Inbox (Forestcovered)

[be_acknowledged]

Hello! This is Levant! Please feel free to leave a message for me here, and I'll get back to it as soon as possible! That's about how it should sound, right?

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[be_acknowledged]

[How could he blame her? She'd managed to do something in one night that none of them had managed to do for years. She'd finally gotten Larix to listen to somebody other than his internal narrative.]

Maybe good for us... but I wonder if Kuzu would see it the same way.

[He fidgets a bit. It's weird opening up this much to a woman. He never really did, did he? Because they never asked, and he never provided. But... maybe talking to somebody would be nice.]

We live kind of a weird existence. It's... hard to explain to someone without getting way too deep about it, but the point is we're practically a gag comic. Nothing changes, everything stays the same, everything goes back to normal. Except one time, it nearly didn't.

[A deep breath.]

Have you ever been a fan of something? Like, a really really big fan? And then that thing you're a fan of suddenly ends, or moves on, and you realize you don't have anything proper to fill the gap with, so you might as well move on yourself?

That happened to me. An... uh, idol I was a fan of retired. I don't know why, but for some reason that was the kick in the pants I needed. I finally put my money where my mouth was, used Dad's connections, and got a job. Like, a real job. Everybody was really happy for me! They threw a party, and gave me a lot of stuff (mostly useless junk) and everything. Except, well... Kuzu. He was in a bad mood all evening, and Jinmeiju brushed him one too many times, and he just blew up. He's hit us before, but comically, you know? But he hit Jinmeiju, and it was dead serious. I was in shock.

And... well, here's where it probably gets hard to believe: Larix punched him right back. Right in the jaw! And he dragged him out of the room without bringing any attention to himself. He just took action, and took responsibility, and cleared the air. I still don't know what happened out there with them, but I think it's the only time where...

[He fiddles with his hands.]

...where I've ever seen him act like a big brother. Except apparently I'm the only one who's actually lived through all this, and nobody believes me. And then way too soon, everything went back to the status quo anyway, and he was painful again. But it's hard to forget something like that.

[standingonmyneck]

[She sat there, absorbing every single word. She just spoke with someone about time. Her fellow librarian. She was from fourteen years into the future. Everyone was talking about more modern technology than where she was from.

Time difference wasn't a huge stretch, not even different time periods. It was Levant's context that made it hard to swallow.

Levant saw what none of them did. He saw the ugly side of his eldest brother, and the better side of the second eldest. Then they all just went back?

Levant said something about being held back. Idols. Nerd things. She felt like...she could relate. Except it wasn't a person that held her back, not a DIFFERENT person. It was herself and her cynicism. People pointed this out to her, but she admitted that it was what she knew. What she felt safe with. Logic and experience would prove her wrong and she would rethink her actions.

But with Riye...her family was there to tell her it was okay. They understood her.

They looked at her intellect, and said that with an intellect like hers...she couldn't find it easy to fit in. They loved her, and they never stopped believing in her. They saw her perception, her maturity, her brightness, they supported her.

Levant had that for a brief time, and then it was gone. Now that he was here, it probably made it WORSE.

This turned into wanting to fix what she thought was wrong, help Larix. But now here was Levant. Well...and.

What a Sick Sad World.]

There's a show where I'm from called, "Sick Sad World". Yours would fit right in.

[In seriousness now.]

Sanity of hometowns aside, now that you're here; then that means that it doubly shouldn't matter what Kuzu thinks. If he wants to hold on to his leader title so badly, he obviously doesn't have your best interest.

He can't hold on to any of you. He shouldn't. You're your own people now, no matter what you may think, you all are adults. It's not your problem if he doesn't see that.

Maybe now that everyone's here, he should learn that again. Much like how you don't have whatever felt like had held you back before. Or how Larix doesn't have all of the brick walls to run into anymore before some lasting effect occurs.

It's not impossible.

[be_acknowledged]

Not impossible, just nearly so. Kuzu's stubborn.

[He purses his lips, a look crossing his face that seems to indicate something else going on.]

Always has been. I don't even think he realizes he's doing anything bad. That would require admitting he's wrong.

[He looks at the shard in his hand.]

Um, do you mind if I keep this? I think maybe I should have a talk with Larix myself at some point.

[standingonmyneck]

[Noticed. Of course, Riye never prodded this sort of thing. Levant was an adult, but he was free to come to her at this point.

He kind of proved himself even more by now. She can most certainly see herself not hating this kind of conversation with him.

Because he was receptive, he listened.

That was...cool.]

Go on ahead. Despite everything, I think I got what I needed to talk to him again. There's a lot I could maybe say now.

[There wasn't a bright confidence with that, but maybe some slight determination. At least a lot more in contrast to her confused state a few minutes ago.

Now to fix this up, and move on. Now that she knew. So that left with Levant.]

If Larix can turn this around, you can't get more nearly impossible than that.

[be_acknowledged]

[It's a lot easier to talk to people when they're not your brothers. Or when your brain hasn't shut down because of hormones. He's still kind of amazed about that.]

That's still an "if," but we'll see about that I guess.

[He gets up.]

Hah... th-thanks for listening. I don't... talk with a lot of people outside of my family back home.

[standingonmyneck]

Fair enough.

[She also got up, she'll show him out. Riye thought about it for a moment before she decided she can make a rather genuine remark his way.

This wasn't a wasted effort, on either of their parts. Levant should know that.]

It was no problem, for what it's worth, you helped me out a bit. So, thanks to you back.