[Billy waits a moment, easing himself into it, inching back to reality. He stops his chant - no, no, self-motivated cheer, he can hear his mother's voice in his ear, it's different from chanting, from magic - and breathes in, out, in, out, one more time. Finds that center, the one he'd been seeking since he started. And it still feels... off-kilt, in a way, the axis of his rotation a bit wobbly at the ends, but it's better than before. Much better. He'd been knocked back into orbit.
He just wishes the cost hadn't been so high.
I'll make it better. I have to make it better. Even if all he has to offer is himself, pitiful and broken as he is, he'll keep trying. For Teddy.
And so:]
I'm here.
[His voice is tentative, faint, drenched in regret, and he moves his hands from his knees to twist together in his lap. He has no idea what to expect, no idea what to say. He just knows that he has to work it out somehow. Make it right.]
[Action, October 25th]
He just wishes the cost hadn't been so high.
I'll make it better. I have to make it better. Even if all he has to offer is himself, pitiful and broken as he is, he'll keep trying. For Teddy.
And so:]
I'm here.
[His voice is tentative, faint, drenched in regret, and he moves his hands from his knees to twist together in his lap. He has no idea what to expect, no idea what to say. He just knows that he has to work it out somehow. Make it right.]