#THE BIRD STUFFY IS SO CUTEEEE a little guy....yuri will carry it around in their pocket

[aubins]

wheezes. rasps. bleats and hacks even. it seems like every week she's getting more and more scraped up. jumping off a cliff straight into the ocean, though, is probably the most ridiculous stunt she's pulled yet. it's nothing more patches and coping can't fix, so bernadetta drags herself to yuri once again. despite everything she's okay.

with a huff and a pout that's never truly angry, the ribbon (cleaned and dried, of course) goes from her chest back to theirs when both of her palms lightly urge it against them. it's giving animal crossing hamster villager stomping. they're even on an island, go figure.

"yuri, you big old"—ah, fuck, still so stupidly gorgeous wait that's not the point don't get distracted bernie you degenerate—"meanie! s-some good luck! you got to go again to the island bernie wanted while she got doomed with her last pick! the most impossible task! completely impossible! but, but she really wanted to see you again, and she had to keep her promise, so she did her best..."

fidget, fidget. the rest of her expression falls, leaving naught but a soft frown and knitted concern between her brows. gray eyes flit over them as discreetly as bernadetta thinks she's being, which is hilariously not discreet at all, scouting their person for any injuries or signs of wear similar to her own.

"...are you okay?"  she pipes up, head still slightly ducked from the weight of her own timidity.  "we... we both made it really far. i didn't mean what i just said, either. i don't think i could've gotten through this week without your ribbon. thanks for lending it to me."

so she has to return the favor, doesn't she? bernadetta hesitates, always far too unsure of herself, always so certain she is unwelcome, but she retrieves something from her pocket. stitched by hand, it's a charm just for them: lilac, just like their eyes, and shaped into a tiny bird stuffy.

"you have to return this to bernie when we make it back to the academy, okay?"  they don't. in fact, she'll just shake her head and stall it again if they ever try, moving the goalposts farther and farther—next week it'll be another week before yuri needs to "return" it, and then another week after that.  "... it's important."  (you're important.)

“I’m not old,” comes the affronted response, even as their hand comes to rest over where her own come to press against their chest. Solid and real against them, they can reassure themself with the fact that she’s here. She’s okay. Yuri doesn’t dare to ask for more. The corner of their lip twitches slightly, unable to play more straight-laced when they feel the laugh bubbling in their chest. “Hey, if you wanted to get chased in circles by some gargoyles, I would have happily switched places.”

That ribbon and the title it bestows upon them tend to bring more trouble than they do luck, but Bernadetta need not know that. “Anyway, my bad. Guess the luck’s non-transferable. I feel pretty lucky, after all. I won my game, my team’s almost caught up to yours in points, and”— most importantly, or rather, the only actual important point to Yuri amongst them all— “you came back to return my ribbon.” You came back to me.

Albeit a bit… Their brows crease together. “You know, I think I ought to be asking you that. I was the one in the ruins with all the monsters, right? Why do you look like you’re the one who’s gotten all scratched up by them?” But she’s right, isn’t she? They’ve both gotten this far. Just a bit longer, and maybe they’ll finally get some answers. Yuri smiles, their hand moving to pat her on the shoulder. She is braver and brighter than she gives herself credit for. “Don’t sell yourself so short, Bernadetta. I didn’t even give you any of my luck. That was all you.”

Bernadetta never needs to return any favor; Yuri will never come to collect from her. She could have lost their ribbon, tossed it out to sea, set it aflame, and so long as she was all right, they wouldn’t have minded. But she had promised them to return it, so here it is anyway, just as pristine as it had been when they handed it to her just a week ago— honestly, it’s might even be cleaner than it had been previously. As she goes to dig through her pocket, they take the chance to stuff it away in their own. They’d have to return it to its place on their uniform once they got back to the sheep’s dormitory.

When their attention returns to her, it's to a small, lilac bird stuffy being offered to them. Yuri blinks once, glances at Bernadetta then back to the charm, and laughs quietly, a hand closing over it. “A cute little fella, isn't it? Does it have a name?” they hum, a small smile curling at their lips as they cradle the small stuffy gently in their hands. It's important, she says, and that's all she needs to. What's important to her is important to them too. They'll guard it with all they have.

(And they do not hear the second, unsaid meaning to it, because for all the charm and confidence Yuri carries, they are long used to their importance being valued by what they have to offer. And, in the end, they do not think they offer very much to Bernadetta at all.)

“I'll protect it with my life, then, if it's so important.” And Yuri tucks it away, this time with more reverence than they had treated even their uniform ribbon. “After all, I can't go losing something you've given me when you returned my ribbon in such great shape.”

Then their smile sharpens into the points of a grin, arm slinging around her shoulders as they all but collapse against her. “Now, Bernadetta~” they drawl, “I don't know about you, but I'm not planning another beach vacation any time soon. Come enjoy the island with me one last time before they shoo us off to play games, yeah?”

Wordlessly, magic sparks at their fingertips as they ease their weight off her, a brief, blinding light that seems to take some of her scrapes and scratches with it when it fades. They continue on as though it hadn't happened, “Tell me about your supposedly impossible task, and I'll tell you about those damned gargoyles. I mean, I know I'm pretty and all, but I didn't think my charms extended to monsters...”

(Yet maybe all the time Yuri finds themself wanting to spend with her is their way of saying she's important to them too.)