Chapter Text
Standing side by side, Ralsei and Pink both waved Kris and Vari farewell from the latter two’s room. Once they were far gone Pink let out a long sigh.
“Those two are really doing everything they can huh? Seems like a lot of effort.” Pink’s ghostly features contorted to a frown, their thicker brows furrowing at the thought. “I mean, I just hope they don’t keel over dead from trying to maintain two very separate lives. They can do whatever they want of course with their lives but seems like a waste for them to drop dead with so many people that like them.” She pouted in a way that was as tsundere as ever.
“I think it’s sweet that you care.” Ralsei responded with a small chuckle to follow, looking over and giving Pink a warm smile. “I know things have been unusual thus far, I’m sure, a lot to happen in the span of uhm… A few adventures together, but I’m glad that we were able to work things out.”
“Heh, yeah, I mean, I felt pretty cool, fighting and all that, but like I’ve said, I know I went overboard a bit.”
“Especially with those bombs, if it weren’t for Susie I don’t know if we could have kept going for much longer.” Ralsei, despite getting his ass almost entirely kicked, was blushing red.
“Well… Just… Whatever, whatever, WHATEVER!” Pouting again, Pink huffed a bit as she glanced towards the door. “...Let’s go to my room instead.” Without saying anything else Pink quickly hurried out the door and back to her own right next door. Surrounded by the pretty pastels and pinks she collapsed onto the large middle bed with a relaxed sigh. Ralsei wasn’t far behind, though the carpeting underneath muffled his pawsteps.
“So how did you do this so fast, huh?” She didn’t even open an eye, just appreciating how soft the bed was and that she could, indeed, feel it at all. “You just HAD all this stuff laying around? Things for ghosts like me? Kinda weird.”
“Well, you aren’t the first ghost Lightner to have arrived here.” He admitted, standing still in the middle of the room and slowly bouncing on his heels. This prompted Pink to open an eye and let out a small ‘huh?’
“What do you mean, not the first? There are only three of us, and none of the others ever mentioned this.” Pushing herself into an upright position she peered with interest at Ralsei.
“Oh, I’m… Afraid I don’t know their name. I only know that they came here often with a friend of theirs. They’d often talk about television together, shows, anime, things like that. On occasion one of them would put together odd creations, and the ghost enjoyed playing with them. Robots, machines, the like. One day they had a fight, and then… I never saw either of them again. That’s when a lot of Lightners used to come by, I never got the chance to know them all. I tended to just… Watch, and play with those who had no one else.” Ralsei gave a bittersweet smile to Pink, no longer bouncing and just looking.
“Huh, uh, dang… I didn’t realize. This place has been here for that long? All this time, I never…” She had a guess now who it may have been, both the people. “...Makes me wonder why he never mentioned it, maybe I’ll ask one day. I could have… Really used something like this back when I still went to school… That was always me, the one no one wanted to play with.” There was a ‘plftp’ as she fell back onto the bed, both hands behind her head while she stared up at the ceiling. The bed creaked as Ralsei sat on its side, giving her a small jump from not hearing the pawsteps due to the carpet.
“While… There is nothing I can do to change the past, I can at least offer to make the future brighter for you.” With a sincere smile Ralsei canted his head a little to the side. “Tea, singing, baking, sewing, I may even have some games left around here. I’d be happy to do anything you might want.”
“Anything, huh…?” Pink considered this, bringing out her left hand to hold it up in front of her face. It was nice seeing the gloved palm of a hand, even as ghostly as it was, compared to her normal body. “...You really like helping people, don’t you?”
“I guess you could say it’s why I exist, or why a lot of Darkners exist. We’re supposed to help Lightners be happy, to give them something to do. At least…” Ralsei reached down, fidgeting with the hem of their robe. “...That’s what I believed for a long, long time. Lightners would come, we would play, they would wave goodbye. Sometimes I would see them again the next day, other times I would never see them again. I supposed that many of them simply… Grew up, made real friends, and no longer needed us Darkners.” With a slight chuckle he looked up and towards Pink. “But recently, Susie and Vari have both helped me feel like… Maybe I can exist for other reasons too. Gosh… You should have seen the way Susie reacted when I even so much as hinted I was willing to go on a date with Vari just to help them learn how to do it better in the light world.”
