inbox.

[tender]

action + written + crystal

Comments

[tender]

She reaches across the opened package to take Athessa's hands.

"I'm not worried," she says, though the gesture still feels a little overwhelming. "I'm...I don't even know what to say."

In fairness, it isn't entirely about Athessa's gifts. It's about all the gifts she's received. The kindness of it is unexpectedly overwhelming. She brings Athessa's hands to her lips, and kisses her hands softly.

[sulahnan]

"You don't have to say anything," Athessa smiles, and hopes it's a reassuring expression. Overwhelmed is a feeling she knows far too well of late. She turns her hand in Derrica's grasp so it's not just being held, but holding as well, and her fingers brush against the inside of Derrica's wrist.

"Although if you wanna tell me what this stuff is, I guess that's something you could say."

[tender]

"It's for baths," Derrica says, taking the escape Athessa offers her. "Some of them are to soften your skin, some are to help scars fade...they all do different things."

As she speaks, she releases Athessa's hand to pick carefully through the bottles. It's an abundance. Athessa could have kept these for herself. Derrica doesn't mention this again, but it lingers as she takes a cursory inventory.

"Mainly they all should smell very nice."

And what more can one ask of their bath oils?

[sulahnan]

"Oh," she always thought bathing was to get rid of dirt and oils, not add more oils on top. She picks up a bottle and sniffs it, making an appreciative face. "But oil doesn't mix well with water, does it?"

[tender]

"No. But we'll only use a few drops at a time," Derrica says. "It's easier to demonstrate than explain."

It's lightly delivered, but Derrica's meaning is made very plain.

[sulahnan]

Athessa grins. "That's lucky. I learn better by doing, anyway."