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 Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 2:48 pm
“B-but I… I didn’t know...” Voice cracking, Julian wept for his General’s departure. While he desperately wished to be human, he hadn’t the slightest idea what that might entail. He didn’t know he would emerge from the light as a Knight of Cosmos. He didn’t know Benitoite would think the entire thing was a setup. “I just… Beni, he…. And Ph-phact and S-s-sabine, they… they s-said they would f-fix me, and when I saw them again… I h-had to t-try…”
The young man shivered and gulped down a sob. “Y-you would have… have done the s-same thing, right? R-right, Evan?”
Evan would have taken the chance, wouldn’t he? Anything to escape Hell.
Was that selfish?
Gazing down at his trembling hands, the ones with pinkies he didn’t have before, Julian was torn over whether this was worth it. Was it worth losing Benitoite, his only connection back then?
No, Evan was right - now he was surrounded by light and warm and nice things; nice people, supportive people. Without having left the cold, deep darkness, Julian would not have Delilah, Ginger, Sita and Mercy. He would not have mac and cheese, or Dr. Pepper, or Evan. He would not have music or the capacity to appreciate it. He could not feel the warmth of the sun and gaze upon its glory as it rose every morning. Leaving the darkness meant being reborn.
These thoughts calmed him to the point that Julian’s breathing was returning to normal, and his sobs were tricklings into sniffles. He placed a trembling hand upon Evan’s, which rested on his shoulder. It was a gesture of gratitude.
It was strange, though, that Evan knew about the necklace. Did Delilah tell him? Julian nodded slowly, though confusion wore plainly on his face. “...y-yes, Beni gave me… that pendant. De-Delilah has it, now. It’s hidden. I asked her… to h-hide it because… because it made me very upset, to see it…”
To be reminded of his traitor status…
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Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 2:50 pm
“I did do the same thing,” Evan said after a moment, conflicted with how to answer. There were parts of his memory that he himself seemed to keep away; when he tried to think of certain aspects of his time as a youma, he was met with only a headache. It was like pushing against a door you knew you could open, but someone on the other side was begging you to stop.
So, he did.
He never pushed too hard; he didn’t know his own limits, but he wasn’t in any rush to find them. Not when it could mean losing everything he’d worked so hard for.
Again.
“And I don’t regret it. None of it. If he wasn’t happy for you, then he wasn’t really your friend. Or, maybe he just needs time to think about it. But you aren’t a traitor as long as you’re true to yourself. If you didn’t ask to be a youma, if you didn’t want it, you’re not wrong for wanting out of it. At least, that’s what I think. You’re not a traitor, you’re just taking care of yourself. Which is more than anyone else was doing for you.”
He swallowed, though, because talking to Julian was one thing, but his mind was connecting dots he didn’t know existed, and before he had a web of theories and conspiracies, he had to ask, “Did you…do you remember what they called you? I mean, like. I don’t know, does ‘Bazzite’ sound familiar, or…?”
His voice trailed off and he was already cringing, expecting the worst sort of any response.
He didn’t want to upset Julian, but he had to know.
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Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 2:51 pm
Julian found he couldn’t express the gratitude he wished to when Evan admitted that he, too, took the opportunity for salvation as soon as it presented itself. Evan too felt the desperation for relief and rebirth. It was selfish, yes, but… Evan said he had to be true to himself. Was his true self not a youma at all?
Julian squinted as if his head hurt.
“B-Beni, he… took care of me, sometimes. He said… said I was his dark s-secret, that… I was his m-mistake. I don’t remember wh-what happened… I don’t remember too much… I d-don’t want to, b-because of the… the dreams, but…” He swallowed thickly, gripping onto Evan’s hand as if it were the only thing anchoring him to reality as he trembled, sifting through memories filled with holes. Some of those pits were full it dead darkness and pain, and Julian was too afraid to look too deeply. Maybe Evan was right - maybe Benitoite needed time, just like he himself needed time.
Weary blue eyes rose to meet Evan’s blue-green in confusion and concern. “...d-did Delilah tell you? ...that… that was my n-name, from… from b-before this, but… I don’t w-want to be c-called that, anymore…”
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Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 2:53 pm
Evan’s eyes flashed; he didn’t draw his hand away. Instead, he simply blinked at Julian. “No,” he said after a second. “You told me that.”
