week 7, friday

[vigilantics]

[ this is probably sometime before belph ends up joining them!! timelines!!

in either case, whenever hikage enters the room, he'll find steph already inside. she's sitting down on the floor, her back against the bed. she doesn't look as distraught as she did last week, but she's just... tired.

she looks up and waves at him. ]

Another Friday.

Comments

[psychedelica]

... I want to bring my sister with me.

[ if he can't -- he's not sure he'll still go, if he can't bring her. Everything he did, he did for her. It's a selfish thing to say, but he refuses to spring it on Steph when she's already offered him this much. To his surprise, he finds himself defending her instead of begging for forgiveness; he looks back up at Steph, somewhat timidly. ]

She's a good girl. She won't cause you any trouble. [ a beat. ] She'd probably like you.

[vigilantics]

[ she doesn't mind. honestly, a child seems easier to take care of than both hikage and belph, honestly. but--]

Was that a wish you made? For her?

[psychedelica]

[ that's true ]

That was always my wish. Even before I came here... That's why I'm still here. I was desperate to find a way to see her again.

[ he looked into a lot of things he shouldn't have and called on powers that weren't supposed to exist, and it all blew up in his face, anyway. Until now. ]

She was all I had. [ a beat. ] ... Before I met you. Belph, too. But I can't forget about her.

[vigilantics]

She can come too. I wouldn't separate the two of you.

[ the only thing that's stopping her from dragging varian along is that she's not entirely sure if she can somehow bring his dad too. ]

I'm not that mean.

[psychedelica]

... Thank you.

[ that's really all he can say. He remembers begging for people to help his sister - relatives, anyone who would listen, and how they would turn up their noses at his pleas and her plight, no matter how he prostrated himself. Steph gives her assistance freely.

It still doesn't feel real. It feels like they're talking about a fun daydream - how nice it would be, if all of this was true. He wants to believe it's true. She's never lied to him before. ]

... You're so...

[ Hikage trails off, glancing down at his lap again. Even he doesn't know what to say - how to qualify her. He's never met someone as kind as her. ]

[vigilantics]

Stubborn? Annoying?

[ she knows that's not what he means, but she can't actually bring herself to finish that sentence for him out of embarrassment. steph doesn't think she did much here overall in the long run, but if she managed to make at least one person happy, then... she's perfectly content with that.

she reaches over to take his hand in her own. ]

[psychedelica]

That too.

[ she's held his hand plenty of times before now; it still sends an uneasy warmth spreading through his arm to the rest of him. Uncomfortable, unreliable, and yet, he can't turn away from it. Hikage returns her grip, fingers curling around her hand. ]

[vigilantics]

You sure do have a way with words.

[ it's said with a laugh, and she just takes a moment to look at their hands before looking up at him. ]

Thank you for saying yes.

[psychedelica]

... Why are you thanking me? I haven't done anything for you.

[ if anything, he should be thanking her. She's giving him a second chance at life - not his soul, reincarnated into someone else, but him. ]

[vigilantics]

I think you've done a lot for me, actually.

[ he went against years of his own conditioning, and took a chance to believe in her. ]