mafuyu "world's saddest bunny" asahina (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beathollow) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
linkingup2024-09-28 04:13 pm
beathollow) wrote in linkingup2024-09-28 04:13 pm
IN THE FOREST OF THE LOST
it's all too perfect.
it's all too perfect.
it's all too perfect.
it's all too perfect.
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Of being put on a pedestal. And it keeps raising higher and higher and higher, and you can't see the ground- it wobbles with every poorly thought out movement, and if it drops- if you fall-
Will you survive?
Your chest hurts. Everyone is watching you.
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...Ah.
Well then. He has a feeling that this is what Mafuyu felt, isn't it? The words that gardener said, the many awards littered in front of his eyes, wreathed in gold...
Expectations. Being held to an impossible standard - on such a high pedestal it feels like one single mistake would kill you. How long has Mafuyu suffered such things, he wonders?
Does the feeling abate? ]
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All eyes are on you. You have to be good. You have to be good. You have to be good.
You have to be perfect. Or she'll get upset-
...
The frame with the merry-go-round seems to be resonating, somehow.
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Yes, familiar but not his.
Anxiety that isn't his own is intermingling with him so deeply. But he isn't exactly paralyzed by it even if the words that lay across his mind and soul like a hot brand seem to find a way to leave an undeniable mark.
Traces - heavy imprints - of Mafuyu's further worries and fears - her despair - and then he blinks.
He turns towards the frame with the merry-go-round. Does he see anything there? ]
cw gaslighting, manipulation,
Although the girl tries to tug for her mother's attention, her mom is on the phone and ignoring her. ... But Phenny is about to leave, too... She loves Phenny so much. Surely- Mom's right there, so, she can go look, right?
Mafuyu lets go and runs to meet the penguin-phoenix with glee. She gets a handshake and even a hug!
...
...
...
Where's Mommy?
The once beautiful, glittering amusement park seems so much darker and scarier now, and Mafuyu looks around with wide eyes. Everyone looks so much bigger. Where...
She runs. Trips a few times, but- she has to find Mommy.
Eventually she does, and the world starts to seem brigher again. Mom crouches down to hug her. But-
"I was worried sick about you. But I'm so glad I found you... Are you okay, Mafuyu? Are you hurt at all?"
"I'm okay..."
"Okay, that's good to hear..."
"I'm sorry, Mommy."
"No, that's okay. You being safe is all that matters. However, Mafuyu, can I ask you one question?"
The little girl looks up from the hug, blinking, still crying.
"Um- okay...?"
"Why did you break our promise? Didn't you say that you wouldn't leave my side? So why did you decide to run off like that?"
Mafuyu falters, especially as the darkening gaze of her mother's eyes.
"You disappearing like that absolutely terrified me, Mafuyu. I was afraid that you'd become a "bad girl" that gives her mother grief..."
Every word cuts like a knife, especially to a six year old's fragile heart. "A- a bad girl...?"
"Yes, Mafuyu. The thought of you vanishing from right out under me made me so sad... It made my heart sink... And made me so fearful... Honestly..."
Mommy's voice quivers as she begins to sob and Mafuyu immediately feels a horrible, painful, sickening guilt.
"Oh no... I-I'm so sorry, Mommy...! Please, don't cry... I... I... I don't want to see you cry..." she pleads, tearing up even more.
Mommy wipes her eyes a little.
"Mafuyu, you're so kind... But I'd feel so much better if I knew that you'd be a "good girl" who listens to what her mother says..."
"I'm really sorry... I promise to be a good girl...! I promise to listen to what you say...!" She begs. Please don't cry. Please...
"Mafuyu... Hehe. It's okay. I feel much better now that I know you're going to be a good girl for me. Anyway, let's head home for the day. I need to start preparing dinner so that your father can come home at any time."
... It's only noon, and they only just arrived... but. She was bad. So they should go.
Except, as they leave, Mommy tugs, despite Mafuyu's pleading-
"M-Mommy... That hurts... Please, don't pull...!"
...
Her wrist was red all day...
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Words spoken softly, seeming to indicate things may be well.
Questions perhaps asked without a willingness to soften the blow of those sharp words. The punishment laid down when everything isn't so picture-perfec.
It has been years since he himself recalls anything resembling a proper family and how one should act - the memories even too faded at times to put it all together. But he knows - feels - keenly that what he witnessed does not fit with how should a close family one would normally interact with another.
The memory may fade but the lingering pain of it all is unforgettable. And he cannot help but feel that he could not forgive such cruelty. She could not count on her own mother to treat her kindly... ]
...Miss Mafuyu.
You have been suffering for so long...
[ Argenti gives pause as he closes his eyes for a moment.
They cannot let her continue to feel she is facing all of this alone. And that she has no alternatives to escape from it. ]
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She couldn't see an escape. ... But she has support, now. And she has all of you now, too. She loves you all so much.
Please, help her...
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His eyes are filled with an undeniable warmth, and as always it feels, a determination will not shatter in the face of what is to come. ]
I shall help her. I swear it.
[ He will remind her as she did him - that she has all of them to rely on. That they love and cherish her as they do her.
He's ready to check back on the others. ]