Papers, Wet and Red (Asami/Elyss)

"So I should just sit at home, alone with my thoughts? No thank you."

Her eyes narrowed before they fell. Not that she could not hold Elyss' gaze if she wanted to, but Asami did not want her to think that she was frustrated with her when the problem was with herself. She was not competent enough to work at her usual level, but at least it was a welcome distraction from the void of nothingness and all the introspection that allowed.

"These problems will go away in time. Time that I have no intention of wasting by being stagnant. I-- I should get back to training."

She stood, forcing herself to her feet with both hands planted upon the desk between them, and genuinely had to focus on holding back the tears. Slowly, she ambled around the desk. Placing herself on the same side as Elyss as she tried once more to get a measure of why she was doing this. It was easier to avoid confrontation, to bury it all away, but deep down she knew that wasn't helping. So what would help her? If Elyss could pull her apart so easily then what was stopping everyone else?

Asami had expected that Elyss had more to her remark than to just stand there and take no for an answer, she had not expected the response to be physical. It was not a hard push, but it was enough to move her into the position that Elyss wanted her - between the desk and the redhead. Crimson eyes went wide as they met, an unbridled air of surprise taking over from whatever else had come before it.

"A vacation? And what am I to do down in the Realm of the Living? Sip at cocktails on a beach by myself?"

She was rising to the provocation, it seemed. How very unladylike of her. And yet this was what the Head of the Furukawa's had become, the pitiful woman the scorned her fate and languished upon a single mistake. Though now perhaps it was more than a single one. Even still, a hand rose up with its index finger extended and prodded itself in Elyss' direction.

"At least when I train I can empty my head. Then I don't have to think about Kyo. Or myself. Or our damn familial pride and why that would always have driven us apart!"

At that outburst, quite unlike herself, Asami's cheeks flushed with colour. She was not the type to gossip, nor to expose her personal life in such an unseemly way, and yet she found herself opening up to the first woman that stopped by are dared to tell her that she was not doing okay.

“You think they’re all like that then? That every man would not be able to bear the shame of his children taking his partner’s name?”

Asami was already in the thick of it now, if she had cared enough not to share the intimate details then she would have cared enough to avoid getting into this situation entirely. Perhaps Elyss had more experience than her in these matters, concerning the nature of men, but she was also not working with a complete picture. And besides, how was she to understand the minutia of it? There were so few other women in her position, and the one that she might once have dared to consult had found a different path to happiness.

“So how do I confront that head on? What finale is there to come from following that path? Am I that undesirable?”

Crimson eyes burned as hot as her cheeks, an unsettling amount of emotion written on such usually passive and unassuming features. She glared at Elyss, who had compromised her so, and wondered whether this was what she had planned to do. From slowly building up the tension, to calling her out so plainly.

Asami knew all too well that there were plenty more men out there. That many of them would not see any issue with taking her family name and all that came with that. But the issue was not really with her future, it was why she felt sluggish right now. Why she had been so weak as to let one man break her in two?

"Of course, there aren't any nice answers. This is just something that will fade away in time, and I must endure until then. What else is there to figure out? Retreading what has happened will only encourage me to wallow in that sadness further, so a break sounds like the worst thing for me right now."

She sighed, softly, and went to stand on her own again. The momentary emotion had already begun to fade, her reddened cheeks now turning back to normal as she strayed from Elyss' gaze. It had all been so anticlimactic in the end, nothing of use having come from any of it. Just like usual.

If this was what wishful thinking was meant to be, Asami could not help but wonder why Elyss thought she would wish to put herself through this anguish. No. Wishful thinking was expecting him to come bursting through that door and say that everything was going to be alright. But she didn’t want that, because she knew that he didn’t want it and she had not wanted to be the one making him bend.

But still, her hardening gaze softened once more at that sigh. Elyss had not been forced to come here. She had offered her advice and, even if Asami disagreed with most of it, the effort was appreciated. She certainly hadn’t earned such a levelheaded conversation. So, as Elyss turned to leave, a hand reached out to rest on her shoulder. Not a tight grip or anything so dramatic, easily avoided or shook out of, but offered all the same.

“Thanks for stopping by, Elyss. And for the advice. I… I will try not put you in such a position again and, if you ever need me to return the favour on the paperwork front, you can always call.”

Uncharacteristically informal words perhaps, but Asami was in an uncharacteristic mood. There was more she would have to mull over in the near future, it was certainly strange to admit that one of those was her sudden respect for a woman she might have misjudged.