[Marco thinks about it to himself as he flies over.]
[Relationships.... are his weak point really.]
[If he likes someone he wants them happy, and the bird in him, the phoenix in him demands everyone pair up so no one is ever lonely again. But his own love life isn't exactly the stuff out of romance novels, it's messy and complicated and generally tragic. How could it be anything else? He always puts his family first, always has, always will, and no woman can become a part of that while still staying separate enough not to be seen as something like a baby sister.]
[Then there's Ikki who, just like Marco, has been avoiding nearly everyone because of his headaches with Selphie. Marco's fault, right? He shouldn't have pushed him so fast. Maybe if he'd listened to Ikki better, listened to Ikki's concerns about burning her, maybe neither of them would have gotten so hurt. Marco could have told Selphie to back up to keep distance......... and that would have hurt them both too. Ikki would have been lonely, in his volcano, and Selphie would have been distant. A different kind of pain.]
[How do you stop someone from hurting just from being near you? Sometimes you have to accept that that pain will always be there.]
[It's like this island.]
[No one sees the pain. It's not nonexistent, but it's so hidden in the rest that no one notices it as easily. The tug of war seems subdued, but for someone like Marco, that just makes it scream all the louder.]
[He flies over to the ship, carrying the flower crown and armband in his beak. He perches on the edge of the Crow's Nest and drops the armband free so Natsuno can catch it before gently doing his best to fit the crown on the half-vampire's head.]
[Hopefully the specifically dark flowers will do the trick.]
Action
[Relationships.... are his weak point really.]
[If he likes someone he wants them happy, and the bird in him, the phoenix in him demands everyone pair up so no one is ever lonely again. But his own love life isn't exactly the stuff out of romance novels, it's messy and complicated and generally tragic. How could it be anything else? He always puts his family first, always has, always will, and no woman can become a part of that while still staying separate enough not to be seen as something like a baby sister.]
[Then there's Ikki who, just like Marco, has been avoiding nearly everyone because of his headaches with Selphie. Marco's fault, right? He shouldn't have pushed him so fast. Maybe if he'd listened to Ikki better, listened to Ikki's concerns about burning her, maybe neither of them would have gotten so hurt. Marco could have told Selphie to back up to keep distance......... and that would have hurt them both too. Ikki would have been lonely, in his volcano, and Selphie would have been distant. A different kind of pain.]
[How do you stop someone from hurting just from being near you? Sometimes you have to accept that that pain will always be there.]
[It's like this island.]
[No one sees the pain. It's not nonexistent, but it's so hidden in the rest that no one notices it as easily. The tug of war seems subdued, but for someone like Marco, that just makes it scream all the louder.]
[He flies over to the ship, carrying the flower crown and armband in his beak. He perches on the edge of the Crow's Nest and drops the armband free so Natsuno can catch it before gently doing his best to fit the crown on the half-vampire's head.]
[Hopefully the specifically dark flowers will do the trick.]