week 5, post trial.

[robitussin]

[Another week draws to a close, but as more culprits are led away, something is different all the same. After this particular trial, perhaps it's not a surprise that there's no note or offer to meet in a specific place tonight. Can any of them say they have any energy or desire to do something like that at a time like this? The place they regrouped last Saturday evening stands there, burned nearly beyond recognition, and the townspeople look at them with the distrust that's been steadily building. Not to mention... Those are the least of the losses they've faced in the last few days.

Of course, even as so much changes day by day, the town remains, with plenty of places for people to go if they don't want to stay inside the motel. Where can you be found tonight?]

Comments

[pursuitofdeath]

...”bad” sums it up fairly well.

[It’s the simplest way to put it.]

But there was a time I was accustomed to this. When the idea of losing anything I cared about was first nature. But... here it was possible to regain things I lost and I... I suppose I became too attached to the impossible... and forgot what I already knew all along.

[robitussin]

[It strikes a chord with her, the fear that everything you grow to care about will eventually crumble in your hands despite your best efforts. While she doesn't put that into words, there's a sense of understanding in her voice that suggests it regardless.]

...I'm pretty sure that's what normal people go through when they care about something, you know. I mean - the risk of losing it.

[But neither of them are really normal people, and it's a reality more than a risk.]

There are - still people here you care about, right? Isn't it a little bit early to give up on them?

[pursuitofdeath]

It’s inevitable— and maybe I was better off before I knew that there was a way to get things like that back. But...I know it’s possible now and... it’s stirred something in me that didn’t exist before. Life. I’m not looking for an ending anymore I... I want to start a new beginning.

It’s not all gone... so... I’m not giving up.

[robitussin]

...I don't think you were better off then.

[But it's an 'I don't think' rather than 'you weren't'; she doesn't want to step too far. Even so, she can't deny the honest relief she feels when he says he has life inside him now, of all things.]

Good. [It's a feeling worth encouraging, and her voice is sincere.] What are you going to do with it once you have it?

[There's no if here, not from her. She even tries to muster a smile, though it's hard to come by here.]

[pursuitofdeath]

[Well, someone like him... she's probably right. He wasn't okay the way he was before. Whether or not he's okay now is still questionable but it's different. He feels like there are options.]

I haven't thought that far ahead, really. Whether it was with the mafia or the Armed Detective Agency... I've always just walked forward without much direction. Unlike Odasaku I never had dreams or aspirations... it was enough to say something like "I'll follow orders" or "i'll help people".

[robitussin]

Well... You've got time, and space to think.

[And she's always equated those things with hope.]