don't expect me to cry

She's rather settled in her spot, looking out over the world. It seems to spread before her, welcoming, inviting. All the world was for her, for her to take. For her to reach out and grab. Forbidden fruit? Maybe. Maybe that's what makes things even better, Nirvana has decided. It's like every last moment of her existence, from bouncing back from that mysterious illness until now, was forbidden. Forbidden, stolen, spirited away. She's been spirited away from it all. She'd stolen it all. If she'd stolen from fate itself, then maybe she deserved to be lonely. Maybe that was just how it... how it worked.

Nirvana isn't alone for long. The appearance of her uncle... she lifts her head to peer at him. "Do you ever feel like you cheated fate?" Well, he'd as good as asked her, so the girl would share what was on her mind. Still, she has to crane her neck to look up at the man, so she doesn't hold his gaze for long. Instead, she settles back to looking out over the Sound itself. If he wanted to stay, he would-- there was never any stopping Merrick, after all.

"I feel like I survived when I wasn't supposed to, so I cheated death. I cheated fate. If I cheated fate, then my soulmate isn't here, he's dead like I'm meant to be." The words come quickly, clipped, in a flood. The emotion that comes with them is something strange. Nirvana is finally able to give voice to the things that have been keeping her up at night, and Merrick is probably being given more of an earful than he originally asked for or planned on getting. "I cheated fate, I won, and I'm not going to give that up." She straightened up, neck arched, taking a moment to be proud of herself. "Doesn't mean that it doesn't suck sometimes." Right. That was what happened to be on Nirvana's mind.

"Nirvana"