Ben doesn't seem at all perturbed by her not making eye contact, or by her apparent fear of him. He's a random stranger and she's right to be wary. He knows he intends her no harm, so he doesn't mind her not being so sure yet. As for that broken-off statement he can only guess what the end of it would have been. Most folks who offer help don't mean well? Most people don't talk to her? Who knows. She discarded it, and Ben lets her.
Her question, he thinks ... maybe that's a prompt, that she doesn't want someone silent, or a patient listener, but someone to talk at her for a little while. He is fine with that, too.
"Sure. I love it down here. I think this is one of my favorite places in the whole - I don't know, would you call this a city? I like how wild it is. Somebody is probably going to trim all this at some point and it'll look classier but I kind of think it's cool like this. The smell's nice. And the water is a good addition, too."
And, still moving slowly so as not to startle her, Ben dips his hand down into the pool, moving it idly through the water, just feeling the weight of it, the way if moves over his hand. Reminding her of concrete, sensory sensations she can focus on. But... it's true, what he's saying. He does like it here. And all those sensory things he's reminding her of are things he still hasn't quite learned to take for granted yet. It stays strange, smelling and tasting and feeling things after fourteen years of, well, not.
no subject
Ben doesn't seem at all perturbed by her not making eye contact, or by her apparent fear of him. He's a random stranger and she's right to be wary. He knows he intends her no harm, so he doesn't mind her not being so sure yet. As for that broken-off statement he can only guess what the end of it would have been. Most folks who offer help don't mean well? Most people don't talk to her? Who knows. She discarded it, and Ben lets her.
Her question, he thinks ... maybe that's a prompt, that she doesn't want someone silent, or a patient listener, but someone to talk at her for a little while. He is fine with that, too.
"Sure. I love it down here. I think this is one of my favorite places in the whole - I don't know, would you call this a city? I like how wild it is. Somebody is probably going to trim all this at some point and it'll look classier but I kind of think it's cool like this. The smell's nice. And the water is a good addition, too."
And, still moving slowly so as not to startle her, Ben dips his hand down into the pool, moving it idly through the water, just feeling the weight of it, the way if moves over his hand. Reminding her of concrete, sensory sensations she can focus on. But... it's true, what he's saying. He does like it here. And all those sensory things he's reminding her of are things he still hasn't quite learned to take for granted yet. It stays strange, smelling and tasting and feeling things after fourteen years of, well, not.