loveedition | starsand // starnet DM / open post

Mmm. Honestly, all of us...

...

I think we could use something like Spirit Day to cheer us all up. I know it's for the spirits and kami, but being able to lift them up should help us too, right?

I bet it'd help me out just to serve oden again.

I agree! Maybe the Fallen Stars can hang out together? It could be a chance for everyone to get to know each other again and become friends. As long as things are peaceful, you all should enjoy them?

Right!

...and, uh. I'll be counting on my friends to pull me away if I wind up getting out of hand again. I'll do my best to show a little restraint for once...

Mm… Well. Um…

[There are some nervous tail swishes now,] What if um. We made plans to walk around the festivities together? For a bit? Then you’d have to take it easy..?

N-Not to blackmail you or anything!!! Is this blackmail? Am I threatening you?!

I mean it in a good way! A not weird way!!

What's the weird way supposed to be?!

[ ...actually, she waved that off. Don't tell her. ]

But... that's okay. I can make some time for that. Someone has to make sure you're not off doing who knows what while Akutagawa-san is fighting.

I-I mean… I was going to watch his matches. I think it’s kind of cool that he can fight.

[Yuuto frowns to disguise his shyness.]

I asked if I could fight too, but I got shut down. I wanted to help the Facility kids too. They’re my family…

--Would you really need to prove how strong you are to them, though? Considering they are your family, they'd already know.

Oh... Well. They don't know that they're my family..? I don't think they know me well at all. Except that I got kidnapped...

But don't they at least know you're a kami? You're meant to be pretty strong then, right?

[ She thinks so? ]

Nn, well... [He doesn't want to unload too much Facility information on her right now. It's hard enough without the added grief.]

For those kids, defeating other kami is the goal. I'm sure they're convinced I'm an easy target after all that happened while I was there. [Yuuto brushes off the memories with a sigh,] Point is! I could be doing more.

Mmm.

No, it's probably okay. Really, it's to convince them that we're strong enough, but not all of us have to show that off? It's showing our hand too quickly. With a bit of coordination, we could...

[ She trails off?! She's thinking about this in her head now. ]

You don't even know what my power is and you're trying to make a plan using me?

[Before she can panic about the implications, Yuuto smiles and waves his hand to signal calm. He's half-joking.]

Satou-san thinks the same thing. I think it could be true for some of the other Fallen Stars too. A lot of you have abilities that could be a real threat to those kids. It wouldn't be good to have those people targeted early. [There's someone is particular that he's thinking of, but her ability isn't even well known among the Fallen Stars.]

Oh--

[ And she's signaled. A nervous laugh. ]

I guess so. I don't... think my magic's well known, but it's helpful in a pinch?

Mm, you’re a support magic user. The thing about that place is that they seem to mostly focus on power. You don’t want to teach your captives to outsmart their enemies. You want them to believe strength is everything and they are always weaker than you.

So I don’t believe that they have very many support magic users on their side. I could be wrong, but I think the way to trip those kids up is to show them that strength isn’t everything.

… I’m so sorry! I got serious all of a sudden! That’s not like me!!!

D-Don’t remember that, please!

[ ...and with that, she starts laughing. Brightly, cheerfully smiling before she waves that off herself. ]

Sorry! Sorry, it's just-- you sounded like someone I look up to. It was actually kinda cool.

B-But... [He's starting to turn red. Cool??? Is a lot???]

I appreciate it... I just have a lot of time to think. And I spend a lot of time watching people, uh-- Not in a creepy way, um...

Did I make sense at least?

It's more like observation, right?

[ A pause. ]

...unless you just people watch to figure them out right away?

N, no! I mean, there's a lot that you can figure out from watching someone, but you'll learn more by talking to them and it's kinda creepy to just look at strangers or even friends in silence uh-

[pause.

He needs to breath. But all of this has him really flustered.]

What matters is! We should keep some of our powers a secret, mm-mm! What we have going for us is that we don't use raw strength to win our fights!

No, I get that. You're right. Not every fight can be one through actual fighting.

The first major fight I can think of was actually the opposite, you know.

That's right. You've had to fight a lot in your life and it was pretty recent, huh?

[In the last world she was in.]

Was it the same for you there? Winning through means other than strength... I know you can heal, so you must have been really important to have around.

[ ...she went to speak, but she catches herself. She was going to say of course she wasn't. The other magi could've done anything without her help. Her mind starts to drift to why she wanted to keep going in her last battle in the first place. To do something useful at the cost of her own life. She was lucky enough for that to not come to the worst outcome.

...instead, she thought of something else. Before that battle. ]

We had a lot of skilled fighters, but that's not all there is to it. If it was just strength, we would've been wiped out completely.

...the person we shoved in charge told me once. For everything bad that had happened to him, for as much as I had messed up before, he'd still need me to be there with him, as long as I can.

I suppose...

...yeah. I was a little important.

[Yuuto listens. He knows that it's hard to share your past, especially parts like this: Where Ryoko is hinting at her past failings, but trying to make peace with them at the same time. He nods slowly in understanding. For once, he doesn't fight her on the use of 'little' in that sentence. It's enough for him that she's beginning to sincerely recognize her worth without prompting.]

Was that hard is hear?

[He finally speaks up in a more tentative voice, ready to back off if she's done talking about it... But also, ready to show this other side of him for the sake of their conversation.]

Sometimes it's hard to hear that you're important... Because it means you can't give everything away, you know? So... [If she found that hard to hear from someone, then he would understand.]

...not at all. Really. It made me happy.

It made me feel like... I actually belonged there for once.

starsand // starnet DM / open post

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