[ tristan blinks slowly at first before he glances back down and retucks his pantleg into his boot, zips up. the tickling doesn't stop even as he tucks it away and looks the person who's responded to both "nic" and "nicola" with just a funny look in his eyes and... tris rakes a hand through his curls, tugs at the root briefly. ]

No, I just... you...

[ this is nic. nicola. that's her but it's... him? tristan is still trying to figure out this whole multiverse thing. it's been a while since he's had to maneuver his way around it, and even then that was only with regards to other people. he's hardly had much to do with people who weren't from his particular... world.

but.

this.

ooh. oooh, this place is always throwing him for a loop isn't it. he furrows his brow in the way he used to, feels the pinch of stress between his eyeballs like a furrowed knot of pressure and relief releasing all at once as he immediately holds out both of his hands for nic? nick? to take. ]

I couldn't forget my best [ girl ] guy, [ he murmurs. ] But I think we've got to have a talk about... that. [ his heart is thrumming hard in his chest, pounding like it wants free of his sternum because it's nic's magic and his magic is calling to it like a lighthouse beacon through the fog. he didn't expect this. he didn't really want this either. multiverse or no, he gets that people do well here, but... fuck. ]

Let's go somewhere. Private maybe.