[open] (jenna marbles voice) no one can stop me

[fujimaru]

[[ I don't have a musebox because I only play one or two characters at a time and also thinking up usernames is hard. So let's call this an open post to function as a CMO for Ritsuka, such as people may want it. (•̀ᴗ•́)و ̑̑ ]]

Comments

[fujimaru]

[ that is the MOST SUS of all. ]

...how long is "a while," Dan Heng.

[lifeban]

I've found you, so it doesn't matter.

[squeezing her tighter.]

[fujimaru]

[ avoiding answering is only more sus!!

but also, she cannot actually help herself from leaning in for the hug. ]

...is this one of those things where if I find out, I'm going to be upset?

[lifeban]

...Yes.

[fujimaru]

...

[ she takes a DEEP BREATH, then reaches up to take his face in her hands, a mirror to what he did earlier. ]

How long, Dan Heng?

[lifeban]

[fuck.

keeps his tone very even.]

...Eighty six years.

[fujimaru]

[ what ]

What?

[ what ]

[lifeban]

Timelines aren't consistent. Especially with your world...

To call getting even this close to you a one in a million gamble would be an understatement. So I stayed.

[fujimaru]

But that's--

[ for a moment she's gripping his face too hard, and then she forces herself to loosen the grip, though she doesn't let go. the horror of that is both immediately obvious and slow-blooming. ]

I'm barely twenty! That's so long--and this place isn't--why?

[lifeban]

I'm stubborn.

[fujimaru]

What part of that was worth it?!

[ look, Ritsuka doesn't actually have that many self-worth issues, but also, she cannot wrap her mind around the idea that this promise would be worth it to him. ]

[lifeban]

I found you.

[fujimaru]

But I'm not...

[ she's doing that thing, that thing where she has started to cry and hasn't actually realized she's doing it, still clinging to him and staring like she isn't sure he's real. ]

Eighty-six years? That can't be worth it.

[lifeban]

[brushing her tears away, gentle.]

You are. It was.

[fujimaru]

You--...

[ what is she even supposed to say to that. she never actually got the guts to try and put her feelings into words back in the hotel, and now this? what the heckie. ]

H-how are you even real?!

[lifeban]

...I have no idea how to answer that.

[fujimaru]

You're going to have to, because if I'm hallucinating this I'm going to be so mad.

[lifeban]

You aren't. I'm really here.

[fujimaru]

[ there's like five more seconds where she just stares at him, like she's considering making some kind of joke to save face

and then she just faceplants into his chest and starts to cry in earnest, if mostly quiet about it. it's a very contained crying, at least. ]

[lifeban]

[holds her even tighter, stroking her hair. enjoy tiddy, of course. it is still good tiddy.]

[fujimaru]

[ IT'S STILL GOOD she'll appreciate it more in a couple of seconds ]

What am I supposed to do with you, huh... I was gonna make a speech and everything.

[ she was not ]

[lifeban]

A speech?

[fujimaru]

I was going to be really cool. Tell you what I really thought. Maybe I'd make you cry.

[ instead: it's this. ]

[lifeban]

...Mean.

[fujimaru]

That's right. I'm mean now.

[ she says, in a tiny mumbled voice ]