“Heh, she probably would have tried to kick your ass if she could’ve.” She hadn’t known Susie for long, but from what she did know that seemed like an appropriate Susie-like response. “She was right, though. I… Wasn’t expecting Body to turn out to be real, or, a Darkner, I guess. I thought I was just… Me. Then I turned out to not just be Me, but be Mew Mew, too. It was a shock, it came as a pretty bad one at first, but then I realized she’s always been her, and that she remembered everything we’ve ever said and done together and… So of course I loved her immediately, and she loved me too.” Rolling over, Pink gave Ralsei a wild grin with fierce furrowed brows. “And so if you started to tell me that Mew Mew was fake, a Darkner just existing to help me, I think I’d shove bombs so far down your throat that it would take us weeks to get all your fluff back together.” It was as much a threat as it was a promise, startling Ralsei who just had wide eyes for a few moments before he let out a small giggle.
“I wouldn’t even blame you. I think… When I saw you two, and realized what was going on, I also recognized that you two were special together. I couldn’t place it at the time but I guess what I was feeling was… Kinship, in a way. That Mew Mew and I… We have a lot in common, just different ways of expressing it.” Ralsei shifted back further onto the bed so that his legs weren’t dangling off it. Turning to face Pink, he looked her right in the eye now. Pink was able to meet his gaze for a bit but ultimately felt awkward and started to let her eyes wander around the room. “In many ways, I never knew who I was, or who I wanted to be, until the day I met Kris. This was… Far, far, far before Vari was here, but when I was with Kris, Kris was happy. Kris felt like I made them have the body they were supposed to, and it made them so very happy.”
Pink, listening intently, frowned a bit as Ralsei paused. She was taking mental notes of it all and putting the pieces together to some extent, but something was bothering her.
“So why does it sound like even though Kris was happy, you weren’t fully happy?” She asked, propping her head up on an elbow and laying fully on her side.
“It’s… Hard to explain. When I was around, they could be what they thought was their ideal self. But slowly that ideal self… Changed. They started to associate me with strange looks from strangers, with their older brother that got all the attention, and eventually they grew to resent what I represented so much they were going to get rid of me entirely. I ended up here, at the school, and I’ve made so many new friends since then. But, for a time, I suppose I was… Doubting myself because of something I couldn’t control.”
“...Huh, geeze.” Pink blinked, frowning some as they thought about his words in their own situation. “...I guess… I could easily see how you relate to Mew Mew, yeah. If Mew Mew is my ideal form, and the body that I know is me, but if something happened and everything changed, maybe she’d feel bad she couldn’t change to make me happy still.” She went quiet for a moment, needing to spend time thinking about it. She eventually just asked though: “So what’s Kris’s ideal form now?”
With a light chuckle, Ralsei shook their head. “Um, that’s probably something best for Kris to say as it’s not my place, but they do have a costume of it in their room if you ever get curious…” Ralsei added in the last bit with a quick giggle.
Oh, she was DEFINITELY snooping later when Kris and Vari weren't there. She flopped back onto her back and contemplated everything that had happened. The two fell into a comfortable silence for a short while, both in their own minds. At least until Pink has started to remember something that had recently transpired.
“Hey, Ralsei, speaking of ideal selves. When I had to enter your body for that short time I couldn't exactly stop us from sharing memories and feelings.” Pink started, leaning up enough to watch for his reaction. As expected he looked a little nervous as he smiled.
“Oh? Uhm, I'm sorry. I did really try to make sure you didn't have to see anything… Maybe it's best if you just forgot anything you happened to see?”
“Ugh, yeah, I know I’m not doing that.” Pink rolled her eyes, fully pushing herself up this time she adjusted to join Ralsei on the edge of the overly large bed. A bed fit for three, or five technically, she thought to herself for only a moment before trying to decide how to best say what she wanted to. “...Actually, I’m not going to sugar coat it, I don’t know how else to say this anyways so don’t expect this to be super graceful.” Pink knew that Vari or Kris would likely have found that amusing, coming from her wearing a whole outfit based on the grace and beauty of an animated catgirl after all. She wished she had some legs she could kick back and forth right now to distract her from her next words.
