don't just exist, live

[ GIDEON JENSEN ]

“just accept the hug.” gideon said softly as she wrapped her arms around the other. it had been a long day and she needed a hug, at that point she didn’t really care if the other person needed it or not. “trust me this is for me and not you.”

Iris didn’t even need to be asked before she was stepping right into Gideon’s arms. She loved hugs and loved giving them. Her own arms wrapped firmly around the other girl and she snuggled in close. “You never have to demand hugs from me. I’m always here to provide hugs and cuddles,” Iris assured her cheerfully. At this point the hug was helping her at well. The last few days had been stressful to say the least. “Anything else I can offer, Gids?”

[ ERIK JENSEN ]

erik sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair. he hadn’t slept all night. he’d been out looking for madelyn and skylar, two people that were incredibly close to him and that were missing. he was sure that if he didn’t sleep soon that he would have just dropped but he had to keep going. the man looked up from his place on the bench, his eyes scanning over the woman in front of him. “iris?”

With the panic swirling within Iris simply sat and started at the ground in front of her trying not to think of how bad things could be for her friend. Negativity was normally something that she didn’t feel and this was so harsh and sudden she almost felt like she couldn’t breathe under the weight of it. Her name snapped through her panic and she looked up to see Erik. “Yes? Erik. Hey. What can I do for you,” she asked her voice a falsely cheery tone that was so far from her normal inflection.

                         the   news   spread   quickly   of course it did. people going missing, it all anyone would be talking about. either pretending to care or caring too much ––- either way, people would be using it as an excuse to get out of working or to make things about them. when he caught sight of iris, looking lost and hurt, he knew she heard. he had seen her with madelyn.. knew they were close. he wanted to comfort her, but didn’t know how. it wasn’t the type of person he was. yet, he found himself approaching her. “ she’ll be okay. ” he attempted.

The almost dead stop to her ability to function quickly began to swirl into an emotional whirlwind. Panic was starting to hit as she tried not to imagine the horrible possibilities. Her eyes were glued to the ground in front of her until the familiar voice managed to break through the chaos she had been swept into in her mind. She shook her head and only then as she looked up at Axel did she realize her eyes had filled with tears. “Right. Of course she will,” Iris agreed with a weak smile as she tried to swipe at her eyes. “Madelyn can take care of herself. If it was me it would be entirely hopeless but she’s good at what she does. She’ll be home soon,” she added her words an attempt at convincing herself that they would become truth. “Yes she’ll be home in no time, right,” Iris whispered her voice weaker as she sought reassurance for the tiny fracture of hopelessness that remained.