(Untitled)

[farmgrown]

It's what she sees every morning as she wakes up, without the assistance of any alarm. Somehow, over the past couple of months, she's officially switched to running on island time, but it's a little hard to celebrate that milestone when Annie can't help but feel like she's regressing every time she catches a glimpse of the bracelet dangling from

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[farmgrown]

"Oh," Annie softly voices, having expected to be reaching out for the robe by now. Instead, she's surprised to find it draped over her shoulders, and looks over one to meet him with a grateful smile. There's something so earnest about him, sincere, and while her training prepares her to look for the cracks in a guise, she's not very startled to find that with him, there are none. There are no ultimate moves, no ulterior motives to consider, and she nods gratefully, reaching up to pull the robe a little more snugly across her shoulders.

"Thank you," she adds. There's something about his accent she can definitely place, though she'd hate to presume before jumping into another language. Something she appreciates about her propensity for them is the ability to jump into conversation with just about anyone, especially if they take a higher level of comfort from conversing in their own language.

"Something like that," she admits, as he steps to stand next to her. "I can't decide which is busier at this point, heart or mind. Maybe a little bit of both."

[patration]

"You are very welcome," Zhuge adds in an undertone, careful to weave his words around the silence, not wanting to interrupt her. There are some people who find calm within themselves, who find it best not to interact with other people at all as they do their best to settle shaken hearts and frayed minds. There are others still who find it best to throw their all against the wall. Either way, however, it's best not for Zhuge to interrupt any of the thoughts swirling through their heads, any of the thoughts that are clearly weaving through Annie's own, right this instant. If he indeed wants to be there for her in a meaningful way, he'll need to be her audience, before he ends up being an advisor of any sort.

"It is something you... would like to talk about?" he asks, keeping the conversation solely on the matter at hand. Not trying to introduce himself, not demanding her attention in any other way.

[farmgrown]

Annie draws the robe a little tighter around her shoulders, curling her arms underneath so she winds up effectively wrapped in its warm fabric. She looks over to him, wondering if he's cold in any way himself, but he doesn't appear to be suffering, so she accepts the small gesture of kindness for exactly what it is and pushes through her doubting of motives, tearing herself away from her own thoughts in order to address him directly.

"It's just - this," she says, reaching into her pocket and taking out the bracelet. "It belonged to someone who was very important to me, and now I'm trying to decide if I should even keep it at all."

[patration]

His eyes lower to the bracelet in her hand, running over the surface of it, the length of it. Of course, the material of the bracelet isn't the most interesting detail at hand, but there's little else that he has to go on in the moment, other than the style of it. The likelihood that it was given by a loved one, perhaps someone lost, perhaps someone who left. Somehow, the latter seems more likely, judging by what she has to say about it, and Zhuge's eyes flicker back up to meet hers, deciding that it may be better to ask than to linger and wonder.

"Why would you want to... leave it?" Zhuge asks, voice in an undertone, in spite of the fact that there's no one around to really eavesdrop.