“...But like. Why do you force yourself to be a prince? Apparently you don’t really FULLY WANT to be that. Do you, do you?! So why are you sticking with it?!” Her brows furrowed, her sharp teeth were all on display as she practically growled at the end. “I know EXACTLY how bad it is to be something you hate! So if you’re not happy, why don’t you just do what you want?! I could never do that before now, and yet you CAN!”
Ralsei, who obviously hadn’t been expecting any of this, had fully widened eyes as they just stared in horror at Pink. It was like she was shouting their deepest and darkest secrets out for everyone to hear. They could do nothing to stop her from continuing.
“You just talked about making KRIS feel happy in their ideal form, so what about YOU huh, huh, HUH?! You even helped ME in MY true body, so why have you now helped two other people and not YOURSELF, IDIOT, IDIOT, IDIOT?!” Pink didn’t even realize she was shouting. In fact she wasn’t even really thinking at all. She had gotten heated up, the words were spilling out of her mind without a filter with all the grace of a sledgehammer.
Ralsei was starting to tear up now. Their nose scrunched up a little, their eyes becoming watery.
“I-, it’s, it’s not that… E-easy to…”
“It IS though! IT REALLY IS! LOOK! I’LL GIVE YOU MY CLOTHES RIGHT NOW!” She rushed over to the massive armoire she had and threw it open. She pulled out a frilly pink dress, something from the princess arc of Mew Mew, and immediately turned to show it off to Ralsei. “Just… Just put this on! You’ll see!”
“I- Pink, please, I-”
The fire in Pink’s eyes began to dim. It was being quenched by the tears that were starting to slowly fall in front of her. She realized she had made Ralsei cry, and this one action was somehow, in her mind, way worse than every bomb she had thrown and everything she had done to them so far. Just seeing Ralsei, who had done so much to help, sitting on her bed, crying…
“Oh gods I am so, so, so, so sorry. I’m… I’m the idiot, damnit, I’m the idiot, not you, I’m sorry Ralsei, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” She just dropped the dress to the ground and rushed back over, lowering herself until she was at eye level with them. “Please don’t cry, Ralsei. It’ll get that uh, cute fur of yours all wet and stuff, and uh, Vari and Kris will probably kill me, if Susie doesn’t do it first…” Susie probably COULD do it in the current state too, but more than that she didn’t really care about any of them. She was feeling horrible now and just wanted to stop Ralsei from breaking into any full out tears. Without thinking she put her hands right onto Rasei’s lap and tried to give them some quick reassuring pats as they sniffled. At least she tried, the hands, of course, phased right through them. “...Come on, it’ll be fine, right? You uh, don’t have to wear the dress, we can just… Talk about stuff.” That’s what people did in these situations, right? She needed Mew Mew’s help right now for this sort of thing, what would they say in dating sims…?
“N-no, no, it’s… It’s my fault, d-don’t worry, I just… I know what you’re saying is… It’s true, right? I could just… Do it, but at the same time, I feel… I feel like…” Ralsei sniffled, bringing up their hands to wipe at the few tears that had escaped down their cheeks. “...I still feel like, if I do it, I’ll be breaking the prophecy, and that if I do that, something bad will happen, and I just… want everyone to be happy… That’s all I care about… I-I-I… I just want eveuh… everyone to be happy… If anything… Bad happened… Because of me… I would never be able to forgive myself…”
This… Wasn’t what Pink was expecting. She didn’t really know about a ‘Prophecy’ or anything either which made it more difficult. Damn, now she wished Vari was here too to give some insight. She had really messed up this time. With a grimace she looked away entirely but left her hands hovering on Ralsei’s lap to where Ralsei could feel their presence even if not the touch as much.
“I uh… Don’t follow… But like, if you got reasons, then yeah, that’s fair, like, I didn’t know. I’m sorry Ralsei. If you think you gotta wait until this ‘prophecy’ happens or whatever, then… I mean, there’s always the future, yeah?” She felt extra bad now. It was starting to sound like they DID want to try and shift things but had another reason for not doing it than what she thought it was going to be. A prophecy sounded a lot more serious than just having acceptance anxiety or whatever.
