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[She steps up closer to give the dog some well-deserved behind-the-ear scritches, for being such a cute and curious dog, and the grin hasn't really disappeared.]

Nope, everyone else can hear the news some other day. [She glances away from him, focuses on Zelo.]

I wanted to show you first, [she murmurs, off-handed, quietly. Not because she thought he'd judge her, since she already knows she has his support on this, but because she just wanted to. That part where he's her closest friend (family) wasn't a lie.]

[ he shoves at his door with his foot, hearing it slam closed. now that it is, he lowers himself to let zelo drop from his arms. he doesn't linger long, having saw, sniffed, attempted to escape, and failed. he easily walks back toward his bed and tucks himself at the foot of it. ]

[ nike's the one who charges toward raven and stands on her hind legs, front paws on her bum leg, and leans on her for attention. bellamy has to wonder if his dog has sensed that's the leg to never run to, even though she hasn't jumped on raven and demanded attention as she does now. raven could always feel in the other one; he has to wonder if his dog knew that, or if she simply chose a leg and bolted for it. ]

Get off, Nike. [ his voice isn't hard. she ignores him, lifting herself whenever she falls back onto all four feet to lean against raven. ]

[She jumps. Samantha said that it would take about twenty-four hours to feel normal again, and safe for the fact that nothing's felt normal for so many months, she just thought after stumbling around for a few hours, by now there'd be nothing left.

And now she realizes she was wrong: feeling that touch, dog paws against her left leg, is what makes her jump. First touch she's felt on it in so long. Almost a year.] Easy, girl... [She doesn't move to push Nike away or shove her off, but crouches with some lack of finesse. She's out of practice, she's out of practice with so much.

Once crouched, she picks the dog up and stands gain, able to carry her weight and a little bit emotional over having felt that touch.] Shit...

[ nike is, unsurprisingly, a pain in the ass. he watches raven, trying to make sure nike doesn't shove her over or ruin this. but it's stupid to think a small puppy can ruin such a feat. once raven stands, bellamy feels easier, watching nike behave herself as she brushes her nose againsr raven's jaw. ]

[ it's easier to misconstrue "shit" to mean something bad. in bellamy's world, it could be, and it's what dictates his next decision. taking a step toward her, he begins to move his arms as if to take nike from her. ] I can take her if you want.

No, no. [She turns a little, shielding Nike and holding onto her, even at the cost of being slobbered on. If it happens, it happens; Gruff's mouth stinks worse, really.

She shakes her head, quickly.] It doesn't hurt, it's just still new. Again. And - she touched me. I felt that.

[ he doesn't know what to expect at the news she's essentiallt regained her leg. wondering if it hurts, he knows she probably wouldn't have come to his when she could've asked him to walk to her warehouse. knowing he would, even calling her stupid for insisting he take a cab or they meet halfway, it can't be pain she feels. ]

[ the worry leaves him, and the crease of his brows disappears as he looks at her. nike sniffs underneath her neck and shifts her paw, but is otherwise restlessly well-behaved. beginning to smile, he finds its a wide one when he crosses his arms against his chest and asks, ] How does it feel?

[She looks at him again, after she loses interest for how well behaved and cute Nike is being. Looks at him and lets out a relieved laugh.] New, almost. [She shifts her weight onto her right leg, and lifts her left one up, giving it a shake.]

Look at that. Sam told me it'd take a while, about twenty four hours, and it still twinges a little, but it's like...I think it's just having not used it enough. What do you think?

[ he can't help but laugh lightly at her antics. he doesn't know what he would do if it was him. maybe run, even though he suspects he wouldn't want to push his leg too hard and too fast within seconds of getting it back. ]

I don't know, Raven. [ sometimes bellamy has the answers, and sometimes he doesn't. he wish he did now. looking at her leg, he doesn't find them there, what he's meant to say, if there's anything at all. ]

[ he glances up at her, and inevitably looks down at her leg. he tries to think of something to give her, and all he can think of is hades and persephone, of how he had waited half a year for her to come back. it isn't the same, of course, but he thinks he's found some of his answer within it. ]

You just have to let it come back to you. Your leg is still you. [ he shrugs his shoulders, and tries to stifle his amusement, ] It's just a little slow, like you.

