. . certainly he could see where she was going with this. one hand lifts to gesture to her own、which twitch slightly as if to emphasize her curiosity.

“ better places to catch a few moments of rest than passing out on a stranger、hm .ᐣ

have you been feeling okay .ᐣ honestly、i thought you'd end up on the wrong shoulder . . ”

a playful、albeit gentle whack to his shoulder、enough to throw the poor boy a bit off — kilter punctuates a fanged smile.

“ didn't know that sort of thing was common in dynamics、though . . maybe it's another quirk of being outside of a colony .ᐣ ”

⠀⠀— @azureawakener.bsky.social .

“ ah .ᐟ hey、you .ᐟ ”

look out、the gormotti nearly 𝘣𝘰𝘭𝘵𝘴 on over to the man、her golden eyes wide as if in a rush.

” i never got your name .ᐟ mister sleepyhead、that's you、isn't it .ᐣ.ᐟ “

⠀⠀— @spannertchmg.bsky.social .

( * hey . .

that guy looks . . kind of familiar .ᐣ )

mio takes a few steps closer to the vaguely familiar individual、her eyes wide as she blinks a few times.

“ say、you're the person i patched up one time、aren't you .ᐣ ”

⠀⠀— @heirofspace.bsky.social .

squinting.

rather、trying to disguise her ogling as looking at the sun . . but poorly concealing her 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 target of interest : this stranger.

“ urk、sorry、Noah . . am I being too hard on you again ? ”

“ you can't just go around sayin' things like that all willy nilly、dummy. ”

( * she needs to work at communicating . .

poor guy、being defaulted to physical prodding and poking when she can't find the proper words. )

Mio exhales、her shoulders slacking a bit.

“ can't afford to get reckless、even if we've overcome odds that were piled against us. we still have so much to fight for . . don't we ? ”

( . . . )

a tiny hand lifts to hover over his forehead、brushing aside bangs of his own、mirroring the gesture.

( * . . 𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬 .ᐟ )

“ watching you fight . . you're really something else, Noah. ”

she coos、her voice lowering to a whisper as she trails off with his name.

“ a — and、hey .ᐟ don't joke about that sort of thing .ᐟ ”