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"What's wrong with adventure stuff? Someone tell you you can't read that if you want? Anyone who'd whine about that's not worth the time it takes to tell 'em to get lost."
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Leona grimaced, seemingly out of embarrassment.

"Guess it feels... dumb. But so does feeling dumb about it. Augh."

She spoke exactly like a young adult cringing at herself for having ever been a kid with hobbies and interests. She seemed... a little younger than Seth, maybe? No dragged out long-war against Cipher. Fresh off her victory, but still restless, still vigilant...

As Leaf talked, Leona led her upwards, towards ground level.

"You already did a ton of that earning back in Orre. Doesn't make sense to beat yourself up about... about a Cipher from a whole other universe forcing a bunch of super-powered despair into your head. How's literally anybody supposed to see that coming, right? I think that if sometimes you need to take it easy and go somewhere else for a while, that's fair, and nobody oughta give you crap about it. And at least there are plenty of people still working on finding that happy ending here, too. Sybil and Sinopa and the rest of us. Doesn't all have to be on you."
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Out of the shade of the plaza, a little sun fell on Leona's muzzle. She didn't flinch, but she squinted agaisnt the brightness. Breathed in fresher air with a low huff.

"I know," she said, quietly. With restraint. "I get it. I really do. It's not like I'm blaming myself for getting plucked outta my timeline and dumped in a cage – I didn't fuck up. What I'm getting at is... what they did to me, it— I just can't help seeing things differently. Worse, more pessimistic. It's like a disease. My own happy ending that I earned just feels far away. Imaginary. Stupid."

Leona made a gagging, growling noise of frustration.

"Seth kinda gets it, you know. His whole thing right now is, like, even allowing himself to believe anything can go right, instead of hedging every bet and expecting everything to be a slugfest no matter what. Which, good for him, but it's not really the same shit I'm dealing with. Things went right for me. Just feels like the other shoe just dropped, and I was a stupid kid the whole time for thinking I'd get what I wanted, thinking I'd got it. 'Cause now it's gone."

Leona turned her head to the watchtower. She stamped one paw, and Sinopa obligingly popped out a narrow staircase of stone to allow it to be climbed.
 
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