What Is This Feeling [Angie]

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

Gryphon was... simply put, very confused at the moment. He'd been having these thoughts, thinking these... things. Jesus, he struggled to even think about it clearly. He couldn't even use the right words in his head, how was he ever going to vocalise his thoughts to someone else when he couldn't even talk properly to himself? The winged man had been studying gender and other such topics at university and well... it got you thinking about things you might not otherwise consider. Every time he had... the thoughts he was having, his own reaction was different. Somedays, it just seemed to make sense. Like, why would he have any doubts? But then he'd worry about it a few days later and think he was being ridiculous, overreacting, I mean, he was just gay, that was it, that was why he felt this way, femininity fell into homosexuality anyway. 

But he knew it didn't. He knew that from his studies as well.

He was just... confused. Confused and worried and he wished someone could just walk up to him and straight up say 'You're this.' or 'You're that.' or 'Stop worrying about it, you have enough problems as it is, you idiot.' But the world didn't work like that. He just... over time... he felt things had changed. Involving him. After being around his dad, and then everything that happened with Nick... well, he'd had to kind of find himself. He'd been tugged this way and that and... well, only now were things kind of falling into place, but something was trying to settle that he wasn't comfortable with. Like... like it fit well, like a jigsaw puzzle piece in the exact spot it was meant to be, but it just made him wonder if he'd put it all together wrong. And he didn't know who to talk to about this, or if he should talk to anyway, and, and.... it was distressing. 

He felt one of the only ways he could try and work this out on his own was to actually put some investment into it. Maybe that would something he'd inherited from his dad. So he had. And it had just come, the parcel.

Angie was in the apartment at the moment, which was why he was thinking about this so much right now. She spoke about her son like he was the Messiah or something and well... yeah, that related. So he'd said hi - she wanted to give something to Tak or something, and his room-mate wasn't in right now, so she had decided to wait for her - but instead of making any kind of conversation, like he might have normally, he was very quiet and shy and he didn't know what to do or say or-- and then the parcel had come and he had to go collect it. He returned with the box on his lap, closing the door behind him and sending Angie an awkward smile as he saw her again. Had she noticed his abnormal behaviour? He just.... he looked down at the box and wheeled into the kitchen with her, facing in an opposite direction to her as he went to find something to open it with. He wanted to check it was all in order but... her seeing it wasn't something he really wanted to happen.

[Deleted]

Angie sipped her warm tea. Mmmm….it was delicious. She set it down on the coffee table and peeped around behind her when the boy Gryphon came rolling back into the room with a box placed on his lap. The poor hunny. Angie had never heard of anyone breaking both their legs before. It must be so hard for him and his boyfriend.

Yes, Angie was well aware that Gryphon was gay and had himself a very delightfully adorable boyfriend who went to Hammel. Tak had talked about him before, so she felt like she already knew him well enough before she had the privilege of finally meeting him. That time too, Angie had come to the apartment to drop something off that Tak had left behind. A little trinket that could have waited until the next day or the next, but Angie was feeling generous and wanted to stop for a visit with her co-worker.

Dear little Gryphon. To be perfectly honest, he reminded Angie so much of her own son, it was like she was seeing his future self. So grown up and responsible. Angie hoped that Glads would turn out even just half this well once he graduated.

Anyway, back to the reason Angie was here. Tak had left something behind yet again, though this time….the item….Angie just wasn’t sure what to make of it. Nor did she think that it was something that she should just leave in the breakroom at the cafe. Angie had heard that Tak got a second job, at some theater or somewhat….and it did occur to her that this item might be a costume for that, but….well, still, even if it was a costume, Angie didn’t feel it was right to just leave it be wherever it lay. Though….she still wasn’t sure it was something she could leave with Tak’s roommate. Angie had to be considerate after all.

Angie made a curious face to see Gryphon roll his way back to the kitchen instead of to the sitting room. Call her curious, because she was, but wanted to know what he got from the mail service! Angie stood and traipsed her way silently over to the kitchen behind him, causally looking over his shoulder at the box. “So…what’d you get?” she asked brightly. “Something nice?”

