deernet | voice; un: lowell

Ha, god. I don't know, dude. To get back at my family? To prove that I can actually make something of myself on my own?

[see, now she brought up her own family and she wants to attack something again. now that she can see yuri is doing okay, she takes a few steps away and slashes down another branch, which whumpfs to the ground like the rest. when she's ready to continue and doesn't immediately feel the need to break something, she finishes the thought.]

If I'm totally honest with you, before I had all this robot stuff going on, I didn't know what I was even doing with my life anymore. Burned out real bad and not even Kara could pull me out of it. Took the impossible to keep me going again, and that's when I started going super hard on, like, saving my city and everyone in it. [she holds her hand out and looks at her palm; its jet black, dull metal sheen barely reflects the moon.] Turns out getting destined for something changes your outlook pretty fast.

You were destined for it?

[ He gets you, Anna. Hit all the trees you need to hit to get this out. ]

I get that. I kind of bummed around for a while, too. What I thought I was gonna do, I couldn't make it work, so I went home. Took some asshole stealing our blastia to get me going again.

How'd the robot thing happen?

[ Because, honestly? That's pretty cool. And better than talking about himself ]

So, like, here's the deal. My soul [and she puts a hand on her chest] started resonating with the soul of this android from a world that already ended. Once it started, it didn't really stop until, like... well, until I left the city and came here, I guess.

[she doesn't sound too confident about it. her hand curls into a loose fist at her chest before falling back to her side, and there's a moment of pensive quiet as she tries to look inward. to get an answer to a question she hopes is easier than it seems. nobody replies.]

I have her body now, and a lot of her memories. Our souls are intertwined together forever. [or they're supposed to be.] But that's the whole destiny thing. I was supposed to be a vessel to help her reincarnate into a world she can keep living in.

Huh. Cool.

[ It doesn't make that much sense to him. Maybe it's kind of like Judy and Ba'ul's thing, even though they didn't share a body. Yeah, he doesn't get it, but he does look at her, trying his best to figure it out ]

So you're both of you? Anna and this... other person?

Yeah. I mean, I'm still pretty firm on just being me, you know? A2 is just along for the ride inside me. For, like, ever, I guess, since she never took control entirely.

[it's more complicated than it's worth to try to untangle all of it, at least right now. but if anna were interested in being easy, she wouldn't have gotten this far.]

I think I was always the weird one back home since I actually liked having A2 bouncing around in there. She's where I learned all my swordfighting stuff from, and she's most of the reason I even know what I want to do with my life. Before she came along, I was just some deadbeat living day after day, just kind of slow walking into the grave. Knew for a while that shit was fucked, but I didn't think I could do anything to change it.

Edited (god okay that's the last edit promise) 2021-10-13 03:54 (UTC)

Sounds familiar.

[ He was just a deadbeat until that asshole stole the lower quarter's blastia, but, hey, it's an inciting incident, isn't it? ]

So she gave you what you needed to beat it? Do you think you needed all that, the swords and the the... robot stuff?

[ Forgive him, he doesn't know the words, and his brain isn't working as well as it could be right now. At least this is distracting, hearing about Anna's life is more interesting than thinking about his own lack of one. ]

So, like.

[christ. she's about to seriously open up to him, isn't she? well. it could be in worse circumstances, and asking about her seems to be doing a good job taking his mind off himself and flynn. so she can't really fault him for it.]

It wasn't actually turning into A2 that changed my whole idea on things. Kara was transforming, too, and she ended up getting this magic ring in the mail that belonged to the person she was transforming into. She asked me out to this waffle place and let me try the ring on, and...

[and the memories flood back, but not to drown her. there's an almost youthful smile on her face, and she looks upward, towards the moon.]

And I started flying. I saw the roof of the waffle place from 40 feet in the air, and I was just... there. And that's when I realized the world was so much bigger than what I thought it was, and I was part of it now.

[she looks back down towards him with just a hint of sheepishness coloring her cheeks.]

As long as I had that, I don't think the specifics would've mattered. I would've figured out how to stake my claim in the new world one way or another. Just so happens that A2's the defender type.

[ Yuri watches her, and he almost manages to smile. It is helping, hearing about her life, learning about her. He can't do anything for Flynn, not right now. And doing nothing is the best thing to be doing, if he believes what everyone is telling him.

He's doing nothing. Not going after the man who killed him, not doing something stupid to himself. He's sitting with a friend, opening up, listening to her stories ]

You can fly? Damn. That's really cool.

