asgardeventide | The Magic Left Behind

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[When she had opened up the list of other Travelers, she did a double-take. Many of the names she had grown so familiar with were... no longer there? She reads through it several times to confirm, mentally going through the alphabet to make sure there's no mistake.

Eventually, she closes the list, letting her hands drop helplessly into her lap. So many people had come and gone since she first came here. She hadn't known all of them, no. But it still hurt to see them leave, especially when among them were those she knew so well.

As with every other time she had made this discovery, the tears begin to well in her eyes. She knows Hisao will be by soon for their daily run, but suddenly, she doesn't particularly feel up to it. It doesn't help that she's crying now, and who even knows when she'll be able to stop.

Quietly, she climbs back into her bed, burying her face in her pillow. It's too sad. Too sad, and in a way... scary. She's been here almost from the beginning, and she hasn't returned home a single time. What if she stays here forever, while everybody else leaves? She'll be alone again, and she won't even get to see Shi-chan or her Master, and...

The thought only makes her cry even harder.]

[Audio]

[The voice that comes over the feed is soft, but if you've spoken to her enough, it is unmistakably Hibiki's. Considering she doesn't usually do voice posts, this is a little... odd.]

Does anybody... know what to do when you really, really miss somebody?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm... not really smart or anything, so...

It's only natural that I wouldn't be able to do much besides be there for people. But I just can't stop worrying about it, either.

What makes you say you're not smart?

Eh--

Well... I'm not.

[Said in the kind of tone you use when pointing out the obvious, such as how fire is hot, or water is wet.]

But why not? Because you don't know the Theory of Relativity, or the periodic table, or what the square root out of pi is? Because you can't fix your friends' problems with the snap of a finger? Because you don't always have clever things to say?

There are many ways to be smart.

There... there are?

[But being smart meant being knowledgeable, didn't it? And she certainly wasn't that in the slightest... What other ways could you possibly be smart?]

Of course there are. Intelligence doesn't equal knowledge, and vice versa knowledge doesn't equal intelligence. It goes hand in hand often enough because people who are clever know how important knowledge can be, but that's another matter entirely.

[...She still doesn't entirely get it, but]

Then... what other kinds of smart are there?

Street smart, emotion... smart and, you know, just being able to understand situations and make connections without actually having all the knowledge you need. How else would you know exactly what to get knowledge of?

...Emotion smart?

[She didn't even realize that could exist.]

But... I don't think I'm any of those, either.

You think I've covered all smarts there are?

[ He shakes his head. ]

What I'm getting at, Hibiki, is that intelligence is far more complicated than you seem to think.

But--

Even though you're explaining it like this, I still don't understand. If I can't get it, how is that intelligent...?

There's nothing to understand. That's just how it is. I think the only one keeping you from getting it is yourself, because you can't think of yourself as clever.

Erm... M-myself?

Yes. Because you keep telling me that you're not smart, but I haven't seen any proof yet.

But... there's no proof that I'm smart either, is there?

[She certainly doesn't feel like there would be.]

You ask good questions. Aside from that one, that's the not-being-able-to-see-yourself-as-smart part of you talking. If there's been no proof you're not smart, then I've never seen you not been smart, of course.

Umm... H-huh?

[That one was a bit hard for her to follow...]

[ He leans in, rests his elbows on his thighs. ]

I've known you for a pretty long time now, and I've not seen you be stupid yet, not even in the most pressing of situations. Which means you're smart.

Er...

[But-!!]

Is that... really how you can figure it out...?

[She's always been just a dumb little kid. He must be mistaken. There's just no way...]

[ Simply: ]

Yes.

[………]

Oh.

[…But it still sounds so weird to her…!]

[ And he just smiles. ]

The Magic Left Behind

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