Inbox for Labyrinthum

[omnipotentwriter]

(to be made nicer, later)

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[readsagain]

There's a reason he's always adored her story - that sense of refusing to give up permeates it because it's a part of her. It's what gave him the will to hold on for ten years. She's asking him to trust her, in a way - the same way he'd asked her to trust him. (The same trust he'd betrayed, from time to time.)

"I never said I wouldn't help," he protests, glancing at the screens making themselves known. "I wished to see everyone again, after all."

Maybe those two wishes would be strong enough. Hadn't he wished to read about Junghyeok forever, as a child? That might be why these cursed worldlines exist.

Still, he adds, "I just don't want you to get your hopes up if it doesn't work again." I don't want to lie and hurt you again.

[omnipotentwriter]

She scoffs dramatically. Their emotional vulnerability might not have completely faded, but it did just take a hit with that noise... though the more usual dynamic it leads to is no less comfortable and welcome for that.

"Idiot, the worst that happens is I go back to how I was feeling before. Every chance I get here is one I gotta grab because I didn't have it before."

He still doesn't get it. Maybe he never will. But it won't be for lack of her trying.

"And you have kids to get back to, so you've got no excuse!"

[readsagain]

"Ah, my poor kids... how old are they now?"

He's joking - mostly! - when he asks her that, successfully wiping away the vulnerability both of them aren't good with. His smile is cheeky, more like himself than the somber one he'd been sporting before.

Still, he curls himself close to her, careful not to cage her in, but enjoying her presence all the same.

(One person is missing, but - two of three isn't bad, either.)

[omnipotentwriter]

"We spent a few months training for that. Did you see it? Or was it not counted as part of the story?"

She's actually curious here, touching as this does on her own ■■. Did the story continue past that ending for him, or did he only see it once it started at the beginning one more time?

[readsagain]

"I 'saw' it," Dokja acknowledges, a small smile on his face. "I know they're much older. It was ... good to see how they've grown up."

[omnipotentwriter]

"Wait." A thought occurs to her, one that could have some serious potential repercussions. "When did you stop seeing it?"

[readsagain]

"When you reached the subway door. I heard you calling me as I read the sentence. I knocked on the door to let you know I heard it."

It didn't explain if he'd witnessed the conversation with the Fourth Wall, though.

[omnipotentwriter]

"Okay. So you basically... know everything that happened. Especially the really relevant stuff about me."

The breadth and scope of her status, in other words. The stories she'd picked up. What she'd done the same as he had, and what she'd done differently. That saves her a lot of explanation.

[readsagain]

"Yes."

He doesn't say: You saved me twice. If he points it out it'll make her close up more. Instead, he closes his eyes and laughs a little.

"The Star Stream does like making you wait the longest, doesn't it."

[omnipotentwriter]

"How dare you blame the Star Stream for you!"

Don't get her wrong. She's glad beyond words to have him back. She feels happier and more alive and safer than she has in a very long time. But she isn't going to let him forget the consequences of his choices, either.