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"You should be bold, Neuvillette! You should do whatever you want. No one would mind, you know~"
It is a common argument, one that Neuvillette hears quite often coming from Furina. She always pushes him to connect more, to feel more, to understand more, despite his position as a judge. He is not made like her, able to stay impartial despite... friendships.
He learned that long ago. It is better to maintain a distance, lest those close to him end up imprisoned. Though... there is one exception to that rule.
"Are you saying I am not forthright enough, Lady Furina?" It may only be the two of them right now inside his office, but they are in a place of business, and he would loathe to have someone come in when his formalities have gone out the window. There are appearances to be kept. "You know my stance on boundaries--"
His unsavory answer was met with an eye roll and a dramatic sigh. His face remained placid, but he knew Furina could read the minute twitch at the corner of his eyes. The irritation smoothed away to exasperated fondness as she leaned across his desk, erasing whatever personal space the wood provided. "That is exactly what I am saying! Boundaries this, boundaries that, how are you going to learn anything if you're going to sit at your desk all day!" Each word was enunciated by the slap of her palm against his desk, mussing up the papers he had painstakingly organized.
"You've got to prioritize yourself sometimes!" He knows she's going to begin one of her tirades as her eyes practically sparkle with determination. "Think about it this way: if you keep neglecting your own needs, then... then how will you even know why someone would do something? Like... like, how can you understand the motives of a selfish person if you do not practice!" They both know there's no true logic behind this. Furina is as she always was, worried about his slowly improving grasp on humanity.
"So be selfish, for at least one day." Mollified after all the words have left her, he watches as she plops down onto a chair nearby. Plates clatter and tea is poured as she digs into the cakes he always provides her during her visits. "You're too nice," she mutters around her spoon.
His brows furrowed. Him? Nice? Out of the two of them in this room, he would not deem himself anything close to...' nice.'
"Anyways, that's all I have to say on the topic. You're blessed that I am not using my rights as your beloved archon to order you to be selfish," she sniffed, before moving on to her second slice of cake. "Oh yes, have you heard about--" It seems she was sufficiently distracted for now. He turns back towards his work to finish it, but her thoughts ring in his head, a distracting echo that makes him read the same page on Melusine trade for the fifth time in fifteen minutes. To be...selfish. He had thought he had been so far. Selfish enough, in the way he would take breaks, where he would stand and enjoy time with the Melusine. Were those moments not selfish enough?
He could hear her argue about how that is merely a healthy work-life balance. That it was his right to have a reprieve after a long session of work. So... how could he be selfish?
The chair scrapes against the floor as he rises. In her moment of gluttony, Furina only spares him a second glance before assuming he is fishing for one of the many files behind him. So engrossed in her sweets that she fails to notice his approach until his shadow blocks out the ray of sun streaming through the oversized windows.
Neuvillette's huff is tinged with amusement. The glove on his right-hand drops onto the seat. His palms are warm against her cheek. "My apologies, let me be selfish like this... Furina."