zawamecity | Welcome to Zawame City [open to anyone]

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Welcome to Zawame City [open to anyone]

A Shadow Line train is now arriving. Please stay behind the black line if you value your life...

My only escape these days is promising Mork that I'm seeking Darkness on my own terms. It's all she ever wanted, and so she chooses not to disbelieve me. That allows me freedom to take my Kurainer out. The idea is that I will find a city with suitable Darkness, that I can then swallow and create a new Shadow Town, and so on.

That isn't my real aim, though. Further even than seeking freedom, I'm seeking the source of Light. Not one Light in particular, but Light in general, the quality that makes things sparkle.

The easiest way is to let the Kurainer take me where it doesn't want to go. Which is how I find myself here.

Now arriving in Zawame City... Zawame City...

There is light here. Protection. Someone loves this city very much- it glows with a warmth that is familiar somehow, though I can't identify it yet.

Mork would be pleased, in her way. The brighter the Light, the deeper the Shadows.

I send the Kurainer away, and head off into the city to explore.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This city is awesome.

It's not a Shadow town. It's Kouta's! I like Kouta a lot. We spent time with him and Mai-tachi a few months ago and I wanted to come back and check on them all.

Can't find Kouta yet, though. Everyone's out exploring. I slurp at my ice cream cone again as I meander along near the water.

Beautiful day!

I feel him before I see him. I should have expected this, honestly. There's very few places I can go where some part of my exhausting existence doesn't follow me.

I turn to face him as he moves closer to me, waiting, and, admittedly, wondering if he can feel me the way I can feel him.

Not many people around. There's a guy standing up ahead on the other side of the trees, I think. He's very still. I can't quite make him out, and maybe I'm mistaking it, maybe what I think is a person is actually an oddly shaped tree, or a stop sign. But I --

Recognise him before I see him.

No. Not a stop sign.

"Zett," I say quietly. "This isn't a Shadow Town."

Of course he finds me- he'd see me, even if he didn't know me, and I'm not exactly inconspicuous. It's not in my nature.

I find a grin for him, a wave of one hand, and incline my head. "Yo, Right."

Right to business. I sigh and shake my head, then drag myself around to face away from him. "No, it's not. Don't worry, I don't think I could swallow this city even if I wanted to."

I lick my icecream again while I look at him. He greets me like normal, then turns away.

"Ah?" I ask, half confused, half fascinated. "You don't even WANT to take this city over?"

I glance over my shoulder at him with a little grin and lift one hand, one finger, and press it to my lips.

"Shh. It's a secret."

Huh.

I walk up next to him, lick my icecream again, and offer it to him without thinking.

"Are you - did you run away from home?"

I raise an eyebrow at the way he words it, and turn to look out across the water again.

I'm tired- I realize that slowly. It's bright out here today, and I should probably be finding shade, at least, if not retreating entirely.

I shake my head with a sigh. "No, they know I'm here. The secret is that I'm not here to spread Darkness."

He's looking at the water, at the way the sunlight hits it. It sparkles on the waves.

I can't help but brighten at that. "Then come with me. I'll buy you an ice cream for yourself!"

I grab his wrist and tug.

"Wh-" The question is lost as he grabs my arm, sending a jolt through me- a very literal one, his light is brighter even than the natural light of the sun. I turn my arm and grasp his wrist in return, but if it hurts him the way it does me, he makes no mention of it, no indication.

"I don't-" He's dragging me along, and I fall into step with him easily enough.

His grip makes my skin fizz, but it's not really an unpleasant thing. I make sure to haul him along through the shade of the trees to give him a little break from the sun.

"Ice cream," I explain, then I pop the last of mine into my mouth and swallow it. "I'll buy you one. What flavor?"

I am not sure if he knows that he's leading us through the shade of the trees, and if so, whether he is in fact doing it on purpose, for me. It's interesting.

"I don't..." I shake my head at him, and can't help but laugh a little. "I don't want any ice cream."

I wish he could stay out in the sun more. He obviously prefers it, even though it hurts him. But maybe if he gets more practice, he'll find it easier.

"You don't want ice cream?!" I widen my eyes at him as we scurry along, horrified. "Who doesn't want ice cream? Are you sick?"

He seems quite concerned by my lack of desire for ice cream. It wasn't my intent, so I just shrug and finally tug my arm away from him, but I keep pace with him anyway, since there's no particular reason not to.

"I don't eat human food, Right."

