removed?"

Clarke lifts her head to deliver a skeptical look only to discover that Lexa is not looking back at her to receive it, because she's looking at the puppy. Clarke has been replaced. What the flames.

[heda]

Don't be mad, Clarke. Lexa didn't go looking for it, but what she and Dally have is real and can't be denied.

She rubs the puppy's ears and nods, turning back only after a long second to catch the very tail end of that look. Not that she needs it, given the tone.

"The hand," she clarifies, "There is no other way to remove the magic." She says it very calmly, but then turns back to Dally as the puppy finally hops up into her lap. Lexa curls an arm loosely around her feet and adds, "That was the Venatori's plan as well."

[levered]

Clarke frowns at her for a long moment, working past the initial skeptical outrage at the thought of removing Lexa's hand to reach the conclusion that it wouldn't be the end of the world. Maybe a little bit the end of the world, if people start cutting off their anchors and can't help with the rifts. But not a lot the end of the world. Possibly better than constant excruciating pain.

She sits down in the chair without consciously choosing it over the bed, and without letting go of Lexa's hand. She's focused on other things.

"Why would they do that? Do they still work if they're--removed?"

[heda]

"No. They were trying to find a way to cut the anchor out and put it into one of their own people instead. They believed doses of lyrium and my strength would make it possible to complete the transfer despite previous failures."

Lexa is still petting Dally, but she's looking at Clarke's hold on her hand. The shift as she sat tugged her attention back, and light as the contact is, for a moment it's hard for her to ignore. She's not sure why Clarke still has her hand, but she's not about to ask or to take it back. It's amazing how much more settled she feels, how much further from dank dungeons and the scent of blood she is with just that slight gentle pressure of Clarke's fingertips and the warmth of a puppy bouncing in her lap. She dodges getting her jaw licked, but allows lapping at her other hand--and, warily, nibbling on fingertips--instead.

"I found a collar for Dally in Halamshiral," she says without looking up, "I'll bring it when I return next, if you'd like. For when she wanders off."