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Id is not used to fronting outside of times of great peril and trauma for Fei. He’s never needed to be used to anything else -- he takes the trauma, he stores it, and he lashes out because of it. That is his purpose, protecting Fei from things he cannot alone handle, and fighting them off tooth and nail.
But here he is, kneeling next to Emeralda as the nanomachine colony pets a cat’s fur. He remembers waking up to a note from Fei, telling him to try something like this. Pet a soft animal, it could do wonders for you .
He had not asked Emeralda to come, but she seems to have known he was unsure of going on his own. Of course she would know, her attachment to The Contact was above the norm. Probably because their soul had been the reason for her creation…
“Id try now.” Emeralda says, looking at him. “Pet cat, good for you. Like Fei said.”
It’s still hard to become used to her body being that of a teenager, he notes as he looks back at her. In the residual memory he had held of her, she was so young. In the few times he had seen her outside of that, she had still been so small.
Small like this cat, but not as fragile. Id has strength that is hard to compare to, a destructive attribute few could ever hope to match… And Fei wants him to pet a damned cat.
Id finally reaches out, using less than a twelfth of the usual strength he displays, and pets the cat. The cat gives a happy mewl and rubs against his palm. It’s strange, so nice to him despite all he has done. Once again he thinks of Emeralda, and how she looks at him no differently than when she looks at Fei. The same damn admiration, misplaces when it is him fronting.
“Id do good.” Emeralda rests her chin upon her hands as she watches him. “I tell Fei later!”
“Don’t do that.” He huffs, scratching the cat under the chin. “The last thing I need is him telling me to do more shit like this.”
“I think good for Id. If Fei not tell him, I will.” She replies frankly.
“Should’ve seen that coming.” He mumbles, and decides for now he’ll focus on the cat.