Act five: A worried homecoming. [Video]

[seventeenpills]

I've been browsing the network - Please, if anyone needs a healer still, let me know. Or someone to make food or do laundry or... whatever.

~
Hey, are you alright? Did you get sick? Do you need anything? Because I know you're not the kind of person to ask for help, so I'm going to remove the need for you to do so.

~
[He frets for a few minutes before sending this her way and finally decides on something brief, to the point and hopefully not too desperate sounding. He's actually really freaked out but he does his best to compose himself before hitting 'Record'.]

Hey, Hanako. I know you're probably not interested in hearing from me right now and that's fine - I just need to know if you're OK. A simple yes or no is fine. I.... um. Yeah. I hope you're alright. Even text is OK.

Comments

[seventeenpills]

I won't say I don't MIND. I mean, I've already lost friends over my refusal to abandon certain things on principle. So, I do mind sometimes. But I think it's easier to deal with things case by case than try to change my thoughts on it altogether. Because then I'd just feel guilty all the time for not helping when I know I can.

[entreats]

... Ah, I get it. So in other words, you're just too much of a good person, huh?

[seventeenpills]

I wouldn't phrase it that way. In fact, I can be as selfish and childish as anyone sometimes. I guess I just try to move past that when I recognize it for what it is. That's all we can do, right?

[entreats]

No, I'd definitely phrase it that way. [ her voice is pretty serious about it too. ] I've seen a lot of the world right before I came to this place, and from that I can definitely say you're much better than most people out there with their selfishness and greed. Most people would walk over other people's backs to get what they want. Without remorse, even.

[seventeenpills]

I'm... sorry to hear you saw so much of that. I mean, maybe our worlds are kind of different places, but I've been lucky enough to avoid a lot of that in my lifetime. At least in terms of my own experience - you still hear a lot about it but I think it's the exception as opposed to the rule.

[If her world really IS that full of bad people, it's a little less surprising that Rudolph is so protective. Hisao still didn't appreciate being told he was on a 'Gut you like a Fish' list. But still.]

[entreats]

[ Sorry for her dad, Hisao, he's just.. crazily overprotective.. ]

.. Yeah, maybe it's just something about my world. Although I don't doubt it's just the general nature of humans there to be that way, so I assumed it was just the same no matter the world. You usually don't meet too many people like that until you start dealing with matters of money.

[seventeenpills]

Well, I've heard it said that money is the root of all evil. I'm not sure I buy into that entirely but I know it can corrupt certain people and it's done so to many in my world. Politicians and CEO types usually. The people who seem to already have a lot of it and go to any length to get more of it.

[entreats]

I have a literal fortune on my name back home. [ she says it calmly though, as if she doesn't think it's a big deal. ]

.. Then do you immediately consider me one of those people too?

[seventeenpills]

No. Not at all. It's not having money that makes someone bad. You don't seem like the kind of person who would abuse their fortune just to get more money. I mean, I don't know you that well but you don't strike me as someone like that.

[entreats]

...

So that might just be another case of being too naive again. [ but, she'll admit-- ] Even if you're right. I don't care about money at all.

[seventeenpills]

Glad to know I guessed correctly. Besides, I can tell from being friends with your Brother that you're a good person.

[entreats]

[ oh, at that she almost seems slightly.. flustered? awkward? it's difficult to tell which emotion exactly it is. ]

You shouldn't listen to him too much. He tends to praise me much more than what I'm really like.

[seventeenpills]

Well, that might be the case. But still - He's a good guy. That he thinks so much of you says a lot, no matter how he phrases it, you know?

[entreats]

Well, he's my older brother, of course he'd talk that way about me since I'm his little sister. I sort of get the impression from him that it's just the way all big brothers are.

[seventeenpills]

That might be true - unfortunately, I'm an only child.

[entreats]

Often it was like I was an only child back home either way, so don't worry too much about it. [ she doesn't give the true reason that her brother is dead though, but says something that was just true earlier on-- ] We didn't live in the same house, even though we're siblings.

[seventeenpills]

Oh? Battler didn't mention that. I guess I'm a little surprised to know that. [The way Battler talked he had this emntal image of them growing up together or something.]

[entreats]

It's since he and dad had a fight, so I'm pretty sure that's why he didn't mention it. Although he's not even really hiding it by the way he calls dad 'old bastard' and that stuff all the time.

[seventeenpills]

Then again, your Dad says some pretty awful stuff about Battler, too. I spoke with your Dad once and he called your Brother a lot of fairly mean spirited things.

[entreats]

Yeah, that's exactly the way they are. They're actually really alike, but both of them just refuse to admit it no matter how much you point it out.

[seventeenpills]

I can see how that might be problematic, considering the ways they seem to be alike. Still, I hope at some point they can figure a way past that and get along better.

[entreats]

... That's exactly what I've been hoping for all this time. Ever since I was little.. [ her hand subconsciously shoots up to touch her hair bobbles briefly - they were her good luck charm to make it happen, really. ]

I don't know if there's still a way to change it by now.

[seventeenpills]

Do they know how much it would mean to you if they reconciled? I think one of the things that marks them as so similar is they both seem to care for you a great deal. If they knew, it might change a lot.

[entreats]

Shouldn't they naturally know already? I mean.. when I was younger, I asked them plenty of times why they just wouldn't make up again.

[seventeenpills]

You'd be surprised. Even if you feel like they should know, it's possible they don't. Or they don't realize exactly HOW important it is to you.