Elaris looked at him with a interested smile.
"What it’s called...?"
"It’s a ga called rock, paper, scissors," he said, and then he showed how to play by closing his fist, flattening his hand, and then opening two fingers.
She paid too much attention to this, as if she were taking it more seriously than it needed to be.
"And the family could make this a tradition instead of magical contests and formal challenges," Rex said in a very serious voice. "It works better and doesn’t hurt the training ground as much."
Elaris looked at him for a long ti.
Then there was a short, real laugh, like soone was surprised by it instead of making it happen.
She said, "It’s so kind of a tradition in your world, huh?"
"Yep." Rex said, "A very old one, where I co from," which was technically true.
She gave him the look that had been building up in her all night. It had gotten to the point where it was no longer a managent look; it was just the warm, present look of soone who was exactly where they wanted to be.
"Explain it again," she said.
Rex opened his hand.
"On three," he said, "you make one of the shapes."
"Rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, and paper beats rock."
Elaris looked at his palm.
"And what does the winner of this very old tradition get?" she asked.
Rex looked at her.
He said, "Whatever they were thinking before they played."
Elaris held his gaze with a look that said everything.
Then she raised her own hand.
"Alright, I’ll play as a Nightwing who wants to win this contest as payback for my husband’s loss."
"Good to hear it then."
"One," she said.
Rex grinned because he saw a chance that he could totally manifest it.
"Two," he said, and when he said "three," he held up scissors at the sa ti, knowing that Elaris had done the sa.
Just as he planned, a tie. And it was because of the help from his foresight that he wanted to be a tie so that he could at least distract her until she was feeling frustrated, not just at the ga but with herself because of the alcohol’s effect.
Elaris laughed, really amused and maybe a little drunk from the wine and the surprise, fun mont. "A tie already?"
"How delightfully... unconventional," she remarked, her eyes sparkling with joy and sothing else—sothing that signaled to Rex that she was beginning to lower her guard.
Rex laughed and poured them both another glass of the dark red wine. "You know..."
"It’s only fair, since we’re both winners in my book," he said with a sly smile as he gave her the full glass.
He took the opportunity to touch her fingers, and they remained in contact for a mont longer than necessary.
Elaris took the glass and took a sip. She and Rex locked eyes over the rim of the crystal.
"You’re a smart one, Rex... using such... creative ways to get what you want," she said, her voice dropping to a purr. "You really don’t have to have fun with an old woman like , huh?"
"Well, you can say that." Rex moved closer, his eyes never leaving hers, like a moth to a fla.
He then said in a low voice full of promise, "And I’m clever enough to know a good thing when I see it... And a rare thing, at that."
Elaris put down her glass and put her hand on his chest, feeling the hard muscle under his shirt.
"Very rare," she whispered, tilting her head up to him and parting her lips. "Oh my... I had no idea your chest was so hard."
Rex smirked. ’There it is... starts to get affectionately touchy, huh?’
Rex held up his fist. "Let’s continue our ga. One..."
"Two," he said.
"Three," she said.
And they both choose scissors. Rex still had a plan to keep making it a tie.
Elaris looked at their matching hands with the look of soone who thought this was more interesting than it really was.
"Huh. Another tie," she said.
"Again," Rex said.
She lifted her fist. The way she moved was like soone who had had three glasses of really good wine and had stopped worrying about little things like how much they were smiling.
"One. Two. Three."
Scissors again. Both of them.
Elaris laughed. It’s short and real, like the kind that cos before soone decides to let it.
"My, oh my... I can’t believe it." She said, "What are the odds—"
"The ga has a way of finding balance," Rex said, looking very serious as if he were telling the truth. "And it also helps you to connect with your opponent’s mind until you can read everything inside their minds."
She gave him a look.
He looked back, calm and unhurried, like soone who knew they had all night.
"Hmmmm..." She said, "You’re trying to do sothing to ."
"Really?" Rex said, "We’re just playing a hand ga... it’s actually not that deep."
"Oh yeah, now I can sense that you’re actually planning sothing against ," she said again, but she was still smiling, which ant she had made up her mind that she didn’t care.
"Are you not satisfied enough beating my husband, and now you want to beat so that you can dictate your terms at —"
Rex interrupted her. "Nah, you’re overthinking it."
Before she could continue questioning him, Rex filled her glass once more. He approached tasks like this with the sa instinct he applied to everything: he anticipated what soone needed just before they realized it themselves and provided it without any hassle.
Elaris saw him pour the wine, and her eyes focused on his muscles. ’Oh my... such a young gentleman can have this peak physique for his age.’
"You’re very good at this," she said, trying not to sound obvious that she was admiring his muscles.
"At pouring wine?"
"Well, yes, but there’s also the ability to make people feel like they matter," she said. "There’s a difference between soone who is polite and soone who really pays attention."
"I can tell you pay a good amount of attention that my grandson can’t even do," Elaris chuckled. "That may also be proof of why you can win Diana’s heart and make her truly love you."
Rex put the wine down and looked her straight in the eye.
"It’s a piece of a cake." He said, "So people are easier to notice than others."
Elaris grabbed her glass, and she did it very slowly. "And what kind am I?"
Rex said, "The kind that makes noticing feel like a privilege instead of a duty."
The corner of her mouth moved. She sipped her drink and looked at him over the edge, resembling soone who was trying to decide how seriously to take sothing and was leaning toward taking it seriously.
She said, "I bet you say that to a lot of won."
It wasn’t quite an accusation. It was more like a test where he already knew the answer.
"I say what’s true." Rex said, "How often I say it depends on how often it’s true."
"And what about tonight?"
"Tonight... it’s true," Rex said plainly.
Elaris put her glass down with the care of soone who was being careful about it.
"Alright, let’s continue," she said, raising her fist again.
"One. Two. Three."
And both of them picked paper now.
She looked at their hands.
She said slowly, "This ga is rigged."
"It’s an old tradition." Rex said, "Traditions make sense in their own way."
"Traditions," Elaris said in a way that made it sound like he had been in one very big and specific tradition for thirty years, "rarely help the person who didn’t grow up with them."
She leaned back a little. The wine didn’t take away the formal quality she always had; it just softened the edges of it.
What was left now was sothing warr and less organized.
"You know," she said, her voice a little different than before, "my husband is very good at a lot of things."
"I know." Rex said, "Most of them ca to this afternoon."
"Yes," she said. "The training ground and the magical contest."
She turned her glass slowly. "Therion is great at competitions, demonstrations, and showing off his skills to other people."
Rex stayed put.
Elaris stared at the wine in her glass like soone who was trying to figure out how far down a road they wanted to walk.
"He is less exceptional," she said carefully and clearly, "at the things that happen when no one is watching."
There wasn’t much noise in the dining room.
"The private things," she said, and the way she said it made the word "private" sound more important than it usually does. "The things that need a different kind of attention."
"A different kind of... patience."
’There it is... a sign that I could use to get closer.’
She turned her head to Rex.
"He has never been very good at that," she said, with the flat honesty of soone who had known this for a long ti but had never had the chance to say it out loud to anyone. "And I have been very understanding about it for a long ti."
Rex kept looking at her.
"That’s a lot of understanding," he said.
"It is." Elaris said, "Being understanding is one of my best traits."
"It shouldn’t have to be," Rex said.
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