Angst and Ass

They're all sat waiting on transport, wide eyed and teary, a couple of them full on shaking, and Simon can't stand watching it, so he crouches down and pulls a coin out. Makes it vanish. A couple of them stop crying long enough to watch. It's a start.

He does the ear trick next, coin appearing behind one of the kid's head, and that gets an actual reaction, this hiccupy little laugh from a little girl. So he keeps going, throws in the handkerchief thing too, the one where the coin somehow passes through, and by now a few of them have gone from crying to just watching him with their mouths open.

When he asks if they want to see it again, they give him so many nods and little disbelieving smiles. His best audience by far—and also his first.

One of the braver ones, an older kid, maybe ten, asks how he did it. Simon doesn't even think about it, just shows her and slows it down so the kid can see how. Then has her try it with her own hand. The kid's fingers keep fumbling it and she drops the coin twice, but she's not crying anymore, tongue stuck out the side of her mouth in concentration.

Morning Johnny

March To Camelot #3: family

inspired by this tiktok

Gum, toothpicks, the inside of his mouth, the sleeves of jumpers, anything he can chew? He will. It's almost like a rat shaving it's teeth down, the need to have something between his teeth deafening.

It's worse when he's stressed. He chews on his own hands, random junk he finds in his pockets that he knows won't break. It helps calm him, but makes him feel daft. Like a wee bairn desperate to shove its own toes into its gob.

He eventually gets one of those chewlery necklaces from Ghost, who's sick of all his pens being completely knawed on after the Scotsman fills out any sort of paperwork whilst they're in the same room. He has many of them, has them in his drawer when the man eventually chews through the rubber thing and Simon notices him chewing his lip to self-soothe and watches him raise a finger to wipe away blood, likely before someone calls him out on it.