Somewhere near the edge of town, a figure clad in fur and skins thrashes out of a tangle of undergrowth. She seems to be headed toward the stony road that leads up the mountain. Tears glint on her cheeks, and the back of a hand comes up to dash them away; her expression is somewhere been angry and distraught, as she stalks northward.

There's a dead tree by the edge of the lake, felled to become a gradually rotting log beside the shore. On the most solid part, Serendipity sits, knees near his chest, arms on his knees, chin on his arms, gazing out over the water, toward the airship. The sound of Safi's thrashing distracts him from his thoughts -- he turns, and seeing her, twists and unfolds to his feet, facing her. "Hey, beautiful..." he calls, quietly.

Safi's head snaps up, and a hand pushes dark tangles out of her face. She comes to an uncertain halt, and looks for an escape route with stricken eyes. Her attention returns to him, the dark eyes patently unhappy. She swallows, though, and musters enough voice for a weak "Hello."

Serendipity takes in Safi's expression, and awwws, sympathetically. "Y'look like you need a hug," he remarks, and spreads his arms a bit, invitingly. "C'mere 'n' tell Uncle Ren all about it, gorgeous. Plennya room on the log," he offers, and looks honestly concerned.

She gives him a doubtful look, but need wins out over caution. Safi paces over, soft boots quiet on the snow-muffled ground. She comes close to him, but offers nothing--just the dark, unhappy look in her lowered eyes.

Serendipity drops his arms lightly, and sits back down, patting the spot beside him on the log. He still remembers his promise, apparently, as much as he might prefer not to. "C'mon, get comfy. 's wrong, sweet thing? Y'look like someone broke your heart."

Safi shakes her head minutely, and sits down next to him, staring at the ground glumly. "No. It does not matter." Her voice is soft, hoarse. "Danny did not want help, and Miki wanted for me to go. So I go away, and zen Justin and-- and Danny, call me a puppy zey are kicking. But it is only, I know when Miki does not want me near, and Danny did not want me to try and help... so is better, wis' everyone, if I go."

Serendipity shifts slightly on the log, adjusting his position so his fingers are trapped beneath his thighs. Probably not comfortable. "How could anyone not want you near? Anyway, the puppy thing, that means they felt like they were bein' mean to you when you were all sweet 'n' innocent and didn't deserve it, y'know? 'case you never heard it before. What'd you wanna help with?"

"Danny is seeing dreams. Always, visions speak to him. It is... hard for him. But when I ask to help, he back away, he did not want for me to try. Did not want me to see." She hitches a shoulder. "And Miki wanted to talk to Justin, and he would not talk wis' me standing zere." She swallows. "Is why I nevair want to go see anyone. Because it only makes trouble, or else everyone want me to go, and it-- makes me sad, inside, when I can not talk to nobody any more. Always, I feel ... someone is wanting me to not be zere."

"Well, hey, I don't wantcha not to be here, if that helps any," Ren offers affectionately, and shrugs. "Miki prolly wants to talk to Justin alone 'cause they're lovers 'n' all. You wanna talk t' Jack alone sometimes, yeah? I mean, you prolly wouldn't want me there sometimes when you wanted to say somethin' to him?" He considers a moment, then adds, "...and Danny doesn't strike me as the most stable guy in town, no pun intended."

The tears kindle again. "I hate it," she whispers. "I do not undairstand... because I love, I want him to be happy-- but I cannot be wis' him, and it /hurts/. It hurts more, to see, zen before when it was only... not having." Safi wraps both arms around herself tightly. "And it hurts, for them to hate me and laugh at me."

Serendipity's arms twitch slightly, but his hands stay restrained beneath his legs. He sighs. "Aw, beautiful. I know it hurts. But I'm pretty sure they don't hate 'n' laugh at you. I mean, c'mon, you don't hate 'n' laugh at Justin, right? And he's had t' see you and Jack 'n' not have and all, right?" he asks, gently reasonable. Another little sigh, and he gives in and allows one arm its freedom, letting it rise to come around behind her shoulders, but not touch. "C'mere. 'sokay. What makes you think Justin doesn't love you still? I mean, I get that it hurts t' see someone else with him when you can't be, but you wouldn't rather make him be all alone, wouldja?"

The curve of his arm, and the sound of his voice, touch that trigger that sympathy often finds. She curls up against his shoulder, clinging to his waist with both arms and sobbing. A weak shake of her head answers the question. "N-no... but Miki will hate me /forever/ and keep him away and-- and--"

Serendipity frees the other arm -- promise conditions met! -- and curls it about Safi as well, cuddling her in gently. "Shhh," he murmurs softly into her hair, "...shhh. Why d'you think Miki hates you, lovely? Because you 'n' Justin care for each other?"

Safi shakes her head. Her voice is hoarse, tearful, slightly muffled by the bowed head and the tangle of her hair falling around her shoulders and face. "N-no... it is, what I said about his brother-- because I thought Anderja--"

Serendipity gently strokes the hair away from her face. "...mmm?" he prompts. "What'd you say 'n' think?"

Safi shakes her head violently. "It does not mattair," she whispers. A shiver, and then she admits, "I do not... trust Anderja."