He hesitated, recalling that he had no idea what Bazzite might recall considering he’d been wearing the necklace at the time. Evan shifted positions, trying to make himself more comfortable even as he retained contact with Julian.
“I won’t call you that. But I had to know. It just means that I knew you, from before.”
He didn’t seem offended, or nervous, or afraid. “You met me, when I was powered up. I was with my friend, too. He’s a Knight. You were nice to me, then. And I know another Knight, Manu? He said he was looking for you. I have to tell him I found you, he’ll really want to know.”
Once more, Evan paused, and case Julian a somewhat worried, questioning glance. “I mean, if that’s okay. I don’t want to overwhelm you. I have so much that I could say or ask, but…I know this is hard. Really hard, when you first get started. I just want to help out, I promise. I’m not trying to make anything feel like it’s too much at once.”
Though, everything was too much at once; it was a pain to try and figure out what was going on—trying to be normal, to be human, again after so long. You had to retrain your mind and body and relearn the world as it was—and the world as it is, now, with the passing of time.
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Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 2:54 pm
Julian swallowed and sat up straighter to gaze into Evan’s eyes. Met him before? With a Knight? Powder blue brows furrowed and Julian looked away to sift through his memories, spotty as they were. Who did he meet when they were with a Knight?
….oh.
“....glassy…?” Julian couldn’t pull the senshi’s name from his memories, nor could he recall the name of the Knight, but he did recall bits and pieces about what they looked like. “...purple… very… p-purple. A-and one was… one w-was… blonde? T-tall… one was… v-very pretty, like… like a… church…?” Yes, the senshi had accents like a stained glass window from churches and cathedrals. The Knight was taller, more stern, blonde, wore fancy purple. Tall boots and faded memories of a deconstructed conversation. Julian couldn’t recall too much of that time, but he had bits and pieces.
Someone was looking for him? Who would look for him? That seemed so…
“....s-strange Page… said… I s-said… d-don’t look… for me…” The young man seemed dazed, as if repeating a line from a half-remembered dream. He blinked a few times, eyes focusing again on the coffee table where the Dr. Pepper bottle stood fizzing. With a deep sigh, Julian reached out to it to take a sip and enjoyed the tingling of the bubbles. “....b-but… I’m not… not d-dangerous, now… like this… r-right, Evan?”
Glassy was Evan? They looked so different now. Perhaps it was his eyes, learning to adjust to more light. Maybe Glassy was more blue than he imagined. Julian wasn’t sure anymore. He did know one thing for certain - his road to repentance would be a long and arduous one, and the first steps were helping other people, even to his own detriment.
“Wh-what… would you… w-want to know, E-Evan?”
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Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 2:56 pm
Evan shook his head and settled into the couch a bit more. “You’re not dangerous. Unless you want to be. I mean, you’re not weak,” he insisted; that was part of his concern. He hated being weak, hated the idea that no matter what happened he never felt strong enough to take care of himself.
“But that’s not the same as being dangerous.”
He shifted positions and chewed on the inside of his cheek for a moment. “What would I want to know?” he parroted. “I don’t know, it depends a lot on what you’re comfortable with and where you are. And I know how hard talking can be, but.”
He wore a small smile and seemed like he was thinking about something, fishing through his memories. “…When I came back, it was hard to talk about anything. I wanted to talk, because I wanted to be heard, but I was just so afraid that anything I said was going to come out wrong or sound stupid. But I had people who were really nice, who really cared about how I felt. I liked listening to them talk. I liked knowing that I could be a part of their conversation if I wanted to, but that I didn’t have to. But we can maybe talk about little things? I want to get to know you. So we can be better friends.”