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

Every now and then, Gryphon did wonder what impression his predicament gave to other people. Without knowing the full details of the hows and whys about how he ended up in a wheelchair, Gryph felt like he either looked like a poor soul who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, or some idiot who doesn’t know how to human. Or maybe both. Either way, the longer he was sat in this dumb wheeled chair, the dumber he felt about his situation. Sympathy had slowly become annoying, as much as he appreciated it, and there always seemed to be at least one person he’d forgot to inform.

….did his dad know?

Oh wait, of course his dad knew. He was the one paying for his treatment, technically.

That was right. He’d had a lovely phone call from daddy dearest about this.

”<Gryphon, I will not give you any more money.>”

“<I broke both my legs, it hurts~ Daaaaaad~! >”

“<I hope you don’t think you’re funny.>”

“<I’m hilarious, actually. Now give me money.>”

“<I really do not appreciate this disrespect, son.”>

“<Dad, I’m stuck in a hospital bed. I can send you photographic proof if you want, I have the medical records too. I would love to send you the x-rays.>”

“<I don’t have time for this.>”

And somehow, he had still got the money, without sending proof. Huh. Gryph never really thought about that…

....wasn’t important right now. No, what was important was this lovely box and its contents. Gryphon was extremely glad that the box itself was vague enough not to have a label with the company name on or something. That would give the whole thing away straight away and…. Gryph wasn’t ready for that. He wasn’t sure he was ready to share this with anyone else at all. That was why he made sure there was distance between him and the friendly blonde with the tea before even considering opening the box.

So when, scissors in hand, Gryphon heard that voice over his shoulder, he nearly had a heart attack on the spot. He jumped slightly, hand resting on his chest, “Jesus, Angie, you walk quietly.” He then looked at her with a bit of a grimace, an apologetic expression, “Sorry. Blasphemy. I didn’t mean to.” Gryph’s dad was Christian, but Gryphon wasn’t. Religion wasn’t something that concerned him really. He patted the box absent-mindedly, placing down the scissors now that he had an audience. “I would say it’s pretty nice. At least, I hope it is.” It cost enough. And whilst Angie was over his shoulder, its niceness would remain a mystery.

[Deleted]

Outside of Gryphon having himself a boyfriend and being Tak’s roommate and being in a wheelchair, however, Angie didn’t actually know much about him…well, she knew that he was a dancer. She knew that he had wings(beautiful, they were). And she knew that he was a college student. And that he loved ice cream. But further than that, Angie didn’t know much about his family life. She could only assume that his relationship with his family was well, but otherwise, she just hoped that he himself was well. It was hard living on one’s own, especially when one was so young and just having finished high school.

Angie never went to college, so she could only imagine how much harder that made it. And she wondered if she was going to be able to provide for her boy Glads to go to college one day as well. Certainly not on her paycheck, she barely had enough to make ends meet as it was. It saddened her that she couldn’t give her son everything that he deserved. Glads never complained, though, and for that she thought him even more of a blessing. They’d figure it out, somehow. And besides, he was still only 16. There was plenty of time for them to figure it out still. And she was sure the school would help in that regards as well. Sean had always helped her, at least, when she was that age.

Now about that box….

Angie could never hold back her curiosity, so of course she would hover over his shoulder, waiting for Gryphon to open the little thing, regardless of how intrusive she may be being. At his outcry, Angie only laugh. Then she gave him a playful push on the shoulder at his apology. “Oh, don’t you mind it. Not me nor his Lord are gonna cast you into the fires of Hell for being startled. That’s ridiculous.” And while it was true that one shouldn’t take the Lord’s name in vain….well, not all of us were perfect and slip-ups happened, and the Lord knew very darned well that we did.

Angie smile. “Well….what’re waiting for? Open it up, let’s have a look-see!” she said with a wave of her hand and sassy hand on her hip. Her curiosity would never be squelched if he kept dawdling, now would it?

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

Gryphon could complain about his dad as much as he wanted. About his opinions, his traditions, his opinions, his attitude, his opinions, his intolerance... had he mentioned his opinions? In Gryph's opinion, they were unwarranted and controversial to say the least. He just hoped that one day he'd get a gay business partner and realise that homosexuals are people too... ugh. But yes, despite all that, he was still his dad, and Gryph was still fortunate enough that Mr. Matsuoka was still willing to donate money to Gryphon's survival. He appreciated it, in a way, even if that was something he would never tell him.

If only he knew what Gryph had spent some of that money on.... or maybe it was his own, hard-earned money - though the winged man doubted that, considering he hadn't been working for about three months now.

