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There's some really strange tension in the air. Lanterns shaped like stars and crescent moons bob overhead, strung between wooden stalls that smell of spiced mead and honeyed pastries. A group of children are singing a folk song in the background, their voices too sweet for the knot in Sandrone's chest.
Columbina's smiling, with her hands folded in front of her. She rocks from side do side, shifting her weight from foot to foot.
"I missed you." Columbina says. Her voice is soft as it always is, yet for some reason Sandrone feels a strange tension crawl its way up through her chest. "The whole time I was gone, I was thinking…"
"????" What. What? Sandrone makes a strangled noise. Columbina's far too close for comfort. Sandrone feels her words strangle in her throat before they can reach her tongue. The festival lights catch the pale curve of her cheek, and Sandrone feels her words strangle in her throat before they can reach her tongue. She clenches and unclenches her fists. Swears that some of her gears start creaking together as she splutters.
"That I wanted to say some ugly words to you." Columbina finishes.
All that tension seeps away, replaced with a feeling that reminds Sandrone a little bit of a deflated balloon. Stupid. She chastises herself. Had she been human there's no doubt that her cheeks would be flushed bright red. Even now, she feels as if her face is heating up- perhaps a remnant of Alain's desire for her to be human when he made her. Stupid, stupid. What did you think she was going to say?
"You-" Sandrone splutters some more.
"Sandrone," Columbina says, still smiling. "You're one of my best friends, you know? I really love you."
Sandrone gapes at Columbina. A group of children runs past, laughing, trailing ribbons of blue silk. One of them nearly bumps into Sandrone’s hip. She doesn't notice. Her chest whirs painfully. Her jaw remains rusted shut. No sound comes out.
Say something back, you useless lump. Sandrone opens her mouth, but it feels as if her voice box has short-circuited. She's not the type to say something as soft and mushy like I love you. Hadn't even said it to Alain, back then. Not until she was standing over his bones, her puppet body ever still pristine.
She'd never been good at not ruining her relationships. And as annoying as Columbina is, Sandrone had missed her something fierce in the months the Damslette had been gone. It's lovely to see her again, even with the knowledge taht this time won't last. Sandrone doesn't want to ruin it. Say too much. Words that Columbina does not mean in the same way.
So she doesn't say anything.
She grinds her teeth instead. Looks at the ground. Lets the silence curdle between them until all those soft and fuzzy and terribly terribly weak feelings have fizzled away.
"You're always so annoying," Sandrone finally huffs. "Going wherever you please, showing up at my door in the middle of the night. Crashing my tea parties. Running off from the Fatui." She grinds her teeth together, eyes fixed stubbornly on the ground. If she were capable of it, perhaps she'd even threaten tears. "And now look at you. Running off to the moon. Not a damn care for how the rest of us feel"
Columbina is quiet. For a moment, Sandrone thinks that she may have said too much.
"…I enjoyed the days we had together." Columbina starts quielty. "You. Me. Arlecchino and Rosalyne. They were perhaps the most pleasant days I'd had. I'll always cherish those memories."
"Doesn't change the fact that you're running off again anyway." Sandrone spits. She wants to swallow the words back the moment they pass her lips. Her hands are clenched in trembling fists at her sides. Foolish. Foolish. She's showing far too much emotion. Columbina certainly cares for her to some extent, but not like that.
The festival's still going on in the background. There's children running around, laughing and singing and dancing. The traveler is surely running around, collecting photos and signatures for Columbina's farewell card. The lanterns sway overhead, their lights casting a soft blue and yellow hue on the town.
It all feels terribly out of place. So happy and cheerful. Despite Sandrone feeling like she's having her sternum cracked open. Engine oil and gears and wires pulled out and exposed to the world. Being left behind, because that's what always happens. She sticks her nose into her research and doesn't look back up until everything and everyone she's known is gone and it's just her again, her and Pulonia and her empty lab and a singular saucer of tea, no tea parties no friends and-
Columbina's leaving now too.
A shudder wracks Sandrone's figure. For a moment, she wishes that Alain had given her the ability to cry. Perhaps then she wouldn't feel like suffocating.
A soft hand comes upward and lifts Sandrone's face by the chin- the puppet hadn't even realized she'd ducked her head down to begin with.
"Sandrone," Columbina says. She leans forward, just millimeters away from Sandrone. "It's okay to miss me." The moon goddess says softly. "I'll miss you too." She sounds as if she's floating somewhere far away. Fitting.
"You'll be on the goddamn moon." Sandrone chokes out. "Beyond the sky. Couldn't even stay inside the firmament."
"I know."
"Arlecchino's thinking of leaving the Fatui too, you know? If you're gone she might just go through with it."
"I know."
"Rosalyne and Capitano are dead. Childe would never talk to me without the Captain. Everyone else is just a bunch of rancid bastards."
"I know."
"You're leaving." Sandrone sobs.
"I know." Columbina whispers. She leans further forward, pressing their foreheads together. Their noses brush, their lips just mere milimeters from one another. It's a paltry mimicry of a kiss.
Sandrone leans into Columbina's touch anyway. "The two of us are going to live for a really long time." She chokes out. "So you better wait until I figure out an easy way to get beyond the sky, yeah? Don't
"I will." Columbina giggles. She cranes her neck, pressing a soft kiss along the bridge of Sandrone's nose. "I'm sure you'll be able to do it." She finally pulls away, smiling smally. She runs her hand along over the curve of Sandrone's cheek.
"I'll miss you too." Columbina says.