pain_train | SANCTUM INBOX

"Six." It's quickly becoming the answer he can always fall back on. Because if she's okay, then he is too, and if this is something that helps, then it's something he can do. For as far as they've come, it's a huge step that he can even entertain the idea of physical contact for that long, let alone carry it out, and that's so, so significant in ways that he can't put into words. Partners. Partners look out for each other, this is looking out for her. And it's easier and easier every time. He'll never be completely alright, but he can at least try.

As she pulls away, the kitten latches onto his sleeve, and now he's stuck with a stubborn Jellybean who's very loudly letting the world know that she's not happy, and that helps to break away some of the lingering feelings in the back of his skull. Wrath raises a good point though, and there's a moment where he fights internally on whether or not it's a good idea-

"Carry?"

Well, fuck it.

Jellybean is the best, that's all there is to it. Wrath grins. "She knows who her daddy is," she says teasingly.

... Oh yeah. Carrying is a thing. Is it weird that the thought of Maine carrying her bothers her a lot less than the continued question of if she should finally give up and just get a float chair. Though really, Maine is more badass and dangerous than even the most tricked out float chair could be. With the added bonus that he's Maine, which automatically makes him safe because he always has her six.

Yeah, it sucks that she can't get anywhere under her own power right now. It's frustrating. But Maine's her soldier, and it's always been a thing to pick up your brother soldier and carry him if necessary, if he's injured. So maybe this isn't different. Maybe she can feel okay about it. And she has to get there somehow. All the bitching and poor attitude in the world isn't going to change that, so she should try to be positive.

Other than... She already knows hugging isn't easy for him. Carrying her that far? Hasn't she already burdened him enough with her pathetic need for reassurance? She looks at him thoughtfully, a bit of concern showing. "Are you sure?"

He's not sure when he's become a dad figure to a small kitten, but whatever, it's probably just a turn of phrase. What's more important is adjusting said kitten so that she's not crying anymore, which means summarily pushing her up to his shoulder. He definitely doesn't understand at all.

But yes, he's very sure, just not certain if the offer is insulting or not. Wrath is capable on her own, he doesn't want to intrude on her sense of autonomy. But the offer still stands, and he nods in response; he's got her back, it's no trouble at all if she's fine with it.

She nods once, definitively. "Okay. Let's go, then."

And he gets to pick her up however he's comfortable with it. Didn't she already admit that she kind of likes it when he carries her around? Hopefully it's not too weird, but he doesn't seem to mind.

The easiest way would be to just sling her up in his arms, but that's also perhaps the worst possible thing for her back, and if she's already having trouble with walking, that's certainly not an option. Which leaves-

There's a bit of shifting to be done, Jellybean is transferred to one hand despite her protests on the matter, and then he's taking a knee, shrugging his shoulder to motion her over. Back, he can definitely do back or shoulders, that shouldn't jar her too badly.

She'd been kind of expecting the sling up in the arms. This? A million times better. She actually goes squee. And without too much difficulty, she gets herself settled on his shoulders.

It's a million times better because this time? She's not drunk.

The moment he straightens up, there's another happy squee, followed by, "I'm so tall!"

And with that, Jellybean is summarily passed off to Wrath, because he's not about to deal with a fussy kitten when he's got something to balance like this. It should be absolutely ridiculous, in some aspects it really is, but whatever, who's going to tell him that to his face?

"Where?" He has no idea where this shop is, and wandering in a random direction isn't going to be helpful.

Wrath gets Jellybean settled by sticking her into her shirt. "Okay--forward!" She points down the street.

And she's trying, really hard, to not squirm with glee because this is amazing. This is the tallest she's ever been in her life. "Everyone looks so tiny!"

Though she is competent to give him directions for the two turns (a right and a left) to get to the ice cream shop.

