The first time she can remember seeing him pass her garden on the way to the village, he looks exhausted. There are deep, deep bags under his eyes, and bandages on his arms underneath the gloves, bulky. She raises a hand in passing greeting, dirt-stained and filthy, and he just barely looks her way. That’s alright.

He warms up to her eventually.

(or, Kristin and Phil. A background story, but nonetheless important.)

    for a moment, you’re terrified when you see the little “1″ appear by the askbox symbol. you take a deep breath, moving your mouse to click the icon. you read the message, and you stop feeling terrified. you just feel... numb? it’s a weird thing to read, and even weirder to realize that if you accept this, you’ll have such a fleeting ability.

    your face screws up. it’s not very long, in the grand scheme of things. an hour. thirty days isn’t that long either. but it would be interesting. to have that feeling back. it would also make having the ears with no escape after that extra painful.

    ...