paradisalost | Thread: Friendship is good. [Dilan and Anzu]

Who: Dilan and Anzu.
What: Meeting and talking.
When: After this.
Where: Dilan's room, 1204.
Rating: PG?

Anzu had no idea what exactly had happened this time, but she had to admit, with everything that had been going on around here lately, explosions and who knows what else, she was worried. Didn't people learn? That sort of thing shouldn't keep happening over and over again. Now someone else had gotten hurt.

She didn't really make a habit of going to see strangers she barely knew on her own. She knew better than that - people were always warned about that sort of thing when it came to meeting people you spoke to on the internet, so something like these magic journals didn't seem all that different. But it wasn't fair to judge without knowing someone, either, and Dilan did sound like a decent guy.

1204... That was a lot of stairs to go up, but at least it was good exercise. Anzu closed her journal after one last reply and left her room, setting out to make her way upstairs to the twelfth floor.

Dilan had said that the door was unlocked, but it felt a little strange, just going into someone's room when you'd never even met them face to face. Anzu hesitated for a moment, one hand hovering near the doorknob before she turned it and pushed the door open. "Hello?" She glanced around. "It's Anzu."

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Dilan had no idea what to do with himself.

He was so unused to .. kindness. Unfettered kindness with no demands attached. He'd become so disconnected from the world in his later months and years as an apprentice that people... had stopped being people, and become just... things.

But the stubborn piece of his heart that never let him forget how precious people were had suddenly burst back into life, while he was here. And he couldn't believe he'd almost let it go.

Weakly he scrawled a reply to Ino, then shut the journal with fingers that shook. He hadn't really the strength to lift his arms, and would drift in and out of sleep with the journal on his lap. Now was not any different; no matter how much he tried, he couldn't move his arms quite enough to shift the journal to the small table beside his bed. He groaned in frustration. His entire body felt weighed down, heavy and slow, so much so it almost didn't feel like his. The only tiny bit of luck he'd had was to awake in this bed at all, with the pillows slightly propped up, so at the very least he could sit up.

He smiled faintly when he saw the door open, but could only afford a nod in greeting. "Anzu, yes. Come in." His voice was hoarse, weak from not speaking after two days, and it made him sigh inwardly. He merely hoped Anzu wouldn't be put off by how weak he seemed. At this point, he knew it would only cause her further concern.

He nodded over at the desk, indicating the chair there. "Please, feel free to sit." A smile tugged at his lips. "I'm an awful enough host as is, not even rising to get the door... the very least I can do is offer you a chair, hmm?"

Anzu shut the door behind her, stepping into the room. She smiled as she headed closer and towards the chair Dilan had pointed out to take a seat there. "Thanks," she said. "Don't worry about it. I'd be a horrible guest if I expected you to come to the door right now, right?" She grinned slightly. "It's nice to meet you, by the way." She hadn't really known what to expect, other than someone who seemed fairly composed and sounded kind enough from what she'd gathered so far, judging by their conversations - well, other than getting into fights, but she really didn't know much about that so she couldn't say anything.

Anzu's expression grew more serious. How badly hurt was he? He didn't sound too good right now, although he was sitting up. She couldn't really tell just by looking at him from over here, though.

"Um..." Anzu pushed some of her hair behind her ear, feeling a little at a loss of what to say now that she was here. "Did you want to talk about something, Dilan?"

He couldn't help but laugh a little at that, though the simple action made him feel somehow more tired.

He saw her expression change, and his own, in turn, sombered.

"Yes, actually," he said softly. "It's just.. you mentioned.." He made a noise like a growl in the back of his throat, frustrated. He felt like an idiot, asking her this, but... for some reason he felt he could trust her, and she wouldn't think him entirely stupid for it. He paused, for a second, looking off to one side. He gathered his courage in taking a deep breath and asked, "You said I seem like a ... good person." Something clenched in his chest, and his face was sad. "And that my friends .. would care." He shut his eyes. "I don't understand. I don't understand why they care... they've only known me for a few days, and two of them risked their lives to..." he trailed off.

