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. . . [He visibly relaxes a little. To be fair, he had planned to leave long before she ever woke up to see him. He glances over at the fallen flower jar with a quiet hiss.]

I brought more petalss. Thought it would help you. [He sure she could figure out what he was trying to help her with. He looks to the closed door behind her.] Couldn't fit through the door like I wass.

[ She glances at the jar that's been toppled over, staring at the way the petals shine as he explains. Since he worked so hard to get them into the room, the least she can do is help him accomplish what he came to do. She walks over, bends down to pick up the jar and starts spreading around the petals already on the ground with her foot. ]

Thank you. [ For not destroying another door, but also for thinking of her. ] But I wish you'd worry about yourself. I can handle the occasional nightmare.

[ It helps that she had forgotten about it until that moment, though flashes of horrific images do come back to her in flickers. They happen too quickly though, so other than the rare twitch, she only reacts by rubbing at her eyes sleepily. She can feel how damp her pajamas have gotten from sweating though . . .

What time even is it? ]

...They have been frequent. You and your father'sss. [It makes it sound like he had been spying on them, when really he's just sensitive around nightmarish energy. He coils up at as the stench of the Dawn flowers grow.]

Sssave some for your father as well. [What was that about worrying about himself? He quietly observes Susato's behavior while she scatters the flowers, inching ever so slightly closer to her. She's worn down, no way of hiding that.]

[ The petals feel soft and almost rubbery, tickling her feet, so she finds herself stopping before long. Idly, she reaches into the jar instead, but after one or two meager handfuls, she pauses that too, staring blankly into the jar as he speaks. She hadn't been able to do anything about Yujin's nightmares, much like she hadn't been able to do anything about Kazuma's current state. By some miracle, she had remembered Jude's words and somehow managed to heal him just enough, but even that wasn't something she ever managed to replicate in the week or so since.

The last time she felt like this, she nearly quit law and almost tossed her highly-respected book into the Thames. She'd powered through then, and through whatever curse or misfortune, would have to again. ]

. . .

[ She feels the same pair of eyes on her as she did when she woke, though she;s considerably more prepared this time. She glances over, noticing that Kazuma had inched closer, and she flashes him a tired smile as she gently tosses a few petals his way, one of them landing right in the middle of the three circular marks on his forehead. ]

And you. The whole reason I brought them back in the first place was because of you.

[He blinks as the flower petals fall over him. Uggh, he shakes his head, knocking the petal off his head. It's just a natural reaction of his Noctaere side to be repulse by them, but he knows deep down they're helping him.]

I can't misss them... [They're everywhere he's been to, besides their own rooms.] Apologiess I could not sstop it. [Turning Noctaere was not his intention, but...he could see nothing else at the time, but to call it's power again to fight.]

[ Susato's mouth twitches, watching him shake the petal off. It must be the first and last time she'd ever find a (giant) snake cute. Even the best patients hate visiting the doctor and hate medicine, however, so suck it up, Kazuma.

After scattering what she can, she moves to place the large bottle next to her other jar of Glowing Dawns, the emergency stash. From there, her hands are free, and she's finally gonna address the mess she's made of her room, starting with Iris. She tosses her gently onto the bed and immediately starts gathering up all the colorful paper squares she left there. It's like she is only now remembering what she had been doing. ]

Apologies that I couldn't protect you. The bottle was empty, so I started making a new one to give me something to do, but I...

[ Well. ]

[There are petals everywhere!!! He couldn't avoid his "medicine" regardless! He'll come around towards the bed, moving his head back onto it.]

...No. [His tongue flicks, looking at the paper squares she's gathering.] I felt your pressence when we fought. Ssomehow...

[ She opens her mouth, about to regale him with the tale about how she fell asleep doing this very thing for the second time now, but then she shuts it again. What did that mean? ]

But I, I wasn't there. [ She should've been there. ] You told me not to leave home.

[ Contrary to what Lord van Zieks believed that one time, she does listen and isn't about to run off into something dangerous all the time. Unlike some people!!! ]

[He hums quietly, glancing over at the bottles that still need to be filled with cranes.]

I told you once, that thiss world is capable of conveying one'ss feelingss. When you gave me that charm.

. . .

[ She is stunned. She should have been overjoyed (and perhaps one day, she would be). Not once did she ever think that her charms would amount to anything. Even when they both alluded the magic of this world, she just smiled and nodded. Perhaps she thought it was just something people just said to children, to make them feel better. Now...

Now he's telling her the magic had the audacity to work, and still it did not protect Kazuma?? Or keep Jack from turning, for that matter??? ]

Well, it should have done a better job with mine. [ Or maybe she's the problem. She tries not to look too defeated as she visibily slumps onto her bed, huffing under her breath. ] I shall be much clearer this time.

Edited 2022-02-26 23:59 (UTC)

Hm...I'm sstill not sure what it did. I remember that bottle wass still full before we fought at least. [So something happened, but at this moment, he doesn't know what. He was far too focused on the fight at the time.

