my lungs will fill and then deflate

Avantika · 11-30-2020, 06:22 PM

The girl watched the water fall for a few beats more before she became aware of the boy scrambling up behind her. She immediately hunched, becoming a statue, frozen wide eyes the most disturbing feature of this all-too-usual pose. Okay, okay, breathe. She did, relaxing a hair, enough to focus on observing the little one before her. He was gray and patchy, a bit smaller than her, and seemed about the age of the other kids she'd met. She'd probably met him too, to think about it, but there were so many new faces that she couldn't keep them all straight. More importantly, he seemed relaxed and safe, his tail wagging gently. Didn't look like he was in too much of a temper. He wouldn't have come to meet her if he didn't want to, right? It wasn't like he was forced to be here right now. As long as she was good, there should be no trouble. Of course, she didn't know what "good" meant to this particular boy...

When he spoke, she tensed up a tiny bit again, but settled as she registered his soft, friendly voice. "Hey," she repeated, her voice even quieter than his. Maybe he wouldn't like it that she got so spooked by his approach! The thought worried her so, she had to apologize. "Sorry... Ah, for scared." She didn't have the words to explain what her remorse was for perfectly, but she figured he'd understand. It wasn't terribly difficult.

As the boy moved closer, Avantika lowered her head even more than it already was, giving a few lip licks to try to calm herself. She didn't meet his eyes, as he tried to assure her that she was safe. She was just processing that as he said something that implied to her like he thought she was scared of something away from here. "Not scared of outside," she mumbled, just loud enough that he should be able to understand her. She was, yes, but that wasn't the main thing. She was scared of almost everything, and definitely everything new, but especially strange people. She didn't know them, their rages, the things she couldn't bring up around them. She survived by knowing things about other people. Things that could hurt her if she got them wrong. Or if she didn't know them at all.

Like now.

"speak"

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my lungs will fill and then deflate

Rudy

Avantika