[FIN] Lend a Hand

[BlackFireKitsune]

Eventually her tears slowed and halted altogether, and with a pitiful sniffle she leaned away again, wiping at her eyes once more with her stunted arm resting in her lap, the thin fabric of the sleeve still covering it. She didn't know what to say, though, not that she would be able to form words at the moment anyway, so she simply sat there, head bowed and hand at her eyes. The ever present sadness and gnawing emptiness furthered her depressed state, and the embarrassment and guilt she felt over intruding on her friend so much and all she could do in response was to cry more. It was pitiful - absolutely pitiful. Why couldn't she talk to him, at least say something? She made an honest attempt then, but only managed a soft noise that didn't really sound like anything in particular before she wilted and gave up. Pathetic.  

[Suudonym]

Her reticent state was one that he was himself too familiar with, having subjected his friends to it time again. An inability to vocalize one's thoughts that only enhanced feelings of misery and guilt - of course, if he knew how to overcome it, he never would have had the problem in the first place. All he had at his disposal was theory and guesswork. "Could I ask you to say your name?" he said suddenly, feeling a bit silly about it, but something simple like that would perhaps be easy for her to lend her voice to…  

[BlackFireKitsune]

His sudden and random question made her blink and pause in her spiraling thoughts to consider why he would ask such a thing, but the answer that came most readily to her mind was the similar questions the doctors had asked her after telling her she'd received a minor concussion in the accident along with everything else. Rather than stop to think about how or why Luke would know such a thing, if he even did, her thoughts continued on the assumption that he knew it somehow and wanted to ascertain that her head was still functioning properly. That question, along with what day of the week it was, were the most common questions she'd received, after all. "...Sera," she replied softly after a considerable pause, her hand lingering at her eyes still as she wiped away the tears. "Seraphine."  

[Suudonym]

He leaned forward with his arms folded on his knees, inclining his head to watch her with a quiet smile in his expression. Success so far; he searched his head for another easy question. "What's your favorite thing to eat?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

When she lowered her hand, it revealed a completely flushed face that had obviously cried quite a lot, but the tears had finally ceased. Her gaze flicked to him briefly before she bowed it a little further. At any other time she would have been absolutely mortified to be seen in such a state as this, but after what had happened, the embarrassment was just one more piece tossed onto the pile of awful feelings that she felt essentially buried under. Vaguely, though, she realized that this wasn't exactly a concussion-related question, and her brows furrowed in thought. She didn't... really have a favorite thing to eat.. Did he want to get it for her or something..? But it came after asking her name, so really, that didn't make much sense... "Why..?"  

[Suudonym]

"It's easier to talk if it's a little at a time, right?" he said, shrugging mildly. He wouldn't allow the subject to linger, though, "If I had to pick, there's a paella dish I used to have at home sometimes that was really good, but I'm not all that particular about food. What about you?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Seraphine, who had been used to hearing nothing but weeping, silence, short responses or the occasional anguished outburst over the past several days, suddenly floundered at the amount of words. But why? She used to say so much more, so just a few simple sentences should be practically nothing to deal with. So why was it suddenly overwhelming? "Um," she started uncertainly, focusing her gaze on her knees with a mildly confused frown. "...cheesecake?" Was it even alright to answer so many words with just one of her own? Probably not. She wilted a little again at the realization she probably was expected to say more than just a single word, but still couldn't coax out more than that. Saying just a word or two was hard enough.  

[Suudonym]

He nodded, maintaining his placid smile. There were no indications that he at all minded her brief responses. "Cheesecake's pretty good. Any kind in particular?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

She floundered again before glancing over at him uncertainly. "Normal..?" Was that right? Why was he even asking? "With, uh, strawberries..." Seriously, what was even the point. Cheesecake didn't even matter right now.

Fortunately, though, the questions prevented her from thinking of the accident and therefore all of the morbid associations it held, and thus at least prevented her mood from worsening further because of it.  

[Suudonym]

The uncertainty in her tone was difficult to overlook, and he rubbed idly at the back of his neck. "Sorry, I can stop if you want."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

And now she'd gone and made him feel bad. Well s**t. "No no, I just..." His efforts had at least proved successful, even if she still had no idea of the purpose of his random questions. She paused though, trying to come up with something, anything to say. "I just.. I don't..." Don't what? Don't want to talk? Don't want to say anything? No, she wanted to talk, since he was being kind enough to help her and had even gotten those girls away from her. She wanted to talk with him, but she just... didn't know what to say or how to say it.  

[Suudonym]

He stood, turning to Seraphine and gesturing entreatingly, "Charades?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

What.

What was he...

What..

The look she gave him bordered on complete and utter confusion, and rendered her completely silent.

No, seriously: what.  

[Suudonym]

Now you see this is why he usually avoided trying to make jokes. He pushed a hand through his hair sheepishly, "Just kidding." He cleared his throat and lamely returned to his seat on the couch. "If you don't want to talk, that's okay. You were always supporting me, so I want to support you too. If that's just being with you, that's fine with me. Or, if you'd rather go home, that's fine with me too; I'll take you back. If you want to talk, that's fine - and if you don't want to talk, that's also fine." As much as he wanted to help her, there was a limit to how much anyone could do in this kind of situation.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

What was he even... Just kidding? Was that supposed to be a joke or something? She wilted again at the realization he probably was trying his best to make her feel better and she was just so pitifully unreceptive, it was awful. Her gaze returned to her knees before it shifted to her hand, which she rotated and flexed her fingers before closing it into a fist with a sigh. "I don't really.. want to go home yet," she said quietly, finally managing a full sentence, though couldn't convey what she did want - mostly because she wasn't even sure of that herself yet, and she couldn't say something she didn't even know yet.