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Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2017 8:29 am
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To say otherwise would be denying it -- on the drive to Boston, Alexis had gotten nervous, fidgety. They'd gotten used to Ashdown, to where their clear Otherness was just something that was, where they could get second looks and still know they were not alone. Boston, though? In this new world, that was unexplored territory; and it reminded them of how painfully visible their immersion in magic was. Their eyes, their neck, their teeth, their sides (their sternum, their lower back, their wrist, their fingertips - just because it was scarring and not a change didn't mean it wasn't a result) - one of those they could conceal, always, and two if they were lucky. But they had no intentions of wearing sunglasses or a medical mask.
It was just something that was.
"I'm fine,," Alexis said, in the way that said they absolutely were not completely fine but they didn't want that to be pointed out. "What could I make you do, anyways, turn around? Nah. I need new clothes anyways." They picked at a hole on the knee of their pants, absent-mindedly.
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 12:30 am
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 8:09 am
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"Y'wanted to," Alexis huffed right back, "not gonna say no to that..." But it wasn't any real sort of protest, not really. They wanted to be here, out of necessity, out of the need for new clothing and the want to spend time with Nasir; it was just that some things were unsettling, and as always, they overcompensated by being prickly.
Their ears went blush-pink when Nasir pulled out the jacket and they ducked their face away, still pulling at threads on their knees. "Y'didn't have to. Thanks. ...As long as it's not too expensive, I'll do my best to look at things that aren't monochrome, but don't getcha hopes up for me becoming the embodiment of 80s neon."
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 10:44 pm
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Alexis kept close to Nasir, their arm twined with his (and the jacket smelled good, really, and that did help with everything a little bit more). "I haven't been actually clothes shoppin' in years," they admitted quietly, "not actually paying for things if it's not Goodwill or the like, y'know? So it's a little intimidating. But you know what looks good better than I do, so if you're happy, 'm happy."
Their eyes still flickered around, sizing up the area; but it wasn't really voluntary anymore, to spot where the escapes were. It was the same way they searched out water sources and kept a thermos of cold water on hand when they carried a bag around, the same way other ashdown was their retreat when things got to be too much and they needed to get it all out. (Bloody knuckles, tattered nails, their legs not working due to exertion. It was ways to keep safe, on their own. To make sure they were safer.)
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 11:21 pm
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Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2017 7:54 pm
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Alexis clung close to Nasir's side, fighting down the nervousness, trying to remember nothing was a threat -- they hadn't always been like this, they remembered distantly, but they'd lost a lot during their durance. As a weapon, Alexis was more than competent; they knew the anatomy, and as a court member, they'd learned the poetry and the refrains Alois had been fond of. He hadn't been one for genuine kindness, though, and -- it was still like smoke through their fingers, grasping that self-assuredness they remembered having, before Ashdown and before magic. The ease a smile had come with, cocky, before a dare.
It was still strange, to find scraps and photos of their old self, and to recognize them but to not recognize them - not really. Someone else. Someone who wasn't here anymore, who'd been beaten down and driven out. Everything had a cost to it.
"You'd look good in it, though. Y'look good in everything. I can't pull the long skirts off like you do."
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