“S-sorry, Pink, I don’t… Mean to make this about me again…” Pink didn’t even realize how much Ralsei was slipping back into their old self again, back before Susie yelled at them too. “... J-just, give me a second.” Ralsei took in a deep breath, sniffled again, and rubbed the final tears away from their fur. Yet no matter how much they rubbed they couldn’t remove the appearance of damp fur or that it had happened. “...See, I’m smiling again!” It was true, they WERE smiling. Yet it felt so fake.
“...Yeah, but don’t.” Pink was staring them right in the eye. “What’s the point of smiling when you’re lying?” Her tail flicked in utter irritation, pushing herself up and off Ralsei she got closer. Their faces were mere inches from each other. “Let me back in you, so I can understand it all. Not that I want to be you, or anything, but… I want to understand what you’re going through. I mean. If we’re going to be… On a date soon…” Even despite it all, these words still brought a slight blush to her cheeks. “...Shouldn’t I know what I’m getting myself into?”
Ralsei was stunned back into silence at being called out, but hearing her final words… Ralsei nodded slowly.
“If… That’s what you want, then, uhm, okay. S-sure, I’m ready…”
Tempers and emotions were running wild. Something deeper within Pink told her this was a bad idea, or wrong perhaps, but right now it felt like the easiest solution despite the invasion it was. It had already happened once though so how bad was a second time, she thought.
Nodding, Pink brought her hands up and slowly embraced them into Ralsei’s own. There was a bright flash of light and Pink’s perspective changed. She was no longer looking at the fluffy ‘prince,’ she now WAS the fluffy ‘prince,’ which, by default, made them a ‘princess’ instead now as she lowered her gaze. Wait.
She had full control over Ralsei. Last time she was just along for the ride. This time Ralsei had given her full control? It felt a little off. This wasn’t her, it didn’t look like her, it didn’t feel like her. It was like when she had possessed a plushie for a while in the real world. It was… Nice, better than having no body, but it was still the wrong body at the end of the day. The dysphoria was starting to set in. Wait, she needed focus.
“(I’m sorry I’m not as beautiful as Mew Mew for you to be happy in me, Pink…)” Ralsei spoke internally to Pink, though the voice almost sounded like it was coming from in the room itself.
“Meh, don’t worry. Just because you don’t feel like me doesn’t mean you aren’t cute.” Pink admitted and Ralsei, if they had been in control right now, would’ve been blushing hard. “...Is… interesting though, feeling that your body is pretty complete. Whatever the heck you are, you’re real enough.” Again, blushing harder. Pink flexed those fluffy fingers and then, slowly, had Ralsei’s body lay back until they were sprawled out on the bed.
“Okay… Hit me with it.” When this had happened last time, while running through the city, Pink had just accidentally gotten feelings from Ralsei. Feelings that were very similar, even if not fully there, to the dysphoria she had been used to for a long time… But again, different. She had been waiting to feel that again, and it was still there for sure… So she wasn’t entirely getting it wrong.
“(Okay, be ready…)” Ralsei warned and Pink just nodded in their body. Their big fluffy ears were nice. Very adorable.
What she wasn’t expecting this time was how fast the memories came.
A prophecy written across time and space, panes of glass, books, novelizations, games, church hymns, books being read in Castle Town. Existing for ever and ever, and yet only for what seemed like eighteen years at the most.
“(Time works different for a Darkner,)” Ralsei had chimed in helpfully.
A human, a monster, and a Prince from the Dark. Kris, Susie, and Ralsei. So he, at the time, believed. Three days before their arrival it had changed. A human, two monsters, a Princess from the Dark. From the memories of Ralsei she saw the faint silhouettes of the four. One was human-like, perhaps Kris, one still looked vaguely like Susie, the other two were impossible to discern. One was amorphous, the last wore a massive cloak and had something that looked like magic surrounding them. A prophecy that had existed from time immemorial had changed overnight, and somehow it seemed everything else around it had retroactively changed too. Everything but Ralsei’s memories of it.
Ralsei had spent lots of time tracking down the hymns, tracking down a review of Dragon Blazers and of Lord of the Hammer alike, everything hinted that the prophecy had ALWAYS been this way. But Ralsei knew it hadn’t. It wasn’t what they had spent their whole life learning.