[ The most important thing to take from her story ]

I remember that. The first time I left Zaphias, it... [ He was chasing Flynn, trying to catch up with him. He was always trying to catch up with him. His face falls and he glances away. He doesn't want to fall back, he doesn't want to mourn, not if Flynn is coming back. He doesn't deserve his mourning, not right now, not yet.

He lets out a choked off laugh. ] It changes things, huh?

[that pause there... it says a lot. she can tell he's thinking of flynn right now. not that it takes a genius to figure it out. she'd better keep talking about herself a little.]

It really does. I mean, I can't fly anymore, you know? It was tied to the ring. But, like. [see, she can tell this story. it's got everything. weird recolle shit, embarrassing little details... what else do they need?] So there was this one time where we were all getting possessed by little fire spirits. I don't really know what was happening with it, but once we got possessed, we, like. God, okay.

So I sprouted these sick black wings. [and she changes her stance a little to be a bit more theatrical and extends her arm out in a flourish.] And I had a way chunkier sword, so I basically looked like a dark angel. It was super cool, actually. But yeah, I could use them to fly and fight stuff in the air, and it kind of... like, it literally put a fire in my chest, you know? Made me like doing something with my life.

[and, well. yeah, sure. she might as well throw him a bone to tease her about later.]

It, uh. It helped that this super hot girl I was into thought the confidence was hot.

[ Yuri's lips quirk in a small smile, watching her. She's trying so hard to make him feel better, to take his mind off of Flynn, and while his thoughts keep returning to Flynn, he feels less alone. He got so used to having people around, back home, that suddenly being without Flynn left him adrift.

But he isn't alone. He has Anna, he has Blue, he has Diluc. They're new friends, but when has that ever stopped him? Estelle was a new friend, so was Rita, so was Karol. They became important to him after bare days. There's no reason that the people here should be any different. ]

Oh, yeah? You sure she wasn't into the wings?

[ He manages the joke with a soft laugh ]

Man, that's awesome. I'd kill for wings. Back home, we used to fly around with Ba'ul, this Enetelexia. He was like a big dragon, and he carried our ship.

[ But that isn't so important right now. He's quiet for a moment before he asks ]

You didn't like it? Doing something, even after A2 and all that?

So, like, it all happened right after another. Every month like clockwork, something brand new was happening. The flying ring, that was, like, March, and the black wings were April.

[she's trying to think of the best way to phrase this that makes her sound like an interesting person who had everything fall into place from a clear inception, and not like someone who had to piece it all together and still work to figure out what made sense for her. historical revisionism is hard work.]

I barely had time to process all of that, you know? It was just constant. Looking back, I can make it all make sense. But at the time, it really was just a whirlwind of stuff. [and she puts on an affected voice.] Hey, what's up, here's a new layer of reality. We opened up four brand new areas that you've never heard of even though you've lived in the city for ten years. Enjoy your new robot legs! [and then back to normal.] I don't know. It's a whole bunch of everything all coming together all at once, you know? I think I can only make heads or tails of it because it's been so long since it started.

[nailed it.]

Every month? That's... weird.

[ Just wait, bud. Just wait

At least he doesn't think she sounds messy at all. She sounds like a person, a person who's experienced too much ]

Yeah, I get that. Back home, I just kept following what was next, and what was after that, and eventually we were a guild who were the only people who knew how to stop the end of the world.

Sometimes things only fall into place after. Sounds like you did the best with what you had, robot legs and all.

[ He lets out a breath, looking down at the wood they've collected. The stress of this day is catching up with him, exhaustion weighing down his limbs. ]

Let's get this back.

[god, time flies when you're chopping down trees with cool sword tricks and talking about shit from home. she gives him an accomplished look and starts bending down to gather everything into an easy-to-carry pile.]

Yeah, let's head back to your place. You don't have to start working on this tonight, but hey, I'll come by tomorrow or something, see if we can make it work together? But right now I think both of us need some rest.

[she gives a thoughtful pause as she hefts some wood over her shoulder.] I'll think up some more stories. See if I can make myself seem cool and interesting.

Yeah, you better work hard.

[ He teases softly, picking up the rest of it as best he can. It's heavy and awkward, but at least that'll take his mind off of Flynn. Physical exertion is always good for that. ]

Tomorrow. We'll get started tomorrow.

[ He sets off, back toward the city and toward the quiet of their house, still full of animals, but it won't be the same, not without Flynn and Daisy ]

voice; un: lowell

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