saveourearth | Picnics and some "First" Encounters [Closed Log]

Despite not having received any heightened hearing, Benjiro still notices her footsteps as she rushes her way through packing from the front hall. He had packed prior to leaving from Moss Manor to come pick her up, but that does not stop him from reviewing his packing list mentally in an effort to triple check that he had indeed brought all of the items he committed to providing; including the collapsible tent poles he would use to jury-rig a cover over the picnic blanket with a pair of tarps and ties, a blanket for warmth, a lantern, and an insulated cooler that would keep the food warm until they reached the destination. While he doesn’t have much in the way of personal rain gear, he managed to worm into a raincoat that no longer closes across his front to keep his arms and back dry.

Rain will not stop this picnic.

As soon as Sadie leaves her room, he smiles up to her, “Absolutely, but we don’t need to rush.” Hand opened to her, he takes a moment to steal a quick kiss. Seeing Sadie immediately settles the worst of his nerves, but a few butterflies linger at the prospect of escaping the limits of the border by one more step.

When she is ready to leave, he passes her a helmet for the ride and dons his own.

Edited 2019-06-19 20:13 (UTC)

Sadie's nerves are different to the quiet planning of Ben's, instead Sadie's are expressed in her dashing about and the size of her smile as her hand slots seemlessly into his and she steps froward into the kiss before sliding back again to pull on her hiking boots, slower than before as Ben's steady presence calms her.

"Oh, I know, but the sooner we get there the longer we can spend talking," And the sooner they can both treat the cause of their nervousness. She kisses Ben's cheek, "To the bakery!"

The last bits and pieces are grabbed from the kitchen before they mount the bike and head off to the bakery to grab the final parts of their picnic,Sadie picking out some mutual and independent favourites as well as some warm crusty rolls.

" This is going to be great, Ben," She gives his hand a squeeze as they leave the bakery, "Just like the rest of the day."

Able to recognize the outward channeling of her nervous energy, his voice is that much softer and slower in cadence to contrast with an easier tempo as he slips the facemask in place to venture out into public while she pulls on her boots, “That’s a fair point. Still, we might outlast the rain today.” They could spend the whole day out there if they took a break to retrieve another meal later. Future picnics are also a viable option.

Kissed on the cheek, Benjiro is smiling as they head out into the light drizzle to ride his motorcycle to the chosen bakery. The warm shop invites them in with smells of temptation and sweetness, and he opens the cooler after they pay for the selected spread to seal it away until they can create a safe space to eat. Meal bought and stored, he follows her out hand in hand towards the meeting across the boundary. Benjiro gives her hand a prolonged but gentle squeeze in turn, “Yeah.”

Cooler loaded to the bike and both of them seated, he drives towards their selected destination. Thoughts humming as fast as his bike, he keeps his focus on the drive through the slick streets out onto the roadways that will lead to a secluded place for the date. Mind on the practical, the rain on his helmet wards off the whispers from those remaining butterflies. Despite a long night awake, he still does not know how he might speak to Sadie once she is free of the Numbers. Soon enough, he slows down to turn off road.

Benjiro drives to the place he had gone to previously to cross the boundary alone. He still remembers the point at which he changed, having identified then a number of visual markers from stone and tree to create a mental representation of the invisible demarcation between the strange and the normal. Not far from the shoreline, the sounds of the waves are too faint for him to hear until he comes to a stop. A hand lent to Sadie to help her off to her feet, he dismounts and parks the bike under a tree with helmet and mask removed. There, he unloads the parts he needs to construct a cover.

As he begins to follow the schematics in his head, he glances to Sadie as he speaks to her in review, “It should only take me a few minutes to put this together, then I’ll set it across the boundary so we can lay out everything from this side. Then...well, one of us has to go out,” and he admits with a nervous tone creeping into his voice, “I honestly don’t know which of us should go first.”

