☀ 03

[hispalette]

[there are a lot of things Red would like to do right now, all of which involve a hefty amount of screaming and would no doubt be very healthy at all in the long run, though he has neither the energy nor motivation for such things. "drained" is as close as one can get to describing what he's feeling right now; "small", too. from the beginning of

Comments

[white_pretear]

[Himeno sounds extremely sick as she answers the phone. Her voice is weak and it breaks up every now and again.]

How...how are you? Did something happen...

...to you too?

[hispalette]

...Yeah. [he says that as if he isn't surprised at all, which he isn't. they all knew what they were getting into, more or less.] Just like we thought it would.

What did he leave for you? [concern, though subdued, is in his voice regardless.]

[white_pretear]

[She gags a little, then coughs, trying to recover.]

S-sorry.

It was...it was food.

[hispalette]

Not your fault. Not anyone's fault.

Food? [sharper] Poison?

[white_pretear]

N-no. Not poison...

It was...

It was...

...people.

[hispalette]

[at first, he thinks he's heard wrong. his tongue feels lumpy in his throat, foreign and strange, which makes it difficult to form proper words.]

They - what? You mean -

[and it starts to click. stunned and sick, he falls silent.]

[white_pretear]

[She starts crying in response. There are a few gags in between her sobs but there's nothing left in her stomach.]

[hispalette]

Himeno... [-and that's as much as he can say without making an idiot out of himself. it's been so long since he's seen someone cry in front of him; feeling obligated to comfort shouldn't feel so new, so awkward, but he's not completely socially crippled as to block her out. deep inside, he feels something give.]

You didn't know. Please don't...don't cry.

[white_pretear]

[She cries a minute longer, but it's obvious that she is trying to control herself. It takes a while but she calms down until she you can hear are her shallow breaths.]

I'm...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...on the phone like that...

[hispalette]

You have nothing to apologize for. [he tries to sound calm, even gentle.] It's better to get it out now than to bottle it up.

[white_pretear]

I just...

I can't believe I was so stupid.

[hispalette]

You didn't know. The main reason why people are so smart is because they take their mistakes and learn from them. You aren't stupid.

[white_pretear]

But I knew this place was going to make tricks for Christmas and I went and ate it anyway!

[hispalette]

So did I. So did everyone. Didn't stop us from opening our presents anyway.

[white_pretear]

Why would they....

Why would they do this to us?

[hispalette]

I don't know.

[-but it goes without saying that he wishes he did. obviously Mayfield wanted them to stay here forever, but if that was the case, wouldn't it make a more convincing argument by trying to be nice to them?]

Sometimes people don't need a reason to do bad things. Hurting others is the only thing that makes them happy.