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onceuponalegendbg · 1 year ago

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AI Somnium Files Drabble 2 (Did You Know)

Someone needs to stop me. This is kind of a companion piece to my first AI drabble. Different in structure but the intent is the same. Again, I love these two. Their dynamic had so much potential (theirs and Kizuna's if I'm being honest but mostly them) and I guess I'll take any chance to explore it some.

Iris had never considered herself to be a particularly perceptive person. She wasn’t stupid by any means, but she could sometimes be oblivious to the world around her. Especially when she was performing or streaming, her environment tended to disappear, fade into the background. She was a people person, sure, but that only helped her short attention span a marginal amount.

That being said, she wasn’t oblivious to the way Mame had changed.

It was understandable why. Iris had been there after all. She’s seen the remains of Andes Komeji - Yoneharu Enda. She’d watched as Mame froze, eyes wide in horror as Shoma opened the body bag that held their father’s corpse… Well, half his corpse. She’d watched as the only thing that brought her out of her stunned stupor was bringing her brother into her arms, the world as they knew it ending abruptly and without mercy.

Scared and horrified, trying to be Shoma’s big sister in that moment, Iris never saw any tears.

The streamer insisted to Ryuki for the police to allow Mame and Shoma to stay with Iris and her mother, and neither sibling argued. It went unsaid that no one wanted to go back to the Enda residence. No one wanted to be alone.

Ryuki himself dropped Kizuna back off with her father while the rest of them were escorted to the Sagan home. Hitomi doted on them, frantic that her daughter and her friends had been caught up in something so gruesome again. Eventually, the siblings were set up in the guest bedroom, Amame finding her voice enough to thank Hitomi for both her and Shoma.

You’re always welcome here, Hitomi had replied easily, carefully hugging Amame to her and brushing back her hair as she often did for Iris. The pink haired girl thought she saw the first crack in Amame as she swallowed thickly but it was gone just as quickly.

It was like clockwork really. At about two in the morning, Iris got out of bed and walked into the main room. There she saw Mame sitting at the bar. She was just sitting there, not a sound or movement.

“Hey.”

Amame didn’t jump. “Hey…” Her voice was quiet, rough.

As Iris walked over and took a seat on the barstool next to the mermaid, the horrible memory of Yoneharu’s body surfaced. Amame’s expression was just as blank. Just as lifeless. It was haunting, the similarity. Despite her reply, Amame clearly wasn’t here, her mind a million miles away.

Carefully, the younger girl wrapped her arms around the waitress, giving her time to react, to push her away if she wanted. She didn’t. Amame barely acknowledged the action outside of her hands coming up to grab onto Iris’s forearm.

One would think Iris would know what to do in situations like this by now. With everything that had happened last year, all the traumatic things she’d witnessed and been through. But she was still just a girl. A girl holding her best friend as their world forever changed and collapsed.

“Did you know polar bear fur isn’t actually white?”

She cringed internally, having blurted out the stupid factoid because the silence had nearly swallowed her too. And Mame loved trivia, so maybe… Something, anything was better than the silence.

Amame hummed.

“Yeah, r-right?” she pressed, now having no choice but to continue. She kept her voice low. “I was shocked too. Apparently, their skin is black, but their fur is transparent. It changes color based on how the light hits it.”

Amame’s grip tightened on Iris’s sleeve.

Iris pressed her cheek into Mame’s shoulder, humming in thought. “Did you know elephants are the only mammals that can’t jump. Weird, right? Though maybe it does make a little bit of sense. I mean, they are really big animals.” What was she even saying? “Man, I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t jump around? Can you imagine? It would be worse than sitting and listening to Mr. Yamada’s lectures.”

Amame made a small sound in the back of her throat, and Iris paused her ramblings. There was a deep inhale of breath, and then silence again. Iris lifted her head and was greeted by the sight of tears streaming down her best friend’s face.

“No, I didn’t know that.” There was another sharp inhale. “I bet he did though.”

Iris couldn’t have explained it if she tried, but it was like saying those words opened the floodgates. Suddenly, Amame was gripping Iris’s arm with all her might, trying to keep quiet as she broke down. Iris stood from the stool and wrapped the blue-haired girl in a tighter and more supportive embrace.

“It’s all my fault,” she heard Amame sob. “I should have just… Why didn’t I…” She never finished any of her thoughts, so upset and distraught. She stopped making sense.

