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Persephone Kore      For those who haven't been here since the Paladins mission, Sapient Heuristics feels like a wholly different place. Partly that's because of my presence; an all-pervading sense of warmth, calm, 'home', and a vast gentleness that's only a little bit ominous.

     It is hard to do anything Persephone doesn't want one to do, and I don't want you to be sad! I invited you here, so you belong, don't you?

     Part of it is just that a place feels different when one approaches it with different intentions. There's the functional but somewhat messy cargo bay, where one arrives via artificial warpgate; now instead of an obstacle-strewn stealth area with complex lines of sight, it feels more charming imperfection, toys strewn across a child's floor.

     The apple-crimson hallways beyond that curve and merge like rivers, too, seem brighter. The life filling them- old researchers sitting in cozy nooks reading papers, young subjects running or playing games- is no longer an obstacle or a threat, and can now feel like community.

     This time Phony's waiting for you directly. She's in a little nook with a public-use coffee machine, sipping her drink and talking to some friends: a tall, pale, dark-haired woman with a serene demeanor and an impatiently energetic boy. You catch her in the middle of standing and wrapping up the conversation: of course, I felt you as soon as you came through the gate!

     She wears her typical smile as she greets Go and Ishirou, shaking their hands in turn, but it's alloyed with concern when she looks to Lilian. "So what's all this about, Lily-R? I still don't really know."
Go Shijima      It'd be hard for Go to be sad even without Phony's presence, owing to recent events. A smile goes well with the bright colors he wears today--a red and white striped v-neck, white hi-tops, and a pair of those light khaki jeans he likes so much.

     "Hi, Phony," he greets. Go helps himself to some coffee. "I have to say, I like this place a lot better when I'm not sneaking through it."

     Sip. Lilian had, of course, explained over the broadband why they'd be coming. Being here is less part of any mission and more as a show of support for a friend. Accordingly, he lets her take the lead.
Ishirou Ishirou has come to help offer moral support, and really any support he can give the situation.  Lilian hasn't been direct about what's going on exactly, but given it's about Blueberry he can...well he can guess.  Though for the moment he actually rather likes the new feel of being here.  It's...relaxing, and troubles seem a bit farther away.  

Not that, his troubles are particularly close now.  There is a subtle change in Ishirou.  A slight change in his outward confidence.  He feels as if something had been unlocked and almost feels like every step is a step on a path he's now walking, even if he's not actually moving.  It's not as BIG of a jump from when he transitioned from android to human, or even when he got his name, but the change is big enough to notice.

Ishirou waves at Phony the moment she comes into view.  Though she could feel he /was/ slightly mad at her the last time they interacted (the fight) but now he seems over that.  His smile though is more tempered with concern over Lilian.  "Should I get coffee for everyone?" he says, and then, "How's it going Phony?"
Lilian Rook     Lilian, despite being the prime instigator of the second worst thing to ever happen to Sapient Heuristics, is now the one Paladin used to being here. Only a few times. Not as often 'as she should', according to her. Nervous to arrive, then anxious about leaving. But she is, ultimately, the one who knows these people by name. The one who can smile and wave, who can close her eyes, do her best to empty out her transient frustrations, her fears and insecurities, and let herself 'be there' in the way they expect.

    Just the sight of those ruby halls, the sound of playing children, the gentle tap tap of yielding plastic floors, makes her mental presence ping and groan like a house settling in the cool night. It settles on a slightly crooked foundation. Everything about her feels just a little tilted. Slanted five degrees to one side. Without the ability to truly let herself be accurately read by another, Lilian lacks the familiarity and clarity of feeling to fully express what it is, but the unbalancing point feels like something in the constellation of 'guilt', 'fear', 'the desire to escape'; deeply unfamiliar in Lilian's night sky.