[She has this feeling that if she tries to run, or jump, or swim, she'll trip and fall or drown. But walking has been safe, she just has to get it all back.

It's going to be a process, but she doubts it'll take as long as she's gone without it.

She lets out a laugh.] I will kick you, don't think I won't.

[ he laughs, and cocks his eyebrow. ] Yeah? [ it's not as threatening as it should be, as it could be. raven once held a knife to his throat and he had known if she has the guts she would've slit it. she didn't, which speaks more of her strength of character than of any weakness to him. but her threats and her bursts of physical aggression have never been anything to laugh over. ]

[ until now. for once, physical violence isn't a threat. it's a joke, like how people in the city tend to make fun of one another. ]

[ he ducks his head, smiling, and when he looks up, says, ] I look forward to it.

[ he begins to move further into his apartment, leading her to the couch near his bed. even though she has the sensation and control of her leg back, it's still new. baby steps. standing on it without shifting her weight to her other leg may be weird. or bellamy's simply overthinking it. ]

[He's over worrying it. She isn't. Logic and precaution says that she should be careful when she moves, she knows this, and yet she just wants to move. She doesn't think about whether or not it will hurt her in the long term, if she crouches like so, or sits down like so. She doesn't have to, not while she is here.

She lets herself drop onto the couch, and stretches her leg out, bumping it into his in the softest of jest kicks. Fear her.]

Masochist.

[ nike fusses in her arms. bellamy watches her, tuned into keeping an eye on people's body language. he's slowly learning how to read his dogs, often failing when it comes to their true intentions. but making sure nike doesn't hurt raven is the reason he watches his dog look around, pressing her paws against her shoulders like she's unsure if she wants to leave or leap down and claim the floor as her territory once more. ]

[ he hasn't stopped smiling. ]

[ he looks down at their legs and purposefully knocks his knee into hers. it's with ease he jokes, ] I guess this means the next time we're on the beach together, you're carrying me across the sand.

[She runs her fingers through Nike's fur, nuzzles her cheek against her smaller head, and ultimately puts her in her lap. If she wants to stay there, she's welcomed to it, but if not. Well.

And her stomach does an acrobatic flip. She could feel that.]

I will gladly do that.

[ usually, he'd pull his leg away. bellamy's always been about space and keeping his distance from people, but he's had to acclimate to the ground and eudio not being the ark. he may not need to protect octavia any longer, but a part of him has grown to do so as a knee-jerk. protecting octavia often means protecting himself — however sloppily he does it. but he doesn't need space now; bellamy keeps his leg against hers. he's always been able to feel her leg, but she hasn't been able to feel his in a long while. ]

[ he looks at her leg when he asks, ] What did Samantha say?

[She keeps it there, soaking up the novelty of the touch. She's forgotten this, and it's heartbreaking that she's forgotten this. There's no 'like riding a bike' when it comes to perceiving touch, not with her. She has to catalog every little detail, how every twitch of her muscles produces a different contact.]

I was given a choice. Either stay here longer, or be more intimate... I'm just glad they did this without putting me in a hospital bed.

[ he glances over at her, ] How did they do it?

[ he doesn't know what he expects. if it had been as invasive to require her to go to hospital, he has a feeling she would've told him. it might be presumptuous to think it, but bellamy's sure that's what would've happened if it required them to cut her open to somehow give her back the ability to feel and control her own leg. ]

[ he knows he would've been a pain in the ass if that was the case. ]

[ it has to be magic, the one thing bellamy blake just doesn't understand. ]

[She would've been the pain in the ass first, and called him, asked for his presence at the very least. But she's terrified of ever landing under a doctor's scalpel again, with no disrespect meant to the efforts Jackson and Abby made on keeping her alive.

As much as she doesn't understand how magic works, it still ended up being preferable to the memory of that pain.]

Magic.

