[so hanging out in Shin's room is saved for when he is alone - when she can come over, bring a book or her laptop or just food that she made, and spending time together. it doesn't end just because things change. still, though, there's the likelihood that she'll ask him different things out of nowhere. like "who invented vending machines" and "will you teach me how to make that vegetable soup", things that simply come from the wishes of her mind.
today is no different. from the midst of their quiet, she raises her head, and finally speaks. only this time it's hesitant, as if she had been mulling this over and still came to no sensible conclusion.]
Shin?
[since no one is around, and she hears no footsteps nearing that might overhear.]
[Shin really does miss having google at his fingertips because while he knows how to make that vegetable soup and is happy to show her, after a joking lie of 'Sir George Vending' there isn't really anywhere to actually look it up. It continues to feel like a limb has been cut off even having spent this much time here. The books Helena brings are always interesting, though, and often a surprise.]
Hm?
[That gets him to lift his head from the laptop, typing continuing for a few seconds as he finishes the current string and then stopping as she gets his full attention.]
Err... kind of average, I guess? Why?
[He's just a completely ordinary person you could find anywhere, and that extends to his looks as far as Shin sees it. Bonnie really was right when she called him 'some rando'. The other option is that he's 'cute', but that's only his parents and... Midori... who've said that so...]
Because I wonder about it from time to time. I can figure out how tall you are, a bit of how you usually dress yourself, the sounds that usually come with you, your voice - that's just something I'm curious about with friends. How the rest of the school perceives you, as opposed to my perceptions.
[in other words, try harder with your descriptions. be a little more exact about things!]
You can figure out that much from that much, huh...
[It's strange to think, and also a little cool. He's also having to think, now, about how to put what he sees in the mirror into words (how others see him is always a terrifying mystery).]
W-well... since we're friends... My hair and eyes are the same colour. Ahaha, people tell me my eyes seem to change sometimes, though. [This is hard. He has a face? It moves? This is making him think about the notes that must have been taken to recreate it, which is not a great thought and he wishes it would stop.] Umm... I don't have a square chin or anything like that, ahaha. Sorry to disappoint.
Edited (whoops icon) Date: 2022-02-02 10:50 am (UTC)
[What does a face without a chin even look like? He's going to be thinking about this now. It'd be just... a smooth line, right?]
Right... it's narrow. [That much he can be certain of, at least. He never really made a mental baseline to work off from these, calling himself average aside] High forehead... don't think so. My eyes are medium?
[Probably? Not notably far apart or close together, at least as far as he can see.]
[she's concentrating, trying hard to conceptualize it, but words like "medium" and "average" are harder. it's clear from the expression on her face she's doing her best, her hands raising up to her face trying to map where elements might be on his. she's trying, she really is...
Hey, I can't blame you for being curious... Never really thought about this before, actually.
[He doesn't need to take guesses at what Helena looks like after all, because it's all right there... it's only fair if she wants to know she should, right? Liking of the false anonymity it brings aside, it's not like it's a secret and... it's not photographs, but it makes him think of them.]
Err... here.
[He's shifting in his seat, leaning forward and gently, delicately, taking her fingers where they rest on her face. She could easily pull them away.]
It's like... sort of...
[His plan was to guide her fingers on her face to match, but that gets almost immediately sunk because conceptualizing his own face is hard enough, mapping it onto another's is something else again. Instead, after a second's consideration...]
Ahaha, maybe it's easier if you [not 'see'] feel for yourself...
[He'll tug equally lightly towards his face, and let go.]
[her eyes widen in surprise - this was the exact thing she had refrained from asking to do, knowing Shin's own hesitance towards being touched - but this is the easiest way to have it in her memory. silently, she thinks thank you, and she takes care to have her hands move slow. he'll know, then, and if she feels anything that says to stop, she'll pull her hands away. she knows how much trust Shin's extending towards her.
Helena's touch is featherlight, feeling the structure of his face, the location of everything there. brow bone, temples, eyes. cheekbones, nose, mouth, jaw. oh, she thinks, it's like that. this, then, is Shin. mentally, she can feel the differences between his face and her own - his is narrower, his eyes a little higher, and so on.
her fingertips brush against his hair in her exploration, and she can't resist smiling a little.]
[It's like when the stray cat cautiously noses you and then headbumps and you're like 'yessssss' but internally only.
It's so light it almost tickles a little, face twitching as he tries not to sneeze when her fingers run over his nose. His gaze drifts to the side as he keeps still and lets her make her map, a small exhale.]
Ah, I've been told that before...
[A hand resting on his head. Fingers curling in. A presence, leaned over him, carding through. His fingers curl in his scarf, a different knit, comforting unfamiliarity turning into comforting familiarity. Grounding.]
[she can't linger too long, lest he get so uncomfortable, but she touches it one more time before she lets go, hands coming back down to her lap, and Helena smiles.]
[That's something he can run his fingers through and feel himself, even, shaking his head out before running through the strands adjusting his beanie... although it's everyday to him at this point.]
Your verdict, Miss Helena?
[For once, the sudden formality isn't neutral or pointed... He's just messing around. It says a lot honestly that he's willingly putting any part of himself up for judgement, even playfully like this.]
