Text, un: Mariposa

[nonmagical]

WHO: Mirabel and the network
WHERE: In her room
WHEN: A few days after the event, late at night
WHAT: Mirabel has some questions
WARNINGS: Maybe near death mention? Possession talk.

[It’s been a few days since the fae realm ordeal. Mirabel’s learned a few things. One, she’s still furry. Two, she can’t sleep. Not after… everything that happened. She doesn’t want to talk about it, not really. But she really needs to sleep. So she has a late night question for the network.]

I’m having problems falling asleep. Either I can’t fall asleep or I keep having nightmares. Is there something I can do so I can get some sleep?

[And then she has another question. She’s very careful about asking this one, so she locks her second question from the rest of her family.]

So I’ve been reading up on possession. [A lie.] It seems like a pretty scary thing to go through. Can anyone tell me more about it? Like… what happens if it happens to you?

[A pretty innocent question, right? She hopes no one sees right through it.]

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[nonmagical]

[Mirabel hears the knock - she supposes she should’ve expected it. She did just ask the whole network how to deal with sleeping problems, so it wasn’t that surprising that a perhaps concerned family member would make their way here.

She doesn’t know who it is until she opens the door - and sees Luisa. Ah… she probably wasn’t sleeping much either, was she?]

Hola, Luisa. [She won’t ask her if she can’t sleep. She already knows the answer. Mirabel forces a weak smile.]

… you can come in, if you want.

[neverbreaks]

Hey. [ She manages a faint smile of her own, and with Mirabel's permission she slips inside and closes the door behind her. ]

Get any good advice? [ The question is partly teasing, a weak joke in the face of everything. But part of her is also a bit curious. ]

[nonmagical]

Mamá suggested lavender tea, someone else suggested "Nyquil", and tio Bruno said wearing earplugs and wait for the dark abyss to take me.

[... Yeah.]

Someone else said that I should talk about it, but...

[Yeah, Luisa can guess how that's going.]

[neverbreaks]

[ ...they need to check on Bruno a bit more. ]

...Yeah. It's difficult.

[ Luisa can definitely understand that. She hasn't really been able to talk about it with anyone besides Mirabel since it happened. ]

[nonmagical]

I think... mamá needs to know, at least.

[She pauses, chewing on that idea for a moment.]

The person I talked to said I was just hurting her more by keeping it a secret, and I don't want to do that.

[neverbreaks]

[ Luisa can't help a wince as she glances away. She hated the thought of their mother knowing, learning just how much she had failed.

But...Mirabel was still having nightmares (and honestly, she was too). And her sister's well-being was much more important. ]

...yeah. That's probably for the best.

[nonmagical]

… Is that gonna be okay? With you, I mean.

[If her sister did not want her to tell her, she wouldn’t. Luisa’s feelings mattered too.]

I just… don’t know if we can hide it forever.

[neverbreaks]

[ She really didn't know if she was okay with it. The thought of their mother knowing everything felt heavy in her stomach, and the guilt was a painful squeeze on her heart.

But she owes Mirabel this, after letting her down so badly. If this would help Mirabel, then she'll do what she can. ]

...y-yeah. You're right. Maybe it'll be easier if she knows.

[ Even so, Luisa felt even guiltier. She couldn't bring herself to tell their mother, and was leaving it up to Mirabel.

Maybe she really is a coward. ]

[nonmagical]

I’ll try to break it to her as gently as I can…

[How can she possibly break something like that gently? No matter how nicely Mirabel tries to put it, she’s gonna be hurt.

But Mirabel recalls what Miyako said to her, that she’d only hurt her worse by hiding it. She can’t… she can’t do that to her family.]

I mean… I’ll try my best. I don’t want to hurt her, but if she finds out later…

… then that’s going to hurt her more.

[neverbreaks]

[ Luisa winces a little. She hadn't actually thought of it like that. And the last thing she wanted to do was hurt their mother.

Or at least, hurt her worse than this is probably already going to. ]

Yeah, that's...th-that's true. It's better to be honest with her.

[nonmagical]

Todo va a estar bien, Luisa. We’re gonna be okay. I’m scared for her to find out… but we can’t keep it a secret.

I don’t think she can heal this, but… maybe we don’t have to be alone in this.

[Putting this on their mother doesn’t feel great either, but… they need someone to help them shoulder the weight of this. To at least tell them it’s gonna be okay.]

[neverbreaks]

[ Luisa is silent for a moment as she looks at Mirabel, wondering if things really would be fine. Could their mother really look at them - at her - the same way again after this?

But she nods anyway, wrapping an arm around Mirabel's shoulders and pulling her close. ]

...all right. It'll be okay.

[ Maybe if they keep saying it, it'll be true someday. ]

[nonmagical]

[She doesn't know if it'll be okay. Part of her doesn't want to tell their mother what happened, but she just keeps going back to her conversation with Miyako. How it'll hurt her worse if she finds out they've been suffering alone, and how badly she just wants to hear the words "it'll be okay". She wants to hear it so badly that her heart aches.]

It'll be okay.

[Their mother wasn't there right now to tell them that, so Mirabel will instead.]

It won't be easy, but we'll get through this together, okay?

[neverbreaks]

[ Luisa nods a little. ] Right.

[ But she hates this, she hates this, because Mirabel should not be the one comforting her right now. Mirabel should not be the one trying to reassure her, especially because she was the one who had messed up. She should be the one supporting Mirabel, but she can't even do that right now.

She just...can't do anything right now. ]

[nonmagical]

[Mirabel breathes out, trying to relax herself. It doesn’t work very well - she knows the conversation with their mother won’t be an easy one.]

I also… asked about possession… a lot of people chimed in. I don’t think we’re alone in this either. I think there’s a few people who have spirits living in them too?

[neverbreaks]

[ With her arm still around Mirabel, Luisa gently rubs her back, hoping it'll help a little. ]

Really? [ She isn't sure if that's a comfort, or if it was just worrying. Did that mean that all those people nearly died before being possessed too? ]

What'd they say? Anything about how to maybe get rid of them?

[nonmagical]

They didn't say anything about how to get rid of them, but they said we could talk to the spirits inside of us? I don't know about you, but I haven't heard anything from the spirit inside of me since... well...

[You know.]

Also that... we have to do whatever "price" the spirit asks of us or it'll end really badly.

[neverbreaks]

No, the one inside me hasn't said anything to me either.

[ She isn't even sure if she'd want to talk to it, all things considered. ]

Yeah. I mean, mine did say something about needing more energy to use its strength, but it didn't give me much more than that.

[nonmagical]

And mine makes me tired? I think. Maybe we should... try seeing if we can get more information out of them?

[Would that even work? Mirabel's not even sure.]

[neverbreaks]

But how would we even do that? You think there's a way to get them to talk to us?

[nonmagical]

Some people suggested that since mine is a wolf, I could try talking to it during a full moon? Someone even suggested howling... I... don't really want to do that.

Yours was a cat, wasn't it? I... don't really know much about what cats like that could draw it out.

[neverbreaks]

Well, hopefully trying to talk to it during a full moon would be enough.

Yeah, I don't really know either. [ She thinks a moment. ] Cats are more active at night, right? So I guess I could just try talking to it at night.

[nonmagical]

Yeah, that could work! Either way, we're gonna figure out a way to make them talk!

... I hope anyway.

[neverbreaks]

[ Luisa doesn't feel as confident about it, but she nods anyway. ] Yeah, me too. It would be nice to get some more answers.