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[nachetanya]

Mysterious Heroine Q

I'm here for you! Leave a message! (this is Natalia Fairweather if you must know)

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[Fairweather Chat]

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[cattack]

[Cleo doesn't have room to talk, and she's going to try to take up as little space as possible. She understands the student life.]

What we've been told by Retrospec, noted liars with an agenda to be benefited by deceiving us.

[nachetanya]

Mmm.

[ Is that in the agenda? She's not even really sure, but Cleo's been around longer. She exhales softly, taking this moment to open up the -- ah, wait. ]

Oh! Right, thank you for bringing something over.

[cattack]

[Oh, right. Food! Food is a better topic, even if she's practically wilting under Porsche's puppy gaze. How can anyone resist feeding a cute dog...?]

Of course. You're so busy lately, after all... Ah, though, I hope you like Thai.

[nachetanya]

... Honestly, I'm really not good with spicy foods.

[ So. Like. That's honest, but she's got her fingers crossed this is comparatively mild. ]

[cattack]

It's mild, at least.

[She laughs a little.]

Yours is, anyway. I wasn't sure, so I figured you could add more spices afterwards if you preferred it.

[nachetanya]

Oh my god thank you! [ She giggles but... is still worried.

Thai mild is still hot a lot of the time in her experience. But all the same, let's get this tofu and/or just veggie thing closer to her. Heeehe ]

No, I'm awful with spice! I'm good with bitter though, if you remember.

[cattack]

[She makes a face at the memory...]

I don't expect I'll forget that any time soon, no.

[nachetanya]

You looked so cute there! Sorry my makeup's not been as good since.

[ any time she's visited to check on her, that is. ]

[cattack]

[blood has a way of ruining makeup, it's true.]

That's hardly something you need to worry about. You're cute regardless.

[TWO CAN PLAY AT THIS GAME OF CALLING PEOPLE CUTE]

[nachetanya]

[ It's true...

She exhales and... spins around her fork here before taking her first bite. ]

Even when my eyes are as tired looking as they've had to look here and there?

[cattack]

Even then. I promise.

[she's really good at being smooth, when she's not trying to be.]

[nachetanya]

[ . . . She nods, trying to feel good about it but at the same time she's - ]

... You're a very sweet woman, Cleo.

[cattack]

Not at all. I'm only speaking the truth.

[nachetanya]

No, no, I meant visiting me so much!

[ She... ]

I don't know, I'm not sure what to think! I told myself I'd start acting normal once April starts, and I think I have.

[cattack]

[She listens, and shakes her head slightly.]

... You don't have to act normal. You can be honest here, if you wish.

[nachetanya]

[ . . . She hums. Can she, really? She's not sure. She'd said little things, implied little things to Cleo before now. But now, well...

Now, she needs to make a choice. It's a light choice, a hard one though, and perhaps one she's been building to since that incident last month. And she thus says,

It's better to act well, and then you can be well, you know? ... But all the same, it's hard, when everything is so fake.

[cattack]

Everything is...?

[She tilts her head, ears tilting forward. She's confused...]

[nachetanya]

My memories. They're real... of course they are. They feel real, and they're mine, right? But it's also all fake.

[cattack]

It... I do not wish to tell anyone that their way of viewing them is wrong. But... I don't think they're real, or mine. Even if they are real... The woman who experienced them lived a different life from mine. And my life is different from hers. A person is shaped by their experiences, so... The fact that we have had different lives makes us different people.

We can learn from them. But they are not us. Is that what you mean by 'fake'?

[nachetanya]

They're our very souls, though. That's... what they are, right? It's what everything that's been told to us shows, and those stupid heart stones...

[ She bites her lip, looking off to the side and bowing her head. ]

... Either way, I guess I'm jealous of that.

[cattack]

... I question that.

[Cleo has never believed that. But...]

... Jealous?

[nachetanya]

[ Is there any point questioning reality? Everything they've found implies it. Everything people discover implies it. They just flat out say it.

Natalia hates it though, so maybe...

But for now, she gives her nastiest of possible looks with her red eyes to Cleo, and she runs her right hand on the table. And she says, ]

That you not only can deny it, but that you seemed so heroic.

[cattack]

[Oh.

Her ears, ever more expressive than her face, droop down. That look is- Withering. It makes her feel guilty. But she still tries to stand strong against it... Wilting under that look won't help.]

Aren't you a hero as well?

[She remembers what she's heard. The braves of six flowers... right?]

[nachetanya]

[ Yes, the Braves. The Braves she's worked hard to most people not to say the full name of. The Braves of Six Flowers.

Seven of Six. She laughs a little, but it's mirthless. She looks down at herself, a little bit...

Ashamed? Worried? If she did these actions, it was in the past. The fact is, she's not even sure what the actions are. But to take cleo's own phrasing... in this life, she did injury this woman and several others. Had it been anyone but Eren, someone would have died. And so it's entirely unjust to hold onto - ]

... No. I'm a fake hero.

[cattack]

Fake...? What do you mean?

[She doesn't want to get salt in Natalia's wounds. She's hurt. She's upset. Cleo wants to help, but... She can't help without knowing more. She just hopes she's not doing more harm than good.]