Private Finished [AGoDR] Cleanliness is Next to Godliness

Rory tapped Broen's side very gently with her shoe until he moved his arm and peeked out at her. She watched him, lips set in a straight line and eyes as intense as ever.

Rory held a hand out to him.

"Come on, Broen. Get up. Don't you dare stay on the ground like that."

"I can't help you to your feet?" She asked with the quirk of her lips. She stepped back to give him room to stand, hand still held out. "If that's the case, your regalia is a bit of a sadist, ain't she?

"No, Broen. I'm not going to help you win any matches, you already said I can't. But I can tell you to get up off your ass when you're exhausted and go find someone else to beat."

"Don't give me that look," Rory said with more force than she'd intended. She sighed. "Broen, this is far from impossible. Before this started you didn't even think there was a way for you to get powers back. It's going to feel even better when you start crushing these challenges."

Rory watched him evenly, voice resolute. "I couldn't always fly, you know? I'm no stranger to feeling like things are hopeless, Broen."

She set her hands on his shoulders, fighting the urge to look off to the side. "You think I do this positivity crap because it's easy? No, but you need to hear it anyway. You can do this. You did so much back home, and none of that was just your powers, Broen.

"People with the same powers as you could have fallen on their asses, exhausted, and given up. It wasn't your powers that made you special, it was your adaptability, tenacity, and confidence. And getting the headmaster out of your head didn't take that shit away from you."

Rory finally did look away, toward where Althea was. "Stop trying to prove to her that you're good enough and prove it to yourself instead."

Rory paused and thought about it. Rage, huh? That was what had him going. She eyed him. She could see it. Rory had to think about what it was that had motivated her all those times. Most people assumed rage, she looked angry so it must be anger. But no... it hadn't been rage. What had it been? What was that feeling?

Rory lifted her index to set it under his chin and very gently guide him to focus on her eyes. She relaxed her body posture, dialed down as much of that intensity as she could until it was more a softness in her eyes than any definable emotion.

She had so much she could have said but none of that mattered, because what Broen needed wasn't words.

She pulled him in and hugged him tightly, gently rubbing his back.