* chapter ii: life / exploring

[elijah]

[div style="margin: 0 auto; border-width:0; width: 70%; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; line-height: 1.5; font-size: 9pt;"]A peace rises from the calamity of the rains, droplets pitter and patter. Music sounds from beads of water rolling from leaves, heaviness springing from the green surface, flying outwards and rippling puddles. He doesn't mind this kind of weather. It calls for the warmth of indoors where he can make hot chocolate, ask his papa if he can bake a cake with him. The smell of fresh pastries brings him serenity, a gentle happiness that washes over his skin. Like thunder, there is a vulnerability to their emotions, fragile to the break of glass. Tranquil is the brief silence that coats plaintive mood. Don't, he internally repeats, the word echoing across the valleys of his mind as if it were a warning cry. The words, although semi-pronounced, are a constellation of stars to him. Only those who do not understand wonder will draw deaf ears towards the agender child. Elijah's shoulders relax. He feels pity for the kitten. It is a kind of pity where it stems half from him not understanding and half from his empathy. It was your parents who gave you a name, wasn't it? Your parents who shaped your identity. He doesn't dare ask where the other's family might be. Perhaps there is no family at all.

A gentle agreement touches him, eyes twinkling as he dips his head in a nod. His cheeks grow hot at the kitten's attempt to smile at him, cheeks beaming in return that his baby-blue hues sparkle in return, his semi-glowing eyes appearing as though there were white stars within his irises. "You're welcome," he says, an alabaster breath escaping his maw when he speaks. He looks at the ground, fiddling with the soil before glancing back up. "I...I can call you my friend, right?"