Darius listened, his concern only growing.
"Mara… If we find out that you are unhealthy, I'm not going to lie to you and say I won't be worried. But… If you really aren't, it might, not, be a bad thing, for me to be worried about you. That… if you aren't, I want to help. Trust me, I know, it can take a lot of getting used to, to ask for help, or even accept it when it's offered…"
Mara nodded a little, almost having expected to get a speech of some kind, but couldn't hold back a small dry laugh. “Yeah. And I've never asked anyone for anything. Especially, not someone like you… No offense.” she added quickly. “It’s just I spent my whole life trying to avoid anyone bigger than me. Now, I… You're actually offering to help me?” she asked somewhere between disbelief and irony at the situation.
"None taken," Darius said in turn. "And I am, really. I… trust me, I get it. This entire situation is… well, it's a bit unbelievable, even to me." Darius let out a breath. He knew this was all something that really no one would expect to be happening between two as different as them.
“Unbelievable is a good way to say it.” she agreed with another short laugh. “The thought of this happening would have scared my mother to death.” Mara admitted as she remembered how… overly cautious the older woman was. “But why do you want to help me anyway? Is it just because I remind you of what happened to your friend?”
"It's not just because of that. In fact, it's not much of a reason at all. I'm worried about you because I've taken the time to understand that it can have a lot of bad effects on you to stay like this." Darius let out a soft sigh, moving a bit closer.
Mara furrowed her brow as she failed to come up with a reply to that. She wasn't used to having someone worry her…
“What kinds of bad effects?” she asked, instinctively taking a step back when he moved closer.
(boop)
(Oop, I'm sorry!)
Darius noticed how Mara moved back, mumbling a small sorry and pulling back from the counter.
"Well," the man started. He didn't want to scare Mara with this, but… well, it was something to be scared of. "The first thing to happen is you lose energy, and it gets harder to do things. It's easier to get sick, too. Then, your body tries to find ways to get the things you aren't from food, and it starts to eat at itself to get it. And… if it's let go for too long…" Darius trailed off.
(It’s cool.)
Mara blushed a little and shook her head, feeling a little bad when she realized her actions. She took a couple steps toward Darius and sat down on the counter as she brushed his apology aside with one of her own.
The tiny girl nodded thoughtfully as he explained what happened. “Well, I’ve never really been sick before and I don't think I've lost any energy…” she told him truthfully and hoping to assure him somewhat, as well as herself. “Things can be hard anyway when you're… Well, I don't need them to get harder.”
"Well, that's good, at least," Darius agreed. "I'm glad for it, too." The man let out a relieved breath, nodding a bit.
"And I want to help make things not so hard anymore. I don't want you to have to worry."
“So am I.” Mari said with a small, weak, smile. “But how would you help? I know you want to but I… I guess I'm just having a hard time trying to wrap my head around the idea.” she admitted, sighing lightly.
"Well… there are some kinds of food that you've probably never had before because of where they're stored, so… honestly, I'd be happy to make a bit extra food and share it with you for meals." Darius offered a small smile.
Mara nodded with something of a wry smile at that. She was sure there was a lot of food that she hadn't tried before. Either because of where it was kept, the size of the food, or just too noticeable to take. “Are you sure?” she asked softly, almost hopeful. It was strange being offered anything but there was also this feeling of needing to pay back this gift somehow.
"I am completely, totally sure," Darius said with a nod. "I'd love to!" The man offered a sweet smile, crossing his legs as he sat there.
"It'll be fun."
Mara couldn't help a brief soft laugh at his enthusiastic certainty as she gave him a small smile. “Ok.” she nodded. “Thank you.”
"You're welcome! Of course, I will need your help," Darius pointed out. "I'd love to have your input on what you'd like to try!"
“Oh… Uhh, I…” Mara looked up for a moment before blushing. “I don't really know. I… I’m not particular on foods in general. And I honestly don't know what you call a lot of your foods.” she admitted shyly.
"Well, we'll figure it out together then! It's okay, it makes sense you wouldn't." Darius smiled at Mara as she blushed, head tilting.
“Ok.” Mara smiled back, a little relieved that he understood… Or at least seemed to understand. She was able to read and overheard things but she couldn't learn everything that way.
Darius did understand Mara's situation, thankfully. She had been focused on surviving and not being seen, he couldn't expect her to know everything about everything.
"Do you know anything, in particular, you'd like to start with for dinner later?"
Mara looked at Darius thoughtfully for a moment before shaking her head. “I… I hadn't really thought about… I mean, I was probably just going to have some more soup and make some bread to go with it.” she admitted softly, a little shy again.
Darius nodded some as Mara explained.
"Okay, then," he said, offering a small smile. "Since you already have dinner planned out, we can do something tomorrow then!" The man smiled, hands folded neatly in his lap. He was almost like an obedient, hyper puppy, wanting to make sure Mara was comfortable.
Mara smiled back with a small nod. “That sounds good to me.” she told him. She hadn't really been sure when she was going to eat the rest of the soup but if Darius really was going to share some of his food with her, then it wouldn't hurt much for her to have more of her own food.
"Good!" Darius grinned at Mara's confirmation, moving to stand. He put the scale away, seeming to have completely forgotten how he had planned on trying to figure out if she had a good weight or not.
Mara moved back a little more when Darius picked up the scale, though she was still smiling a little at him. She wasn't really scared of him or him accidentally hurting her. She just felt that he needed space to move without worrying about that possibility. “So… What do we do now?” she asked.