If one thing is for certain, it's that he can't quite understand Wrath's enthusiasm, but he's sure as hell not going to kill it. Things have been rough lately, if she's enjoying this, then she should be damn well able to enjoy it to the maximum of her ability. It's good to hear her laugh again, might bright a hint of a smile to his own lips.

She's right though, it's not a far walk, and it's easy enough to ward off any staring because even with a small, laughing woman seated atop his shoulders, he can still be an intimidating motherfucker when he wants to be. It does beg the question if they'll be allowed into the shop like that though, and so with a resigned sigh, he takes a knee again outside of the building.

Getting down is a little more awkward, and she has to hold on to Maine's shoulder very tightly. Once her feet are firmly on the ground and she's got her cane sorted out, she has to stick one hand down the front of her shirt to extricate Jellybean from her bra.

"So. Pepper jelly," she says, putting Jellybean on Maine's shoulder since that's where she wants to be. "You have to learn how to make ice cream badass."

This is the second time she's brought this up, and he's just as perturbed as the first. Distracts himself by scooping the kitten into his hand and letting her cling to his chest, despite her protests otherwise.

Seriously, pepper and ice cream? Nothing about that made sense. It has to be a cultural difference that he's not getting, or something like that.

Wrath would be skipping if she could. Ice cream! She hasn't had ice cream in forever! She makes a show of going over the case, though she knows what she wants already. Everything looks amazing.

"A large dark chocolate ice cream in a chocolate cookie bowl, with the grade one pepper jelly." See, she's even getting the most mild so it won't make Maine breathe fire. And if he likes chocolate he can dig under the jelly. Well. Assuming she's going to share. (Of course she is.) She grins at him. "What's Jellybean want?"

Since you know. Apparently space marines don't eat ice cream.

It's like a kid in a candy store which...actually is pretty close to the actual situation, all things considered. It's also fairly obvious he doesn't quite belong in the shop, judging by all the stares he's getting.

All things considered, it should be pretty funny. Jellybean is instantly fascinated by the new surroundings, blinking and looking at the case, but he's just pointed her in one very specific direction. It's pink. It's very pink. Unnatural pink. And totally for the kitten, of course.

Okay, she can totally buy pink for Jellybean, since pink is the best and the kitten knows what's up. The fact that she's pretty sure it's actually for Maine leaves her a little surprised. Well, maybe Maine has realized pink is the best, too.

"And a cone with two scoops of super strawberry blitz," she says, reading the label. "For the kitten," she adds, just so everyone knows that it is totally not for Maine, no way, nuh uh.

Boys.

She hands the chocolate to Maine, actually, since that comes out first, and takes the cone. There, she's got his back. "There's some benches outside, let's go there."

Hey, there has to be something to protect his overly fragile male ego, and if it has to be using a small kitten as a shield, then so be it. It's ridiculous, yes, but he's not going to give up that particular coping mechanism quite yet. Life is already a lot different than back home, he has to have some sort of semblance of control over at least one thing, right? Probably too deep of thoughts, especially when he's handing over credits for ice cream.

Success, strawberry acquired, though it's not immediately relinquished to him. Fine, he can deal with that, it's probably better that way anyways, all things considered. With a slight nod, and an attempt at balancing both the bowl and Jellybean with one arm, he follows her out of the shop, stopping only to offer said bowl to her.

Wrath keeps going all the way to the bench, since it's easier to do the ice cream trade sitting, without a cane occupying her hand. Instead of immediately taking the bowl, though, she grabs the spoon and digs out a lump of the dark chocolate ice cream, and even gets most of the pepper jelly off of it. Then she tilts the spoon toward Maine. "Bite , and then I'll hand your ice cream over. Unless you think your mouth is too wimpy."

Yeah, she did just call the honor of Maine's mouth into question there.

There's a disgruntled look shot in Wrath's direction; it's not his, it is most definitely for the kitten. Yes, he's still content to hold onto that very flimsy lie to help soothe his fragile male ego. That does beg the question though if cats can even eat fruit. Not something that he'd thought to look up before going out, so that's going to be difficult to explain away if there's some issue.

