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The toughest part of their relationship had to be the trips His Mourning Dove had to take back to Khura’in. He was aware of their royal duties and obligations to both family and the population of Khura’in. Simon had accepted this when he entered this relationship.
There was a huge difference between knowing and enjoying. Such as he knew that Athena’s Mood Matrix was a very informative tool in investigations, but it still pissed him off to no end when it deconstructed a whole argument. He could know that the truth was never going to be found by the prosecution alone, but still be upset when a case in which he had been so carefully building falls like a witness staring down Taka’s talons.
Simon could not follow. His life was firmly planted here, and aside from visits to His Mourning Dove’s home country, he had no intention of leaving. His Mourning Dove living here half the time was an arrangement that worked just fine for him, as His Mourning Dove seemed hardly the type to stay in one place for too long anyways.
In a vain attempt to keep his home in livable condition and to keep himself from counting down the days like some sort of lovesick school girl, they had an agreement that His Mourning Dove was not to alert him when they were on their way to the States. That way it kept Simon from falling into old habits lest he face the wrath of a jetlagged Sad Monk.
At some point it had turned into a bit of a game, in which Simon tried to decipher in tone alone how close they were to returning. He had neither special ears, nor any sort of advantage, all he could do was watch their tone and wording. More often than not, their words betrayed them and told him more than they planned.
It was times like these where the learned skill of being incredibly anal over wording and looking far too much into everything worked to his advantage. It was something they both excelled at, much to each other’s chagrin, but in this specific situation it was in Simon’s favour.
His Mourning Dove caught on soon enough, and started making things interesting by throwing in false positives and sporadically not answering his texts as if they had boarded a plane. It kept things interesting to say the least. On more than one occasion had gotten him to clean his house and do his dishes.
It did a good job of filling the void they left when they had to go attend to royal duties. If it weren’t for the fact that they weren’t in his arms as they complained, it was as if they never left.
Peacock was also in on this little game, as were Canary and Dove. Their role was very different, as Bellbird kept them up to date because it was decided that it was much funnier to keep him in the dark.
Though they differed in how effective they could lie to him (Canary was concerningly transparent and Dove was concerningly adept. Peacock fell in the middle, but closer to Canary), that added to what made the game so entertaining. He will admit that they have played a role in tricking him into doing housework with the assumption His Mourning Dove was to arrive soon.
Simon had to wonder about the silence he was getting from all parties involved in their game. Was it telling, or was this another feint?
Perhaps an attempt to get in his head. Simon could respect that. It wasn’t as though the WAA needed any extra assistance in court, but there would be a pang of familial pride of some sort to see Canary get in his head for a change.
Whatever their strategy was, it was leagues more entertaining than the paperwork he was pretending to do.
Speaking of paperwork he was neglecting, what time was it anyways? It would be nice to go get lunch. He could call and let Budgie know he was on his way, and then see if Finch had finally managed to find a way to get Chickadee in their act like they were planning. Simon hadn’t had high hopes as five year olds weren’t exactly known for their acting skills, let alone shy ones that didn’t like talking to people like Chickadee.
He’d be supportive , but he still had his doubts about it.
It wasn’t too far, but perhaps still a little soon to go for lunch. Which was a damn shame because staring at his paperwork had been an unfortunately ineffective way of doing it. Perhaps if he kept at it something would change. He would keep on it.
As if on cue, Taka flew in and dropped something on his desk. Not the change he was looking for, but having to take down to the lost and found was certainly something to do that wasn’t paperwork. And then he’d have even more of an excuse for not doing work because he had coworkers bothering him instead of checking the lost and found box they have for a reason. He gave Taka a little scritch under the chin in appreciation for this wonderful gift he’s given him.
He didn’t have to even pick Taka’s gift up to know what these were, but still, he ran his thumb over them carefully.
These were His Mourning Dove’s prayer beads. He had become all too familiar with them in the time they’d spent together. They were glossy and red, and carried with them concern of the day that Simon awaited with dread when Taka mistook a loose bead for a berry of some kind and ate it and he was forced to take an emergency trip to the vet.
Or on a funnier note, the doctor when one of those beads hit wrong when they break them in court and the smooth and glossy texture makes one slide all the way down into their stomach and they need to figure out the best course of action to remove it.
But the beads being here in his hands meant one of two things: Either the WAA and Peacock had gotten a lot better at this game, or His Mourning Dove was actually here.
A quick glance out the window had him catch the tip of their pale lavender hair.
Of course they show up the day he had been planning to do dishes. He shook his head.
He would have to let Budgie know it would be two meals today.