So when the heroes showed up. Kris, Susie, and of course the a- Soul, the SOUL, Vari, arrived at Ralsei’s doorstep they had shoved on the cloak as seen in the prophecy, but they had spent their entire life being the Prince in the Dark. Now, was he useless? Was he not part of it anymore? It didn’t matter. They were here now, Ralsei had to be brave.
Ralsei had broken down instead.
It was a fast version of events, but Pink was able to glean a lot of information about their first adventure together. It wasn’t everything, of course, and a lot of it had been fast-forwarded, but it was kind of… Nice, rewatching it all back, it was like… In some way… She had been there, watching, part of the adventure, like… She knew Vari, Kris, Susie, and even Noelle a bit better because of it.
While the FUN Gang sealed the fountain, Ralsei used their scarf to slash a rip through the fabric of the dark world and stepped through. They appeared in Castle Town moments later. The first adventure had ended.
Not needing to see anymore, Pink relinquished possession of Ralsei who snapped back to focus immediately.
“So… There you have it.” Ralsei spoke in a somewhat quiet and embarrassed voice. Pink came to sit right by where she had left Ralsei laying.
“I’m gonna… Need some time to process all this, but uh, I think I got most of it now, yeah. So, you don’t think you’re in the prophecy anymore, is what I get, because otherwise why would it change from Prince to Princess.” Pink asked in a quiet voice, still processing but… May as well ask the obvious question.
“Yes, there wasn’t any reason for it to change for my role. Unless it was no longer my role.”
“...Huh, I see. Makes sense. Sucks but… So you’re saying, if you dressed up, played the part of a princess, it might break it and ruin it because you’re not supposed to be the princess?”
“...Right.” Ralsei gave a small nod and sighed. “...That’s about it. I became a Prince because that’s what the prophecy expected of me, but now, I don’t know what it wants. I’m scared, Pink. If I change and it ruins everything I-” Not wanting to even RISK giving Ralsei the chance to spiral, Pink quickly shook their head and sighed.
“Look…. Ralsei… What does it matter? If it changed, it changed. Maybe… You shouldn’t care about the prophecy. If you aren’t the Princess, maybe that means it won’t matter if you just so HAPPEN to be a Princess sometimes too, you know?” They forced a grin, it was better than nothing. It didn’t earn a laugh, but it earned a tired looking smile back.
“Maybe… I suppose that is true… There could be many Princesses, and only one would be the prophecy one. I guess I… Don’t know what I’d want, then. I don’t feel not like a Prince, as in… Sometimes I quite enjoy my form, I know I wouldn’t want to change full time. But… Maybe… I’ll ask Vari, Kris, Susie, and Noelle. If they all… Approve, maybe then I’ll… Try it.” It sounded like, for now, that was the best answer she was going to get from them.
“Should just do it for yourself, you know.” Pink quickly retorted, one eye closed and the other open as she grimaced. “Don’t need to make anyone but yourself happy sometimes… Baka.”
The ending ‘insult’ caught Ralsei a bit off guard and forced out a light giggle from them.
“I know, but I’m not quite ready to be… Anything I want, not yet. For now, I still want to be what others want me to be, at least somewhat. Okay..?”
“Mmn, fine. I guess.” Pink took this compromise as truly the best she was going to get for now. “But you better be ready, when I get Body back, we ARE playing dress-up!”
With another small giggle, Ralsei nodded and slowly got back up into an upright position.
“Okay, I think that sounds… Nice…” Their smile was infectious, and after looking at it for a few seconds she found herself smiling too and thinking about what the future held.
She’d get her body back, it and her would go on that date both have been wanting now loathe as she is to admit, and then..? Well, apparently, there was this whole ‘prophecy’ she couldn’t remember fully but maybe it would have clues.
“But you know, should really consider something ELSE too!” Pink suddenly grinned. Ralsei just blinking twice with a small cant to their head. “The prophecy had to be WRITTEN by someone, right?” In her mind she was imagining all the isekai that portrayed totally useless gods and goddesses that messed up more often than not. “Or someTHING I guess, and so for it to be changed means uh… The person who wrote it totally messed it up to begin with and only now realized it. Right, right, RIGHT?!” She had a crazed look across her face, eyes wide open alongside every sharp tooth on display.
