@kuruko

[telepathy]

how many of you have soulmates?

did it stop you from getting sick?

Comments

[nagano]

Mhm.

Do you know her?

[ Don't argue, don't resist. He's going to help her and she's just going to have to deal with it!!! ]

rudeness intensifies

[telepathy]

she commented too
i asked her what good you were

W O W

[nagano]

😒

[ That's all she gets for a solid minute. He knows she doesn't mean it like that, though.

Hopefully. ]

I clean, I cook, and I'm really good at remembering seemingly useless facts. I'm very useful!!!

Just kidding. You meant within the context of the hanahaki sickness, yeah?

[telepathy]

why i would want a soulmate except to get rid of the sickness
doesnt everyone cook and clean

[nagano]

You'd be surprised at how many people can't or don't cook.

I won't argue for or against getting a soulmate, but I can say from recent experiences that they're more useful than I initially thought they'd be.

[ Or maybe that's just his fondness for Hibiki bleeding through. Hm. ]

[telepathy]

is that why you did it
shes useful?

[nagano]

No.

It was an impulsive decision, now that I look back at it.

Finding the words to explain my reasoning is hard.

[ And he knows a lot of words. ]

[telepathy]

but all you do is talk

[nagano]

I mean, yes, talking used to be one of my primary jobs, but... Ouch.

[ Unbelievable. Unbelievable!!!

...After a beat, he decides he's satisfied with the word soup in his head. ]

There was some desperation in the decision. I think we realized at some point that we... needed each other. Something like that. We keep each other grounded, especially when our Shadows try to push into making decisions we don't want to do.

I think that's as simple of an explanation that I can offer.

[telepathy]

what about if your shadows start targeting each other

[nagano]

[ If she only knew that it was already happening. ]

Then we'll have to deal with the consequences. Just like with any other action.

But






This is hard to admit.

I'm used to always handling my problems on my own, even though I insist on helping others with theirs. I'm a hypocrite, I know.

But I want to be able to stand with her so we can face our Shadows down together.

[telepathy]

it sounds nice

[ a good ideal. something worth aspiring to.

she shuts her eyes, tries to imagine something like that. comes up only with the time that she'd spent with darcy, before darcy had turned their back on her; and the time in the mine, with aristaeus, before he had done the same.

maybe there's something about her. or maybe those were their shadows, cast too long to contend with. ]