Josie had gone back down into the underground city of Grand Pan without fuss, even lightly pestering Kaito into getting him and Flareon some frozen treats since they’d been sitting out in the sun a while. And from there, Josie just seemed content as could be to enjoy his treat with his pokemon and chill out in the city he had been staying in. 

He didn’t have a good idea when that other gym leader was going to be by, but Josie was banking on Kaito not planning on Josie being a part of that whole conversation, and thus would be distracted for…a while, hopefully. It was easy enough slipping back up once Kaito left him, waving cheerfully to some of the Clefairy in the Pokemon Center, and then…

Josie booked it. He didn’t know where Mick would be, exactly, but he wasn’t going to be in the desert so each moment Josie stayed there was a moment wasted. A moment closer to Kaito losing his mind and coming after him, which…yeah, Josie felt a little bad for, but if things went perfectly, though Josie wasn’t even sure what perfectly would look like, then he could make it back without Kaito noticing anything. 

…if he was being specifically targeted for a non-perfect life, though… Or…if the world just didn’t consider him enough to make paradise…

Josie swallowed a thick breath as he made it into the mouth of Route 11, deciding where to go next. Okay, if he were a pro-trainer, where would he want to hang out?

Still mulling it over, Josie headed west. 

-

Mick was, as Ava would call it… a relationship.

He wasn’t a person. Not really. But you couldn’t have a ‘person’ in this world that wasn’t being sustained by someone else. Not unless you wanted it to be immediately obvious that said ‘person’... wasn’t.

So, Mick was a relationship. Complicated and multi-faceted and full of personality, like all deep relationships were. He was one of Josie’s relationships. But that meant Mick’s world was sort of… wrapped around Josie. 

And Mick hated Josie.

To the point where the handful of people, not quotations, who spent time around him were starting to worry that might just be, like… a whoooole thing, as Cayden gave Mick a strained look over his beer. “Aaaand this evil, jackass, dirt beneath your shoes, ‘Josie’ kid is… 16? You said?”

“Ten,” Mick said darkly. Throwing another dart harshly into the dartboard. 

“Yeah, I thought he looked a little young,” Cayden said grimly, another dart going into Josie’s eyes, the picture taped to the dartboard.

“And I’m out,” John sighed, rolling his eyes as he watched the teenager glare at the picture, “Look, I know how shitty it is to be the ‘bad guy’ in a situation, and I try to lend an ear. But the kid is literally 10. What happened, did he steal your legos when he was 8? You’re supposed to look out for your little siblings.”

“No one has any idea. He’s a creature of fate. He brings destruction wherever he goes. He ruined my life,” Mick snarled, throwing another dart, “I’ll never forgive him.”

“...I bet he stole his favorite toy,” Cayden whispered to John, snickering as John just rolled his eyes.

Josie wasn’t sure what stopped him. Maybe it just seemed like the sort of place his brother might be, or he just wanted to hope for his own sake Mick wasn’t on the other side of the region by now, or…maybe it was the Absol he saw staring down at him from some high-up crags. Maybe that was concerning, that Josie would take seeing an Absol as a sign, but…well, he’d always liked them. Got a bad rap in his opinion. It wasn’t their fault that by trying to warn people about bad luck, they had it attributed to themselves instead. 

But, giving the Absol a nod, Josie took a breath and…really hoped this wasn’t about to be some truly bad luck. 

He’d probably be shooed out in a second, if there was anyone watching the door, but quietly Josie peeked into the bar, trying to spot a distinctive shade of red. 

Phwoook!

A dart lodged itself into the wooden frame of the door. John stood up and said, “Dude, what the hell!?” as Cayden giggled nervously, practically trying to hide behind his beer as both of them watched this unhinged teenager immediately try to throw a dart into the head of whoever had just opened the bar door. Seeing it was a kid didn’t help at all as Cayden giggled nervously again before turning around and sipping his drink, like he wasn’t aware anything was happening, and John looked around, hoping the bartender might be around to kick the teen out. Nope. No sign of her. “Dude!”

“You,” Mick growled. Glaring at the kid.

“Me,” Josie grinned widely, giving Mick a little wave. “Honestly I didn’t think I’d find you so fast, that was lucky…” The smile strained. “...hey, can…I talk to you for a sec?” Josie gave a look around the bar. “...somewhere I won’t immediately get kicked out of?”

John looked notably uncomfortable. “Kid, you might not want to…” John glanced at the dartboard where Josie was full of holes, “...goooo anywhere with this guy.”

“Hey, this is a family thing, leave them alone,” Cayden said, waving his hand vaguely, “It’s just a teenager being a teenager. You know how it is…” Cayden smirked, “Boys will be boys.”

John looked at the dart lodged in the door. “...uh huh.”

“Come on,” Mick said, rolling his eyes as he stormed out of the bar, “Let’s go for a walk.”

Josie beamed at John. “Oh, no worries! We’ll just be a sec, promise!” …though that probably depended more on Mick’s patience being around him, but…either way his brother would be returning to the bar. …whiiiiich probably wasn’t great, but it wasn’t like Josie was about to get on his case for underage drinking. 

“Right!” Josie chirped, turning to go out of the bar and quickly walking, trying not to get completely left behind by Mick. Okay! Step one complete, now he just had to…

“Look, I’m sorry for coming to find you, but…I thought you should know,” Josie started out, trying not to fidget with nerves. “Kaito got a couple calls from different gym leaders, a-and it sounds like they’re gonna tell the League soon too--it…sounds like everyone’s stuck in a psychic construct. Like reality’s a dream, or something like that. And, um…”

Mick reached over and grabbed the back of Josie’s shirt, pushing him forward, tripping him up. “You’re moving too slow.”

“Sorry! Still haven’t hit that growth spurt yet!” Josie grinned, stumbling a bit but trying to pick up the pace. Okay, so,Mick hadn’t just called him a liar yet, so that was…something. 

“Um, they’re all meeting up to…figure out what to do, I guess, but there’s other stuff… Like, Gym Leader Fortuna said that this is sort of supposed to be a paradise for people? But some of that doesn’t really make sense, and, um…”

Just say it just say it it doesn’t matter how you feel--

Talking through the ice block in his chest, Josie said tentatively, “I’m…not sure if…I’m real.”

Mick snorted, but he didn’t say anything for a bit. The two just walked down the route for a bit. The dry dirt of being so close to the desert region layered through the heated air. Dust always coating the tongue, as above them Absols circled over the crags. 

“...could you imagine, if I was that lucky?” Mick said, after a bit. Glaring down the road. “If you were just some nightmare I was having?”

“Right?” Josie said softly, grinning…before it faded as he swallowed, clenching his hands into fists to try and steady himself. “So… So… I don’t know, I wanted to tell you what was happening, but…”

Josie chanced glancing up at his brother. Feeling the ice block surge in his chest and almost feeling like…he wanted to cry, though he wasn’t really sure why. “...If…I’m really not real, a-and people wake up after this and… I just wanted…”

“...I’m sorry, Mick,” Josie whispered, looking down. “I never wanted things to be this way…if my wants account for anything at all.”

Mick was a relationship.

A terrible one. 

“When has what you wanted ever NOT counted!?” Mick shouted, turning on the boy. Looming over him as stomped towards him, pushing Josie backwards any time Josie didn’t back up fast enough as he snarled down at him, “When have you EVER not been handed EVERYTHING you want!? Between us!? Dad picked you! YOU got to keep your mom! How many badges have you already collected, I bet Dad’s THRILLED with your progress!”

Stepping closer to him again, Mick pushed him hard again, making sure Josie landed in the dirt. “What a load of shit… Everything’s fake, so YOU’RE not real? Because, what?? You think having you as a brother is such a… paradise?” Mick sneered, “You really think you’re some gift to mankind, don’t you? You and I both know, if literal reality was gonna screw one of us over?” 

Mick pulled out a pokeball, gripping it tight. “...it’d be me.”

(The basis of Dicea’s rehabilitative approach to crime and conflict was, well, rehabilitation. At the core of the justice system was the ethos that, given resources, any person had the capability to change for the better. The burden of that belief wasn’t put onto victims, expected to personally forgive the people that harmed them, but it was an idea that had to be believed in politically.)

(There was a reason, though, all of Josie’s childhood friends hated Micklaighn Etrig, and had reactions from challenging Josie to a fight to looking at him sadly whenever, over the years, Josie had spoken up about his thoughts of his brother. It would’ve been enough, if Mick had just consistently beaten Josie in their childhoods, tried to kill him. In his friends’ eyes, it had just been the constant insult, the ghost hanging over them, that Mick and Matthieu’s words had changed into Josie’s voice, becoming the basis of his self-hatred.)

Josie let himself be shoved and pushed back, a knot in his throat. Because…Mick was right. Josie always had everything he could want handed to him. Because he was lucky. Because Dad picked him, and his mom was alive, and everything Josie would ever strive for in life would just fall into his lap, and he’d never be punished for any misstep. Sometimes it felt like Mick was the only other person that saw that too. 

Landing in the dirt with a small, “ooph!” Josie stayed down…but he never really did know when to quit. “That’s not what I mean! Something’s…wrong. If things were really meant to be some form of perfect, different from our real lives…it wouldn’t be like this. I don’t know if something’s been overlooked or…or what, but… I know.” 

Josie squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to cry in front of Mick. It always just pissed him off more. “...I know that if this was supposed to be a paradise for you, I wouldn’t exist. So…maybe I really don’t, I don’t know. I don’t know why this’s happened the way it has. I’m just…sorry.”

“...no you’re not,” Mick said, the pokeball expanding in his grip, “But you will be.”

Hydreigon came out in a flash of light, and roared. Landing heavily into the dry, cracked dirt. Hydreigon’s three heads all focusing on Josie, one already building up energy in its mouth. “HyyyyaaaaAAAAAA–”

And then Hydreigon was in a bubble. A very, very big bubble.

It was a real bubble, and it wasn’t the only one. Mick gasped as he was also put into a translucent, rainbow sheened bubble, the ground gently floating away, as he glared at Josie, who was also in a bubble. Mick tried to hit the bubble’s edge to pop it, but it just bent under the blows before popping back into its circular shape. “What is happening!?”

Mew, was his only response. A light, wide eyed, pink pokemon gently drifting around the bubbles. Peering into them, like it was curious to take a closer look.

…maybe it was for the best. And if Josie wasn’t real anyway…what was the point? Why did…whatever it was that made this dream think it was so important for Josie to…be? In whose paradise was some useless kid, untalented in everything and yet still getting by needed? He certainly had never made another person happy before, so…maybe this was…

Josie blinked, looking around uncertainly as he definitely wasn’t blown away by a Dragon Blast and instead was…floating? Slightly? In a shimmering bubble that…was admittedly quite beautiful, but…

Josie peered back at the strange pokemon, after a moment waving lightly to it. “...Mew?” he called to it. 

Mew~ the pokemon cooed, floating towards Josie after staring curiously at Hydreigon, who tried to snap at it from inside its bubble. The pokemon entirely confident and fearless, as it drifted lazily in front of Josie’s bubble now. Looking curiously at him. Watching his waving hand for a bit… before waving its tail experimentally back.

Josie watched in awe, the hints of a smile coming to his face. This was obviously a very powerful pokemon to trap Hydreigon, not to mention him and Mick too, but…it seemed so… He didn’t even know. The easy, curious…innocent confidence of a small child, maybe. 

“Uh…hi,” Josie said to the strange pokemon again. “What--”

“--no we can’t slow down, Kana-Money! Look at all these Absol! Seeing a gathering like this is a once in a lifetime chance, just imagine what they’re collecting for!!”

The exuberant voice cut through the trees, piercing, almost. 

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m worried about, you little moron…” another voice sighed in response. 

Mew spun lightly upside down, like seeing Josie from another angle might clue it into something… before it gave a delighted little coo at its discovery of how to barrel roll. Doing it a few more times (Do you wanna go upside down) before looking curiously down at the voices. 

It flew down, following the voices… and idly just tracking the three bubbles with it. Them trailing along behind it like ducklings to their mother. 

Three women were trekking through the route, heading right for the gathered Absol on the rocks. The first, and evidently the one whose voice had first been heard, was a petite woman with short black hair followed by a Yanmega, still excitedly chattering away and pointing out little things about the Absols’ behavior to her two companions. Just by their demeanor, it was easy to tell that the second voice belonged to the tallest of the group, her bored look somehow still looking severe as she looked around, unimpressed. And yet, she was still walking with the group, not uninvested as she suddenly pulled the last member, a gorgeous woman with short brown hair and her nose deep in a drawing pad out of the way of a tree, her Smeargle following right after. 

Maybe…pokemon portraitists, if Josie had to guess, and he didn’t really have any reason to think about them more than that, but…it was odd. Just seeing them…there was a surge of affection in his chest that baffled him, but it was so strong that Josie could only watch. 

“--and so casualties were down by 80%! Estimated, anyway!”

“Aw, it’s so sad though, isn’t it? The Absol were just trying to warn people, and even though we know about it now, they were shunned as omens for years.”

Josie found himself nodding slightly in agreement, the affection and longing in him almost…painful. 