Because showing an interest in someone meant you cared, right? A little nagging voice in the back of his head reminded him that sometimes people only wanted to get to know you so they could use you, trick you, use your weaknesses against you…
But then, a picture of Tobias flashed in his head and he smiled again—because Tobias was new to him, and Tobias had wanted to get to know him for him, and Tobias reminded him of all the nice things that made him feel human, and wanted, in a way that Cambria and Zac couldn’t quite. Even if Evan wasn’t ready for any sort of relationship, the fact that someone thought he was good enough for one…
Evan could have easily kept drifting deeper into his thoughts, but while chewing on the inside of his cheek he accidentally bit down too hard and jerked his thoughts back into the present. “Oh,” he said, blinked, and then continued, “Have you been watching television much? Or, do you play video games? Or play online? What sorts of things are you thinking you want to do for fun, now? Because—fun is really important. Like, next to eating, it’s the most important thing you’re supposed to do after you come back from being a youma. You have to make up for all the bad stuff that happened, so you have to go have fun. And I mean, you were stuck for five years, so you need to work on having a lot of it.”
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Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 3:02 pm
Julian shifted his position on the couch to curl his legs beneath him (he could do that now!) and face Evan more easily. “....you want… to l-learn… about me?” He blinked, quiet for a moment while contemplating what there was to know. He wasn’t used to thinking about himself in abstract terms, what he did or did not like, what he liked to do to pass the time he now had…
Absently, he twiddled pale fingers together while sifting through what his day-to-day with Delilah looked like. “...u-um, D-Delilah is letting me… cook, sometimes. She helps… and she had b-books and things, and… and we s-sometimes watch the drama s-stories on television. With the… with the… evil twins a-and oh no, you c-can’t leave Deborah! She’s p-pregnant! A-and sometimes, mom comes over… and we go… go out to walk to the… f-food trucks. S-sometimes, when it’s quiet time… I t-try to… try to… write things. But it’s hard, since… because… I have… more fingers now, and… it’s n-nice. B-but it’s… s-sloppy.”
Julian looked down at his mass of fingers and sighed, shaking his head. Delilah insisted that these things took time, but perhaps the bluenette was impatient. He hated to be a burden on people like Delilah and Evan, being unable to work for cash to bring home to pay the bills. He cleaned as much as he was capable, but it never felt like enough.
“E-Evan…?” came a hesitation. Julian swallowed and was quiet for a moment, contemplating whether or not such a thing was worth asking in the first place. “...um… are… are you... afraid of… m-mirrors? I… I don’t like them. It’s… h-hard to… go to the b-bathroom and… and s-still hide from them. I… I’m af-fraid…” Then came the sniffles and the cracking of his voice, straining to keep from crying. There was true terror in Julian’s voice and though he shouldn’t have been, the young man was ashamed. “....what if… what if… I’m blue again… if I… if I l-look…?”
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Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 3:04 pm
There was enough for Evan to respond to, enough that he wanted to respond to, but he bit his tongue when Julian asked about mirrors.
He followed the man’s gaze to his hands and couldn’t help but glance at his own. “You’re not blue,” he said after a moment. “If you were worried about it, now. But. I don’t like mirrors, myself. But,” he sighed heavily. “I’m getting used to them. I mean, in my heart, I want to see me in the mirror? But I’m worried that I’m going to look in the mirror and I’m not going to be there. But…”
Silence dawned from him as he reflected on how hard it had been when he’d first come back.
“Now, sometimes I look in the mirror just because it’s nice to see me. I have the same face, sort of. As before? But sometimes it looks different. Not bad,” he insisted, “But sometimes it’s like…is that really me? And it makes me feel…I don’t know, good? Because it is. I can make faces in the mirror and it’s my face. My friend, Cambria? We take a lot of pictures together.”
He reached for his phone and pulled it out, smiling as he selected the most recent picture—of the two of them in the kitchen. Evan was smiling, looking partially embarrassed and partially like he couldn’t contain his laughter. Cambria was the one holding the camera. Evan flipped through a few more pictures; it looked like they were just goofing around in the kitchen. They had matching aprons in a few pictures, and a chef’s hat that kept alternating whose head it sat upon. Evan’s hair was in his eyes in a number of pictures and he seemed to be trying to focus on cooking, but one thing seemed to be the same in all pictures—he was smiling.
“She says,” Evan said after a moment, “That she wants to make sure I remember that I’m loved. She knows I don’t like mirrors, but she says pictures don’t count. She’s great,” he sighed, clearly fond of her. “And she makes me feel safe. She’s worked really hard to take care of me and help me get…you know. Better. And,” he perked up a bit, “She’s going to open a food truck with me. We’ve been working on it, we have to go apply for a loan soon, but we’re almost done finalizing everything. We have a name and a menu, and now we just need the money to get started! So you’ll have to come to my food truck, when I get it open!”
