soreplaceable | 014 ~ [Action]

[It was late last night when Ion was taken from the village, and it had been done so quietly it might have been impossible to know he was gone if his bedding hadn't been thrown around the room.]

[But he wasn't gone for very long, as it's less than a day later that Ion returns to the village sometime in the early evening. At a glance, he might just be mistaken for another new feather: he's sitting on the ground near the plaza, wearing those same white new feather pants with a somewhat confused look on his face. But to those who know him well, they might also notice his hair looks a few inches shorter than usual.]

[He isn't doing much, likely because he doesn't know what he should do. What does one do after they've just been born? Should someone walk by, he'll turn his head to stare at them, but he won't say anything.]

(( ooc: Since I've wanted to do this since forever and finally have the time: Ion is going to be de-aged (from 15~ to 12) for a little while! Although Ion has technically gone back to being a "newborn", Fon Master replicas were born with most of their basic functions rather than as a blank slate, so he'll eventually be able to talk and walk once he realizes what those functions are. He'll start out a little slow, but he's a very quick learner! Just don't expect him to know what anything is at first. |Db ))

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[There's no reaction as she gets closer. Even though he's never seen someone like her before, he has no reason to be afraid. He's never felt fear before, after all.]

[So he just keeps staring.]

[ She stays there on her knees, staring right across at him.

Not. Moving. At all. Not even a blink. ]

[For a minute Ion wonders if he should try the same. So he does.]

[...b-but keeping his eyes open for too long without blinking hurts. After a minute or so, he shuts his eyes tightly and reaches up to rub at them.]

[ Oh, he did something different now!

And Sophie continues to stare for a moment longer, cocking her head to the side juuust slightly—

And then she ends up copying him now, shutting her eyes, and moving her hands to rub them in a similar way. ]

[The stinging only lasts a moment or two before he cracks his eyes open again, peeking back at Sophie between his fingertips. She was doing the same thing... did her eyes hurt too?]

[He doesn't lower his hands yet, watching and waiting to see if she does something next.]

[ Eventually, she stops rubbing her eyes to see if he's done anything yet — she moves them off to the side and out of the way, opening her eyes again.

And then she notices he's peeking at her from between his fingertips, so she moves her hands back into their previous positions, and peeks at him in a similar fashion. ]

[Oh, now she's doing the same thing he's doing! Again. Maybe he's supposed to be the one doing things? Oh, but what could he do...?]

[He just lowers his hands into his lap again. Still staring.]

[ And Sophie follows, lowering her hands into her lap as well.

Still staring. ]

[Is she blinking this time? Ion learned from the first time that not blinking isn't good, so hopefully she's blinking.]

[...unless she's different? He doesn't really notice if she is or not. He's not sure what he looks like, after all.]

[ Nope, no blinking going on over here. No blinking at all!

She is keeping her eyes open, just staring at him. It is sort of an odd feeling to not blink, but ... she isn't going to blink still.

Just stare. ]

[Now that Ion knows not blinking hurts, he thinks maybe she's feeling that same pain he had moments ago. Maybe she didn't know she had to blink? He leans forward a little and blinks slowly a few times.]

[ And she does the same, leaning forward and blinking slowly.

Your actions. They do not get past the Sophie. ]

[Oh. So she can blink! For some reason, it makes him feel a little better knowing that.]

[But that doesn't do much about his current situation, so he's just going to lean back again, letting out a tiny sigh as he does so.]

[ Then she will do the same, leaning back and letting out a tiny sigh, as well. And she keeps her eyes fixated on him, to make sure that she doesn't miss one movement.

She is so intrigued and confused. ]

[Ion doesn't really know enough to be confused at this point. He's still adjusting to the whole "I exist now" thing.]

[Staaaaare.]

[ And she is just going to staaaare back.

Then maybe test to see if he'll follow her movements again. And she moves one arm up randomly, and then moves it back down slowly. ]

014 ~ [Action]

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[action] THIS IS REALLY LATE. IF YOU DON'T WANNA BACKTAG THIS, THAT'S OKAY.

[action] THE ULTIMATE STARING CONTEST MUST GO ON. B)

[action] AWW YEAH B)!!!

[action] .../EVEN IF I AM SLOW FOREVER

[action] IT'S OKAY BB I AM SLOW TOO ;A;