[ Rei's doing as he asks, and that's a start. Thomas monitors her throughout the process, wary of the possibility of her making another break for the water. Instead, she shows the presence of mind to swap mittens for her wet socks. She should be able to jam them into her boots if he's eyeballing it correctly.
Which is all practicals, like thinking of the spare mittens in his coat pocket. He's about to tell her to retrieve them she speaks, and the words wither away under her declaration.
He doesn't understand what she means. He'd mistaken her for a spirit once, but he's felt the weight of her in his arms now, as flesh and blood as he is. He can see her breath misting the air in front of her mouth.
So she must mean something else, because she's a sensible girl. Something worse, something beyond what he can imagine, even if something nags at the back of his mind at spare parts. But he has some experience with what he can't imagine, and that's what he reaches for, blind in the dark. ]
Why should that matter?
[ He curls his fingers tighter in her sleeve, searching her blank face for - he doesn't know. For the sake of her seeing him look, and want to see. ]
cw: suicidal thoughts
Which is all practicals, like thinking of the spare mittens in his coat pocket. He's about to tell her to retrieve them she speaks, and the words wither away under her declaration.
He doesn't understand what she means. He'd mistaken her for a spirit once, but he's felt the weight of her in his arms now, as flesh and blood as he is. He can see her breath misting the air in front of her mouth.
So she must mean something else, because she's a sensible girl. Something worse, something beyond what he can imagine, even if something nags at the back of his mind at spare parts. But he has some experience with what he can't imagine, and that's what he reaches for, blind in the dark. ]
Why should that matter?
[ He curls his fingers tighter in her sleeve, searching her blank face for - he doesn't know. For the sake of her seeing him look, and want to see. ]