Thin sinewy body shifted, bumping the table a little too hard as she made room; not really achieving in moving much. Not that there was a desire to get away; the closeness diminished the experiments bubbling, jittery panic.
Talking was⦠frustrating, she didnāt know all the words and the ones she did, would get stuck. Sharing anything was clumsy, unpracticed; even showing expressions had been slow to emerge and quick to hide. Forcibly habituated to not react, not communicate in any way; a wince, twitch, gasp of pain, hesitation⦠every time met with corrections or improvements. Meeting him again created small cracks; expanding as ice melt in springs advance.
Wilting into the touch, inhuman eyes meeting his golden; pale face and brows crumpling slightly. Shallow frown trembling; ādifferent rulesā meant having to relearn⦠so much repetition and pain until she could figure out the pattern, boundaries and what they wanted. But the humans would lie or change directions without warning.
Withered frame fully slumped to the side; head bumping against the beast ā-imm⦠lostā¦ā it felt like being the dark, back in the nothing. Directionless, despite being awake- despite not being⦠alone. not alone this time
Turning her face into his neck, displeased hum escaping at trusting people; unable to stop the images of hands, multitudes of hands reaching gripping- the way they pinch and bruise and
-it all made her skin prickle. Ā
For any sane being, there wasnāt a choice to make between the torture and chains left leagues behind and continuing forward. But this specimen⦠in her mind it was still right there; only a doorway, a metal corridor, a lift away- from being in a test chamber again.
What others saw as a simple beast at first, was quite literally the only thing she could remember being kind- so much so that the concept was impossible to imagine being shown the same behavior from anyone.
She stayed there, pressed into warm fur; able to hear his heartbeat, feel him breatheā¦alive and hereā¦
ā-trust⦠follow you.ā