azume | ⚔ // once upon a dream

⚔ // once upon a dream

[You all know the drill by now. Ignis and Camilla have taken over the nearest kitchen, and there's going to be food in the Pokemon Center soon enough; a warm and comforting vegetable curry. Highwind's even out now, welcoming any and all who might need a large cloud bird to hug after everything that was.]

[It's been a long night. Everyone needs a good meal and a long rest, and luckily one of those things is being seen to immediately.]

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[Michael takes a seat nearby, and thinks for a second before beginning a conversation like a totally normal person:]

Do you think there's that much of a difference, in being afraid of losing people for yourself or for them?

[yeah he saw you also listening to that]

[ Wow dude. ... She hesitates a moment and... ]

Morally... yes, I should think there is.

[this is just how he do]

Well, sure, that sounds right. But I mean, how do you tell the difference? I understand if it's someone who is useful to you, primarily, that's just you not wanting to lose a tool. But if it's someone you care about...

[He seems either unsure how to verbalize the rest of that, or not quite sure he's willing.]

Then the distinction becomes less clear, as your own mutual dependency on your friends? [ She asks to confirm if that's close to his own point? ]

...sure, yeah.

That's right, of course, that it does blur the line.

[ It's what she had been so thoughtful about back there. Zelda presses her lips together, and she bounces the Mime Jr in her lap, though it doesn't really react at all. ]

I suppose the question becomes... if you've simply taken or not.

How do you mean?

People are complicated, and their relationships are too. And so... [ Mmm ] To me, it seems as if the distinction might be if you've taken from someone's life more than you've given. But even that is perhaps too absolute. Anyone could dispute it.

[Michael processes that for a second. Yeah, it still seems...murky.]

Every time I really think I've got a handle on it - relationships, or whatever - someone just says something completely out of left field like that.

To be honest, you might think more on the nuances of relationships than most of us. You do seem to think hard on the details of such things.

[ A little shrug. This isn't to say she's not thinking about it? Because she is? But even so... well, Michael will likely be doing it more. ]

Oh - well, sure. It's because you're all so used to that kind of thing. I don't have to think about how I could hurt any given person, it just sort of comes natural. We've got very different basic understandings.

[ She can't help but make a face at that, but Zelda nods all the same. It does meet to her point. ]

People can't help but want to be connected, or at least I believe.

I'm not going to do it. Just the sort of thing you notice, after a while...

[mmmmm, let's not get defensive]

Maybe that's true. I don't know.

I believe it is. [ Mmm. ] Regardless, I do not doubt you. Rather, I just mean that because that is something that most of us want, to be open is... well, there are things locked away, but there are things which we don't mind sharing to make that connection.

I think that's why it took me so long to appreciate the humans. I pretended to be their friend a whole lot of times, so when I started hanging out with them as myself, I thought it'd be the same thing. You know - completely meaningless. If anything, I figured being myself around them would just make us all kinda hate each other.

To be fair, you can be a trying person, Michael.

[ A beat and a small smile, patting Bosphoramus beneath them ]

But to be true, that stands to reason.

[He lets out a surprised sort of laugh.]

Holy shit, Zelda. I didn't think you'd come for my life like that!

[Okay it was hardly the meanest thing she could have said. He just wasn't expecting it, and seems...kinda pleased and encouraging tbh]