#igavehimlxfe

Early into her schooling, Abigail Cain already knew she wasn't going to have a good time. She was in the second grade and hadn't made a single friend within the old stone walls of St. Andrew's. The teachers spoke a lot about God, and morality, and she just wanted to learn about all the things her father and uncle learned. She adored them both, and already became extremely interested in science.

But this morning, there was something to get her uniform on for. Her parents needed to work early and late, and they felt more at ease knowing that someone was going to accompany her to school, even if it was only a short distance. It took a lot of convincing, of course, Dan insisted on the scientist getting some actual vitamin D, but eventually, they muscled Herbert out of his basement lab. Abby adored him and was so excited when the occasion arose that it was just them. She wasn't allowed in the basement without Herbert's permission, and that's where he always was.

“herbert?”

dan knows the utter futility of simply calling his name before the first syllable’s even complete. herbert is hardly ever on the ground floor, typically only there to sleep or shower; and even if he were there, neither situation really lends itself to getting an answer out of him. dan only holds out hope, sometimes, that for once he’ll cook dinner and his roommate will come up and sit down and eat with him, instead of continually packing the second portion away and realizing the leftovers are gone a few days later.

“herbert.”

there’s no point in raising his voice, either—he’s already heading back down the hallway, leaving a vague knock on herbert’s bedroom door out of habit. there’s the sharp, chemical smell of variation after variation on the re-agent, sterile equipment, cool metal. at least the change in temperature is a relief from the heat of the kitchen. dan’s not the best cook, but for his line of work? good enough.

@igavehimlxfe

a thing loki's had the great privilege to observe in dr. herbert west is how, when he gets excited or enthusiastic about something, he completely disregards any boundaries about contact.

obviously, she finds that beneficial. proximity does wonders, doesn't it, especially when loki's so set on being both a good subject and assistant. she's in his lab rather frequently, helping to record his observations on the raw data she's provided, which means she gets her fair share of him taking her hand or her arm and showing her something he's just discovered or leaning close as he demonstrates this or that chemical process. there's the hushed intensity of his voice as he explains, that cute little furrow he gets in his brow.

loki's even more enraptured than she expected, and doing her best to earn reciprocation. today could be the day, maybe, as herbert looks over her notes (he's complimented her handwriting) and she clears away the mess and wipes down tables (he doesn't say he approves, but loki's clocked it). he makes some small, absent sound of satisfaction, tells her he's impressed with how thorough she was. loki only smiles in response, one of those sunny little smiles she knows to be effective, while he hands the notebook back to her.

the moment of truth is in the way her fingers happen to brush his, in her gaze that always holds his longer than necessary. sometimes he looks away quickly, sometimes he faces her down until he doesn't. today is the latter. today could be it, she thinks it is, she can see him thinking about something, the slight way his lips purse and his head tilts with that inner focus, if he would just—

the look passes. he pulls his hand away, turns with only the barest thank you, and loki finally feels like she's been pushed to the end of her patience. herbert wants to be carelessly tactile? loki will be carelessly tactile.

"dr. west," is all she says as she grabs his arm, emphatic and pointless in the same moment, "you're quite welcome."

she doesn't bother to take in the look of shock on his face as she tugs him down by the arm and presses her lips to his, dropping the notebook. it's been a long enough time coming, she can't help herself and won't, her hands on his shoulders as she hungrily places kiss after kiss on his mouth, on his jaw, leaving faint pinkish prints as if she intends to mark him as hers. (she might.)

still, she doesn't push too far. a little restraint, a little breathlessness as she drops from the tips of her toes, green eyes sparkling in triumph. herbert looks half-dazed, like he doesn't know what just happened, and loki laughs.

The suggestion of looking at the microscope instantly brightened her, just a little bit. How eager she was to spend time with her Uncle, lapping up any little drop of attention he gives her. At least now there’s a bit of insight into why, her peers have rejected her, she has no friends her age, and no mentors outside of her parents who seem to care.

Even her parents were busy people, and despite Francesca’s initial objections, with a few rules and requirements, no self-injecting reagent in front of her, keeping experiments secure, and not taking too much of Dan’s time, he was allowed to stay with them. And Abby could not be happier.

Crawling up on his lap, she’d be far too short to reach otherwise, she looked at Herbert, but frowned a little. “You didn’t have any friends either? Didn’t you get... Lonely? And sad?” The child prepared to peer into the microscope. “What are you looking at today, Uncle Herbert?”

The Campus of Miskatonic was quite large, it was easy for her to avoid people most of the time. Today however she seemed to be incapable of avoiding them. Aurelies blue eyes looked up meeting the gaze of the man she had stumbled into. "Sorry I..umm...I was sort of looking at my book instead of..." She stammered picking up the textbook she had been glued to. Not so much our of fascination but because she had a test coming up soon, and it was easier to commit things to memory when she walked around with them. For whatever odd reason.