    "Sorry Phony. It's really difficult to explain. It was hard to even let Tamamo see." Lilian replies to Persephone. "It's . . . god, okay. I don't think I can explain it well, so just . . . just promise not to overreact." Taking a deep breath, Lilian proceeds to lean down, stop to say "And no smarmy jokes." and then continue on to reveal why she'd suddenly been wearing thigh-high stockings the entire week. Peeling the one on her left leg down to the point that it dips just below the knee, more and more hesitant the closer she gets, Lilian reveals--

    The skin below the knee smoothly fades from fair to black-- actual midnight black. It somehow seems solid and insubstantial at the same time, like a dark room in the shape of a slender calf; like her night vision might adjust if she stares at it long enough and see something within. Faint dusty gold lines glint within it, like thin cracks caused by rippled water.
Persephone Kore      It is damn good coffee, Go discovers. Sapient Heuristics isn't a decadent place, but if you're paying launch fees to get coffee beans into space, they might as well be really good beans.

     "That's okay, Ishirou! I've already had my own," Persephone says. There is, in fact, an empty mug at the table where she was sitting. The tall woman she was chatting with smiles and waves.

     "You look great, Go! Did you want to talk to Marc again? And you feel great, Ishirou. I'm so glad both of you are doing well." She holds her cheek with one hand when she says it, giving her the vague air of a smothering aunt commenting on how much you've grown, my goodness. "I've been doing really well, actually. Ahaha, but maybe I should just say that's normal?"

     When Lilian tries to explain, her expression grows a little more serious, though she smiles again when she gets to say: "I already told you I've never overreacted to anything in my entire life, Lily-R. But thank you for trusting us with it. It is hard, isn't it?"

     True to her word, when the midnight un-flesh is revealed, Persephone's breath softly hitches and her eyebrows lift, but she manages to keep herself from really startling. She crouches down to get a better look, reaching out to it with her fingers and looking up- "can I touch?"- and doing so, ever-so-gently, should permission be given.

     She can't help herself from asking it: Why are you the way that you are?

     "Oh, goodness. It really does suit you," is the first thing she says. "You've sort of taken my breath away, haha. I can see 'Lilian Rook' in it. Can't you?"

     Her careless smile turns to a little frown. "But you wouldn't be here if you'd done it on purpose. What happened to you, Lily-R?"
Go Shijima      "Ha... thanks, Phony. It wouldn't be bad to catch up, and talk about something... other than the last thing we talked about." He smiles wider. "Is he around?"

     Go blanches slightly at the sight of Lilian's apparent injury. His mental presence here is harder to pierce than most by a good margin, a challenging endeavor for all but the most sensitive readers here. Phony can detect his concern easily, but it's also written plainly on his face.

     Of course, it stands to reason that if she doesn't want Phony overreacting, he probably shouldn't, either.

     "Does it hurt?" he asks softly.
Ishirou Ishirou nods and chills out for a moment, smiling slightly when she mentions he feels great.  "Thanks, but I suppose we can talk about that later?" he says, not wanting to take the spotlight off what they were actually there for.  When she reveals the leg, Ishirou remembers exactly what happened.  

"That's where you were shot by Blueberry..." he says, and then his own scanning abilities are put into use.  This was concerning.  Was it because of Blueberry?  Was it because of Lilian herself?  Though he tries to keep a positive tone to it.  

"Haha...I suppose it is...a little her style," Ishirou agrees.
Lilian Rook     Lilian visibly braces for impact with Persephone hesitates, and keeps holding her breath even after Persephone keeps her promise. "And I still disagree with that assessment." she replies, doing her best attempt to be game as possible. A little too late, she realizes what Persephone is actually about to do. "Maybe you shouldn't--" she starts.

    It feels so smooth. Hard, without being something other than skin. Like a millimeter of metal foil vacuum sealed without a wrinkle. Some of its warmth is gone, or at least can't be felt, the heat of life rendered gently vague. A pulse is just barely felt, despite the lack of an apparent vein. One doesn't normally think of a limb as having a discrete and disparate outside and inside, a facade and interior. And yet . . .

    'You've lied to everyone about who you are. Even Tamamo. You claim you've never murdered anyone, Rook, but we both know that's not true. What did you do to your mother's son? Tell them!!'

    'You think you deserve to be like Strawberry? She doesn't lie. She doesn't cheat. She gave years to be special, and you're stealing them, you gross fuck!'


