Reaching Out

Be present and fret. Go away and fret. What might ultimately be the 'right' decision is yet to be learned. Of the two, it is the former that is ... well, what Aya now favors. Some of the requested clothes were acquired, from the tailor Daed had brought her to once to fight with a dress. Others are promised forthcoming from Aryia.

Food was initially delivered from whatever the Elunans had available, but subsequently she has served to fetch and bring what is requested, or what she believes he might want. A few other items have also made their way here, as if to make the space more... habitable: a hairbrush or two, cloths for washing that have not served as bandages or rewashed hundreds of times, and so forth.

Whatever time of day or night it might be the rest of Ea, she has endeavored to keep her recent presence more continuous: traveling elsewhere briefly and while he is (in theory) sleeping.

Daechir been more interactive of late at least. Sleeping perhaps a little more, though he rarely wakens in a peaceful manner. He seems grateful for even small things. A brush to tend his hair with. The clothes that are less threadbare. He spends several long moments petting his clothes. Oddly, he is perhaps most pleased to have shoes again. He even managed to gently tease Aya about the fact that the ones she'd brought having gentler heels than he was used to.

Now he sits on the bed rather than laying on it, having dressed for the day and is letting the coin that Dolan gave him roll over his knuckles over and over. The smooth motion shows off his manual dexterity, and he seems to enjoy the simple activity. Occasionally making the coin vanish with a flourish of his fingers.

Aya offered to aid with any or at least most of tasks, though not in any pressing manner. A thing that has not come easily to her as she strives to be present yet not oppressive. Just as now she sits nearby, though not alongside upon the bed, observing the rolling of the coin, and the tricks, yet mostly just ... him.

"Your coordination and talent seem better than ever," she opines. "You might draw a larger adoring audience if you're not careful."

Daechir looks up from his concentration, the coin continuing along its path with or without his direct attention. "I suppose." His deferral is a gentle thing, and he... Still hasn't quite met Aya's gaze directly yet. "I should let someone cut my hair."

This remark is somewhat out of the blue, but he lifts his free hand and touches the shorn locks somewhat gently. "It does not do to have it looking like this... But I have had it long for so much of my life that the idea of it being short is... Strange to me."

Maybe his somewhat averted gaze would have him miss the reflexive flinch Aya can't suppress. At the thought of cutting his hair, the painful state of it, or that such bothers her when it is really such a trifling thing in the grand scheme. Yet she leans nearer to look at it where his hand touches.

"It doesn't need stay that way, no," she can agree. "Should I request a barber? Take you to one? If sharp scissors near you would not be uncomfortable..." Or unsafe. "Help brushing or braiding I can do, but I know nothing of cutting it. I think that would be uncomfortable for both of us."

His hand lowers slowly, and he shudders. "Maybe... soon." Daed defers again, seeming suddenly uncomfortable with the subject. "I had someone who did it for me, trimmed my hair." His eyes narrow slightly in trying to remember but in the end he shakes his head. "It seems like such a long time ago."

Aya may have been too eager, or too blunt with her concerns... or prudent? She nods measuredly, attempting to keep her expression even. "You will recall, or find one suitable. In time. There is no rush. A few wayward hairs don't make you any different. Not to me. Not to others."

This draws silence in its wake, and there's little to do in it but wait. To let the seconds tick by into minutes. Daechir passes it by rolling the coin over his fingers. Over and over. Over and over.

Back to watching him, she goes. Watching and wondering. What should she say or do? What did she say or do(wrongly)? The motion of the coin does have its own simple allure, and she watches it for some moments.

She doesn't feel right leaving it to stretch to minutes, though, much less longer. "How do..." a pause as Aya reconsiders and rephrases, "Could you, would you, teach me how you do that?"

The coin stalls and Daechir looks at her - again subtly without really meeting her eyes. "I think you would be fairly good at it actually. Do you have a coin?" He asks this somewhat cautiously, the one in his hand flipping over into his palm.