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Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 3:06 pm
"...same face… as before?”
Perplexed, the young man tilted his head and examined Evan’s facial features more closely. He was smaller than Julian was, but possessed thin and dark eyebrows, bright eyes with long eyelashes, a sloped nose, a pointed chin. “...as before… y-you were… um… one of… of them?” He sincerely hoped that wasn’t something offensive to ask Evan, for they only just met… sort of. Meeting before, when Evan was Glassy, didn’t seem to count in Julian’s mind. He was different, back then. Stranger and taller and much, much drier. He wrung his hands in anxiety, thinking that perhaps he’d asked too much and offended his new friend.
“W-what does… does me l-look like, E-Evan?”
It was difficult to parse the fact that Delilah and the others insisted that he, as a youma, had said he was like that for almost five years, but Julian had no recollection of such a time. He could not recall any time in the past where he wasn’t a hideous insect of a man. There must have been a time when he wasn’t like that, before the present day; otherwise, why say such a thing at all? The memories of just a few weeks ago were murky at best and for now, Julian liked to keep them that way.
The young man took the opportunity to forget the terrible things sloshing around in his brain and leaned over to gaze at the pictures on Evan’s phone. It was a bright rectangle - he remembered these. Delilah had one and sometimes she would let him play games that knew where his fingers were. The laughter and joy in the pictures must’ve been infectious, for Julian couldn’t help but smile. He didn’t recognize the young, dark-haired woman - she wasn’t Delilah. “...C-cambria?” he asked, pointing to her.
Evan’s wonderful news about owning his own food truck brought light to Julian’s eyes, and he started clapping immediately. “R-really? Your… your own truck? All for you and C-cambria? With… with food and lines of… of p-people? R-really? That’s… that’s r-really great, Evan. You’re… you’re… um… what is… the word…”
Julian stopped clapping for a moment and went silent with contemplation. Sometimes, even mid-sentence, he would lose a word or two and have to invent substitutes. When Ginger was around, sometimes he would forget the word tattoo, and call them arm-pictures. Julian scratched his fluffy hair for a moment and turned back to Evan when he remembered.
“Inspiring!”
If Evan can do it, then someday, I can do it, too.
“....wh-what is your… your truck like, E-Evan? C-could you… tell me… about it? P-please?” Reaching out to the Dr. Pepper bottle, Julian held it firmly with two hands, like a child might.
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Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 3:07 pm
Evan nodded when Julian asked about Cambria’s picture in the phone. He couldn’t help but smile when Julian brought up the food truck and answered, “I don’t know if I’m inspiring.” He didn’t seem to have much confidence in himself and was worried he was going to make some irredeemable, uncorrectable mistake. “But I am excited for the food truck. I’m still working on the menu, and we haven’t actually gotten the truck or paying for any of that legal stuff yet, but Cambria’s helping me work it all out. She’s going to do the talking and stuff, because I clam up. I just like to cook,” he confessed. “Talking to people or doing anyting important makes me nervous.”
Which was probably easy enough to believe just from the few minutes they’d known each other; Evan had seemed to be nervous under Julian’s previous scrutiny of his face, but he had done his best to stay still and let him look. “But uhm—actually, for what you were saying earlier. I wasn’t one of them before. I mean,” he hesitated. “I was just a normal civilian before I turned into a youma. And then I got turned back into me, and then a cat tricked me. When I got awakened,” he flashed a smile, like it wasn’t still something he was ashamed of. “I ran all the way home. And cried. I didn’t even know how to power up, I just knew that I didn’t want to be involved in a war. But,” he reached up and rubbed at his face.
Even now, sometimes it felt like it was the first time he was feeling it, despite it being the same face he’d had for most of his life.
He lowered his hands and looked at Julian again after a moment. “You looks like you, Julian. It’s the only you that matters. Uhm, so I don’t know how to describe how you look, except, you look nice? Like, you have a nice face and a nice smile, and you’re someone that I probably wouldn’t be afraid of if I passed you on the street. But I don’t know if that’s what you want to hear—do you want to take a picture with me? I can show you how you look. You’re not blue, by the way, I promise.”
