[ Can she stay calm? Frankly, no. Mafuyu is very rarely calm, and this is honestly one of those moments where she should be allowed to freak out, because they're effectively stranded on a cup in the middle of a deep puddle until who knows when.
The hand on hers is a well-meaning gesture, but Mafuyu slaps her other hand over Tuuri's wrist, with the wild, panicked eyes of somebody who might throw Tuuri overboard upon hearing that she can swim. ]
Why didn't you do that to begin with?! If you knew how to swim, you could've just swam across and be gone by now instead of being stuck here with me!
[Eep, okay, her well-meaning gesture definitely did not go as planned, if the crazed way that Mafuyu grabs her is any indication.]
I mean, the water in the puddle is pretty gross, I was hoping to avoid jumping into it... [also, wait, more importantly--] And I'm not just going to jump off the cup and leave you stranded? Who would do that?
[ Mafuyu shoots the question back with genuine confusion, because if their positions were switched, she would have definitely, without hesitation, leapt into the sludge of a puddle and left Tuuri behind. ]
I wouldn't! [she says angrily, and not a little haughtily, because by now it's dawned on her that the only thing that stopped Mafuyu from leaving her stranded was Mafuyu's inability to do so. She yanks her hand out from under Mafuyu's crazy grip, muttering to herself as she adjusts her grip on the cup.] The world we live in is one where only a few of us notice when weird, stupid things happen, like getting stranded on a coffee cup in the middle of a puddle because we woke up tiny!
[So, like, why wouldn't they stick together, is where she's going with this, but instead of vocalizing that she hauls herself to her feet, paying little attention to the way it jostles the cup, and does another big, swooping gesture with her arms to propel them forward-- with a hint of pettiness, because now who cares if they tip the cup over??
[ From all the suggestions Tuuri provides to the encouragement that she gives, it's easy to tell that she cares. Unfortunately, Mafuyu doesn't see that, too busy panicking as she shouts at the first lurch of the cup and leaps forward to grab hold of... Tuuri.
She tackles her around the middle to get her to stop, because they already tried this and it didn't work last time and if they fall in and Mafuyu drowns and dies, they'll die together. ]
[Somehow, Tuuri didn't see this coming. The cup may move slightly closer to their destination, but it's hard to tell since, you know, Mafuyu lunged at her. Tuuri screams and scrambles to grab on to some part of the styrofoam, which starts tilting dangerously horizontal.]
Why did you do that! [she yells, digging her fingers into the cup as it starts taking on water.] We were going to be okay!!
We weren't going to be okay!! We already tried that and it didn't work!!! Why would you do something that already almost killed us?!!
[ Mafuyu continues shouting with her face smothered against Tuuri's side, arms wrapped around her and eyes wide at the rising level of water that has Mafuyu tightening her grip with every inch. ]
Why did you tackle me! That's going to kill us too! [Should Tuuri try to stay calm in this situation, instead of yelling about how they're going to die? Probably, but strangely enough Mafuyu clinging to her like an octopus doesn't help to lower her anxiety. Oh god, Mafuyu is going to throttle her to death before the water gets them.
No. They need to stop yelling. Time for plan B!] Please let go of me! I'll swim us across to the other side! [the cup is still leisurely drifting along the water, even as it's starting to sink; maybe she can make it to the curb!] But you have to let go!
[ Let go of the only chance of survival that is Tuuri? Not a chance. ]
If you can swim, just take me with you! Drag me along!
[ Whether she's clinging to the styrofoam or Tuuri's back shouldn't make much of a difference, and Mafuyu is all but ready to abandon ship at this point, though the longer they continue to argue, it seems like they'll be left with no choice but to abandon the cup for the water. ]
I can't swim if you're holding onto me! [They are definitely going to sink like a stone if she tries.] I wouldn't be able to move! But if you hold onto the cup I can kick it over!
[Probably, unless she starts pushing down on the cup while she's kicking, but even then at least she'd get some distance in...]
[ Like this is a matter of belief, not ability. But she's sure it's possible; when they were little, she's sure Yato must have dragged her through the water at one point, her kicking and screaming while tucked under her cousin's arm. Maybe that's why she never learned to swim, but the point is!!! it could work. ]
You can still swim, see- look! I can make myself small and...
