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With both of their busy lives, it was rare that either of them ever got the opportunity to just relax and lay on the couch and do nothing but watch shows Maya enjoyed. It was a perfectly good activity for a lazy, rainy day like this.
Franziska had been watching this series for a while now, but despite the repetition and her girlfriend and little brother’s love of the show, she still retained nothing of note about it. Someone either caused trouble or a monster arrived, there was a fight, and then they all carried on with their lives.
She knew nothing of the characters, or even if the characters even mattered. All that she knew was this was something that was important to both of them. She could not participate in their conversation, but she would watch the show with Maya. Despite her knowing his feelings for it, Miles never could build up the courage to suggest watching it with her.
Not that she blamed him, Papa made sharing foolish things such as interests nearly impossible. Maya may have had a similarly strict upbringing, but she rebelled in a far bolder and open way than Miles or even Franziska herself ever have. She was who she was in spite of her upbringing, rather than because of it. Franziska had to respect that.
“Hey babe, I got a question.”
Franziska stopped. She hadn’t really been paying attention, but she had to check the screen to be certain it was still going.
“Is this one of those…” what was the term they used? “Filler? Episodes?”
Maya nodded. “Yeah! Good job remembering! So can I ask you something? It’s important.”
“I am only watching this show because of you. You are free to ask me anything you want.”
“Would you love me if I was a worm?”
Had a normal person asked her that, she would tell them that was a foolish question. Why a worm of all things? Were they under the impression they were about to be part of a grand transformation? Were they given the choice to pick what animal they would be and they picked a worm?
But Maya was not just a regular person. Aside from being the wonderful and perfect woman she was in every single way, she was also a spirit medium. Franziska had seen for herself how her body changes to that of the spirit’s when she’s channeling. The case where they first met had her learn a great deal about the process.
Maya asking her this had a whole new layer that wouldn’t have been accounted for. This was not some belief that she had been cursed, this was something that she could plausibly do.
She narrowed her eyes at her. “What exactly are you planning, Ms. Fey?”
“Wow you thought about that for a long time. And what do you mean ‘What exactly are you planning’ I was asking a simple yes or no question. One that you’re dodging by the way. I think that’s awfully suspicious.”
“As the Master of the Kurain Technique, I am very aware of your prowess as a spirit medium. You say these things and they concern me.”
Maya’s expression softened. “Aw… You’re worried about me, babe?”
“I worry about you perhaps more than I worry about any other person I know. I get especially worried when you say things that sound like ‘what if I channeled a worm?’ How am I meant to relax when you ask me things like that?”
The silence that followed wasn’t something Franziska liked. Her concern wasn’t meant to be thought provoking. I was meant to lead to confirmation that she wasn’t about to channel a worm.
“I don’t think I’ve tried to do a worm before…” her tone was concerning.
“Don’t tell me you’ve tried to in the past, Ms. Maya Fey.”
“Well I did while I was in Khura’in on my pilgrimage. I got a little drunk off of ara we were using in a ceremony and I tried to channel the spirit of a lizard I saw,” Maya paused. “I bet it’s because I never got the lizard’s name.”
What an unbelievably foolish thing to do, yet something she could easily see Maya doing.
“How would one even find out the name of a lizard? I have never seen one speak before,” had this been anyone but her, she would not even indulge this foolish line of thinking.
“That’s the problem, isn’t it…” she trailed off as she thought. “I don’t think that pet ones would even know their names, but maybe I could do a dog or something! Pet dogs know their names, and I think that’d be the name they’d go by to other dogs, making it their real name.”
She supposed that with the fact that names change that there’d be a chance it wouldn’t be the name on one’s birth certificate. The matter of spirit channeling seemed a lot more complex and nuanced than she had previously thought.
“So as things stand, it would be impossible for you to be a worm.”
“Well channeling is different than being a worm. Because I’m giving the deceased a vessel to use in this world. If I was channeling a worm I’d just be channeling it. I wouldn’t be a worm, y’know?”
“I absolutely do not know.”
“I’m talking if we woke up one morning and I was a worm, and so I repeat the question: Would you love me if I was a worm.”
Franziska shook her head. The woman she loved so dearly could be so sincerely foolish sometimes. Nonetheless, she kissed her cheek.
“I would love you no matter what. But I sincerely doubt you’ll ever turn into a worm with no notice.”
Maya kissed her cheek back. “Thanks, babe. I’d love you even if you were a worm too…” she stretched a little. “We should probably think about food soon. Wanna grab Eldoons?”
“I love you dearly Maya, but I am not eating anything with noodles immediately after talking worms.”
“Coward.”
“Do you really think a pathetic challenge like that would get me to change my mind, Ms. Maya Fey?”
“I don’t have to think anything.”
She wasn’t going to give in, she wasn’t going to give in.
“Fine, I’ll get my wallet. The things I do for you, Ms. Maya Fey.”
“Thank you, Ziska. I love you,” she batted her eyelashes at her.
“I love you too...Even if you were a worm.”