[closed] you're not the hero. you never were

[loopsiedaisy]

Who: Siffrin(?), Siffrin, and Odile
What: What happened when the Siffrins simply got spirited away from the network
Where: The woods! Just barely into the Northern Forest.
When: Backdated to early October
Warnings: SPOILERS, and the usual

[In the woods approximately five minutes away from the Canopy (because that's how close they got back to town before they got wound down), there is: a Shinx. They're fidgeting, claws extending and retracting, puncturing fallen leaves; it's still very tempting to just run. But. At this point. They are pretty sure it is far too late.]

[They can hear footsteps, distantly: the measured steps of a Weavile that already feel familiar again, even after barely more than a week, with a certain sort of restrained frustration. More rapid than usual. The anxious, light scamper of a Meowth, only audible because they know to listen for it. They can't quite tell who's going to get to them first.]

[Either way, whenever someone does show up, they immediately straighten up, still their paws, and scrunch up their eyes in a forced smile. Their mouth... doesn't match. There's just enough of a grin that it doesn't look like a natural cat expression, but it's still very faint, like they've forgotten that they need to put effort into that part of their face too.]

[It's self-defense. It's this expression or look terrified.]

Comments

[loopsiedaisy]

"What would you even do with two Siffrins?" They say it with the same kind of tone as someone asking why you need a another pair of winter boots when you already have a full closet, like they're laughing at the thought.

...like they're trying to laugh at the thought.

They don't answer her question. (They don't have an answer. There wasn't any planning, there was just what they couldn't do.)

[paperceptive]

Don't say it don't say it don't say it don't say it -

"I'm sure Isabeau could work something out."

WELL IS SHE WRONG??? But Odile moves along quickly, wry smile or no. "What were Mirabelle and Isabeau supposed to do with some random old woman from Ka Bue deciding to tag along? You can't get hung up on that kind of question or you'll never do anything." She thinks along similar lines at times, of course. Maybe everyone does. But Odile has long since learned to disregard such worries - she'd never have left her home as a child, otherwise. What do people want with a kid who's so visibly different?

[1/?]

[loopsiedaisy]

[2/?]

[loopsiedaisy]

[3/?]

[loopsiedaisy]

...they're     not thinking about this.

[4/?]

[loopsiedaisy]

They'd have some sarcastic comment about how oh, of course Mirabelle and Isabeau would turn down an experienced traveler who's clever and perceptive enough to figure out Time Craft in a day... but that's not really the point here, is it? Or the problem?

(Not that they don't have their own insecurities about that too, just like stardust does... but they're totally self-aware about it so it's not a problem. Definitely.)

"Is that really the same...?"

[5/6]

[loopsiedaisy]

In their brightest Loop voice: "Humor me for a minute!"

"You get back from here to Vaugarde as magically as you arrived, and head off to find everyone again. Or maybe you head back to your life in Ka Bue! Pick your favorite! But you arrive, and..."

[6/6] wheezes

[loopsiedaisy]

"...Odile is already there."

Uncharacteristically, for a moment they meet her eyes. If anyone besides stardust could understand, wouldn't it be Odile? ...maybe? Or maybe they're asking too much of the Universe, when the only way someone could truly understand you is...

But they don't bother with any of the qualifiers. 'And you know she's not an imposter,' anything like that - it's Odile. She knows what they mean. They don't think she's going to squirm out of giving them a real answer by adjusting the hypothetical; if she doesn't want to answer, she just won't.