moneyballer | IC CONTACT;

[Asher shifts around in his bed uncomfortably, the light from his Magitek screen brightening under the sheets. It takes him a minute to get to it, mostly because he's sure as hell that if anyone's contacting him at this hour, it's going to be important.]

Yeah, I am.

Why? What's up?

( Important miiiight be relative. But still: )

Do you mind talking for a while? I can't sleep.

( Read: she's been tossing and turning enough that with the new mission coming, she's worrying herself out of sleeping through the night. It's just bad enough tonight she's reaching out. )

[This is definitely important for him, as he knows just how paralyzing fear can be.

Sometimes, it can ruin everything.]

You got it, girl.

Would you rather we text, ooooor~! Would you prefer I talked to ya? Like, for real.

[Hearing a real voice, especially of a friend or someone you care about, can help ease the anxiety a little bit.]

( She rolls her jewelry in her hands, looking at the teardrop pendant with her parents inside, the grass on the hillside, and the boy who is a dragon, but who is also a boy.

She curls into herself, nodding, even as she thinks her response. )

You wouldn't mind?

[He's surprised again that she's worried, mostly because if anything, it's just the opposite.

Asher's desire to help others often thwarts his common sense. That and sleep hasn't been the easiest for him as of late either, what with the murder still fresh in his mind.]

No, not at all.

Did you want to talk over the 'tek, or...

[They are similar in many respects. Maybe seeing someone in person would help her fall asleep. It's downtime anyway, so it's okay if she decides to sleep in the next morning.]

Would it be better if I came to see you?

( She rests her forehead against her knees. Makes a decision, because it feels like neutral ground. (In spite of remembering how she's helped lead bugs in circles through the kitchens.) )

Will you come get tea with me? Or cocoa. Or anything you want, really. The kitchens?

God, I could really use a midnight snack. Or mid-morning snack, I guess.

[an invitation 2 potentially stuff his face at night/in the wee hours of the morning??? lmao u don't have 2 ask asher twice about this one]

See you there in 10?

I'll be there!

( It's enough to get her to uncurl and flop on her side, eyes flicking to her wardrobe. "Her" wardrobe.

She ends up trekking downstairs in the clothes she arrived here in. They don't fit the same as several months ago; her shirt is a little less loose, a little less long. Her shorts aren't quite as long either. She's growing, and she's barely aware of it.

It's still more comforting than her other outfit. Her uniform. Time for midnight snacking, apparently, and his having thought it makes the idea near irresistible, leading to Chihiro dragging around a stool to try and get into cupboards while ignoring all the food set out by the invisible hands of the kitchens at even this hour. She's honestly not even sure what she's getting down. Whatever's highest in this cupboard, probably. )

[Asher too is clad in something a little more comfortable, namely, a grey tee with the Middleton insignia on it and a pair of dark pajama bottoms. She's smaller than most of the folks on this team, so her height itself is a dead giveaway.

Honestly, it's a relief to see someone else in clothes that look familiar instead of foreign, and even moreso to see a child being exactly what they are for a change. He pops up behind her (but not close enough to be creepy), smiling a little.]

Need a boost?

( She turns her head around, blinking and smiling a beat after. The smile doesn't last long, but it's only so she can shake her head, not refusing what he's offering, but... )

I'm trying to find the Nutella. Have you seen it?

( Enlisting the assistance of the much taller adult? She has no shame in doing exactly that. Precariously balanced as she is, she pulls out a jar of what appears to be pickled cabbage with a sigh and a wrinkling of her nose. This distraction is already nice; what's more normal than looking for snack foods in the early hours of the morning? )

I thought it might be over here, but I think this is all pickled stuff.

( She sets the jar of cabbage down again, looking at Asher. )

... Thanks for coming down, Asher.

[that feel when u remember how u spent way too much time sobbing and eating ur way 2 da bottom of de nutella jar, because u may have been v horny but also v drunk]

Don't sweat it! I wasn't really sleepin' anyway.

[He runs a hand through hair that lacks product for once, kneeling down to look through the cupboards below. Asher's soft edges are a little more apparent when he isn't in a tailored suit or the uniform he's fashioned to his own tastes, as the crisp silhouettes provide him with a different look entirely.]

Ohp, got it!

[He manages pick out a fresh container that hasn't been opened yet and sets it on the table, turning the lid and popping the jar open with little trouble.]

Man, this stuff smells good.

( She pops back down from where she'd climbed up, stopping by a drawer to fish out a spoon and heading over with a clearly interested look in her eyes. )

Mm, it does! Do you like Nutella too?

( She gets herself half a spoonful, pulling her spoon back out and contentedly popping it into her mouth. Nutella is an excellent break away from what's been plaguing her; the homesickness is part of it, but she's let that become a dull throb over the last few months. More bothersome is almost thinking about what they're coming up on. So she side steps that for now. )

Edited 2017-01-26 23:08 (UTC)

[this self conscious weenus of a man should spend more time thinking b4 he speaks, but the fear of being discovered overwhelms him for the time being-]

W-who doesn't love Nutella?

[d on't

pl z shutte ur mouth]

There might as well be crack in it.

( Chihiro stares at Asher, blinking. )

Okay... but what's crack?

( She's Guessing she can guess.

But Asher.

What the hell slang are you using she's NOT FROM YOUR NATION... OR FRIENDSGROUP... )

[There are many moments in life that Asher wishes he could take back.

What happened just 2 or 3 seconds ago? Yeah, that's being added to the list.]

I-it's... It's, um-

[He stammers momentarily, realizing the errors of his ways. Insistently, he holds out a hand, biting his lip.]

Never do it.

