souffle_girlek | (no subject)

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Oswin has just taken the kettle off the stove and is pouring it into the teapot when the doorchime goes off. For this, she got out the big pot, and her very biggest mugs. Thankfully, she had scones already made - she already knows she'd be useless baking in a hurry.

"Hang on, the bots will open it in a mo, don't you go wandering off now." She calls through the open comms line. "I've got a hot kettle in my hands so I can't get it myself."

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Baze drags his nails gently across her scalp, scratching in small circles. "I just wish... Maybe, if I'd been gentler, he wouldn't have been upset," he says, blowing air out of his lungs in a gusty sigh. "Is it my fault? He started out wanting to apologize, and then changed his mind as soon as I spoke."

"If his apology depended on how nice the person he's apologizing to is, it wasn't a very determined apology." Oswin points out wryly. "Apologies tend to be given to very cross people."

"Which Chirrut sort of was," Baze says, agreeing with her logic. He runs his fingers through her soft hair, luxuriating in the feel of it. "If Bodhi had only said the words, 'I'm sorry,' rather than just telling us that he wanted to, Chirrut would have accepted that. He would have welcomed Bodhi back with open arms, and we'd be cuddling right now rather than me being here bitching at you."

He draws his hands away from her head to clench his fists, and grits his teeth. "Damn it. Why do relationships have to be so difficult?"

Edited 2017-08-04 07:21 (UTC)

"Because they're filled with people." Oswin laughs, "And we like to be complicated." She undoes the braids she already started, and instead makes larger braids.

Baze unclenches his fists, and wraps his arms around Oswin's slender waist. He leans his cheek on her sternum, blowing a raspberry. "Ugh. People. It'd be so much easier if I were a hermit."

This is a lie. Baze wouldn't be able to survive a week alone, and he knows it.

"Oswin. What does it mean when someone wants you to kiss them properly?"

"Awww, mister grumpy, none of that. If you were a hermit you couldn't have this." Oswin admonishes, tugging on his ear before going back to playing with his hair.

"... Someone really said that? Wow. Means they're either an asshole 'cause they're being pushy... unless you were asking for pushy, but i know you weren't, so asshole. Anyway, that, or someone who doesn't get out much and doesn't know how to appreciate a wide range of kisses. Either way, run, don't walk."

Baze laughs, but his heart's not in it. "I'm trying to forgive the asshole in question, but it still bothers me," he admits, lifting one unarmored shoulder in a shrug. "Sinric--do you know Sinric? He peeked into Chirrut's head without permission when we first came here, and he, too, refuses to apologize. Then she--well, he, rather--chose a female form for Cubefall, and pretended to be someone he wasn't, so we could cuddle. He did say he was sorry for that, so I... I'm trying to forgive and forget, but it's more difficult than I anticipated."

Edited 2017-08-04 07:47 (UTC)

Oswin doesn't like liars, people who say one thing and do another, foes with a friend's face.

But where, where Oswin did you get the milk?

Oswin sits abruptly straight, forcing herself to breathe like Alana showed her, to try and keep it from spiraling out of control.

I'm sorry, Oswin. But You. Are. A DALEK.

It... sort of works. Better than other things. Better than just panicking. Ugh. Brains.

This... This is new. And unsettling.

Baze has seen people struck with terror before. He's seen the glazed look in people's eyes that shows, unequivocally, that they're elsewhere, that they're reliving awful things.

He sees that in his friend now.

"It's not real, Oswin," Baze says, trying to keep his voice level, measured, to pierce the fog surrounding her brain. He opens his arms, letting her come to him, if she so chooses. "It's not real, and I'm here with you. What can I do to help you right now?"

She breathes, carefully, and listens to the voice with an accent she never encountered in her old life. She lets the more posh voice float away to whatever dark hole it's living in. She knows it'll be back, it just... needs to go away now.

"Give me a hug?" She asks, swallowing down the reflexive disclaimer where it can't find the light of day. She leans into him, borrowing his warmth.

Edited 2017-08-04 08:14 (UTC)

Baze still has no idea what set her off. Was it a discussion of Sinric's telepathy? He can see how that might have been a trigger. What about his own irritation? That might have scared her.

Whatever the reason, Baze knows he'll have to limit his bitching in the future. He can't stand to see his friends in pain, and if he can do anything to prevent that, then he'll do it, come hell or high water.

He immediately folds Oswin into his powerful arms, tucking her against his chest and resting his chin on her head. He leans back on the arm of the couch, carrying her with him. Snuggling is something Baze is good at, having practiced and enjoyed it, so he does his best to hold her now.

"I'm sorry," he says, muffled by her hair.

"Not your fault." Oswin replies, melting into his hold, quite content to stay where she is now. "You've gotten the broken model, I'm afraid. Bit more patched up than before, but... not terribly sturdy." This cuddling is actually ideal. She can hide her ashamed flush against his overalls and no one has to know.

Baze could joke, could tell her that he likes repairing things, but there are several problems with that. First, this isn't a joking matter. Secondly, she's not a thing. And, finally, the most important fact: her hurts are impossible for him to fix, try as he might. It's not his responsibility to fix her, either, but he wishes he could ease her pain somehow.

Cuddling will have to do, and that, he can provide.

"Well, I don't mind broken models," Baze murmurs, stroking her back. "And like it or not, you're stuck with me. I'm in it for the long haul."

Baze is here. He always will be.

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