He laughed along awkwardly at the whole situation, keeping his hand on the box as if it would open by itself and start a fanfare announcing the contents, or something. Or maybe he was afraid of Angie taking it and opening it herself - she seemed interested enough to want to do that. It made him uncomfortable. Hadn't she heard of privacy... she was probably just being friendly, it was unfair to think of her like that. Angie was lovely. "Sorry." He apologised again, sheepishly. At least he hadn't offended her or something.

At the exclamations, Gryph just felt more awkward. Like... this wasn't even a sex toy. Even that he could manage to open and try to laugh off, 'cause loads of people had sex toys, and that was normal. Kind of. But... gosh, he was even distracting himself from this. He looked at her for a couple seconds with an expression that read as a childish 'do I have to?', before he turned back to look at the box.

Should he?

He drummed nervously on the top. This was none of her business. He should be able to tell her that, right? Assert himself and tell her that he'd prefer to be left alone. But... but the words wouldn't come. It seemed too mean to him. So eventually... he reached for the scissors again, carefully snipping the tape and peeking in quickly before closing it up again.

"....it's in there." No shit, genius. "Good enough for me." Not true. He wanted to look at it and feel it and work out how it worked and if it would look good and.... he couldn't look again with her there. Angie of all people was probably the most likely person to understand his.... situation, but he wasn't about to share this with her.

[Deleted]

Angie believed that everyone was entitled to their own opinions…even if those opinions were completely wrong. It was all good until those people started forcing those opinions onto others in a horrible, depreciating manner. Because Angie forced her opinions onto other people plenty…but she was right. And she was nice too. Angie had never known a person to think otherwise, save for those wrong people who didn’t like being told they were wrong.

If Angie ever came face to face with Mr. Matsuoka (Gryphon’s father), she’d give him a piece or two of her mind that he’d never forget, for how he treated his own flesh and blood. By golly, she’d make sure he heard her voice nagging at him in his dreams, she would!

But anyway…

Angie was very much indeed the sort who would snatch the box from Gryphon’s lap and pop it open. It really couldn’t be as bad or embarrassing as he was making it seem. Angie was an adult, wasn’t she? There certainly wasn’t a lot she hadn’t seen before in the territory of embarrassing things. And Angie could venture a few guesses as to what it was, given how secretive he was being about it.

“Is it a sex toy?” she asked bluntly. Angie shook her head. “Boy, there is nothing new in that department that I haven’t seen before, I am a woman of thirty-two years old, do you think I haven’t seen something like that before or found something of the like hidden in my son’s things?” Granted, Angie shouldn’t have been searching through his things, but that was beside the point. Angie was anything but innocent, she would say, and had seen quit a lot of things in her lifetime. Not everything, of course, so there was a chance this could be something new, but how bad could it possibly be? “Now open it up!” she demanded, masking it as encouragement. Nosy nosy nosy~

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

Yeah.... yeah, he wasn't really concerned about any judgement from the contents of this box from Angie. If anything, he almost felt worried about the lack of judgement he would probably receive, if she found out what he held in his hands. He wasn't sure why, just... hearing someone being passive wouldn't seem right. Maybe it would help, but... oh, Gryph didn't know! He was just a nervous little thing who was self-conscious and wanted to be normal and yet, there was this, and a trillion other things, that continued to make him less and less so. Why couldn't the universe be nice and simple to him?

He coughed awkwardly and a bright colour flushed to his cheeks at Angie's assumption about what the contents of the box was. He dipped his head in embarrassment as she continued, and almost winced at the mention of Glads. That was awkward. Everything was awkward. "N-No." He said stiffly, coughing again. It probably seemed like he was lying but he was just sensitive about that subject, and having Angie drill on about it was like... his brain didn't like it. "It's not a sex toy, I swear." He hugged the box to his chest, uncertain.

And then he swallowed.

And then he looked at the box.

And then he felt his throat seize slightly from the anxiety the situation was giving him.

And softly, slowly, he unfolded the box again and reached a hand in, taking the item out of all of its packaging and stroking the hair of it. It was a pastel pink wig with long curly hair that was mostly still caught in the box. Gryph didn't look up from it, brushing out the fibres gently with the lightest touches from his finger. He took a deep breath and let it out, not speaking. This was just... embarrassing. It was too much.

