Crown Alchemist

qifrey so very often tends to clasp his hands together, rubbing them against each other or simply clinging to his long robes. a gesture so telling of just how uncomfortable due to silverwood he constantly is, always slightly nervous, always tip-toeing around the edge of a cliff.

and he's been doing so since childhood! his emotions are so closed-off when it comes to casual body language, which is both an indicator of his character and the ways in which he deals with his curse. unable to trust even his closest friend, he chooses the only vaguely soothing thing: to curl into himself, to detach, to distance.

meanwhile olruggio, despite his scruffiness, generally comes off as a more open, "simple" man, hands flying all over the place when he's agitated. he expresses his emotions freely, without restrain.

qifrey curls into a ball for comfort, meanwhile olly splays like a star, comfortable in his skin an in qifrey's presence

and what happens when they start to interact?

olly keeps reaching for qifrey, talking some sense into him with his hands, with spontaneous and emotional physical touch.

he does so even upon first meeting

he keeps and keeps reaching out to qifrey, both literally and symbolically. no matter how hard qifrey tries to run away, to hide deeper into himself, olruggio will always be there to offer him a friendly hand or otherwise

this particular parallel is especially dear to me:

they changed so much, but they also haven't changed at all

and the culmination of this dynamic in a single image for me is this: