[Voice]

[mikangirl]

[She's not particularly in the mood for addressing the network, although she's a lot calmer than she was a few days ago. The horror's dulled, and the misplaced grief is gone (the orchard's still here, Bellemere's orchard, more soothing than upsetting now). The anger is still fierce, and so is the sense of violation, and not just on her behalf...

Comments

[fallenambitions]

[Tch, like he's going to bother with getting an invitation. It will be much later into the evening when he decides to go to the orchard, close to midnight almost. He had no reason to be there, but he found himself wanting to be there. Was there something there that could possibly give him peace? That's certainly the feeling he felt whenever he felt this need to visit the orchard. He doubts an orchard could do something like that, no matter how much that damn experiment gave him that impression

[mikangirl]

[She had wondered if any of her previous "family" would make it out this way; out of all of them, Alexei is the one she both least expected and least wanted. But what can you do?

Almost midnight means nothing; on her own and in the dark, Nami is awake. She doesn't sleep well in these sorts of conditions. Blame Luceti for that. She makes her presence known with an utterly annoyed voice somewhere well behind him.]

That tree didn't do anything to you.

[fallenambitions]

Does it look like I care? [It was an automated defensive response from him. How the hell would she know when he had his back to her? And here he was hoping that coming out here so late, he would avoid being pestered by someone.

He relaxes his hand on the trunk of the tree, his back still to Nami.]

I didn't think someone would be out here this late. [His tone was neutral. Unreadable.]

[mikangirl]

[His first response means she's not inclined to be polite. Her tone is cool.]

You thought wrong.

[fallenambitions]

Tch.

I'm not going to do anything to your orchard, if that's what you're concern about.

[mikangirl]

I know you aren't.

[Take that as you may. Nami's gaze shifts away, leaning her head back against the tree trunk. By all means, take a walk around, Alexei. She has little else to say right this moment.]

[fallenambitions]

Do you? What don't you know about me?

[He meant that. It was just getting a little unnerving not knowing how much she knew about him. Or perhaps the last week has left him feeling more paranoid than usual.]

[mikangirl]

Good question. Why don't you tell me about yourself and I'll tell you if I already knew that.

[Blunt and sarcastic. Because you started this conversation by punching her goddamned tree. Go figure.]

[fallenambitions]

[Better the tree than your face?]

There's a lot to cover, but I get the impression it's more than just my job at home.

[mikangirl]

Probably.

[You're welcome to try. |D]

[fallenambitions]

[He turns to face her]

Answer me this first. You said we were friends. Based on what I read, would it be close to assume it was one with trust?

[mikangirl]

[...that's a good question.]

It'd be close. [Her voice has lost its caustic edge.] I trusted you to do right by me. But I've never blamed the others from your world for treating you as an enemy.

[fallenambitions]

...You know. For me to have given you any level of trust, you had to have known.

I could only think of one reason why you have continued to withhold the information. Somehow, whether I told you myself previously or my enemies did, you were made aware of my reputation and perhaps something a little more. Because you don't know what I last remembered before arriving here again, you couldn't be sure if this information was in my future or my past.

[...] Am I getting close?

[mikangirl]

[Close. Very. And given what he had to say about his dreams during this ridiculous experiment...

She can't be bothered playing the subtlety game.]

[mikangirl]

I know what you used to be. You were the Commandant of the Imperial Knights. You weren't satisfied with how things were being run. You decided to do something about it. You committed genocide and tortured a princess in the pursuit of your higher goals, and you succeeded in raising Zaude and brought back the Adephagos.

And at the end, you died.

[Her tone is so very matter of fact, and she's watching his face.]

[fallenambitions]

...[He nods. His harden expression soften. Maybe he just felt relieve that he finally knew, or maybe because she did know that much he just didn't care anymore.] Then there is nothing more that I need to say.

[He settles himself down with his back against the tree.]

I don't understand how anyone could possibly stand someone after knowing that kind of history.