saveourearth | A Little Unsteady [Closed Log]

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A Little Unsteady [Closed Log]

Date: February 20th
Characters: Benjiro and Sadie

The quiet sound of the engine cuts completely as Benjiro pulls off the street and up the drive of his great aunts’ house. Rolling up to the door of the storage shed, Benjiro plants his feet on either side of his motorcycle to steady it as he waits for Sadie to dismount from behind him. He follows after, sweeping his foot to pull out the kickstand and lean it to rest momentarily. He reaches up to unlock the strap under his chin, and pulls off his helmet with a shake of his head to free his hair from sticking down after the drive. Helmet under one arm, he walks over to the shed to pull up the door, then rights his bike to walk it inside.

Motorcycle parked for the night, he hangs both his helmet and Sadie’s, and then moves to unstrap their bags from the back rack. As he starts to undo the straps while speaking to her, his words trail off briefly as his eyes fall on the blanketed heap in the back corner left untouched since they visited the mouth of Moss River, “So, for dinner, do you want....um...” He shakes his head and finishes as he picks up the bags, “Sorry. A-anyways, I was thinking noodles.”

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Lacking in sufficient volume as they are, his rapid breathing manages to still accumulate behind his face mask in sickening heat that feeds into it all. Clawing at the mask, he tears it away with one hand with a gasp exposing his sharp teeth in the shelter of the shed, and drops it to the floor as his hand stills against his head after. The relief is mild, and slips away in the collapsing thought.

Benjiro hears Sadie, and he sees her transition to join him on the floor. He feels her arm move around his back, and as the stroking begins, he vaguely recognizes the vast difference between the slow motion of her hand and his shallow breathing. The first commands pass unheeded, but repetition gives him a chance to work towards the new rhythm. Shutting his eyes and dropping his head fully forward, he curls smaller to brace against himself as he starts to work to slow his breathing. The pace starts to ease, but then-

How long until he never feels her touch again?

His breath hitches at the thought and several seconds pass with the air lodged between his mouth and lungs. He succumbs to a heavy coughing fit when his autonomic system kicks in and he bows from the waist, shrinking even further down under the weight of the terror.

Sadie watches Ben like a hawk, eyes flicking between tracking his breathing and his expression, or at least what little she can see behind his hands as she continues to rubs his back in time to her instructions. In and down. Out and up. Sadie relaxes, her heart settling as it seems to start working until suddenly it isn't. Ben freezing completely, his breathing stopping completely has Sadie scrambling for her phone with one hand and moving her hand from Ben's back to his cheek.

"Please Ben, you need to try and focus only on breathing! In and out. I know it's hard but you can do it!"

She leans forward to rest her head on him, close without overcrowding and making the problem worse. The second her forehead touches Ben Sadie grimaces as a sharp pain lances just behind her eyes, not dissimilar to a terrible migraine, and Sadie can't help but hiss as in that second she feels disconnected from her body. Just like during the Echo.

A small dark room. Dim white light of street lights leaks through drawn curtains at the window while the door is cracked open with a golden toned light coming through, the contrasting light sources illuminating the space enough to make out the bedroom of a young child with a desk set in one corner and toys arranged in an orderly fashion on a set of shelves. The toys there are outnumbered by books that take up most of the space. One toy, something mechanical, lies disassembled on the desk with a few small tools at rest beside it, and a page with scribbles that vaguely resemble the parts with lines drawn between them. The walls are plain save for some posters.

The occupant of the room is present, laying in his bed on his side with his brown eyes focusing on the covered window as a clock ticks mounted on the wall above his bed. The boy appears to be of asian descent by the shape of his features and no more than six years old, black hair trimmed into a soft feathered cut with strands swept from the right side of his head. His hand rests on a stuffed dinosaur toy beside him, a finger gently moving rhythmically against the soft fabric before he sighs and looks down at his pillow.

Strangely, he doesn’t seem aware he has company.

This... This wasn't right. Sadie stares at the room in front of her wide-eyed. With Echoes it was like she is Q'uila, she had no control and, she looks down at her hands, she was certainly never in her own body. Sadie clenches her fists, this has happened at the worst possible time. She needs to get back to Ben!

To add to her understanding that this wasn't her Echoing Q'uila was the room, far too modern for where Q'uila was from. Though this must be a memory as the young boy on the bed hadn't reacted at all to her appearance, as if she wasn't really there.

So why was she seeing this? Now of all time? She wanders over to the desk to see if the notebook could give her any clues.

