Notes: I laughed so hard when Hassian told my character, "I never feel annoyed with you," once we started the romance route after we had maxed out our friendship levels. I thought to myself, "Dude, you are such a liar. You have been annoyed with me every single day since I started this game."
However, then I started to think about other possible explanations and this cute little plunny of an idea came to me. I just had to write it!
Also, the player characters for my Palia fics will always be female, but they will remain nameless for increased reader compatibility.
ANNOYED
"It's strange, but...I never feel annoyed with you," Hassian hesitantly told the young human woman at his side as they sat close together in his grove.
Even though they had already exchanged pins in order to prove their commitment to each other, they were still taking their relationship slow with nights like these...in order to learn more about each other and understand the different worlds they came from. After all, stargazing under the open sky after they shared the food they had hunted and foraged together earlier in the evening before they had grilled everything over the campfire was the perfect way to spend some quality time alone away from the pressure...and prying eyes...of life in the village.
In fact, learning about each other was exactly what Hassian...in the peacefulness of such a moment...wanted to achieve with his current explanation. "So many things tend to annoy me: chapaas, enclosed spaces, bad poetry, the other humans, most of the villagers, sometimes even my own Mother...but never you."
His confession startled the woman a bit...before she smiled at the obvious irony of his statement. After all, they had come a long way in order to get to the current closeness of their relationship. However, that did not mean that she could not remember what it had been like before between them when she was the one who had to continuously approach him to even get him to speak to her, at all.
"Is that so?" she therefore replied with a touch of playful disbelief in her tone. "Then please tell me why...for the longest time...whenever I saw you and stopped to chat...even after we became friends...did you often greet me with...and I quote...I see it's time for you to annoy me again?
This time it was Hassian who started slightly at her precise wording, but then he shook his head a bit sheepishly.
"I apologize now for my apparent rudeness then. I am glad that you did not allow it to turn you away from me. However, I did mean what I said."
The woman did not verbally comment at his confusing assertion. She simply looked at him with a raised eyebrow and the obvious question in her eyes, instead.
Hassian sighed and it was clear to her that he did not want to elaborate. In fact, as the silence dragged on for a long moment, she became more and more certain that he would not even bother to do so. However, he surprised her yet again when he actually replied.
"It's hard to explain," he finally admitted. "However, I now know that I was usually quite annoyed back then simply because of the fact that you didn't actually annoy me."
"Hassian, you do know that doesn't make any sense, whatsoever. Right?" The woman asked as she also threw up her hands in exasperation at his ambiguous response.
"But it does!" he insisted. "Even when you purposely tried to annoy me...like how you would always make a point whenever you saw us...every single time...to greet and chat with Tau and give him a gift...before you even spoke to me, at all."
He paused to look knowingly at her then and the woman found that she just could not hold back the cheerful grin that automatically arose at the memory. After all, besides the fact that she did adore the plumehound...who was currently sprawled by the nearby fire as he happily gnawed on a leftover bone...she really had done that on purpose. It had perhaps been a bit childish and petty, but she had really just wanted to get under Hassian's skin as much as he had gotten under hers at the time.
She had really thought the effort had been wasted, however, and that he had not even noticed her actions. After all, he had never said anything about it before...and Hassian was not usually one to hold his tongue when something displeased him.
He must not have actually hated it, then! she thought in amazement. After all, she had never considered that possibility before.
"Well," he continued when it became obvious that she was not even going to bother to deny the effort she had put into the scheme. "I actually found that to be..." he paused as he searched for a fitting word, before he reluctantly admitted the truth that proved she had been correct. "I actually found such actions...and you...to be irresistible. There! I said it! That is what annoyed me so much! No matter what you did, I just could not dislike you. In fact, you continued to fascinate me against my will...and it drove me crazy...and I know I reacted badly because of it. However, despite all that...or maybe even because of it...what you made me feel could never be described as anything even close to annoyance. Do you understand now?"
"So," the woman summarized with quite a bit of surprise at the unexpected confession. "What you are saying is that you were always annoyed with me back then, simply because you could not be annoyed with me, even though you wanted to be annoyed with me?"
"Exactly!" Hassian agreed with obvious relief that she finally understood him.
The woman did not know what to say at first. After all, such sincerity on his part meant that she could not even bear to laugh at him despite such a ridiculous...even though it was also quite sweet at the same time...claim. Therefore, she simply just shook her head, instead. Then, since she could think of no other response - especially since it warmed her heart to finally know that he had indeed been interested in her for far longer than she had originally thought - she did the only thing she could do at such a moment.
She leaned up to kiss him for the first time, instead.
Hassian's eyes widened at the unexpected action for just a moment until the sensation of her lips against his hit home. His previous resolve to do things the traditional way and restrain himself until they knew each other better completely rebelled then as he wrapped his arms around her, pulled her close, and deepened their kiss even further with his usual quiet intensity .
"Did that annoy you?" the woman asked him...with just a hint of teasing...when they finally had to pull apart just enough to breathe.
"Not even a little bit," he assured her with a quiet laugh that perfectly matched her tone as they...reluctant to break contact with each other completely...simply rested their foreheads together. "Quite the opposite, in fact!"
Then, to prove his point, he did it again. Only this time...with the desire to go slow already forgotten...he also pulled her all the way down with him until they were both lying on the thick blanket of grass that carpeted the grove.
"Annoyed" was the very last word that either of them would have ever used to describe how they felt about what happened between them after that.
In fact, even Hassian later had to admit that no words could do any justice to that moment in time between them...and he eventually gave up on the attempt to capture its essence in a poem.
However, he could never give up on the precious human woman herself...the only one who never seemed to annoy him...and what they had come to mean to each other.