“I think people would get freaked out by large gatherings of any pokemon, Absol just happened to be…” The tallest woman paused, her casual look around squinting as she looked up. “...what is this supposed to be, huh?”

∑O口O

✪∀✪

“WHOA!!!”

Mew knew when someone was gasping in pleasure at seeing her. It was understandable. She was the most interesting thing in the universe. 

But, even more interesting were the things she had managed to grab with her pokemon grabby hands. Mew spun gently in the air, before pushing down the bubbles towards the women. Look! Look at her accomplishment! Gaze and be astounded! 

Hydreigon roared within the bubble. Mick was slumped in his bubble, grumbling as he slouched, looking very much like a grumpy teenager.

“Wow! That’s like no use of Bubble I’ve ever seen! HELLO IN THERE!! CAN YOU HEAR US? CAN YOU BREATHE?! WHAT’S THE TENSILE STRENGTH LIKE?!”

Kana sighed, looking between the three bubbles and the strange pokemon. “Well, the Hydreigon explains the roaring we heard earlier… You really tried to take down a Legendary, kid?”

Tsubame gasped in amazement. “Oh, Kana, you think this pokemon is a Legendary? Oh, but, hey, are you three alright? I’ve always wondered what being inside a bubble is like…”

“Uh…yeah, we can hear you,” Josie said tentatively, a little unnerved hearing the weird reverb on his voice in the bubble. “And can breathe. Um…I think we’re okay?” He chanced a quick glance at Mick. 

Smiling softly, Josie waved at the pokemon again. “Mew? Could you let us out of here? Your bubbles seem pretty sturdy, but I think it’d be the best to let us out close to the ground like this…”

“Mew?” Kana quietly confirmed, looking over at the pokemon. 

Mew didn’t really ‘understand’ what any of them were saying… but she knew their {intent}. Honestly, this world was the easiest place to understand she had ever been. Sort of like when she hung out in people’s minds. Not that she understood what she was doing in those moments. She just knew in the same places she could float? She could understand other people.

So, alright. No more grabby? That’s fine for now. Mew. 

“Gah!” Mick gasped, falling onto the ground, Hydreigon immediately going back into its pokeball now that the bubble had burst. Mick groaned, sitting up… before glaring at Josie. “Tsk, typical. Even legendary pokemon prefer you. Eeeeverything always works out for Josie.”

They were closer to the ground…but it was still a drop. However as Josie braced for the ground…he didn’t feel it, instead dropping into something firm, but soft and…warm. Opening his eyes, he astonishedly looked into the fierce mug of an Incineroar, who gave him a nod before gently letting him down to his feet. Looking over, he saw that Yanmega had grasped onto the back of Mick’s jacket, trying to lessen his fall, while the Smeargle had painted what sort of looked like a stack of cushions under Mick as well. 

But as Mick got back to himself… Josie cringed, wilting at the words. It just--

“Uhh, did you just forget that Mew bubbled you up too?” Tsubame asked, raising an eyebrow as she offered a hand for Mick to get up with. “That’s pretty incredible, if a Legendary took an interest in you two.”

Mick glared at her, knocking her hand aside and standing up. Glaring at the women as he took a few steps back… before he smirked. “Careful. That kid over there? He’s cursed. He steals other people’s luck for himself. This thing–” Mick said, pointing at Mew, who looked curiously at him, pointing its tail back, “--probably just left some other poor bastard to drown in a river or something, just to spare Josie a mild asskicking. Because that’s just how things work with it.” Mick scowled, glaring pointedly at Josie. 

“Ooh, a curse?” Myrtle said, looking at Josie with new interest, before seeming to remember herself and coughing embarrassedly. “Ah, I mean…”

Kana let out a full-body sigh. “Or maybe he doesn’t call pokemon ‘things’ or people ‘it’ and isn’t a jackass to people they just meet. What Tauros-shit, you make your own luck.” Josie, who had just cringed more at Mick’s warnings, looked up at the woman in surprise for a moment, before she sighed again. “Whatever--you two need help wherever you’re going? If we’re out here just because a bunch of Absol thought you two were going to have a solid meeting with the ground, I think we’re done here.”

“Aw, but Kana! You’re not even a little curious?” Looking to Mew, Tsubame cooed, “Aren’t you a sweet one! Did you leave someone in a river somewhere?”

Josie choked a little, while Myrtle awkwardly scratched her head under her hat and mumbled, “I…think that was a hypothetical…”

Mew looked at Tsubame… before starting to feel a little shy. Kind of wanting her own parents, now that Josie was with his. 

Everything was Hers… but only certain things were ‘Mine’. And she wanted those things. 

So, mewing shyly, she fluttered up. Her idle floating a little more pointed and purposeful this time.

Mick watched the little pokemon fly away, before scoffing. Turning away, he started to walk off. “Till next time, Josie,” Mick said, glancing over his shoulder and scowling, “That’s a promise.”

Josie’s phone rang.

Sighing, Kana went up to Tsubame, patting her shoulder as the little Legendary pokemon floated off. Not saying as much, but being comforting--everyone knew Legendaries tended not to stick around people for long, you never know when you’d get another chance to see one. 

His heart sinking, Josie watched Mick walk away, murmuring a farewell…before he looked at his phone and groaned. “...crap…”

Slightly turning away, though he could feel Incineroar’s watchful gaze on him, Josie took a breath and answered his phone. “Kaito!” he greeted in a peppy tone, “What’s up? Your friend leave already?”

“What the hell!? You BETTER be enjoying the MAJESTY and SPLENDOR of my cool-ass home somewhere I can’t find you, because I KNOW you did not do the thing I spent a whole-ass speech telling you not to do! Souda wanted to meet you, I was gonna introduce you, no one can find you, are you okay–!?”

It was a lot more of that, Kaito rambling in concern and anger without taking a breath for a while.

Josie winced a little, holding the phone a little away from his ear to avoid deafening himself. Though his expression turned more sheepish as Tsubame plopped down next to him, a loose sketch of Mew’s bubbles already coming to life. 

“Overprotective parents, huh?” she lightly laughed, giving him a light-hearted, commiserating look. “Though with all that just happened, I can’t blame them. Kids need adventure! But it can be pretty scary as a parent if your kid is thirty feet in the air from a pokemon’s curiosity--don’t know how they do it, really.”

“Kaito’s not my parent,” Josie shook his head, just holding the phone to the side while Kaito got it all out of his system. “He’s the Gym Leader of Grand Pan, I’ve just…been staying there for a bit while I’m getting a badge. Guy’s pretty nosy and involved ‘n stuff.”

Tsubame laughed lightly. “Sounds like it! Still…it’s kinda nice getting calls like that, right? Annoying in the moment, sure, but someone caring so much about where you are and what you’re doing…it feels nice to be someone’s priority, I guess.”

“I…guess…” Josie said slowly, not really knowing what she meant, but feeling like the warmth of how she said it was…something worth wanting. “And I did kind of leave unexpectedly…”

“Not to be too nosy myself, but we were actually heading to Grand Pan,” Tsubame explained, “Going to see the Clefable Moonlit Crystals firsthand! …and see what kind of medium would actually be able to capture it.” She laughed a little, looking at the extent pencils could do to translate the translucent colors of Mew’s bubbles. “If you’re headed back, we could use a guide.”

Josie grinned a little, feeling something ease in him to not be leaving this group so soon. “Well, I have been doing a full desert-survival course. Think I’d make a pretty decent guide.”

“Woohoo!!” Myrtle cheered, startling Josie a little from where she was behind them. “Grand Pan here we come!”

-

Look, Kaito knew he was a little insane. 

Maybe even a lot! 

But he had to just barely bite down a threat to GROUND HIM, but not in a parent way, like literally BURY YOU IN A HOLE, I LIVE IN A CAVERN CITY THERE ARE SO MANY HOLES HERE kinda way. Kaito’s concern dipping into some of his more aggressive flaws, though he held himself back. Though he was →← close!! Holes!! Holes for all the dumbasses running into danger! They’ll be NICE holes, but They! Will! Be Holes!!

He only made the speech in his head. Clicking the phone off when Josie had assured Kaito that not only was he heading back, but heading back with some nice women he had met on the path, one of who Kaito got to speak to briefly, even if she sounded a little amused and bewildered by him wanting to speak to one of them.

GOD why was he always LOSING KIDS!? Atua spare him! Gah! 

Kaito almost mindlessly double checked his text messages with Doppio–no message back yet–before turning back to Souda, grinning sheepishly at him. “I found him! But he’s… taking a walk!”

“Uh huh,” Souda said dryly, having literally been right there for that whole speech.

“Right, so, we can just have this whole conversation without him, he’s just a kid, I doubt he’s involved like you’re thinking anyway.”

“No, no, I told you, Kaito, you can’t ‘just a kid’ this! See those two little weirdos!?” Souda said, pointing over at Mike and Ava, who were both curiously looking up at the stonelight from the balcony they were currently taking tea in, “Those two, because of a little device the ‘Taur kid is carrying around, might be the two most important, dangerous people on the continent right now. They can just zap ya, and suddenly your whole reality is a lie! It’s important stuff! And the other kids they woke up immediately knew where the pokemon came from–”

“Space?” Kaito asked, looking tiredly at the kids, “Hey, neither of them are mine, are they?”

“No, not space! Like, someone’s imagination! It’s apparently a re-skinned chess game!” Souda balked, “And no, neither of them are yours. We sent yours back to his mom to go convert her.”

“Mom?” Kaito asked, confused… before saying, “Oh, did I… Polyamorous families get pretty complicated, am I seeing someone else? Besides my husbands?”

“No, no, you ended up adopting a kid with that scary friend of yours–”

“Maki?” Kaito guessed immediately, ‘scary friend’ always being Maki. “Really? We adopted together? Are Maki and I?? Together?? Because let me tell you, we tried that for like a night, I accidentally deeply insulted her and she made me cry. It uh… it did not feel like something that was gonna work out in the long run,” Kaito said dryly. 

“No, it’s like a friendship parent thing, it’s weird, you’re weird, you’re a whole-ass weirdo and you’re gonna remember that in like five seconds once we zappy-zap you.” Souda scoffed, looking over his shoulder as he called to the kids, “Ready to flash someone!?”

“Hey-hey-hey! L-let’s slow down!” Kaito said, putting his hands up in sudden alarm, “L-look, I’m mostly sold on this, but… give me a second, okay? This is a lot you’re asking! I found all this out like an hour ago!”

“Tsk, at least you got an hour. I didn’t get seconds.” Souda scoffed, rolling his eyes.

“I already apologized for that,” Mike griped, glaring at Souda in embarrassment. Sure, just pulling the disruptor on him maybe hadn’t been Mike’s…most graceful moment. But at least they were on the same page now! 

Sighing, Mike gave Kaito an unimpressed look. “If you already know what’s going on, then what’s the hold up? We need to find Miyako, and if Tim doesn’t then you’re the next best bet. It’s not like I know where the hell a magic baby would hang out in a dream.”

Glaring at the man, Mike said, “I haven’t seen the half of it, but you and your family are the nosiest, most involved people I could ever even conceive of, and if you remembered your daughter? You’d be on your knees begging for me to wake you up so you could find her. You’re really just gonna leave her hanging because you need an extra ten minutes to process what you found out an hour ago?!”

Kaito felt his pupils dilate a bit and a shiver run through him, as he said, “I know! B-but I heard that it gives you a bit of a headache for a while, right? S-so I should… I should talk to Clefable real quick and make sure my meetings past this are cleared! And I should make sure that someone takes that phone call from Zogel city, th-they’ve been working really hard to get a space set up for a center and I don’t want to leave them hanging, and the teens I texted still haven’t texted me back so I should probably call them and make sure–”

Ava stepped forward, saying gently, “Let’s go over here a moment.”

Kaito gave the woman a confused look, but found himself struggling to ask her what for as she gestured to the other side of the balcony, guiding Kaito away from the two more volatile personalities as she gave them both a ‘one moment’ gesture.

As they walked away, Ava looked around the cavern. “...it’s a beautiful place, but I’m surprised you don’t feel more stifled here. Closed, quiet spaces aren’t always the easiest to feel large, panicked feelings in.”

“I love the caverns,” Kaito said immediately, and meant it… before he grinned sheepishly, “But I tend to feel better topside, when I’m worrying about things, sure.”

“I understand,” Ava smiled lightly… before she sighed just as lightly, looking up sternly at Kaito, “...what’s your worst case scenario? Once the flash happens? If it all goes entirely wrong. What happens?”

“Um…” Kaito looked around the cavern. At the city lights from the stone buildings that littered the floor. “Um…”

“If you’re embarrassed by it, or ashamed? I promise, I won’t tell anyone. And I do not care to judge. Thought-sins are not real sins. No thought makes you evil,” Ava said softly.

Kaito rubbed the back of his neck, looking around the city… before he grinned shakily. “...I’m already so weird about kids. And about family. I fixate on people I don’t even know. He’s right. They’re right. Once I know about them. That’s probably… gonna be it. Gonna be everything. And I was talking to this kid, Josie, about what paradise might mean, and how it might just be wish fulfillment for things we don’t already have… but what if I’m wrong? What if it was a trade? And I…” Kaito’s grin strained. Eyes reddening. “What if I traded my children for a nice place to live and a business? What if I get them back, and I miss this? And regret it? How can I… live with myself?”

