Hear My Call

"Biggest shame of the century. Who would give me pets if you weren't here?"
Tomo answered and tried to answer Dalia's grin, failing a bit but at least it was better than earlier. Like Dalia Tomo was happy she had met all her friends, and thought of herself as way too lucky when she didn't deserve all of this.

The apology had not been about Tomo's statement about wanting to return to being a cat, but Dalia's answer made Tomo regret her words. How could Tomo have been so fucking insensitive? To say something like that when the almost exact same thing had happened to Jax. Tomo wanted to punch herself, but for now she just put her own arm around Dalia as well and gave the girl a squeeze.

"He's okay. I can't say for certain, but I can feel it in my gut, and my gut is always right."
Or at least 75% of the time it was right, but Tomo could understand Jax in a way. At the end of the day they were both not truly human. Jax had decided to be true to his nature, and he was strong. So Tomo was sure Jax was okay.
"I won't leave, Dalia. I'll always stay here. You think I could leave you here on your own? Someone has to be here to beat you in DDR."
Tomo snickered a bit, referencing to the first time Tomo at least had felt closer to Dalia. Before that time they had tied in DDR Dalia had just been that annoying spider kid. After that she had been Tomo's rival and buddy.

"Keep telling yourself that, maybe one day it'll actually be true."
Tomo in turn said with a small smug smile, and snickered as Dalia got her giggle fit. It was good to see Dalia laugh like that, it was awful to see the girl usually so full of energy to down. Tomo felt satisfied she had probably been able to make Dalia feel at least a bit better.

The way Dalia's voice choked made Tomo feel like she was choking too, and she pulled herself a bit closer to the other girl. Tomo didn't even want to imagine losing one of her siblings, and her heart went to Dalia. But Dalia's words also made sense. Tomo respected her for being able to think so rationally.
"You're right, and it's weird. Since when did you become so cool?"
Tomo said with a small chuckle, and ruffled Dalia's hair a bit.
"But funny you should say it like that. I tried to fist fight a giant monster wolf with a sword when we were in that pocket dimension."

"Hey, I couldn't help myself. You know how it goes with cats and dogs."
Tomo joked and snickered, and gave Dalia's hair a small ruffle.
"I'm more about stealth anyway, from now on rather than punching I'll just creep behind the enemy and finish them before they even realize I'm there."

"Your mom is pretty cool, yeah. And hella scary. Feels really different from all the other moms I've seen. Though I'm not exactly a mom expert."
Tomo shrugged, she had always been an orphan, and would probably always stay that way. Kikuko had not been her mother, she had been more like an aunt and a guardian. Tomo didn't even know what a mom was, or how a mom was supposed to act.

Aedes? When Dalia claimed that that girl had actually done something good or selfless Tomo's disbelief was clearer than day on her face. She also thought Aedes was a huge jerk and a downright dick, and after getting a peek at her soul Tomo knew that what little good there was to her was buried pretty deep. There was hope, but Tomo didn't like Aedes enough to care even one bit.
"Good that you realized it, since it's true."
But Tomo reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally didn't trust Aedes, not one bit. She wasn't going to say that to Dalia right now though, since the last thing the girl should do now was start doubting those words. Because even if Aedes was probably plotting something for once she had actually been useful. But Tomo also didn't really have much room to be suspicious, since she hadn't done anything useful for Dalia. Rather Tomo had been a selfish jerk, especially after Dalia had asked her out and Tomo had been a total idiot and hadn't realized it. That was going to haunt her for the rest of her days...

Tomo didn't comment on the abusive bit, she seriously didn't know what to think about that since she had nothing to compare it to. But she did know Dalia liked fighting and sparring, so what's wrong with her mother doing that with her? Even if it gave Dalia some bruises she was a god, it was basically nothing.

"Rival? She wishes, I'm the only rival you need."
Tomo said with a wink and a smirk, flashing her canines a bit. Tomo would probably never match up to Dalia physically, bakenekos weren't built for being able to beat gods, but nevertheless Tomo considered herself Dalia's rival and friend and if Aedes was trying to take that position Tomo would definitely be ready to fight her. That mosquito girl wasn't getting her Dalia.
Okay, thinking that was kinda weird. Tomo cleared her throat to herself, turning away briefly to wait for the faint blush on her cheeks to go away.

"Some edge lord might do that to seem cool."
Tomo suggested and snickered a bit. But Dalia was right, there was a lot on her mind and what she had told the girl was just a small part of it.
"Everything is...I just feel like my life's a mess. Like I should reconsider my choices. And I had a fight with a friend so that's a thing too."
Tomo said, and shrugged yet again. What had happened with Lucas sucked, especially since Tomo held the guy in pretty high regard. And he had pretty much invaded Tomo's privacy and betrayed her trust. So it hurt.

If they were talking about wishing to go back and do something again Tomo wanted to do her whole damn life again. She had been doomed pretty much from the start, being born in ruthless winter as a stray cat. Tomo saw a lot of dreams, about lots of stuff. But in all of them she wasn't herself, she was someone or something else. That pretty much summarized how she felt about herself. Well, most of the time. Of course Tomo knew everything wasn't all doom and gloom, but right now she just felt shitty. Though Dalia was helping, a lot. Physical contact always made Tomo feel better, for some reason. From Dalia, who was a close friend to Tomo, it almost made her feel as much better as when Tadashi or Shiro hugged her.

"Eh, I'll be faster than you in no time. And I'll also become better at giving life advice, and I'll give you so much support you'll fall to your knees in appreciation."
Tomo grinned a bit back. It was a nice thought, to be able to do what Dalia was doing now. Before Tomo had struggled with empathy, and though she had it now Tomo still struggled in finding the right words to console someone. It was all unnecessarily hard, though Dalia made it seem effortless.

"Suppose so..."
Tomo said bit uncertainly, at the moment she didn't feel like she was capable of forgiving Lucas. What he had, even if it was partly accident, done had been one more pebble of despair on Tomo's mountain of depression. Tomo took a deep breath, and stood up from the desk with one light hop. She turned to Dalia with a small smile and set the violin back under her chin.
"I didn't get to finish my edge session. So got any requests?"