chroniclesoffireflies:

stickfingercorps:

It was disgusting. She had come to this city for their world renown sociology program, and here she was watching binge drinking frat boys torment a grown man. And Kaede had thought she’d had it bad: at least kids have something of an excuse. Grown ass adults picking on other adults like this though…

It had taken a while, but she finally located the victim between a walled flower bed and the brick wall of the Law building. She sat just outside the gap, leaning against the building’s cornerstone and taking out some work. For a long while, she stayed quiet, letting him get used to the sound of her pen scratching paper. After about ten minutes, she leaned over and peeked into hi hiding spot.

“Hey, so who is it that needs their ass handed to them?”

((physical note, in this verse Kaede grew her hair out so now it’s shorter and mainly black with pink remnants))

If this had been before the explosion, he would’ve immediately spoken up, talked to the young woman waiting outside of his makeshift hiding spot. Except he wasn’t and he’d never be.

Grateful for her tact though, Aaron listened to the endless steady beat of her pen scratching against her paper in an attempt to stop crying. Within the course of ten minutes, fortunately, he managed to steady his heart rate, while reducing quiet sobbing to sniffles. Picking his head up, he flipped his hood over so that from where she was standing, she wouldn’t be able to see his face. 

It was courtesy, really.

“…No one,” he murmured, staring his knees with puffy red eyes. “It’s not like they’re going stop anyways.” He turned his head slightly towards her. “Is there something need from me?”

“No, but, you don’t have to hide your scars: I have the intro to Psych lecture a couple rows behind you. I’m awful with names though, sorry.”

She turned so that her back was against the same wall as his but so that she wasn’t actually in his hiding spot. No need or desire to make him feel uncomfortable. Which was why she reached up a hand and eased the elastic strap of her eye-patch up over her head. Instantly, Kaede felt naked and disoriented,as she always did with the patch off, but this was important.

She promptly went back to working on her paper. Her goal was to allow him to adjust and initiate the conversation of his own accord.