[21][written/action]

[silversnowfall]

[first of all, there are several inconsequential doodles. This should be concerning because Nephry just doesn't doodle. Next there are several sentences that are so well crossed out they are unreadable. An ink spot where the pen rested too long on the page. A few more doodles.]

I...think I should go for a walk. I will take my journal with me just in case, however.

[and for those out and about, Nephry can be found standing on the bridge between houses 32 and 33 and Community Housing 5. It is quite the long walk, and it will continue in a short while if she's not interrupted. She will answer written or voiced messages too, of course. ...The doodling is kind of a giveaway that something is wrong here]

Comments

[silversnowfall]

...I miss him. [a simple sentence, but it's apparent she thinks quite a lot of him]

[emp3thy]

[it probably won't help, but]

I'm sure he misses you too.

[silversnowfall]

...I've told you about the Score, haven't I?

[emp3thy]

It predicts the future.

[silversnowfall]

Yes. But it went one more step - there was a personal score for each individual alive in Auldrant.

[emp3thy]

So your future was set?

[silversnowfall]

It's what we all believed. Each year on my birthday, like everyone else, I received a reading of my own Score for the year. ...Though in all cases, I believe, the person who read the Score would omit predictions of death, so as not to cause panic.

[emp3thy]

[He nods but stays quiet, waiting for where she's going with this.]

[silversnowfall]

...One year I was told when I would marry, and whom.

[emp3thy]

What did you think?

[silversnowfall]

I thought I had no choice. ...And at the time, I didn't. To not follow through with the Score's prediction was unthinkable.

[emp3thy]

And now?

[silversnowfall]

It doesn't matter now. ...I care for him. [with a sad but fond smile. Because she does. She grew to love her husband and it's been a long time since she's seen him]

[emp3thy]

I'm glad.

[silversnowfall]

...Do you have anyone waiting for you? Friends and family, I mean.

[emp3thy]

Friends, yes.

[silversnowfall]

I hope you get back to them soon.

[emp3thy]

[...He's just silent, folding his hands over the railing beside her and looking out over the river.]

Is homesickness all that's bothering you?

[silversnowfall]

...No. But everything else is much more complicated.

[emp3thy]

How so?

[silversnowfall]

It's something I can't quite manage to explain. ...All of my childhood friends are here. I suppose a longing for simpler days is affecting me.

[emp3thy]

[he nods.] Everything changes, but sometimes it's hard not to want to go back.

[silversnowfall]

[oh you have no idea. And even though she's sorted herself out mentally now, her hands are still shaking]

[emp3thy]

Bad times change too, Nephry-san. It'll get better.

[silversnowfall]

I just don't see how any kind of progress can be made in this place.

[...so do you sometimes think she channels Mitsuru?]