“I think you’re assuming the worst of yourself, and are being ungenerous,” Ava said, “Also, I think you are forgetting that you are a person, along with being a father and a husband. Kaito, you’re allowed to want other things. If you wake up, and you miss living here, and you miss being able to do your big, grand projects, that doesn’t make you a secretly wicked father or a betrayer of your husbands, if here doesn’t end up being where you live in the real world. And being forced into a scenario where you aren’t even aware something is being exchanged does not mean you ‘traded’ anything, regardless of how this world works. Thought-sins are not real sins. Regretting losing what you have here will not make you a monster. You have not abandoned your family. Even this small delay to wrap your mind around this, which I am certain you will be entirely unfair to yourself about later, was not a betrayal. You’re a person who’s allowed to want things not in service to your family. There is nothing wrong with that.”

“...” Kaito let out a deep, shaky breath. Wrapping his hands together, pressing and twisting at his knuckles… before letting out another shaky breath. “...thanks. That helped. You’re good at that.”

Kaito glanced over at Mike, smiling lightly as he said, “I can see why the kid wants to travel with you. Lucky. I basically have to stalk the kids I want to help.”

Ava blinked up at him. “...Kaito, may I ask you a favor? And it’s a selfish one. But… just for now.”

“Sure?” 

“...if you know me? Out in the world?” Ava said, “Could you keep it to yourself? Call it hypocritical but… I’m not quite ready to let go yet.”

“...” Kaito frowned… but nodded, “I won’t tell you if you’re not ready to know, sure. You think we know each other?”

“It’s a hunch,” Ava said, “And again, I’m aware it’s hypocri–”

“Look, if you have kids, I might be tempted to tell you? But beyond that? This is all a lot. I don’t judge you for needing time.” Kaito said, “It’s different for me. I have a baby that needs me, I needed to hear all that. But it’s okay to wait too. Okay? If it was okay for me to be reluctant, it’s okay for you. Deal?”

Ava smiled. “Deal.”

Kaito took another shaky breath… before he nodded. Looking more assured, as he headed back. “...alright, alright. I’m ready. Flash me.”

It was totally against Ava’s caution, that Mike did agree with, so he didn’t actually say anything…but there was so much of him that just wanted to scream. All the meetings in the world didn’t matter, when this world wasn’t real and Kaito’s literal daughter was one faulty mistake away from dying. And Mike just…didn’t understand how the guy who got kidnapping jokes and kept grabbing at Mike and who even Tim admitted to his zealousness wasn’t…jumping at the chance to help his kids. 

(...maybe it was just true that no parent wanted their kids once they had them, and Kaito normally channeled that energy into pretending the exact opposite.)

(For the first time, Mike wondered what his mom’s fantasy in a world like this would’ve been. Childless, successful, beloved… Would she even want a perfect marriage, or had things gone so poorly that her ideal world was single? Maybe pursued, but nothing serious. Everyone wanting Doris Teavee’s approval. And no one she needed to get it from.)

(A fucking world without him, for sure.)

Mike shifted his weight impatiently as Kaito and Ava returned, and he gave Kaito a nod. “Sit down so you don’t topple over. On three: One, two, three--”

FLASH    FLASH   FLASH

It was so much more than children. 

It was things Kaito, in a thousand years, wouldn’t have guessed at. It was distant parents now becoming hateful and embarrassed. Monsters in Kaito’s childhood that had hurt him mind, body, and soul. A hundred friends loved and lost, some brutally, most quietly. A thousand lovers. Maybe not accurately, but that was because Kaito genuinely did not know the count. Had lost it when he had put his little black book down for good. A cycle that hurt him but one that Kaito depended on too much to ever consider letting go.

A lifestyle more grand than anything that existed in this world. A castle the size of a city. A downfall that still left him one of the most powerful people Kaito had ever known. Riches beyond imagination. Power. Influence. Momota–Momota–Monster. Who even was the man Kaito called ‘brother’ in this world? That was not Byakuya.

Who were Shuichi and Maki? Slaves. Victims. Kaito’s victims–no.

Once the horrors left his eyes, the rest came. 

Friends. Friends who had grown up with him. Friends who loved and cared for him and feared for him and fought for him. Friends who Kaito had earned, steadfast, a thousand little moments. More moments than lovers. More moments with Shuichi and Maki than all the lovers combined.

They crossed the enemy line together, and he loved them, he loved them, and he was afraid but they made him brave as he faced–

Ethereal.

No moment on the trapeze compared. The circus stage inadequate for the Light of Dicea. The light and hope of a kingdom, a goddess, of Kaito. Nothing compared to loving Kokichi. It was like being born anew in hellfire. But instead of punishment, it stripped all the layers off of Kaito till he was someone new. Someone more capable of standing in the light. A true religious experience.

His husband was really fucking hot too. Kaito realized now why he could never lure in Shuichi alone. Had to draw that prideful treasure in with the strength of his Kokichi. Beautiful and handsome. Kaito spoiled. He’d never feel like enough.

Timothy. 

His and Maki’s, proud and strong and already so incredible in so many ways! Kaito looked at his son– new son, his, mine–and felt an almost burning pride. It made him want to fight the world and hand Timothy pieces of it, for him to do with as he pleased. Kaito felt royal blood burn in him and wanted to hand Timothy his inheritance, his kingdom, his title…but thankfully the kid was smarter than that. Timothy wouldn’t take it even if Kaito could give it to him. Timothy already better than every Momota that had come before (even if Kaito couldn’t give him his name).

Tim was where?! Where was Tim!? Was he with the girls?! They had said Tim was going back to Maki, Kaito would have to call Maki, make sure–

Miyako.

Kaito suddenly felt his heart start to thump in alarm. His eyes widening as everything else faded, remembering what they had said. His baby was in danger. Miya was in danger. Kaito had to find her, he had to do something, she was counting on him– “BLEGH!”

All of that happened in a few seconds, as Kaito collapsed on his side and vomited. His vision going double. 

“Oh, good. All that shaking wasn’t good for him,” Ava mused, as Kaito curled up, continuing to spit and spittle onto the ground. 

“Guess it’s hard to just succumb to hucking even if you know it’s coming,” Mike mused, putting his disruptor away and taking a few steps away from the spew zone. He turned back to the table he and Ava had been sitting at, starting to pour some tea for Kaito, when new footsteps started getting louder, towards the room and…

“...Kaito?” Josie sounded horrified, seeing the gym leader curled up and shaking on the ground, but even as he started taking in what was going on with wide, worried eyes, there was a steady hand on his shoulder. 

Kana, Myrtle, and Tsubame were just going to Grand Pan for more art studies (and local commerce, in Kana’s case) but…maybe some maternal instincts were finally catching up with her. If Josie had been staying in Grand Pan for a while he’d be fine on his own, but Kana just had a feeling, and had decided to take her tour guide up on a little more sightseeing. And sure, maybe that feeling was the Absol that had left the group, following them the whole way. 

Taking in the scene, Kana leveled a steely look on Souda. “...mind explaining why it looks like you’ve assassinated a gym leader?”

“...uuuuuuh,” Souda scratched the inside of his ear with a pinky, sweating a little even as he tried to play it off casually, “He’s drunk?”

“Fuuuuck you Souda,” Kaito wheezed on the ground, shivering as he shakily put up a middle finger towards Souda… before adding in, “D-don’t curse at p-people, kids, i-it’s not c-classy–blegh.”

“Forgive them, I think this one might be a little emotionally stunted,” Ava said, waving vaguely at Souda, who gasped in offense, before pointing to Kaito, “And he’s okay, he just had a bit of a shock and is recovering. Mike was just bringing him something to drink to help clear him up.”

“Auuugh… need to find Miya…” Kaito closed his eyes, his temple throbbing, “...’kichi. ‘Kichi can find her. Need my husbands.”

“Oh, you’re…those guys,” Josie said, backing off a little, but still looking a bit uncertain considering…everything. “So the ‘our reality is fake’ thing is chugging on ahead, huh.”

Side-stepping any spittle or bile, Mike handed Kaito a cup of tea, looking a little exasperated. That’s exactly what they had been saying, sheesh. They really hadn’t needed to put this off so long. 

However, Mike’s attention was pulled up, his ear twitching as he heard the woman that had come in with the red-haired kid question about ‘fake reality’, and called him…

“Oh, you’re Josie?” Mike asked, taking in the mild surprise on this Josie’s face and getting a nod. “Do you know where Doppio is, then?”

Josie just blinked. “...where…what is?”

Kaito groaned, holding the tea next to his temple, hoping the warmth would soothe him… before he shakily reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone. Turning it on, he winced and shuddered at the light, closing his eyes. “...Josie? Josie, oh–” Kaito whispered, squinting his eyes open in shock, “Josie…huh.”

“...s’later problem,” Kaito grumbled, waving his phone in the air. “Josie, c-can you be a receptionist again? D-Doppio’s in my contacts… he’s under…” Kaito squinted, trying to remember, “...oh! Exasperated Pink. S-struggle with names, so I always just write contacts in little reminders who’s who…could you call him for me? Or maybe Angry Canine Teeth, his boyfriend.”

Kaito blinked, his body calming down a little. “...why Doppio–oh the pokemon.”

Josie…wasn’t sure what to think about that look, but he came over all the same, taking Kaito’s phone. Finding ‘Exasperated Pink’, he hovered over the call button, asking, “Are you good for speaker phone? Because otherwise I really don’t know what you want me to ask…”

“Just put it on speaker,” Mike said, studying Josie. They said this guy hung out with Doppio and Arven, who, while Mike hadn’t really spent time with them, he knew definitely were teenagers… But Josie didn’t look much older than him. So…was age stuff really…

Shrugging, Josie called Doppio, and the phone rang for a few moments, before--

“Kaito, I was going to answer your texts soon, you don’t have to check up so much,” a voice sighed. “But! You might be happy--Arven and I are headed towards your neck of the woods! Someone submitted pictures of the Legendary Pokemon Meloetta not too far away from Grand Pan, it looked like, so we’re hoping to catch a peek too!”

“It was between Pinna Parkland and Bianco Hills, actually,” Mike grumbled. 

“!?!?!?!”

“Kaito, do you have us on speaker? Rude, you’re supposed to warn people when that happens. Did you get the photos I emailed you, by the way?”

“Yeeessss those cubs were really cute–” Kaito called, groaning as he closed his eyes, “Ugh. Okay. Fuck you, Momota, pull it together. Too much to do! Up!”

Kaito groaned, forcing himself to sit up, clutching his tea to himself as he glared at nothing… before huffing. “I’ve had worse hangovers! Okay! Doppio! Arven! There’s a crisis starting, I want you two on– shit, you’re in the safari, so that would mean…–I want you two on a train to the clown circus to take sanctuary with the clown gym leader, okay? R-reality’s gone screwy and not only do we need to regroup, but we think you two might have some really specific knowledge about what’s going on!”

Kaito paused. “...please?” he tacked on, “N-not an order, I know you’re not my kids! J-just a request!”

There was a pause before Doppio’s concerned voice came through. “...Kaito, are you okay? What do you mean reality’s gone screwy? Like…Palkia tearing holes in space, or--”

Mike sighed. “We’re all asleep, and this reality is a dream.”

“Oh, well, duh…” Doppio muttered. “That’s not things going screwy…”

But before anyone could say anything to that--and, miles away, Doppio’s unsurprised, pouty face suddenly went pale--he quickly said, “Wait… You’re all actually in my dream?!”

Kaito’s eyes widened, pressing his tea cup to his temple as he looked startled over in the direction of the phone. “Your dream? Doppio, are you already, uh…” Kaito looked for the right word, “...lucid? Oh! No wonder you were so exasperated with me right off the bat. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense actually, I’m a delight in this world, dammit.”

Kaito nodded to himself, reassured. Yes! He had NOT been super awkward in their initial dream meeting! It was just teens being mean! …well, from historical precedence, but still! 

“Doppio, I’m a prince from Luminary, right? We’re on the same page? You live…?” Kaito left it blank, giving Doppio a chance to fill it in and prove he knew what they were talking about.

Miles away, Doppio was looking more and more noticeably distressed, his voice growing smaller. “In Usott, on the north side now…” Doppio said, before continuing, “Do you…not usually know you’re dreaming when you are? I thought… I thought this was just a normal dream! With…with cool pokemon stuff, you know?! A-and of course I’d dream about people I know, I… Are… Is this really…you?”

There were some muffled curses from the other end of the phone before more clearly, “Amaina! Amaina, some weird stuff is going on, wake me up! And, um, e-everyone?”

Arven frowned at Doppio. “Hey, are you alright? All the color drained from your face. Who’s Amaina, do you need me to call someone?” Arven asked, reaching to put a hand on Doppio’s knee, the two sitting in the grass.