The silence of the bike ride into the forest leaves Sadie with her thoughts as the go; what would Ben say, what sort of questions would he ask her once he's crossed, how would he look at her? She gives Ben's midriff a small squeeze, comfort for her and comfort for him.

The place Ben has found for them is lovely, nice and secluded and, once they're stationary and Sadie is able to remove her earplugs, relaxing. Sadie's eyes drift closed for a moment as she just enjoys the sounds of the sea and the forest, "It's lovely here, Ben. I couldn't have picked a better spot."

As Ben starts to set up the shelter Sadie starts to lay out the less technical components of their picnic, shaking the blanket out into the correct spot and placing down the cooler and laying out the cups and thermos'. Ben's oblivious nervousness makes up Sadie's mind pretty quickly.

"I'll cross first," She offers softly, "I know you, the longer we leave it and the more trains of thought and possibility will jump into your head. Even Outside you will get distracted by it

The scenery had been a comfort the last time he came, and even then he knew this would be an ideal location for other times to travel barely beyond the reach of the Numbers. Seeing Sadie taking a moment to enjoy it assures him of that, even before she voices her approval. To that, he smiles, “I did a lot of wandering that day, but I haven’t explored the other stretches along the circumference west of Moss Manor.”

With Sadie tending to what goes below the cover, he has the poles and tarps arranged by the time she has everything else unloaded and sorted into place. He lifts the shield and plants the four corners down in alignment with the corners of the blanket into the ground. One tarp makes the top that spreads equally on all sides, while the second comes under the first and down the length around two of the four poles like a wall with flaps falling into the space of two other sides. That wall is set against the wind to prevent rain spraying in under the top cover.

He is already half soaked from the drive, but that’s why they have a dry blanket along.

As Sadie makes the decision, Benjiro turns to face her directly with voice lowered to mind her hearing as he steps up in front of her, “If you think that’s best, then that’s alright with me. I know you’re nervous too.” He reaches to take her hands, bringing them up and together in his as he smiles to her, still anxious but determined, “Just remember, I love you. That won’t change for anything.”

Sadie watches Ben putting the final touches on their shelter a bit more protected from the rain than her boyfriend thanks to her coat, "I'm sure," Her reply is determined as Ben gently holds her hands, her decided course of action helping keep her nerves at bay, "Get it done quick, like pulling off a plaster. Once it's started it'll be hard for either of us to worry."

"I love you too, every single version of you," Sadie kisses Ben's fingers where they curl around hers before pulling back and handing Ben her sunglasses, "Let's get this show on the road."

Huffing out a breath Sadie shoots Ben one more smile before she steps across the invisible line of the barrier-

Sadie was damp. And in the forest apparently. She shakes her head, she was used to the strange cotton-wool feeling of being outside of Mossgate but it did still feel a little strange, but at least the forest was nice and she could just about hear the sea too. Sadie turns and startles slightly as she sets eyes on Ben, her eyes wide as they trail up and down him. He looked larger in the videos that they'd sent themselves but seeing the change first hand was rather startling but it certainly didn't look bad on him.

"Hello, Ben," Her eyes are wide as she catalogues the differences but it's still the same smile she always has for him even with the blush steadily staining her cheeks and ears, "You're looking good!"

As usual, she's right.

With love reciprocated and punctuated by the sweet kiss at his fingers, Benjiro feels his cheeks warming against the chill of the rain. He takes the sunglasses she passes to him, and carefully tucks them to hang off the collar of his shirt until he can put them someplace safer. Right now - it's time to meet the entirely human version of her face to face.

The quick smile in the last second reminds him to take a breath, and he exhales as she steps through the barrier. Her feline ears vanish as he watches, and then she comes to a stop as her intention fades to the amnesia. Benjiro straightens to attention as she turns, and he looks back from his 186.7 cm height. Under his snug raincoat, he wore a t-shirt that fits well in length but pulls across his chest and shoulders in such a way as to leave little speculation to the shape. The way she startles had been expected, and as her wide eyes scan over his figure, he glances aside shyly as he reaches a hand up to rub at the back of his neck with a flush of color at his cheeks and a closed smile.