What Pink didn’t expect was for Ralsei to let out an immediate laugh, get embarrassed and quickly cover their mouth, and then continue to laugh into their paws.
“What… What, WHAT?! What’s so funny, huh?!” Pink slammed her hands onto the bed, throwing herself forwards so that she was on her hands and knees, well, if she had knees, but still somewhat looming over Ralsei.
“It… Ahaha… It’s just… You’re talking about the god of this world… And you’re just saying they made a mistake, is all. It’s… Funny, really funny. You aren’t… Concerned at all about whoever might have written the prophecy, and their power, you just… You’re so brave, Pink.” They were still laughing, but by now Pink was starting to become flustered.
“W-w-well, it’s… Uh… I got the power of ANIME and CATGIRLS on my side, what is a god to someone like me, me, ME?!” They found something to boast about, pushing themselves upright onto their ‘knees’ and letting out a small ‘hmph~’ with arms folded under their chest.
This just made Ralsei giggle even more! By the end they were a giggling mess, but they were smiling for real.
“Maybe… Maybe you’re right, they just made a mistake. Or who knows what else. I’ll consider it.” They sounded much more sincere this time, and that made Pink undeniably happy. Seeing the fluffy ‘Prince’ happy was what she hoped for the most right now.
“Heh, glad you came around. The ‘god’ of this world is probably just like ‘Cyan’ from the series MonoSuba anyways.” This had Ralsei let out a few last giggles, they didn’t exactly know what Pink was referencing but… To Ralsei, the fact Pink was happy right now is what mattered the most.
For a bit, the two fell into another comfortable silence. Pink flopped back to Ralsei’s side and the two sat side by side on the bed. Ralsei played with their paws a bit, adjusting their digits back and forth for a moment while Pink gazed down towards their lower half. If they had legs right now, they wondered if any of their poses would’ve been considered ‘inappropriate,’ like the scenes in many of the ‘older teen’ manga she read. She would need to start being careful about what she did when she was back in Body, after all she wasn’t used to having legs, or things between legs, above legs, around legs, clothes, everything.
She wondered if Mew Mew was doing okay right now. Was being repaired traumatic, like a surgery, or was it relaxing like a spa? Not that she had ever experienced either, just knew about them through anime and games mostly. Her eyes focused on the Mew Mew webcam by the computer. What a nerd she was… And what a nerd Ralsei was for doing all this for her. It made her chest feel dokis knowing someone went through all this for her. That fluffy ‘Prince’ really was super sweet. Slowly she looked over to them… and her eyes shot open wide. Oh no, they were TOO cute! They had… Cute toebeans!!! Cute paws! She looked away immediately, her chest was fluttering too much now and without a body it made her feel weird. Maybe… She should do something, say something, to make it less weird now that she was getting all flustered.
“H-hey, Ralsei! What’s YOUR room like?” She expected it would be something very fluffy and cute, maybe filled to the brim with plushies? She kind of did want to see it. She didn’t expect Ralsei to look so nervous at this question.
“O-oh, my room? It’s uhm… Top floor, but it’s a bit dirty right now.” Their response got Pink to squint at them.
“Hm. Where is it, like, right above this room?”
“Y-yes? Kind of, it’s more over Kris and Vari’s-” But that was all she needed to hear. Certainly, though Ralsei had somehow found furniture and clothes she could interact with as a ghost, they hadn’t thought far enough ahead to ward or make the WALLS ghost-interactable, right? And so she gave Ralsei a wide toothy grin and then launched herself off the bed going straight up into the air.
By the time Ralsei realized what was happening it was too late to stop Pink, she vanished right through the ceiling! The only thing Ralsei could say before she completely disappeared was a quick: “W-wait!” But it was, indeed, too late.
Pink looked around the room in utter confusion. This couldn’t be Ralsei’s room, right? It was… Empty. There was only an open window that overlooked the dark fountain. That was it. Green lined floorboards that matched Ralsei’s robe color… Green and dark. She looked to the front door, it was totally normal, boring. Green. She just took the room in.
Then the door rattled and was thrown open, Ralsei was there out of breath after having just ran up the stairs to the room Pink was in.