“Yeah, so far, it looks like it’s everyone! You know about Mike, right, the new kid I’m trying not to pull a ‘you’ on? The wiz kid’s made something, it was for Timothy for his conditioning, but it seems to work here to make us lucid in the dream. Atua knows why that works in a dream?? But it does! Doppio, with all this pokemon stuff, is it possible this is your dream?”

“Actually, if I may step in,” a girl’s voice buzzed in, familiar to Doppio, “We are aware of the scenario that seemed to have started this whole process. We’ve met a pokemon who was out there in the world when it started, she said–”

“AMAINA CAN SPEAK FOR HERSELF!! She is just polite and did not want to interrupt but OH-MY-GAWD DOPPIOOOOO ARVEEEEEEN we’re stuck in a dream and I MISS YOU!!”

“GAH! Where did you come from!?” Kaito shouted on the phone, “Wait, Amaina!?”

Doppio gave Arven a grim, worried look before his eyes widened and looked into nothing. …oh gods this was the real Arven. Not just part of Doppio’s dream. S-sure, he hadn’t done anything weird, even in a dream Doppio was just happy to spend time with Arven and maybe kiss a little but this was the real Arven and had been the whole time--

“What the fuck…” Doppio whispered, followed by a quiet, surprised, “Dr. Mariah?” but what really took the cake was, “Aaaaaamainaaaa,” Doppio warbled, “I miss you too, I was wondering where y-you were, this totally seemed like the sort of dream you’d want in on, b-b-b-but if we’re all in a dream, I-I, what happened?!”

Mike frowned a little, looking between Ava and Meloetta, or… “...Meloetta?”

OoO oh yeah no it’s Amaina but ya know nicknames are fun

O.O

QOQ DOPPIOOOOOOOO there was a scary lady who broke into dungeon prisoner’s ROOM and she was gonna be SO MEAN TO THE PRINCESS who just wants to DANCE

OoO and there was a lot of fog that made everyone fall asleep

OOO but I was SO BRAVE and I did my BIG SCARY FACE to scare her off

OoO that didn’t work

OOO BUT THEN THE SCARY DRAGON WAS STILL AWAKE A BIT AND TRIED TO KILL THE SCARY LADY

OoO but that didn’t work either but between my P O W E R and princess and dragon we all put her to sleep too

O.O

OoO and yeah then pokemon world and fun pokemon stuff and you’re all caught up

O.O

OOO AHHHHH DUNGEON PRISONER IS STRANGLING ME!!

“Would you stop trying to freak Doppio out, you little weirdo, I’m hugging you,” Kaito grumbled, holding the pokemon to his chest, “Shit… you saved Miya? Thank you.”

OoO ooooooooh

OvO you’re welcome

OvO

O///O DOPPIO IM GETTING CHEST ACTION

“Oh gods…” Doppio whispered, putting a hand over his mouth. Someone had…broken into the castle? To hurt Miyako?! And put together some weird sleep fog to…knock everyone out to do it, it sounded like, and everyone meant everyone, but…Amaina and…a-a dragon, though Doppio wasn’t sure who that was, intervened and then with…uh, them and Miyako they pulled that person into the dream too and now they were all…

Doppio sighed. Chest action was the least all of them could do for thanks for Amaina. 

Deciding that he needed to clarify at least a little, Mike awkwardly cleared his throat. “Uh, and the ‘scary lady, is the Nightmare Queen, Junko. Souda knew about her. If you know about her too.”

Josie, while holding the phone steady, had gone silent, just…completely thrown for a loop with all of this. By chance he caught Kana’s eye and…at least felt a little less alone in his confusion by the shrug she gave him. 

Kaito patted Amaina on the back a bit… before sighing, letting her go. “Okay. Okay…game plan! First of all? Everything’s going to be fine!” Kaito said, pushing himself up to his feet… before shakily straightening his back, waiting a moment to see if he was going to pass out, and when he didn’t, grinning at all of them, a small sheen of sweat on his face. “Seriously, no problem! We’ve got this!”

“Oh yeah?” Souda said, raising an eyebrow. “How you figure? Also, who is this? Where did you come from, you just ‘appeared’,” Souda said, looking skeptically at the women, “I thought we were trying to keep this contained until we fixed everything?”

“They’re with Josie,” Kaito said, squinting at the women a bit, “...oh! Oh, like, literally! Fantastic! I never got your name, you were just Scary Mom Lady to me! That’s entirely my bad–”

OoO why?? Seems reasonable to me

“--but, as you heard, we’re all in a situation here, and, if you like?” Kaito said, pointing to Mike, “Little genius over there has a device that will get you really up to speed quickly, but! Will put you through what I just went through, and also it’ll spark memories in you that you didn’t realize you lost yet, and that is totally okay if you’re not ready for that!” Kaito said, glancing over at, uhhhh, ‘Ava’, who was looking thoughtful, “We will still look out for you and everything will still be okay! Josie, can I have my phone back?”

Kana gave Souda a flat look before getting her own personalized dose of confusion, both her and Josie looking a little weirded out by the ‘mom’ comment. Though Kana just sighed and gave Mike a nod. “Clue me in. If not everyone’s doing it, then at least one of us needs a clear head.”

But while Mike got Kana set up, Josie gave Kaito an unsure look as he handed his phone over. “...you know me in reality? So I’m not… I’m not just part of the dream?”

Kaito startled at the question, giving Josie a concerned look. “...no, kid. You’re real. And…” 

Kaito hesitated, looking over at Kana. “...you’re about to find out in a moment anyway. But her? She’s someone who means a lot to you, okay? When she gets back up, if she’s anything like me, she’s gonna wanna fuss all over you, and since I know you don’t really know her right now? I can vouch for her. You can trust her. She loves you, and will scare off big, mean princes who upset you.” Kaito grinned, pointing to himself. “Me, that’s me. You can still rely on me, especially here. But she’s the one you want to tell you about yourself. Trust me.”

Josie glanced over at Kana, seeing her cool acceptance as she looked towards…what Josie could only assume was the device that had gotten Kaito throwing up on the ground before. He thought about the affection and relief in his chest, even though Kana and the others were people he’d never seen in his life. …in this life, he guessed. 

…what did that mean, though, that he had parents he was already with here? Stuff with his mom and dad, and stuff with Mick… What did that mean, if there was someone here that, apparently in reality, loved him, but…

Josie sighed, looking down for a moment. He could…think about it later, he guessed. But for now…

Frowning he looked over at Meloetta, or…Amaina, he supposed. She definitely looked like a pokemon, but if she was a person anyway…

“...Kaito?” Josie said slowly, “Tell me about your daughter? Like…does she like pink? Or…bubbles? Or…stuff besides dancing?”

Mike looked over, getting another cup of tea for Kana horking on the floor. His eyes narrowing. “...she likes flying.”

OOO AND SHE LIKES BOOBY MILK

OoO it’s the one thing she and I just can’t agree on

Kaito winced in sympathy for Kana, pulling out his pokeball and bringing out Clefable. “Hey, I know you’re on break right now, but could you help me out? Bring her some painkillers? The kind good for migraines, thank you,” Kaito said, sending off his pokemon, who dutifully hurried over to her. “And, I know that her dreams get real pastel and bubbly… Why?” Kaito asked Josie, eyes widening with hope, “Did you see a flying bubbly pink dancing baby?”

Josie gave an awkward, sheepish grin. “...I think a flying bubbly pink dancing Legendary pokemon that might be your daughter kept my brother from obliterating me.”

“Josie…” Kana gasped. “What the fuck.”

-

Shuichi was on his way to meet up with Kokichi at his gym, and was taking the time honored tradition: the train.

Thankfully by train the clown gym wasn’t actually all that far, and he was near there already, the train pulling up to the station. The issue was that Shuichi was struggling between his ‘I have reached my stop and have every right to get up and leave, as is expected’ logical mentality, and what can only be called his ‘oh geez oh god if I so much as breathe wrong this weird neat thing will stop happening and I kind of want it to continue??’ mentality as Shuichi stared at the pokemon in his lap, snoozing.

Not his pokemon. Shuichi had no idea whose pokemon this was. He didn’t even know what kind of pokemon it was. He guessed from its brief, insistent cooing for Shuichi to make room on his lap by moving his briefcase, it was probably called ‘Mew’. 

And now it was just snoozing, curled up against his stomach and chest, tail curled into itself as it clung to him. Not that it had to cling all that tightly. Shuichi had wrapped his arms around it. It seemed like the thing to do.

It was a strange experience. And now Shuichi was at his stop. And, like… no one was claiming this pokemon. And it was still snoozing. All peaceful and cute… what was… Shuichi supposed to do……????

A few minutes later, Shuichi was outside. Luggage in one hand, and a mildly grumpy Mew still curled up in his arm, having mew’d at him indignantly when he had refused to stay still, before readjusting in his arm and falling asleep again. Along for the ride. 

-

Kaito had given Josie a long, bewildered look. Processing that information and then, to be sure, having the kid explain what had happened in more detail.

And then Kaito considered the possibility that the pokemon maybe had been his daughter, because yeah, he could understand Josie’s thought process, if the pokemon had acted like an infant. Pokemon actually usually didn’t unless they were with a larger pokemon to parent them, but one on its own? Acting infant-like? Okay, sure, sure, maybe…

…and Kaito’s eyes suddenly shone. Starry-eyed and teary as he said, voice bursting with pride, “Miya fought off a bully!? My Miya’s a fighter!! An intrusive, psychic fighter!! She’s gonna be so scary!!! Just like all of her parents!!!!” Kaito gushed, his tone practically squealing as he hopped on his heels.

Ava watched Kaito curiously, his absolute joy entirely un-nourishing. That was alright though. The befuddled confusion and slight judgment coming off the rest of the group tasted a bit like biscuits. Nice. Wow this guy would make an interesting case study.

Kaito then glanced at Souda and Kana and, coughing, added in, “Well, the psychic bit for as long as we’re in the dream, anyway. Since bubbles are a psychic pokemon ability, right? That’s fun.”

The glance Mike gave Josie was, admittedly, a bit disparaging. He wasn’t so bullheaded to think fighting your own fights was the only way to go about things, but being saved by a literal baby was, like…c’mon, man. Even if Miyako was all magical and stuff. 

“Bubble is a water move,” Mike said, a little bored, “But the ones Josie described sound different from that, so maybe it’s a move exclusive to Mew. Or something Miyako made up. We’re in a dream, after all, so anything could happen.”

“You don’t say,” Kana said flatly, sitting herself up more as she gave Josie a considering look. 

“Should Doppio and Arven still meet up with Prince Kokichi?” Mike asked, trying to grasp the through-line of what they actually needed to do next amid all the sudden chaos. “If we’re gonna meet up with the others too, I guess we could look for Mew on the way, and other than that there’s not really a place we should be to figure out how to get out of this…right?”

Kaito spent another few self-indulgent seconds screeching happily that his little Miya was already showing signs of being an asskicker, before he coughed, brushing aside his hair as he nodded, looking down at the phone. “We didn’t lose you guys, right? Still on the phone? Look, I’m not actually in charge of anything, so this is really just my suggestion, but I’d say yes, we should group up at Kokichi’s. Mostly because I think that with mind stuff, it probably doesn’t matter where we physically are, more who we’re around, because its all, y’know…”

Kaito paused, before wiggling his shoulders and head. “M~iiiiind stuff. Makes sense to me. But! Mostly we should go there because the guy who is in charge is there and we should regroup with him specifically. Some of you will disagree that Kokichi is in charge. You are allowed to be wrong. Kokichi will probably disagree he is in charge.” Kaito paused, before nodding. “He is allowed to be wrong too. Your prince will, for a lot of reasons, have a better idea of how to handle this place than any of us, and so our leader is missing the main things leaders need: his people! We gotta go.”

Mike scowled, crossing his arms. “Doesn’t he only barely know what’s going on because of bad vibes? And his solution was, what, putting you guys in a group text?”

Josie snorted softly, giving Mike an amused look. “What, so you should be in charge? Because of your vomit machine, obviously. You know, I’ve really been hankering to start hailing to someone else, this timing is really working out.”

Mike rolled his eyes. “Well, yeah, I do know about my disruptor, but it sounds like Souda’s the only person who knows anything about the Nightmare Queen, and Mel - Amaina is the only one who knows what actually happened in the real world. Even if the rules here are taking influence from Doppio, judging by the big freak-out he just had, he obviously doesn’t know what’s going on in any helpful way-”

There was a sigh from the phone.

“-so our biggest leads for figuring out how to wake up and do it in a way that doesn’t leave you all in the same room with a murderer are--” Mike pointed to Souda and Amaina, “You two.”

“...eh?” Souda said, looking confused… before starting to sweat, “M-me!? W-why am I the best person for it!? What, cause I know Junko Enoshima is a scary-ass nightmare person!?”

“Junko Enoshima?” Kaito frowned. “...what, the queen? I’m sorry, what does the queen of Danganronpa have to do with us?” Kaito asked, sounding… a tad nervous… before he frowned, shaking his head as he put up an x’ across his chest. “No, wait, I’m getting distracted. Yes, the people who know the most about the situation in the room have the most useful information to offer. But having the most information doesn’t make them the best people to shoulder the responsibility of organizing the plan. Amaina’s too free-spirited for leadership, and frankly I’m still baffled Souda hasn’t been sued a dozen times for how his gym was run,” Kaito said dryly. 