His dark eyes turn back to her as she speaks, and he replies to the compliment as his own blush becomes more vivid, "Hello, Sadie." The sharp teeth in his mouth flash as his smile splits wider while talking with a small shrug, "I can't take credit exactly, but I'm adjusting as it goes." Benjiro slides his hand from his neck as he takes a couple steps closer to stand within reach in front of her now that the initial shock has passed. He looks at her returned blue eyes as he explains, "Right here, between us is the barrier. The thin veil that holds the Numbers in Mossgate. We thought it might be nice to have a chance to see one another across it and talk in more than videos."

A simple look and nod of his head are given to draw her attention to the setup beside them with the covered picnic. Everything is ready with plenty of space for each of them to enter without crossing the boundary of the barrier.

'He still looks so fetching when he blushes.' Is the thought that goes through Sadie's mind as she continues to stare at Ben, there was so many small, new things overlaying the older, more familiar aspects of her boyfriend that just couldn't be seen in the videos they recorded. She wanted to know it all.

"It still seems weird that such a small gap changes so much," Sadie comments, glancing down at the space between them, "I'm glad it's small enough to do this though." She glances back up and pauses. Right, Ben's taller like this, she needs to look further up to meet his eyes. Her cheeks darken and she chuckles, clearly embarrassed, "That'll take a bit of getting used to. It's different, but I don't think that it's bad different."

Fully taking in the set up that Ben made, and she's going to assume she helped a bit, she heads over to sit in her half, happy to be out of the drizzle and angles herself to face Ben as he sits down, mindful of the invisible line between them. Sitting down Ben's change in bult becomes a bit more evident and something to ponder in more detail in a moment because she has just noticed how wet his hair is. Frowning, Sadie pulls her rucksack towards her and starts rifling through until she pulls out a microfiber towel.

"You're all wet, let me dry your hair for you. We don't want you catching a cold." Sadie offers, really any excuse to touch Ben's hair, although she had claws over there now didn't she? She wasn't sure if they were retractable or not. Was there stuff that she didn't do because of them?

Edited 2019-06-23 08:40 (UTC)

A soft chuckle follows her comment about the gap, “It didn’t feel that way driving out here, but it does now thankfully.” When the whole span of your local life is contained neatly in a dome, it seems so much bigger than its relative size on a map - and the walls feel so much broader as they lie beyond where he can see day to day. Benjiro thinks nothing more of it as Sadie is reminded of the change in perspective, and he smiles warmly, “It will, and that’s okay. It’s rather sudden for you, whereas it has been mostly gradual for me.”

Benjiro follows a step behind Sadie, letting her enter the cover and sit before he slips out of his damp shoes at the edge of the blanket to duck under the flap of the tarp. His habit would be to kneel normally, but he pauses midway down to cross at his ankles, and lowers to sit with knees out instead. Not paying mind to the flat feeling of his hair, he plucks her sunglasses from his collar to set beside the cooler where they would be safe for later.

Looking back to see Sadie getting the towel from her bag, Benjiro catches himself before he tries to tell her it isn’t necessary out of polite habit as he realizes there is an ulterior purpose. Whatever it may be, he intends to indulge her, so he agrees, “I definitely don’t want a cold. Thank you, Sadie.” Then he simply bows forward to lean on his elbows against his legs to make it easy for her to reach his hair with his head over that invisible boundary.

Benjiro waits until she has started toweling his black hair to mention what he noticed in her expression, “You’ve got something on your mind already. You don’t have to hold anything back.”

Gently towelling Ben's hair is soothing, the motions repetitive alongside the quiet putter-patter of the rain on the tarp above them.

She pauses, her frown lightening at Ben's reminder, "I was just wondering," She combs Ben's hair back from his face before continuing to towel it, "With how we've both changed, is there stuff that we used to do together that we can't anymore? Are there new things that we do instead maybe?"