He held up his phone like he was ready to take a picture—but just wanted to make sure Julian was okay with it before he pressed any buttons.
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Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 3:09 pm
Julian shook his head slowly and gently. “...no, you are… definitely… inspiring.. It...i-it’s like… if… if E-Evan can do it… can have a d-dream and a f-food truck and c-can cook and… and feed people… then… m-maybe, m-me too.” He didn’t have lofty aspirations about owning a food truck, but the idea of progression was similar. Evan was further in his journey than Julian was, who was just startling his first stumbling steps on the path to recovery and redemption. He didn’t want to think of a more pertinent goal right now than don’t fall down today or don’t wake up in the middle of the night with a terrible nightmare.
Start small.
The young man seemed perplexed that Evan could remember a time when he wasn’t a youma. Perhaps there was truth to what Delilah was saying - that he was a human before he was a youma. Did he look like this before? Or had it been so long that Julian no longer had that recollection? He scratched his cheek absently. “”...De-Delilah says that… I s-said that… I was a… C-captain… before being… blue. B-but I don’t… remember a t-time, like that. It was… always j-just… dark and c-cold…” Maybe it was better this way, to not recall a time from before things were dark and cold and eternal.
“I’m a… a… Knight… now. B-but Delilah, she says… I shouldn’t… shouldn’t… b-be out, yet. B-because… walking is h-hard, sometimes.” Talking was difficult too, as was thinking and remembering. He had to relearn how to be, according to Delilah. Julian felt ever so blessed to be in the company of people who were kind and patient and who cared deeply.
Julian fidgeted for a moment, wrestling with his fear of cameras that mimicked his fear of mirrors. He was afraid that gazing upon himself would lead to a transformation back into the creature that stalked the halls of his mind. Evan wouldn’t lie, would he? “...I’ll um… take a… p-picture, but… only if you’re… also in the p-picture. And… and if you p-promise to… to kill me if… if I turn blue, again… okay?”
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Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 3:42 pm
Julian’s question made Evan pause and he instinctively lowered the camera and looked at the man, horrified. “Kill you?” he asked, unable to hide the turmoil at such a request. “No,” he replied flatly, and shook his head. “I won’t kill you. I know what you mean,” he promised, because he’d thought about it himself, “But I won’t do it. You have friends that would find you that would save you.”
He seemed determined, like he’d already thought about this before.
He had, of course. For himself.
“You said Delilah saved you—well, my friend, she’s a Senshi, she’s got a Court. And she helped me, and she can help you, if it ever happens again. But I can’t say I’ll kill you because we know that you’re in there. You, Julian, who can be saved, if it even ever happens again. But, it won’t,” he assured, and took Julian’s hand so he could give it a good squeeze for emphasis. “Because your friends are going to take are of you and help. And—Delilah’s right, it’s probably safer to make sure you are taken care of before you power up, or try to go out in public and do all sorts of things. You don’t wanna strain yourself.”
He shifted positions and continued, “But, when you are ready to go out—if you wanna go out, you can text me. I’ll make sure you have my number. I mean, Delilah has it, so you can reach me any time. We can go do small things, like see a movie, or go to the park, or just walk or something. Or we can power up sometime, if you want to do that ever. I don’t like to do it alone, and I go with my friend—he’s a Knight, so he’s strong and can keep us safe even if we mess up. He’s a good guy,” Evan insisted. “He won’t let anything happen to us. And even if someone tried to youmafy us?”
He shook his head. “He’d rescue us, I know it. If it ever happens, which, it won’t, but if it ever happened, you’d just have to hold on, because we’d come help you. You wouldn’t be stuck like that for very long. Like five minutes, maybe, because that’s how fast all of your friends would take to come find you and save you. Okay?”
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Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 3:43 pm
Evan understood. Evan understood the fear and sheer terror of the possibility… Becoming what they once were, losing control of their faculties, their humanity, their freedom. Julian still awoke from nightmares where just such a fate befell him.
But Evan understood.
With a mute nod, Julian tried his best to relax in the presence of the camera. Evan reassured him, comforted him… How could Julian repay him for such patience and kindness? The thought of Evan’s senshi friend and his purple Knight friend coming to rescue them if either one or both were cursed to become youma again… that too was comforting. “...De-delilah, she… gave me a… a phone… and s-sometimes I… I can t-text people… and s-send pictures…! I’m glad you… you will let me… t-text you, Evan.”