[ One hard lets go so she can tuck herself into a ball, leaving only the other clinging to Tuuri's shirt. Now's the time to shove Mafuyu off and ignore her, just ignore her. ]
[Now may be the time to push Mafuyu away and leave her to her fate, but... something about her mix of fear and desperate confidence in something that Tuuri objectively cannot do makes the guilt weigh too heavily on her conscience. For one glorious moment, Mafuyu's done it; she's convinced Tuuri that she really can do this. That Tuuri can lead the both of them to safety if she just takes the same leap of faith that Mafuyu is taking right now.]
Alright! Hang on!
[It's really one glorious moment, because as soon as Tuuri pushes off of the cup, she realizes that no, she was right the first time, they're going to sink like a stone.
Tuuri does her best to tread water, but that's surprisingly hard when 1) you've just jumped into nasty ass city water and 2) you're trying to support someone who cannot swim and seems dedicated to making that abundantly clear. She doesn't manage to do more than propel them forward with a few kicks until she's also flailing, and sure that she's going to sink to the bottom of the puddle--
--when she realizes that she can stand up in the puddle.
like, it's still up to her chest, but they've managed to float their way over close enough to the curb that the puddle isn't unmanageably deep here.]
[ Mafuyu, who hasn't shut up the entire time she's touched water, is still screaming over Tuuri's sudden revelation that she doesn't even hear it. Her voice pitches higher for a moment when they stop moving, because that means Tuuri's given up and now they're both going to die but then- they aren't. Mafuyu's the only one screaming and she snaps her jaws shut with a click when she sees the water level hasn't risen any during her last few precious seconds of life, and then she too lets her feet touch the ground and loosens some of that death grip on Tuuri's arm.
It's a miracle.
Finally letting go, Mafuyu makes a mad dash for shore— trips because running in water is so impossible- and goes right under.
See, we're fi-- [is what Tuuri starts to say, until Mafuyu dashes off and promptly falls into the stream of gross garbage water.] Perkele!
[The thought of leaving Mafuyu to drown does not remotely occur to her; she half-swims, half-sloshes over to where Mafuyu went under, hoping that she will physically bump into her body. Kinda rude, but the alternative is ducking her head in and trying to open her eyes to look for her and that is not a good option.]
Hey! [god she doesn't even know Mafuyu's name--] Hey!! Can you hear me! Flail around if you can!
[ She can't hear Tuuri for being underwater, for wasting her breath trying to shout underwater, but she does make a valiant effort flailing after crashing into the water and will probably kick Tuuri before she gets the chance to knee Mafuyu in the stomach.
It's dark, it's cold and gross and terror grips her, struggles futile in this damned several inches of water. ]
[Well, at least she knows where Mafuyu is. Taking a deep breath, she reaches down under the water to haul her up. As soon as Mafuyu's head breaks the surface, Tuuri yells]
Please don't run again. Okay? Hold onto me like before and we'll get to the curb!
[ Glorious air! It's like being given a second chance at life, and Mafuyu silently clings to Tuuri all the way to the curb, so uncharacteristically still and quiet. Because she won't live if Tuuri decides heck with it and tosses her back into the sea— puddle, she corrects herself, but it's so large and deep with them being the sizes that they are, that the puddle seems like the ocean, so much so that the last wisps of memory replays in her head: she'd been drowning, sinking even as she'd waved arms and legs, and then she had blacked out. ]
[Tuuri's not going to question Mafuyu's sudden silence, since it makes it much easier to haul them both to the curb. She focuses on sloshing their way across the puddle until they're right at the edge. The top of the curb is above their heads, out of her reach.]
You have to climb up. [she says eventually.] I can't push you up that high, I'm sorry.
[Honestly, she's not sure if she can pull herself up that high, but she'll cross that bridge once she gets to it.]
[ Her limbs feel so heavy out of the water without buoyant force to lift her up, but Mafuyu takes one look at the curb above their heads and— sorry— brings her foot up onto Tuuri's shoulder and uses her as a boost to jump for the curb, hands grasping the edge and she starts pulling herself up, slowly but surely with all that energy conserved from not needing to swim.