“How dare you! I’m very good at pushing waivers at people!” Souda squawked in outrage.

Kaito turned to Josie and said sternly, “And let’s not call the disruptor a ‘vomit machine’, Mike’s invention has very likely saved all of our lives tonight. Sure, Miyako is in the most immediate danger, but I doubt she’s the only infant being affected by this, and if we’re all left sleeping long enough, we’d all be in mortal danger eventually. We all owe Mike a serious debt, show him some respect.” Kaito paused… before turning to Mike. “And you. ‘Bad vibes’? ‘Group chat’? Kokichi’s done a lot more for everyone in this room over a lifetime than that. He doesn’t deserve that disrespect.”

Kaito frowned, looking slightly irritated. “Look, kid, you do not know me well enough to assume I think Kokichi should be leading us for superficial reasons. And I’m telling you, in a situation like this, Kokichi has the expertise. Making him lucid should be a priority right now. And I say that as someone who really, really wants to save my baby’s life… and my husbands’. And my best friends’.” Kaito frowned, grimly remembering what it actually took to kill a Flora, as he realized, “And my own.”

Only a fire could kill a Flora. If whoever– the queen??– was in their room and trying to kill Miyako knew she was a Flora? A fire was what was coming then.

“So, we need Kokichi’s expertise, especially his leadership expertise,” Kaito said, before putting his hand on his hips and adding in dryly, “And, honestly, does anyone else want to be leader? Who here wants to take up the responsibility of organizing saving all our lives?”

Mike blinked. The…queen of Danganronpa? Sure, Souda had talked a little about the country, but… He looked down, his brow furrowing as thoughts started shooting through his mind. Flora were hidden in the dream, influenced by the queen of the Flora, the nightmare queen…who was also the queen of Danganronpa, who…wanted to kill Miyako? For some reason. But…

Josie at least had the courtesy to look a little scolded, and…he would’ve at least given Mike an apologetic glance--he’d meant it more light-heartedly than actually disparaging--if the guy didn’t look like he was plotting out thirty moves on a chessboard. And…entirely not listening to Kaito. 

But it seemed like the same conclusion was drawn as Mike nervously tugged on his hoodie’s drawstrings, sighing. “...the heir should probably be in charge too, if there’s a fucking declaration of war happening in your bedroom right now… Fuck…”

Kaito’s lips thinned a little, crossing his arms… before he grinned. “Nah, that’s not what’s happening. That’s not how this is going to go down, promise.” 

Arven, on the phone, called in, “Uuuuuh, if I’m tracking everything that’s happening, how does a princess being potentially assassinated by another country… not?? Count as an act of war?”

“It’s just not going to happen like that,” Kaito said, looking away. “If it’s actually, literally the queen herself in our bedroom? Theeeeen… well, that’s personal. It’s not a country thing, we won’t let it be a country thing. And Danganronpa is a kingdom that historically never goes officially ‘to war’, they just don’t do that. It goes against their cultural priorities. They’d make Luminary go to war with Dicea before they ever did,” Kaito grumbled, rolling his eyes, “It’s not going to come from their end. Annnnd… from Dicea’s…”

Kaito paused, scuffing his boot into the ground. “...well, Kokichi, and his father, are Oumas, and Oumas are good leaders. They…” Kaito scuffed the ground harder, like he was trying to rub a hole into the stone. “...are also experts on handling child assassination attempts! Really well! Which is a good thing and we’re all very grateful for it, got it!?” Kaito snarled…before he startled at himself, forcing the grin back on his face as he said, “So it’s all going to be okay! I promise, we’re not going back to war, the Oumas won’t allow it!”

…there was a certain consensus in the room that the queen literally enacting regicide herself was anything but personal…

But Kana could remember the last 16 years, and she knew that no one in their country wanted a run back of it all. But Doppio could remember Kokichi talking to him and Arven about how no one won in wars, and they were to be avoided in every way you could. He didn’t know if that resolve would stick around through the grief of a parent losing their child…but if the royal family could do everything they had done for him, then…he had a good feeling they wouldn’t let it get to that point. 

Josie wasn’t sure of any of that, but…maybe against his better judgment, he trusted Kaito. If he thought ‘Danganronpa’ was so politically annoying they wouldn’t push a war, and he trusted in his family enough to figure out a way around it too, then…he trusted Kaito’s belief. 

Mike didn’t believe any of that. At all. Depending on how long they took, there was no way to cover up a whole city falling asleep like it had…but if they really could get to Junko first? If…they could keep her asleep, in the bound rules of this dream, so no one else from the hivemind knew what was happening… Covering up one body didn’t seem like a hopeless task. It rested on a lot of maybes, but…to him, it at least seemed like a way forward. 

“...sounds like it’s settled, then,” Kana shrugged, before tilting her head towards the door. “Don’t you all have a train to catch?”

Kaito grinned. Yes! He was wearing everyone down! That was almost just as good as convincing them! Prince-Consort Kaito, on the case! Kokichi just needed his people and everything was going to be fine!

(do not think about the fact that someone entered their room and is trying to kill their baby do not think about that YOU WILL BECOME WAY TOO STUPID IF YOU–)

Yep! Kaito just had to trust in Kokichi! Everything was fine! 

Grinning over at Kana, he nodded enthusiastically. “Yep! Though…does that mean you’re opting out? If you don’t want to be a part of this, I understand, but can we get your number to add you to the group chat? Just in case you need us, or we need you?”

Kana sighed and brought out her phone. “I’m not a psychic, or otherwise attuned with any sort of dimensional magic; I wouldn’t be any help with what sounds like the most pressing problems. What I can do is not clog up public transportation you’ll need, and in fact be somewhere else if what you all find out ends up needing some physical location that isn’t Usott.”

Josie looked between Kana and Kaito a little anxiously. “Should…I stay back too, then? I don’t have any of that stuff either--”

Kana, at that, sent Josie a mildly confused look, before her naturally intense gaze softened a bit. 

“--so I wouldn’t be much help, and…” Josie smiled sheepishly. “I did tell Mick what was happening, but if he doesn’t have a reason to target all of you guys, there’d be less distractions, I guess. Unless getting out of here needs an incredible battle, but, uh, you guys are gym leaders and you’re meeting up with more, so…” Josie shrugged a little.

“Oh yeah…” Mike said quietly, before looking to Kaito. “You should give us badges, so we can travel and get supplies more easily. Fewer obstacles to everything.”

Kaito licked his lip, looking carefully at Josie. “...I wouldn’t want to lose you in this because of your brother. I’ve handled your brother's pokemon once and so has my six month old daughter, frankly, I’d love to humiliate him again, it’d be…” Kaito grin showed all his teeth, “such a stress relief right now…”

“But!” He continued brightly, “While I think you would be helpful, because you’re a great battler and you’re resourceful and calm under pressure and that’s valuable in almost any situation! But!” Kaito glanced over at Kana, “If you wanted to stay with…Kana, right? It’s Kana? If you wanted to stay with her, it’d be good to have people where it’s safe and calm to ask for information when things get too hectic for us. It’d be incredibly useful, you staying with her or going with us!”

On the other side of the line, Doppio gave Arven a worried look. Saying quietly, away from the receiver, “Should…we be listening to that or…? I know I’d feel awful if my dad was out and about in this dream and a lot of people got involved with everything…”

Briefly, Josie gave Kaito a tense look, before shaking his head a little, smiling up at Kaito. “I think I’ll stay. She has a point that it’ll make traveling easier if we’re not all in some, like 20 person group in one place. You guys need anything over on this side of the region, just give us a call and Baton Pass over.”

Mike nodded a bit in approval. 

Kaito internally winced, hearing Doppio’s whisper. Whoops…alright, well, that’s a later problem. And hopefully karma would actually have a chance to kick his ass about that later! Assuming he and his entire family didn’t burn alive at some point that night! Getting his ass ripped apart by another teen he was insensitive to at some point in the future would be ideal, really, considering the alternatives!

“Alright! So we have our away team! Anyone else want to stay with them–no, Souda.”

“Why did you even ask then!?” Souda whined, letting his hand fall, grumbling.

“Great!” Kaito said brightly, “Then we just gotta swing by to get our medic and get going!”

“Medic?” Ava asked.

“Don’t worry about it, you guys head to the train, I’ll go get her,” Kaito said, waving them off, “Go team!”

“And badges!” Mike reminded, calling after Kaito. 

-

Fiora wasn’t often a person that did nothing. She was well-aware of the benefits of rest and having a varied set of energy levels between different activities and hobbies, but even for relaxing she put her whole heart into it! It was exceedingly rare that she ever looked around herself and just…didn’t know what to do. 

But she thought it was rather reasonable for one to be lost after being told that the entirety of reality was an illusion. 

It wasn’t time to lose heart, to give into despair, and soon Fiora knew that she would set herself to task with her usual vigor! But…for just a moment, she supposed, she could forgive herself for just…

Out behind the gym, Fiora leaned against Rapidash, just…absorbing, she supposed. This… Everything. Every goal and bit of effort they exuded was just…a dream. Nothing they did was…

Gerard hadn’t meant to loom in the dark, despite his usual preference for both darkness and looming. He had just walked to the back of the gym and had a moment where he was just watching Fiora. Leaning against a shadowy corner as he took her in, his arms crossed as he leaned against the pillar. 

He rested his head against the cold marble, closing his eyes for a moment. “...I don’t suppose it’d be a comfort, to suggest perhaps the gym leaders are wrong?”

Fiora startled slightly, turning around with a sigh as she put a hand to her chest. But instead of scolding Gerard for skulking around and sneaking up on people, she just shook her head a little, patting down Rapidash’s back when the horse nudged her. “It would be a jest to the cruelest and most absurd degree, if they were. But if we are several degrees in the chain, hearing it from Eden…”

Trailing off for a moment, Fiora just…didn’t bother going through the whole logical line. “...you know she would not alert us in the manner she did if she thought it was some form of mania. Would there be doubt on the matter, she would enlist our help in finding the truth, not…” Giving them their last heads up, she guessed. 

Just breathing for a moment, Fiora mustered a small smile. “...I suppose it does lessen the intensity of day to day stresses. A perspective shift.”

Gerard’s face was rigid, which was business as usual for him. But despite that, there were little signs in his face that the rigidness was from genuine grim stress this time, as he moved a little more in the light, a tension in his often already tense body.

“...I feel a bit cheated,” he admitted, “I had just finished writing up my proposal to take over responsibilities as gym leader. It’s… difficult. Not to wonder what our victories translate to, out…” 

Gerard waved vaguely to the sky. There. Out there. 

Fiora nodded gently, looking…lost. Before she clenched her fists and pulled herself up some. “It is disappointing. But every victory won is still meaningful. Our efforts stay with us, even if the world they are in is…different. I am positive what is awaiting you will only reach greater heights due to your heart and efforts here.”

She truly meant every word, and Fiora had meant to bolster Gerard some, but even the breath of rising to her usual self was soon dampened again. Fiora losing the prideful projection in her body as she looked at Gerard something…almost worried, and tentative in her gaze. 

“...do you think we still know each other, out there?”

“If we do not, I’d have lost twice,” Gerard said, scoffing, “I can’t imagine wanting to aspire to such heights, if not for the challenge of you.”

“...” Gerard suddenly coughed, looking away as he said, “The challenge you inspire in me. To best you. A worthy if intrusive opponent.”

Fiora blinked wide, startled…but soon a flush started to cover her face and down her neck as she glanced down, a wobbly, flattered smile growing on her face. “...it never becomes less startling with you.”

Clearing her throat, Fiora averted her gaze, forcibly leaned more as Rapidash nosed at her shoulder and head, and if Fiora didn’t know better she’d say her pokemon was laughing at her. “I hope you know I feel the same. That is, as a moving, infuriatingly competent goal to ever improve myself past. My… No. Any life would be an unnervingly emptier one without you.”

Still growing more pink with every second, Fiora paused for another moment before looking back up at Gerard with some of her usual fire. “...if we all are truly asleep… What would you do, without such consequences of a tied and established life? With the gym leaders and League getting on top of the matter, it is only a matter of time before we awaken so…it would be folly to not take this chance before us while we can, correct?”

“What would I do without consequence?” Gerard murmured, looking over to Fiora. His gaze lingering a little too long… before he looked away, coughing again. The air was dry! In this… water gym. Yes, that was it.

“What would I do, if this was all truly temporary, and we’d lose all of it… really at any moment,” Gerard said, looking around, “...you know, a moment ago I might have said that I would have wanted to run the gym right until the very end. Just in case. Stay, do my duty. To Eden, to my own ambitions, to you…”

“But in the reality of it? I don’t actually want that,” Gerard admitted, looking away from the gym and to Fiora, “Not even a little bit. Sustaining work without future or payoff is unrewarding. It’s not something we can take with us. I suppose, theoretically, the only thing we could possibly take with us out there is… well. Our interactions. Experiences. It’s the only thing worth anything, if we cannot keep our hard earned rewards.”