"I haven't met the guy," Serendipity remarks, adding dryly, "...though I got compared t' him, I think. So who says you gotta trust everyone? Or anyone in particular, for that matter?"

"They will hate me forever," Safi whispers.

Serendipity pets some more, gently. "Aw, c'mon... c'mon. They won't hatecha forever. Bet they don't even hatecha now. =Sure= Justin doesn't. And if Miki does... well, if he can't get over it, fuck it, yeah? Not everyone hasta like you."

Serendipity adds, reaching out with a finger to tip Safi's chin upward, "...their loss."

She lifts a tear-streaked face, to look at him. Her eyes are dark, pain-shadowed, and terribly vulnerable.

Serendipity brushes the tear streaks away with gentle fingers, and leans down to press a feather-soft little kiss to the girl's forehead -- nothing more. He half-smiles at her, and his eyes seem sympathetic and sincere. "It'll be a'ight, lovely."

She sniffles, a hand coming up to wipe across her nose. "It will not," she mumbles. "Not ever."

Serendipity's face stays close to Safi's, watching the girl's expressions. "No?" he murmurs quietly, "Why not?"

Safi lowers her eyes, ducking her head a little. "Because-- Miki is like that. He will never forgive--" She sniffles again quietly, and wipes her face on her sleeve.

"Even if he never does," Ren asks, still quiet, "what's the big deal? It's not like you want him, and it's not like Justin won't still love you, so...?"

"He will take Justinn away," Safi whispers, frightened. "Make him hate me too." Her expression tightens. "Maybe is better, if I run away. Then no one can hurt me."

Serendipity tightens his arms slightly around Safi -- not too constrictive, but firm. "Well, nothing wrong with running away, 'cept it doesn't keep people from hurting you. ...well, possibly the people you were runnin' from, but not the ones you end up with. Personally, I make it a policy not t' bother unless they're planning to hurt me with guns or swords or somethin' else permanent." He glances upward, then brushes back a bit of Safi's hair again. "...look. Justin's his own man, a'ight? He isn't gonna stop loving you just 'cause his lover might be ticked that you don't like his brother. Give the guy a little credit, mm?"

Safi lifts her eyes. "Do you think--I can make friends?" She looks like a tearful, frightened child. "It is not-- not me? Because I never know how to talk to anyone--"

"'course you can make friends," Serendipity assures softly, and flashes a quick grin, gentler than the usual one, "...I'm your friend, right? So there's proof. Just keep doin' the best you can, y'know? 's all any of us can do."

Safi meets his gaze, almost nose to nose, her eyes catching a spark of sunlight. She gives a tiny nod.

Serendipity grins a slow, crooked little grin, and nods back. "See? You just do what you can do, just be who you are, and if that's not good enough for someone, fuck 'em. Their loss, beautiful."

Safi's brow furrows. "But I do not want to fuck zem," she says, soft and confused. "I want ze ones I love."

Serendipity snirks just a little. "Figure of speech," he explains. "Means... forget 'em, t' hell with them. Y'know? The people you love, they love you how you are, 'kay? And they're not gonna let anyone talk 'em outta it."

"It... frightens, me. That maybe--" She lowers her eyes. "People can make Jack not love me. Make Justin not talk to me, not be my friend any more. I do not want nobody to hate me. I did not mean to make zem hate me, it is only..." Stricken, she winces. "I do not know some things."

Serendipity tilts his head, brow furrowing slightly. "No one can make Jack not love you but him, and if he did -- then he doesn't deserve you. 'specially not with all you give up for him. But, c'mon. Why would anyone wanna try to make him stop loving you anyway? And Justin hasn't stopped talkin' to you, has he?" He pushes a bit of her hair behind her ear. "No one knows everything. You're doin' pretty good for bein' new to it."

Safi lowers her eyes, and swallows. "I am trying to learn," she says softly.

The grin returns, barely. "Yeah. We all are," Ren replies, with a faint shrug. "They're makin' it up as they go along too, cutie. You're doin' fine."

Ducking her head, she rubs at her nose with one hand. "Thank you," she whispers.

Serendipity gives Safi a squeeze, and another chaste little kiss at the hairline, like the uncle he declared himself. "Welcome. Any time, lovely."

Safi bites her lower lip, and gives him a crooked smile. "We can be friends, maybe?"

Serendipity breaks into another grin, and nods. "Absolutely. Friends," he agrees, firmly.

Safi darts in to kiss him, light enough to be chaste but full on the lips. Drawing back, she hops to her feet in the snow. "Good."

Serendipity is briefly startled, then breaks into another grin, a full one, this time. He lets her go as she rises. "Good," he agrees, and brushes a strand or two of his own hair out of his face. "...you off, then?"

"I will go, yes," she says quietly. "I want to see Jack."

"Heh. Figured," Ren replies, with a faint shrug -- at least, that's what the tiny roll of his shoulders evokes -- and then another nod. "G'luck. Hope y'catch him."

Safi laughs lightly. "I always catch what I hunt." Then she is running, light footsteps crunching in the snow.

Serendipity watches a moment, grinning, as she disappears, and then turns back to the lake, pulling back into his original position on the log, and staring out over the water once more.