fandomhighdorms | Puffin Living Room; Late Thursday Night.

Puffin Living Room; Late Thursday Night.

The moment that Sakurazaki thought of taking flight after leaving Ranma-chan, there were no other thoughts about it. Because she'd decided that she would. The pain didn't even touch her as she pulled her wings out; they shot from her back so quickly that there was probably bleeding. That didn't matter, either. The second they were ready, she sprung from the ground. They beat furiously against the air, against her back. She closed her eyes against the wind as she launched herself toward the sky. Her destination was well past Puffin cabin. It was well past the island. Her destination was simply as far as her feathered appendages would allow her to go.

By the time she had returned, it was already dark, stars peeking from the few spots among the heavy clouds like thoughts of unblinking, judging eyes. Sakurazaki had accomplished nothing more than exhausting herself. She had no answers, no sense of closure, no feel of acceptance. She couldn't accept this; she just couldn't! Why did this have to happen? Why did it have to happen now?

Needless to say, when she entered the cabin, rather mindless of her wings so they banged against the doorframe, disturbed the curtain to her alcove more than necissary, she made a small ruckus. It was hard not to just want to throw things at the wall, scream out her frustration, now that she was back on land and the distraction of flying was gone. But she was looking for something in particular. Her camcorder. She had footage she needed to delete. There was no sense in keeping blackmail footage if the person she was going to jokingly blackmail wasn't going to exist anymore...

Camera in hand, Sakurazaki storms to the living room. The room may be big enough to hold a host of people, but her wings were still cramped by the low ceiling. Still, her back was so sore from her reckless use of them that it would be far too painful to put them away right now. The only way for her to manage comfortably was to perch herself on the back of the couch, her wings working as excellent balances, and set about deleting the footage.

It was slightly thereputic. But having to look at it only made her want to cry. She still needed more distraction. Carefully, she creeps up to the television, quickly managing the right cords to hook the video camera up to the television. What remained was her footage of birds. Especially those crows. She kept going back to the crows. Perched back on the couch, arms wrapped around herself, hair dangling over her shoulders limply (she's lost her ponytail holder somewhere, a particularly strong gust of wind) and wings twitching as the soft glow of the television washed her pale skin out exceptionally well, the footage couldn't help to stop her from crying. But at least it was just the tears sliding mindlessly down her cheeks instead of the curl-up-in-the-corner bawling she felt she could accomplish quite well at the moment.

[[for

kitty__fetish, although it would make sense if any other fellow Puffin-ers were woken by all the ruckus she makes]]

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Alphonse was normally a pretty heavy sleeper and could sleep through a lot of things. However, after not being particularly active in the past few days and keeping himself inside for the most part, he found it fairly difficult to be able to sleep that deeply. It was usually quiet in the cabin, and even more so through the night, but apparently that wasn't the case tonight.

He rolled out of bed after being awoken, rolling out of bed, still pajama-clad and not even bothering to tie his hair back like he always did ~~despite the icons~~, to check up on what all the noise was. Alphonse rubbed at his bleary eyes before leaning tiredly against the doorjamb where all the noise was coming from; it took a moment to register that Sakurazaki was in the livingroom.

It took even longer, but not by much, to spot another asset that she normally didn't have. "S-Setsuna?"

There isn't an immediate answer. Sakurazaki blinks slightly, wings giving a little shiver, as she pushes a button on her camera that rewinds the footage on the screen, going back once again to the start of the footage of the crows, which began with them pecking at each other. It plays for a moment before she responds.

"...What?" It comes out as a bit of a croak, stumbling in her dry throat, which she idly clears with a cough. She then sniffs, rubbing the back of her hand against one of her cheeks.

More awake now, Alphonse let himself into the livingroom, confused as to whether he should be thoroughly surprised by the rather large-- what were they, wings?-- coming out of her back, or very concerned; it was too obvious by her tone of voice that something was wrong.

"Are..." Alphonse trailed off slowly, eyeing between her face and her wings. Any sort of reasonable answer or question failed to pop up in his mind. "Are you all right?"

Sakurazaki shakes her head slowly, and a verbal response is, again, rather delayed. She turns her head toward Alphonse, although her eyes remained locked on the screen. "No," she says quietly, and then her eyes move to catch up with her head. In the light of the television, the gloss from the tears is particularly shiny as she looks toward him, blinks, and then slowly turns back away. There's a small gasp of an inhale; she rewinds the footage again.

