trustfelled | come out of hiding, i'm right here beside you

come out of hiding, i'm right here beside you

[A while after the execution has ended, everyone will find a simple note slipped under their door.]

If you don't want to be alone after everything that's happening, some of us will be in the dining room. Even if you decide not to come, please remember that you aren't alone here.

[The note isn't signed, but the handwriting is feminine and neat.

For anyone who decides to come, there's a good array of food laid out on the table. There are some small and simple cakes, cookies, and pastries, a healthy amount of okonomiyaki, okayu, and other Japanese dishes (with a focus on rice and eggs), along with curry. In addition, there are pancakes, and a large pot of soup. It looks like a few people collaborated to make enough food for everyone here.

Just like the meal they shared together earlier in the week, the candles from the storage room lend a more peaceful light than the fluorescent lights above.]

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You just did.

[ The gesture would be romantic if it weren't so obviously just an attempt to harp on her reaction. ]

...But I'll let you ask another one, since you clearly have something on your mind.

[ She knows this question might lead to a darker path, same as some things in her profile. But if Tsubasa wanted them to know each other, it can't all be their game or their hobbies. Besides, Tsubasa probably has bigger questions for her too ]

Why did your dislikes include "being home?"

[ ...Game over, then. ]

Because I don't like spending time at home. After school, every day, I spend time at the library until it closes. And on weekends and holidays, when the library is closed, I go on strolls through town.

[ She's aware that she's repeating herself, here. ]

I try to only stay there for as long as I have to be.

[ There's more to that, of course there is. ]

It would be unfitting for me to ask "why?" After all, you have your own question to ask.

[ Why does there have to be? ]

I do. You can ask your "why" after I'm done with my question, but if that'll be the case, I'll ask something relevant. You're not foolish, Nachetanya. I think you have an idea of the situation.

[ Despite her migraine, despite her pounding chest, despite the fact that they're still close like this, a hair's breadth away, in their outfits...Tsubasa sounds calm and cool, all over again.

Or, a better word would probably be "detached". ]

I want to know about your family.

[ Because Tsubasa isn't shallow, and there's no way that every single one of her likes and dislikes could be so shallow as that. She ... exhales. She should have expected that. Actually, no, more accurately: she did ]

I have a father, mother, and older brother. There are some relatives in other countries, but... I've not met most of them, and Piena's ministers don't consider it a good idea for us to get in contact with them. My older brother, Clyetum, died when I was fairly young. I don't actually have too many memories of him. My mother, Rashetanya, actually passed a little later than than that, so she's gone now too. As for my father...

[ which, of course, is the root of this question ]

His name is Nalphtum, and he's the king of the Piena, though that's now almost in name only. Six years ago, he went mad and declared that heretical religious cults that worshipped the Evil God had taken root in Piena, and began a great purge of numerous citizens and aristocrats. Eventually, his delusion was so great that he deemed that I was a heretic as well. I was banished from the palace and my family, and he named the prince of another country as his heir. When he put out a bounty for my head or the heads of other "heretics," a civil war erupted in Piena as people wanted to claim the bounty and gain a high title at court.

[ . . . ]

Eventually, the people who had supported me came out on top during that conflict. My father is still on the throne, but he's now a mere puppet: the Prime Minister and the Head Priest now run everything, and "Augustra" was added to my name to show that I'm the undisputed heir apparent when my father passes.

Edited 2017-06-11 17:44 (UTC)

...I see.

[ For a father to call for the death of his own daughter...even if he had went mad, she can't imagine what that time must have been like for Nachetanya. And while she's grateful that Nachetanya is still here to tell the tale, to essentially have divided her country (which, she reminds herself, is no small or weak territory by any means...)

It must have been a brutal thing to go through. To see your father turn into something hysterical before your very eyes...

Tsubasa pulls herself back up, to face her properly. Her position is a bit of a strain on her back, but it's only proper to meet her gaze correctly, if this is the road they're to go down.

She reaches for her arm and takes her hand in both of hers. Her breath is even, her tone soft. ]

I'm sorry to hear about your mother and brother. ...And your father, of course, and your people. But most of all, I'm sorry for you, that you had to go through such a horrible thing.

[ But she knows how brutal family can be. Transmitter-san had said that family gives you strength, but, Tsubasa still doesn't think that's entirely true.

They're just supposed to. ]

...My mother gave birth to me when she was somewhere close to my age, from what I can tell. My father was absent my whole life; I don't even know who he is, or have any idea what his name could be. But when I was very young, my mother married another man, my first step-father. I only have a vague recollection of him, but my recollection of my mother is even more vague, because she took her own life when I wasn't older than three. My step-father, at the time, eventually became engaged to another woman, my step-mother, and when he passed away, she met my current step-father and married him when I was around seven years old. It's a bit of a complicated family tree, a mess of a string of marriages and re-marriages, but those two strangers, so far divorced beyond my father and mother, are more or less the only real family I've ever known, the only ones I was really old enough to remember distinctly.