“P-pink! This…”
“Why is it so empty?” Pink asked with a frown. This was just too damn depressing. Here she thought HER house was bad sometimes, but at least it had SOME character to it.
“I…” Ralsei started, but then just stopped. They knew they had no excuse.
“Ralsei? Why… Is your room so empty?” Pink asked again, slowly turning to look at them now.
“It’s…” They took in a deep breath and then let it out slowly. “...Up until recently, I just never thought about why having a room of my own would matter. I’ve been here for so long, and yet… What was the point, right? I’m just here to… Make other people happy.”
Pink’s expression fell, looking downwards she clenched a fist- but stopped after a moment. Getting angry wasn’t going to fix anything after all.
“But I suppose… Recently, things are changing, aren’t they? Now I have… Real friends, real… Uhm, dates..?” Their cheeks became red, and they let out a single, somewhat awkward, laugh. “And real… Interests, slowly, too. I’ve been starting to think about what I like doing, and what I do for others, and how those are two different I suppose, uhm… Categories.”
She didn’t know exactly what to do, or say, to any of that. She wished Mew Mew, or maybe Vari, were here. They would know what to say. What WOULD either of them say? Maybe something dumb, or cheesy, or. Ugh. She thought, screw it! She’ll just say what she knows.
“You’re totally a nerd, you know that? Totally dumb, idiot, fluffy butt baka…” Arms were folded again under her chest. Sighing. “...And as a nerd, you should do things you like, that you can nerd out about. You know? Whether you like baking, singing, or whatever it is. Just… Be passionate about something and go all into it, okay? Like, this?” She looked around again for emphasis. “This is too sad, an empty room, for someone who’s filled with so much… I’unno… Compassion, love, cheesy stuff like that… You deserve to have a nice room too, and have stuff you like in it. And be with people you like. Whatever it is, even if it’s not like… Anime.” She had to throw that last bit in, a hook of sorts, perhaps it would interest them.
“Uhm… I don’t know what to say, hah… Except thank you, I suppose… Uhm… Maybe. I have… A request. To follow what you said… I-is that okay?” Ralsei put their paws together, pushing two fingers together repeatedly.
“Uh, I mean, sure, what is it? If there’s something I can do, I owe you a lot so… Do you want some of my stuff? Want help picking things out?”
“Uhm, I was thinking, when I was making your room, I did kind of… Like almost everything in it, part of me was even thinking about what it would be like to… have something like that myself. So, if it’s not a big hassle… Do you think we can share your room for a while? I-if that’s not… Imposing! I-I’ve just been thinking, about what you’ve said, and others, and… Um… Well. I don’t really like being alone. When Castle Town was empty it was the… Lowest point of my existence, now that I have people, I’ve been thinking about what it would be like to stay closer to them, to maybe… Others like you?”
Pink’s eyes went wide, she knew if she had a body her heart would be beating a million times a minute. Instead she still felt the dokis, but it was just a strange tightness and near anxiety. Was she ready for this? Was having a repetitive sleepover with Ralsei okay? Would Vari be okay with that too? Well, it didn't sound bad… The company would be nice, even when they had Body back, and then she could decide if she wanted to continue it with her later… right? Body wouldn't be upset if she said yes, right?
“Uhm, Pink…? If you're not feeling like answering right now that's okay… if you're mad, I'm sorry… I hope I'm not overstepping too mu-”
“I mean, OBVIOUSLY you can stay with me. Baka. Look at this place. How can you sleep in a room without a bed? I won't have you dying of cold or whatever just because you don't even have a bed. So yeah, you can stay in my room. Hell. Just expand it and make more room or something I don't know.” She completely ignored the fact that Ralsei had survived this long without a bed, and perhaps didn't need sleep to begin with, but… “Just… when Body is back we will have to ask her too. You know.”
“Of course…! I’ll ask Mew Mew too! And…uhm… thank you, really. You're so kind, Pink…” Ralsei looked like they wanted to go in for a hug, but of course they were too embarrassed. Not like they could anyways. They'd just phase through one another.
Pink was definitely more than just a little embarrassed. Looking away, blushing, they quickly just shouted in their typical way: “J-just give me a hug or… whatever, already!! Not like I want one or anything, but you seem to, baka! So just like, do it!”
