[Mikey hesitates sending off his next message to to Annie after he messages Leo following the mass text from a stranger about them, because they still hadn't talked as much as the others, but...]
[But then he sends it anyway]
I guess this is the part where I say sorry, Annie.
I dunno if you got it or not, tech isn't really my thing like it is Donnie's. But if you did, I'm sorry you're hearing about Leo from some stranger. We usually look out for family, and you're family, now. So. Sorry.
I got a text from this stranger who's a doctor that Leo got hurt on some mission quest thing I didn't even know about, and- and I dunno what this means!
Is he mad at me and everybody, or
Cause you're supposed to tell each other this stuff. Cause if he respected me at all, he would've told me, and if you didn't know, either...
I'm sorry. That's what family is supposed to do. You do and say hard stuff you don't want to sometimes, cause you love them. Cause if you didn't, things would be a lot worse.
...You think so? He said that, too, and I might've sorta maybe blew up at him, and. And I just got scared, cause my Leo almost died before, too, and it made me-
[ While you were away someone has been in your room.
It doesn't look like this someone has really rifled that much through your possessions. Or stolen anything.
How do you know someone was here? There is a tiny plastic human toy baby sitting atop a brand new grenade on her desk. Where did the grenade come from? What does it do? A mystery! ]
[Anemone is hunched over a large, device, her work-in-progress, when Donnie knocks, and she straightens and turns around, her light brightening at the sight ofhim.]
Hey Donnie! I was just about to call you. What's up?
[Donnie smiles and slips inside, heading over where she is. He looks eagerly over at whatever she's been working on, naturally curious.]
-oh, it's um. Well, I made it for you. Not anything explosive though, sorry, another time.
[He holds out the bundle, just a little smaller than thirty centimeters across. Inside is a metal 5-sided box of sorts, crafted in hues of bluish green and purples because he can't help himself, clearly. It's paneled, with a button of sorts on one side.]
[Donnie has good taste, as always, and Anemone's eyes shine with curiosity as she picks it up and examines it carefully. It's beautiful and well-made, which she expects from Donnie, but she can't figure out right away what it even is.]
Anything can be an explosive if you believe in yourself enough.
[She jokes to him as she reaches forward and pokes at the button with a crystal finger and waits.]
Heh, I guess so. But in this case it's probably better it doesn't.
[He watches anxiously as she pushes the button, not that he doubts his engineering.
The panels open up from the top, folding back like a flower to reveal a softly glowing base within, shifting blues and greens reminiscent of the sea, meant to project brightly enough to give the room a watery ambiance. Over it rises a flower, hovering somehow in the center in gentle rotation as it unfurls purple metal petals. A tinkling tune plays along with it, which might be familiar as one of the songs Anemone had shared with him.]
It looks better in the dark. And ah, well, back home we have flowers also called anemones so...
[She really did miss the sea so much. It was a comforting thing, filled with life and everything Anemone has ever known. Leaving it has been harrowing and chaotic, clinging to one desperate situation to the next, trying with everything she has to try to make things right again. To hold a small reminder of it in her hand again, for it to sing one of the songs her dad used to sing to her...
It fills her with a terrible sadness and longing for all the things she no longer has, but also a vivid sense of gratitude for everything she has gained since. Things always balance out, her dad used to tell her.]
Oh, Donnie, I...
[She stops, because her voice is more tearful than she meant it to be.]
Thank you. You don't know how much this means to me.
[She leans over and sweeps him up in a grateful hug.]
[At some point when she's out of her room, Anemone's bed gains a visitor. A cute push that makes a squeaking noise if squeezed. It's adorably small but probably on the large size for something human-sized.
How it got there is a mystery. As is to who did it.]
[Oh gosh did he screw up? Was it too much? Her breaking voice makes him worry for a second, but then come her thanks, and a hug he's become so strangely used to. Donnie breathes out a sigh, hugging her back.]
You like it then? It's not...exactly like anything I saw when we danced but I thought you'd probably be able to fill in the rest. Is it too much?
You say that like I don't think of you. Um. But I do. All the time, actually. Er... Well maybe not like all all the time but most of the time? A lot. I think about you a lot.
[Ohhh here comes the nervousness. Donnie takes a deep breath. You can do this..!]
And... I really, really like you. There's only so many people I've really gotten to know outside of family but I don't know it's...comfortable being around you. You know? I wanted to make you something, just cuz.
[Donnie glances up at her, his smile just a shy. Even if these admissions aren't surprising, they still feel warming, somehow. Or he's coming down with something. No, no, he's pretty sure he's well.]
I know we still technically haven't gotten the chance to go on that museum date, and I really had fun with you at the ball... And yeah, I know things got kind of rough here and there but we've still managed to stick together despite all that....
[He pokes his fingers together, feeling himself start to lose his nerve.]
-a-and I'm glad of that. It makes me feel like we can take on anything! I ...just...
Have no idea how to do this, ohmybananapancakes why is this so hard.
[Anemone tilts her head slightly at Donnie with slight puzzlement as she tries to put the pieces together on what he's building up to. Eventually, she straightens, and offers a hand to him, a feeling of excitement and hope building in her core.]
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