Nimona ☆ White Tiger

[hanaban]

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[sharkgirl]

Okay.

[just, names are very important to her. so. it's important that she uses the right one.]

... I think there's still a little bit of that person in you. But okay. Hanako.

[hanaban]

[ she can't call him anything else or I won't know who she's talking about ]

Maybe. But I'm a supernatural. It's different from simply being a ghost. It means there's no way to say how much "me" is left in me.

[ How much humanity. How much "Amane Yugi". And at the rate he's going, it's starting to be none at all. ]

[sharkgirl]

[she frowns at him.]

I haven't ever known you as anything else. [but she still likes him, and cares about him, so. it's hard for her to gauge how horrible this is.]

[hanaban]

That's fine, right? I'm the one that's here now.

[ That means she knows and likes the stabby batshit insane Hanako, and he's pretty sure she'd still like that better than how he was before... quiet and reclusive, not really wanting anything to do with anyone, a crybaby who loved the moon and the stars and threw them away. ]

But maybe you can do me a favor and smash those things if you ever see me on them?

[sharkgirl]

I like you this way. But I think I'd like you however you wanted to be.

[...]

Sure. I won't look. I'll just break them.

[... she's good at breaking things. always has been.]

[hanaban]

[ How does he want to be... He doesn't know. He hasn't known for a long time, never had the option to be anything else. ]

Thanks, Nimona. There's nothing good in them. They're only going to make you uncomfortable, so destroy them before I hurt you.

[sharkgirl]

[she makes a face at him.]

You're not going to hurt me. I'm more concerned about you getting upset by them. [:\!!]

[hanaban]

[ She looked concerned back then too! that counts as hurting ]

It's fine if it's me! It's my life, after all— I can't stand back and let everybody else deal with it.

[sharkgirl]

Yeah, okay, but usually when you're friends with someone you don't just go wow, your life sucks, sucks to be you, bye! Usually.

[she taps his hat gently.] I'll ignore them or break them if you want, but it's because you asked, not because I don't want to avoid dealing with the things that affect you.

[hanaban]

[ Usually.

He gives her an appreciative sort of smile, regretful and relieved both. ]

I know. It's in the past, so don't worry about it. Really.

What do you want to do with yours?

[sharkgirl]

[well

before she can answer, a flicker of comic pages move to them, surrounding them. almost more like pages of a storybook. once upon a time...]

[hanaban]

[ that's me getting punched in the gut in the very last panel

Hanako, for his part, looks just as enraged, white-knuckled grip on the hilt of the knife he hadn't even realized he'd pulled out when the first of the villagers started approaching.

Nimona's eyes turn white, and he doesn't even wait for her answer, he stabs his knife straight into the statue's panel and shatters it. ]

[sharkgirl]

[it startles her, the way he shatters the panel. she's so on edge watching this, this part of her life that drove her to the brink. she jitters backwards, fists curling, expression - a lot, but mostly agonized. every time she relives this, it's so hard to pull herself back out of the hole she's been slowly ascending while she's been here.

she opens her mouth. and then closes it. and brings a hand up to rest over her heart instead.]

[hanaban]

[ It's not even his memories. He's never been ostracized like that before. But still- still... seeing the innocent hope in Nimona's eyes get squashed by an iron fist makes him beyond angry.

He takes Nimona's other hand, and leads her away from here. ]

[sharkgirl]

[she stumbles at first, but. she follows, quietly, letting him lead.]

... When I first saw you when we got here, you were that big shape. I thought... [well. she thought he was like her. that's the last thing she remembers, the way gloreth's statue stared at her across the city, the way she ripped herself apart into something worth killing.]

[hanaban]

[ His grip is tight in hers at first, only loosening when she begins to talk. ]

Thought what?

[ He has no real destination in mind. Just that walking feels better than standing still. ]

[sharkgirl]

I guess I thought I found someone like me.

[she doesn't seem to mind just walking.

he can probably see a flash of a comic page that wisps by.]

[hanaban]

[ ... ]

We're close enough.

[ Monsters.

As if responding to his thoughts, a panel of his own passes by, a distorted image of Hanako as any normal person would see him. ]

[sharkgirl]

[her grip on his hand tightens as she sees that image go past.]

We're close enough.

[she agrees, quietly. a beat of hesitation.]

... I made my mind up too. I wasn't going anywhere. Not after that.

[hanaban]

What do you mean?

[ Nimona, who is a thousand years old, compared to his paltry fifty. ]

I thought, despite everything, you hung on. I was the one who gave up.

[ He was the one who died. Nimona, if she's alive, she can still move on. ]

[sharkgirl]

[she just gives him a look.]

No. I was done. [...] I was ready to be done, and then I woke up here.

[hanaban]

[ no don't look at him

His grip on hers does tighten, though. laces their fingers so it'd be even tougher to let go ]

That still counts. You still hung on. And now things are getting better, aren't they?

[sharkgirl]

[she's okay with that. she's holding his hand pretty tightly.]

... Yeah. For now, I'm doing okay. [she's a little shaky, but she's not lying.]

[hanaban]

[ "For now" is good enough for him. His feet slow and stop, turn around so he can give Nimona a quick hug. For now. ]

And you'll be alright in the future, too. As long as you have one, you can always make it better.

[sharkgirl]

[she hugs him back, for however long he lets her, and then:]

I wish I knew what to say to you. [...] You never believe me when I say that sort of stuff to you.