Week 5

[airlockedmods]

[As with the weeks before, life in the Fantasy Sweet returns to something resembling normalcy with shocking efficiency. The second floor rest area and Adventure Zone Death Orb Room are spotless again, the demon glitter has been vacuumed, the deflated orbs have been replaced. It's like none of it ever happened, like three more friends aren't dead and stored away in the guest house morgue.

There's a new floor to explore, their "reward" for a job well done.]

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday



[ooc: Don't forget to to turn in your activity for week 4, submit your memory regains and put in your threads for the Benefactors!]

Comments

[serrata]

[ She doesn't bother trying to pretend anything's fine or acting like Arianna shouldn't be worrying about her. She just holds her arms out and once Arianna's on the ground next to her, she gathers the girl close in a tight hug. ]

... I'm... I'm sorry. I just... I don't know how much longer I can do all this...

[daughterofthemark]

[no no no no no no no no noooooooo]

There is no reason you should apologize! I... I am...

[serrata]

[ She shakes her head. Pats Arianna on the back. ]

Just... can we sit here for a little bit? Just... just until I feel like I can get up. We can talk about anything you like.

[ 'Anything except what happened this week' is unsaid but probably a given. ]

[daughterofthemark]

This shouldn't... I should be helping you.

[arianna you are helping by staying with her breathe]

[serrata]

Arianna-chan. You've been helping me since the day we got here. Since the first time we met. I won't ever be able to thank you enough for all the things you've done for me.

[ Seeing what happened to Kip, what happened to Junpei... it's shaken her. Enough that she doesn't want to risk letting things go unsaid. ]

This is more than enough. Just being here.

[daughterofthemark]

[She shakes her head, probably getting mud all over her face.]

It is not. Were I truly a Champion Sovereign, I would be able to do more.

[serrata]

Don't say that.

[ Her voice is soft and there's a rasp to it like she's on the verge of a sore throat. But there's a firmness to it as well. ]

You're our light, Arianna-chan. Don't ever, ever forget that.

[daughterofthemark]

[Her inclination would be to insist that, if she's their light, she needs to be able to shine brightly, not... whatever what she's doing now would be in this metaphor. Would be. But she can't. She can't, because she believes Yuuri, and she means to take what she's said to heart. Her self-doubt is nothing compared to her precious friend's conviction.

She still lets out a sob, but the words that follow it are simply:]

Thank you.

[serrata]

[ She'd felt fit to crumble before. She'd thought she was void of strength. Empty of anything to give to anyone anymore. But seeing Arianna like this lights a spark in her chest. It's not like with Yuki even though the two of them are so alike. Yuki was fragile, in need of protection, nurturing. With Arianna, it's not a desire to shield her but to support her. To help her to her feet and into the light where she belongs. Where she shines. ]

It's okay.

... do... do you feel like you need to cry?

[daughterofthemark]

N-no, I...

[But she's starting to cry anyway--she can't stop it.]

[serrata]

It's okay.

[ Even if Yuuri feels like she can't be strong for herself... she can be strong for Arianna.

Cry all you need, princess, your big sis will be sat here rubbing your back until it's all over. ]

[daughterofthemark]

I can't stop.

[So she'll let it go instead, shaking and holding onto big sis.]

[serrata]

[ Yuuri cradles her, face pressed into the crown of Arianna's head. It's been so long and she can't imagine how hard it must be for Arianna to stay so bright and wonderful.

...

Your head might be getting a little damp, Arianna. Yuuri needs a bit of a cry, too. ]

[daughterofthemark]

[Doesn't everyone? There are just too many feelings going on, really.

It's a while before she speaks again. Nobody can see it, but she actually has a small smile on her face.]

The two of us are the same.

[serrata]

The-- the same?

[ She sounds rather caught off guard. ]

What do you mean...?

[daughterofthemark]

You're always trying to be strong for other people, aren't you? Even when things are so terrible that you don't know how to go on.

[serrata]

... Someone has to be. Or... that's what it used to be like, anyway.

[ Not so much anymore. ]

Back home though... being anything but 'strong' wasn't an option, really.

[daughterofthemark]

They needed you to be.

[Arianna squeezes her a little tighter.]

[serrata]

[ She chokes out a laugh and lifts a hand to wipe her eyes. ]

Arianna-chan, you're going to set me off again.

[ But she doesn't sound mad. ]

No, I think... what I was doing was just refusing to let myself be weak. That isn't the same thing as being strong.

[daughterofthemark]

My apologies.

[She knows this, even if she has a habit of forgetting it sometimes.]

You were trying your best in a situation unlike anything you'd prepared for.

[serrata]

... I suppose you're right.

[ Giving up, being weak, letting anyone know that she was in pain or suffering... that had never really been something she'd thought was a choice. In her eyes it had been as close to giving up as just laying outside of the barricades and waiting to be eaten would've been.

Yuki had saved her, in the best way she could. The School Living Club was a beautiful, wonderful thing, a blazing light in the middle of an endless night. Yuuri could never in good faith say it was a bad idea or a mistake.

But it hadn't been a real solution. Not for her. ]

But... that's all any of us can do, isn't it? Whatever gets thrown at us... whatever we lose... we have to keep standing up and trying our best.