Before he could answer about any pain he was in, CJ’s expression darkened and his words had him frowning just the slightest bit as he tried not to react too strongly. She didn’t share much about her past and given how skittish she could be, Nocturne wasn’t going to pry for details now. He assumed at least one parent had abandoned her as well, maybe both. Had she grown up in foster care or had she been left with an abusive parent? Given the lack of details about family and so few happy childhood memories that didn’t revolve around being somewhere with a friend, he had to assume it was one of those.
Nocturne also did his best not to draw attention to the way CJ held her stomach. It would have been easy to assume she wasn’t feeling well, and that could still be true with bad memories, but in the context of the conversation—had CJ been pregnant before? Had she given up a child and she was comparing herself to his mom? Wondering if the child had strong roots and was enduring like he did? There wasn’t a polite way to ask, even if they weren’t sitting with Aaron working on his arm. CJ would be out the door before he finished the question and Nocturne wasn’t going to undue how far their friendship had come. He could wait until she was ready to fully open up to him and share the bad with the good she had let him see.
“A bit,” he confessed instead, ignoring the heavy topic in favour of her question. Nocturne didn’t see the need to lie when he was very clearly being stabbed over and over by a small needle. He checked in on the progress and smiled as he saw the outline nearing completion. “Sometimes it’s like being scratched or a trail of angry bees are marching along my skin. The tree and hourglass were the most uncomfortable, though. They’re closer to bone and there was vibration on top of the stinging.” That had been weird as it felt like even his teeth were starting to rattle. So far, the sword wasn’t bad. It was small and the pain rather minimal.
Aaron took that moment to announce the blade was done and he would switch to green to work on the vines next. Nocturne took back his arm for a moment to stretch it out so he wouldn’t get stiff from holding it like that for too long, though he was careful not to rub it against his body. The green wouldn’t take long, neither would the red, but switching everything around still took the same amount of time and Nocturne let CJ peek at the work in progress. “Not the prettiest thing at the moment, but coming along well.”
Nocturne also did his best not to draw attention to the way CJ held her stomach. It would have been easy to assume she wasn’t feeling well, and that could still be true with bad memories, but in the context of the conversation—had CJ been pregnant before? Had she given up a child and she was comparing herself to his mom? Wondering if the child had strong roots and was enduring like he did? There wasn’t a polite way to ask, even if they weren’t sitting with Aaron working on his arm. CJ would be out the door before he finished the question and Nocturne wasn’t going to undue how far their friendship had come. He could wait until she was ready to fully open up to him and share the bad with the good she had let him see.
“A bit,” he confessed instead, ignoring the heavy topic in favour of her question. Nocturne didn’t see the need to lie when he was very clearly being stabbed over and over by a small needle. He checked in on the progress and smiled as he saw the outline nearing completion. “Sometimes it’s like being scratched or a trail of angry bees are marching along my skin. The tree and hourglass were the most uncomfortable, though. They’re closer to bone and there was vibration on top of the stinging.” That had been weird as it felt like even his teeth were starting to rattle. So far, the sword wasn’t bad. It was small and the pain rather minimal.
Aaron took that moment to announce the blade was done and he would switch to green to work on the vines next. Nocturne took back his arm for a moment to stretch it out so he wouldn’t get stiff from holding it like that for too long, though he was careful not to rub it against his body. The green wouldn’t take long, neither would the red, but switching everything around still took the same amount of time and Nocturne let CJ peek at the work in progress. “Not the prettiest thing at the moment, but coming along well.”