The notebook has no clues while laying open, but next to it, Sadie may notice a pencil case decorated with a dinosaur design. On it, a name is written that should be familiar - 'Benjiro'.

Suddenly, the boy in the bed looks up from his pillow when he hears the distant sound of a phone ringing from another room. The voice of a woman answers it, cordial and polite. The conversation is audible enough to hear the initial greeting to another woman named Evelyn, but the sound of a baby crying rises from the next room over. Frowning at the crying, he reaches to fold his pillow over the side of his head while he shuts his eyes in an effort to block out the sound.

The patience of a child however, is quickly spent. So after nearly a minute passes with no change in the sounds coming from outside the room, Benjiro releases his pillow and rolls to sit up. Sliding off the edge of the mattress, he walks over to the door and pulls it open to enter the hallway. Outside his room and visible down the short corridor are several half filled moving boxes, and from the layout, it is readily apparent the family is living in a two-bedroom apartment.

Benjiro...

Sadie's head whips round to look once more at the little boy on the bed. She-she could kind of see it, in the shape of his nose and his brow. Possibly the eye colour too although it was hard to say with how dark the room was. Ben was adorable is the ultimate conclusion she comes to, although settling with that being Ben... How was she seeing his memory, if this even was his memory, and why? A far more troubling set of questions to ponder though she has no time to as a baby starts crying.

That must be Emiko. She watches Ben cover his ears and moves towards the door, frowning when it becomes clear that Ben and Emiko's mother isn't going to do anything. Which causes one of the singularly most disturbing experiences as tiny Ben steps through her and heads towards the room with the baby in. Shuddering, there is nothing else for Sadie to do but follow.

Benjiro stops short in the hallway, looking into the dark room with the door half open next to his own from where Emiko cries. He looks down the hall, back to the room, then down the hall as though giving one more moment to see if his mother would be coming, then huffs softly and walks towards the kitchen rather than the bedroom. Benjiro seemed very set on going to his mother, but as he nears the end of the hallway, he slows and stops just beside a stack of boxes that keep him hidden from view of his mother as a look of uncertainty crosses his face. He stalls there, and listens as his hands come together to fidget.

His mother, a woman with black hair bundled neatly with a shorter stature, is standing at the counter with her back towards them, talking on the phone as she tends something on the stovetop, "-absolutely agree. It won't be much longer before we ship out to the States after all. .... Oh the packing is going well. I've been getting through quite a lot while he is busy at work getting all his projects transitioned to someone else. We're quite excited! .... No, I don't think so. Nothing ever phases him. I don't think Benjiro cares about anything except his books. .... Oh I remember. I was so relieved by the test results. If it weren't for that I was almost ready to sign him over."

Benjiro goes very still as he hears this from his mother, brow furrowing down as his hands tighten together. He blinks more quickly, looking at the carpet under his feet as the conversation continues.

The woman laughs after a small pause to listen, "Mmm you say that but I remember a certain someone talking about leaving her kids and eloping! .... Now that I understand why he's that way it's so much easier. He'll be able to do good things and make us proud. He'll just be one of those geniuses that stays alone and lives for his work. Which, well, that much will be his father's influence."

The child wilts at the shoulders and lingers as the conversation moves on to the logistics of the upcoming move to another country. It's a strong wail from Emiko that gets his attention off the floor, and he rubs at his eyes before he turns the corner around the box to call to his mother.

"Kaasan?"

To that, his mother turns to look over her shoulder, "Evelyn, just a second. - Benjiro, it's passed your bed time."

"But Emiko is crying and-"

"I can hear her. Be patient, and she'll quiet down. Just think about your math tables."

"But-"

"Bed. Now."

Benjiro closes his mouth in a hurry at her commanding tone, and he scurries from the kitchen quickly back towards his room.

Behind him in the kitchen his mother continues on the phone, "Sorry. Emiko is still uh..what's the word...a little colic, and Benjiro was complaining."

Edited 2019-02-18 18:09 (UTC)

Following Ben, Sadie is curious about what this was all about almost despite herself and knowing that she cannot be seen here makes it all the easier to want to poke around. The way the child pauses and fidgets with his hands just makes her all the more certain that this somehow a memory of Ben, it was something she had noticed that Ben still slipped into on occasion whenever he was nervous or worried about something. The fact that it was his own mother that he was nervous about was like a rock in her stomach.