What else was there for Iris to do?

They never really talked about it after. Amame, not surprisingly, never quite recovered. She smiled at work, she laughed, like always. But even outside of work none of those smiles reached her eyes, none of her laughs made Iris feel warm and laugh too.

Everything was a little off when they hung out, sad. Iris tried to provide a distraction, scheduling little lunch dates, inviting her over to watch movies. She offered Amame a sounding board, wanting to help. But as time went on, Amame drifted further and further away.

Gen became the person Amame went to, and that stung a bit. Iris had nothing against Gen, of course. It was just… Her and Amame were, well… They’d known each other for so long. They were each other’s confidante, who they went to with everything. So why Gen?

It doesn’t help that Iris herself has gotten busier as she’s gotten older, making it almost impossible to hang out with anyone that isn’t Ota or her mother.

When she asks Hitomi about it, the advice her mother gave didn’t make her feel any better. She couldn’t force anything. All she could do was wait and be there when or if Amame became ready to talk.

But Iris has always been stubborn when it comes to people and things she cares about.

“Mame?”

“Oh, Iris.”

The other woman practically jumps when she realizes who's come to visit Brahman. Gen welcomes the idol graciously, in his gentle way, and continues to work behind the counter. It’s just them here, not a sound except for the radio.

“I thought I might find you here,” Iris starts as she takes a seat across the table from Amame. “I know I should have called, but I finally had a small break in my schedule and really wanted to grab some good food.”

Pink eyes study Iris.

“So here I am!” It’s unnecessary, that addition, but Amame has always had a way of reading the pink haired woman. Even now when the light that Iris loves isn’t present, those eyes seem to see everything about Iris, see through to her real motives.

Iris does her best not to fidget, smiling her winning smile over at Gen and ordering the special before she looks back to the main reason she’s here in the first place. She takes the time to really look at her friend.

Everything is just a little off, different. She looks older, obviously, even more so than the last time they saw each other a few months ago. Her features are sharper, and while she’s clearly wearing make-up it can’t hide the deep dark circles under her eyes entirely. She’s jumpy, she’s fidgeting. “I’m probably going to regret it, honestly,” Iris admits. “I’m not supposed to be eating that many calories. Wanna share?”

“No, I’m okay.” Even her voice, it’s just so tired, drained. Distant.

Mame… “Well, suit yourself.”

Somehow, Amame’s shoulders sag further. “Iris, why are you here?”

She opens her mouth but then pauses. “Well actually, I wanted to see if you wanted to do something this weekend. I managed to get a few days off, somehow, and I thought… I don’t know, if you’re not busy maybe we could do stuff. Hang out. I mean, it’s been a while.”

Before she’s even finished, Amame stiffens, brow furrowing as her nails pick at the place mat. Her cuticles look like they’ve been picked at brutally, Iris notices offhandedly. With a deep shaking inhale, Amame forces the corners of her mouth into a small smile. “I don’t think I should.”

Gen chooses that moment to bring over Iris’s food. He lingers uncertainly for a moment, and though Iris obviously can’t see his expression due to the mask, she feels like he’s looking from one of them to the other before he stomps back over to the counter.

“Really it wouldn’t be a big deal, I’m sure my mom wouldn’t mind,” Iris tries. “She was just saying that she missed having you over.” I miss you too. I want to help. Just tell me how. I’ll try my best.

Something flickers across the older woman’s face. “I’m sorry, but I can’t. I have plans already.”

“Mame. I just-“

“Please,” she interrupts, begs. “Stop.”

Carefully, hesitantly, Iris reaches across the table to set her hand on top of Amame’s. There’s a moment, brief as it is, where Amame allows it, let’s them be like this for a moment. And then she pulls away, and that horrible feeling that had been building in Iris’s gut for years solidifies.

Go or stay.

Relent or persist.

Ruin everything or be the friend she needs.

It’s funny. Looking back, Iris supposes she never was very good at knowing the right choice to make.

She leaves, and the next day a body is found at the stadium. A few days after that, Amame is arrested.

Maybe sometimes, there just isn’t a right choice at all.

#ai somnium files nirvana intitiative #aini #aisfni #aisf #ai somnium files #iris sagan #sagan iris #doi amame #amame doi #ai siren song #writing

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