citylogs | [OPEN]

... I hope you mean an hour in this entire greenhouse, and not just this maze of plants. [Although, he also currently lost in this maze of oversize plants, so can he really talk.]

Half-and-half.

[ Yeah, can he really talk!!!!!! ]

[He's gonna judge anyway.]

Hm. Well, I'm going to find the exit.

[Because these plants talk to much, drooping too close to whisper.

"He's running."

Alhaitham slaps a petal away for good measure.]

... Oh, you too?

[ And the flowers pretty much giggle.

"She's kept so much inside, hasn't she? No wonder they get along." ]

["No wonder. Like begets like."]

Yes. Though they're too uncreative to cause any real harm.

["Harsh, but fair."

"That's why Kaveh is his only true friend."

"Was."

"Was."]

They seem pretty close to me.

[ mildly, to the flowers. ]

And I'd like to think we're friends now too.

[ "Then maybe she should tell him everything."

"Yes, tell him."

"She should tell him she'll be a monster one day."

"Maybe she'll kill him."

A sigh. ]

["She doesn't know what happened. Of course, he won't talk about it. What was said."

"He just won't let Kaveh go."

"He'll do the same here, difficult people don't make friends. But he's the one who says he doesn't like people, right?"

Alhaitham reaches to grab Tsuruno's shoulders to start pushing her along.] The only way out is by walking.

[ She very nearly trips as soon as Alhaitham grabs her shoulders, but they're moving and she's tipping her head back to look at him. ]

But you still like him, right? Whatever happened, it feels like you still care about him.

[ The flowers are now chanting "Future Witch" incessantly, but she's ignoring them. ]

Edited 2023-10-03 17:40 (UTC)

[That gets the flowers into a while new frenzy of giggles, bowing over into their path to block the view.

"You still like him, right?"

"Like him." "Like him!" "Like him."

"He's in love with him."

Alhaitham shoves flowers out of the way with force.]

They've been on this same topic for a while.

[What else can he say about it when the flowers speak for him? Of course he still cares. He never stopped caring. He never could let go.]

[ The flowers swoop in again before they've been able to take more than a few steps and this time Tsuruno twists out of the way to avoid them, grasping his hand from her shoulder to tug him with her.

The flowers fall silent, surprisingly,and she heaves a sigh once more. ]

Sorry. I thought that might be it, but I didn't want them to speak for you.

[Somehow, he's more affronted that she clued in on his feelings than the flowers spilling it out.

Tsuruno grabs his hand before he can smack another flower back and the flowers fall into silence. It's a reprieve.]

That's the problem with this place. [Always pulling things that shouldn't see the light up to the surface. His gaze slides sideways to Tsuruno.] They had as much to say about you.

Yeah. [ her gaze slips away, a little tiredly. ]

I'm a Magical Girl--if I put it as simply as I can, they're girls who fight monsters with powers they gained through an unbreakable contract and they have things like your Visions called Soul Gems.

Only if something happens to them, you die or turn into a monster yourself.

[ She more or less recites this as matter-of-factly as she can. ]

[There's a pause from Alhaitham as she goes into it.]

... You didn't have to tell me. [Is the first thing he states. Because she didn't, really, truly. Just because this place wants to put them in the open, Tsuruno is allowed her secrets.] That's what you were hiding, then.

I was going to, anyway. Kaveh already knows.

I just wanted to get to know you a little better first.

[ But she nods; that's what she was hiding. ]

I don't really want a whole lot of people to know, though. I really only started telling the ones I trusted last month.

[Of course Kaveh knows, he thinks. Kaveh who can't mind his own business, who is similarly altruistic and obviously fond of Tsuruno. Kaveh makes himself difficult to know, but the effect his warmth has on others is impossible to deny.]

I have no reason to be sharing your secrets. [Which is the strongest affirmation of never from Alhaitham.] Though, if it comes to trying to kill me know that I have every intention of fighting back.

[... Is that a joke. Is it serious. Who even knows when he says it like he does eventing else.]

That's fine. [ perfectly serious, even though she says it with the smile of one who is not as lackadaisical as she acts a lot of the time. ]

I won't be myself anymore, if that happens. I'd want you to survive.

[So she'd lose her mind. That makes sense, he can't imagine the Tsuruno in front of him willingly turning on someone she considers a friend.

He nods once. He'd survive, or at least try to. She would want him to.]

Is that inevitable?

There are ways to slow it down and we were working on some kind of fix back home that unfortunately got taken over, but...

[ A nod, slowly. ]

Most Magical Girls don't make it past 20.

... I see. [He can recognize the inherent tragedy of the situation, though whether it warrants any pity really depends on the nature of the contract, doesn't it? Ultimately the world turns on one person's suffering or another's sacrifice. He's never agreed with the ease which an idealist can give into it, but he can't judge Tsuruno's specific situation yet.

Kaveh's heart must have broken for her.]

[ Your future boyfriend is a bleeding heart, Alhaitham.

But Tsuruno only smiles, lightly, and keeps walking. ]

I'm not giving up. There might still be a way to get through it, I just have to find it first.

[Oh, he knows. He knows.

Once again, he regards Tsuruno with some interest. She has more reason than most to want to extend her life. It's the kind of path that could lead to obsession. It is, again, the example that she cares so much about the world without forgetting herself.]

Kaveh could learn a thing or two from you if he'll humble himself enough to listen.

I'm pretty great, right? I don't know why he was so worried you were picking on me.

[ Is this what it's like to have an overprotective brother?? ]

[Oh, that actually gets a chuckle out of him. Tsuruno is endlessly entertaining.] He isn't used to anyone being so agreeable with me. Or maybe he's just surprised that I find you interesting enough to talk to.

[ She is considering this a victory, privately. An Alhaitham laugh! Sort of!! ]

That better not mean he thinks I'm boring.

I'm sure it says more about what he thinks of me than you.

[The flowers weren't wrong, he is a difficult person who finds most people disinteresting. Tsuruno, though, is fascinating, sharp, and very funny.]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject