I'm well enough, [Felicia said, offering him a small, bittersweet smile that spoke volumes of the myriad little problems she didn't really want to talk about. Physically, she was fine-- and that's the part that counted.]
...What about you? [She ventured at length,] You seem like you're upset about something.
[He seemed how, now? No, that wasn't right. Hyuga Neji was not an open book and yet
Pot meet kettle. He almost thinks to mirror her smile and its nuances but that is, unmistakably, not him.]
I am uninjured.
[That steady voice as always. He wonders about just leaving it like that, but with Felicia is just seemed disrespectful to be so dismissive.] I'm also simply taking stock of who's gone and who's left. ['Taking stock'-- really now, Neji knows he could have done better.]
Yes, but as you've noted my situation is hardly unique.
[The knee-jerk reaction to bristle is reined in and substituted with... that, the still childish observation of lame facts. It's the same situation that had drawn him to Felicia that second time around, wasn't it?
Companions leaving just happened, as brusquely as their arrivals did.
His jaw clenches a moment. Neji sighs out another breath the next. "Also", she'd said. He tilts his head.]
[Felicia let out a soft, uncertain hum. There was a great many things that could be good about such happenings, but also a great many things that could be so, so wrong.]
Maybe. We don't always know what their world is like. They might be going back to something nice and pleasant....or, they might be going back in the middle of a war.
But, in either case, it's good that they're not here, I think. We know that this city isn't exactly safe.
I knew them, most of them. They were from my world.
["His" world is laughable, considering a middle of a war is the last thing he'd seen and, like it or not, the scene most etched in his current memory. Who -or what- ever the world belonged to then or after is still very much up on the air but something catches in Neji's throat all the same.
His guard does crumble, for a too long second. Gods, it's never short of sobering to realize (again and again and again) that he won't be going back. He looks to Felicia as if she's said something contrary.]
There was a war. Or is-- I don't know. But we win, and the village and my friends are safe and they'll get the chance to grow together and... [And frankly he refuses to babble.]
I don't know if I'm glad they're gone, even knowing they'll be happy.
[The vague implications of his words made Felicia shift uncomfortably, as if she was starting to see and understand something that she desperately didn't want to think about. Even if it was terribly unhealthy and counter-productive, her airy oblivion was a coping mechanism for her.
After all, what her subconscious didn't acknowlege couldn't hurt her.]
Neji, you-- [She started hesitantly, not even entirely sure what it was that she wanted to say to this quiet but kind young man.]
--It hurts you to see them go, doesn't it? It's hard to say 'good bye,' because we don't know how long it will last.
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...What about you? [She ventured at length,] You seem like you're upset about something.
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Pot meet kettle. He almost thinks to mirror her smile and its nuances but that is, unmistakably, not him.]
I am uninjured.
[That steady voice as always. He wonders about just leaving it like that, but with Felicia is just seemed disrespectful to be so dismissive.] I'm also simply taking stock of who's gone and who's left. ['Taking stock'-- really now, Neji knows he could have done better.]
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[Her pretense at a smile fell at those words, her demeanor shifting to something more melancholic, sympathetic.]
You've also had people leave, haven't you?
[With a statement like that, Felicia was pretty sure she already knew the answer...]
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[The knee-jerk reaction to bristle is reined in and substituted with... that, the still childish observation of lame facts. It's the same situation that had drawn him to Felicia that second time around, wasn't it?
Companions leaving just happened, as brusquely as their arrivals did.
His jaw clenches a moment. Neji sighs out another breath the next. "Also", she'd said. He tilts his head.]
It's a good solace to know they'll be back home.
[...] Isn't it?
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[Felicia let out a soft, uncertain hum. There was a great many things that could be good about such happenings, but also a great many things that could be so, so wrong.]
Maybe. We don't always know what their world is like. They might be going back to something nice and pleasant....or, they might be going back in the middle of a war.
But, in either case, it's good that they're not here, I think. We know that this city isn't exactly safe.
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["His" world is laughable, considering a middle of a war is the last thing he'd seen and, like it or not, the scene most etched in his current memory. Who -or what- ever the world belonged to then or after is still very much up on the air but something catches in Neji's throat all the same.
His guard does crumble, for a too long second. Gods, it's never short of sobering to realize (again and again and again) that he won't be going back. He looks to Felicia as if she's said something contrary.]
There was a war. Or is-- I don't know. But we win, and the village and my friends are safe and they'll get the chance to grow together and... [And frankly he refuses to babble.]
I don't know if I'm glad they're gone, even knowing they'll be happy.
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After all, what her subconscious didn't acknowlege couldn't hurt her.]
Neji, you-- [She started hesitantly, not even entirely sure what it was that she wanted to say to this quiet but kind young man.]
--It hurts you to see them go, doesn't it? It's hard to say 'good bye,' because we don't know how long it will last.
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there's a wry tinge to his words.]
Unless they're brought back to this city, I know exactly how long I'll have to go without seeing them next.
[An.Y.Way. She was right. Neji shakes his head.] Now's when I learn to focus on who is with me, I suppose. [He won't.] You are well?