Quoted By:
Despite outward appearances, you get what Celia is trying to say, maybe a little too well…
“Why not? As long as you want it.” You say.
“This place is gonna be the same whether I like it or not.” Celia isn’t buying it.
“Not if you do something about it.” You point out.
“What happened to wishing?” Celia raises an eyebrow.
“That’s the first step. Second one working towards that. You can’t do it without the first.” You explain. Motivation, no matter how faint, is a key difference. “You know what you want, so let’s work from there.”
“No, I know how it *feels.* Not what it is.” Celia grumbles.
“Then you’ll know when it’ll feel right.” You shrug. “My bad if I sound presumptuous. The point is, if you don’t know where to start, I got you. Let’s figure this out.”
There’s a silent pause. If silence was a cacophony of dozens of game soundtracks bouncing together.
“...I wanna be free.” Celia looks at a random game’s neon lights. “Gah! I can’t hold it anymore! This opening up crap is not easy.”
“Trust me, I haven’t gotten any better at it either.” You chuckle.
“You look like you have figured this thing out. For better or worse.” Celia doesn’t know how to feel about some of your eccentricities.
“I wish!” Maybe you’re being too honest when you should be reliable. “I do stuff and hope the results are sensible.”
“You aren’t all that different from back then.” Celia shakes her head.
“...Don’t tell me you’re my lost childhood friend.” You think Vera messed with more of your memories.
“What are you talking about? No, nothing like that.” Celia shakes her head. “It was here, months ago. I never forget a face, even though yours changed a lot.”
“Oh? Are we entering a flashback?” You have forgotten faces…
“No. I was raging hard on that crane machine over there. I wanted one of those peeps really badly, but lost all my money. Then you pulled out one right next to me.” Celia recalls, then looks away all embarrassed. “You shook it in front of me, and I thought you were flaunting like an asswipe, so I told you off — and left. It was on my trip home I realized you were trying to give it to me…”
“Oh…” You don’t remember at all.
“Yeah, big sorry for that, I guess. You were awkward, okay? Took me a bit to get it. I’m a loner, not stupid.” Celia is really embarrassed. “Anyway, freedom…”
Did telling you an embarrassing story give her courage to talk more freely…?
[b:lit]What do you do?[/b:lit]
>Pull out a plushy for Celia to make up for what happened back then. If it happened.
>Help Celia out with being free. You feel an immense task coming.
>Obligatory Gangster Encounter commences. That’s no good!
>Write In.
(Last Reply of the Day, we continue tomorrow!)
