[ zip up ] sender assists receiver with a piece of armor. [prompts for ordinary things that feel intimate]
By the time everyone woke up, it was almost midday. They'd traveled late into the night to make as much distance as they could. Babel began armoring themself not long after they woke up. It took time to ensure each piece lay correctly on the body. Tedious is what theyβd normally call it. Something always waiting around the corner: a city, a beast, the last place a caravan was spotted. But there were odd days where it took on the form of a kind of grounding ritual. Days that felt aimless. Days they knew they were in over their head. Today was one of them.
The bottom half of their armor was easier to put on alone. They had their boots and greaves donned by the time @davin0s offered his help. So entirely focused on the task at hand, it took them a moment to accept his offer.
"This is new, even for the two of us." Babel glances back at him, holding their hair over their shoulder, a small smile threatening to appear on their lips β quietly grateful for his assistance. Julien tightens the straps of the mail standard around their neck, only after watching them try and fail to buckle it twice on their own. His knuckles brush the base of their skull, and they let out a small hum. A touch reminding them a little too much of make-believe and birthday gifts. "You have no idea how hard most of this is to put on by yourself."
