[ Chipper, cheerful when they're off the clock. The nice voice she uses to talk to everyone else — that sits separate from the thing that burns in her chest when she gets a step wrong. And it helps, maybe, that she isn't looking to be told well done or good job, at least not in so many words. She understands it well enough when he decides it's time to move onto another exercise, when he stops rapping her knuckles after she wraps her hands. What matters is that he understands what she needs, which is a knife that isn't a knife, when everyone here is special, and her flesh bruises easily. ]
It's a keychain. For your water bottle, to help tell it apart. Or for your gym bag. Backpack. Wherever you want to put it.
no subject
[ Chipper, cheerful when they're off the clock. The nice voice she uses to talk to everyone else — that sits separate from the thing that burns in her chest when she gets a step wrong. And it helps, maybe, that she isn't looking to be told well done or good job, at least not in so many words. She understands it well enough when he decides it's time to move onto another exercise, when he stops rapping her knuckles after she wraps her hands. What matters is that he understands what she needs, which is a knife that isn't a knife, when everyone here is special, and her flesh bruises easily. ]
It's a keychain. For your water bottle, to help tell it apart. Or for your gym bag. Backpack. Wherever you want to put it.
[ A beat. ]
It reminded me of you.