001 ☀ Stahn Aileron, Otome Yanagiya

[majinken]

Comments

[mombastic]

[ She definitely has more questions. She'd been expecting at least one of these stones, but Otome does a double-take when she realizes: she knows some of these names. Not all of them, obviously, and some she's only heard and never encountered for herself, but as she steps closer and crouches down to peer at these markers, she lingers on both Dymlos and Chaltier before her gaze moves to the end.

Otome had known what had happened, had discussed it with both boys, but her last memory of Leon is him standing in front of her, alive and well and slightly grumpy. Now, as she reaches out carefully to touch the top of the stone... it doesn't feel real. That Leon was actually... ]

I see Stahn's taken good care of you. [ softly, as though she doesn't trust her voice to maintain anything about that volume. ] I hope you're not causing him too much trouble.

[majinken]

[it's hard for stahn to watch—otome was the one person here now that knew the life beyond this world. she was the one person who knew how far leon had come, the ways he'd grown and changed.

she knew of the way he and stahn had fought as they tried to figure out what to do, how to get past their problems and dilemmas and fix a friendship that had been strained by circumstance. but upon his return to his own world, he was left with the harsh, harsh reality that he had no idea...

well, what happened to leon.

did he just return to the bottom of the sea? had there been another world that he found himself in, a place for him to start anew like stahn and otome both had so desperately wanted for him? there are still a lot of days where it hurts for stahn; leon was the most precious person in his world outside of his sister and grandfather...

and otome was the only one who really knew it.

but stahn is stahn. and maybe at one time, he would have sat that and said that he was sorry. sorry he couldn't save leon, sorry that she had to see nothing but a stone in his memory. but instead, what she'll get are words of fondness and quiet resolve.]

Wherever he is now... he can live freely. [he wants to believe that. even if he wonders those other things, what he truly wants to believe that leon found somewhere to be, that he would recover and live happily, even with them there alongside him. and also:] But he won't be forgotten here either. Not as our comrade, and not... as my best friend.

[see, leon? stahn did what he wanted, he saved their world so everyone could live happily, and now otome was there to be able to see that much too. they did well, somehow, they all did well.]

[mombastic]

[ Of course he wouldn't be forgotten. Absence didn't mean a complete and total lack of Leon, after all. Otome still remembered her colony encounters, and she's sure Stahn has a plethora of memories of his friend. And there's no guarantee that Leon isn't living safely somewhere else, where they may never see him again, but he's doing better. And that... Otome's no stranger to, even before she'd met them. ]

If he exists in more than one place, in some fashion... I think that's a good way to think of it.

[ In Otome's memories in Japan, in Stahn's memories here, wherever he ended up... Leon's never going to truly disappear like this. Even if it's not the most ideal... he's still with them. ]

[majinken]

[her approach is bittersweet—but she isn't wrong. of course, stahn is thinking more on the strictly tangible version of leon, the one who really had been by their sides.

but otome is right, the memories of him will keep him tied and bound to the people who love him so much, no matter where he is.

but even still...]

If there's somewhere that's not just those memories, though... I hope he's able to live happily now.

[mombastic]

I hope so, too. He deserves that much.

[ Well, he deserves a lot more, but it's still better than being condemned to oblivion. ]

[majinken]

Yeah. That's... all I really wanted for him anyway.

[even before everything else that happened, but especially afterwards. it's still a pretty tough topic for stahn when he really starts to think about it.]

[mombastic]

... Then I'm sure that's what happened.

[ Thoughts and strong wills can have incredible power, after all. She's seen it for herself. ]

[majinken]

I wonder if we'll ever see him again...

[considering he didn't think he would see otome, and here she is...]

[mombastic]

Mm... actually, yes. I think it's entirely possible.

[ considering what she's lived through with demons attacking and dying once and world resets, seeing one disappeared sixteen-year-old should fit right in. ]

[majinken]

I hope you're right. I really... really hope you're right.

[is it obvious how much stahn misses him?]

[mombastic]

Didn't you know? Women's intuition is always right.

[majinken]

It is?

[this is news to him, nobody's ever said anything like that to stahn before.]

[mombastic]

It is. It's mostly kept a secret between women, so no one starts getting envious... but it's never wrong.

[majinken]

Is it like that... for all women?

[he's going to 100% believe her no matter what, he's just wondering if this applies to people like lilith and rutee too.]

[mombastic]

Yes, although it doesn't really develop until they're older.

[ This probably isn't a lie. ]

[majinken]

Huh... I've really never heard of anything like that at all before..

[so...]

That must be why you're so smart! [stahn, honey... no...]

[mombastic]

... Well. I'm not so sure that's entirely related...

[majinken]

Oh... it sounded like it would have been, though...

[mombastic]

It's a bit like... sensing how things are. If I'm smart, well... that's probably all the years of medical school.

[majinken]

I don't think it's medical school that made you smart.... You're smart about things that don't have anything to do with doctors too...?

[mombastic]

Well, thank you! I suppose the rest might just be life experience.

[majinken]

Maybe that's what it is....

[she has more of that than he does, right? though... stahn's definitely been through a lot and grown up quite a bit from his own experiences.]

[mombastic]

It's amazing what you learn by just living life, honestly. You've learned a lot, right?

[majinken]

Yeah... I guess I have? [he has, but stahn is modest, as ever.]

[mombastic]

You definitely have. Even seeing you now, I can tell you've grown, Stahn.