She hauls herself over the edge.
Walks away.
Goodbye.
Only, a minute or so later, she returns, carrying a stick over her shoulders like a javelin, and she lets one end of it fall into the water while she holds onto the other. ]
Ow-- [It's fine, cool, whatever. They have to get out of the water, after all, and if that means that Mafuyu has to use her shoulder as a stepping stone, that's... fine. The important thing is that Mafuyu made it to the top of the curb to
fucking betray Tuuri immediately.]
Wh-- [WHAT THE FUCK. She's stuck here boggling at this for a few seconds, too tired to do much more than stare in disbelief at the sight of Mafuyu wandering away. She's only just started to try to haul herself up (which is completely impossible; she hasn't yet accepted that she'll have to walk down to the corner though she knows it's true) when
Mafuyu comes back?? What.]
You came back! [Maybe a better response is 'why didn't you say something when you left,' but she's tired and soaked and it's all she can do to start inching her way up the stick. This is going to take a little while.]
[ Remarkably, Mafuyu is not without appreciation; she just has a terrible way of showing it, because she's so used to being able to do everything on her own and hates having to owe people. If she can pay this back by holding the stick still while Tuuri climbs, then she'll do that. Only. It's so slow... ]
Hold on, okay?!
[ —the only warning Tuuri gets before Mafuyu tries to pull the entire stick upwards, Tuuri and all, the stick rolling on the edge and slipping sometimes but it's sort of slowly inching up? ]
[Honestly, Tuuri is so touched by the dramatic rescue moment that they're having here that she doesn't even voice silly questions like why Mafuyu just wandered off; this is a really heartwarming moment, and she just smiles in response and double-times her slow crawl up the stick.
O-or she doesn't, because now Mafuyu is pulling the stick up. She yelps and it's all she can do to hang on for the first few seconds, but after a false start or two she manages to get her feet on the curb and walk up with the stick. Teamwork!!
She manages to get her hand on the edge, hauls herself over, and immediately rolls onto her back to stare up at the cloudy sky.] I can't believe we got out of that. [she says, panting somewhat exaggerated.] I never want to move again.
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The hand on hers is a well-meaning gesture, but Mafuyu slaps her other hand over Tuuri's wrist, with the wild, panicked eyes of somebody who might throw Tuuri overboard upon hearing that she can swim. ]
Why didn't you do that to begin with?! If you knew how to swim, you could've just swam across and be gone by now instead of being stuck here with me!
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I mean, the water in the puddle is pretty gross, I was hoping to avoid jumping into it... [also, wait, more importantly--] And I'm not just going to jump off the cup and leave you stranded? Who would do that?
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[ Mafuyu shoots the question back with genuine confusion, because if their positions were switched, she would have definitely, without hesitation, leapt into the sludge of a puddle and left Tuuri behind. ]
It's survival! This is the world we live in!
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[So, like, why wouldn't they stick together, is where she's going with this, but instead of vocalizing that she hauls herself to her feet, paying little attention to the way it jostles the cup, and does another big, swooping gesture with her arms to propel them forward-- with a hint of pettiness, because now who cares if they tip the cup over??
(Tuuri still cares.)] Hold on.
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She tackles her around the middle to get her to stop, because they already tried this and it didn't work last time and if they fall in and Mafuyu drowns and dies, they'll die together. ]
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Why did you do that! [she yells, digging her fingers into the cup as it starts taking on water.] We were going to be okay!!
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[ Mafuyu continues shouting with her face smothered against Tuuri's side, arms wrapped around her and eyes wide at the rising level of water that has Mafuyu tightening her grip with every inch. ]
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No. They need to stop yelling. Time for plan B!] Please let go of me! I'll swim us across to the other side! [the cup is still leisurely drifting along the water, even as it's starting to sink; maybe she can make it to the curb!] But you have to let go!
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If you can swim, just take me with you! Drag me along!
