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[mapsio]

"You have reached Haru Okumura, I'm sorry I wasn't able to speak with you right away, please leave me a message!"

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[chemex]

[Shoyu is an extremely good girl. She's a petite little tortoiseshell with a bossy voice and a gentle purr, and she is an expert baker. Biscuits for days!]

[Akira stands still for a long moment after he's invited in before ducking his head and stepping inside with a quiet "sorry for the intrusion" out of habit. He then proceeds to... stand, in the doorway, holding his cat and looking for all the world like he's never been inside someone's house before.]

[Help him, Haru, you're his only hope.]

[mapsio]

[She gently grabs his arm and leads him inside. Can’t have him catching a cold in the doorway. What with drafts!

She scratches Shoyu’s head again and starts trying to take some stuff from him. ]

Hi there.

[chemex]

[Lead easily, he shuffles along behind her and shifts to let her take the backpack, transferring Shoyu to just one arm and then holding her out, offering her instead of the bag to Haru.]

[mapsio]

[ She holds onto Shoyu, watching Akira shuffle around with the bag instead. She’s worried, of course, and she’s so sure he can feel how worried she is.

Haru would deal with his problems a hundred times over her own. And boy she’s had a lot of those lately.]

Everything is a lot, isn’t it?

[chemex]

[It's funny because he would so, so very much like to deal with someone else's problems right now, but his own have instead chosen to force him to see them in sharp relief-- so sharp, he punctured a fucking lung. He wheezes a soft laugh.]

Yeah. Sorry to ask you to do this.

[mapsio]

It’s no trouble to me. Shoyu and I will have a sleepover, and I’ll make her lots of homemade treats.

I just want you to take care of yourself.

[She gently sets Shoyu down to go wander the area.

Haru steps forward, she’s shyly reaching out just a hand first, for Akira’s. ]

[chemex]

[He makes a quiet sort of droning sound to acknowledge he heard her, but doesn't manage to form a coherent thought that's worth speaking. Her hand doesn't surprise him, overall, but the motion startles him out of the perpetual daze he's been in since the first, and he just stares dumbly at it for a moment before looking up to her face, questioning.]

[mapsio]

[ She just feels sad for him, because she knows he deserves more than having a crisis right now.

She reaches forward to gently grab his hand. ]

I’m here.

[chemex]

[He feels his whole face get hot, and for a terrifying second his eyes do, too, until he curls his fingers into hers and closes his eyes on a light chuckle.]

I know. Thank you, I'm... bad at this. [He raises his free hand to set against the left side of his ribs, drumming his fingers.] As it turns out, almost dying makes your perspective on life shift pretty dramatically.

[mapsio]

I can’t say I know what it feels like to almost die, but I can imagine that your mind isn’t in the right place right now.

[One step closer and she’s just going to give him a very light and gentle hug. So as to not disturb his wounds or hurts. ]

[chemex]

Don't recommend it.

[He doesn't so much tense as he startles very slightly for the briefest of seconds. There's a beat of silence while he processes in the distant way he's been doing everything for the past few days that she's physically comforting him on top of her gentle words, and his posture loosens. He curls forward just enough to set his head atop her fluffy curls, and closes his eyes over. He doesn't say anything, just makes a gentle appreciative rumbling sound.]