Araceli had snuck off. Maybe not so sneakily but she had gone, and limped, and it had-- it had hurt. Hurt more than just her leg and her ribs and her hand to make her way there when she and Ruby had talked but how many other people were going to understand? Not many. Being a number, not being yourself, that sort of fear of being swallowed up by something that isn't you, that won't ever be you.
Not that she wants to remember everything that Ruby said to her when it cuts too close to the bone, to trying to hold onto all the pieces of herself that are so hard to keep hold of so far from the sea - I must get back to the sea, that's never sounded so loud in her head before, was it loud in the heads of anyone else that was down there with her when she was losing her mind? - but it had been good to go. Even if she'd been scolded so severely she'd wanted to cry after.
"The muscle will hold my weight when I climb then?" It's too difficult to keep that sort of hope out of her voice when he knows what she's like, when it's all she can think about when she's having a good day. That sort of freedom up on the walls, high above everyone, scrambling about. "You're putting up with me, I know I am...difficult. And that I would be back where I want to be if I let them cast healing spells on me but after all that-- I think they hit us with some sort of spell, when they took us. I couldn't move. None of us could. And I know none of you would do that to me but they--"
Breaking off she shakes her head, reaching out to set her hand on his arm briefly so she doesn't interrupt his work, but she's struggling with words and this is easier for her, a touch to say she appreciates it as she musters a smile. "All of this is new to me. And hard. And I will not forget this kindness or this patience.
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Not that she wants to remember everything that Ruby said to her when it cuts too close to the bone, to trying to hold onto all the pieces of herself that are so hard to keep hold of so far from the sea - I must get back to the sea, that's never sounded so loud in her head before, was it loud in the heads of anyone else that was down there with her when she was losing her mind? - but it had been good to go. Even if she'd been scolded so severely she'd wanted to cry after.
"The muscle will hold my weight when I climb then?" It's too difficult to keep that sort of hope out of her voice when he knows what she's like, when it's all she can think about when she's having a good day. That sort of freedom up on the walls, high above everyone, scrambling about. "You're putting up with me, I know I am...difficult. And that I would be back where I want to be if I let them cast healing spells on me but after all that-- I think they hit us with some sort of spell, when they took us. I couldn't move. None of us could. And I know none of you would do that to me but they--"
Breaking off she shakes her head, reaching out to set her hand on his arm briefly so she doesn't interrupt his work, but she's struggling with words and this is easier for her, a touch to say she appreciates it as she musters a smile. "All of this is new to me. And hard. And I will not forget this kindness or this patience.