Alphonse swallowed; the last time he noted something different about her appearances, Sakurazaki had nearly flipped... The difference in eye color and, well-- these? Was far too obvious. Wings-- of all the things he'd seen since arriving at Fandom, and he was surprised about wings?

'I just never asked,' he told himself multiple times. It was the same reason why he didn't know about a lot of things previously. Things are never brought up until they happen. Alphonse very slowly approached her, still concerned about her heavily, and asked quietly, "Setsuna... what are these?"

Sakurazaki blinks idly at the screen. "Crows," she responds, a little quicker this time. "I filmed them yesterday before the rain."

"Crows?" Birds. Right. Wings. The camcorder quickly lost his interest, and Alphonse curiously lifted a hand, just as slowly as he'd been doing everything that moment, almost as if to make sure what he was seeing was real. Sakurazaki sure as heck didn't seem to make any notice of them. He hesitated before he could brush a hand up against a feathered wing, wondering why he felt so surprised over this, rather than Sakurazaki's well-being. Alphonse quickly pulled his hand away. "You've got wings," he said bluntly.

The wings seem to respond to even just the slightest brush, the one closest to Alphonse seeming to stretch out a bit toward him as he pulls his hand away, as if to investigate this new person with their long, white feathers.

Sakurazaki turned to him with a deep frown, furrowed brow. "Of course I do; you act like you didn't know that or something..."

"Huh?" Alphonse pulled his hand even further back now, holding it up against his chest. He was suddenly confused, if not shocked by her angry voice. What on earth did he do to upset her? He didn't know, but it certainly wasn't intentional at all. Alphonse lowered his gaze toward his bare feet, only glancing up at Sakurazaki's face again briefly. "I-- I didn't..."

Sakurazaki's initial sharpness seems to slowly dissipate after a series of blinks. They seem to be working to bring her out of some sort of a transe and it's only at that point that she is actually aware again of her surroundings, aware of who it is she's talking to. Her head shifts slightly as she gives a frowning look at the television, and then looks back to Alphonse. He...didn't...know?

The wings stetch themselves out slightly.

With all the he did know about her, probably far more than anyone else in Fandom, he didn't...Her frown is more confused that it is upset now. It was...a little startling, to say the least. "You didn't know about my wings?"

"... No," he started quietly, gaining the courage to look up at her again, if only meekly. "I really didn't."

Her head tilts slightly. "But what about..."

Oh! That was right! Alphonse didn't go to the go-kart race, so of course he wouldn't have seen her darting around the battlefield in the aftermath.

Sakurazaki turns a typical shade of bright red. The wings try to fold themselves in close to her back. "Oh, God! I'm sorry, Alphonse! I know, they're just terrible. I can put them away if you'd like, I really can, you'll just have to give me a minute because my back is still kind of sore and it's really kind of gross and so you might want to look away and...and..."

She bites her lip nervously, feeling the spring of tears starting to well up again. They seemed to come much easier when they were warmed up. And somewhere amid her panicked dread, she's wondering why the hell she's getting so worked up about her wings all of a sudden. Wasn't she past all of that? And yet, here she was, being embarrassed about them again, regarding them as the vile, vile curse that she'd thought them to be for so long.

"Wh-What? No, no!" Alphonse nearly panicked again, unsure how to react. "I-It's fine, I promise," he ensured. "I'm just... I'm just surprised, that's all."

Both body and wings relax, but a very meek and concerned Sakurazaki implores him nervously still. "R..Really? Y...you sure you don't mind?"

"I've got no reason to say I do," Alphonse said, feelimg calmer about the situation himself. He began observing them again, curiosity getting the best of him. He had to wonder how she got those; in all the time Alphonse knew her, she'd shown absolutely no signs of ever having those. "Did you always have them?"

Nodding, Sakurazaki looks down to her hands. For the most part, she returns to her usual palor, save for a slight brush of pink across her cheeks. "Uh-huh..." Both her voice and eyes are sad. Alphonse had a way of managing to uncover most of the things she kept so tightly hidden, so she had a feeling that she knew where this conversation might be going.

Alphonse furrowed his brow, more concerned and worried instead of angry. "Setsuna, are you honestly okay?" Something felt off, especially with the upset look on her face that had been there the entire time.

Sakurazaki didn't think she would feel relief for talking about what had happened, but if it veered the attention off...off that, she'd take it.