“...I suppose in many ways, that’s always true,” Gerard said, staring at Fiora. A revelation spinning gently in his mind… before his brow suddenly furrowed. A stern, determined look on his face, as he walked over to Fiora, standing close. “...let’s go somewhere. The two of us, just… away from all of this. Eden will forgive us, and we owe no one else any more of our limited time. You told me, more than once, of an ocean view that’s never left your mind. You spoke of it like poetry… I’ve always wanted to see it for myself.”

…gritting his teeth, and squaring his jaw, Gerard said, “I’d quite like to see it with you.”

As doggedly as Gerard kept to his work ethic, Fiora found she wasn’t surprised at all by Gerard’s answer. Neither of them truly believed in work for work’s sake, despite how others may view their never-ending to-do lists. Every action had a purpose, everything was in service to…well, the future. For Eden’s dreams or their sustained comfort or the betterment of the gym--Fiora knew very well that Gerard never lost sight of the goals he was always working towards. 

…and if the gym didn’t matter? If Eden’s plans for the League didn’t matter? If nothing under their hands truly existed…

Fiora’s eyes widened a little as Gerard stepped up, looming over her, and while his answer was no surprise…his conclusion made her flush ramp up even faster. Her heart starting to pound in her chest. A uh… Well. While they may be in a dream, the contents of such or others were not things others needed to know. 

“I-I…” Fiora stuttered, all eloquence stunned out of her, before her blush was a fierce red. “...I’d like to give Eden more than just a note of notice. The impending end of reality as we know it or not, she is our friend, but…”

She smiled warmly up at Gerard, taking in the severe angles of his face--not helped by the direct angle she was currently seeing them in--like a work of art. “I’d like that very much, Gerard Vestra. I could think of no better way to spend my last moments in a world than a vista of majesty and…”

Fiora swallowed. “A true friend to see it with.”

(Because despite their moments of vulnerability over the years…Fiora really couldn’t fathom Gerard ever seeing her as more than a begrudgingly fond friend.) 

Gerard stiffened. His back tense. Something in him telling him this was a moment. A moment of potential. If he could just… get over himself. Risk his damned pride and insecurities. Cup the side of her face with his palm, place his hand on her waist, treat her with a gentle touch, the way a lady ought to be treated. Even one as strong and brave as her…

…but he looked away. Angry with himself even as he nodded. “Yes. We’ll give Eden notice. Perhaps we can tempt her to join us,” he said. Mentally kicking himself.

A dream, reality just waiting to be broken at any moment. Asking a man what he would do in a world with no consequence, Fiora? How very quaint. How cowardly. Should she take her own advice, she’d… What, put her hands behind his head and coax it downward from his infuriating height, finally meet her face to face? Ask him to push her against a wall and become even more immovable than it? Whisk him to the place of her dreams with a bouquet bigger than both their heads and declare, Gerard Vestra, I want to keep fighting with you for the rest of my life and I have since we were children? 

…what a fool she was, to still let the fear of the consequences from such fantasies stay her hand, when they were discussing the lack of consequences at all. 

“With our powers combined, I believe we may just manage it,” Fiora smiled, cursing herself out in her heart. “The battle for our reality may ask for her, but…I believe we should still get to enjoy it while we can.”

-

Shuichi was on his way to the clown gym, but getting through the city was always an… experience. As this WAS the world stage when it came to performances. While the city gym was the most visible performance in the world, people everywhere came to the city to put on little street performances, dance troupes, broadway productions, off broadway productions, off-off broadway productions… Kokichi’s city was where you went to put yourself on the stage to an audience. Any audience. Any way you could.

So Shuichi got caught up in some congestion in the city, as a crowd had come around to watch in amazement as some foolhardy person had linked a metal wire between two buildings, and was currently riding a one-wheel bicycle while juggling some on fire sticks as people oohed and ahhed, and Shuichi watched with some exasperation. 

Looking down, he saw Mew was awake, and was looking up with wide, purple eyes at the spectacle. “See that, Mew?” Shuichi said, “Take it all in. That… is an idiot. Don’t be that person. Even if he could fly like you can, it’s a ridiculous stunt to pull. What if he drops one of the fire things, hmm? Irresponsible.”

“Mm, wise points,” an accented voice nearby agreed. “Even clearin’ the space t’ get rid ‘a fire hazards, gettin’ a safety net that’s fireproof still sounds like an ask t’ me. Can get spectacle in safer ways through show biz magic, hm, Mime Jr.?”

Munching on a cookie bigger than his hand--and bigger than Mime Jr.’s head, which was directly comparable to her own, though Phantump’s was not quite as big as his stump--Kyle gave Mime Jr. a nod. The small pokemon just sighed and took a now considering look up at the daredevil act, disappointed that this wasn’t, actually, the smartest trick to try and pull off. 

“Afternoon, Detective,” Kyle nodded to Shuuichi, more properly greeting him. “An’...Mew, innit?”

Shuichi startled. “Kyle! Well, this is quite a coincidence. Though, you did say you were heading to the circus, so I suppose maybe not that much of one. Still, it’s a large city… oh!” Shuichi said, eyes widening a bit, “I may have an answer to your missing memories. Though, it’s speculation, at the moment.”

“Still is.” Kyle light-heartedly shrugged. It felt like a poor use of time to go to Usott for the circus then immediately turn right around and go back to Delfino Plaza just because they hadn’t seen everything the latter city had to offer. So after the performance, he, Mime Jr., and Phantump had just…stayed. Marveling at the City of Charisma. Sometimes from afar, when all the glitz and glamor got too overwhelming for Phantump. 

(...Kyle too, sometimes. It just felt…weird. Sure, he’d grown past his childhood ambitions of stardom, but he still really did love going to see performances, and, guiltily, his pokemon had practically smacked him around until he tucked ‘em in to their pokeballs and went to a punk concert just for him. It had been incredible, honestly…

But other times, that enjoyment felt far away, and the press of people around him just felt like…too much. Like it wasn’t something he was used to. But at least that made it a little easier to balance his pokemons’ preferences.)

They were going to go back to Delfino Plaza at some point, but for now, Usott had jumped the list. 

And while it still was something in the back of his mind, Kyle really hadn’t been expecting all that much from the investigation Shuuichi had started for him, so hearing that there was an update, even speculative…

Looking over in surprise, Kyle stopped mid-chew before swallowing. “R-really? I mean, even as a guess… What d’ya reckon?”

Shuichi glanced up at the trapeze artist, before indicating for Kyle to follow him. Shuichi took him to some outdoor seating where it was a little less congested and a little more quiet, letting Mew go, since the pokemon seemed endlessly curious about Kyle’s pokemon. Floating around them and peering down at them.

“So…” Shuichi said, “...this is going to be alarming. Unfortunately, you might be getting one of the kinder ways of getting this broken to you, out of… literally everyone.” Shuichi said, “But the first thing I want to stress is that people are already working on this. If there’s something you can contribute, good. But if there isn’t, things are still being taken care of.”

Shuichi sighed, adjusting his hat a bit, before taking it off. Wanting to be approachable and sincere in this moment. “...it’s been discovered recently by the gym leaders that our collective reality is very likely a dream construct everyone is trapped in. We are still real people, in a real world, all likely close to each other. But we’re all asleep, and people are working to wake us up before anyone is harmed.”

“But that is likely the cause of your memory issues. It turns out, quite a few people are experiencing memory issues within this construct,” Shuichi explained, “In fact, if you like, I can add you to a group chat where people are trading experiences at the moment. A few people are talking about ‘knowing things’ that they don’t actually have memories to support. One young lady apparently has no memories at all. The construct appears to not be perfect for everyone, making some people’s memories incomplete within it. That is very likely, at this point, what’s happened to you.”

“...I’m sorry,” Shuichi added, “that your reality is likely false. Likely by tomorrow, or the next day, everyone’s going to know. The League plans to make an announcement.”

Kyle followed Shuuichi out of the crowd, munching through his cookie and smiling lightly at the pokemon that was accompanying Shuuichi. Asking Shuuichi as they walked, he offered Mew part of a cookie, finding himself charmed by the way it lit up at a chocolate chunk. 

Unfortunately, Shuuichi’s findings were not so charming. 

He frowned softly, seeing the obvious delicate care Shuuichi was putting into telling him. And…at first he didn’t quite understand. A dream construct? They had literally talked before about the perception-altering effects psychic pokemon could produce, but…the whole world? Everyone in a…fake reality. Asleep in their real homes and collectively dreaming of…

Kyle…didn’t know what to say. He just stared at Shuuichi for a few moments, struck silent, even as his pokemon huddled closer to him, watching his reaction warily, likely trying to figure out how they should react to the news as well. 

“...I…” Kyle croaked out eventually, before shaking his head a little. “...um, yea, I… The group chat sounds good, thank you. But…” He gave Shuuichi a nervous, but pleading look. “Do…you know wha’ our…actual reality is like? Like…is this jus’ a mundane dream or…or is ev’ry’fin…”

“I don’t know,” Shuichi said sincerely, “Some people can remember it, and if you come with me you can find out beforehand. But for me, right now? I can’t really guess… Some of us have lost things, in this dream. I apparently have an infant…and husbands.” Shuichi looked over at Mew, who was spinning in loops cheerfully, eating through its cookie piece. “...it doesn’t really feel real, I’ll admit. But I expect once I remember them, it will be baffling to me I ever thought otherwise. But for now, this world just…”

Shuichi sighed, “I don’t know what’s waiting for us on the outside. Would you like to know? I can call someone who remembers.”

Kyle’s eyebrows raised a bit in surprise, hearing Shuuichi mention he was married with a child, and he followed his gaze over to Mew. It seemed like a very different path than the one he’d heard about for Shuuichi…and maybe that was purposeful. If people had lost things in the dream…

Grey eyes squinted a bit, holding emotion back. “...I tol’ ya before tha’ some’fin just feels…wrong t’ me. Maybe tha’s me feelin’ the diff’rences ‘tween m’ real life an’ this one. But…” The teen sighed a little. “Tha’ always felt so weird since…things ‘r good! Don’ really have any complaints tha’ some’fin feelin’ wrong would…make sense for. But if things could be drastically different…”

Kyle trailed off, subtly glancing at Mime Jr. and Phantump. 

Then, he sighed, looking back up at Shuuichi. “...if changes ‘r in th’ works, ‘s better t’ know what’s goin’ on, I think. Would rather know what m’ real life is like an’...who knows, maybe that would clue me in on some’fin that would be able t’ help the ress’a you lot out wi’f wakin’ us up.”

Shuichi smiled lightly. “That’s brave. I’ll admit, I haven’t asked any hard questions to anyone yet, what life was like on the outside. But yes, you’re right. It’s better to be prepared. I think a part of me is afraid of letting go.”

He huffed, shrugging. “I’ve been thinking about that a bit, what it might mean that we’ll lose this world. Regardless of who we are out there… we must have learned something in here. We spent a lifetime in here. Perhaps it wasn’t a true lifetime, but I remember a life. And my life wasn’t without lessons. Without revelations… I don’t know how much we’ll all remember. No one’s promised me we would remember anything.”

Shuichi closed his eyes. “...but I have to believe the things we gained here won’t be lost. I helped people here. I took pride in that. I learned the hard way how to be gentle, to comfort. I am not naturally a comforting person, but that’s a skill I practiced here… I have to believe I will take some of this life with me.”

Shuichi sighed… before opening his eyes, smiling lightly again. “...alright. I’ve made myself feel a little bit better about learning. I’ll reach out to my apparent husband, Kaito. He’s meant to have remembered everything by now, though I intend to meet up with my other apparent husband, Kokichi, soon. I’d call him, but he knows about as much as I do, right now,” Shuichi said, bringing out his phone and clicking around, letting it start to ring.

“…hello? Handsome??”

Shuichi raised an eyebrow. “No longer worried about using pet names for people you don’t know?”

“That Kaito didn’t know what he was talking about! Shuichi!! Oh, it’s so nice to hear your voice. I miss you!”

“Mew!” 

Shuichi’s eyebrows raised as Mew suddenly hovered around the phone. Looking intently in its direction, going Mew! Mew! Over and over.

Kyle matched Shuuichi’s smile. “Tha’ ‘bout sums up how I’m feelin’. It’s…terrifyin’ thinkin’ about what could be diff’rent, but… What good does it do me t’ just ignore it? Leave you all t’ task when it sounds li’ you could use all th’ help you need to just…hide ‘way in a room for a few more days tha’ won’t even be happy ‘cause I’ll be obsessin’ over every’fin anyway. If I could end up helpin’ someone by knowin’, then tha’s worth th’ terror…and it’ll keep me from losin’ my mind hypothesizin’ too.”

And…whatever they had gained in this…dream… Kyle looked at Mime Jr. and Phantump again, giving them each a fond pat and reassuring smile. A whole life lived, everything they gained…no matter how much they forgot, it wasn’t meaningless. It mattered to him now, so…no matter what, it’d be a part of his heart. Kyle would make it so, no matter what nonsense happened. 

