[ suddenly there's a sharp pang of sadness and grief so acute it almost feels like physical pain. Then Mabel shakes her head and slaps herself on the cheeks. ]
[ Ow?? He probably should have expected that, but he didn't. The grief hits him a little harder, but he still tries to dismiss the feelings as quickly as he can - although if she's paying attention, she might have seen him cringe. ]
Whichever one is easiest. You can start. I don't mind.
[ Instead of her usual sudden hugs, Mabel moves very deliberate as she steps towards Malik and stands presumably on her tippy toes to give him a great big hug. ]
malik has no idea how to feel about this-- and there's a flicker of that uncertain feeling when mabel hugs him. there's apprehension, concern, sadness, a tinge of anger. nothing overtly positive, but it's something compared to the empty void he was before. ]
I-- thank you?
[ what......... does he do. does he like. pat her? sure. he'll give her a little head pat. BUT JUST ONE.... ]
[ she laughs and gives him a good ol' shoulder pat in return. there there, malik. i know it was hard to receive affection, but you pulled through! (Mabel doesn't quite know what to make of all those...strange, not nice feelings he has, though. Aren't hugs supposed to be nice?) ]
So! Your turn! What do you need to do for your task?
I need to tell you about a memory... Which is better than showing them unprompted. Like when I was younger than you are now... and I--
[ he is even more conflicted and unsure! and his sadness? there's more of that now. ]
I didn't get to do many things as a child. I wanted to see a lot of places, and experience a lot of things... I found a discarded book in the street one time, and it had pictures of things I had never seen before.
[ oh! wow! awkward! Mabel gets the sense that this is going to be an Important Somber infodump, so she forces herself to be calm. She can tell that Malik is gonna have a hard time saying this so...she might as well help by prompting him a little, right? ]
[ he's trying to stay constrained, because yeah this is incredibly awkward! he doesn't like this, not one bit. ]
I remember a page with a motorcycle in it very clearly. I begged my sister to let me keep that page. She said I could as long as our father never saw it.
[ the validation actually gets a flicker of positive emotion! ]
I thought it was interesting and exciting... to be able to ride across the land, completely free... I had never seen anything like it before. I would have kept the whole book, if my sister had let me... but I was okay with just one page. So I took it back home with me, imaging what having a motorcycle would be like.
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timeasmymeasure
w4, monday
Date: 2021-07-05 09:20 pm (UTC)He awkwardly tries to avoid her on Monday because, ew, feelings. However, morbid curiosity draws him closer. ]
Are you doing tasks this week?
[ very smooth, good job. ]
no subject
Date: 2021-07-06 01:07 am (UTC)Yup! Are you?
no subject
Date: 2021-07-06 01:11 am (UTC)I am going to try... these last few weeks haven't been very good.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-06 01:43 am (UTC)[ suddenly there's a sharp pang of sadness and grief so acute it almost feels like physical pain. Then Mabel shakes her head and slaps herself on the cheeks. ]
So! Which task do you wanna do?
no subject
Date: 2021-07-06 03:05 am (UTC)Whichever one is easiest. You can start. I don't mind.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-06 06:59 am (UTC)[ Instead of her usual sudden hugs, Mabel moves very deliberate as she steps towards Malik and stands presumably on her tippy toes to give him a great big hug. ]
You're a nice guy and I like you, Malik!
no subject
Date: 2021-07-07 01:23 am (UTC)malik has no idea how to feel about this-- and there's a flicker of that uncertain feeling when mabel hugs him. there's apprehension, concern, sadness, a tinge of anger. nothing overtly positive, but it's something compared to the empty void he was before. ]
I-- thank you?
[ what......... does he do. does he like. pat her? sure. he'll give her a little head pat. BUT JUST ONE.... ]
no subject
Date: 2021-07-07 04:28 am (UTC)So! Your turn! What do you need to do for your task?
no subject
Date: 2021-07-07 04:50 am (UTC)I need to tell you about a memory... Which is better than showing them unprompted. Like when I was younger than you are now... and I--
[ he is even more conflicted and unsure! and his sadness? there's more of that now. ]
I didn't get to do many things as a child. I wanted to see a lot of places, and experience a lot of things... I found a discarded book in the street one time, and it had pictures of things I had never seen before.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-07 05:31 am (UTC)Like what kind of things?
no subject
Date: 2021-07-07 05:49 am (UTC)I remember a page with a motorcycle in it very clearly. I begged my sister to let me keep that page. She said I could as long as our father never saw it.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-07 06:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-07-07 06:48 am (UTC)I thought it was interesting and exciting... to be able to ride across the land, completely free... I had never seen anything like it before. I would have kept the whole book, if my sister had let me... but I was okay with just one page. So I took it back home with me, imaging what having a motorcycle would be like.
I did get one later, after I left home.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-09 12:12 am (UTC)And? Was it everything you'd ever dreamed of?
no subject
Date: 2021-07-11 03:32 am (UTC)Actually... yes. I'm quite fond of it.
[ A.... POSITIVE EMOTION?! holy shit ]
no subject
Date: 2021-07-11 03:52 am (UTC)So where'd you get to go on your cool shiny new motorcycle?!
no subject
Date: 2021-07-11 04:03 am (UTC)[ oh yeah we're rolling with TWO COMMENTS IN A ROW of positive vibes ]
no subject
Date: 2021-07-11 04:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-07-11 04:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-07-11 04:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-07-13 06:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-07-14 06:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-07-14 06:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-07-14 06:11 am (UTC)[ gasp ] Are you saving up vouchers to buy your cool water-floating motorcycle?!
no subject
Date: 2021-07-14 06:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
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