gotta keep going

shaw's gentle rejection came as no surprise to the girl - she was used to his shell, to his tough guy attitude and his insistence in making it seem like their little lives hadn't been turned upside down time and time again, just for her sake. her wide eyes watched as another stranger approached them and giddiness bubbled in her chest; shaw leaned into her, an attempt at keeping her reassured she thought, and he spoke to the pair much better than she could have. the girl's gaze washed along the scene excitedly, but she faltered as the woman - cascade, she'd said - suddenly explained the man's true intentions in offering a bandage to her brother.

it was only natural that the child would tumble into the web that cascade was weaving, the man had seemed nice enough to her. with a distressed whine she sank into the warm fluff that was shaw. she was unprepared for the growling and the hostility, and her ears fell back against her skull in confusion. she searched shaw's expression for answers, her eyes drowned in questions: from the moment of her existence, he had been her only connection to reality and its puzzles, surely he should know what was going on here.