"No," she says queitly, with a gentle shaking of her head. Wincing, she realizes that the tears are trying to come back again...but she wasn't going to cry, she was resolved in that. "No, Alphonse, I'm not okay. And I don't know if I will be either, not for a while, anyway..."

Alphonse was pretty sure Sakurazaki was sick of hearing what he'd always say previously in these situations; she'd talk if she wanted to. Knowing this much, he was at a loss of words now. For one, he didn't even know what was wrong, or why she was upset. She seemed perfectly fine last time they talked. In the end he grabbed one of her hands, holding it in both of his, attempting a geniune smile-- it was, he hoped, a comforting gesture from him. "... You don't need to be ashamed of crying, you know."

Surprising herself quite a bit, Sakurazaki didn't pull her hand away. She didn't even really jump like she usually would if someone had grabbed her hand like that. "I know..." she says quietly as her shoulders straighten slightly. She turns to Alphonse with slightly widened eyes...

...that drift away just as quickly.

But then, they drift back. Sakurazaki draws in a deep breath. "Alphonse, I don't...I don't think Ranma is coming back." It was even harder to say than she imagined, and she knew it wouldn't be easy. She tries to swallow the growing lump in her throat, and keeps her gaze steady on his face. For some reason, she finds that it's giving her the strength not to cry...even if she knows he wouldn't care if she did.

"I thought Ranma came back here with you after your trip," Alphonse said, puzzled. "Did he go somewhere?"

"No." Sakurazaki shakes her head with conviction, growing suddenly very stern and sombre. "That wasn't Ranma. That was Ranma-chan. I don't think I have to really remind you of the whole...situation in my room before we left. You cannot honestly tell me that you could say that the girl you met then is the same person as Ranma."

"But....but he's been that girl for over a week now. Over a week! The last time this happened, it didn't even last more than twenty four hours. And then...and then, I...I talked to her today...and...and she knows now, but...the things she said, Alphonse, they..." Sakurazaki shakes her head; if there was a word to describe the expresion on her face at that moment, it would be haunted. "I don't think he's coming back. I don't think he can. I...I've lost my best friend and couldn't even say goodbye..."

There was a lot that Alphonse wanted to disagree with, but he wasn't stupid to say that now. Then he was fairly shocked to hear her call Ranma her best friend... She'd told him they argued for the most part, and then there was his little squabble a few weeks prior; Alphonse had apologized for his actions then, yes, but after what Ranma told him? It wasn't exactly something Alphonse forgot so easily. It truly didn't sound like friendly material.

But, he had to remember, it's not like he knew Ranma all that well to begin with... and had to admit to himself, he was either missing something or they were confusing people.

"I-- well," Alphonse found it hard to think of something to say that wouldn't upset her further. Clearly, this was troubling her a lot. "Are you sure about that?"

Sakurazaki draws in a deep breath to keep herself calm, but a great deal of her panic and despair escapes in her voice when she sighs out a desperate, "I don't know! I have...I have no idea. Shouldn't he back back by now? What causes someone to fall into a subconscious personality like this for such a prolonged period of time? How can we get him back? I don't know the answer to any of these questions, but I feel like I should. All I do know is that I miss him. A lot. I can't keep doing this; it's going to drive me insane having to see her, interact with her, and the whole time, just wanting to scream, 'What have you done with him! Why won't you let him come back!" I want nothing to do with her! I...find myself hating her, just because she's not him! Why did he have to be so stupid? Why did he have be such a fucking idiot and do something like falling out of a fucking tree and hit his head? Baka! Why did this have to happen?"

If it wasn't indicative by the frantic stream of spilling out her consciousness, the fact that Sakurazaki just bursts into sobs at that point should show that she'd completely lost any sense of control at that point. Sobs shaking her shoulders, she curls herself up around herself, wings doing the same as if to create some sort of protective shield for her thin, shaking body.

By the time she was finished, not only did any part of Alphonse that disagreed completely vanish, but he felt horrible for thinking negatively about Ranma all this time. Funny how decieving impressions can be.

Alphonse didn't know the answers to any of her questions, much as he wished he did. By some point he let go of her hand and dropped to his knees quickly after Sakurazaki did. God, it nearly hurt him watching her cry almost as much as the situation hurt her; and without a moment's notice, Alphonse wrapped his arms around her shoulders, hoping to calm her down, hugging her against him.

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