[ Whether she's clinging to the styrofoam or Tuuri's back shouldn't make much of a difference, and Mafuyu is all but ready to abandon ship at this point, though the longer they continue to argue, it seems like they'll be left with no choice but to abandon the cup for the water. ]
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[Probably, unless she starts pushing down on the cup while she's kicking, but even then at least she'd get some distance in...]
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[ Like this is a matter of belief, not ability. But she's sure it's possible; when they were little, she's sure Yato must have dragged her through the water at one point, her kicking and screaming while tucked under her cousin's arm. Maybe that's why she never learned to swim, but the point is!!! it could work. ]
You can still swim, see- look! I can make myself small and...
[ One hard lets go so she can tuck herself into a ball, leaving only the other clinging to Tuuri's shirt. Now's the time to shove Mafuyu off and ignore her, just ignore her. ]
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Alright! Hang on!
[It's really one glorious moment, because as soon as Tuuri pushes off of the cup, she realizes that no, she was right the first time, they're going to sink like a stone.
Tuuri does her best to tread water, but that's surprisingly hard when 1) you've just jumped into nasty ass city water and 2) you're trying to support someone who cannot swim and seems dedicated to making that abundantly clear. She doesn't manage to do more than propel them forward with a few kicks until she's also flailing, and sure that she's going to sink to the bottom of the puddle--
--when she realizes that she can stand up in the puddle.
like, it's still up to her chest, but they've managed to float their way over close enough to the curb that the puddle isn't unmanageably deep here.]
...I can stand.
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It's a miracle.
Finally letting go, Mafuyu makes a mad dash for shore— trips because running in water is so impossible- and goes right under.
Enjoy your silence, Tuuri, you've earned it. ]
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[The thought of leaving Mafuyu to drown does not remotely occur to her; she half-swims, half-sloshes over to where Mafuyu went under, hoping that she will physically bump into her body. Kinda rude, but the alternative is ducking her head in and trying to open her eyes to look for her and that is not a good option.]
Hey! [god she doesn't even know Mafuyu's name--] Hey!! Can you hear me! Flail around if you can!
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It's dark, it's cold and gross and terror grips her, struggles futile in this damned several inches of water. ]
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[Well, at least she knows where Mafuyu is. Taking a deep breath, she reaches down under the water to haul her up. As soon as Mafuyu's head breaks the surface, Tuuri yells]
Please don't run again. Okay? Hold onto me like before and we'll get to the curb!
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You have to climb up. [she says eventually.] I can't push you up that high, I'm sorry.
[Honestly, she's not sure if she can pull herself up that high, but she'll cross that bridge once she gets to it.]
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She hauls herself over the edge.
Walks away.
Goodbye.
Only, a minute or so later, she returns, carrying a stick over her shoulders like a javelin, and she lets one end of it fall into the water while she holds onto the other. ]
I'm back! Climb this!!
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fucking betray Tuuri immediately.]
Wh-- [WHAT THE FUCK. She's stuck here boggling at this for a few seconds, too tired to do much more than stare in disbelief at the sight of Mafuyu wandering away. She's only just started to try to haul herself up (which is completely impossible; she hasn't yet accepted that she'll have to walk down to the corner though she knows it's true) when
Mafuyu comes back?? What.]
You came back! [Maybe a better response is 'why didn't you say something when you left,' but she's tired and soaked and it's all she can do to start inching her way up the stick. This is going to take a little while.]
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[ Remarkably, Mafuyu is not without appreciation; she just has a terrible way of showing it, because she's so used to being able to do everything on her own and hates having to owe people. If she can pay this back by holding the stick still while Tuuri climbs, then she'll do that. Only. It's so slow... ]
Hold on, okay?!
[ —the only warning Tuuri gets before Mafuyu tries to pull the entire stick upwards, Tuuri and all, the stick rolling on the edge and slipping sometimes but it's sort of slowly inching up? ]
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O-or she doesn't, because now Mafuyu is pulling the stick up. She yelps and it's all she can do to hang on for the first few seconds, but after a false start or two she manages to get her feet on the curb and walk up with the stick. Teamwork!!
She manages to get her hand on the edge, hauls herself over, and immediately rolls onto her back to stare up at the cloudy sky.] I can't believe we got out of that. [she says, panting somewhat exaggerated.] I never want to move again.