Not a rock, a gasoline canister. Sadie hisses at the unbelievable sentence that just came out of that woman's mouth, and as Ben freezes, Sadie snarls and growls, the volume growing in crescendo as Sadie steps up to Ben's mum.

"How bloody dare you say that about your son?!" Claws prick at her palms as she snarls at the shorter woman, "How could you be so damn cruel about a child even when he isn't supposed to be around to hear it?! Be lucky that we've never met in real life because I will not stand for this!" Her growl drowns out Emiko's crying and her next snarl does not come out as a snarl but instead a roar.

It is only Ben fleeing the room that pulls her away from Ben's mum and planning her bloody murder, Sadie shoots one last dagger-filled glare at Ben's mum before quickly following the child form of her boyfriend.

Edited 2019-02-19 00:38 (UTC)

The snarls and roar may drown out the crying for Sadie, but the reflection of the past continues as it once had for Benjiro in the memory. He hears his sister even as he leaves the light to return into his dark room. His hands slap down on the mattress with the apparent intention to follow his mother’s direction, but instead, the boy halts still standing at the side of his bed once he reaches it. Slowly his arms relax to rest on the top of the bed, and his eyes search the fabric of his covers as his attention stays snagged on the sounds of his sister.

He looks over his shoulder first. Then lifts one hand. His second hand falls from the bed as he starts to step away from it, and he walks towards the door with steps shortening across the distance. Peering around the door left open enough for him to pass, he looks with wide eyes down the hall. His mother has not left the kitchen and is still talking on the phone as she laughs again.

Benjiro creeps from his room and over into the next dark room, which is illuminated better than his own by a night-light beside the crib. The crib is set in the master bedroom, one that speaks of two adults that keep awareness on their presentation to others by the looks of the arrangements for him and her. That however, may not be worth exploring as Benjiro approaches the crib where his sister lies crying with her voice starting to crack from strain. He steps up to the slats of the crib and reaches his hand through, feeling around as though looking for something near her as he speaks, “Emiko, she doesn’t like that.”

Sadie has the vantage point that would allow her to spot the pacifier on the far side of Emiko that Benjiro is after, but when he starts to try to reach over her, his hand brushes where she can feel it. Shaking as she is, Emiko responds to the touch with eyes opening, and a momentary delay of her next bar to come. His hand slides under her arm, and before he can withdraw it to check her other side, her hand catches his finger. Benjiro is too surprised to retract his hand forcefully and he watches as she undergoes a diminuendo to less strenuous cries accompanied by whimpers and whines.

He simply stares, bewildered. The pacifier is usually what has such an effect, even if this is not as dampening to her cries. Inquisitiveness replaces everything else for the boy, and he reaches his other hand in to lay over the top of her head. More contact. And again she quiets a little more. He has done nothing for her, no bottle, no change, no pacifier, and yet…she seems to be calming down from his presence. His captured hand settles on her chest, and he leans in to rest his head against the slates as he starts to brush his hand on her head in mimicry of what he has seen others do.

Minutes of this, and Emiko has quieted down, looking at Benjiro while her big brother stays fixated on her. He smiles at her, and she kicks her feet with a happy squeak. That prompts a bigger smile from Benjiro, and he whispers to her, “I can’t sleep here, you know.”

Edited 2019-02-20 16:28 (UTC)

Sadie settles down into dissatisfied growls at Ben's mother, she had no idea that Sadie was there, all she was doing was riling herself up. Flipping the bird at the awful woman, Sadie turns to shadow Ben. She watches from the hallway as Ben appears to head back to bed, only to watch him double back and head towards Emiko. And dear god that was both upsetting and wonderful; seeing the care and wonder as his presence starts to settle Emiko is so heartwarming, but the fact that Ben is having to do this whilst still a child himself has her growling again.

She hated his mum, and if they ever met it would certainly be a struggle to remain polite towards the woman.

Slipping under his wrist, her hand finds his cheek as his coughing fit starts, and he turns his head from her hand even as he bows through his back. Her touch at his face limits the fold of his body to a slouch jarred by the harsh effort to clear his airway. A deeper inhale follows after the coughing ceases, and he falls back into ragged breathing as another murmured apology slips breathless from his lips, “...s...rry...sorry.”

Then Sadie moves closer to him, leans to him, only to react with a pained hiss. His eyes snap open behind the cover of his hands, and those hands tremble as he draws them from his head to look towards her in disbelief and horror.

Did he already hurt her?

