Fear is not the end of this [closed]

[firebornfidelis]

Who: Riza Hawkeye firebornfidelis and Sayu Yagaminight_godlet 
When: March 26th
Where: Starting in the Outlander community block
Format: Paragraph, past tense
What: Riza comes to escort Sayu to the patrol headquarters.
Warnings: none

Comments

[night_godlet]

Riza was right. Sayu was stronger than she knew.

She'd arrived in Anatole with nothing but the soft white bag she carried, and the clothes on her back. She'd found herself surrounded - mostly - by invisible strangers with impossible stories, with an impossible story of her own to go right beside them. And yet, she'd kept herself under control, guided by her mother's faraway voice, which sat just outside her conscious memory. Don't cry, Sayu. You'll wash yourself right down the drain!

She liked to think it took a lot to intimidate her, but in truth she wasn't used to strange places or people, and even the apartment she'd found herself in was seriously strange. So the face that appeared around the door, framed in brown hair and blue denim, was nervous enough for two girls, mouth set in a determined pout. At the sight of Riza, she couldn't help but stare. This was a woman from another world? She looked just like anyone else - except for how serious and severe she seemed to Sayu. But then, who wouldn't, in a situation like this

[firebornfidelis]

Riza took in the sight of the frightened girl who opened the door. She looked young and lost and Riza couldn't blame her. She wanted to put her at ease, or at least as much at ease as she could be in a situation like this. Riza smiled slightly and her large brown eyes softened from her sharpshooter's glare to meet the other girl's with a gentler, more comforting aspect.

"Pleased to meet you, too," she answered softly, smiling more easily at the girl's politeness. Sayu needed someone strong and stable, she needed to be able to trust that she would be protected and that Riza was up to the task. Riza knew that she was, but she wanted Sayu to believe it, too.

"It's no trouble, Sayu. Are you ready to go?"

[night_godlet]

It was true enough. Sayu was a lot of often-unexpected things, but a leader was not one of them. Oh, she could make do if she had to, given a lot of time to think, and a lot of second-guessed mistakes, but deep down, she liked to know the right people were in charge

[firebornfidelis]

"This way," Riza answered, gesturing down the hallway towards the door to the outside. "Walk at whatever speed you're comfortable with. I'll be right beside you."

Yes, it was clear Sayu was nervous, but Riza could also see how well she was holding herself together. The girl had been dragged out of her world, out of her comfort zone, and into this strange city with a murderer on the loose, but she seemed determined to be strong. She remembered the day, over a week ago now, that she herself had been brought here. She had panicked, too, in the face of everything here. If she had not had her military training to fall back on, she didn't know what she would have done.

"Don't worry about being any trouble to me," she said, trying to make her quiet voice as conversational as possible. She smiled a little wryly. "My usual charge is far more troublesome than you could be."