    Unseen by anyone, Lilian crashes into the muck a third time. Unheard by anyone, she screams the water out of her lungs before she can even breathe. Amidst a crowd of frozen, oblivious, apathetic spectators, Lilian collapses under a feeling of pain exceeding anything she'd previously known shooting up her leg, and then not being able to feel her leg at all. She doesn't dare stop and look. She fights the chemicals trying to lock up her body in shock and pushes herself up with her aching arms again, forcing herself to crawl, pretending she doesn't notice the red swirling in the water around her.

    That ticking is maddeningly loud. Won't someone shut it off?

    "I wish it did." Lilian blurts out softly to Go without thinking. "It feels fine. Great, actually. No, the worst part is that it feels better than it started. This is after Tamamo already healed it. She did amazing. She says there isn't a . . . a spell or a curse or anything. That it just changed 'how it was supposed to be'. She . . . she made me promise, to leave the 'fruit' here. To stop carrying it around with me. She thinks it's to blame. And I think she's scared."

    "I can't say I'm not even a little bit."
Persephone Kore      Phony mouths a silent 'oh'. "Lily-R... you've been through a lot this last week, haven't you." She looks as though she's about to say something further, but doesn't. Instead she stands back up, puts her arms around Lilian without warning, hugs her tightly, and lifts her just a tiny bit off the floor.

     "I'm so, so sorry, you had to hear that," she murmurs softly. The hug naturally puts her lips near Lilian's ear. "You've never lied to anyone, Lilian. Not in your entire life. You're trusting us with even this, aren't you? The deepest parts of your heart, worn on your skin. That's the most honest anyone has ever been."

     Finally, Persephone releases her. Now free, her hand gravitates to her cheek again, this time thoughtfully more than adoringly. "Your body decided it wanted to be a little bit 'inside-out', following that fruit's intent. Just a tiny sliver like Emery. So of course that's its natural plan, now. Does that feel true to you, Lily-R?"

     Go's words catch her attention, belatedly. "Marc's always around. I leave sometimes, and Dylan leaves a lot, but he likes to stay right here," Persephone says, looking back over her shoulder at him with a smile. "Smiling like that already, huh? You really have gotten fond of him. I'll call for him, okay?" No visible 'calling' at all happens, though Lilian's mind-reading might detect a shift in psychic intent.

     How much communication is happening between the subjects all the time here, out of everyone else's view?

     "Later," she agrees with Ishirou, and then smiles. "But I think I can guess what it is." A moment later: "So you were there with her, too, when it happened? Did you notice anything at the time? Anything she might not have?"
Go Shijima      "Oh," says Go softly. "The 'fruit.' I remember. It's okay for you to be a little scared of that," he quietly consoles. "It's different. That can be scary. Especially when 'different' becomes the new 'way it's supposed to be.'"

     "When you talk about it that way--about it feeling better than it did--do you think maybe you're changing here, too?" Go taps his finger against his chest, right over where his heart would be.

     "That can be scary, too," he admits. "But at least it's less scary when you have good friends, and you're one of mine. So I'll do my best to protect your smile no matter what, Lilian."

     "I'm going to catch up with Marc. You have my frequency if you need me, okay?" Something about him has changed, too, but more subtly, over a longer period of time. There's a warmth just beginning to radiate from him, that could be kindled.

     Marc is 'called,' and Go finds a seat opposite him, pulling the back around to rest his arms atop it. Of course he'd sit that way.

     "Yo, Marc," he begins amiably. "How have things been since the last time we spoke?"
Ishirou Ishirou's train of thought was interrupted by the questions.  Well, okay, not /really/ his initial scans were just the surface, getting the feel of what was happening before scanning deeper.  He does nod to her, "Yeah, I was..." he says, "She was hit pretty bad, but she was also...probably using her powers a lot.  It's a bit fuzzy when she does and I have less than accurate accounting for that...and I was also trying not to die too."

