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"I don't want him to find out, y'know?“
She stands from her place at the reiling and sits down next to him on the few stairs.
"I know.“
"My family would probably have appeared and there's no hiding they'd... look Al Bhed.“
"Figured that.“
She seems to lose her balance for just a bit of a second. "Oh. Yes. Of course.“
That girl doesn't even look at him.
He has been told he isn't one enjoyable conversation partner, but still. Though, with that much he said, she could rather have her feet she's staring at give her answers.
So he continues watching her feet, too. Two could play a game.
"He couldn't have missed that, could he? As oblivious as dear Wakka seems to be most of the time...“, she adds and he can't help but smile a little.
She's right, of course; he noticed it the first time he laid eyes on her.
"Always wondered if he ever actually looked you in the eye. Quite hard to miss.“
His own voice surprises him and green eyes snap up to his in that moment. "... or maybe it's just me“, he adds quieter.
She looks at him like she's still trying to figure out what he exactly said, tilting her head to the side for a bit. There's something in her gaze he can't quite name. It shouldn't bother him that much, but it does.
Just as he wonders when she'll break or look away she clears her throat and starts again "So... you're also secretly Al Bhed that you're not going in there? Haven't seen ya 'round my town, mister.“
His mouth twitches in bemusement as she smiles at him.
It's a bit like it is with Yuna: This smile is painted. One of the countless ones she wears so she doesn't shatter into pieces right in front of the group. He doesn't know that much of her, but this he understands by now.
Taking a few seconds to get himself out of his thoughts and together again, he answers "Just as you said. Memories are nice, but that's all they are.“
He didn't mean to make her sad again, he really didn't. He just can't bear to see her all is well-face when it really isn't. It feels like she's lying to him and because he sees through it anyway, where's the use in it? She might just break herself more while trying to conceal the truth.
Her smile fades and she looks at her tiny hands. Tiny hands that are like her tiny frame still capable of so much. Like standing tall against as many fiends as she may face, or getting up in the morning, putting on a brave face and pulling all of them through the day.
"It's... because of Jecht then? Of Braska?“
He just gives her an answering harrumph.
She bumps his shoulder with hers. For comfort, he guesses.
He knows it's only half the reason.
That he isn't just mourning his friends, but also should have been gone for long and doesn't belong here anymore. But he doesn't tell her.
Because 'mourning' is enough of a reason for her and he won't be the cause of any more plastered on smiles.