#a fleeting wish

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chiyo tag drop <3

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🌿🍒 you just know lavi his holding this mistletoe up over himself for chiyo ... he is dumb ...

underneath the mistletoe | @avaere catches chiyo under the mistletoe!

she's helping jeryy and a few of the other staff with decorations when lavi finds her. they've made good work of the cafeteria -- with garland all strewn about and a christmas tree donned in ornaments in the corner, the place feels a little cozier, a little brighter. despite still feeling worn out from the day's training regimen ( which chiyo hates, by the way ), there's an easy smile on her lips that only widens when she spots the bookman. she hasn't seen him since she left for her last assignment.

chiyo would be embarrassed to admit it, but she's missed him.

catching up turns into dragging lavi into helping them with the last of the decorations, placing a few, stray mistletoe around the room. chiyo makes note of each one because she will not be caught beneath one if she can help it... but apparently she can't help it when she's got a certain exorcist for company.

lavi calls her name, and chiyo knows immediately she's in trouble by the way he grins at her. her eyes raise to his hand dangling mistletoe overhead, and she hates how easily she blushes. lavi leans forward, mirth and mischief twinkling in his eye, and chiyo tries to keep her face neutral despite herself ( she missed this guy?? yeah... ). she leans forward, too, closer and closer and...

chiyo flicks lavi's nose.

" that's cheatin' and doesn't count, " she complains with an amused grin of her own, plucking the mistletoe from lavi's fingers. it's the last one they need to hang. " you'll have to try harder than that to catch me under one of these things. "

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" you're giving me that look again. " lavi to chiyo !

as said by anders | @avaere speaks to chiyo!

" what look? " chiyo asks, but she knows the answer.

it never ends, all this fighting. there's so much struggling, suffering, and there's resentment that builds inside her chest in moments like this. when she has to look at a dear friend banged up and bruised, when she feels as if this fight has been forced upon them and their lives stolen from them, she feels an anger swell inside her until it's unbearable, until she wants to spit fire. yet she knows she cannot walk away. not anymore.

she cares too much. about the people they protect, about the people who fight at her side -- she cares too damn much to ever walk away. she cares so much that it hurts.

chiyo knows exactly how she's looking at lavi. as if he might disappear before her eyes, leaving only bandages and ash behind. as if she's already mourning him, trying to accept that she'll lose him. he would not be the first. he would not be the last. and she's not sure she'd bounce back from lavi's death. hard as she might have once tried to remain distant, he's grown close to her; hard as she might have once tried to remain disconnected, she cannot let go of his hand now ( how would it feel if it were ripped from her grasp? the mere thought turns her stomach ).

" this is just how my face looks, " chiyo murmurs, gaze falling to his bandaged hand. she refrains from reaching for it. she's afraid. " you tryna make fun of it, hm? "