But at the same time, he looked at the wig softly, almost lovingly. It was gorgeous.

[Deleted]

Angie was probably the least judgmental person Gryphon would ever meet…thought that didn’t mean she was perfect, of course she was plenty judgmental about certain things. And she stood stubborn like a rock by her judgments. Because they were usually right. Angie liked to think she was a good judge of character, but every now and again, she’d get it wrong. Lord knows she did that enough in her youth, far too often what could be considered healthy.

But we were talking about Gryphon, not Angie’s past mistakes.

She could have gigglefitted at how embarrassed and red he got when she so bluntly brought up that topic. Yes, Angie was quite shameless, she’d been told, but she didn’t care. Just because a topic was uncomfortable didn’t mean that it shouldn’t be talked about or that you should pretend that it didn’t exist. A lot of problems just don’t get addressed when left ignored like that. So Angie most definitely held no shame in calling people out on their cowardice, especially when it affected her son negatively. She’d move mountains for that boy.

Oh, so it wasn’t a sex toy. What else could it…? “Well, if it’s not a sex toy, then what else would have you so darn nervous?” She leaned in and made a grimacing face. “It’s not a gun, is it?” Now why on earth would he need a thing like that?

Finally, it seemed like he was ready to end this game of 20 questions and get to the great reveal. When she saw the pink color, Angie rose an eyebrow of curiosity. Then he pulled it out and Angie was finally able to see what it was. “Oh my stars~” she exclaimed, covering her mouth in awe. “That’s absolutely beautiful~” A pink, long-haired wig, with beautiful little curls. Oh, kids and their silly hair colors these days, but she couldn’t deny that it was quite lovely. “Is this a gift for someone?” she asked, not for a moment thinking that it could be for Gryphon himself.

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

Gryph may have started to look a little older and act a little more mature but that didn't mean he was a fully-fledged adult. In fact, in his mind, he was far from it. He felt he had tons more exploring to do with his life, that he needed to get over things like the subject of sex and such because it was just a human process and people did it and it wasn't that embarrassing, it was just two (or more, who knows) people getting together to do things.... and stuff.... yeah, no, he couldn't and wouldn't be blunt about the subject. Maybe he would never be. You know, Kodi excluded. Basically, Gryphon still felt young, and like he was growing up very fast, and this other, new occurence he'd come across was difficult to ignore, now that he was giving himself actual respect and attention, and all this did so far was give him some answers to some questions and, in his opinion, make his life harder than it already was. He didn't need this as well.

At the suggestion than in place of a toy it was a gun had Gryph's jaw dropping. That statement alone was enough to tell you that Angie and Gryph were more acquaintances than proper friendly. Gryphon was a strong pacifist, that only wavering in certain situations, and he would never, ever even dream of wanting or using a gun. The thought sickened him. He eventually swallowed and recovered, shaking his head vigorously before he moved on.

The compliments given to the wig made Gryph smile. She was voicing his exact thoughts. It was so soft and well made, it felt like real hair... which was creepy, in a way, but once it was put to use... it was these thoughts that had Gryphon hindering and struggling to make eye contact again. He twisted some of the curls around his fingers, not really responding, just saying a passive "Yeah," for now. When the question of whose it was arose, the avian man's mind stumbled again. He pulled the wig up a bit more and was basically hugging it when he answered,

"...it's mine."

It wasn't proudly said. If you weren't listening, maybe you would even miss him saying it. He buried his nose in the wig and smelled it, curious... well, it smelled like detergent. He could change that. There was probably a way to make it smell like... like raspberries or something... his throat didn't want to co-operate, but he didn't want to make any misunderstanding, so he spoke anyway, despite the slight scratchiness in his voice that now arose, "I'm not a cross-dresser or.... or a transvestite..." He coughed a little, slowly packing the wig away again as he spoke, "I don't think I'm transgender, but... but... maybe..."

He couldn't even say it, as if it were some taboo word that would summon a dark lord (yes, he had been reading Harry Potter). The worst part was probably that in this moment, he kept refering to himself as a he, when... when he felt like a she. It hurt in a way that felt almost unreal to not be able to even want to accept his---- her own self. It hurt a whole lot.

