text; un: signorvespa

[prontissimo]

i hate this

the sky has been leaking for DAYs... WEEKS??

it's so cold my eyes are frozen!

i hate this weird white water

i want to go outside...



[ A photo of a colored pencil drawing is attached... depicting Alberto "(in a blanket)" beside his familiar Carlo and his pet compsognathus Sofia, trapped inside his home "(forever?)," labeled "cold, alone... and fed up!" beneath falling snow — AKA "weird white water??? (every day...!!!)" — outside the window... All of them clearly "very unhappy" — the sheer image of misery itself. ]

SO!
let's trade!!!
anyone who can help me find or make something like this, i'll cook you food or something, whatever, we'll talk......
but as soon as possible,
i need one of THESE:



[ Another image is attached of Alberto wearing what... seems to be a diver's suit? Or something??? Holding a "giant umbrella" in one hand and Sofia on a leash in a harness in the other, Carlo floating above, all "dry, safe, warm, and NOT at home..." There's still plenty of snow white water around them, "but not on Alberto!" Most importantly, though, in this drawing, they're all happy! — as... baffling as it is to anyone else, surely... No thanks, no niceties, just complaints and demands, urgent, desperate, and maybe a little, um, bizarre? Un po. The kid's gone mad with cabin fever, possibly? This is... well... th-this is something. Definitely something. Ahem. ]

Comments

[prontissimo]

[ Alberto listens carefully, and a flicker of emotion grows across his face, too, eyes gazing somewhere distant in turn. But he naturally matches Tsumugi beat by beat, letting a wistful smile spread on his own lips and he washes the melancholy thoughts back down with a sip of his own espresso. ]

...Heh. I know what you mean. Luca and me are really different, too — aaand we totally had a big fight once, aha... But! We fixed it. And in the end I even helped him do the thing we were fighting about, eheh, sooo...! It all worked out. We both got to live our dreams— even if... we had to do it apart from each other.

[ Another blip, before he jolts and wipes that clear, too, adding on hastily: ]

For now! Until Luca's done with school, like I said. Then we're going back to Plan A, hehe, and we'll do our original dream together, like we were supposed to. And it'll be even better than it would've been, cuz now it'll be like we got to practice, y'know, doing dream stuff, heh!

[ It's an odd but sweet way to look at it. But whether or not he manages to disguise it with light, offhand laughter, there's still something bittersweet about the sound of all this... But indeed, sounds like they fixed it. Alberto's still standing here telling him about Luca from another universe over, after all. ]

[tsumtsuki]

[ It is, indeed, a little bittersweet. The lines are different, but the scene playing out feels so familiar. Two young boys sharing a dream, their paths diverging for a while, only to come back together some time later... They may have fixed their issues, but Alberto still seems to be on the split path, separate from his friend. Even more-so now, given how they're in an entirely different universe. ]

I think that's a good way to look at things. It was hard at the time, but being apart from Tasuku made me really appreciate our friendship. And it's made our dream feel more fulfilling, now that we're living it together.

I'm sure it'll be the same for you and Luca.

[prontissimo]

[ Those words draw a genuine, tender smile on Alberto's face, the warmth of which reaching his eyes, even tilting his head a little. It's a touching sentiment. That's all he wants. He goes out on a limb, and it's the first time admitting this to someone — well, someone who's not a cat, because there's totally a magic talking cat wandering around out there with a lot of sensitive information about Alberto, but, well, he's a cat — but it feels like this guy would get it... and in fact, it feels appropriate, since this is kind of how they came to meet in the first place, so it's a big admission for the child: ]

Yeah. Heh, I hope so. Y'know— I've still been writing letters to Luca. Here, I mean. We wrote letters all the time back home after he moved away, but... I figure, I dunno, maybe someday they'll let us send letters home somehow. I mean, if they can bring a whole person here, they can send a piece of paper back, hah...! Like, maybe once our way back home is strong enough or something, they can test it out like that! I dunno how this stuff works, but— at least I can still talk to Luca this way, sort of, even if he can't talk back... Heheh, y'know?

[ It's a very sheepish admission, but a sweet one — something very telling about the boy's character. But once again: something very bittersweet, too. The kid's probably a lot lonelier than he lets on. That's some serious dedication to a weak pipe dream, indulging in this fantasy for catharsis more than any actual probability he'll ever send these letters... It's not quite delusional, just... innocent and hopeful and a little bit sad. But, indeed, sweet all the same. ]