"What is it to be a good person..? And what on earth did I do to deserve..." he made a small gesture. ".. kindness, like yours?"

He knew he sounded pathetic. He felt pathetic. But he was genuinely startled by the outpouring of worry he'd seen on that one journal entry he'd made, and absolutely stunned by what Midna and Judas had done for him.

He could not for the life of him figure out why.

Anzu folded her hands in her lap, watching Dilan. As he spoke, her expression grew surprised at first, then contemplative, but then, once he seemed to be finished, she offered him an encouraging smile. "Well, even a friendship that's just starting out can already be on its way to becoming a good one, right? And if they see you as a friend, it's a natural thing for them to care. I'm guessing they just followed what they felt was the right thing to do." She paused for a moment.

Although she didn't exactly know much about Dilan, she thought she could go with her instincts on this, too. He hadn't given her reason to believe he wasn't a decent person. She was sure that she'd even seen him stepping in a couple of times to speak out against certain jerks around here, even though he didn't need to get involved. Maybe that sort of sense of justice - or at least, that was what it looked like - reminded her a little of the other Yuugi. Yami.

Anzu smiled. "Anyway, you don't seem like a bad person," she added. "There are enough of those around and you don't seem anything like them. You've been kind to people, too, right?"

Dilan stared out the window while she spoke, unable to bring himself to meet her eyes at first. Then, much to his own surprise, he smiled, though he still did not look at her. "I suppose that's true. Paradisa is a strange place... so much can happen in such a short time. It's just.." He laughed faintly, but it was a sad sound. "Before Paradisa... my life had begun to slip into a sort of seclusion.. so this is all very strange for me. I suppose I'll get used to it as time passes." He finally looked at her, and his smile was grateful now, for reasons he couldn't even begin to explain.

Anzu, too, reminded Dilan of someone he'd once known. A girl he'd once saved, whose kindness, even after years of knowing her, had always stunned him.

"I don't?" he asked quietly, without even really meaning to. He took a breath, then murmured, "I think so. I hope so. I mean..." He gestured vaguely. "... before I arrived here, Anzu, I think I'd almost forgotten what it was to be human. But others, like you, have reminded me." Then he suddenly laughed, and it was a more genuine sound. "I realize how strange this must be for you.. my asking you here to talk about something so ... odd. I truly appreciate it. I wish there was something I could do for you in return." He sighed, shutting his eyes momentarily. He was already recovering, yes, but even this small conversation was tiring him, though he hated to admit it.

[OOC: Gah, I'm really sorry for the delay. D: Don't worry about replying to this, if you'd prefer to wrap it up? Thanks for the logging, though!]

Anzu returned the smile. Although she hadn't missed the tone of that first laugh and some of the things that Dilan had said a few moments ago made her curious, she wasn't going to ask questions, even if she wondered what Dilan's life might have been like before he'd come to Paradisa.

"Don't worry about it." She shrugged slightly and shook her head. "You don't have to do anything, Dilan, I didn't come here to talk because I was expecting something in return. Just be careful, all right? That guy you were talking about sounds really dangerous."

It wasn't something she thought she could say much else about, since she wasn't involved, but it was pretty worrying that fights and things like that had been happening more than once around here.

And Dilan had also said that drawing was hard for him like this, so she hoped that it was only a temporary problem. For someone who knew how to draw like that, not being able to draw had to be difficult, right?

Anzu knew that she wanted to get back what she'd lost. It felt strange, suddenly being almost completely uncoordinated when it came to even simple dance steps.

Anyway, if drawing took too much energy right now, maybe that meant it was better to let Dilan get some rest. Anzu smoothed her skirt down and stood from her seat. She smiled at her new acquaintance. "Thanks for letting me drop by for a visit. Take care, okay?"

Thread: Friendship is good. [Dilan and Anzu]

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