[Deleted]

It wasn’t like Angie just went off spouting things about sex in every conversation crudely like some offensive children did(here’s looking at you, Oriel), she was still much more of a lady than to do that, but it also wasn’t a subject she shirked away from with embarrassment just because it happened to come up. But yes, she could understand that perhaps Gryphon was still much more of a child than he seemed and would still need time to mature into sort of mentality, should he choose to. Angie also had never dealt with any personal sexuality or gender issues that many of today’s youth seemed to be plagued with, so there a large jump of understanding that she had to draw just from a good idea rather than experience. That didn’t mean she didn’t empathize, though don’t expect her to cry a river for you. A good lecturing, maybe, but tears weren’t necessary for one to understand.

Anyway, back to the box and the contents therein. She rolled her eyes and smirked at his reaction to her mention of a gun, then put a hand on her hip. “Well, how am I supposed to know if you don’t say anything! All I can do is make a guess at this rate.” Really, this child was being so stubborn!

One couldn’t blame Angie for not knowing for whom the wig was for. Honestly, upon seeing it, she thought that it might be a present for his little sister or some such, and that’s why he was embarrassed to be seen with it. Because he didn’t want people to think it was his. Not that there was anything wrong with that, if it was(and it was), but that’s just how boys worked sometimes, didn’t they? Typically, boys just wanted to be boys and didn’t want to be thought of as girls, that’s just how things were, but…well, that did not mean that all boys were like that. Her own son certainly wasn’t(though he was a little at first, now she thought of it), so she really shouldn’t be surprised when another boy told her the same thing.

But, of course….she was surprised. Of course, Angie didn’t understand a whole lick of this ‘gender identity confusion’ stuff that Glads had explained to her once, but she did know that it was something that some people said happened and that too was just how things were, no matter how much she didn’t understand.

So to his revelation, and semi-admittance to his….situation…Angie nodded slowly. “Oh,” she said shortly, giving him a regarding look. She waved her hand in dismissal. “Oh, well that’s okay. I’m sure it’ll look darling on you too,” she said with a nod and small smile. That smile spread and she turned round to face Gryphon from the front. “Now, I don’t know what you might be feeling or thinking about that whole gender stuff…but why don’t you go ahead and put it on anyway and we’ll see how it looks, all right?” Her smile was gentle, and her eyes squinted as it grew. Just because she couldn’t relate personally didn’t mean she couldn’t be supportive, right?

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

Time and exposure would give Gryph the ability to be casual about things like sex. He could act mature all he wanted, seem as grown up as his age labelled him but the reality was that he just wasn’t truly that accustomed to… well, life. He’d get there eventually. Once he understood himself more, he would start to go in the right direction, he hoped. His stubbornness with many things would probably dissipate with time, once the fear he had associated with these things went as well. He felt like he just needed time. He made a grimace at her accusations(?), but said nothing more. She had to just deal with guessing until Gryphon revealed.

The avian man wished he had a little sister. He adored Belle to no end; having a sister of his own… well, that was something he probably wouldn’t ever get now. That was okay, but it meant he had no excuse for buying what he had - not that he wanted to lie, it was just… no-one knew. Not one single person. And he didn’t want to seem like some weirdo, but… this genderfluidity was weird. People wouldn’t understand it. It wasn’t like being of a different sexuality - these days, a large majority of people were casually accepting of those who were gay, bisexual, asexual... but gender was different. It was believed to be assigned at birth, but that isn’t the case. A person’s sex is assigned at birth. Gender is a huge grey area, and not everyone knew that. Having that knowledge and being able to apply it to yourself was more than scary. Gryphon knew he could just be making a mountain out of a molehill but he didn’t want to be rejected by anyone and… and this…? Some people might not accept it.

Angie’s initial reaction was one that quickly had Gryph’s shoulders hunching from insecurity. As she continued… his mind wouldn’t change. He found himself somehow certain that she thought he was strange. She was just being too nice to admit it. And Glads? Glads was her own son, she was too kind, she wouldn’t be able to prejudice against him because of how he was. Was it he? Oh God, Gryphon didn’t know anymore… the shy boy ...person glanced up slowly at Angie’s suggestion. But he found himself shaking his head, looking at the ground, “There’s no need, I’m… it can wait until later…” He said softly, swallowing. He folded the flaps of the box down, feeling a pressure behind his eyes that he didn’t want to feel and a lump in his throat that he just couldn’t swallow. It was so simple, this situation, but it was still too much. Despite being a somewhat confident boy, Gryph was an insecure girl. She didn’t want to have attention, she wasn’t ready yet. She wasn’t even sure who she was anymore.

