JRWI tings :P

No. 65

"Hey... Are you okay, Gill..? You haven't been up much..." Jay's voice came out a little weaker than she would've liked, but soft or not, it seemed enough to get Gillion's attention, pulling him from his seemingly dissociative state.

Gillion's reply came after a second of Jay's question, only showing her further how upset he was. Not that it needed much further evidence.

"I'm fine, Jay." His eyes stayed staring at the wooden floor, almost unblinking. It sounded as if he had another conversation he was much more invested in while talking to her, juggling both conversations, investing more energy into the internal one rather than the one with Jay right now. As she looked at the triton longer, she could see his body shaking ever so slightly, seeing that Pretzel had made her way back to her globe, worry causing her to twirl anxiously.

"You don't look fine, Gill. You're shaking..."

Gillion's retort came once again without missing a beat. His tone had grown colder, something that definitely didn't suit him. "Then stop looking."

Gillion's lack of interest in this conversation, matched with his tone told Jay everything she needed to know. Her heart twisted as the words left his lips, at how his brows furrowed more, a glare causing his eyes to narrow while he still stared at the floor ahead of him.

Against all better judgement of wanting to stay by him, that he shouldn't be alone like this, Jay found herself standing up from where she had sat next to him, awkwardly brushing herself down before clearing her throat, hoping to hide any and all traces of hurt from her voice. "... Right. Sorry... I-I'll uh... I'll come to check on you later." Jay ignored the unease of leaving Gillion as he was, leaving after doing little to nothing to help him, though before she could take a single step, she was stopped by a hand grabbing at hers.

"M'sorry... I-I didn't mean... You don't have to leave if you do not want to..."

Turning around, Jay met eyes with Gillion for the first time, and she could see immediately why he had been so intent on staring at the ground. His eyes were glossy with repressed tears, his shaking more noticeable as he uncurled from his huddled position in order to grab Jay's hand. Wordlessly, Jay went back to where she had sat, allowing Gillion to reassume his closed-off position, though it was noticeably less tense. "So," Jay brought a knee to her chest, hugging it before turning to look at the triton, "Are you gonna talk about it..?"

"Will you leave if I do not?" Gillion's voice broke and Jay could see him wince, vulnerability slipping out unintentionally. She was sure that Gillion would hate her for the comparison, but she couldn't deny how childlike he seemed at this moment, fears and troubles so close to the surface, close enough to show through his demeanour and expression.

Jay grabbed ahold of Gillion's hand again, enclosing it in both of hers, squeezing it gently. "Gill, I'm not going anywhere unless you tell me to, okay? I'll stay as long as you want me to stay." Offering a patient smile, Jay watched any remaining tension leave Gillion's posture, seeing him return the smile. It was the first smile she had seen from Gillion all day, considering he had hidden himself away for the most of it. It was evidently different from all the other smiles she had seen from the Gillion Tidestrider, there was a softness behind it which was vastly different from any excited grin or challenging smirk he had sported before. It was rare. It was something Jay found herself aiming to get from him more often.

Talking about what was eating at Gillion didn't come about quickly. Though Jay couldn't say she expected it to happen immediately. There were a few minutes, fifteen or just about, where the two sat in silence. It was fair to say the silence wasn't without its awkwardness, though the source of this was mostly from Gillion trying to find the words to articulate what was troubling him. Jay could sense his struggles with talking, the intent to start was clear from the way he opened his mouth only to close it a second or two afterwards. In an attempt to spare Gillion any more trouble, Jay spoke. "Is it to do with Felippe at all? What's upsetting you, I mean." Jay's voice caught Gillion's attention, relief soon showing on his face at Jay's olive branch for starting any kind of conversation at all. He really should work on talking about these things.