[ there are a lot of things that could follow that broken trail of words, things that she'd rather not address at this time. whatever happened earlier, whatever words she's managed to recklessly utter in the heat of the moment earlier, drawn up by uncertain and unclear feelings as lines begin to blur ... lumine doesn't feel very confident trying to explain it.

so she'd really rather not. she doesn't think ajax would appreciate anything halfhearted nor does she think her counterpart deserves such, either. ]

I should go, [ she says quickly, gesturing at the front of her dress. at this rate, the stain will remain and there's no way she can save this dress. ] I still need to clean up and then wake Aether. It's getting late.

[ it's a terrible excuse, but she uses it to her advantage anyway to get out of this conversation, slipping out of the kitchen as quickly as she can and rushing up the staircase without glancing at anatoli. her hand starts shaking aether's shoulder gently when she gets to the bedroom, trying to wake her brother up. ]

Ae, time to get up. C'mon.

[ she's pretty sure the hotel does dry cleaning, so she can just have her clothes fixed there. the twins will emerge ten minutes later, aether still looking half-asleep with lumine holding his hand. ]