It matters that she initiated the contact. The gentle attention draws a slow sigh from him, and he remains still with his neck relaxed enough that she can guide his head to tilt as deemed needed.

When she pauses, he doesn’t move more than to lift his gaze up to look up at her face. Benjiro listens to her questions, looking down only after she starts to towel his hair again. A warmth starts to rise up his neck into his cheeks, and he opens and closes his resting hands once as he starts to answer, “Unfortunately yes, there are things we can’t do together right now.”

Waiting until she has deemed his hair dry enough, he lifts his head fully up and remains leaning on his elbows to explain with hands moving along in emphasis of his words, “For one thing, you occasionally set things on fire when you sneeze, but that’s been easy to accommodate. No perfumes, you have help brushing the cats, and less flowers. Then, you have your claws. You adapted to them quickly actually. You’ve been able to manage them and contacts, which is impressive even if they do retract. The only trick with them is making sure not to startle you, because they do extend reflexively. It’s harder to sneak up on you accidentally now that your hearing has heightened, but it’s best to hand you things rather than toss them to you.”

“As for me…well, there are a couple issues. My teeth grew in sharp before we got together, so we have always had to be mindful when we kiss. As you might expect, they restrict anything more involved,” even gentle nips are out of the question. His gaze drops as he comes to the last change that has affected their physical relationship thus far, “The other problem is my strength. As I get bigger, I’m getting heavier and a lot stronger. Even back when I first got my strength it was…challenging. I accidentally cracked the headboard on my bed.” The admission comes with a vivid blush, but he continues, “I train every day to keep my control, but it’s gotten harder lately. We talked it over, and for now we’re taking a break from being as intimate.”

Guilt thins his lips for a second, but he sits himself up off his elbows as he turns to her second question, “But, we do have one thing we do instead. I just…well, I can show you if you would prefer.” The invitation is there with an uncertain smile. It means a lot to him, but from outside the boundary may seem like a paltry substitute.

Edited 2019-06-24 15:32 (UTC)

It's fascinating, listening to Ben talk about their strange shared circumstances and to feel absolutely no twinge of familiarity but she has to address something because Ben started off with something pretty alarming there.

"Wait, I set things on fire when I sneeze?!" She asks in shock, eyes wide, "How?!"

Coming off his elbows to sit upright, Benjiro looks down as he restrains a laugh to a soft chuckle. His gaze lifts immediately after to her eyes and he explains as well as he can, “Simple answer is magic. You actually create a shower of sparkles when you sneeze, and those transitory sparks can interact with physical objects. As I have touched them without being burned, I expect it has to do more with where they ignite rather than the contact they make following their appearance.”

“And, when you want, you can make a small burst on command.”

Sadie shakes her head, "Honestly, if it wasn't you telling me this I wouldn't believe it. It all seems so fantastical even with us talking face-to-face like this."

She does giggle as the rest of Ben's description comes to mind, "I can't believe you broke the headboard, glad to hear that we can still enjoy ourselves even if we've put some of that on hold I'm sure we're continuing our fun in other ways. I worried that things wouldn't be so good in Mossgate with everything going on... You are happy in Mossgate right?"

“No rational person would. It was hard enough to believe when it first started happening, and it has only become more implausible since,” he offers in reassurance.

Quick to correct her, he interjects as his cheeks flush red, “Cracked.” The loss of control necessary to break the headboard entirely would have dangerous consequences beyond damage to a piece of furniture. He does not interrupt again, and looks genuinely surprised when she asks if he is happy living in Mossgate.

The surprise passes in an exhale, and he reaches out to gingerly take her hand with a warm smile that reaches his eyes, “Yes, I am. It has been...stressful at times, but I chose to stay in Mossgate, and every day I find new support for that decision.”

Edited 2019-07-13 13:58 (UTC)

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Sometime later...

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