[ and that's the one thing he doesn't understand. what he does, though, is that her leg's better. she stands on it with confidence, even if she may lack it right now. she reacts whenever his leg bumps into her own. he's certain she'll grow tired of nike jumping on her — and when she grows bigger, she'll be able to feel her sit on her foot instead of being surprised by a large golden retriever taking residence on her toes. bellamy doesn't understand magic, but he understands raven's happiness. ]

[ he leans toward her to run his fingers through the fur on the top of nike's head. she's staring at the wall like she hasn't seen it before, on her hind legs as she remains in raven's lap, quieter than raven may associate her as being. ]

[ he looks to nike, but ends up glancing at raven. ] Did it hurt?

No, they kept their promise. [She lifts her hand from Nike's back, where it had been resting comfortably, and moves it to pet her gently under her chin, her movements idle.]

I wouldn't have known, if I hadn't noticed that suddenly, I could feel every strap of my brace.

[ quietly: ] Good.

[ he watches nike for a moment, lapping up the attention. she wags her tail and shifts against her, paw dropping only to lift it once more. she looks over her shoulder for something, but knowing nike, it could be anything. she doesn't seem rowdy, so he leaves her for now. he shifts against the couch, slumping a little more. he purposefully taps his foot against the side of her own. ]

[ looking up at raven, he smiles, ] I'm happy for you, Raven.

[Saying she's happy too would be an understatement. She's making plans: give him a piggyback at the beach will eventually come up, but until then she wants to take a stroll around it, and swim on her own - or at least float - and run, take a ride of Gruff without lingering hesitations, walk until her heels hurt.

But first, there's something she needs to feel, one detail she doesn't want to commit to memory alone.]

Can you touch it?

[ he looks at her, not expecting that. sometimes bellamy has moments where he looks at his hands and still sees blood on them, even though lovejoy hadn't bled to death. he can feel his pulse sometimes, beating strongly throughout his fingertips to his wrists and up his arm. it's when he becomes stuck in his head that he looks at his hands and doesn't see what they used to be back on the ark. ]

[ he doesn't look at her for too long, though. raven trusts him, and it's that he holds onto now. for a moment, he looks at her legs, wondering how to go about it, but finds that he's always known how to touch her when he stops thinking too hard about it. ]

[ shifting, he lowers his legs from the table. gently: ] You're going to have to move. [ instead of waiting for her, he leans forward, wrapping his arms around her legs to pull them from the table they rest on. he straightens himself the best he can to rest them on his lap. ]

I meant just touch them, you don't have to - oh. [She shuts up, nevermind. She grows quiet instantly, the second her legs end up in his lap, because this time around she feels it, the pressure and the warmth, on both legs. It's like puzzles that finally have all their pieces together, fitting well.

It's like a well assembled engine, ready to purr under expert handling.

She honestly just expected his hand on her knee, like he'd done it weeks ago when she'd regretted not feeling it at all (when she ended up kissing him but she doesn't think about that because it's hard to figure it out now) but he goes beyond the line of duty and she grows quiet.

Unnaturally quiet and blushing, that's one for the ages.]

[ with her legs in his lap, he settles back into the cushions of the couch. it's the only way he can think to touch her. placing his hand on her knee hadn't occurred to him. he remembers how he had touched her on her couch, how she hadn't minded it at all. that's where he goes now, thinking about that night, and it's why he's chosen to pull her legs from where they rest to see her shift on the couch and almost face him. ]

[ his hands remain on her legs, sitting there as a light weight. he's not so sure of what to do, but finds he always does when he stops overthinking things for a moment. once he does, his hand curves more firmly around her leg, as though he's trying to see if the tips of his fingers can touch the heel of his palm with her leg in between. ]

[ bellamy looks over to her, brows raised slightly. softly: ] You okay?

[She's attentive to what his hands are doing, out of habit. Until now, she had to be attentive, because she only could realize she was being touched if she saw it. There, she feels a shiver, her dormant muscles twitching with life, and skin getting covered in goosebumps. She shifts a little, sinks back into the couch, armrest against the middle of her back and a dog in her lap.

Is she okay?

She bites her lip, and looks up. After a second, she nods.] It's a little...overwhelming.

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