[ one thing's for sure - ichiro's not much of a liar. he hates liars, actually - always has, always will - and it's been one of the shitty things about being stuck in a place like this. sometimes he has to lie. to protect people, like kainé, like winter dorm, he has to pretend he doesn't know things he knows, has to look the other way. his emotions are the last thing he could possibly lie about, too, especially on a week like this, because his feelings are huge, the fullhearted, compassionate nature of a bright-burning spark like himself.
that awe might take him out at the knees, a little - unwittingly, his cheeks turn red, and he has to glance away just for a second, because the look on her face is way, way, way too cute, especially saying something like that?
and...
lately, as things have gone on here, ichiro hasn't felt much like the protector he usually does. the limitations on this place have left him struggling, running into brick walls as he watched the people he care about get hurt. watching adora just die like that had been a crushing blow, and with each day he tries to figure things out, it feels like's getting further and further away from any answers. he's been feeling powerless, feeling more like he did when he was a delinquent, trapped and angry and furious.
can he do anything for iris? he's been trying, been trying to do everything he can for everyone - but hearing it, hearing something she's said to him before even when she wasn't quite herself and was all at once, is a pretty powerful phrase. quietly reaffirming, that maybe he hasn't fucked up everything he's tried to help. it's ichiro's turn to look at her with a little awe, this time, but it's more like a lost puppy, as something squirms in his emotions and in his chest that's too warm, too bright. ]
... I'm glad. [ his voice is softer, this time, a little more raw. ] It's - that's all I ever want to do, you know...?
[ make people feel safe. a dream they've talked about, before. ]
[ah... bit by bit, as she calms down from her initial fear and terror, she makes room for his feelings right next to hers. the need to protect others, to make a place where they can feel safe, and take things into your own hands in order to salvage them. it's... familiar. achingly so. it makes her think of the day that she spent on her own, unable to know anything about trial, left only rattling in her own skin trying to think of things she could do after and - finding so close to nothing.
she shifts on the chaise then, moving so she can shift more onto her knees, giving her just a little bit of leverage considering how much bigger than her he is. her arms leave him, if only temporarily so she can loop her arms around his neck instead, pulling him closer as though she is the one holding him this time.
sometimes you are two people who don't know how to ask for what you need - but you try to give each other everything anyway.]
... then know that you make a difference to me. And to so many others. Even if - they're gone for a time, we wouldn't have been able to laugh or smile as much with Catra and Adora without you. Without every attempt you made to make this place into a home.
But even if you seek to help as many people as you can - please know you've already touched my life by being in it.
You don't need to do anything, or be anyone but you, Ichiro.
[and there is something softly frustrated in her feelings - to know that she can't offer him much more than words... but they are nonetheless sincere. they are stubborn, and they are certain - so sure that winter would not be the same if he was not in it. and at this point that even she wouldn't be the same if he was not so stubbornly at her side.
the higher vantage point works for a few things - for letting her be the one to hold him, but also she she can press a brief, sweet, and adoring kiss to his hair, aiming for reassuring and soothing in one action.
all she knows is that she can't allow this place to break him the way that she'd been broken before she even arrived.]
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that awe might take him out at the knees, a little - unwittingly, his cheeks turn red, and he has to glance away just for a second, because the look on her face is way, way, way too cute, especially saying something like that?
and...
lately, as things have gone on here, ichiro hasn't felt much like the protector he usually does. the limitations on this place have left him struggling, running into brick walls as he watched the people he care about get hurt. watching adora just die like that had been a crushing blow, and with each day he tries to figure things out, it feels like's getting further and further away from any answers. he's been feeling powerless, feeling more like he did when he was a delinquent, trapped and angry and furious.
can he do anything for iris? he's been trying, been trying to do everything he can for everyone - but hearing it, hearing something she's said to him before even when she wasn't quite herself and was all at once, is a pretty powerful phrase. quietly reaffirming, that maybe he hasn't fucked up everything he's tried to help. it's ichiro's turn to look at her with a little awe, this time, but it's more like a lost puppy, as something squirms in his emotions and in his chest that's too warm, too bright. ]
... I'm glad. [ his voice is softer, this time, a little more raw. ] It's - that's all I ever want to do, you know...?
[ make people feel safe. a dream they've talked about, before. ]
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she shifts on the chaise then, moving so she can shift more onto her knees, giving her just a little bit of leverage considering how much bigger than her he is. her arms leave him, if only temporarily so she can loop her arms around his neck instead, pulling him closer as though she is the one holding him this time.
sometimes you are two people who don't know how to ask for what you need - but you try to give each other everything anyway.]
... then know that you make a difference to me. And to so many others. Even if - they're gone for a time, we wouldn't have been able to laugh or smile as much with Catra and Adora without you. Without every attempt you made to make this place into a home.
But even if you seek to help as many people as you can - please know you've already touched my life by being in it.
You don't need to do anything, or be anyone but you, Ichiro.
[and there is something softly frustrated in her feelings - to know that she can't offer him much more than words... but they are nonetheless sincere. they are stubborn, and they are certain - so sure that winter would not be the same if he was not in it. and at this point that even she wouldn't be the same if he was not so stubbornly at her side.
the higher vantage point works for a few things - for letting her be the one to hold him, but also she she can press a brief, sweet, and adoring kiss to his hair, aiming for reassuring and soothing in one action.
all she knows is that she can't allow this place to break him the way that she'd been broken before she even arrived.]