08-11-2016, 08:02 AM
[[Continued from Waves in the crowd]]
By the time the crowd finally thinned out to ordinary traffic, the anchor Elias offered was no longer necessary. The peripheral distractions peeled off in layers until they receded to what Asha considered normal interference. She didn't let him go, though, less from need and more from want. The connection was pleasant.
They meandered a route, which Asha guided back on course every now and then with a faint tug or nudge. The quiet was comfortable. The natural ebb and flow of his emotions was like floating in a calm sea. She was happy to drift.
"I work in the bookshop sometimes, though it's purely cash in hand until I can get my papers sorted out. All my ID was in the car,"
she said, fumbling about for her keys. "It's going to take forever to save up for a new one. I miss the road."
Which was not to say she had not found a way to be content with her circumstances. She adored travelling; missed haring down a highway with the windows down and the music loud. But Moscow was not such a bad city to find oneself stranded in.
She found the keys. Paused. Glanced up at him. Her smile was open, a window to her own emotions. Shyness tinged it now. Exhaustion was nipping at her toes, and she longed to curl up and sleep until her body recovered. It warred with the part of her that was reluctant to let Elias go. He would drift out of her life again without much resistance, she imagined. And she did have his number. But she didn't want to relinquish the new found connection so soon; the peaceful company of someone who knew what she was, and didn't seem to care. Not something she'd ever thought she'd find. "You coming in?"
By the time the crowd finally thinned out to ordinary traffic, the anchor Elias offered was no longer necessary. The peripheral distractions peeled off in layers until they receded to what Asha considered normal interference. She didn't let him go, though, less from need and more from want. The connection was pleasant.
They meandered a route, which Asha guided back on course every now and then with a faint tug or nudge. The quiet was comfortable. The natural ebb and flow of his emotions was like floating in a calm sea. She was happy to drift.
"I work in the bookshop sometimes, though it's purely cash in hand until I can get my papers sorted out. All my ID was in the car,"
she said, fumbling about for her keys. "It's going to take forever to save up for a new one. I miss the road."
Which was not to say she had not found a way to be content with her circumstances. She adored travelling; missed haring down a highway with the windows down and the music loud. But Moscow was not such a bad city to find oneself stranded in.
She found the keys. Paused. Glanced up at him. Her smile was open, a window to her own emotions. Shyness tinged it now. Exhaustion was nipping at her toes, and she longed to curl up and sleep until her body recovered. It warred with the part of her that was reluctant to let Elias go. He would drift out of her life again without much resistance, she imagined. And she did have his number. But she didn't want to relinquish the new found connection so soon; the peaceful company of someone who knew what she was, and didn't seem to care. Not something she'd ever thought she'd find. "You coming in?"