thevoidsdarkhorse | Heart Game (Continued)

[Then let's focus an equal sympathy on that. He wishes he could have had a chance to bury his parents. To bury Van. To bury Mary. To let them have some final resting place, instead of being lost to Hod or Eldrant's destruction.

Dead cat will get a coffin. Cat sized coffin, of course, still on the bed.]

[Oh yeah, that's a lot of sympathy.]

[It's not about morbidity, it's about remembering. Honoring them. Because they existed and that existence deserved to be acknowledged.]

[Be it a cat, or a person, they deserve it.]

[Cat is in a coffin and the pain is...eased somewhat.]

[Amen, sister. Especially when you're one of the only ones (if not THE only one) left to remember them.

Goodnight, sweet nameless cat.

Can he see out any of the room's windows? Non-voidy-weird windows, anyway.]

[B-basically...]

[You see a tree.]

[You are...honestly not sure why you have a window connected to a tree. You haven't remembered that yet, but it makes you hopeful. So there are SOME plants on the planet. And somewhere there is a tree that you found. You wonder how far you had to swim for it, but still.]

[It's life. It's life on a dead world and maybe that MEANS something, you want it to mean something so badly.]

[It is being shown through a voidy window, because there's no trees in her Neighborhood.]

[Hello, tree.

It's a small, delicate flicker of hope, one that he doesn't want to mess with. So he'll leave the window be and finally exit the room, walking to the other side of the hall.

Two doors here, right?]

[Small, desperate hope, yes.]

[Yes. And there's still crying behind one.]

[Opening that door, then.]

Roxy?

[Welcome to pumpkin observatory]

[Crying seems to be coming from the other side of the room, other side of the pumpkins.]

[....That is a lot of pumpkins.

Trying to. Step through them. Without making a mess.]

[Don't give too much, they don't have self control, you're the only one who can watch the moderation. There's only so much you can get at once, but always have a reserve for the bad times. Careful, careful, careful, you're the only one who can do this, you're all alone in this effort.]

[And on the other side of the pumpkins is Roxy.]

[Who looks to be only about five years old, crying into her knees.]

[.....oh. Oh no, this isn't small feral child, is it...

As soon as he sees her, he lowers himself down, makes himself smaller a good distance away

then gives a quiet whistle to get her attention.]

[She jumps and looks at him, startled.]

[Palms up, quiet, not moving towards her and not looking at her directly, using his peripheral instead.

Slowly, carefully, he's taking out the blanket from before, folding it over one arm as he shows it to her, his free hand making a motion down from his eyes. You were crying. Do you want to feel better?]

[She's still at first, uncertain, still curled up.]

[She sniffles and rubs at her eyes, and there's words there. She wasn't crying that much. Just...maybe something in her eyes.]

[After all, his tonal hearing has been shit for the heart, but there is a reason for the boost in body language reading.]

[But then she looks at the blanket, an arm moving towards it, and she's a far worse liar like this, because there is longing, wanting, and a question. Did he really want to help her?]

[A gentle smile in return, warm and paternal. It hurts a bit that he can't just hold her and whisper sweet nothings to calm her, like he used to do for Luke. But he wants to help, even if it just gives her a little more security in a scary situation.

So he shifts the blanket to the arm closest to her, carefully holding it out.]

...

[She reaches out for the blanket, slowly, hesitant and she shifts between it and his face.]

[Are you real?]

[...Hooo okay... okay... not much of a way around this answer.

Carefully, carefully sliding his hand out from under the blanket, palm up and shaking considerably. It's there for her to touch.

I'm real. I'll let you decide for yourself, though.]

[She hesitates. She sees the fear, it's hard for her not to, and it's confusing.]

[But she's young and she makes an assumption because, well...]

[She's afraid too.]

[Maybe it's scarier when you're older. Is it longer being alone then?]

[Slowly, she reaches out, touching his hand, and she jumps a bit because he's warm, but...but he's REAL.]

[HAHAHA SO MUCH TREMBLING AT THE TOUCH BFDHSBFSD and he's curling in on himself not so unlike the girl touching his hand. Oops.

But he'll inhale, exhale, fight the heat rising in his throat do exactly what he did with Doom's version of Roxy. That fear is raw and eats at him, but he digs at it, digs it up with the sadness and the loneliness, that he KNOWS it hurts to be so young and so lonely, so afraid, with so much weight on your shoulders.

Even a grown-up gets afraid. Very afraid.

But there's nothing wrong with being afraid when life is scary.

And, at least for right now, please please please know, little one, that you are not alone.]

[She looks at him with confused, wide eyes, and she...she knows you're hurting, but it's hard to understand because Carapacians aren't complex creatures. There's a lot here, and it's hard to understand, but she shifts closer, she wants to HELP because it's okay.]

[It's okay because we don't have to be alone, and that's good right, things can be BETTER and-]

[And maybe this helps?]

[Small child is going to hug him.]

W-wait, wait--

[But oops, hugs happened. He instantly recoils with a hoarse shriek, dropping the blanket as he flails backwards, arms clenching over his head, tucked down against his knees.

I can't I can't I can't I can't I'm too scared I can't---!!]

Edited (how did that happen) 2015-01-25 06:43 (UTC)

[Roxy jumps back, scrambles away, and there's fear.]

[Oh no, no, no, she did something wrong, what did she do, do humans have the same nasty surprise as Carapacians?]

[She looks around and she grabs a pumpkin, kicking it over to him even as she scrambles back.]

[There! There! A pumpkin helps, right, they always help!]

[...Well getting hit in the head with a pumpkin is ONE way to jerk him out of it.]

O-ow, dammit, what--???

[And then he sees her retreating, looking at him with fear-filled eyes, and regardless of his own trembling and the tears against his face, he's suddenly burdened with shame.

...

A press of his hand to his eyes, wiping the tears away. He was okay. He was going to be okay. There had to be a way for him to power through it, for her sake.

It's that need to comfort her, to care for her, that he tries to focus on, to strengthen and balance out the spike of fear still coursing through him. Only then does he slowly attempt to move again, sliding the blanket into his arms while pushing the pumpkin away with the heel of his shoe.

He's sorry. He didn't mean to scare her. Can he approach her?]

Edited 2015-01-25 06:57 (UTC)

[There is conflict. It's obvious she still wants to approach because...because he's THERE, she doesn't have to be alone.]

[But she's scared. She doesn't want to be hurt, and she doesn't want to hurt him, and she's not sure which got that reaction.]

Edited 2015-01-25 06:59 (UTC)

[A pause.

He wraps the blanket around one shoulder, crossing his legs, holding one corner tightly to his chest while extending the other out towards her eyes gently pleading. It's a hesitant invitation this time.

Can we be scared together? I won't hurt you if you don't hurt me.]

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