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Quieter and quieter. This boded well for Candace's poor head. But there was still that nagging feeling in the back of her mind, that worry that everyone was judging her a failure. A failure at everything she attempted, at everything she couldn't do. Every look, every glance, every whisper. It was all about her it just had to be. It had forced her to keep her distance from everyone out of fear. Dakota had believed in her, sure. Aria had said she was fine. Everyone was being so nice.

Too nice.

Atropos tried to reason with her, and on some days it worked. Some days Candace felt fine.

And then some days she didn't.

She just...she needed something happy. Something positive. Something..something that didn't hurt.

H was too busy for her.

Clarice? She didn't know where Clarice was. How could she not find one woman in these barracks? There was no where to hide! ******** hell.

Molly? Busy..

Harrison...

..Busy...

Everyone had their own thing to do. Their own loves, their own successes.

What did she have?

The gentle twang of guitar strings made her sit up in her claimed cot, looking around with widened eyes. Guitar strings? She only knew of one person with a guitar. What was..oh. There he was. Candace sat quiet, just watching at first at how Jerry sat to the side by himself just playing his guitar. The guitar she gave him. He kept it...he still kept it.

Yet he wouldn't speak to her.

He wouldn't even protect her.

She wasn't sure why she stood up but she did. Candace rose from her cot and quietly stepped around the cots to the other side of the barracks where he was sitting, sliding down the wall until she was beside him. She didn't say a word just yet, simply hugging her knees to her and resting her cheek against them. He was going to push her away, she knew he was, but she still needed to just...sit by him.

"...Hi~." Candace eventually said in a soft voice, giving Jerry a small smile. Please don't push her away, please don't push her away..

He was smiling. Candace couldn't help but smile a little more herself when she saw that. When had she last seen him smile not because of another woman? But when he stopped she pouted her lips.

"Oh, no. It wasn't loud at all I almost didn't notice it." She smiled again. "Keep playing~? Please?"

At his question she gave a bit of a shrug. "Physically? Fine." She ended it there, just watching him for a few quiet moments. Candace suddenly frowned and scoot closer, putting her head on Jerry's shoulder and closing her eyes. Please don't push me away please no not this time.

"What about you? I tried to get to you during...all of that but...I couldn't get away from that kid and then just..I'msorryIwantedtohelpyouIreallydidIjustcouldn'tgettoyouintime." Candace quieted herself when there came the hiss of Atropos in her head. Yes. Quiet. Stop that. Right. Yes. "I-I mean. Are you doing okay?"

Jordan sorted him out. Oh..okay. Someone handled him. Good, good.

..He...he wasn't pushing her away. Candace's heart fluttered with joy. Someone, Jerry especially, wasn't pushing her away. She smiled, nuzzling her cheek gently against the man's shoulder. This was nice. She missed this. "I'm glad." She sighed, opening her eyes to look up at him. "And yeah, I know...we all knew..just...it was nice to forget every now and then." Candace pouted her lips a little and looked down at the guitar, reaching out to trace her fingers over the blue runes that covered the cracks.

"Poor thing.." She said quietly, referring to the guitar. "Keep playing~? It's really nice to see you smiling again. I missed it." Candace kept her voice soft, not wanting to draw attention to them. She moved her hand away from the guitar.

"Don't say that. You're not broken." She said with a sigh, turning her head to kiss his burned cheek without a second thought. "Just a little tarnished. A bit of duct tape, some glue. Good as new." Candace was being mostly comforting but also slightly teasing. Humor covered up pain well, yes?

Wait..what was..? Candace blinked. "What was that...noise.." Was it his guitar? No, it was an acoustic. Even with runes on it, it was still just a wooden, acoustic guitar. Candace looked down at his legs, shamelessly reaching out to put a hand on his left knee. Nothing, it felt fine. His right..? She reached for it, leaning around the guitar to do so.

Candace was determined. "You sound like the tin man after a rainy day." She pouted, putting a hand on his thigh. Nothing there..lower down? No..no--wait. What was this on the side? Candace's hand turned, poking at something on his leg that was not flesh.

She pouted, leaning in close how she would have before when he was trying to hide something from her as they were dating. "What are you hiding in your pants, Jerry?"

He yelped and she backed off as he started to push her with his guitar, raising her hands up and leaning back in an 'I surrender!' way. "Fine, fine." She was still pouting.

Candace waited a bit before settling down again, gently pushing his hands back down so he wasn't pushing her away again and putting her head on his shoulder. "You know I'll find out eventually." But she left it at that...for now. Candace wanted quiet time. She wanted calm, she wanted peace.

She wanted a goddamn hug.

"...Do you still do requests~?" Candace asked hopefully, some of the cheer back in her voice. Cuddling up to Jerry without being shoved away was nice. She missed it.

"Umm..." She pouted and tapped at her lips. What song did she want to hear..? Somewhere over the rainbow was nice and all but...she wanted something else. Candace looked down at the guitar and then up at Jerry's face again.

"Can you play What a Wonderful World? By Louis Armstrong?" With all the songs Jerry knew it would be silly to ask if he knew it. The question was could he play it.