Ralsei looked the purple magical ghost girl over. With her arms under her bust, those pouty puffed out cheek, the dark blush, even her large brows. Ralsei could easily see why Vari was swooned by her almost immediately upon seeing her. She had a temper, but even that was in its own unique way, as cute as she was. It was like Susie, sometimes the sweetest people also had a sour side. Honestly, even Ralsei started to feel as though maybe… they were too.
She was blunt, but being direct was nice sometimes. They got what they wanted to say out eventually even if it had to be preluded or concluded with her tsundere act.
In another timeline, perhaps, Ralsei realized they may have ended up falling for Susie, but as it stood right now they had ended up putting her in the best friend zone. Though Ralsei wasn't entirely sure why they were even thinking about that right now. They should be thinking of what Pink just said!
Slowly, Ralsei scooted closer to Pink’s side. For just a moment their eyes met, and then Ralsei decided to just go in for the hug.
Pink felt the warm embrace despite her spectral nature, at least for a second… everything seemed like it would be okay. That the world was nice, warm, caring, and that this was… home. Just as she started to get comfortable in Ralsei’s hug she felt her manifested form vanishing! There was a quick flash of light and suddenly Ralsei fell forwards onto the bed.
Looking left and right, Ralsei blinked a few times over.
“Uhm… Pink, where did you..?” They asked, dumbfounded as they were just hugging the blankets of the bed at this point.
“[I-inside you, baka! Dumby fluff butt! Of course I'd end up in you again.]” Pink sounded indignant, how could it have turned out any other way?! “[Though I guess I didn't stop you, either, so… might be kind of my fault. This… feels kind of like a hug, it's not my body, but you are close.]”
Blinking once, Ralsei pushed themselves off the bed and leaned back into the pillows. They weren't sure what to do for the moment but then just decided to do the one thing that made sense. They hugged themselves.
“[H-huh?! Geeze, ugh, you're such a sappy nerd… hugging yourself and all that… yeah I feel it, don't even bother asking…]” Pink grumbled, pouting but… they weren't leaving Ralsei’s body either.
The two hugged like that for at least half an hour. Neither wanting to be the first one to leave. At some point Ralsei had wanted to move but refused to do so out of care for what Pink wanted. Without their body, without Mew Mew, being those close to someone was… comforting. After all, physical touch was always something Pink had longed for even if she wasn't near the romance fixated mess that Mew Mew was. So just being held like this, as intimate as it may have been perceived, was exactly what she wanted. No, it was what she needed right then.
If she was in control she may have shed a tear or two even.
Eventually Ralsei was the first to break the silence.
“Uhm, I can stay like this if you want, but I just remembered… Kris, Vari, and the others wanted us to do shopping for them. We should probably do that…”
“[Guh, yeah, ugh, one more minute then or whatever.]”
Ralsei obliged, though after the one minute was up they didn't have to do anything. Pink naturally came out, blushing, and looked away.
“Not fair that you're being this nice to me. I'll get you back one day.” She huffed, causing Ralsei to just let out a small giggle.
“Perhaps you can pay me back by just… talking to me. Letting me figure out who I do want to be. You seem good at that.”
“Eh… I've just had a long time to think about who I want to be is all… but geeze, didn't have to respond to seriously either.” She awkwardly rubbed at the back of her head, hunched over a bit as she did so. “But until I figure out a real way… fine. That'll do. “ Now letting out a big overly dramatic sigh Pink got up and out of their comfortable bed and Ralsei soon followed.
“Fine, let's go then?”
“Let's! Uhm, I’ll tell you a bit about Seam on the way too, if that's okay.”
The two left the castle and made their way towards Seam’s Seap, Pink asked a few questions along the way but mostly stick to themselves just processing where they were and how they had somehow come to be here. She had many questions about the dark worlds, and more, but figured she would ask them later and just focus on the here and now.
She focused on herself, what she had become here in this world, and how very soon she would be able to be the one thing she truly always wanted to again. The only thing that she hoped for was that one day, someday soon, she could help Ralsei be who they truly wanted to be as well.
Maybe, perhaps, as something more than just a friend.