Edited (little tweak) Date: 2022-02-08 06:39 am (UTC)
[she says it with utmost sincerity, in the way that a true friend can. he is here, and that's wonderful on its own. whoever looks at him knows who he is, and that makes it all the better.]
You should be proud of your appearance, in my view.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
notsosou
happy february i'm here to bother shin
Date: 2022-02-02 04:16 am (UTC)today is no different. from the midst of their quiet, she raises her head, and finally speaks. only this time it's hesitant, as if she had been mulling this over and still came to no sensible conclusion.]
Shin?
[since no one is around, and she hears no footsteps nearing that might overhear.]
What do you look like?
yessss here we go
Date: 2022-02-02 09:58 am (UTC)Hm?
[That gets him to lift his head from the laptop, typing continuing for a few seconds as he finishes the current string and then stopping as she gets his full attention.]
Err... kind of average, I guess? Why?
[He's just a completely ordinary person you could find anywhere, and that extends to his looks as far as Shin sees it. Bonnie really was right when she called him 'some rando'. The other option is that he's 'cute', but that's only his parents and... Midori... who've said that so...]
no subject
Date: 2022-02-02 10:12 am (UTC)[in other words, try harder with your descriptions. be a little more exact about things!]
no subject
Date: 2022-02-02 10:49 am (UTC)[It's strange to think, and also a little cool. He's also having to think, now, about how to put what he sees in the mirror into words (how others see him is always a terrifying mystery).]
W-well... since we're friends... My hair and eyes are the same colour. Ahaha, people tell me my eyes seem to change sometimes, though. [This is hard. He has a face? It moves? This is making him think about the notes that must have been taken to recreate it, which is not a great thought and he wishes it would stop.] Umm... I don't have a square chin or anything like that, ahaha. Sorry to disappoint.
no subject
Date: 2022-02-02 11:06 am (UTC)[she laughs a little, and her head is turned his direction.]
Is your face wide, narrow? Is your forehead high? Are your eyes closer or farther? That's the sort of thing I want to know.
no subject
Date: 2022-02-02 11:26 am (UTC)Right... it's narrow. [That much he can be certain of, at least. He never really made a mental baseline to work off from these, calling himself average aside] High forehead... don't think so. My eyes are medium?
[Probably? Not notably far apart or close together, at least as far as he can see.]
S-sorry, this isn't really my forte...
no subject
Date: 2022-02-03 12:15 am (UTC)and then she ends up laughing.]
It was a bit of a silly question, wasn't it?
no subject
Date: 2022-02-03 12:56 am (UTC)Hey, I can't blame you for being curious... Never really thought about this before, actually.
[He doesn't need to take guesses at what Helena looks like after all, because it's all right there... it's only fair if she wants to know she should, right? Liking of the false anonymity it brings aside, it's not like it's a secret and... it's not photographs, but it makes him think of them.]
Err... here.
[He's shifting in his seat, leaning forward and gently, delicately, taking her fingers where they rest on her face. She could easily pull them away.]
It's like... sort of...
[His plan was to guide her fingers on her face to match, but that gets almost immediately sunk because conceptualizing his own face is hard enough, mapping it onto another's is something else again. Instead, after a second's consideration...]
Ahaha, maybe it's easier if you [not 'see'] feel for yourself...
[He'll tug equally lightly towards his face, and let go.]
no subject
Date: 2022-02-03 01:46 am (UTC)Helena's touch is featherlight, feeling the structure of his face, the location of everything there. brow bone, temples, eyes. cheekbones, nose, mouth, jaw. oh, she thinks, it's like that. this, then, is Shin. mentally, she can feel the differences between his face and her own - his is narrower, his eyes a little higher, and so on.
her fingertips brush against his hair in her exploration, and she can't resist smiling a little.]
Your hair's quite soft.
[softer than she'd thought it'd be, actually.]
no subject
Date: 2022-02-06 11:25 am (UTC)It's so light it almost tickles a little, face twitching as he tries not to sneeze when her fingers run over his nose. His gaze drifts to the side as he keeps still and lets her make her map, a small exhale.]
Ah, I've been told that before...
[A hand resting on his head. Fingers curling in. A presence, leaned over him, carding through. His fingers curl in his scarf, a different knit, comforting unfamiliarity turning into comforting familiarity. Grounding.]
no subject
Date: 2022-02-07 06:27 am (UTC)[she can't linger too long, lest he get so uncomfortable, but she touches it one more time before she lets go, hands coming back down to her lap, and Helena smiles.]
So that's what you look like, huh....
no subject
Date: 2022-02-08 06:39 am (UTC)[That's something he can run his fingers through and feel himself, even, shaking his head out before running through the strands adjusting his beanie... although it's everyday to him at this point.]
Your verdict, Miss Helena?
[For once, the sudden formality isn't neutral or pointed... He's just messing around. It says a lot honestly that he's willingly putting any part of himself up for judgement, even playfully like this.]
no subject
Date: 2022-02-08 07:35 am (UTC)[she says it with utmost sincerity, in the way that a true friend can. he is here, and that's wonderful on its own. whoever looks at him knows who he is, and that makes it all the better.]
You should be proud of your appearance, in my view.