week 4 ( wednesday );

[reidentify]

[Nothing is even remotely fine, but Lief does what he always does: shove it down and keep moving.

—Which is what he's doing, quite literally, when he sees Fie, as he runs over to her. Unlike her, he has the blessing of being uninjured.]

Fie!

Comments

[reidentify]

... Simply because it is not fatal does not mean you are all right.

[sylfied]

I can wash the blood off and be fine.

[ no medical supplies needed! ]

[reidentify]

And what do you hope to wash the blood off with?

[sylfied]

...

[ oh, right. ]

Hm.

[reidentify]

... Do you think you can manage until this wears off?

[sylfied]

... Mm.

[ She can. Of course she can. This isn't anything crippling, and she wasn't one of the ones on the floor, like Laura still fiercely clutching her blade in death, and Elliot with his wide, disbelieving and unseeing stare, and Machias, glasses knocked askew in a pool of blood even though he couldn't see a thing without them--

Something wells up within her, and before Fie can do or say anything else, her vision blurs with tears. ]

[reidentify]

[...

For a moment, Lief stares, caught off-guard, before—

Well, he doesn't know exactly what brought someone like Fie to tears. But he doesn't need to ask, right in this moment, as he reaches to pull her into a one-armed hug.]

[sylfied]

[ Like the first time he'd done this, Fie freezes at first. But she's tired, and her arms sting and ache and even though it hadn't been real, the injuries themselves made it difficult to remember that. It's not easy to forget her family, scattered and murdered, and Rean... Rean, who had always been there, encouraging them as a group, reminding Fie that she had a family who wouldn't leave her behind, staring at her so fiercely with such a strong killing intent...

She closes her eyes, well-aware that her eyes are wet, and curls one hand into a fist at Lief's back. ]

[reidentify]

[Softly,]

Cry if you need to. If you do not want to, that is fine as well.

[sylfied]

I don't want to.

[ But her voice trembles nonetheless, and Fie doesn't bother moving her head. Maybe she just missed her classmates, after spending so long trying to reunite with them, but seeing them like that had left one hell of an impact. ]

[reidentify]

[...]

Do you want to talk about it?

[sylfied]

... My classmates were all killed, and left on the floor. And the head of it was the one who brought us all together... he attacked me, too.

[ a simple statement, but if anyone knows who Fie found important, it was Lief. ]

[reidentify]

[... Ah. For a brief moment moment, he tenses.

He knows how much Fie values her classmates—her family. People she cared about so much that she admitted she was afraid that one day, they would abandon her, and she would wonder if it was her own fault.]

It was not real, and you know it to be so—do not forget that.

[Though he knows that may offer little comfort.]

You will make it out of this farce, and you will see them again, alive and well.

[sylfied]

... How are you so sure?

[ A lot of people did just die, Lief. And Fie gets more and more tired of it every passing week. She wants to go home, wants to see her classmates for herself and know they're perfectly fine, but... ]

[reidentify]

Because there is no point in believing otherwise.

[Honestly? Lief isn't nearly optimistic enough to think that they're guaranteed to win this—and he knows that regardless, whether it be here or back home, he will soon die in disgrace.

But his life has been a series of hopeless situations, and he knows that everything ends only in one of two ways: death or, simply, deciding that it is over.]

[sylfied]

[ ... such a Rean response, honestly, except that thinking about that only makes her throat tighten again. She wants to go home. She wants to see her family again. ]

I'm... so tired of this.

[reidentify]

[... He doesn't know what to say to that. In the end, he can only repeat words once said to him, back home.]

Despair is the enemy. Do not let it defeat you.

[...]

I am sorry.

[sylfied]

... Now you sound like Rean.

[ although that emerges shakily, there's at least a little bit of fondness in her tone.

Maybe it helps. ]

[reidentify]

... Do I really?

[sylfied]

Yeah. He was always the one giving pep talks... even though there was a lot on his shoulders and he had his share of doubts too.

That was even before I knew he was a noble.

[reidentify]

[... Ah.]

I do not know if I am very good at pep talks myself. I confess that the words I said earlier—they have been said to me by another friend.

Rean sounds like a very good friend, though.

[sylfied]

He is.

... What's your friend like?

[reidentify]

She... Well, we have a different sort of friendship compared to what you have with Rean, I think. [He pauses.] She is old enough to be my grandmother, for one, though perhaps her age is what makes her wise.

[Not that he has many friends his age, nowadays.]

[sylfied]

[ wow Lief, get hip. ]

... I do know some pretty smart old people. Maybe it's an age thing, like you said.

[reidentify]

[Listen, where he's from, teenagers generally don't go around saving the world??]

Perhaps. [a beat] At the very least, my and Jasmine's hot-headed natures have often been attributed to our young ages.

[sylfied]

Jasmine?

[ you keep referencing these people she doesn't know?? ]

[reidentify]

[His smile softens.]

One of my closest friends. She is—I suppose she is to me what your family is to you.

[sylfied]

... Oh. She's your family.

[ okay, that makes sense. ]

[reidentify]

... Yes. I cannot imagine a life without her.

[sylfied]

... Wait, so is she family like girlfriend-family--

[ jiiiiiiiiii. ]

[reidentify]

[WELL, UH.

LIEF'S TURNING RED NOW, SO.]

[sylfied]

...

You know, you could have just said that.

[reidentify]

She is still family! That was not inaccurate.

[LET HIM LIVE]

[sylfied]

There's still a pretty important difference between your average family and your girlfriend.

[reidentify]

I do not think the difference is so great...