Looking a little surprised to hear that Kokichi--Fortuna--was Shuuichi’s husband, along with…Kaito was the name of that other gym leader who’d gone to the circus too, wasn’t it? Kyle gave Shuuichi a surprised look, before smiling slightly at how Mew suddenly tried to get attention from the phone. “Oh, is Mew Kaito’s pokemon, then? Though th’ wee lass seems jus’ as comfy wi’f you.”

“Um, I don’t believe so… Kaito, do you have a pokemon called Mew?” Shuichi asked, “Small, pink–”

“OH MY GOD–Atua, who loves me, please–Miya!?”

The Mew stopped mewing. Tilting its head curiously.

“Miiiiiyaaaa~ Miyakoooo~”

Mew went and tapped at the phone… before its eyes went wobbly with tears. Tapping the phone harder. Frustrated when this did not make the owner of the voice appear. “Mew! Meeeeeew!”

“Miyaaa~ Atua, please, I want this to be Miyako so badly, I’m seriously about to freak the heck out. Darnnit, I wish there was a way I could know. Miyaaaa~ Dad loves you, okay? You’re gonna be f-fine! Dad’s gonna get Daddy and Dada and we’re gonna take care of everything, o-okay? Big brother’s going to get Auntie and with all of them working on this you are soooo, so safe baby, I promise, Dad’s so sorry he wasn’t awake, Miyaaaa~”

Shuichi blinked, looking at the frustrated, teary-eyed pokemon. “...Kaito, is Miyako our daughter’s name?”

Mew looked over when Shuichi said ‘Miyako’. Huffing in annoyance, before flying into his lap, grumpily nuzzling against his stomach. Pissed she was not getting the dad she wanted, immediately, now that she wanted it. Unfair! 

Kaito didn’t answer right away. There was an attempt at a sound, it coming out a little choked… before Kaito seemed to whisper into the phone, like he was trying to hide it from anyone who might have been around him, “Shuichi, handsome, I need you to wake up soon. I know you can’t and that’s okay and I’m sorry for asking like this, but I’m losing it, man, I’m so scared right now and I want that to be our baby so badly because if it’s not I don’t know where she is, Shuichi. And I d-don’t know what to do…”

Shuichi had turned off speaker basically as soon as Kaito had started shakily whispering, giving Kyle a wincing ‘one moment’ gesture, mouthing an apology before saying into the phone, “Kaito, it’s okay. We’re working it out, remember? And… Mew turned its head when I called it Miyako. I don’t know why you think it's our infant, but that seems to be a point in our favor. But, Kaito, I have someone with me who needs you to be calm right now. Please, we had some questions about everything…”

“...y-yeah! Yeah, sorry! I’m good! I’m good! I-if that’s our Miya then h-hurray! That’s one more thing working in our favor a-and it’s probably totally fine sh-she’s a pokemon! Okay! I’m calm! L-let me talk to them, what do you guys need to know?”

Shuichi put Kaito back on speaker, feeling a little scummy as he did so. Kaito probably needed more comfort than that, but Shuichi didn’t know what to say. He very specifically didn’t know as much as Kaito right now, including only just finding out their daughter’s name. Shuichi lightly pet Mew’s back, as he said, “Kaito, we have questions about what reality is like.”

“Sure! Absolutely! Shoot!”

இ〰இ

Shuuichi may have turned speaker off when Kaito started whispering, but even the stuff before that Kyle had caught, Kaito calling out reassurances to…his daughter. Saying that everything was going to be okay, that he was sorry for not…maybe being there when they were awake…

Kyle’s mouth had gone full wobbly, tears springing and then falling from his eyes as Phantump, seeing the example, joined right in, prompting Mime Jr. to hurriedly try to get napkins and soothe them both. 

(Kyle had never known if his apologies had been heard.)

He did his best to try and calm down a bit by the time Shuuichi put Kaito back on speaker, and was…not that successful. More sniffly than he had been, even, but Kyle did make sure to blow his nose so he wasn’t audibly a snot factory. 

“U-um, sorry, hi, uh… Are…” It occurred to Kyle for the first time that…he maybe didn’t want to know if pokemon were still…pokemon in reality, his bravery from before be damned, but if Shuuichi’s daughter was maybe a pokemon here… “Um…”

Kyle took a shaky breath. “Sorry. Detective Shuuichi said…lot’a people prolly know each other in reality? So…I-I mean…” Kyle blinked out another round of tears. “...are…some people pokemon here?”

“Oh, geez, sorry, if I had realized why you guys were calling, I-I’d have kept it together! Sorry, everything is fine! We are all totally fine!” Kaito called over the phone, Shuichi practically able to hear the grin he had put on, likely with his eyes still drying. “Um…so, so far… okay, so most pokemon… some are individuals out in the world! I know for certain at least one pokemon I’ve met is an individual who exists independently! But… most are, uh, how did they describe it… they’re a part of us? Like they’re aspects of ourselves given form.”

“I see…” Shuichi murmured, looking at Mew, then at the pokemon clinging to Kyle, “But not all?”

“I know for certain at least one, and if Mew really is our Miya, then that’s two. It’s hard to say. But pokemon don’t exist in the real world. They’re a dream construct. But, like, given personality and autonomy by being a part of us, like… like Chibi Kaito!”

“What?”

“Ah, shoot, nevermind, you won’t understand that. Dr. Mariah called them our ‘relationships’ with things. Other people, ourselves, ideas, that sort of thing. Hey, who am I talking to? I may know you, but I don’t recognize your voice.”

“His name is Kyle.”

“...like…like Detective Kyle? T…” Kaito hesitated, “...tall? Furry?”

Kyle looked down at his pokemon, Phantump still sniffling against his chest, while Mime Jr. met him with a challenging glare. If…pokemon were their ‘relationships’ with things… Mime Jr. huffed, putting her nubby hands on her hips. …it didn’t make much sense to him, or at least Kyle had trouble conceptualizing having relationships with…relationships. It felt like his whole life revolved around his pokemon, so…how could…

But if they were people? Then…why them? Why not Kyle too? Why would he be the person to manifest as a person, and they’d be pokemon? Why…

(...)

A scrunched expression took over Kyle’s teary face, before he looked up in surprise and confusion at Kaito’s question. “...detective? Uh, naw, I don’t…” Kyle sniffled a small laugh. “I’d be a li’l worried if someone gave me a detective’s license in…whatever society we actually live in. And ‘m no’...”

Kyle looked at Shuuichi, giving him a confused look. “...furry?”

“Erm… m’ name’s Kyle Essei, ‘f tha’ helps?” 

Shuichi shrugged, no idea what a ‘furry’ was, or if Kaito meant Kyle should be furry? “Recognize an ‘Essei’?”

“...no,” Kaito admitted, sounding sheepish, “But I really struggle with names. Could I see a picture? That’d help.”

Getting permission, Shuichi snapped a shot, sending it over. 

“Oh no! You’re crying! Did I make you cry!? Oh noooo, your little pokemon is crying too. Shoot, it’s okay! Things are okay, little pokemon! I promise, things aren’t dire, they’re just… complicated. And, like… being a part of someone else you care about isn’t bad! Being a bunch of different beings all made up into one entity is a super cool and valid way to be, actually!”

“Kaito,” Shuichi sighed, “Try to focus. Do you know him?”

“Nah. Sorry, Kyle, I don’t recognize you. You’re a teenager right? I know a few teenagers, but unfortunately, the only one I have access to right now still isn’t lucid, and is back with his mom, so… I’m sorry, I don’t know anything about your life, personally.”

“N-no! You’re fine!” Kyle tried to reassure, though the effect was probably dampened by his audible sniffle as he wiped his face with another napkin. “Jus’... hearin’ you reassure your daughter was… Stuff like that gets me, sorry.”

That wasn’t something Kyle had ever considered before, but as he said it, it felt true. 

He couldn’t say he wasn’t a little disappointed to hear that he wasn’t serendipitously known by Kaito, but Kyle tried not to let it show in his voice. “Bit ‘f a long shot there, I guess. ‘N…guess it ‘n’t much diff’rent from how I’ve been goin’ lately, so ‘least ‘m used to it.”

Kyle sighed, trying to wipe his face clean again. “...know you said th’ League wa’ gonna make an announcement soon, Shuuichi, but…is this some’fin I should keep to m’self? …can’t ‘magine how I’d even start to explain it t’ Da’...”

Softly, he muttered, “Wonder ‘f ‘e’s less mingin’ in real life…” 

“Mingin? What’s mingin?” Kaito asked, voice suddenly weirdly focused, “Is mingin bad?”

“Oh, Kaito, you’re… breaking up. We’re going through a tunnel,” Shuichi said dryly, covering the receiver with his hand before whispering to Kyle, “If you have a poor relationship with your father, please do not tell him. He’s a bit…he has a bit of a soft spot for kids with difficult family situations. And Kaito’s soft spots make him act a bit…irrational.” 

Kyle’s eyes widened a little before he nodded in understanding. It wasn’t… Well. Kyle’s relationship with Charles wasn’t not poor. But it wasn’t awful. His dad was just a bit of a condescending bastard, and even being his son didn’t spare Kyle from it. It’d just…be nice if maybe they called a little more in real life, Kyle didn’t really want (or hope) for much more. 

“Er, well, thanks for answerin’ wha’ ya could, Mr. Kaito,” Kyle said, clearing his voice a little. “Um… Good luck t’ you all, figurin’ this out. I’d help if I could but…” Kyle huffed a small, disparaging laugh, sharing a humored look with Shuuichi. “‘Less ya need an amateur drawn picture or minor mechanical repair, don’ seem like I have much t’ offer.”

Shuichi smiled knowingly back, something sympathetic in it… before he mouthed ‘three, two, one’ before pointing at the phone: “Hey, everyone has something they can contribute, everyone is helpful! In fact, every person added to our range of people to reach out to will make it easier for your prince Kokichi to solve this dilemma! Kyle, give Shuichi your number! Shuichi, get him on the group chat so we can reach out to Kyle if we need him, you never know when our man in the wings is going to be just what we need! That’s what you’ll be, Kyle! A secret weapon in the wings!”

Shuichi covered the receiver as Kaito continued to talk, explaining, “He feels bad if someone around him doesn’t feel helpful. Quickest way to get him to stop trying to convince you is to just agree to help, he won’t actually ask you to do anything.”

He paused, before adding in, “Oh, and about your earlier question… maybe just wait for the announcement to tell people. It’s a lot to take in, and it’s not your responsibility to hold everyone’s hand through it. It’s a lot to ask of anyone.”

Kyle’s lips twitched as he held in a laugh at Shuuichi’s spot-on timing, though…what Kaito was apparently predictably saying was quite sweet in its own right. It wasn’t something Kyle was personally bent out of shape about, but being assured that every effort helped? It was sweet. 

Something that meant a lot, with the world shattering around them. 

Taking a breath, Kyle nodded. “Right, I’ll do that then. Dunno what I’d even tell ‘im, really…”

“Um…you said you were meetin’ up at Fortuna’s circus, right? O-or just with…” Kyle gave the phone a confused look. “...prince Kokichi. Don’ wanna delay ya much, uh… I could walk wi’f ya there, if that’d work better?”

“Yes! Walk my amnesiac husband and magic baby to Kokichi! Do it! And then maybe stay there to be safe! If you don’t feel safe? Though everything should be safe regardless… Don’t do anything weird or reckless just because it’s all a dream, okay? Kyle?? If you feel an urge to do something weird and/or reckless, I am ordering you to stay at the circus! Shuichi, don’t cover the receiver and tell him I can’t order him to do things!”

Shuichi raised an eyebrow, mid-covering of the receiver, before shrugging and mouthing ‘he can’t order you to do things’ before uncovering the receiver. “That would be nice, thank you Kyle. Kaito, that’s all we needed for now.”

“Okay! I love you!” Kaito paused, “You don’t have to say it back, I know you don’t remember marrying me! But trust me, you super did! The ceremony was great! I claimed you as head of the family!”

“What does… that mean?”

“It’s super meaningful and you will be incredibly touched when you remember it! Love you again! Miyaaaa~ Dad loves you! He loves you so much! We’re gonna figure this out, sweetroll! Okay okay, bye… love you!”

Shuichi clicked off. “It’s very strange having a husband I don’t remember. I imagine it’s even odder for Kokichi. I’ve known Kaito a while, but I think they just met yesterday.”

Kyle let out a breath. Even saying to himself everything was a dream…it still felt real. Going out to…what? Go bungee jumping? Still felt like gambling with Yveltal to a terrifying extent. However this dream reflected on them…Kyle didn’t feel any particular urge to be any riskier than he was on any given day. 

(...and if these were the last…hours, days, whatever with his pokemon… Kyle wanted to spend every second with them.)

“Di’ look like they recognized each other, at least, but…er, yeah,” Kyle agreed, scooping Mime Jr. up with Phantump and just…holding his little siblings for a moment before standing up. He regarded Mew for a moment as well, before giving Shuuichi a nod. “...maybe call it me wantin’ things to be too convenient, but…I think this is your daughter. Some pokemon can be affectionate out th’ gate but…I dunno. Some’fin just clicks in m’ perception ‘f it.”

