#;;apsychometry

Aye’, that’s so,” confrontational. Fired up. Knuckles tight and skin flush with what he would have you believe is RAGE. It’s not. Would never admit it but hospital’s send white hot fear through him. (A learned behaviour, mind.) However his attitude falls rather short with Astra. The kid’s not used to people LISTENING to him. All adults, in his humble analysis, come with the ‘I know best’ catchphrase. And so when Astra offers a new suggestion his shoulders will slump and his gaze drops guiltily.

(Guiltier still when his eyes sweep across those bandages. That had  to be his fault, right? Fires don’t just START for no good reason. And now he was cruisin’ for a bruisin’ with the poor woman.) 

“Ain’t red velvet what the rich people wear?” Curiosity creeps into Lex’s tone, soothing bonfire eyes with a warm crackle. Cookies though! The kid knows cookies. The kid LOVES cookies. (What kid doesn’t?) Sheepish now his eyes move up to meet Astra’s briefly before uncertainty snatches them sharply away again.

The idea that this is some kind of trap is nothing PERSONAL. Lex spends half his life waiting for the other shoe to drop. But Astra’s smile is reassuring and something about her feels familiar. As if they’re not so far apart. Besides, the kid is always hungry. No, not hungry. FAMISHED. Hasn’t had a half decent meal all week.

              (.....cookies.)

“I like anythin’ in my stomach better than visiting a doctor.” 

                     ( A tentative ‘yes’. )

It’s funny too but with a mouthful of cookie and cake answers come easier to the kid. Gets himself all TALKATIVE. “Doctors are devils in disguise,” he mutters with crumbs in the corners of his mouth and the words sound out of place from Lex’s lips. “Money leeches, don’t want you t’ get better because then they’re out of a job,” the rhythm to this rant suggests repetition. Falls quiet and for a second the kid is all BURNT OUT. “That’s what my da’ always said.”

What Lex fails to see is his dad was a GRADE A  Asshole. A volatile mix of ignorance and loud opinions. But the kid is blind to this now, how strange that death insists upon rose tinted glasses for those left behind. 

    Sniffs sharply and looks anywhere else,

The girl finds herself sitting entirely still, as though afraid of spooking a creature wounded. She supposes, in a way, this is true. It is difficult, for those like them, to avoid the glimpses they gather. Mila witnesses the SHIFTING of emotions, tastes them too on her tongue, as Asta’s eyes cast down. And so offers a very simple move, small but genuine. The girl turns her head entirely. Not that she doesn’t WANT to observe but rather an offer of as much privacy as they both know she can give. Closes her eyes to the colours and swirls and allows Astra to share only as much as she chooses to.

(Can still taste, of course. Can still sense and smell. But it is a symbol of both value and TRUST.)

“Perhaps,” the girl says gently. Between her hands a mug grows cold. For a long moment she is quiet as she processes this, head still turned at that uncomfortable angle, “Although we both know better than most that feelings are universal. The context might change, the strength too, but the FEELINGS - they flow through us all.” A smile tugs the corner of her lips as she allows her gaze to return and it falls easily upon her cup, “That makes these things rather hard to rank.”

The girl entered the shop on a whim, CURIOUS creature. Now her feet follow the strangest sensation. Drawn, DREAM-LIKE, towards an eccentric broach. Black tourmaline with tiny peals embedded in a silver frame. The longer the dancer STARES the harder it becomes to look away. As if something about it has cast a fishing line right into the centre of wherever her SKILLS stem. 

      O h.  Mila bites. Hooked. 

           “ Excuse me, sorry to bother you. Can you tell me anything about THIS ? ”

Send me a 💫 for some end of year positivity from X // @apsychometry

Oh, lovely lovely Vee! This became a start of the year positivity but what a gift to get to talk about how magical you are on the very first day of the year. I’m so grateful that fate found us and thought? These two? These two will get along BEAUTIFULLY. I absolutely love how positive you always seem to be! Radiating light. I feel like you have the kind of aura that’s just...cosy fireplace warm and welcoming. Mmmmm, yes. That’s exactly it. Cosy fireplace with rain tapping against the windowsill. Within minutes of us interacting I had this wonderful gut feeling of ‘this person is a special person’ and decided very quickly that we are friends now. Your writing is spellbinding and I always find myself reading your threads when they appear on my dash. (Your thread with Melsworldofmuses’s when Isaac saved Astra from drowning ?? Highkey shipping it from the sidelines. Huge love to both of you.) You have a gift for making the outside world melt away with your stories. I love your brain!! Very much!! You have very big creative brain and it is stupendous to get to see it in action. Manifesting my 2021 wishes with written words: I very much hope 2021 brings us even closer. You are an inspiring person to know. 

                  ( also this is a mental note to myself to give you my discord or smthn similar that you are on !!!! If you are comfy w that !!! In this household we stan comfy levels. Although this will come at the cost of spontaneous animal pictures with absolutely no context. )

ASTRA. Good God, I adore Astra. You can feel the passion and care weaved into the tapestry of your creating her. I think my current favourite (it changes, there’s a lot to love here) Astra ™ is the balance between her strengths and vulnerabilities and how they merge together to create the most stunning shade of LIFE. Writing and creating interactions with you feels so easy - which is such a testament to your talent but also how celestial a being you are. Equally writing with you encourages me to up my game! I love your use of words and descriptions and it constantly energizes me to delve deeper with my own writing. I’ve said it before but i’ll say it again that I am already incredibly invested in Mila and Lex’s dynamics with Astra. I also regularly think about how many fire extinguishers Astra must have to order. A lot, I think. Astra should bill someone for that. Probably not Lex. He’d just leave a misspelt I owe U. 

To end this, thank you very much for existing and sharing so much love already. And hoping the first day of 2021 is treating you as gloriously as your deserve. Which is an awful lot of glorious. 

                              If it’s not I’ll throw hands for u.  

Would fight a God for you already. Granted, would loose. But would fight.

⭐️ Lex worries about the mental impact of the aftermath of the fire on Astra, although he wouldn’t ever know how to say it, he knows flames like that leave hot coals smouldering in the back of your brain. He’s not great with words but there’s a handful of times he’ll mention the first time they met and leave space in his silences for any words caught in her chest. 

⭐️ Before Lex tends to blow his mind gets all tangled and his energy heats up. Astra picks up on this looong before he does but with a little help he starts to pick up on the warning signs himself. There’s still times where the sparks under his skin catch before he has time to prevent it and then frustration and anger at himself follow but Astra is always there to reassure him. plus she starts keeping fire blankets and extinguishers closer to hand.

⭐️ Bonus !! Astra is one of the only people he can act like an actual kid around. He doesn’t need to be all grown up or try and act tough and hard. Truth be told it is a welcome relief for lex to act his age a little more.