With a small sniff and no words, Gryphon took hold of the wheels of his chair and started to head in the direction of his bedroom. He wasn’t sure he wanted to entertain anymore today.

[Deleted]

Angie wasn’t trying to be rude or unkind at all, really she wasn’t, but sometimes she just didn’t pick up on when to leave a subject alone. Yes, she knew it was sensitive, but she also had a sense in her to try and help these sensitive things, even if she had to force her way into it. Like how she was feeling here with Gryphon. “Are you sure?” she asked, tilting her head with concern. “I don’t mind, you know. This is just a guess here, but I’m thinking you don’t have a whole lot people you can show off this sorta thing to.”

Angie put her hands up, preparing for one of her ‘momma knows best’ lectures. “Now…I don’t know, maybe I’m totally off-base here, but you’re sitting over there looking like it’d be the world’s doom to show off that thing to anybody. And I’m telling you, that no matter what you decide, that world doesn’t care half as much as you think it does, so there’s no reason to let a little embarrassment keep you from being who you are.” She giggled softly to herself, bringing a girlish hand up to her chin. “Why, if I did that, I’d never take more than two steps out of bed in the morning, I have so much shame on my shoulders, it’s a wonder I don’t just fall straight through the floor.” She was trying to make a joke, to keep the heavy situation light, but who knew if it would do any good.

The boy was rolling away in his wheelchair looking like she’d just given him a knick in the pants. It wasn’t that she didn’t feel bad about it, she did….but the boy wasn’t going to get anywhere just doing things like he was doing. Angie was a ‘go-getter’ type of person. She believed entirely in the problem solving technique of “do it yourself, with gutso!” over the one of “let’s hope it fixes itself and just sit here miserable until it does”. Angie had done the latter for a good portion of her life and she was done with that. Yes, she knew it wasn’t easy, but it was often necessary to change the situation. And that all really what some people needed. Change. Not necessarily for the better or worse, but just doing something different because you already know what doesn’t work. “Gryphon, hunny…” she started gently. “Don’t you take any of what I said too personally. I’m really just wanting to help.” Angie offered a soft smile, hoping the boy(girl?) would come back out and just…talk to her. Because she wanted to listen.

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

Gryphon somewhat appreciated the concern, the fact that Angie was spending time trying to help him, but her methods… they weren’t bad, they just didn’t fit with how Gryph worked. He was sensitive. He was somewhat self-conscious. Forcing him to do anything didn’t fit into his regime of being cool as a cucumber. He nodded, rather sharply, “I’m certain.” He said, still shaky with his words, “I appreciate it, but I… I don’t want to…” It was his hair after all… or should it be her hair? Oh god, pronouns were hard, Gryph was confused.

Gryph was listening as Angie spoke, he was! Just… he didn’t want to hear it, really. If anything, it made him feel worse. So now I’m being irrational. Great. Exactly what I need. And this wasn’t a decision! Unless she meant the decision to wear more feminine clothing at the appropriate times because it made her more comfortable in her own skin, which still didn’t feel like much of a decision. More of a comfort. So as she spoke, Gryphon’s head lowered in embarrassment. That was exactly why she couldn’t… excuse the cheesiness – be herself outside of the apartment. It was too shameful, felt too embarrassing. Even though he had been told in his lectures and through personal research that this kind of thing was nothing to be ashamed of, he couldn’t help being that way. As such, he was struggling to find a response that was anything but negative. That was unlike him, yes, but… he couldn’t help it… he just continued to look somewhat guilty.

So yeah, he wasn’t in the best of moods, and wanted to be left alone. At the comments, he sighed, “How am I not supposed to take it personally? We are talking about my situation…” And Gryph didn’t deal like these situations like Angie did. He was the type to contemplate, and then worry. He used to worry less about the opinions of others, shrug them off with a smile, but for people outside of his university lectures, the understanding probably wouldn’t be there. “Just leave me alone, I’ll survive…” He continued to roll away, going into his bedroom and hiding the wig from view. As long as Kodi did no heavy scavenging, he wouldn’t find it. He returned to the living space once that was done, regarding Angie, wherever she was. “Thanks all the same,” He said softly. But no thanks…