Edited 2019-02-18 01:48 (UTC)

What Ben sees when he looks up is Sadie grimacing, eyes closed. This only lasts a second or two as the grimace softens out and Sadie opens her eyes, her gaze is unfocused as she blinks and focuses back in on Ben, eyebrows and lips dropping in concern.

"Ben you need to keep trying with me again. In. Then out."

She begins her instructions as before but this time does not break eye contact with with Ben, making a visible show of breathing in and out now that he's looking at her. Shuffling a little closer, Sadie makes sure to try and press her chest against him so that, after a moment of two when she starts to purr, Ben can feel the full effect of the deep, rumbling vibrations. Another thing to try and ground him and hopefully calm him down.

Paralyzed until after she starts to speak, conflicting explanations arise in his mind as he tries to understand the reaction he witnesses in Sadie. Whether he had done something but he wasn't moving only coughing or she went through an Echo a new memory? or was suffering from something else had she been hurt at the river after all? he could not differentiate.

This is not the time to be doing this, she doesn't need to deal with his issues...!

Her guidance comes through with the demonstration, and the whisper of breathing starts to deepen. He breaks eye contact as tears well up in his eyes over the narrowed field, dropping his gaze with struggle visible in his expression while he wrestles with the myriad of emotion underlying the sense of panic. One hand gripping his head as the other covers his tears, he inhales sharply through his teeth as she comes against him, but does not try to retreat.

In. Out.

He feels her breathing, hears her words, and soon feels the vibrations of her purring carried into his own body by the contact between them. Painfully slowly, his breathing follows suit. The process is disrupted several times with momentary accelerations, and dotted by apologies, but Sadie's methods are effective over a span of minutes that feel dilated to hours. Tremors persist, yet he finally manages to bring his hands downwards with one arm coming around Sadie to hold her as the other locks to support against his leg.

Sadie continues her hawk-like watch of Ben as she continues to try and coach him into a more normalised breathing pattern. Every little movement comes to the attention of her eyes as she hyper focuses in on him and maintaining her purring and the precise rhythm of in and out.

"Come on Ben, there we go. You've got this." She keeps her voice quiet, almost a whisper between the two of them. Sadie is so very thankful for the rhythm of in and out and having to purr because as soon as Ben starts to cry her chest tightens and it is the only thing that stops her from crying too, especially whenever his breathing picks up and he starts trying to apologise. When Ben finally wraps one of his arms around Sadie does the same to him, wrapping her arms around him properly to bring them closer together.

"There we are. I've got you and we'll stay here for as long as you need...I love you so much, Ben."

She shouldn't.

The bitter thought pierces deep, making his stomach knot, but the vile notion is expelled from his thoughts as he curls into her arms where he feels her warmth, hears her voice, and can breathe her in. Head lowered fully to her shoulder to hide his face as the trails of tears dry in the air, Benjiro continues to shiver faintly as fatigue sets in the wake of the panic. It absolutely drained him, and he sounds it as he replies to her with more control over his voice, "I love you too, Sadie..."

As much as he would like to never move again, he is aware that in time, one of his great aunts will come out to check the shed.

Sharper inhale drawn, he holds it purposefully then releases it in a rather slow exhale before speaking with edges of nervousness creeping into his voice, "I'm really sorry about...this, I didn't-... I've been distracted and I didn't sleep much last night or before. I've never...never done that before, I don't know why- I... It was absolutely unnecessary and I'm so sorry-" Such rambling will continue until she speaks up.

Sadie lightly presses a kiss to the side of Ben's head as he starts to ramble, gently squeezing him as she goes to cut him off.

"Ben...You owe me no apologies, how much of a hypocrite would that make me when you've been so patient and caring of me when I've broken down?" Another kiss, "Nothing about what just happened was unnecessary. It-it just happens sometimes. Everything builds and builds and builds; worries, stress, upset, nerve, and god knows I haven't exactly made things easy with stuff like what happened the river..."

Sadie sighs, "I'm the one who should be saying sorry, for not noticing how spread thin you've been. I haven't done enough to help unburden you and for that, I am so sorry. I've been relying so much on you and it's unfair of me with what you're going through."

The first kiss and the squeeze of her arms has the intended effect of ending his stream of jumbled apologies with relenting exhale as the last of his prepared breath is released. Benjiro listens from her shoulder at first, turning his head to start looking upwards. Second kiss received, and he stays until she starts to shift blame onto herself. At the mention of the river, his brow pinches together, and as she tries to extend an apology, he lifts his head to look at her directly.