He pulls his arm away from me, but keeps walking with me. It's so nice walking with him when it's just us. When he's not being yelled at to attack us already.

I know he could attack anyway.

But he hasn't. He doesn't seem to want to. And I'm wondering now just how many times he only attacked because he felt... obligated. There was a little stray dog who hung around at school sometimes. If you scared it, it'd growl, sometimes snap at you. If it thought you were going to attack.

If you approached it gently and quietly, sometimes it'd let you stroke its ears. It even had a sleep in my lap one time at lunch. I don't think I've ever had a lunchbreak before when I haven't been up and running around. It was weird, but nice.

"You want to try?"

I wonder what he thinks about, that makes his eyes gleam and glitter like that. What makes him sparkle? I know it's just who he is, but why is that who he is?

It's nice, this. It's like when we first met, at the amusement park. He and I spent a long time together, just the two of us. No ToQgers, no Rainbow Line, no vassals or constituents or Mork...

Which means it's only a matter of time before this goes sour, just as that did. But for now, I can enjoy it.

We arrive at... wherever he was dragging me, and I shift to stand fully in the shade, and shake my head at him. "I don't think that's a good idea."

He's watching me again, but it's nice. It's not as - as it is sometimes, when the others are around, and pushing him, and pushing him. That feels more as if I'm a thing. This feels more as if I'm a person he likes.

I point over at the cart, with all the pictures of the different treats on the side. "Will it make you sick to eat? If not, you really should try!"

I follow his pointing hand with my gaze, look at the pictures curiously, and then shake my head with a little laugh.

"I don't know. I've never tried. It might."

I look at the bright sun on the ground between us and the cart, and look back at him. "You stay here. I'll get you something," I promise, then I shoot across the gap between to the cart.

(I'm sure he could manage. He doesn't look like he's going to pass out, and he's pretty strong. But it's not polite to call attention to other people's weaknesses, and I don't mind doing this for him!)

He's moving away before I can tell him not to waste his money or time- I don't want any ice cream, and I can't fathom why he's putting so much effort into trying to get me to eat it.

I could follow him and stop him, but he told me to wait, and... I have to admit, I'm enjoying this.

No expectations. No trouble.

I wonder how long before someone finds us and wrecks it all.

I bounce over to the cart, order chocolate for me, and hmmm a bit over what to get for Zett. Something plain would be best, something that doesn't mess up his tastebuds or his stomach too much. But it should have some colour...

I settle on a cone with vanilla and rainbow sprinkles. It looks pretty and I hope it'll taste simple for him. This guy here does GREAT vanilla so I hope he'll like it!

I watch him as he interacts with the proprietor of the food cart. How he shines even when standing in the shade is something I will probably never understand. That's how it goes for me, anyway. How it's meant to be.

Still, I could walk away now. I could call my Kurainer and leave him there. He'd happily eat both of his... ice creams, and go on with his life, and maybe that would be the right thing to do, the better thing to do.

There's other sparkles, after all. But his...

His is the one I want.

He comes back with the ice cream and offers me something with a rainbow of colors sprinkled on top. I examine it curiously, and then look up at him, then mimic him, licking the ice cream curiously.

It's cold. And it tastes... But I can't identify what it tastes like. It's not as overwhelming as I half expected it to.

"Interesting."

He feels cool even in the shade. Refreshing. It's strange; when we're fighting, the differences between us sometimes jar at me, sometimes shake me, make me hurt.

But when we're just talking... it's nice.

He gives it a lick. Just because I asked him to. I beam at him, and take a huge slurp of mine. "It's sweet, huh! I love sweet food. I love savoury food, too!"

He stands very near to me, but within easy range of vision. He seems to be enjoying his ice cream thoroughly, and I have to admit, I'm not not enjoying what he got for me. It's just... strange. It feels unnecessary.

It doesn't sparkle.

But watching him as he eats his ice cream, as he tries to impress upon me the importance of ice cream in general... of food in general...

"It's something so mundane," I say softly, then take another lick of the ice cream to appease him. "And yet you sparkle just as brightly."

He takes another lick. He looks sort of bemused by it, but he's persevering, and that's really sweet of him.

I nod enthusiastically. "I don't - don't understand the sparkle, Zett, but the wonderful thing about ice cream and other food is that it IS so mundane. It's a little treat! Something special in your day! And you have to enjoy it, because it's not necessary, you don't have to eat exactly that at exactly that time, so why not get the most enjoyment you can out of it? It's fun to have little things to look forward to, little enjoyments!"

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