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Mari sat on her picnic mat. She'd expected her friends to be late but this was getting ridiculous. It had been almost 2 hours since Hero had left with the others to search for basil and she felt unreasonably lonely.
Falling onto her back and letting out a dramatic groan into the hair now covering her face "really? This fast?" She exclaimed. this wasn't the first time basil had run away but it was the first picnic that was ruined by it.
Everything was changing. Even when they could fit in a picnic Hero was the only one who cuddled with her anymore, and, apparently, not everyone had to attend.
The girl sat up, yelling, and smacked her balled up fists into the space before her. Everyone was so selfish. Basil was selfish for running away. Sunny and Aubery were selfish for growing up and Hero was selfish for supporting them. Mari was selfish for wanting everything to stay the same regardless of what everyone else wanted. She was selfish because if she could press a button and keep everyone stuck in last summer looping around forever she wouldn't even ask anyone else.
A stray boy stumbles around the forest. His blonde hair tangled in plants she'd normally be eager to examine. Basil let out an anguished sob and scraped his sweaty hands across his bright red face in an attempt to clear away the branches.
Mari, laying down at the moment, heard this noise and was immediately snapped from her trance of self pity. She shot up and into the woods, her previous dilemma simmering into something less than a hypothetical in her mind as reality set in.
"Basil!"
She called out upon seeing the crying girl in the woods. His hands frantically oscillating between wiping away his tears and the vegetation in his hair in a way that proved ineffective at both.
Mari ran towards Basil and embraced him, much to his dismay, remembering her concern now that her troubles had taken back stage. She questioned "Are you ok? Everyone was looking fo-" Mari was interrupted by a heavy, unmistakable smell on Basil's shirt, it was alcohol. It was sick she thought, she knew Basil had done this before but recognizing it herself was something different.
"Basil! are you drunk?"
Asked Mari in a sharp, almost mean voice. It portrayed disgust but that wasn't what she was feeling, she was scared first and foremost. Basil felt similarly but was more evident in displaying it, he began to cry harder than he was before and shoved Mari away as best he could. But that didn't make sense, that's what he wanted by doing this isn't it? Attention? Like his mom got when she did it. For someone to acknowledge that something was wrong with him. But no, not like this, he didn't need to be fawned over.
"Mari I'm too old-"
The expression on Mari's face turned into a much more recognizable one. One that scared basil much more than the last. Mari was mad, from her puffed up cheeks she barked.
"Your 12. And *clearly* you don't know what you're old enough for"
Basil began to cry even harder. Mari wanted to apologize, she wanted to bawl herself and tell basil that everything would be ok but she couldn't muster an apology "if I apologize then that will make her think that behavior is ok" she told herself. Alas that wasn't her true opinion, she couldn't apologize because it would be too hard for her.
Instead, Mari grabbed basil by the wrist and dragged him back to the picnic basket, it wasn't a difficult task. She hummed to herself to drown out his protestful noises.
Upon reaching the towel Mari promptly sat the biy down in front of her and began picking out the twigs in his hair. In a sweet jovial voice she asked
"How did you manage to get all of this in here"
Letting out an exasperated chuckle after the question she continued to root through Basil's hair. Positioning him near her lap. Basil replied nervously
"Eehhhh it is fall Mari, the plants break really easily"
For lack of a better reaction Mari laughed again. Basil, uncomfortable and confused, tried to move away to no avail. Mari was drawing this out, it would have been obvious had Basil been in a usual state of mind. But alas, Basil truly believed that there was just that many sticks in his hair.
Once Mari finished slowly and disingenuously removing the plants she clapped her hands together. Basil, who was wondering about the sudden shift in tone and finishing the last of his sobbing was reminded of how Mari would make this gesture after finishing Auberys hair, back when Aubery would let her.
"Your still a little tangled. I'm gonna give you a brushing"
Mari said, but Basil's hair wasn't tangled, it wasn't really even long enough. This was fun. Mari didn't want to admit it on any level, it was sick. kids shouldn't be touching that stuff especially not 12 year olds, but she got to take care of her freind again and she could rationalize him needing it.
Mari reached into her bag and pulled out a hair brush, necessary carry when you have waist length flat hair, marked with a cat design and two plastic triangles made to resemble ears protruding from the top and put it in front of Basil for him to see. It looked a little like the yellow cat him and Sunny used to play on, the sight of such a design was comforting and nostalgic.
For a moment Basil forgot that he was to old to be coddled like this and dropped his tense shoulders. Mari nestled the brush into the hair on the top of basils head and pulled, between his reminiscence and his intoxication Basil's head was not hard to move.
"This is kind of nice. I'm messed up right now so it's ok to be treated like this, right?" Thought basil as he was pulled backwards. A peculiar feeling acted as a rebuttal to this thought. The girls head was rested on Mari's chest between two warm, pliable objects he had no memory of feeling but nonetheless recognized. Basil turned bright red as she thought "I'm not supposed to touch those" and his shoulders became tenser than ever
"Try and keep your head still Au- Basil. Can you do that right now?"
