witchesreign | Feelings, Nothing More Than Feelings [Action/Closed]

Oh, look who's finally up. I wondered if all that buzz would mysteriously convince them.

[You know what's old hat for Ed, apparently? Knocking. Rather than shutting it properly, he gives the door a careless shove behind him that seems to make the loose sleeve of his coat flap with surprise.]

What did they say?

[She has no right to complain, considering she doesn't knock and also uses the window on a regular basis. And she isn't complaining now.]

Looks like I get a memory of that one! [She rears onto her hind legs so he can see the scar, though there's another one on her back to match it. The torso one just looks more obvious.] Other than that, I got a clean bill of health!

That's what they told you? Garden's going into this too, you know. Even if they could keep an eye on you, they wouldn't have anyone left to do it.

[The nearest object to the dresser that he can lean against is a desk, so he does just that, sticking his hand in his pocket.]

But you look well. [He smiles a little, although he looks down at his feet before she can catch much of it.] I'm glad.

I've been feeling fine for days now. But noooo, I had to stay to make sure my muscles were completely mended. I probably suffered more from not being able to FLY than anything!

[And to celebrate her release, she hops into the air, though not without a little wince.]

Yep. Totally stiff. You wanna walk and talk? I need the stretch.

Really? You're not going to enjoy every last hour of lazing around? [He pushes himself back up off the desk with only a momentary waver of balance.] Well, maybe I wouldn't take too long, but that's fine by me. [When he reaches the door, he pulls it open a little less roughly than he slammed it a second ago.] I was just checking in.

You have no IDEA how bored I am! I've been going out of my mind for DAYS! I ran out of stuff to read a couple days back and since then I've just been out of my mind wishing for the sky again!

[She flits through the door, perhaps not quite as agilely as she might have before everything happened, but still quick and deft in the air.]

I've had enough lazing around for days, or at least until naptime.

[He slows down for a moment, so that she ends up flitting ahead.] Was that lazing around under a rock, or did you keep an ear out?

Both of them, as much as I could. I heard a lot of things while I was in the Infirmary. [She looks back over her shoulder at him.] Sounds like things are really coming to a head.

It was a long time coming. These things don't happen overnight. And once they start, there's no taking them back.

[He meets her eyes.] It's not too late to run away.

[Rainbow rolls her eyes, absolutely certain he's joking.] Oh yeah, sure, I'll run away into the hostile world where I'll be hunted as a monster and forever live with my own cowardice. That's totally a plan I'd subscribe to.

[He snickers loudly.] Well, all that talk about lazing around, I thought you needed the reminder.

[With that, he picks up the pace again. If she doesn't drag him elsewhere, he's turning in the direction he'd need to go if leading her up to the roof.]

[She doesn't have anyplace in mind, and is really following him more subconsciously than out of any purpose or intent. Alongside him she flaps, snorting.] Ha, I have enough energy built up now to take on three Esthars, all at once! They'll regret giving me time to rest!

Giving them time to regret anything? You must be out of shape. [And if she can't tell he's making fun of her now, he'll be sorely disappointed.

As he climbs some steps, still leading the way, he tugs at his coat to keep it hanging on his shoulder.]

I'd challenge you to a race now that I'm way out of practice... but naw. I'd still lose.

[She grins and giggles a bit more sharply than the joke warranted, trying not to notice that little gesture of his. If she'd been faster or stronger or better, his arm would be fine...]

[At the top of the flight of stairs, though not before, he turns around to look at her again.] What's the matter?

[It's rare for him to ask even that much outright, but he'd known this wouldn't be a regular old walk and talk from the second he'd decided against knocking on her door.]

[That IS rare. It's downright strange and startling, and it brings Rainbow to a halt in midair as effectively as a wall would.]

[She considers lying, but... Ed knows her too well. He'd see through it. Half a truth is better than none.]

Wishing I'd been able to do more, then.

[Neither his expression nor his relatively level tone changes.] Do you think you're the only one?

No.

[She brushes a hoof over her chest, quietly.]

But I healed.

[He shrugs with the shoulder he has, turning away.] It's not like I don't still have my legs.

[And he carries on heading up to the roof.]

[In silence, she flies along beside him, the sort of casual physics defying he'd scorned so many times and now accepts without comment.]

[After the silence has stretched for a time that would have been uncomfortable for another two, she heaves a sigh.] Guess it's settled. We HAVE to find a way back for you now.

That was always the plan, Dash. It didn't change. [He smiles again, but it's small and private, except in that he's letting it show at all.] And neither did this. If it held up for more than a year, maybe the last guy did a better job than I thought. My mechanic could tell you a few things.

[If Rainbow met her, that is. If she went along with what he can't ask of her.]

I know, but there's planning to do it eventually, and then there's making it a huge priority. It just became one.

[How funny is it that, after all the times she's heard it, even being used against her, she just wants to hear him clap again. Badly.]

[Maybe he'd thought the same about the sound of air rushing over her wings as she zips around, these past days. It's a nice thought, but she doesn't really believe it.]

Easy to say. How are you expecting it to make a difference? [He looks across at her.] I've said it before. Our priority is to keep on walking, don't stop, don't look back. That's all we can do.

[Still, even as he's making every effort to downplay it, he has to pull at his coat again to stop it from slipping.]

Yeah, but you can pick which paths you're gonna walk down. I'll try to pick the paths that get you home.

[She glances at him at his motion, and despite how it breaks her heart, she can't help but smile.]

It'd kill you to button that thing, wouldn't it.

[Almost reflexively, he can't help but shoot her a sharp look that buries any other trace of thoughtfulness for now.] What buttons? It's fine this way.

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