With a huff, he leans down, shooting another look to her, but does take a bite. Cold, sweet-

And immediately recoils, because there's suddenly pain, and he'd not been expecting that. Hot, ice cream shouldn't be hot this isn't something he signed up for at all.

Wrath observes this reaction and wrinkles her nose. "Wow. I even get the most mild kind of pepper jelly. But it's okay if you don't like it. Not everyone does." She carefully relieves Maine of the bowl before he can drop it. "Just. Uh. Never let the guys in the mess dare you into a hot sauce contest if you didn't like that."

Wrath? She wins hot sauce contests. She makes grown men weep.

She'd like to start eating her ice cream, but now her hands are full. "Here's your--uh. Jellybean's cone." The cone, with its two scoops, is bigger than the kitten in question.

No, now it's a challenge; he's going to tolerate this stuff if it kills him. Just maybe not immediately, because 'spicy' isn't something that's been a part of his normal diet. MREs have never been known for their flavour, after all. But if he's going to get dared, then he's going to come out on top of things, he'll make certain of that.

But wait, yeah, Jellybean's ice cream. For Jellybean. Yes.

He takes it, makes a cursory gesture to offer it to the kitten, but she does nothing more than sniff before she's summarily disinterested in it. Apparently the kitten just doesn't have goo taste, at least as far as he's concerned. Maine offers a shrug, I tried, but the fact of the matter becomes that it'd be in poor manners to waste food. After all, there were days back home when field rations ran out that he'd kill for something like this. Literally. And even without that excuse, it's strawberry. He happens to like strawberry. What a happy coincidence.

...that's his excuse, he'll stick to it. Especially now, when he's just taking a bite out of it, regardless of the fact it hurts his teeth.

Wrath is not even buying the feint toward Jellybean, but she makes a mental note that Maine likes strawberry. Which is awesome, actually; strawberry is one of her favorite flavors as well when she's not looking for heat or chocolate or both.

She scoops another bite of ice cream out, makes sure it's got plenty of jelly on it, and then takes her time licking her spoon clean. That's the stuff. "Guess she doesn't like strawberry," she observes. She's on to you, Maine. So on to you. "Guess she'll have to try a different flavor next time."

Yeah, but she's smiling. Maine's fucking adorable.

Cold is nice, sweet is nice. It's been probably over a decade since he's actually had ice cream; not a lot of funding to send it to the front lines, after all. Even if it's an affront to his image, it's still definitely something he's going to enjoy right now, while he still has Jellybean to be his cover. Not that said cover is any sort of believable, but plausible denial and all that.

There's a brow raise in Wrath's general direction, and a nonplussed look, "she has bad taste."

She takes her time savoring another cold spoonful. "Strawberry's the best, though. Come on, Jellybean." Wrath grins. "Hey Maine, she says to let me have a taste."

Hah, two can play at this game.

He narrows his eyes, unamused, trying to decide if he should take anything personally. There's a limit to his ability to deal with blows to his ego, after all. But it's Wrath, Wrath usually jokes, it probably isn't serious, so perhaps he can relent just a bit.

There's a bit of reluctance to offer the cone over, but eventually he relents, agter taking another bite forst.

Wrath is not a bitter when it comes to ice cream. She's definitely a licker. Hopefully make doesn't mind, since that's what she does one he hands the cone over: take a couple long licks before offering it back.

"That's good. Our kitten has such good taste."

Grin.

Technically Maine's kitten but... Hopefully he doesn't mind sharing?

"She won't eat it." There isn't even a bat of an eye at the phrasing; as far as Maine's been concerned, Jellybean has belonged to the both of them since the day she was unceremoniously shoved into his hands. Wrath's been looking after her for long enough, that's for certain, and has probably done a hell of a lot more than he has to make sure she's healthy and well-adjusted. "Bad taste."

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dat face y

such face