He looks over his internal memory, but not only that but all of the 'vision' he had from the fight itself, and goes over it.  "It was extremely emotional for her, that is something I can definitely say.  Blueberry could...basically look at every possibility and then use what she knew to try and rattle us."

Ishirou gives Go a wave as he goes off to see Marc.  Then he turns his gaze back onto the leg.  He gives it a thorough analysis.  What was going on with this leg?  Was it from the damage?  From Blueberry?  From Lilian?  Something else?
Lilian Rook     'Lily-R... you've been through a lot this last week, haven't you.'

    Lilian takes in a deep, shuddery breath when Persephone hugs her. Her body tenses up completely from head to toe, held perfectly still along with the air. Her fingernails dig into her palms. Her heart palpably skips a beat, then she relaxes it all over a few more seconds, breathing out again without the shake.

    "You don't have to go that far, Phony." Lilian replies, a thin, guilty smirk on her lips. "I've lied to people all the time. Just not about certain things." She can only really shuffle back and forth on her heels when Persephone lets her touch the ground again. "I suppose maybe it is honest, but how much does the honesty count when it's compelled like this?"

    'Your body decided it wanted to be a little bit 'inside-out', following that fruit's intent. Just a tiny sliver like Emery.'

    "That's what I'm worried that it is." Lilian sighs. "Or, no, I suppose some part of me just knows that it has to be at least be close to the truth. But that sort of makes it worse, doesn't it? That just carrying it around --that little sliver carved off a Wish into something precious-- is enough to tip it all over. Like I just didn't quite have enough weight for how much I wanted it, but only by a few grams. Isn't that scary? To think about how close I already was? What if it still happens even when I leave it here? It's already hard enough to do that. It's been driving me crazy. It feels worse than being naked. It's like leaving a hand at home."


    She shakes her head to Go. "No. That . . . changing there is . . . that's everything I'm trying my hardest to do. The way it was --is-- is like the way I already was. It feels like something I always wanted, since a long time ago. Something I was just starting to get less familiar with. I want it to be less familiar. I don't want to want it. But I like it anyways. And I hate that I like it?" She laughs uneasily. "Haha, does that even make any sense? I'm sorry. Tell him I said hello. Even though I'll probably see him shortly."

    Lilian winces a little bit at Ishirou reminiscing. "Tamamo said it reminded her of the black-gold magic. But I spent that whole time glued to her. I knew Blueberry Princess was playing me, but it's different to know that and to really be able to leave her behind and make the smart move." Back to Persephone. "Isn't that the problem, though? Even when I was doing everything within my power to be there for someone important to me, and trying my very best to help someone else . . . some part of me still wanted to escape. To give up. To just . . . be anything but me. Anything but 'this way'."
Lilian Rook     Analyzing the healed injury, tells Ishirou that there is indeed nothing magical about it, except the lingering traces of Tamamo's recovery magic. Indeed, it actually seems like Lilian's own personal magic doesn't flow through it at all, just sort of disappearing into the soft void. Everything about it is 'guarded'. Heavily obfuscated from his scans. Private and hard to quantify or judge.

    It also appears to read, via 'battle data', as very significantly tougher than her right, ordinary leg. Harder. Stronger. Without any vital points popping up. Coated in a faint kind of unclassified distortion that seems to want to reject the invasive inspection as well as harm. Somehow, it gives off an impression just to read the data. As if the figures were a story with authorial intent. A story about running, desperately. Wanting to shed human flesh. To be anything but human, where everyone knows how a human can be wrong-shaped and broken, in body and in mind. A whisper of the urge to make everyone stop and retreat to safety and quiet privacy.
Persephone Kore      Marc arrives a few moments later, having taken his time to stroll over from somewhere nearby. He's just as prissy and proper as ever: collared shirt, argyle sweatervest, charcoal slacks. But when he sees Go, he smiles and gives the Traditional Guy Greeting: a simple chin-up nod.

     "Given the circumstances of the last time we spoke," he says as he eases down into a nearby nook and gestures welcomingly at the chair opposite him, "it shouldn't surprise you to hear that I'm doing quite a bit better." Marc crosses his legs and leans back, resting his elbow on the armrest and his chin on the back of his hand. It's quite a different gesture than Phony's.

