I will never, ever fall, never stumble, and I don't need to be humble

[mooninthewater]

Who: Mizuki & you!
What: Mizuki's here to talk to people now.
When: Couple days after the meeting.
Where: Inn or Therapy Building.
Warnings: Will be in the titles as they come up.

[ Mizuki hasn't really shown himself around the Grove since being outed by Irene. Add and Elsword got to see him, and Vash got to see him the one time, too, but overall? He just kept to his camouflage and sauntered around the place in secret.

Now he thinks he's finally ready for people to come talk to him. He gets the feeling that no one beyond Irene (and Lancer, though he hasn't realized this, yet) is actually mad at him, but he knows there's bound to be a lot of questions. Questions he's not really ready to answer.

Doctor Kal'tsit is going to be so disappointed in him.

You'll visibly find him in one of two places. One, the lobby of the inn, of which he'll be in the chair on the opposite end of the lobby of the Inquisition fireplace. He just stares at it, even as people enter and exit, lost in thought. Two, he'll be at the therapy building. Either just outside, putting cute stickers on the door outside, or in the lobby, playing Frogger.

He doesn't make the effort to actually talk to anyone, but he won't immediately bail if you walk up to him, either. ]

Comments

[sticksandbonesmods]

The glass shatters and something in the attic flickers, and then flickers again. Something howls from inside and every canine in the Grove howls back, mournful and low, and the glass of the window quickly repairs itself with eerie cracks and crunches.

Inside, small hands pick up a book. Frustration flares, but while one child maintains the ritual above, they can at least investigate for a while. They need to get the other water, anyways. They pry the cover open. ... A... shared journal?



So they're all still trying.

It may take a long time for the others to notice, but in one of the early pages, there's a simple new addition- a very small, precise Why?

[mooninthewater]

[ There's a long pause of just staring at the mansion, nervously rocking back and forth on his feet while he twists his umbrella in his hand. He expects to see them or something, but when the window begins to fix itself, he also worries that maybe the book and rock will also be automatically cleaned.

He does eventually pull out the extra notebook though, flipping through to see if he can see anything different. ] … Do you think… maybe they're just mad at us now…? [ Beat. ] …Oh, here. None of you wrote "Why?" here, right?

…I'm not sure what they'd mean by that, though.

[simplicitas]

...I dunno. Probably has to do with last time I tried to save them. I bet they're wondering why we're still trying.

[that or they're like hey why did you break our window]

[livlaughlove]

You already tried?

[... but of course they're still trying. livio has heard them crying when he comes nearby ever since he arrived... not to mention whatever else elsword and mizuki have been through around them. they'll never stop. he knows he won't, and he's pretty damn sure he can say the same of these two.]

[mooninthewater]

I haven't tried talking with them yet, but… it looks like we have a chance now! How about I write…

[ He jots this down in the book as he says it out loud under the "Why?": ] Seems… right to keep you in the loop! Even if you don't wish to speak with us, at least now you can if it feels right to.

[simplicitas]

Who knows if they'll be responsive. We wait, I guess.

[He's staring up at the house.]

They're doing a ritual in there. I don't know if they step away from it ever. Whatever magic they're using is enough to keep us out, though.

[livlaughlove]

I don't have anything else planned. We can wait, if you two are okay with it.

[he peers over at mizuki's notebook, seemingly unaware that that might be an invasion of space or rude or anything. it'll show the same as anyone's, right?]

[sticksandbonesmods]

there shouldn't be a loop
you were all supposed to be free
we failed you so let us keep you safe

[simplicitas]

[Normal Elswords would say like "oh this reminds me of me" and become self-aware. Not this one though!! This is not a normal boy.

He writes back:]

Helping people is a two way street.

[GEE, IF ONLY YOU WERE CAPABLE OF FOLLOWING YOUR OWN ADVICE.]