In another time, the mere insinuation that she might not have a copper to her name would have been a grievous offense. In response, now, she nods. Twice, and with some eagerness. "I do." She retrieves one easily enough from coin pouch by touch and presents the silver between two fingers as demonstration.

For a moment the mul'niessa man studies the coin, then nods. "First, place the coin on your forefinger. Like this." He moves his own coin to place the copper on his forefinger flat down. "Now, you lift your middle finger slightly, and clip the coin with that finger to raise it vertically."

He demonstrates this as well, holding the coin between his two fingers up and down easily. "Then it is a matter of repetition. Each finger clips the coin and holds it, until you reach the last finger." He performs the roll slowly so as to show her the method more easily.

Aya puts her coin on the back of her pointer finger via her other hand as he demonstrates. Her brow furrows some as the 'lift to clip and back down' seems a bit counter-intuitive at first; her fingers tend to want to 'lift and flip' on their own, instead. This makes her slow and deliberate in her movements, not to mention exaggerated. It seems that size does matter... at least in the ratio of coin diameter to finger width. Copper and silver are not the same, nor are her hands the same as his.

After a moment a small smile slips across his lips. "You have the basics in your ability, but you might try a copper piece. They are a little larger, and easier to roll. Gold is too heavy for obvious reasons. I can roll nearly any coin, but it takes a lot of practice."

Aya has her hand lifted so she can easily eye the back of her fingers while she works on the motions. This also lets her easily look past to him after his comment, to witness the smile. This draws some of one from her lips and she then rolls her hand around to drop the coin into her palm. A palm that moves slightly nearer to him in offering as a brow lifts. "Would you wish to trade yours for mine, then?"

His hand slides subtly away from hers. "I..." He trails off and his coin is flipped into his palm, covered. His knuckles turning slightly pale under pressure. "This one is mine." He finally manages, his shoulders hunching a little at the words. It has nothing to do with denomination of course. Hers is obviously more valuable, but this is the same coin he's held onto since that day of his rescue. Never left far from his touch. The coin that Dolan had lit for him.

Aya nods lightly, smile remaining and softening. "It is yours," she affirms that as fact, and that she has no intentions of changing its truth. She does heed his advice, though, and this time looks to her coinpurse; returning the silver coin and specifically retrieving a copper for her own use. It is held up briefly for display before she sets it upon the back of her finger to practice with it as she did with the other.

Again, the raised hand allows her to look at both it and Daed without simply staring at him. "How long did it take you to become so talented with this?"

Daechir watches her and a small smile settles once more onto his lips. Her question makes that slender smile become wry. "You could say that it has taken all the time that I have been practicing to become as good at it as I am now. But it was a trick that I had mastered nearly as soon as I learned it as a child. It just came to me naturally."

One brow arches at that news, though she continues to work to get the motions of her fingers coordinated. Gross motor skills are one thing; one doesn't normally need manual dexterity so, for example, strike someone with a fist. "You are talented at a great many things, Daed. I didn't realize you mastered them quite -that- easily." She learns something new every day... things she may never have asked or noticed? That thought, and a struggle with the coin, causes her smile to shift more to a look of concentration or frustration.

"Well, I did not master every skill I have learned so easily." Daechir admits somewhat wryly. "It might have been nice if everything came with so little effort, but that is not how things really work." He gently reaches over and... He doesn't touch her hand, but he almost does.

His motion is noted past the coin in motion. The latter halts vertically as Aya's eyes shift fully to him and her hand stills. Mostly. It quivers with a moment of reflex against restraint. "It would be easy, but it might not be nice. If all were simple and easy, would there be no sense of accomplishment? A goal is worth more when it requires more to reach it, isn't it?"

"Though we might wish some things easier." Daechir says with gentleness. He motions with his near hand to her finger. "Try lifting a little higher, but not much." The hand draws back. Never touching. They're so close, and yet miles distant.

-End