Either way, he's coming up to rest his head beside her in a comforting matter.]

Don't tire yoursself. [He sure referring to all the papers and bottles around.]

[ Doesn't matter, she wants to say. It's certainly how she feels. She needs to do better this time, but those aren't the feelings she wants to convey, so she stays quiet. If she's so pessimistic about it, besides, her feelings might not get through at all.

She holds out her hand towards Kazuma's head, hesitating for a moment before she connects and rests it there on top, to acknowledge the comforting gesture. ]

I am not the one who nearly died. [ Nor is she stuck as Noctaere monster. ]

[He makes no sudden movements when she reaches to put her hand on his hand. He's warm to the touch, not trying to take in all the heat around him like a week ago.]

...I thought I could get him back. [He lowers his gaze.] I felt him, insside that thing, fighting in the darknesss...

[ She can feel the warmth. It is inviting, and it belongs to Kazuma. She recognizes it as such, and she visibly relaxes her hand, feeling the scales underneath as she gently strokes his head.

Even so, there is a sad expression on her face as he struggles to meet her eyes. ]

Did you want to bring him back, the same way he brought you back? [ She can relate. ]

[Getting petted like this is certainly....a different feeling than getting hair ruffles. He's not sure if he likes this, or should like this?]

I fought, and fought...but it felt like nothing I did could reach him. And yet... [He curls up a little.] He did everything to keep me alive, bring me to you.

[ Susato is used to fur when it comes to animals. Hair. So that makes two of them, though if he gives any indication that he's uncomfortable, she'll stop. As it is, she just focuses on listening to him.

The origami paper she'd collected off the floor and her bed had been placed on the shelves near the empty bottles. They could wait. ]

I'm sorry, Kazuma-sama... I don't know why you couldn't reach him, but I do know he cares about you. [ They don't... need to talk about the wolves, though she's definitely thinking about them now, as the ones who brought him back. ] It doesn't matter what you've done, or what you couldn't do.

[They sure don't. He definitely doesn't want to dwell on what he did to those wolves. He closes his eyes, this anger quietly boiling beneath. Anger towards himself. Once again, he's inconveniencing others for his own failures. Knowing 76 cares makes it feel even worse. His body starts to curl itself around Susato.]

...We'll find him, together. [It's what Susato told him that night, right?]

[ For the briefest of moments, as he slowly curls around her, she can see that look again. The look he had given the fox in the forest. She tenses up slightly, nervous, not helped by his anger that she feels in the form of warmth, but what he says is so at odds with what she remembers from that time. And that anger is replaced with a determination she'd always admired in him. ]

Yes. Together... I'm glad you remembered that. [ Because by the end of it, between his Noctaere mind and his injuries, she doesn't know what he would remember of that night and what he wouldn't. This is the first time they've really been able to speak about it, what happened with Jack. ]

[He doesn't seem to notice his movements left Susato feeling tense, preoccupied with what he could recall from that night. If anything, he's learning it feels nice to brush up against someone warm.]

...It'ss been quiet. [By that, he means the town isn't being rampaged by a giant wolf zombie thing.] I wonder what hass happened...

[ She's actually glad he didn't notice. It doesn't take her long to relax again, finding it odd that she can take comfort with him in this form; yet she doesn't seem to shy away from him as she ponders his words with a worried expression.

He really doesn't seem to know. ]

Where do you last remember seeing him?

...Edge of town. Wass trying to force him away, into the foresst. [They ended up making a hell of a mess. That area was probably radiating with nightmare energy now.]

Nothingss happened in town...?

. . . [ She thinks about it, letting out a relaxed sigh. Could such a fight really have have resulted in nothing? ...She wishes she could stare at Iris's sky right now, fake though it was and the same every night, but she's liable to fall asleep if she turns off the lights. ] Just some frozen areas I've noticed on my way to and from the Wild Harvest. I thought it was unnatural. I would have tried to burn them, but... I think I hoped the rain and warmer weather would wash them away.

[ Plus she didn't want to cause more damage? She hasn't been around them at the right time to notice any animals trapped within, but she did sense something sinister about the thorns and vines that seemed to frozen within. ]

...He has control over shadowss and ice. [Let's hope what Susato saw doesn't get worse.]

Leave it be, sstick to the lit pathss. I'll follow you if I musst. [From the shadows of course. No one need to be seeing a giant snake.]

[ She knows... thanks to their time in Whoville. It is the same way she recognized the wolves as 76's, but again, We Don't Talk About That. She will do as brother says, for now, but someone is bound to get hurt sooner or later.

She seems to ponder on this and meets his eyes with a tired look, yet somehow also determined. ]

You don't have to do that. I promise to keep your kitchen together in one piece for when you get better. And you will get better.

[He flicks his tongue with a hum.] I can get a possible meal thiss way.

[He didn't particularly want to bring up making snacks out of creatures, but...well, it gets his point across. It's beneficial for the both of them, he thinks. His head turns slightly, an eye glancing up at her.] ...I sshould take my leave. Sso you may rest.

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