reallyaduck | (no subject)

Trowa's gaze flicks to Duo, to

(everyone is my enemy)

Tutu, and back to Duo: cool and unreadable.

Except

(everyone is my
No.)

it's not, after all; his eyes narrow slightly, and he pulls in a sharp breath, because

(Open your eyes, Trowa!)

because he's been stupid, he's been blindsided, this is familiar in all the wrong ways--

Tutu leads Duo and Trowa into one last turn, and steps backwards.

Two shadows step with her, out of the bodies where they were hiding.

Meanwhile, Trowa and Duo spin at just the precise angle to end up in each other's arms.

Edited 2009-08-29 03:50 (UTC)

...

Duo extracts himself from Trowa, and his foot from one of the vines they're now standing on.

"Okay, so. I'm fine with never talking about this again. You?"

"Yeah."

(Dear Duck: what drugs is your world on, and who thought they were a good idea?)

There is the soft sound of approaching footsteps.

"Princess Tutu!" a voice exclaims.

Or, well, it comes as close to exclamation as someone who's tone is so perpetually breathy that it must be assumed that they have but one functioning lung and that it is in desperate need of replacement.

Princess Tutu turns to Mytho, and - though it seems odd for someone so magically poised - it's possible that she flushes a little.

"My prince," she says, and curtseys low, and then turns to the shadows she still holds by the hand.

"Tell me - what feelings are you?"

"I am the feeling of insecurity," says the first, and shoots a nervous look at Mytho, before it sparks a bright red light and compresses in on itself.

"I am the feeling of desire for control," says the second, frowns, and follows suit.

Princess Tutu now holds two bright red gems in her hand. She smiles down at them - if it's a little doubtful (really? insecurity? another bad feeling?) no one could tell from the outside - and releases them, like birds, towards Mytho.

Edited 2009-08-29 04:24 (UTC)

One might think that Mytho would be used to this by now, but to be fair he's never gotten two shards back simultaneously. Still, one might be forgiven for feeling that his harsh cry of emotion (head thrown back and everything) is a touch melodramatic.

A spotlight

(why are there spotlights in the woods?)

falls on a particular patch of ground. Actually, it falls on Fakir, who is standing on that patch. When Fakir ~~sashays~~ steps forward, the spotlight follows him.

Princess Tutu and those two boys are here too, of course, and Duck is probably around somewhere, but Fakir is giving his entire attention to Mytho.

He is not amused.

"Can't Mr. Cat keep you out of trouble?"

Fakir extends his arm to take Mytho's. "Come away now, and stop screaming. I told you to stay away from Princess Tutu."

Fakir leaves the corollary, If you had stayed away from her, you would not now be screaming in soulrending agony, unstated.

As far as Trowa's usually concerned, social awkwardness is for other people.

This whole situation is . . .

working hard to be an exception.

On one hand, Fakir has all the social graces and emotional sensitivity of Wufei on an annoyed day. On the other hand, Mytho's screaming is -- not the most comfortable thing to witness. (Melodramatic or not.)

His eyes flick to Duo, and then to Princess Tutu.

But Princess Tutu, alas, is no longer there.

(Duck, meanwhile, has taken advantage of the moment when everyone's eyes were fixed on the screaming Mytho to dive behind the nearest tree. SHE WAS HERE THE WHOLE TIME. YES. HONEST.)

. . .

Never mind. No help there.

Does she really think she's fooling anyone? Seriously?

Apparently the answer is yes. Duo coughs. "Gosh, where's Duck got to?"

THAT'S YOUR CUE, SWEETHEART.

"Uhhhhhhhh hi!"

Duck sidles out from behind the tree.

"I, uh, I fell over and I think I knocked my head so I don't have any idea what just happened or anything!"

BEST EXCUSE EVER.

"Um is everyone okay?"

Mytho looks dazed and disoriented.

Er. More dazed and disoriented than he usually looks.

"Fakir?" Okay, so he sounds just as confused as normal.

"When did you get here?" Not that this stops him from ~~swaying~~ moving slowly in Fakir's direction.

Duo raises an expressive eyebrow at Trowa over Duck's head.

"Maaaaaybe it's time for us to go."

. . .

Trowa does not eyebrow back, but he doesn't really need to.

Okay then, Mytho. Since apparently it's mutual.

"Probably," he agrees.

Duck looks anxiously from Mytho to Fakir. "But -"

"I think they need a little alone time, Duck." He grabs her hand and makes for the path.

-was this forest always here?

Surely it must have been! Forests don't move.

Trowa is paranoid even when he's not dealing with the aftermath of mind-altering heartshard possession. So this may not actually be his train of thought.

In any case, he follows silently after Duo and Duck.

Duck cranes her neck around to watch the senpais for as long as she can, but her view is soon blocked by relatively dense foliage.

Then she twists her neck back around, rather reluctantly.

"So uh . . . I guess . . . lots of stuff happened. . . . didn't it . . . ."

Duo stares at her.

. . .

The extent to which Duck needs to work on her subtlety is enormous.

(Multiple personalities would be a perfectly plausible hypothesis here, for someone who regards verbal chess with Une as a fun hobby, if Duck weren't such an incredibly bad liar.)

Trowa says: "Yeah."

"You are a magical ballerina princess," Duo says, in a tone that suggests he is not over this yet, and won't be anytime soon.

"And your town is messed up."

Duck whips her head back around in Duo's direction.

"QUACK?"

He knows she's Tutu how can he know that she was super careful and no one else ever guessed and how can he know and -

. . and . . . .

Ooops.

Trowa fails to look surprised.