bakerstreet | Little Steps

Little Steps

little steps

No matter how much they care for the other person and want to be with them, some people simply can't dive head first into relationships. Little things that form intimacy and romance, little acts we take for granted - being close, holding hands, kissing, showing affection in public - they won't or can't do...at least not right off the bat. Something in their past, their experiences, their trauma, or even their personality holds them back. For both them and the person they're "dating," as it were, this can lead to a frustrating experience.

Still, steps can be taken towards letting the walls fall down. Little, tiny steps, but those can mean the world all the same.

The People
One With the help of a partner, one person warms up.
Two Both sides of this couple are learning how to be in a relationship and to be open.

The Actions
Talking → A relationship can't exist if there's not some communication, so either learn to use your words or become so close you can speak without them.
Spending Time → Even such mundane occurrences as watching TV or cooking together is new ground.
Touching → You might just find you enjoy reaching out and touching them.
Kissing → Another kind of touch, when you think about it.
Cuddling → ...at least they're warm and, hopefully, soft.
Sleeping → You're at your absolute weakest when you're asleep. It shows trust to doze off around this person.
Public Display → It's one thing to be in love in private, but showing you care in public is a different story.
Kind Words → Three little words (more or less) are all it takes. Why, then, are they so hard to get out?
Sex → The ultimate stumbling block to some. To be laid blissfully bare is to truly let your guard down.

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[ Mari blinks, then cocks up one eyebrow, something between bemused and entertained. Why on her own birthday-- wouldn't you normally make it the other way around? She almost goes to say this out loud, but then a far sweeter opportunity rears its beautiful head. ]

A lifeline? Okay! [ Without missing a beat, Mari whips out her phone-- ] Then we'll call Dia and--

Wah, stop, stop. [Plucking the phone out of Mari's grasp equally quickly.]

Wouldn't she hang up? All, like, [using her snootiest Dia impression...] "Kindly refrain from involving me in such frivolousness."

[A++ vote of confidence for friendship here, Kanan.]

Well, the first time, sure! Dia's all about persistence! By the sixth or seventh time I call she starts to see sense and gives me what I want.

[ The very face of true friendship right here, the both of them. ]

Anyway, might as well give it a go, right? As your host, I can't possibly deny a contestant's earnest request for a lifeline! [ Plucking that phone right back. Ah, the joys of being a whole centimeter taller... don't you wish you could just dangle it over her head the way you do with Chika. ]

[Dia will murder her and step on her bones. Today is the day AZALEA becomes a Dia-Hanamaru duo. A Diarumic duo.

No, both. They're both going to die in terrible and ugly ways.]

Don't call her for six or seven times, sheesh.

[With all the conscientiousness and sensibility of an understanding young adult, she snatches the phone from Mari again. Nyeh.]

OK! For the time being, let's settle for five!

[ See, she's so accommodating!! And making another grab for her phone. Mari can tell this struggle will only get harsher the longer it goes on, and Kanan's truly a force to be reckoned with at her full power level -- so the second she gets the phone between her hands again, she's hitting speed dial. And speaker. Have I mentioned how accommodating she is. ]

Greetings, Miss Kurosawa! I hope this evening finds you well! [ She's going to keep stepping back and spinning from side to side as she talks, ensuring to the best of her ability that the phone remains in the right hands at least until it's served its purpose. ] You see, we have Miss Matsuura here on our show, and she requested a lifeline for a question she absolutely cannot answer, and it just so turns out her contact is you! And so--

[ What follows is a truly one-of-a-kind sound, distinctive in how utterly impossible it is to misplace while in fact being totally silent.

The sound of Dia pinching the bridge of her nose really, really hard. ]

... Mari-san. Kindly refrain from involving me in such--

--frivolousness, I know, I know! No, listen, it's really important, okay, it's--

Dia!!!

[Amidst the assorted fanciful (read: rather needless) Dramatic Ballet Jumps and lots and lots of spinning, Mari seems to have forgotten that yelling in her general direction can also reach Dia plenty fine.]

Do you know if penguins can lose feathers? I've never actually seen a molting penguin!! Are they even birds when they don't have real feathers...

[ The Dramatic Ballet Jumps were totally needed, okay. If Kanan got her hands on the phone she'd just hang it up and it'd all be over, but instead Mari gets to hear her improvise really loudly and really badly, and that makes it 100% worthwhile. She's really not making an effort to keep herself from cracking up over it, either.

Dia, in the meantime, is just. Confused. And entirely convinced there's some joke going on here at her expense, though she cannot imagine what it is. ]

Wh-- penguins again? [ Why... ] Yes, I'm rather certain they molt, yes, they are birds, and I assure you their feathers are quite 'real'. Now, I was just assisting Ruby with her physics homework -- do you have any more burning questions, or would that be all?

Weee~eeell-- ☆

[ STOP HER ]

And remind Ruby she's meeting me and You on Saturday!

[Sheer stubbornness has her continue the still-futile attempts to grab Mari's phone. Not holding it is fine, if she can hit...the end call button...

