[Ben, watching, sees the smile, feels the pressure around his fingers. He mustn't stop.
He mustn't stop but there's nothing there when he reaches for the next part of the story, like missing a stair in the dark, like leaning against a wall that gives. He licks his lips.]
She... she... lived with a creature that drank time like water. It needed it to survive, and she made sure that it never wanted for what it needed, though she could no longer remember why. She could withhold time's passage from herself if she so desired, but not from the creature, and so she had to watch as the creature aged, died, and was reborn again under her hand.
She loved the creature, but she was afraid for it, afraid for what would happen the day it was not reborn, afraid for the day she was too afraid of this and held back time for it anyway.
no subject
He mustn't stop but there's nothing there when he reaches for the next part of the story, like missing a stair in the dark, like leaning against a wall that gives. He licks his lips.]
She... she... lived with a creature that drank time like water. It needed it to survive, and she made sure that it never wanted for what it needed, though she could no longer remember why. She could withhold time's passage from herself if she so desired, but not from the creature, and so she had to watch as the creature aged, died, and was reborn again under her hand.
She loved the creature, but she was afraid for it, afraid for what would happen the day it was not reborn, afraid for the day she was too afraid of this and held back time for it anyway.