     "You didn't introduce yourself then. But Phony tells me your name is 'Go Shijima'. I think I owe you my thanks, for helping the others to see the good in this place. How have you been?"

     "Using her powers a lot," Persephone repeats thoughtfully. She gives Ishirou an affirming nod. "And in a bad emotional state, because of all those awful things this 'Blueberry' girl was saying. Maybe that is why. Although... Lilian, have you even gotten hurt on any other missions you've been carrying that fruit? You're usually too perfect for that, right?"

     "... but only by a few grams. Isn't that scary?" "I'm not sure that's how it is at all, Lily-R. It doesn't have to be that it just tipped you over the edge, and you were already too close. Maybe it's more like a catalyst? The potential was in you all along, but it needs the fruit's plan to act through. That sounds more right to me."

     Internally, of course, she really isn't sure. But that's nicer to believe in, isn't it?

     She takes on a softly scolding attitude next, adopting just a tiny reproachful pout. "Becoming something else isn't always 'escaping' or 'giving up', Lily-R. Changing from a child to an adult isn't running away, is it? So why do you think this must be?"

     The pout changes, by slow degrees, to a frown. "... But even if it is. You must know I'm the last one who could criticize you. Not for feeling things like that."
Lilian Rook     Lilian shakes her head in the affirmative for Persephone. "It sounds strange to say, but no, I don't ever get injured that badly. I never have been before, even. Even the few times I've honestly lost, it was because I ended up burning myself too badly by overusing it to avoid this, not because of being too wounded by something else."

    She tries to sigh in a relieved way at the alternative point of view. It's only very qualified relief. "That would be a lot more reassuring to believe. But we don't know that. Can we even know? The only person here who might be able to tell us can't really speak to us. And the only person back home is--" She hesitates. "Sakura acts like she knows, but also like it's something scary and final, so I sort of don't want to ask. And we haven't met the other girls."

    "What if it doesn't get better? What if it keeps happening? What if, despite everything, I turn out like Emery, and I can never be like this with anyone again? It's not fair, that trying to protect someone I love might be the thing that renders me alone forever." A desolate little laugh follows for just a second. "I wish I could be so self-flattering. Changing into an adult because you're scared of the way you feel, the way people look at you, as a child, is still a sort of running away. Don't they call that growing up too fast?"

    §Hi Marc. I'm sorry I look a bit of a mess right now. I'd really like to spend some time here normally, but it does seem like I only come running when I'm worried and confused, doesn't it?§
Go Shijima      Go can't stop himself from casting a glance towards Lilian. It doesn't make complete sense to him--but it doesn't have to. It makes sense to her, and it makes enough to bother her. There's no worry in his eyes, nor radiating from him, however. Because...

I meant what I said. Even if I don't always immediately know how... I'll find some way to keep my friend happy.

     "Yeah," admits Go, turning his attention fully back to Marc. "I didn't expect we'd run into each other again, to be honest. But I'm glad we have. How am I..." He's glowing, frankly, in a way you wouldn't need to be psychic to see.

     "I'm better than I think I've ever been, actually. Taking better care of myself, finding parts of me I didn't know existed... taking care of those things, too. I've decided I'm going to be a listening Kamen Rider, and it feels good to let people into my heart."

     "I had a feeling about this place, you know. And about you guys. I could tell when I first came here that whatever else it was... it was a home, first. If I helped people see the good in this place, it was only because of the hard work you've all done--and because of talking with you."

     Go sips his coffee, and it is, he must admit, damn good coffee--enough that a certain investigator Lilian knows might emphatically interrupt the conversation to sing its praises, were he only present. All that Go can muster is "Mm. That's good."

     "I still remember what you told me. That everyone deserves better than the world can give them. I've kept it close to my heart. If you ever need help with that, here." Go slides him a business card--the one he uses for his freelance photography, with his personal number on it. "And you can also call that if you need some photos taken," he grins.
Ishirou Ishirou listens to what Lilian has to say about what she felt, and he has his own pang of guilt there.  He...remembers what he felt then. He remembers what Evehime made him feel just a few days ago.  That feeling was all too familiar to him, and he sighs.  

