Just the Rain... (FaF 1st draft)

A roughdraft for a Feathers and Flowers short story! A bit of context on this post: This is the original draft for this image here, before I ultimately scrapped it and went for something far more lighthearted and silly. I kinda forgot about the draft but I was sifting through my drive and found it again, and after a reread I think with a bit of setting changes (make it take place at the apartment not outside) and some rewriting this is salvageable. BUT ANYWAY, here it is in it's unedited glory for anyone curious! uwu

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Kaela hated the rain.

Well, maybe hate was too strong a word; the rhythmic pitter-patter against the sloping overhang of the diner she took shelter under was admittedly peaceful, and she appreciated the quiet the world around her settled into. As a child she was always fascinated with all things nature, rainstorms included, had loved sitting at a window and watching the world turn all sorts of greys and blues and cool greens, the earthy smell that often came after every downpour.

Yet there she is, standing alone and with the streets empty to the night, staring out and watching the steady fall with a frown on her face.

'It's just rain, Mikaela. It's just rain. Walk home before it gets worse.'

Kaela sets her shoulders and takes a deep breath before she walks forward, taking a few cautious steps out and into the blanket of fog and rainfall. Despite everything, the rain is cold against her overheated skin and for the briefest of moments she feels herself relax, a small bout of relief washing over her in a nervous wave of energy.

'It's just rain. Nothing to be afraid of.'

It's at that moment lightning lights up the sky in the distance, thunder rolling quietly behind it. It's nowhere near her, she can barely hear the rumble, but it still makes her heart lurch and has her backpedaling until she's flush against the locked door of the diner again. She clutches tightly to the fabric just above her heart, clenching her eyes shut and gritting her teeth.

'It's just rain, it's just rain, it's just-'

She can see the flash of lightning behind her eyelids, thunder so loud this time it crackles like splintering glass, and for the briefest of moments she isn't standing on the stoop of the diner, but instead in the confines of a car. It's swerving, tires screech before the world begin to spin violently. Deafened by the crunch of metal and the burst of glass; vision spins even when the car has long since stopped, the scent of blood is overpowered only by the pounding of the rain, the crash of thunder--

Kaela cuts her own thoughts off with a ragged sigh, willing her heart to stop trying to break free of her ribcage. Her eyes sting with how hard she's clenching them shut, and she instead remembers nights of her brother cradling her in his lap like a child, of the night Sakura clutched her shoulders. Both tell her to "breath". It helps, and soon enough her heart slows and the beginnings of trembling subsides before it has the chance to settle. She allows her legs to give out and she slides down the door she leans against, letting her head thump back against it with equal measures of relief and frustration. She hates how much her skin burns and tingles with the urge to scratch, how her breathing still carries the smallest rattles, and Kaela worries her bottom lip with her teeth.

'It's just... rain...'

But her confidence is gone now, and not for the first time that night Kaela regrets not taking up any of her coworkers' offer to drive her home. She peaks an eye open to stare back out into the falling rain, still as steady and never-ending as it had been all day, and she gets the feeling it'll continue in the same fashion for some time.

It's then that the events of the day fully catch up to her; the snappy remarks of some of the ruder customers, the chaos of the lunch rush, how much her feet hurt and body ached and how much she wanted to change out of her crummy uniform. She wanted to go home, and sit on her couch with a cup of hot chocolate while watching Mal learn her way through her newest fixation; this time it was another pokemon game.

The thought is almost enough to get her to try her luck out in the rain again, but lightning chooses that moment to flash brightly in the sky and Kaela can feel the roar of thunder in her chest. She doesn't feel the beginnings of panic again, but her heart lurches and she feels winded all the same, and she knows she isn't able to brave the storm anymore.

Kaela settles herself more comfortably against the diner's door with a resigned sigh.

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A gentle hand brushing against her shoulder and the soft call of her name is what startles her out of her doze. Kaela's eyes snap open and she bodily jerks, awake in an instant, and it takes her a few moments to fully get her bearings. She's still at the diner, back twinging slightly in protest against leaning on the door for so long, and the rain that kept her from leaving in the first place is still falling as relentlessly as it had been all day. The fact that she fell asleep is a surprise to her; she must've been far more worn out than she thought.

She doesn't think too much about it for long; she isn't really able to, not when she fully realizes that it's Mal who woke her, deep into a kneel so she can meet Kaela's eyes with her own.

"Mal?" Kaela asks, voice slightly hoarse with sleep, and she clears her throat before she continues on. "What, ah... what are you doing here?" It feels like a silly question to ask, but it's the only thing she can think of. The last thing she expected to see while waiting out the storm was her Spirit roommate coming to her.

Mal's huge wings are folded against her shoulders in their usual resting position, but Kaela can see them flutter momentarily before they settle again. She at first doesn't answer, too focused on studying the girl before her to check for... well, Kaela isn't exactly sure what Mal was looking for. But she seemed to have gotten it after a moment, and the Spirit then takes the chance to lean back and regard her with those bright eyes of hers.

"...It's late." She says, voice carrying the echo of a rumble behind it. "You weren't home." I was worried. She doesn't say it, but it's in the way she looks at her, of the calloused hand sliding down the length of her arm before grasping her own to give a gentle squeeze.

For reasons she can't explain, Kaela feels a strange inkling of shame in her gut, and she can't quite meet Mal's gaze anymore so she looks off to the side, to the blanket of rain falling just outside the confines of the slope she sheltered under. "I apologize, I just... it was hard to get home."