[ She climbs unsteady to her feet, and she holds his hand all through it. This does something to him he cannot put into words. John is her anchor, and he takes to that duty with breathless intensity: he waits til she has risen, then he levers himself up to follow her, careful not to pull her down.
It's easy. It's so easy, stumbling up newborn and pitiful at her side. She doesn't move like a human being, not even a little, and he could cry just from watching the way she sets her feet in the sand. It's love or despair; there hasn't been a difference for a long time yet. There hasn't been a difference ever.
He has his own feet under him, his grip tight on her hand, when he realizes. The water hurts. John's expression flares to alarm, then a sick and guilty fear. ]
The ocean. [ He hesitates, hedges. He puts it behind the sheepish tilt of a smile, fake, but the creases between his eyes are real and anguished. ] She's not friendly... she put us here.
[ Trapped us, he'd say, but he knows how rich that'd be. ]
additional cw for one-sided attraction and just terrible vibes
It's easy. It's so easy, stumbling up newborn and pitiful at her side. She doesn't move like a human being, not even a little, and he could cry just from watching the way she sets her feet in the sand. It's love or despair; there hasn't been a difference for a long time yet. There hasn't been a difference ever.
He has his own feet under him, his grip tight on her hand, when he realizes. The water hurts. John's expression flares to alarm, then a sick and guilty fear. ]
The ocean. [ He hesitates, hedges. He puts it behind the sheepish tilt of a smile, fake, but the creases between his eyes are real and anguished. ] She's not friendly... she put us here.
[ Trapped us, he'd say, but he knows how rich that'd be. ]