Girl Talk [Locked to Stacia]

[branchifer]

Who: Locked to Branch and Stacia
What: Bonding after Stacia takes care of him while he rests
Where: Stacia's room
When: Backdated to 24 hours after Branch terrorized the Pole
Warnings/Notes: cw: PTSD kinda energy. Possible talk about the Bergens so cw: cannibalism as well.

[Branch sleeps fitfully, enough that it's noticeable. The occasional little start awake, momentary concern about being somewhere other than his bed at home or in the pod of a friend during some kind of sleepover, his heart leaping in fear at realizing he's in some kind of big person bag - and then remembering he agreed to this.]

[He was too injured to risk not being watched over and without doors over the entrances to the boltholes, he was still scared an Elf would grab him again, even if he put down a little discouragement in the form of thumb tacks.]

[Each time he wakes up Stacia still hasn't hurt him and isn't in the middle of hurting him. She's usually just doing things around the Pole, like humming to himself as she explores, so every time he starts awake he settles back down again.]

[It's some good ol' fashioned hyper-vigilance.]

[The last time he wakes up, he's finally a bit more rested, so the lethargy of myth healing doesn't draw him back asleep.]

[...Also he wakes up with a little yell because he had a nightmare, then jumps out of the bag in a little roll that ends in him bouncing upright on his feet, ears twitching around like little radar dishes to listen for threads, holding out both arms as if expecting a predator from other side.]

[There are no predators. There are no hands reaching for him. There are no teeth.]

[When he realizes there's no threat, just Stacia sitting harmlessly over on her bed with a bottle of nail polish, he breathes out a sigh of relief. Then goes:]

...Ow.

[And rubs at his leg, hopping on the other foot. It didn't break open again but that hurt.]

Comments

[branchifer]

[It's strange. He ought to be ravenously hungry and thirsty after all that running around and then sleeping but it's more just a minor urge, the way you might need a little extra food and water while recuperating but wouldn't if you were feeling well.]

[He sees the little bottle is nearby and goes over to it, un-stoppering it and taking a long drink, then re-stoppers it]

At this point, I trust you to not poison my water. You could've hurt me anytime while I was out. [A pause.] I'll only be suspicious if you ever give me a bottle filled with marinade to drink because then I'll know you're trying to season me on the down low.

[It's an actual joke. A very deadpan, dark one, but still, the corner of his mouth tweaks just a little to show he's not being entirely serious.]

[They'd mostly gotten him freaking out or being smug at Miguel whenever any of his traps were successfully causing problems. But this is his actual personality coming out.]

[He shrugs.]

I could eat. Something tells me this place probably has the sprinkles-to-real-food ratio the village has back home. It constantly smells like cinnamon and cookies. [He nods his head back and forth.] Also like the village.

[Sometimes he needs something other than sweets, after getting used to ten years of foraging and developing a taste for things like crunchy moss, but he definitely still has a high sweets ratio to his diet.]

If you could help me get there and then block the door that'd be great. I'm...I'm not going to really be comfortable just chilling in a big people kitchen with any other big people until I have a better chance to get to know them.

[The chilling-to-in-their-stomach pipeline is potentially much shorter in a place with ingredients and cooking accouterments.]

[credit_not_blame]

I want you to know that I'm swallowing several comments about that which came to mind, because I suspect they might be in... [Stacia lets the pause hang for a moment, keeping a perfectly straight face.] Bad taste.

[Eyyyyyy?]

[As for the rest of it, she grins and finally starts to climb off the bed.]

One of the things you're going to learn about me over the course of our friendship is that I love yelling at people on someone else's behalf. Let's get you some snack.

[branchifer]

[He rolls his eyes at the joke with a little "pft" of disgusted dismissal as well, but again, the corner of his mouth quirks up just slightly.]

[At mention of friendship, though, he looks thoughtful, wondering how alike their people actually are. If trying to extend friendship is easy to these humans. If she's just being polite or being genuine.]

[Some growing trust is still there, though, so he hobbles over to get back in the bag, keeping the bottle with him because otherwise he'd need to find something else to drink from. He'd prefer to be carried around in the bag than in her hand.]

I don't love yelling at people, but I used to dabble, so I can respect that.

[credit_not_blame]

[Oh good, the joke is Acceptable. Stacia marks that down in the 'win' column.]

In the first alternate reality I got dropped into, my roommate got me a shirt for one of our traditional gift-giving holidays that said "I'm not bossy, I'm just always right". Which, I don't usually wear shirts with pithy sayings on them, but I appreciate the spirit in which it was meant. And it's not inaccurate.

[She waits for Branch to get settled in the back before picking it up and hanging it over her shoulder.]

I'm not saying I wouldn't prefer it if people listened to me the first time when I said "don't do the thing", but if it takes raising my voice to get people to listen to me, I'm absolutely prepared to do that.

