savetheearth | Text

It's a little bit of a relief to hear that she's not the only one just sitting with one not so helpful memory.

Shaking her head, she finally lets go of her leg, letting it rest on the couch as she shifts more. "No, just the one. It feels weird to not have more? I mean- I get a memory of a floating stuffed animal and then have weeks of just worrying about grades and track meets." Her hands go up in frustration. She's never been the patient type as it is!

"It's frustrating, and now this earthquake..." She doesn't even know where she's going with that line of thought and just sort of trails off because of it. "I just want to help but I'm not sure how." She finally finishes, her whole body showing her disappointment, shoulders drooping and her eyes firmly on the couch.

"Hey. It'll be okay." Ethan's not used to this - wasn't she supposed to be the talkative, upbeat one? - but he's going to try. A depressed Holly isn't something he really wants. He understands the frustration, too; he just hides it better. If it were a guy, he'd put a hand on their shoulder, or something; Holly isn't, and he's not entirely sure what he can do aside from try to encourage her. "It's been busy, right? We don't all have a lot of free time to just roam the city looking for trouble. Our time will come. I promise."

Thinking for a moment, he stands up, moving in front of her and holding out his hand so she can see if even if she doesn't look up at him. "Do you want to go see if there's something we can do to help? Moving things, volunteering somewhere...?"

She usually isn't the type to get so down, but maybe it's just a mix of all these new worries she's never had to deal with before. Add that on top to the usual worry before winter holiday break and it just is too much.

When he gets up though, she follows his movement. Looking up at him, she slowly smiles nodding. "Yes. I'd like that." Whether he meant for her to take his hand or not, she does, squeezing once to show her thanks.

"I'll just need to text my mother, if I'm with someone she should be okay with it."

He'd intended it but not really expected it; there's a moment of surprise at the contact, but it's reassuring all the same. Nothing worth doing was going to happen while they were sitting here worried about the city (and, in Ethan's case, her), and he'd kind of said the first thing on his mind. So the fact that it'd worked was kind of nice.

"Okay. Go ahead and do that. Um... what do we want to do, though? Is there somewhere you want to start from, or anything you want to try first?"

"I'm sure downtown will be packed with emergency services, we could see if City Hall has any plans so far and ask if they need any help?" She's talking as she stands, grabbing her phone in the same motion.

It doesn't take her but a few seconds to send a text to her mother, the reply equally as quick. "Okay, I'm allowed we just have to be back before dark." Which was more than enough time, even if they walked the whole way though they might be tired by the end of it.

Ethan nods; it sounds like a reasonable plan. "That sounds fair. We'll start with City Hall, then. It's not like the city's that big, so we shouldn't have too bad of a time."

'Back by dark' wasn't going to be terribly restrictive, but he kept the timetable in mind, just in case. Who knew what they could get up to by then?

Who knew indeed, she's already popping over to the closet on the side of the room to pull out a jacket to wear. "Was it cold outside?" She's glancing down to her shorts with a little frown. Should she change or would they be okay? Holly obviously hasn't checked the weather at all today.

"A little bit... but it is December," which seemed like explanation enough as he pulled his own jacket back on. He wasn't one to let his clothes get in his way, but today he was wearing somewhat heavy jeans. "If you're going to change, don't forget we're going to work, so we'll probably get dirty - don't wear something you'll miss too much."

Nodding, she glances down at herself before laughing. Yeah she'll need to change, there is no way she'd be able to do any amount of work in these clothes even if it was the summer. "I'll be right back!"

Holly disappears into the back of the house, down one hall and past two other closed doors before entering hers, from the living room there's a glimpse of her room, bright colors and posters on one wall before the door is shut just a bit so she can change clothes.

She's back in record time, opening the door as she's tapping on her shoes, bending to tie them just after. She obviously took him seriously because she's wearing two shirts, one that looks a little too large for her, some blue paint the same color as her walls, on her right shoulder in the shape of a hand print much too large to be her own. Jeans accompany this with sneakers finishing the work outfit. "Okay much better. Do you think we should bring anything?"

If the answer is no, she's ready to leave, her bag by the front door with keys hanging up next to it.

Ethan notes where her room is and definitely catches the splash of color; when the door closes, he turns back to the television for a moment to wait for her. But they're just talking to an expert about the epicenter again, and how unlikely an earthquake like this in this part of the country is, and he shakes his head. "Damned media... can't they report on something useful? Anyone that's finished middle school knows something is wrong here."

That means he doesn't notice she's done until that same color from her room catches his eye, and he turns to see she's already back, taking a moment to appraise her new outfit and nodding in satisfaction. "That was fast. Uh... maybe a bottle of water or something? And gloves. It's going to get cold once the sun starts going down." He pushes himself to his feet again, moving toward the door... before catching himself and turning the TV off, then going back to the door.

Text - > Phone

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