That said, the helpless flailing simply makes Kanan resemble a certain E. Honda doing a certain Hundred Hand Slap.]

[ Congratulations, Kanan! Your valiant efforts have earned you another day of living in not as much shame as you would have otherwise, because after Dia says 'I will' and 'have fun with... whatever it is you are doing', she hangs up. You can now stop flailing!

Mari, however, can not seem to stop laughing. ]

Pfffffhahahaha--

[ There are tears. ]

That wasn't funny!

[They both just narrowly evaded mortal peril, show some relief.] Dia can and will do awful and unspeakable things to us, if you'd asked her.

["Student council president kills childhood friends in fit of annoyance" is probably the lamest headline to raise a rating far above PG.]

It was-- [ wheeze-- ] SO funny! Hee!

[ Wiping at her eyes now. Okay, she's starting to get it back together. ] You're way too pessimistic about this, Kanan. There's no way she would've gotten that mad!

So you say.

[The gall. Gal. Unable to settle on either, she takes the next best option and flicks Mari on the forehead.]

Dia totally could kick my ass. And then what, huh? Who will hold her back from going after you?

Owie! [ Oh no, she got scolded! And yet no part of Mari shows any sign of repentance. Geez, she could at least make it sound like that actually hurt. ]

You mean, you'd protect me...? [ Gasp. Sniff. Sparkly eyes. Oh no-- ] Kanaaaaaaaaaaan! I love you! [ Yup, going in for one of her signature tackle-hug cobra-grip combos. Look out!! ]

[Dazzling...! Almost supernatural, the way Mari can violate the laws of all things reasonable like (supposed) immunity to her -- capital-T The -- sparkly eyes, or the way Kanan ends up bowled over, stumbling even when she had braced for impact.

Also. "I love you"???????

...it was too overblown to be meaningful, she understands as much, and she has enough self-awareness to tell her perception is coloured by foolish hopes it did have meaning. Still.

?????

Outwardly, though, a perplexed scowl barely forms the sole indication towards how shaken she is.]

Ehhhhh... [Is this how koala trees feel like. The favoured trees, those which koalas form strange attachments to and refuse to be removed from. But trees probably wouldn't enjoy koalas' attentions as much...

Ehhhhh.]

'Ehhhh', what? [ Arms around Kanan's shoulders, Mari rocks back and forth on the balls of her feet, pointedly brushing her nose to the other girl's cheek. ] I'm touched by your noble sacrifice, obviously!

[ The very loosely-defined, wholly hypothetical sacrifice, but still. They've hugged on shakier premises! ]

I'd much prefer not having to come to the...sacrifice bit.

[No fault of Dia's that she, well, has such a colossal and Mari-specific soft spot. She'd feel bad to bother Dia over stuff they can handle by themselves. Add the mention of Ruby, and she can imagine Dia taking far less kindly to hearing -- "You interrupted my bonding time with Ruby for what?!"

Shudder. Even mental image Dia is so terrifying.]

Hey, quit that. I'm not food.

[Koala. Tree.]

Edited 2016-12-28 04:58 (UTC)

What are you saying? You're Mari's favorite snack~♪ [ Nuzzle, nuzzle, peck. She nips at her ear, too, for good measure. ] Yum!

[ Sorry, Kanan. You are indeed the koala tree. ]

Whuh -- [WHAT IF SHE JUST NEVER PUT HER HAIR UP AGAIN] Let go...

[Except the attempts to pry Mari off do very little, other than causing the arms around her to slide slightly lower. Fantastic!!!

Why does she try.]

[ Oh, you wanted them lower? All you had to do was ask! Mari happily adjusts to wrap around Kanan's waist instead, squeezing tight. ]

No can do! See, it's your punishment for failing my quiz. [ A low giggle, and she kisses the edge of Kanan's jaw. ] You'll just have to endure, Contestant Matsuura.

[Her sigh is harried, defeated. At the rate they're going, allowing Mari to do however she likes is an increasingly viable possibility.]

Then. [She angles her head, looking on Mari's side.] Won't you tell me the standard answer?

[The game show analogy wore out its welcome long ago, but she'll roll if they are sticking to it.]

[ Letting Mari do however she likes, at the end of the day, is the only real viable possibility. It's just that sometimes, it takes six or seven calls -- or the physical equivalent thereof -- to get people to see that.

But Mari can be pretty patient when she wants to be, so she doesn't mind waiting. ]

Mm... [ Is she contemplating it that seriously, or just distracted by how soft Kanan's skin feels, and how nice she smells? ... The latter, definitely the latter. The way she breathes her in is a dead giveaway. ] For which question?

[One? Pick only one?

The sense that she is a next, if yet conscious, meal being toyed with hasn't lessened.

How troublesome.]

Wait, I got this. Uhh...R-E-L-L-I...

[The sounds of Mari's breathing are certainly slowing her down.]

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that's like the best possible descriptor

a gif wouldn't have been as entertaining

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