[branchifer]

[Being carried by her isn't so bad. It's been a gentle ride anytime he's woken up enough to notice. He finds that now, while he's awake, it's still definitely gentle. Not much jostling. He's a lot more comfortable than he expected to be while carried by a big person.]

Uh, I appreciate it. You being willing to do this. Keep everyone else away.

[He breathes in and lets out a shaky breath, but it's clearly in the course of trying to relax.]

I really need this right now.

[credit_not_blame]

You're welcome.

[Stacia figured this would come up, and she's been thinking about how to phrase her explanation.]

I've been lucky enough to live most of my life in safety, but there were a couple times when everything changed so much and so abruptly that it was beyond my ability to cope. It was like everything I knew was ripped out of me and replaced with terror. And both times, someone bigger and tougher than me came along and went "hey, I'll look after you. I'll help you. You don't have to deal with this by yourself." And yeah, everything was still awful and terrifying, but at least I could hide behind someone and breathe, you know? Find my way back to myself through the fear. So I like to pay that forward when I can.

[branchifer]

[Branch listens and noticeably stiffens a little at her talking about things changing beyond her ability to cope. And stiffens even more at "everything I knew was ripped out of me and replaced with terror."]

[He's quiet for a little bit, processing, long enough for her to reach the kitchen, but when they get there, he doesn't immediately hop out.]

[Finally, he talks again.]

We only ever had Bridget. She was the only Bergen that was ever willing to protect us. And she wasn't big and strong. She freed us knowing it would end badly for her.

Which... I think makes her a really good person. But it means we've never had anyone who -

You know. That -

[He struggles for the words but still wants to say them. Because he has never had someone talk to him like this. Gently but directly. Engaging with the negativity - willing to share her feelings on her own hardship.]

[People don't do that back home. It compels him, makes him want to talk.]

No one could protect anyone else by being big and strong. The best they could do was make sure they got taken instead.

[He doesn't say it happened to him. He doesn't say who. But it was generally the only way people could protect each other.]

[credit_not_blame]

[Stacia shoos some elves out of the kitchen while Branch works through his thoughts, but they hop-to without her needing to raise her voice at them. She hums thoughtfully in acknowledgement when he does speak up.]

Yeah, people who do the right thing even when there's consequences for it are good people. I'm glad you at least had Bridget. I'm sorry that she's as close as you ever had to someone who could protect you; that's a scary way to live.

[Admittedly, all the big strong scary Garou in the world couldn't protect someone from the Apocalypse, but that's more abstract than "giant who wants to eat you". It's not the same thing. So: sympathy, not empathy.]

Is there anything you like to eat when you're feeling down? If you're not feeling cookies, you can sit on a high shelf out of my reach and I can try to make something.

[branchifer]

[As they talk, Branch is feeling a lot more comfortable. He's feeling more and more confident that her kindness is genuine. And the consideration towards whether or not he wants to be safe from her reach matters. So he's mostly relaxed when he jumps out of the bag onto teh counter.]

[Buuut then he sees he jumped out near a knife block. There is a bit of a reflexive full body shiver as he thinks of Chef slamming her cleaver down on the table in front of him, a mere millimeter from his face, so close he ran into it. He uses a pot hook to swing with his hair up into some of the open shelving, near the plates. It's not near any knives or ingredients, it's not over the stove itself where he could be easily pulled down and tossed in.]

[He's still potentially within reach, though, if she walks sideways. He doesn't hide entirely. It shows there's a little bit of trust, the fact he's not retreating so far up she'd have to transform or get a chair to reach him.]

[He sits on the edge, legs dangling over, occasionally unconsciously doing tiny kickyfeets.]

I don't know much about...how any of the people here eat.

[It's not exactly like he's ever been eager to venture into the cupboards of the Bergens to see what else they eat besides troll and the humans are entirely different from the Bergens and the yetis and Elves are entirely different from the humans.]

Maybe eggs? I eat a lot of hummerbee eggs. They're a lot like big bird eggs but small. Uh, and some kind of greens? Do you think they have moss?

...If that's okay.

[He can't cook anything himself with a stove this big and after all that healing, his body is craving something a little more sustaining than tons of refined sugar.]

[credit_not_blame]

[To be fair, Stacia wouldn't stay in easy reach in a giant's kitchen either, and that's without having had a history of giants trying to eat her. She lets him settle in, but can't help but smile at the kickyfeets. It's cute, she does that too.]

I can definitely scramble an egg. Or multiple eggs I suppose, I'm not sure what your appetite is like. I don't know whether the Yeti stock moss in the kitchen, but I'm sure I can find some vegetables. Or mushrooms? I'll check with you before I put anything in; I know humans eat a lot of stuff that's toxic to other species.

[She smiles wryly.]

And that's aside from when we poison ourselves a little for fun.