The scans turn back negative.  No, worse, they turn back nothing, as if they were scanning a black hole.  The data is just falling in, and he can't understand it.  No, it's because of that he's getting something else... an understanding of what it is.  It's tougher, without the fatal weaknesses that a human foot would have.  His scans aren't falling into a black hole...

They're coming back as nothing.  

Ishirou thinks on this, trying to put logic to what he's seeing here.  Someone might say it defies logic, but he's looking at it from the logic of the person he knows, and the ideas he's been exposed to.  "It's...I don't think...well I can't know until I could see someone who's turned themselves inside out.  But, from what I am seeing it's...pushing everything away from itself."

"It's tougher than your other leg.  It's without any structural flaws.  It repels my scan in such a way that I get /nothing/ from any flow of magic or any idea of what it is.  It's like someone retreating into an armor that also prevents anyone from seeing inside."

"And...you said you wanted to getaway.  I think that feeling has something to do with it."

Then a pause, "I felt that too, though.  When she was tearing into me.  I wanted to curl up, I wanted to leave, I was suddenly thinking that everything I was saying was hollow..." a pause, "I honestly don't know what I dug into to push through it, but I just..."

"Sorry, that's not important."
Persephone Kore      Marc leans his head out of the off-hallway nook he and Go have settled in to give Lilian a wave. "You needn't apologize, Rook, though I'd like to meet under better circumstances too. That's called 'secure attachment', I believe." He says it out loud- right, Marc was the one who didn't have the spooky telepathic powers.

     "'Letting people into your heart.' You're discovering the joys of vulnerability, aren't you? Well, better late than never," he says to Go with a laugh. Leaning back in his chair, he tucks an arm behind his head and shuts his eyes, smiling. (Did he learn that from Phony? Or did she learn it from him? It has a different energy.)

     "The self-discovery is only natural to follow. Learning to listen to others... it also means learning to listen your own heart, and the quiet voices in it. Self-discovery becomes self-knowledge, then self-confidence, and then self-love. You really are becoming stronger as a person."

     His eyes open, but only just a tiny ominous sliver. He is still smiling. "Photography, you say. Yes. I think I'd like that sometime, Shijima."

     Back around the corner, Persephone can't help looking a little worried. "Scary to ask Sakura... I've never met her, but I think I understand. It'd be unbearable to have those fears confirmed. Would it help if someone else went to ask her, in your place? Me, or Tamamo?"

     An idea occurs to her, but her enthusiasm dims a moment later as she thinks it over. "I could try giving you a Type Green power, so you could give yourself your 'ideal body', like Ishirou did. That might fix it. But, on the other hand... if that shape we saw in the Decompression Chamber is your 'ideal body', it could make things worse, too. Let's save that for a last resort, okay?"

     "For now... it only happened because you got hurt. So could you do me a favor and try to keep yourself safe, Lily-R? Even if it wouldn't keep us from being 'together'... I don't want anyone to lose the chance to spend time with you right-side-in."

     To Ishirou, she interjects gently, as if she doesn't want passers-by to overhear: "We have someone here who turned themselves inside-out once. You can go see them later, if you like. But... it's not different. 'Pushing things away'. 'Not wanting to be seen'. All that sounds familiar."
Lilian Rook     "Secure attachment, is it?" Lilian finally smiles without reservation, if a little weakly. She does that more this year. "I'm familiar with the concept. It's odd to think that other people have shaped Persephone at all." She doesn't elaborate on that idea. She wants to let him and Go talk.

    "That's one reason." she says to Persephone. "Probably even the main reason. But . . . I haven't known her for long. We haven't spoken all that much. But she was such a pure, delicate little girl, so eager to help. Happy to have friends. And then when Tamamo brought all of 'this' up, it was . . . it was suddenly like she was a hundred years old. Like she know she only had a couple of years left in her and just wanted them to be good memories. Like she knows I did. we did."