[ She wants to keep it to the facts, like she did during the trial, but... ]

They only let me stay with them as a means of keeping up appearances. Neither of them had wanted to face the scandal of abandoning an orphan, but behind closed doors, they...can't stand the sight of me. On good days, it's as if I don't exist. It's like I'm an invisible guest in my own home, and I don't even have a room to call my own. On bad days, they react violently to my presence. When I try to de-escalate the situation, it simply makes it worse, so...on some nights, when I know that staying there would make things worse, I simply don't come home, and sleep in the park or somewhere under the stars.

[ She speaks of it impassively, as if she's relating a rumor she heard, as if she's divorced from the situation herself. Not a hint of sadness, or anger, or disgust strains at her voice. She just continues to hold her hand and speaks calmly. She hasn't told this to anyone before, but... ]

...Obviously, this doesn't leave this room.

Edited 2017-06-11 18:41 (UTC)

[ Nachetanya sits up too. She doesn't pull off the other, but goes once more into the straddling position, holding her hand the whole time. Of course given Tsubasa has her hands around Nachetanya's one she can't quite pull her up, but she does tr to coax her into sitting up - Nachetanya can then scoot to allow for that better. After all, this is a somewhat more serious talk.

Her eyes swim a little as she processes this, both the words and her tone of voice. she inhales, exhales... And she wishes he had another hand to touch her with. In lieu of that, she leans her head forward to press their foreheads together. ]

I remember sleeping on the ground, looking up at the stars while the civil war happened. During that time, I wished and dreamed of nothing more than being able to sleep without the fear of death looming over me.

[ She says this sympathetically. To afford the same sort of ... well, she expects Tsubasa to relate, really, and Nachetanya is saying she understands. ]

Edited 2017-06-11 18:54 (UTC)

[ Tsubasa gets the message. She lets her forehead touch Nachetanya's, lets her breathe, gives her a moment for them both to catch their breath. She hears what she's saying, and she lets the moment linger; she's not used to showing her vulnerability like this, to exposing this part of herself to the light, but in the chaos of today and in the midst of the games they play, it's a moment of repose.

She never thought exposing that weakness would be so refreshing, even though that weakness doesn't show on her face. Her headache persists, though, and the beating in her chest does, too. ]

Your situation and mine are worlds apart. ...But I understand you.

[ Is it, though? That different from each other? The princess laughs a little bit and remains in this comfortable position for a while, her red eyes swimming. She feels comfortable like, to speak...

As equals?

She hums, ]

If you want to continue, Tsubasa, it would be your turn. [ But- ] But I am comfortable with this moment to last more.

My turn, huh?

[ She stays quiet as she mulls this over... ]

What made you want to ask me about that?

[ Not upset, or chiding; with all the cadence of someone asking "What's the weather looking like tomorrow?" ]

[ . . . Haha.

She shakes her head, her hair brushing against Tsubasa a little in the process ]

It's unpleasant that I still smell like Kogami's smoke, isn't it?

[ Maybe she should have a more serious question, but. ]

The smell doesn't bother me.

[ Only because not much seems to. ]

[ and now, breaking their rules: ]

Has our game excited you?

It went in a place I didn't expect, but I've been enjoying learning more about you as a person, Nachetanya.

You know that wasn't the answer I was looking for.

[ she says with a light pout. But she also worms her hand around here between Tsubasa's, shakes her head and then more evenly: ]

... I agree, though. I'm pleased to think that we're friends, Tsubasa. and I promise to keep your secrets.

I know it wasn't. You're not the only one who can be a little bit coy. It's not much of a game if only one person plays.

[ Just good friends. Gals being pals. ]

You know I won't tell a soul about anything that goes on here. It's probably intimate enough that Transmitter-san stopped watching around the time you pushed me on the bed.

Oh! [ She says with some surprise in her voice, her mouth opening a little wide. As if she didn't think of that ] That's true, isn't it?! We might well have had a private conversation all to ourselves.

I had considered briefly that you had pinned me for that reason, but now I see it was just you being you, Nachetanya.

[ Ah well. She didn't mind it. ]

[ Seemingly, it was her being her. ]

Will you be staying then night to earn back you pajamas properly?

If you don't mind having me, or letting me borrowing them in the morning. I'd rather not leave come 7 am and have everyone staring at my nurse outfit. People might get the wrong idea.

It does hug you chest even more than that uniform you usually wear.

[ She said, missing that everything Nachetanya wore hugs her own chest a lot. Because of course it does. ]

How romantic. Truly, you have quite a way with words.

I did make you cheeks color!

[ She says, arrogantly! ... Or at least, seemingly. She puts a hand up to her own chest and - ... Finally scoots herself off some straddling the other. ]

Not out of flattery, you didn't! I just blushed because of how forward you were. It was hardly appropriate.

[ She needs to sit back up again, and take a moment to breathe... ]

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