I won’t leave you.

You ever have your brain chemistry rewired by a childhood friend? Being estranged four years, reuniting under harrowing circumstances, devoting one’s life to the guy, showing parts of oneself to him that no one else has seen, being trusted with something that’s haunted him for years, and (in the same night as the latter, even) having one’s core lifelong fear assuaged… y’know, it affects a person.

Aubrey’s never thought much of the future, but with Sunny, it feels like there’s one to look forward to.

Keep Sunny safe.

Sometimes Aubrey can’t believe she used to be scared of this guy. He’s just a boy. He is just a little man. He might not consider her a friend, but she’s been trying to be one for him nonetheless.

It all makes perfect sense in hindsight. The trouble now is getting other people to understand him. Where’s he been lately, anyway…?

Then don’t waste the time we have together!

He worries her sometimes. Kind of always has. That’s just the way it is, with him—with them, maybe. Eren’s one of the first people Aubrey met in Somnius, one of the first she admitted as a friend, the first swordfight, the first confession…

They train nearly every day. It’s impossible to imagine life without him—not because it won’t happen (it will), but because all they have is now.

You are needed, too. Shine thy Light
upon all creation.

Does Aubrey still have Venat on a grand unknowable godlike pedestal? Not quite. Seeing and learning about the more human sides of a not-quite-immortal warrior will do that. Does Venat still occupy that kind of unreachable, deeply sentimental space in Aubrey’s heart? Yeah. Yeah, she does.

It is funny to think Venat’s dating Maruki now, though. Good for them!

Even now, at my worst moment… you’re here.
And somehow, I can breathe.

Girl, what the hell. When they’re not chilling like normal everyday friends, they’re saving each other from certain psychological if not physical demise, which is certainly a dynamic. And as much as they’ve talked about it, it baffles Aubrey that Luz is still with her at all, never mind the romantic feelings.

Not that she’s complaining. Luz is one of the few people who can consistently keep Aubrey’s head up. Their relationship might also be on death’s countdown, but it feels less despearate….

It’s somewhat of a sore subject for me, but perhaps it will offer more than a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

More than anything, Aubrey thinks Akechi is in desperate need of a normal goddamn friend. It’s what she chalks much of his disquieting behavior up to, attempt on her life included.

The rest of her feelings about him vary by the day, but Aubrey still more or less trusts Akechi. She’s aware this is probably a bad idea, and yet!

So, real or not… I just want to enjoy wherever I am.

Sunny’s boyfriend, who’s more recently become a friend of Aubrey’s in his own right. He’s pretty chill—to a point where Aubrey occasionally has to wonder, but overall, she thinks he’s neat. He pings her as lonelier than he outwardly lets on, which isn’t unfamiliar….

As of very recently, they’re housemates. Maybe the real creatures crossed were the catboys in the neighborhood all along.

I am okay most of the time. Happy, even.
But sometimes things hurt.

Kel has trusted Aubrey more than most since he got here, and Aubrey… hasn’t really fulfilled her end of the bargain. It’s not his fault. She knows he’s trying his best with the hand he’s been given. So is she—and that involves keeping Sunny and Omori’s business private, even if it leaves Kel in the dark.

It’ll come to a head sooner than later, especially with recent revelations. Where they’ll be after, Aubrey can’t guess….

I won’t stay down.

Who is this guy, seriously? Why’s he so hellbent on getting close to Aubrey? She’ll never forget her first impression of him—that he’s the kindest person Sunny knows, and how tenderly he treated Sunny in the clinic—but Aubrey’s own trust wavers.

When they’re face-to-face, there’s only so much animosity Aubrey can muster; she tries not to, for Sunny’s sake. Now that they share a house, she should probably try to figure him out more….

Perhaps my answers make it obvious
that I don’t like limits.

He’s a character, that Maruki. By virtue of being an adult man, Aubrey doesn’t always trust him without question—if anything, she can distrust him more than warranted. For reasons she can’t begin to unpack, he puts up with it.

He’s got a passive-aggressive streak rivaling only Akechi’s. He counsels people for a living (or so Aubrey thinks). He’s a nerd and a loser. He seems vaguely ominous, at times. Aubrey trusts him about as far as Azathoth’s tentacles could throw her. She doesn’t want to find out how far Azathoth’s tentacles could throw her.

I know that we both said that we weren’t friends, but… maybe in the future, that could change.

Oh, Basil. Basil, Basil, Basil, Basil, Basil. What have you done…?

Aubrey’s knee-jerk animosity has worn off, compared to when she first saw Basil in Somnius, but their relationship is still tenuous at best. She doesn’t want to hurt him, but for Sunny’s sake, she would. And for both their sakes, she hopes she never has to.