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 Posted: Fri Oct 04, 2024 9:01 pm
Damaris didn’t let go of Mary’s hand after they got back, and led her carefully back inside of the house. She knew where the kitchen was, and brought them both there, though that was as far as she was willing to lead. She still wasn’t used to Earth foods, she liked what she had so far! But the fruits were protected here and she didn’t want to mess up…again.
“Mary. Mary can you get us the sweetest thing that you can think of? Back on Magion it would have been a snowfruit. They’re found on one of the islands, we call it Gelida. It’s always cold there. You aren’t able to enjoy the beaches, and sometimes the ships would have issues getting there. There would be such large floating ice islands. You could, and some people did live on them! Until they melted, of course but…there were those on Magion who welcomed the cold…I…was not one of them, but I adored the snowfruit!”
She nuzzled Mary and gave a soft sigh. “The sweetest thing you can think of, okay? It will be good for you. I promise. My mother was never wrong.”
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Posted: Fri Oct 11, 2024 8:45 pm
Mary didn't quite remember powering down, or really being gently sat down in the kitchen. The post emotional breakdown exhaustion kicked in the moment they arrived back on Earth (or maybe that was the effort of traveling with a companion). She felt... numb. Lighter, but numb. It was an odd feeling, like she was sort of seeing herself from an outside perspective instead of in her own body. No real thoughts in her head, no real feeling in her heart. Just... there. Existing.
Damaris was talking to her. She needed to respond before the poor girl thought something was really wrong. What was she saying... the sweetest thing she could think of? That required her mind to want to do thinking, and she wasn't sure it wanted to.
She slowly looked at the kitchen, and pointed to the refrigerator. Okay, you gotta speak Mary, she can't read your thoughts.
"Um... there's some... cinnamon rolls in the fridge. Square pan...?" There was too much to try to describe using a non functioning mind to ask for cinnamon rolls. But she pushed on. "Look like light and dark brown swirls... Should be a container with frosting on top."
She pointed the microwave on the counter. "Put the pan in there and hit the.... 30 second button once."
Here was hoping that Damaris could read numbers.
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Posted: Fri Oct 11, 2024 8:52 pm
Cinnamon rolls? Damaris could handle that! She carefully pulled herself away from Mary, not really wanting to…but needing to get this done. She found the silicone pan easily enough…it was such a pretty color too, like the waters in her ocean under bright sunlight.
She was careful, taking it over to the microwave and staring at the strange machine for a moment before she pulled the door open, pleased she had figured that much out. Slipping the pan inside she looked at the buttons and pressed the one that she thought might be thirty seconds…if it wasn’t, she was going to count to thirty regardless and be extra careful.
When her count ended…and the microwave did not, she pulled the door open and removed the pan, wincing at the heat it held!
Carefully she put the pan down and opened a few cabinets until she found a plate and using that under the pan, she looked at the steaming rolls.
Frosting…Mary had mentioned frosting, and Damaris looked at the small container and then plopped the whole lot onto the rolls. It was fascinating how the frosting seemed to just begin to melt right away.
She took another moment to find utensils and came back with two…large spoons and then carried the whole thing over to Mary, placing it on the floor in front of her. “Come. We eat!”
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Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2024 5:49 pm
Mary watched the whole affair with the same far away look. Well, Damaris hadn't set fire to the kitchen, hadn't burned the rolls, and hadn't hurt herself. Much. She gave a small at the spoons, and at Damaris' placement of the rolls on the floor, before sliding from her chair onto the floor. The act of it sort dislodged some of the haze she was in, a little life coming back to the young woman's face.
She spread the frosting with the back of her spoon.
"... Thank you... for... a lot of things..." she said softly, scooping up a piece of roll. She blew on it gently to help cool it and breathed in the smell of the food. The cinnamon rolls her grams made always smelled just a bit better, just a bit more flavorful, than the store bought ones or ones from Cinnabon.
She took a small bite, and visibly relaxed.
"Sorry... for the whole... breakdown," continued Mary, not meeting Damaris' eyes. "Haven't had one in... a very long time."
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Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2024 6:12 pm
Damaris hummed softly and reached out to rub Mary’s shoulder, reassuring and gentle. “Mary, tears are important. They cleanse. I know I have had my share as I was alone on the island. I am sure I will have more the longer it takes to find the others who are still up on Magion, I understand, my Mary. I am here for you. Through any breakdowns and through all the smiles and…very delicious sweet…drippy bread like this! I will always be here for this!”
She wrapped the arm that had been rubbing Mary’s shoulder around her and then stuck her spoon in, taking a large bite and laughing.
“These are very good. And I told you did I not? Sweet things were just what you needed!”
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Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2024 6:42 pm
"Grams makes them; I've never found her recipe for them," she said, digging into the rolls. Damaris was too good, too bright. Mary worried what would happen when, not if, they found no survivors on Magion. If all of them had died, and only Damaris' connection to her world kept her alive. She wanted to ask, wanted to make sure Damaris' expectations were reasonable.
But she couldn't bring herself to mute the light of her. She couldn't shatter the illusion, because what would Damaris have then?
A gaping maw where her heart should be.
"Heh, yes you did, Damaris." She pushed the thoughts of what would happen to focus on the present. The food, the space, Damaris. There had been enough tears today. "Your mother was a smart woman. What was she like?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2024 6:48 pm
Damaris was shoveling another large bite of the cinnamon roll into her mouth when the question was asked, and she froze, her eyebrows creasing slightly as she struggled to think of what to say.
…To be honest. She couldn’t remember her mothers face any longer. It had been…far too long. She had been alone far too long. The faces of those she had known and loved…were all blurs now.
Some words stayed though, like the advice for sweet things, and advice on how to get to sleep, and how to make sure the daystar didn’t crisp your skin…but.
“She…was wonderful. Kind. Caring. She…” Lowering the spoon, Damaris swallowed hard and gave a tiny, almost confused shrug.
“I don’t…I can’t remember what she looked like…”
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Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2024 7:04 pm
"Oh... I'm sorry, that was... it's been a millennia since you last saw her, I shouldn't have expected you to remember," said Mary, wincing. She placed an arm around Damaris' shoulders and squeezed gently.
"If it's any consolation, I don't remember what my grandfather looked like when he was alive. The memories of my childhood are fragmented, at best, and I only really remember the warmth of his smile, but not the smile itself." She knew what happened to him, and vividly remembered his cold and unmoving body on the stairs when she'd found him, at the age of six, but even then his features were all smudged.
"I'm sorry," she said softly, "I didn't mean to cause you grief..."
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Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2024 7:52 pm
“Grief simply happens, my Mary, it’s all right! We have sweets…”
Damaris wrapped her arm more tightly around Mary’s shoulders and listened as she spoke of her grandfather. She…couldn’t remember if she had ever met her grandfather. She had some time with her maternal grandmother but…
Not long.
“Grief simply happens. And I have you! So it won’t last very long.” She knew that was the truth. They both had grief. And now they both knew that they would support one another.
Digging the spoon in, Damaris turned and held it to Mary’s lips. “Open! Sugar incoming! Dispelling the grief and causing smiles!”
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Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 3:37 pm
Mary smiled and giggled a little, opening her mouth to take the food off the spoon. Damaris was... deflecting, but maybe that was okay for now. If she didn't want to talk about it, or address it, then okay.
Mary would be there when she wanted to... or had to.
"Sugar very much dispels the smiles, 'Mari, thank you," she said softly. She rested her head on Damaris' shoulder and closed her eyes. Emotions were exhausting, and she just wanted to exist for a moment.
If she fell asleep, well, that was okay.
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