towerofanimus | Once bitten twice shy

Entry tags:

Once bitten twice shy

Characters: The Ψiioniic and YOU
Setting: hall on the 2nd floor of the dorms to start with, after that we can move elsewhere
Format: Prose preferred but I'll match you
Summary: Ψ is finally venturing out again
Warnings: Probably not but with the trolls you never know when it'll end in bloodshed and violence

It took a day or so before Ψiioniic was willing to venture out of his respite block again. Not that the room felt all that safe, considering Signless and Suzaku had attacked him in his sleep. Still safer than the rest of the tower, though.

When he did finally poke his head out, he was very wary and nervous, much as he had been when he'd first arrived in the tower. At least his had his powers firmly back under control, which made him feel a whole lot better about his ability to defend himself.

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"Oh...!" So those distinctive characteristics were more than just distinctive, apparently. Her eyes followed his words as he listed them and she only belatedly noticed the blush. Fortunately, her mind did not supply any possibilities for what 'other things' he might have been talking about. The look of realization that previously occupied her face made way for a very decided frown that looked suspiciously understanding itself. She wasn't entirely certain what 'culled' was, but it sounded entirely too much like 'killed', and the way it was used insinuated that it was, if not that, then something else quite unpleasant.

Her eyes drifted to the ground, and this frown was somehow different from the others. There was something a little bit inward about it. "...I know what you mean, about... abilities you don't want." Oh, she knew that entirely too well. Even if she was sure she'd probably find a sympathetic ear, she wasn't about to talk about her own abilities, at least not in detail. The limit she'd placed on herself still stood; the only way that she could be safe and keep everyone else safe from her own powers was if she didn't tell anyone, because if no one knew, no one could try to force her to use them or be forced to tell someone else themselves. In truth, she wouldn't have been surprised to discover that the people in control of the tower already knew, but they were not the only threat, and, at least for now, they hadn't tried to make use of those powers.

Her mouth tightened slightly as she thought. Her own powers had only made things more difficult, but... at least his own had saved him, if nothing else. She could understand the bitterness in his tone, all too well, "But I'm glad that they helped you stay alive this long. That's... something." The encouragement in that last part had more than one goal, it seemed; there were two people to encourage, after all.

"Yeah, it'th something," Ψiioniic agreed, smiling slightly and reaching out to stroke her hair once, gently. He hadn't missed the commiseration in her expression when she mentioned understanding unwanted abilities. He didn't know what she could do, and wouldn't pry, but if it was something they shared then it was certainly something to be sympathetic about.

"SS liketh to say that as long as we're alive, thingth can always get better, but if we're dead than they can never improve," he added. He left out his usual response, which had been 'yeah, but things can always get WORSE, too'. Now was not the time for his usual Mage of Doom pessimism.

Naminé was rather startled at the gesture, but despite her surprise did not move away. Normally, in her life at least, physical contact had never been a good thing. She knew that it wasn't like that for everyone, but she never failed to be a bit surprised when someone touched her. Even so, she was sure he had no intention of hurting her; if knowing him hadn't been enough to make her sure of that, the gentleness of it would have. In fact, it was actually kind of nice, now that she thought about it. Afraid that her brief pause and change in expression might have made him uncomfortable, she smiled back.

She was silently grateful that he had decided not to pry. At the quote from Signless, she nodded, and she kept smiling even though funny enough she couldn't help thinking the same thing that Ψiioniic left out. It was a nice thought, anyway. "He's right. That's a good way to look at things, I think." Now, if only she could manage to remember that when she really needed to.

Unfortunately, despite the belated smile, Ψiioniic couldn't really miss the fact that the touch had startled and initially maybe even upset Naminé. "I'm thorry," he immediately apologized. "It seems like all the humanth here throw themselveth at me in hugs all the time, tho I thought touching casually for comfort wath a human thing. Did I get it wrong?"

It was entirely possible there were complex rules he wasn't aware of that humans had for when it was and wasn't okay to touch each other. Probable, in fact. They were just so indiscriminate about it compared to what he was used to that it seemed overwhelming and omnipresent.

Perhaps if she was actually a proper human, it would have been easier to answer his question. As it was, her own lack of experience made her hesitate even longer than she might otherwise have in answering that particular query. The one thing she could say fairly quickly in the meantime was, "No, no, it's okay, you don't have to apologize. It wasn't your fault." His observation was in keeping with hers, it was true; the people here were... considerably more physically affectionate than anyone she'd been used to being around before... although, come to think of it, she'd seen many a memory that did involve a lot more contact than she had ever personally experienced.

"I've noticed that some of the people here act that way, but-- I guess I'm just not used to it." She shook her head, still running through her woefully inadequate first-and-second-hand memories in search of a better answer. "I think... that it happened a lot more for most people in my world than it did for me." Not that that was a difficult feat to achieve. The more she thought about it, the more it appeared that it was a lot more common than she'd realized. Wishing she had a more definitive answer, she finally settled on, "So I'm not exactly the right person to ask... but I think that it depends on who you're talking to. Some people might do it a lot, and some people might not."

"Yeah," Ψiioniic agreed fervently. "In my world, the only reathon most people would get that close to you ith to attack you. We're a pretty violent specieth as a whole. So I'm not really uthed to it, but it's kind of nice. Ath long as I keep reminding myself that they don't mean anything by it."

It seemed like every new thing she learned about the trolls' world made it seem even more dangerous. Careful to keep from frowning, she focused instead on the rest of what he'd said. "It is kind of nice. But that's the hard part - remembering that it's okay." Even for her, with her probably much less unpleasant memories. It was true that she had an excuse for her reaction, but she still felt bad about it. "... I really am sorry about before. Did I upset you?"

"No, I wath just worried I'd upset you," Ψiioniic assured her. "Maybe we can help each other get uthed to it, a little at a time. Are you okay? I wouldn't hurt you... barring the tower'th intervention," he added with a sigh.

It was almost unbearable that he couldn't make and hope to keep a promise like that. Knowing that HE could be turned against his friends was terrifying. As powerful as he was, he might blast them so far out of existence that they would never be able to come back.

She let out a small, relieved sigh at the assurance, a faint smile appearing of its own accord. Good. At least, it was good that she hadn't upset him; the next thought made her mouth flatten out again, just a bit, because really, he needn't worry about upsetting her when she had no heart to be upset with. She wished she had the guts to say so just as much as she was glad that she didn't, because while she felt guilty about not saying anything, she was also afraid of what might happen if she did.

"Yes, I'm okay." There was a tiny, barely noticable pause, then she added, "You don't have to worry about upsetting me." It wasn't exactly a full confession, but it was something. "And... it's probably for the best that we both get used to it, so... okay." ~~The touchy-feely types in the tower would probably get to her sooner or later, anyway.~~ "I know you wouldn't hurt me." Of course, look where thinking like that had gotten her back in her own world; she hadn't expected DiZ to order her execution, either, but he'd never been nearly as kind to her as Ψiioniic had been. Despite his sigh at the last part, she smiled a little wider, and even though the smile had a touch more wryness to it but still managed to look encouraging as she'd intended it to. "I would understand if-- something like that happened. I wouldn't blame you." Or 'won't blame him', as the case might turn out to be.

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Once bitten twice shy

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