Benjiro slowly shakes his head, lifting his hand from his leg to reach up and cup her cheek, "No...no, you didn't do anything wrong, Sadie. Please, please don't think you didn't do enough. You have, you've been there for me every single day." Thumb brushing across her cheek, he leans his head forward to touch his forehead to hers as he tries to prevent the guilt from settling in her, "I've taken on a lot, I know, but it's not about what's happening now..."

Hesitation snares his words, eyes drifting in the direction of the blanketed weapons, but he turns his gaze back as he swallows a little roughy and draws out the thread common between his thoughts in his panic, "...it's what will happen."

That didn't sit quite true with Sadie, she had been there, but she honestly couldn't say that she'd too much more than that. Once again, placing the burden of the physical work on Ben, such as creating and setting up the harnesses she had used to dive in the river. Ben resting his forehead on Sadie's is a comfort to her, at least until he mentions the future and her breath catches.

"Oh..." Ben's panic attack now made even more sense, "Ben, you know that it's alright to be worried about that right? The future is enough of a worry anyway and then the Echoes make it worse...It is scary. It terrifies me, to be honest, what might happen the longer that we stay in Mossgate but...I want to help and support you every step of the way, even with the more...unusual changes." Sadie looks Ben straight in the eye, "If you ever wanted to leave Mossgate I would go with you in a heartbeat if it meant that you were happy."

Audible in her gain of insight into the disruption of his thoughts, Benjiro recognizes his part in concealing the strain of understanding so much of his potential changes to come. He listens to her reassurances - that she shares in the fear and understands while being willing to face it with him. Then she offers something he never expected. Leaving Mossgate with him would mean separating from her family. A sacrifice of some of her happiness.

For a quiet moment, the temptation to accept a way out is immense.

Tempering his nerves, he makes his response conditional, “If it becomes too much, if I change in the wrong way, then I will ask you to come with me, Sadie, and we can leave.” He breathes a little easier for having the option. Right now they have obligations to school, but more than that...their friends need them. They need to find answers.

Sliding his hand from her cheek, he brings his second arm down around her middle, and lifts his head only to tilt it and place a soft kiss to her cheek as he brings her into a full embrace. Head bowing over her shoulder, he speaks quietly, “Thank you, Sadie.” As he holds her, the presisting tremors of his muscles fade as the panic finally dies.

The fact that Ben doesn't rule out the idea of leaving and in fact agrees to it as a plan of action if the Echoes start to take an unfavourable turn is a massive comfort.

"We'll look out for each other just like always, and if it ever gets to that point, for either of us, then we know we've got a plan, a way out." She rests her head against his, "We have options even if it gets dire."

Ben and Sadie hold onto each other for a little longer until Ben is sure that he's feeling recovered enough to move. From that point the evening resumes as normal; a quick chat with Ben's aunts before spending their free time before dinner studying, and then eating together and catching up on the days events with Ben's aunts over dinner.

Eventually Ben and Sadie retreat to Ben's room to get ready for bed. Sadie perches on the edge of Ben's bed, brushing her hair to get it ready to tie back for the night when she finally decides to broach the subject.

"Ben...You don't have to answer now but... What was it about the gauntlets that triggered the panic attack?" She gently questions him as she watches Ben also get ready for bed.

Expectations aside, Benjiro would not hesitate to retreat from Mossgate at her request should Sadie be the one overwhelmed by the situation or undesirable changes. Nothing would sway him from staying at her side.

Then life resumes. Unlike how it felt in those fevered minutes, everything is still as it was yesterday. Sadie is with him and he still has a place in Mossgate.

Daylight fades and as the evening hours spill into the night, the promise of sleep lures him away from delays to get one last task accomplished. Tonight, he needs to rest. By now, he has gone through the typical motions of readying for bed, and his thoughts have begun to slow as he loops the drawstring of his pajamas into a neat bow knot. Dressed entirely, he reaches to flip off the light switch for the overhead by his closed door while the lamp at his bedside maintains his ability to perceive color. He veers over to his computer desk one last time to ensure the power is off, and that is when the question from Sadie comes. Benjiro stalls with his mouth opening slightly in a desire to answer, only for him to close it to swallow as he reconsiders the phrasing and instead answers on his second try, “...they gave me some perspective about him.” The one without a name.

Tired steps bring him over to join Sadie on the bed, and easing down to sit beside her, he looks to the brush in her hand and a thought crosses his mind. Uncertain, he offers one open hand towards her, “...would you like a hand with your hair? It’s been a while since I’ve done Emiko’s, but I doubt I’ve forgotten.”

