Animation Source Forums

Not in the mood to continue the conversation, Setsuko turned her back to her friend. "Yeah," she mumbled, "A spirit. Of course."

Rue resisted the urge to release another heavy sigh; trying to be optimistic was surprisingly hard.

Tess rather liked Jaci, and overheard. A frown formed on her mouth.

Misaki was the one to speak up. "So...no what do we do?" She mumbled softly.

Rue looked at Setsuko. It was her pet; she could be the one to come up with a plan. Besides, Rue didn't have many ideas at the moment.

Kuilak decided to take the lead. "We've had a long day, now. Why don't we all just go to bed. Some of us need it." He glanced nervously at his wife.

"Aww, but Dad!" complained Misaki. "The sun's not even down!" Kya added.

"I don't want to go to bed," Gale muttered, though shadows smudged the area underneath his eyes.

Maddy wasn't blind; she could see her brother looked like he did, in fact, want to go to bed. "Sure you don't," she said, overlaying her voice with a layer of sarcasm and doubt.

Gale's temper flared instantly, then calmed almost as quickly. Arguing wasn't worth the effort. "Whatever," he mumbled, lacking a better response.


Rue shot the twins a belated, warning glance. The argument had dissipated before it began. Her brown eyes softened as the stern look faded out of them, replaced by a firm tone in her voice; "Kuilak is right. I think we should all get some rest." She looked at Maddy and Gale, daring them to argue. They wisely chose not to.

They began to trudge towards the leafy safe they had slept in the night before. Upon getting there, Li started whining again. Kuilak glanced down at his struggling son, and then at Setsuko. As despaired as she was about Jaci, Setsuko couldn't bring herself to ignore her crying child. A mother's instinct took over as she took the child softly, though she did not meet Kuilak's eyes.

Rue wasn't sure how many times Setsuko had become mopey and silent, but she was sick of it, simple as that. Sure, she had good reason to be so, but even then, she should at least make an effort to be slightly more optimistic. It wasn't as if Rue found it easy, but she did it most days. She tugged gently on Setsuko's sleeve, a certain glint in her brown eyes. "Setsuko, I need to talk to you," she said softly as the reached the leafy area.

Setsuko sighed and stood sloppily, following Rue with a very discontented "I don't want to be here" expression.

Once a safe distance away from the rest, Rue turned on her friend, a frustrated look on her freckled face. "Listen, Setsuko. You need to get it together. I know you love Jaci, but I can tell you're making Kuilak nervous, and honestly, you're making my nervous too." She paused briefly before continuing, trying to get the words straight in her mind.

"I'm not sure how many times you've become all mopey now, it may not even be a lot. But it sure feels like it, Setsuko. You're not making the situation any better by acting this way! At least make an effort and act like you think there's some hope left, or soemthing! Do you think it's easy for me to keep trying to cheer you up, and not let my worry show? No! But I do it! And you need to start doing it too."

Setsuko closed her eyes, trying to contain the mass of emotions building up within. She turned away. "You don't get it," She muttered, "Of course not." At this point, her voice was unusually cold, making the child in her arms shift with uneasiness. Li had never seen his mother this way. He didn't like it.

"I may not have experience with this exact situation, but I can relate to what you're going through. Trust me," Rue said, unable to keep the first hint of real anger out of her voice. Her hands bunched into fists at her side.

"Oh, really?" Setsuko mumbled, her reply barely audible, but a large and sudden crescendo soon followed. "We are different, Rue, personality-wise. So very different. So the same situation dose not mean that we will go through quite the same thing!" She paused a moment, trying to contain herself.

"Obviously," Rue said, anger coursing through her like fire. Her heart pounded loudly in her ears, and she barely kept a lid on her turbulent, wild emotions. "You mope around and don't bother to do anything but feel sorry for yourself. I actually make an effort to act like I'm not depressed." She was quivering with the effort of restraining herself from punching something.

Setsuko scrunched up her eyes. "That's not what I meant," she hissed through gritted teeth, "Believe me, if I were showing half of what I was feeling inside right now, moping would be the last thing on my list of doing. And believe me, you don't want to know the things that I would be doing."