Nothing seems to brighten her aunt's mood lately and it doesn't take glance at the remaining flower petals to figure out why. The final days of the plague were a hazy mess, but she remembers, vividly, the frantic tremble in Lup's voice as she tried to reach her, the loving, gentle melody that calmed her terrified heart in those final moments.
She doesn't want to think about it-not again, but it's hard not to be reminded of those horrible weeks whenever she catches Lup's gaze. The memories must be stuck in her head too, if her tired eyes are any indication, and she wonders if her dreams are causing her problems. Wonders if she's able to rest at all or if the onslaught of thoughts keeps her up at night.
It's why she wants to help, in her own way. It's too hard to ask outright and tear open a wound that's only begun to heal for all of them, so she starts off small, by placing tiny, shiny stones under Lup's pillow before she goes to sleep, wakes up in the middle of the night to cover her with that special yukata 'cape', makes sure her hair's braided first every morning and requests to brush it with that special, charmed brush Barry let her use while Lup slept for a week.
But nothing works. The temporary smiles don't ever reach her eyes and she escalates her efforts to telling her nonsensical stories about fire princesses and space princes who like berries, drawing pictures of her and Hot Boi and Taako and Barry and Chara and anyone she's ever cast a smile towards and-
Nothing. It doesn't change anything for more than a few minutes, at most.
And that's when she tries her newest trick-a special power bestowed on her by Kravitz and one she hasn't gotten the full mileage out of yet. The next time she's able to catch Lup alone, she becomes armor. It doesn't matter if Lup's laying down to rest or trying to accomplish some kind of task-it's happening right now. Her arms wrap around her aunt's whole body and she squeezes as tight as she can.
"This is called 'Ren Armor'-I think this kind of thing will help your heart."
end of august
She doesn't want to think about it-not again, but it's hard not to be reminded of those horrible weeks whenever she catches Lup's gaze. The memories must be stuck in her head too, if her tired eyes are any indication, and she wonders if her dreams are causing her problems. Wonders if she's able to rest at all or if the onslaught of thoughts keeps her up at night.
It's why she wants to help, in her own way. It's too hard to ask outright and tear open a wound that's only begun to heal for all of them, so she starts off small, by placing tiny, shiny stones under Lup's pillow before she goes to sleep, wakes up in the middle of the night to cover her with that special yukata 'cape', makes sure her hair's braided first every morning and requests to brush it with that special, charmed brush Barry let her use while Lup slept for a week.
But nothing works. The temporary smiles don't ever reach her eyes and she escalates her efforts to telling her nonsensical stories about fire princesses and space princes who like berries, drawing pictures of her and Hot Boi and Taako and Barry and Chara and anyone she's ever cast a smile towards and-
Nothing. It doesn't change anything for more than a few minutes, at most.
And that's when she tries her newest trick-a special power bestowed on her by Kravitz and one she hasn't gotten the full mileage out of yet. The next time she's able to catch Lup alone, she becomes armor. It doesn't matter if Lup's laying down to rest or trying to accomplish some kind of task-it's happening right now. Her arms wrap around her aunt's whole body and she squeezes as tight as she can.
"This is called 'Ren Armor'-I think this kind of thing will help your heart."