Glass Heart Casket [Kaede, Sora]

As she heard those words, Kaede's eyes opened, looking at him with a mixture of distrust and confusion. There's no way he was trying to act naive and stupid right now. Kaede slowly brought her pack back to her chest, avoiding covering her face no matter how much she wanted to. She knew that the guy would just pull it down again. Why he'd want to see her face was beyond her. Eventually, though, the confusion faded to irritation, and Kaede raised a hand to wipe her dried eyes again.

"Don't try and play the naive dumbass. Just fuck me and get it over with."

Sora’s jaw dropped, eyes widened, and he froze in place like a marble statue. THAT was what she thought he wanted from her? What the hell woman!? Yep, it’s official. Women are insane. He pulls her from a dangerous place and she expects to be fucked?! Thanks to his work with the Vandenreich, he knew some therapists.

Sora took one humorously large step backwards and stared at her, “Not interested.”

He stood up straight again, sliding his hands in his pockets and watching her. He wasn't going to allow her back on that ledge, so he would wait.

She should have been relieved. She should have been overjoyed that he said that he wasn't interested. But, rather than that, Kaede's head lowered, her body once again wrapping around the backpack. She curled up around it, trying to make herself as small as possible, not before taking a more real glimpse of her savior. Her expression went from bright for a brief moment, before immediately crashing down again. Of course a guy like him wouldn't be interested in her. He obviously had actual standards. Kaede sniffled, trying to keep herself from crying again, her voice shaky and constantly wavering in pitch as a result.

"Course you wouldn't...forgot people actually have standards."

Her words said one thing and then another. Her body language said one thing and then another. What was WRONG with this woman? He had no idea how to read her. He wasn’t the most perceptive of men, but going back and forth from not wanting to be… well, violated and then being DISAPPOINTED that he wasn’t going to do that, especially on the side of a damn bridge, was a level of whiplash that hurt is fucking soul. Sora took out his cell phone and turned on the light. He could tell she wasn’t in the best of shape before, but he needed to get a closer look now.

Sora shined the light on her and reached out again. He was a little rougher, trying to get a good look at her face and neck. He wanted to see if he could see bruises, or thick spots of makeup covering them up. She acted like an abuse victim… which made touching her a lot worse, but his intentions were that of a decent man.

Kaede flinched and squeezed her eyes shut at the sudden introduction to light, bringing her hands up to cover them. She was more focused on keeping her eyes protected from the light than covering up, but, she continued trying to shrink away from him and make herself as small as possible. Though, despite her best efforts, there were places where makeup had been applied, though notably old.

Any moment he touched her, Kaede tensed up, but ultimately, didn't verbally or physically shoo him away. With her covering her face, however, unless Sora forced her arms away, there was a large, new bruise on her cheek. The guy who had mugged her had smacked her in the face with the end of the gun when she tried to stand up for herself and refuse.

"What're you, some kinda cop? I didn't do nuffin' wrong, officer...last I checked, suicide ain't a crime."

"Actually, in some places, the attempt at suicide is illegal,” Sora explained as he turned his phone off and slid it into his pocket. “You wouldn’t be arrested, though. You would instead be forced into a psyche hold at a hospital of some sort.” This was the most Sora said the entire time; it was something he had knowledge of.

Standing up straight, Sora held out a hand again. "Can I take you somewhere safe?"

"Meant here, dumbass..."

Kaede's hands slowly lowered as she saw the light around her hands vanish, squinting to try and get around the blots in her vision. Her arms were quick to wrap around herself, turning her head away at the mention of a psyche hospital. Part of her thought the idea was tempting, but, another part of her did still know the reality of a situation like that. At the thought, she looked more visibly uncomfortable, scrunching up a bit before eventually relaxing, turning to look at his hand.

"Where is 'safe'? How and why would it be safe? I'm not homeless, if that's what you think. But..."

Though she didn't say it aloud, her body tensed at the harshness of her own thoughts, cutting herself off before she could finish the sentence.

'I probably should be, though. I'm just wasting Ehefra's time at this point.'

"So was I.” Any city that cared at all about mental health had laws against the attempts of suicide. Clearly they could do nothing about someone who succeeded; those who did not would be taken care of like he had mentioned before. So, he would be surprised if the City of Lights did not follow this trend.

“Why were you going to jump?” Sora pulled back his hand and sat down across from her. Clearly, she didn't want to get up, so sitting here was the best option.

While Kaede turned her head away, she kept her eyes on the man as he sat down across from her. But, rather than answer her, the guy just asked her about why she was wanting to jump. Her eyes narrowed, the only thing really visible behind her backpack, despite one of her cheeks puffing out lightly.

However, the bruise on her cheek quickly made her regret that decision, earning a wince as she ducked behind the backpack for a moment. But, despite that, Kaede suddenly stuck a leg out, kicking Sora in the stomach. It was weak and pitiful, about as much as a malnourished woman could give, but, it was the first thing she thought of as a response.

"Mine first, jerk. Not sayin' that I'm goin' anywhere until you do."

Sora released a low grunt when his stomach was suddenly kicked. He didn’t think he deserved that sort of treatment, but worse had been done to him before, so after taking a deep breath and rubbing the spot she hit, he moved out of her range.

“Assault and battery,” Sora said bluntly, his expression calm, though it did sound like he would have her arrested. Luckily for her, the things Sora said were less important than the things he did. “For me, safe is home. I answered, now you.”