[ there's a hum in answer - he takes the lean easily, walks to accommodate any limp she might have with her injury. side by side, step by step. it's nearly over, now. ]
Going back with you, I mean. Don't - don't let me tell you no. Okay?
[ because she knows herself well enough - because every time someone asks her to talk about her sister, she has to go through the seven levels of grief and responsibility and pain, and she doubts herself, and she thinks, maybe I don't deserve the freedom. she wants to save him, she wants to go back to euchronia. she just needs to not talk herself out of it. ]
[ he - snorts, a little, but it's soft, and fondness colors the way he shakes his head. ]
The day you out-stubborn me in a fight's the day I keel over for real.
[ but this is lighthearted and warm, and when he turns his head to look down at her, the conviction of his words that follows is just as easy. ]
I won't. If I have to knock you out and drag you there myself, then so be it. [ and, head turning back again, this time - a little vulnerability of his own. ] I'm counting on you to catch me, after all.
he glances down at her, and she meets his gaze for that second. for that second, her heart hurts - squeezes, tightens, because she's not sure when he started to be synonymous with home, but... he is. she takes a deep breath, and slides her arm around his waist instead, half hugging him as they walk.
counting on your to catch me. yeah. it's that, that phrase, that makes her resolve solidify back in place. ]
no subject
Mm?
no subject
[ she says, rubbing at her face a little. ]
Going back with you, I mean. Don't - don't let me tell you no. Okay?
[ because she knows herself well enough - because every time someone asks her to talk about her sister, she has to go through the seven levels of grief and responsibility and pain, and she doubts herself, and she thinks, maybe I don't deserve the freedom. she wants to save him, she wants to go back to euchronia. she just needs to not talk herself out of it. ]
no subject
The day you out-stubborn me in a fight's the day I keel over for real.
[ but this is lighthearted and warm, and when he turns his head to look down at her, the conviction of his words that follows is just as easy. ]
I won't. If I have to knock you out and drag you there myself, then so be it. [ and, head turning back again, this time - a little vulnerability of his own. ] I'm counting on you to catch me, after all.
no subject
he glances down at her, and she meets his gaze for that second. for that second, her heart hurts - squeezes, tightens, because she's not sure when he started to be synonymous with home, but... he is. she takes a deep breath, and slides her arm around his waist instead, half hugging him as they walk.
counting on your to catch me. yeah. it's that, that phrase, that makes her resolve solidify back in place. ]
... Thank you.
[ softer, genuine. ]