( There has to be a point in time where she will stop having moments where she stares at Asher, and she Judges. In fact, most the time she doesn't, but this is like the username fiasco.

Pointedly, primly, while digging out a whole spoonful of Nutella, she says: )

I think that's not much of an explanation.

( The Nutella.

Goes right into her mouth. )

[He's seen that look before, and it's enough to get him to avert his eyes.]

It's not that important.

[Said while rubbing the back of his neck with one hand.]

But if anyone offers it to you in Woodhurst, just... Run, okay?

[Asher folds his hands over his chest, pulling up a chair beside her.]

Ugh, besides...

That's not really what you wanted to talk about, right?

( she shuffles her feet, shaking her head and keeping the spoon in her mouth for the moment. just, uh, okay. she's fairly sure he's talking about drugs, for all that's a more nebulous concept to her personally. she also has a knee jerk dislike of it; it's easy to nod her head.

and, eventually, pull out the spoon. )

I'm worried about how things are going to be when we get there. With the sickness, and stuff. I'm not... I'm not in a position to help a lot of people, or investigate a lot of things. So what should I be doing? To be helpful? I have to be helpful, or else I don't get to go home. For a long, long time.

( because of how sparing energy works, she thinks, but... these are her worries. new nightmares to keep her up at night. )

[He leans on an elbow, listening carefully.

God, he'd forgotten all about that. Chihiro may be a child, but her insight is pretty spot on. When they had arrived, there had been some promise of that, a return home if you played by the rules and did the team proud. Somewhere along the way, Asher Millstone had forgotten about home.

Because this place is starting to feel like it.]

I think... What matters is that you try? Though, I'm not sure-

[He shakes his head, cracking a smile that's not at all happy. Her words break his heart because they are so sincere, because all she wants is to return to a normal life and go back to the things she knows.

This is what he wants for her too.

She doesn't deserve this.]

Have you talked to the higher-ups about it? Like, asked... Maybe what it is you can do? 'Cause you're under some pretty special circumstances.

They might be able to make some exceptions for you.

I don't think our seniors are really... higher ups, exactly.

( she says after listening, reaching out to pick up the nutella and scoop out another spoonful. she doesn't eat it right away; instead she sets the nutella down and belatedly realises she's just been horribly unhygienic. she frowns a little at herself, then hopes Asher doesn't notice.

hopefully he doesn't mind. )

I want to go home. ALASTAIR knows that, already. Me going home isn't more important than stopping things like in Perdition's Rest. Even if we didn't know everything that was happening. I know that.

( she stares down at her spoon, breathing in through her nose, out again through her mouth. it's close to a sigh, but not quite. )

It's my duty to help out. That's what I tell myself. ( her eyes come up, searching for his. not for long, she doesn't usually hold eye contact for long, but to know he's facing her. )

My circumstances aren't really special. They just are, like for everyone. I don't exactly want my home to be so unstable that it needs me back in it, you know?

[She goes on in such an honest way, he doesn't have the heart to tell her what he really thinks.

That her circumstances are special, that she is young.

Instead he soothes her quietly, by reaching out to squeeze her shoulder. Afterwards he rubs little circles into it, something that always seemed to calm him down when he was Chihiro's age.]

I wouldn't blame ya if you did, though.

[For hoping that things would change if she went missing.

Because god knows, he feels that way all the time.]

Nobody's perfect, little C.

It's okay to put yourself first sometimes.

[ok butt hunni take ur own advice lmfao]

( It's a little strange, because she doesn't come from a family that indulges overmuch in physical reassurance. At the same time, she's been learning how much it can help over her time here; remembers how it'd felt important in the Spirit Realm. Remembers how she used to love that security, in being hugged by her parents; lifted and spun around in her father's arms.

So she lets this be reassuring, too. Though in turn, she reaches up, patting Asher's arm. )

I'll try if you try too, all right?

( It's not due to any great insight, other than patterns she's seen in many of the adults here; but he asks for something that is both harder than it used to be and easier than she remembers. It's only fair for her, in her mind, to ask the same from him.

srsly asher take ur own advice boi )

[Times like these are what push Asher farther and farther down. He wishes that in this moment he could do something to alleviate her worries, that he had some kind of magic getaway scheme, but all he can do is stay close and listen.

Shifting in his seat, he takes a moment to fold his arms and then rest his head upon them, murmuring wistfully.]

How long has it been? Since you left home.

[She's been here at least as long as he has, as he spoke to her during the second or third month of his stay.]

I don't know. Not exactly.

( she admits. the time in Perdition's Rest threw off her count. being in Oska, then there, and now back in Oska? )

It was spring when we'd moved. Then here, it's been fall, and winter. I don't know how many months it is by now... I'm not really sure what calendar we're supposed to look at. Time's been really weird.

( because she's also been told that the time here means nothing, in a sense. that one day, they will be able to send them home, and to the time they were last seen. so what is it? what is this time passing? what are the memories and experiences, lovely and horrible both, going to mean in the end? it's complicated. she sets all that to the side, for now. )

Dad got lost when we were trying to get to our new house. I was going to start school in a new town, and I wasn't happy about it, not really. Then we were at the abandoned theme park... Dad said a lot of them went under when the bubble burst in the 90's.

( she's reciting this without fully understanding the economics she's discussing as if they're somehow disconnected from her reality. in ways, that's exactly what they are: disconnected. )

He and my Mom couldn't keep themselves from eating. There was all this food there, and no one around, and — and that's when things started going weird. I didn't remember that stuff until I'd been here for a while, you know?

IC CONTACT;

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i want 2 die i shouldn't be laughing at this

oh no i started laughing too ALSKDJ

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no this cute nickname

i love it...

IT'S SO CUTE

this bonding is all cute okay

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