❝…Oh. ❞ No reaction could have been more underwhelming as the girl born of magic simply tilted her head, blonde ringlets rolling off her cape and shoulder as she stared. She wasn’t sure ‘ what ’ was taken the wrong way, but as she watched him rise to his feet, she’d listen in any case.
❝ Someone to watch my back, huh…? To be honest, until the boy decided to accompany me, I thought I was always going to be ALONE. ❞ Before she had realised it, everyone had made their little ‘ groups; ’ she had missed an opportunity to join any of them, and it felt inappropriate to intervene.
At the time, it felt better being on her own — to not have to bother anyone with the magic she harboured inside. The Onion Knight was the first to reach out to her, to look after her, despite his youth. ❝ But then HE joined me. …That made me happy, I think. ❞ She had no desire to trouble him, yet his presence was comforting and made her believe she could continue going.
But it was the mime’s last words that left the half-Esper puzzled, slight shifts contorting a previously stoic visage. ❝ …What do you mean? ❞ Strange. Bartz seemed like the type to get himself into trouble, but he also seemed the type to be surrounded by FRIENDS. The mere idea of him not having someone to watch his back was surprising, to say the least.
The golden-tailed thief was the mime’s companion, in this case. The ‘hard way’ was Bartz being sequestered elsewhere, having to go through the enemy’s base alone without even realizing so. In turn, that left him to deal with quite a few obstacles, as it were...
“I’ve a knack for getting lost and all that. Granted, I’m used to it now, but...” Gradually, as he worded his answer, his eyes glanced off-center. “...Y’know, it kinda gets to you when you almost feel like there’s no hope left. But now that that’s out of the way, I can rest easy knowing it won’t happen again, right?”
In turn, that was a common hardship to surpass. Each one of their friends went through a situation like this, it was almost poetic. Having to move away to the unknown; only to come back and rebind their strings.
“Don’t ever leave him hanging, alright? It might sound weird coming from me and all, but he needs you as much as you need him.”