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[dangerouswind]

[Community building one. Fourth floor. Early evening. A door slams.

Once. Twice. Three times, each time with a little more force. Finally, a thud and wood cracking; she's punched a wall. There's a crash inside one of the apartments - ceramic against a wall, then falling to the floor. Temari leaves the apartment, leaves the door open, and stalks away.

She's going for a walk.

Just inside her apartment door, a plant lies neglected in a pile of dirt and shattered ceramic.

She spends some time just outside the village, using a tree as a sparring partner. She, at least, has enough sense to not actually connect with the rough bark, but it makes a good enough target to throw a few punches toward. She wants nothing more than to beat something - someone - to a damned pulp, but what is she going to do but live with it?

It's later - hours later - that she makes her way to the Memory Garden. There, physically weary and emotionally strung out, she sits in front of the plants she's tended for so long. Wildflowers are ringed by bright, fiery desert blooms; in front of the small plot is a stone etched with kanji. Beside the stone, she sets one glass bead: a reminder of Kankurou's (second) time in Luceti. The bead will be blown away by the wind, lost to the elements eventually. She knows it; still leaves it there.

That night, she'll go home. Clean up her mess. Start living life again.]

Comments

[dangerouswind]

[Temari is silent for a moment before speaking almost abruptly.] My brother left. [Again.]

[geniustheveil]

[Family. She thinks immediately of her mother. It would... not be good for her mother ever to be here. She'd worry about protecting her, and worry about what Mama would inevitably learn about secrets Ami had from her younger days.

But oh does she miss Mama. She misses her even just studying abroad, when she can still write to her, or e-mail, or even phone. How much more does she miss Mama from Luceti?]

I feel like I can understand how you must feel. I'm sorry he's gone right now.

[dangerouswind]

[Temari shrugs and her answer is a little nonchalant.]

Everyone here knows what that feels like.

[geniustheveil]

[To Ami, it sounds like something she'd tell herself, to try to make it hurt less. That sort of rationalization never took away the pain in the end, though.]

But if you're feeling that way, I wish I could be able to help.

[dangerouswind]

[She shakes her head. What can be done about it?] Just gotta live with it. I can manage.

[geniustheveil]

If they were still here, would it change anything about wanting to go home yourself?

[Maybe not the most gentle question; but it's something on her own mind. A lot. Her friends have come and gone, and she knows she wants to go back to them, and her mother, but... She has friends and a life here, too, now.]

[dangerouswind]

[She presses her lips together, then sighs.] I want to be wherever they are, but we need to be at home.

[geniustheveil]

It's the same for me. But I'd like it best if I could still be with my friends here, too.

[She doesn't want to miss- well, Luke, especially. Rei, who's from another world, even if it's so similar. And all those Luceti friends she relies on, works with, shares with, lives with.]

[dangerouswind]

[Temari nods. There are a few people here she'd miss, but...]

Home is home. Can't have it both ways.

[geniustheveil]

What if we could? What if we could find a way to travel between worlds? Even the worlds all of us come from?

[dangerouswind]

Isn't that living a little too much with "what if"s that might never become reality?

[geniustheveil]

I don't think so. [This is said earnestly rather than to be argumentative.] Of course I realize it might never happen - but if we want it to, then we have to think about the possibility, so we try to find to way a make it true.

[dangerouswind]

[She snorts a little, too weary to be amused, but not offended or malicious either.] I'm surrounded by optimists.

[geniustheveil]

I might not really be an optimist; but I want to at least try. A friend of mine would say it's important to keep your hopes up anyway.

[dangerouswind]

Yeah? Who's this friend?

[geniustheveil]

She's been here, a few times. You might have known her during one of them: Tsukino Usagi. She always keeps her faith, no matter the situation.

[dangerouswind]

I might have talked to her. [Temari tries to smile a bit.] Some people are almost obnoxiously optimistic.

[geniustheveil]

She's not obnoxious!

[Oops. She knows, or at least tries to think, Temari didn't really mean that how it almost sounded, but the quick defense of Usagi is almost instinctual.

Besides, it was that hope that saved them all, and restored their world. She may not feel equal to it herself, but she's glad Usagi is.]

[dangerouswind]

[There's a sharp look and then Temari just waves her hand. She has no energy to argue.] I didn't say it was bad.

[geniustheveil]

It's her best quality. [But at least this is said more calmly. It's just why it's so important.]

[dangerouswind]

You miss her, I take it.

[geniustheveil]

I do. She's come and gone several times. So of course I miss her each time. Even though I know I should be glad she's home, part of me wishes she stayed here.

[dangerouswind]

How many times?

[geniustheveil]

She's been here four times. [Ami manages to smile, as if this is of course, upsetting, but not the end of the world. She's fine, really. Just like Temari is fine.]

[dangerouswind]

How long have you been here? [She's knows it's been some time, given that Temari herself has been around for awhile.]