    "We talked about wishes. And hers . . . If she's really anyone like me I can only even begin to guess what would make someone wish that. I know what made mine. I sort of don't want to imagine why someone would chose 'I wish things hadn't turned out this way' instead. I don't even know what it is that she does. I really think she'd make the choice I didn't, if she had my kind of strength. If she could leave, and fight, and make her way there."

    Lilian blanches just a little at the rest, but then thinks on it more carefully. "But I went there before that, didn't I? And I barely looked any different. I've worked hard to be this way. Is that really hwow it is?" She turns to Ishirou next. "You tried it, didn't you? Is that it? Automatic, searching your subconscious. All or nothing. Impossible to undo. Was it really that kind of leap?" A deep breath. "Because . . . otherwise, I think it's . . . worth trying. But I'll need to speak to Tamamo. To tell her first. After all, she's the one who's the most broken up about all of this. Worried sick. She's taken it all on herself . . ."

    A bitter little laugh follows Ishirou. "That sounds about right. This kind of wish was never very magical, right? But it's . . ." She makes a struggling little noise. "It's not that kind of fear. I know I'm not weak. I know I've never been weak. I can stand up. I can fight. I can put myself back together as many times as I need to. I've never been afraid of 'breaking'. I just . . ."

    "Sometimes, every so often, I hate how hard it is to just be. I still can't comprehend that everyone else doesn't even think about it. That they can just . . . exist, passively. To be themselves, at rest, under all circumstances. The effort, the restrain, the performance, the struggle, the consequences for screwing up; they're all just so tiresome some days. And you already know how I keep it at arm's length." Lilian grimaces. "And what that's done to me."
Go Shijima      Letting people into your heart. You're discovering the joys of vulnerability, aren't you? Well, better late than never.

     The listening Kamen Rider looks away, cheeks burning. "Yeah," he quietly admits. "I guess so." He can't stop the smile from creeping across his face, when he hears that laugh. He doesn't bother trying.

     "Thank you." It's all he can think to say--but he does, despite his burning cheeks, manage to look Marc in the eye to say it, showing off his warm smile in the process.

     It changes, in an instant, at that ominous look from Marc. "J-jeez! Don't look at me like that," he says. "S-someone else I know looks at me like that when she knows what I'm thinking," he quietly utters, looking away in a huff.

     "Still... it was good to catch up with you. If you can get time away, you should come and visit us. There's a greenhouse you should really see."
Ishirou Ishirou listens to what Persephone has to say, so it was like this.  Though something about it...something doesn't click in his head about this.  He pauses though, deciding to reexamine his feelings on the matter.  Did he think this way because of something he knows, or because of something he feels?  Is it because he has a lot of faith in Lilian?  That it couldn't be this?  That it was something else, and she was probably making herself afraid?

On the other hand, these types of powers are not easily understood, nor are they as easily scannable.  Creating something from nothing, changing the world to one's liking, and being able to slay someone at a distance.  He sighs, "Alright, I'd like that.  I don't know what I'd expect to find, but..." he shrugs, "It's at least moving forward."

"Something like that," he admits to Lilian.  "I actually played with my form a little, but...that was more trying to understand what I wanted.  My mind kept coming back to this one.  Also, I look terrible with muscles.  It looks...wrong."

With a pause, he thinks.  "I actually think the Type Green might be a good idea, with some preparation, I think.  I'd like a chance to see the...friend that was lost first.  Then I can make a better prediction.  I think though, that the Type Green is the way to go," Ishirou thinks.  It might...not work the way they thought.  When their powers interacted before, something really weird happened.  Granted, Persephone lost a bit of her head during that.

"And you're right.  You're not weak.  You're one of the strongest people I know," but he listens.  Ishirou nods, "It hits differently for each of us." Ishirou nods, listening, and understanding. No, it's hard to understand because it's uniquely Lilian, but he tries to.  "You've gotten better, but...I think to a degree we all slide into our worst parts.  Even when we know about them.  I think being strong is also about overcoming that, but that fight just never ends."

"We can just find the happiness between those moments, and hold them close to our hearts when we're in them."