[ audible for miles, and yet quiet the whole way. a vibration that shakes one to the very bones, but breaks nothing, sends no glasses tumbling. satoko chuckles, shakes her head, and the satoko within her - satoko's heart, reserved but willing to talk, not the ancient cavern of ice below - feels a reluctant sort of fondness.

anna is a friend, after all. perhaps her best friend here, save for rika and rena. if she can't speak to anna, then who can she speak to? ]

Well, if you insist. [ she approaches, folding her skirt beneath her and taking a seat on the grass. ] And I'll have you know I had no plans to attend originally! I simply felt Paul had earned my acknowledgment, that's all.

[ a warmth in her heart, felt for the man who fought - and died - for friends he barely knew. an echo of respect, cried out long ago, from the cavernous depths. ]

And here I find him drugging my friends. [ a theatrical sigh. ] Such shameful behavior! I'll have to reprimand him later.

[ it's a joke, clear and easy. but perhaps anna doesn't realize how far it goes at first. it's the ancient part of satoko that laughs, a smirk and a chuckle that echoes throughout that massive knot of death and pain and emptiness. ]