Voice-testing... ( don't look at me I'm shy /)_(\ )

[innocentflowerbud]

Ah--? Mundane-san...? Or... do you want me to call you mun-san instead?

It's okay if you don't have any plans for me yet--! I don't mind... it'll... give you some time to get my voice down, right? That is what you call it, right...?

[ She fidgets a little before speaking up again. ]

But... I would like to see my friends, too, if that's okay... please?

Comments

[shadowofmoonlight]

[by the time Tsubomi finished talking, Dark Precure exploded]

YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!

I'm nothing! Nothing more than an imitation! A-a fake, grown in a lab! An imitation of a real flower!

You say you want your feelings to reach me?! HOW CAN I TRUST YOU?! HOW CAN I KNOW THAT THEY JUST WON'T BE AN IMITATION OF YOUR FRIENDSHIP WITH HER?! HOW DO I KNOW YOU WON'T JUST PITY ME?!

TELL ME, CURE BLOSSOM! HOW COULD ANYONE LOVE A FLOWER THAT DOESN'T HAVE ITS OWN COLOR?! ITS OWN SCENT?! ITS OWN NAME?!

...

[she fell to her knees, shaking]

Th-that's all I am... you're Cure Blossom... and Hanasaki Tsubomi... and I'm just...

Dark Precure...

[innocentflowerbud]

Because even if you call yourself a fake flower, and imitation... you're still a precious flower to me...

[ O-oh, no... she's tearing up now, but she continues to speak even as the tears roll down her cheeks, even as she kneels to look at Dark Precure seriously in her eyes. ]

Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature... flowers are just like us. Some are sad... lonely... forgotten... wilting and dying. Some are thrown away, never to be thought of again...

[ She finds herself resonating with flowers and with Dark Precure's feelings so intensely that she unconsciously ends up replacing "they" with "we"... ]

Some of us are sometimes so desperate to be seen, while others of us are desperate to hide away... we can be different types of flowers, or groups, have different comfort zones... we can be feared or loved at one instance, and then completely broken the next...

But it doesn't matter if we're real flowers or fake. We're still beautiful, and wonderous, and very unique regardless...

[ Tsubomi's openly crying as she speaks to Dark Precure consolingly, compassionately; part of her knows that it might be bad for her to let her guard down so, but... she also doesn't care because she wants to help her. And if her compassion for Dark Precure gets her hurt in the end... then it's on her for opening her heart to her... ]

Please... let me be here for you...? I truly want to be your friend, I mean it... I want to show you that you can trust me, Dark Precure... not turn my feelings into a lie...

[shadowofmoonlight]

[Dark Precure's mind was a sea of emotions... a cauldron of confusion, fear, and hatred. There was a part of her who couldn't comprehend what Tsubomi was saying... a part of her that only knew the palest imitation of love... or at least, which believed it was only an imitation...]

...

[but... in those last moments... her father had embraced her... her father had... had shown her kindness...

... there had been warmth]

...

[she looked down]

I will never understand... you beings with hearts...

[innocentflowerbud]

[ That is a small, soft smile on Tsubomi's face through her tears as she gently pulls Dark Precure into another gentle hug. ]

It's okay... I can't understand us sometimes, either...

[ There's a soft giggle here before she sighs quietly. Can you feel her warmth? ]

Besides, I don't really think that understanding the heart's needed, either... just be yourself, and listen to your feelings. That's... what I do...

And I'll be here to help you listen, too...

[shadowofmoonlight]

[for a moment, Dark Precure manages to smile... but it's fleeting]

... but in the end... it doesn't even matter, you realize...

... this world... this... "community"... it has no story. It's not like the works we come from, or the so-called 'games' our "mundanes" play...

... all of this... it's of no consequence... I can go back... back to the way I was, as if all this never happened...

[she closed her eyes]

I'll forget... you'll forget... and I'll be alone again...

[innocentflowerbud]

... I won't let you be alone, Dark Precure. Wherever we may be.

[ Tsubomi's face darkens into a serious expression as she hugs her. She knows that feeling too well... and it scares her that she might forget, but... she has to try. ]

I don't want to forget... not now, not ever... that's why I won't let myself forget if I can help it.

And even if my mind forgets, my heart will always remember... I truly believe that. That's why... I'll never let you be alone again...

[shadowofmoonlight]

... it doesn't matter if you forget...

[the small smile returned]

... I can tell... even if this happened a million times, again and again... you'd be the kind of person to reach out to a soul as wretched as mine...

... even if the story changes... you never will...

[a single tear rolled down Dark Precure's cheek]

... and if someone like me can see this... maybe one day my sister and I... and my father...

[there's no more words, as she brings her hands up, finally to hug Tsubomi back]

[innocentflowerbud]

[ Tsubomi's heart melts when she feels Dark Precure hugs her in return; and she continues to hold the girl for as long as she wants to be held, a gentle smile on her face as she slowly nods. ]

I truly believe that it's possible. For you, Yuri-san and Sabaaku-san...

[ She sniffles a bit; it's hard for her to control herself right now. ]

And I'll be here to support you no matter what. No matter where, when or how, too...