The young man gave Evan - his friend - a soft smile. “....Evan?”
Julian fidgeted, twiddling his fingers together, as if embarrassed. He took a few anxious breaths before speaking again. “...y-you’re the… the best, E-Evan. Th-thank you for… for being my… my friend. I… I really a-appreciate that… and… and you, too. Can… Can I… give you a c-cupcake…? I don’t know how… how to… p-properly thank you…”
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Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 3:44 pm
While Julian was smiling and in prime position for a quick picture, Evan looked up to the camera and smiled, capturing the moment. “We should trade numbers,” he said, lowering his phone so he could see the picture.
He couldn’t help but look up from the screen and smile at Julian when he tentatively said his name, or when he just said such nice things.
It made Evan like himself a little more when someone else liked him, and he knew it was a stupid validation system, but it was the only one he had.
“You don’t have to thank me for anything, Julian. But if you like to bake, I’ll take a cupcake. I like to cook a lot, and I need people to try my food and give me some feedback on recipes so I know what I am going to put on my menu for the food truck. We should meet up so you can give me thoughts,” he suggested. “You’d be doing me a huge favor. Plus, we can meet up and talk about things? I know I didn’t bring much today, but if you give me a little time I want to get together a whole bunch of things for you. So maybe we can meet up again, soon, and I get bring you some presents?”
He paused, like he’d just remembered something, and then leaned close to Julian and flashed him his phone. “Oh—and this is your picture, if you wanted to see. I look kind of dumb, but you’re not blue and you look really good. And I really like your hair. Is it as soft as it looks?”
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Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 3:47 pm
Julian beamed, blushing from embarrassment. He had a new friend and a new number with which to text said friend, and an invitation to eat more delicious things! What could be better than that? Joy was something he loved to feel, as it was such a pure and wholesome emotion so starkly different from the predatory apathy of a youma. He couldn’t help but cup his cheeks in his hands and fidget.
Evan showing him a picture of himself, the very first good look he’d ever had at his human form, was met with a childlike awe. “...that is… me? T-that one there, that is… that is you.”
Julian hardly seemed to believe that the person in the picture sitting next to Evan was himself, but he recognized Evan immediately. “...Evan is… not dumb. Evan is… v-very nice and… gen… generous!” Evan looked the same in the picture as he did in real life, sitting on the couch. Julian wasn’t sure what to make of himself.
“...y-you are the… the present, Evan…” Julian rocked back and forth on the couch slowly, clearly incredibly embarrassed. “...y-you don’t… have to… bring anything, but… but I am… very grateful for… for the… bubbly s-soda and the… the cubey and… a-all the r-rest. I’ll umm… get you… get you a … c-cupcake…”
Slowly the young man rose to stand from his place on the couch, mumbling to himself about keeping his feet flat when walking, to use his heels. Julian tended to walk on the balls of his feet without thinking and as often as Delilah softly corrected him, it was a habit that took time to break. His movements were rigid and robotic, Julian still slowly growing more comfortable in the new body he was given. Hands reached out to lean on the counter to keep from falling. The aforementioned chocolate cupcakes were placed on a tray on the counter near the stove, covered by a plastic lid. It took Julian a considerable amount of time to complete the tasks of opening the lid, retrieving the cupcake and a plate on which to set it, return the lid and carry the plate to Evan. Every move was slow and deliberate. The last thing he wanted to do was to stumble and drop the cupcake on the carpet.
“...they were… made yesterday… I think. M-maybe. Time is… time is… funny.” He settled slowly back down onto the couch next to his new friend and beamed at his simple, but still wonderful, accomplishment. No spills, no stumbling, cupcake delivered.
Evan’s compliment towards his fluffy hair made Julian immediately look up to try and see it himself. He knew it was fluffy - Delilah often laughed in the morning when he awoke with one side of it looking like a powder blue explosion. Without much thought, he leaned over to let Evan inspect the puffy stuff on top of his head. “...you should… see it in… the m-morning. Delilah, she says… like… a c-cow came and… licked it, or… s-something. That’s funny!”
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