Edited 2019-02-20 11:40 (UTC)

Perspective? Maybe something to do with the size of gauntlets, something along the line of what she had been thinking? Sadie stops her thoughts there, it would do no good to assume or try and guess especially not when Ben would try and explain to her to the best of his ability. When Ben sits down on the bed Sadie happily hands over the brush to him and rests her hand on his leg as she scooches around for a better angle.

"Here, have a crack at it," Sadie waits for Ben to start brushing her hair before she gently squeezes his leg and continues her questions, "What sort of perspective?"

Similarly shifting his position to sit diagonally on the bed, he scoots closer to settle where his leg rests lightly against her own under her hand. Benjiro grips the brush lightly at the handle, and he raises it to her hair to pick up where she left off. The first passes of the brush are ginger as he focuses on being gentle while becoming reacquainted with the familiar motion. Much like riding a bike, it feels natural in seconds.

Prompted to talk more, a shadow of a smile crosses his face. He had expected such, and instead of the same anxiety seizing him as before, the contact with Sadie and the busyness of his hands wards off the worst of it. His heart rate does start to creep upwards, but it doesn’t affect him outwardly as he responds.

“You figured it out earlier, Sadie… There are a number of reasons not to want to gauntlets around, but seeing them next to you made me consider the sheer size of them. And consequently, him.” A sweep of his fingers through her hair to reposition it with his other hand, then he resumes with his voice measured, “Remember the drawings I made of the other three? He has a similar frame to the blue and yellow ones, but he’s taller. It’s difficult to pin down any specific measurements, but he must be close to 210 centimeters. And worse still, his arms are prominent.”

A pause to breathe, then he brings the fear out into words through the sharp teeth he already had thrust upon him, “…if my Number affects me that way again in the future, I could end up like...that.”

There are a couple of tugs to start with, not painful, but a clear sign of Ben trying to fnd the stroke and rhythm that works best with her hair. However, once he gets that down pat, Sadie is treated to the delightful goose-bump tingling sensation that comes from someone else doing her hair and this manages to set of a round of loud purring from the blonde. Sadie would definitely have to ask Ben to do this for again if this was how relaxed she'd feel.

"The gauntlets gave you a better measure of the size of the person you've become connected to," Sadie summarises as she gives Ben's leg another comforting squeeze, "Okay... 210 centimetres, large upper build... There are definitely some challenges with that if it does end up happening but nothing we can't work around with a little bit of good, old-fashioned hard work."

A practical, forward-planning approach is the best way Sadie could think of to approach this topic for Ben, "Movement and learning physical space occupation is something that will just take some good old practice. Any clothing issues... Tailors are expensive bit you can buy really large clothes on the cheap and take them in, or some fabrics are inexpensive to buy of we need to go that route."

" And of course I will be there to help with all of that."

Soothed by the activity of brushing her hair and the resulting rise of her purrs, he listens to her repeat back the information to demonstrate her understanding. It leaves no question of doubt in her comprehension. Then almost instantly Sadie puts forward a determined reaction, and moves right along to working through the possibility in a concrete manner. It sounds realistic. She recognizes that the faster he changes the clumsier he would be as a result of increases of mass and volume. Managing any elevation in his strength would likely be addressed with the same methods he has been using since last year with adjustments made as necessary to regain a sense of normalcy. Clothing would require new strategies to address, and Sadie has two strong suggestions to offer already.

What matters more, is her verbal commitment to assist him.

A few nods of his head accompany his words despite her inability to see the motion, "I don't doubt that, Sadie. Thank you... It would take time to make the adjustments, but can be managed practically. If it happens." Although his words stall there in a pregnant pause, he continues to brush her hair carefully as he searches for the way to uncover the next layer of the issue.

Patience yields the root of it all.

Brush set aside on the bed once he feels certain he has done the task thoroughly, he reaches with both hands to guide her hair back in sweeping motions as he runs his fingers through the silky strands. Aligning them towards her neck, he separates them into three groups to begin braiding together neatly. After he ties the braid off, he brings his hands down to rest on her shoulders, "Logistical issues aside, I... When I saw you next to the gauntlets, I realized you're about the size of one of his arms." His stomach lurches, but he finishes, " ...if I changed that far, then how could I hold you?"

Edited 2019-02-21 04:32 (UTC)

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Magic....

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And back at the shed

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*persisting

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the gauntlets around*