Mari felt betrayed remembering that Basil was in fact a drunk 12 year old boy, and not Aubery. It was doubtful that she'd forget again which drew a sour look to her face she was grateful that basil couldn't see.
As Mari ran the brush through Basil's hair to no apparent end, it awakened a sense memory in them both, relating to the same activity, Mari of course readily admitted this as opposed to Basil.
"Remember when you and Sunny pretended to be my kitties?"
she questioned. Before Basil could offer a reply Mari put down the brush and pulled Basils head against her chest, feeling Mari's chest cradle her skull Basil thought "she's doing it on purpose this time, but... this is Mari, obviously she's not thinking of it like *that*" Basil was right of course but it didn't make the situation any more comfortable.
Mari began petting him and cooed "Good boy basil, that's a good kitty"
This game didn't feel like it used to to Basil. Sure she knew that he was too old but beyond that, it always felt like this game was about Sunny, being alone with Mari seemed strange.
As Mari continued her petting, Basil attempted to wriggle away, prompting Mari to hug around his waist and rub her face on his shoulder. She sniffed him, Basil begun to suspect that Mari was thinking about it that way. A reasonable assumption but incorrect nonetheless. Weakly Basil plead
"Could you let me go?"
Wanting to preserve the atmosphere that she had built Mari staunched the offense she took to this and instead asked, in her usual saccharine tone
"Why's that, kitty?"
Mari took her hands off Basils tummy and placed them, fingers curled, on either side of his head. She put her mouth to the back of his skull and took a deep wiff of his hair while he answered
"Mari I'm sorry but it's weird. I'm 12 and"
She was cut of as Mari, hands still affixed to Basil, layed onto her side. This of course brought the boy with her, a bit violently considering how wobbly he was at the moment which Mari couldn't help but feel schadenfreude for after the ridiculous thing he just said about what she was doing being "weird".
They were practically spooning now and Mari's hands had found themselves across Basil's chest, gently caressing him she continued reminding him that he was a good kitty. It became little more than garbled "hooosshs a googerl? Huh? Ist you basil? Ur mai gukiddy"
After a minute or so. The kitty in question was less bothered by the petting than he felt she should be. Internal deliberation brought him again and again to the conclusion that the petting and cooing wasn't an issue, it felt nice, the thing causing Basil to be uncomfortable was a thought in her head that he was "too old".
Basil was, however, uncomfortable. Attempts to move away from Mari always ended in failure and a tighter hug which pressed Basil to places he didn't want to be. "It's my fault" thought Basil. "Mari is being nice it's my fault I don't like this".
It was an interesting concept, fault, one that dissolves easily as you understand how unimaginably complex any given interaction is.
Thinking about things like this always calmed Basil down, it helped her stop worrying and view things from behind a glass pane. His shoulders let themselves drop, in an exaggerated manor due to his current affliction. This prompted Mari too blow against his neck and suggest.
"Hey let's make a burrito!!" A game of sorts that was once played between her and Basil which entailed them rolling themselves up in a picnic blanket, the pressure always helped basil get to sleep.
Mari didn't even stop to think of how childish it was, eagerly awaiting an answer with a smile one her face that Basil hadn't seen since his last birthday.
"Uhhmmm sure"
She replied. Mari seemed crestfallen to hear a voice that belonged to an early adolescent and not the young child she was envisioning but she was happy that she had agreed to the proposal.
She reached over Basil's head and grabbed a corner of the blanket before pulling it over his face and pushed her even closer. Basil was scared until her body was lifted over Mari and they began rolling. As she felt her body tighten up and almost inflate as he was rolled over and picked up Basil couldn't help but laugh.The idea that he was "too old" was barely caveat now, no longer causing her any real malaise.
Finally the roll was complete, the two firmly pressed against each other. Maris hands, no longer required to keep Basil in place began to snake around his tummy and chest. Basil didn't feel uncomfortable about how Mari was touching him. It made him feel gross that he ever did.
"The others will probably be back from looking for you soon"
Mari told Basil. She remembered that he'd dug herself into a pretty intense situation. It wasn't hard to forget with how nonchalant Mari was acting. A thought that twisted Basil's chest entered her mind and she asked without hesitation.
"Are you gonna tell everybody that I drank?"
Mari frowned, she wished that she'd stop being reminded of the reality of the situation. She rested her chin on Basil's shoulder and began devising.
"Hmmm... If you go to sleep before they get back then I won't tell."
She said. The truth was she probably wouldn't spill either way, if Basil remained as she was now they'd find out themselves, but if she had a nap it might slip past them.
Of course the true purpose of this proposal was to see Basil sleeping, as well as avoid any further rude awakenings as to the nature of this interaction.
She began again to stroke Basil's hair, softer this time. Loosening her grip on the girl she places her off hand onto the side of his rib cage and felt his chest move as he breathed.
"Good boy Basil, think your gonna make it to sleep before they get back?"
This made Basil's heart beat a little faster as he felt true suspense surrounding whether or not Mari would tell the others, but that subsided after a while. Amongst petting and the occasional "iiko" or "good boy" chanted by mari. Forgetting the situation she was in, Basil begun to drift into sleep.