Shuichi looked down at Mew, who seemed to have gotten over its grumpiness and seemed to be snoozily listening to his heartbeat, its tail curled against itself, like it was strongly considering another nap. Shuichi, testingly, ran his hand over the side of its face, and Mew just yawned, blinking sleepily. 

“...I don’t have much of an imagination,” Shuichi said gently, “Which can be helpful in my pursuit for knowledge, but a hindrance in believing in things I can’t prove. Still…I believed my daughter was okay without proof already. I could feel it. This confidence that it really was all okay…and when this little one appeared, I took it… her? With me.”

“...I don’t know if Mew is my daughter,” Shuichi admitted, “But it doesn’t feel like a betrayal to treat her as such, for now. Perhaps Mew is just my relationship to my daughter. I don’t know. But we’re all tucked into this place together. Wherever she is? If she’s right here or somewhere else… she’s not far. And I…” Shuichi smiled, mildly amused at the random thought process, “Think I might have a very buff baby. She’s okay.”

“Let’s go.”

-

It wasn’t like Fortuna’s circus was completely closed to the public when there wasn’t a performance going on. There were a lot of vendors and solo artists who had spaces allotted to them within the main arcade and their schedule was mostly determined by them, and most of the building was open just for sightseeing on a regular basis. But there was a sort of muted calmness to the area when the circus itself wasn’t going on.

And to avoid the possible discomfort of people seeking business having to tread over liminal space, there was a back entrance to the office area of the circus. Outside of it, however, was an elegant man smoking as furiously as a person could while having no discernable expression on their face. The air around him was smokey and herbal, almost fruity, in some notes, like a particularly fancy incense. And as he spotted Shuuichi and Kyle walking up…it was subtle. But there was a small double-take the man did, seeing Kyle. 

Sucking in another drag, the man sighed out the floral smoke through his nostrils, giving Shuuichi a nod. “Mild change of plans, but Kokichi’s still waiting for you inside. My son and his boyfriend are set to meet up here to help out, but I’m waiting for them while you two head for the lake.”

Shuichi nodded lightly at the performer. Shuichi didn’t know him, but Kokichi’s entourage tended to be well informed, and Shuichi wasn’t surprised that he was expected or recognized based on prior interactions with the performers. They were well-organized, to put it lightly. 

“Thank you,” Shuichi looked to Kyle, “Would you like to come in with me? I don’t intend to force you to stay here, or involved with all of this, regardless of how Kaito feels about it. You very likely are safe to go anywhere. I get the sense this is an ‘all or nothing’ situation, it’s not like you’re going to miss out on the exit.”

Lazaro nodded in confirmation, leaning back against the wall and tapping the ash of his cigarette into a small ashtray set into a ledge in the wall. “Our minds are treating this place as an entirely separate dimension, but our bodies still exist in our regular world. Just forcibly asleep. Sever what’s connecting us here, and wake our bodies up, and you’ll be awake in your bed like nothing happened.”

Kyle blinked in surprise at the…very informed explanation, before giving Shuuichi a sheepish look. “Well, er… Looks like ya got plenny ‘a capable people on board. S’ppose I’ll just be ‘round as backup, but…don’ need t’ shoulder m’ way in any. Good luck, t’ you all.”

Shuichi smiled at Kyle, before lifting his phone. “I have your number. Text me if there’s anything at all you need. Keep an eye on the group chat.”

Mew waved to Phantump as Shuichi headed inside. 

It was some sort of costume prep area, Shuichi having to walk around rows of costumes and outfits before heading back to a row of desks with lit vanity lights, where the performers would get prepped for their shows. In the very back corner of the room was a small desk covered to the brim with paperwork. An overgrown plant on its edge literally curtaining the side with vines and blooming flowers, as Shuichi called out, “Kokichi?”

“Oop!” The sound of furious keyboard clacking stopped, and there was briefly a head of plum hair visible, before one of the stacks of papers started tilting to the side. Very quickly, there was a loud, WHAP! Before the stack was straightened and Kokichi Ouma rounded the side of the desk, grinning at Shuuichi sheepishly. 

“Heeeeey, Shuu-chan, the train made good time, huh? Glad you made it over alright!” Kokichi greeted. “So, I dunno if you ran into Lazaro or you heard from Kaito, but Kaito got in touch with Aceto-chan and Arven-chan, who…well, more people know about pokemon, but they’re the ones who made the whole concept in our main reality, so they’re on their way here. Unfortunately, it sounded like they don’t have much more of an idea of what’s happened or how to fix it than we do, but, still, more minds will help.”

“In the meantime, though, are you ready to head to Kokoron Lake? My mentor was going to come along with us too, see if in-universe great psychic powers might tell us a little more about how this reality is structured.”

Kokichi then blinked and addressed Mew, smiling adoringly. “Also--hi, who’s this?! Aw, hello~ You a new friend of Shuu-chan’s?”

Mew blinked up at Kokichi… before cheerfully floating from Shuichi’s arms to Kokichi. Wrapping her tail around Kokichi’s arm as she snuggled in. 

Yes. Ideal. She was a girl used to some dad variety in her life. Now the giggly one was here, and she was done napping anyway. 

Shuichi raised an eyebrow as he saw Mew immediately nuzzle and cling to Kokichi next, before saying, “Try not to be overly alarmed, I think. But Kaito seems fairly confident this might actually be our baby. Our child’s name is Miyako, if you didn’t catch that last time, but this pokemon seems to be a Mew.”

“...” Shuichi flushed somewhat uncomfortably, looking away and adjusting his hat a bit, “...I don’t know what to say to you,” Shuichi admitted, “I feel a bit overly formal. I don’t know how someone talks to their husband. It’s nice to see you again, Kokichi.”

Kokichi smiled in surprise, lifting his arms to cradle Mew, surprised but delighted that the pokemon warmed up to him so quickly, but… 

Kokichi blinked. Then blinked again. Before his eyes widened almost comically. “This - you’re Miya?!” he gasped, looking down at Mew. All sorts of questions going through his mind about what it meant that his daughter was presenting as a pokemon in this world, and if that would pose any problems about getting them out, but…Kokichi’s gaze just softened as he held her close, putting out a warm, relieved (familiar) burst of affection, presenting it to her.

And even feeling a little overcome, that warm look was sent Shuuichi’s way as well. “It’s nice to see you too, Shuu-chan. I may not remember being married to you, or to Kaito, but…I’m not sure. I think some feelings bleed through a little more than others.” Kokichi giggled sheepishly. “If the fact that I got head-over-heels smitten for you while we were strangers is any indication, I mean.”

Shuichi startled at that… before pinking. Looking away… then down… upwards…

“...I mean, obviously I thought you were attractive,” Shuichi said, determined to look anywhere but at Kokichi, “But so does everyone. It’s not shocking to find one of the biggest performing celebrities around attractive. Especially finding out you were charming and intelligent and very sweet off stage as well… I mean…”

Shuichi huffed, crossing his arms, looking a little annoyed now. “The way my sister speaks about it, I didn’t go gaga for you, like Kaito did. I found you reasonably very alluring! I’m a professional, I’m allowed to find someone alluring without acting odd on their case…hmph.” Shuichi humphed, turning pinker in embarrassment. No idea why he was feeling so defensive to admit, yes, he had been attracted to Kokichi as well.

Mew reached up and tapped Kokichi’s chin. She paused, then tapped his chin more insistently. “I believe she might be hoping you’ll sing to her.” Alter Ego explained from where he was sat on the vanity desk.

“Oh!” Shuichi startled, “A talking pokemon?”

“Meow,” Alter Ego offered gamely. 

Kokichi just grinned brighter, a delightedly rosy shade of pink coloring his cheeks. “Oh, Mr. Saihara, you know how to woo a guy. Surprise marriage notwithstanding…I’m just happy how dumbstruck I got from how amazing you are wasn’t a completely one-sided thing. I can take some teasing, but it was just embarrassing.”

Looking down at Mew in surprise as she started tapping him, Kokichi glanced over at Alter Ego before chuckling a little self-consciously. “Ah, Shuu-chan, this is my mentor and friend Alter Ego; and, yeah, they can talk. They’re the one who clued me in on what’s going on.”

Rubbing Mew’s back a little, Kokichi sighed before giving Shuuichi and Alter Ego a sheepish look. “Well…let’s head out, I suppose.”

And before he could make himself too embarrassed:

“My sweet Mi-Mi / Just like the sea / You travel to and fro / But, you see / I’ll always be / Right wherever you go~”

Mew swayed back and forth cheerfully in Kokichi’s arms. Entirely pleased with herself. 

-

The first thing Shuichi did when he was told where they were going was try to look up the lake on the internet, and immediately discovered nothing. No sign of it on the maps, no sign in the satellite images, and little more than one vague rumor on one forum about if there was a body of water near a town for someone to go swimming in.

When they arrived, Shuichi understood better. This felt like a hidden place. Parsing through the thick wood foliage off the beaten path, they came to a clearing of a lake, which seemed to be carved into the side of a mountain, of which there were several small gushes of waterfalls coming from the mountainside, spilling into the lake, which seemed to hold the endlessly filling water with not so much as a ripple. The waterfalls only casting enough spray around the lakebed to create shimmers of rainbow around it.

This was a hidden place. And Mew, who had been content to be held for the trip, suddenly flew out. Reaching out to poke the lake water, before making little bubbles on top of it. Delighting in watching the bubbles bounce across the water’s surface before chasing them.

“I imagine this is it, then?” Shuichi said, looking around, “It feels like a magical place.”

Kokoron Lake wasn’t a forbidden place by any measure, it just…wasn’t that easy to find. And even after Kokichi had found it in his youth…well, after the initial wonder and desire to share such a place with others, he had reasoned that there was no way he was the only person who had ever found it. So, following that logic, it meant that people had kept the lake a secret on purpose. 

And Kokichi had quickly found out why.

Giggling softly at Mew going out on the lake to play, Kokichi watched over her still diligently, even seeing that she could fly, before giving Shuuichi a nod. “It really does, right? I feel like you could make a hundred paintings of this place and have them all be wonderful, but never truly capture everything about it.”

And, well, that was in part because he’d never want to blow up his friend’s spot. Taking a breath, Kokichi called out, “Mesprit! It’s Kokichi! Can we talk?” And he also…{called out}. 

And…before long? Out from behind a waterfall, a pink and grey pokemon with twin tails--honestly shaped a lot like Mew--came floating towards Kokichi and Shuuichi, only pausing to gently watch Mew play for a few moments before giving Kokichi a slow, fond blink. 

{Friend… Brought love in many forms here.}

“I did,” Kokichi grinned, twirling a piece of his hair sheepishly. “These people mean a lot to me, Mesprit--my mentor, my daughter, and…in real life, my husband. And…well, I don’t know if you’ve felt it, but…” Kokichi’s smile dimmed. “...all this is a dream. Our lives and connections broken and tossed around into something new and borderline unrecognizable, and what’s true is…in danger if we stay here.”

Kokichi’s voice softened. “You’ve always been a dear friend to me, and…it’s painful even to ask you to deconstruct the reality that sustains you. It’s not fair. But we need all the help we can get.”

{I understand} Mesprit said, taking long looks around everyone. {And it seems you have it here.}

Shuichi glanced over at Mesprit, then looked at Kokichi, then at the golden cat with the ridiculous name. “...are you all hearing something or…?”

“Focus on what you feel more than trying to hear actual words,” Alter Ego advised, stretching on the grass, “If you think about it, you’ll realize you’ll know what was just said. Trust that.”

“I see,” Shuichi said, looking to Kokichi for confirmation... And it felt silly to take a cat’s advice. “So, Mesprit isn’t someone in a pokemon’s body then? We’re certain?”

{I am the connections between people. Perhaps, what it means to be an Empath manifest into dominion…} Mesprit mused, doing a small flip in the air. {...perhaps still, a desire for progress to still exist, while the steps to that progress weren’t manifest by this world.}

Kokichi frowned a little. “...I’d like to think you’re more than just a…plot device.”

{If that’s what you like, then that’s what I am. The feelings we have and the actions made from them define more than what anyone is ‘made’ to be}

“That feels familiar…” Kokichi laughed softly, before tilting his head at the Legendary pokemon. “Though…you meant more than just the four of us here, when you said we had help. You’re right, but…”

Mesprit tapped one of its tails against the furrow in Kokichi’s brows, before tilting its head towards Mew. {Feel, my friend.}

Mew bounced against the bubbles, getting extra lift as the bubble dunked into the water before the water pushed it back up, sending Mew flying higher and higher with every bounce. 

Shuichi watched them all with the wary understanding of someone who knew, and accepted, themselves as an outsider in this situation. Comprehending what Mesprit meant, but unable to conceptualize indulging in it. 

Alter Ego, though, closed their eyes. Reaching out. Reaching to Mew.

It was like stars. 

Or perhaps it was like a spiderweb, covered in morning’s dew. Or perhaps it was like the roots of a forest, all interlocking and growing out in every direction, creating its leafy landscape. Perhaps, in that moment, Alter Ego understood why Flora were a hive mind. Each comparison Alter Ego made took him closer and closer to nature, to the earth. That endless, bright, beautiful connection feeling natural. Warm. Comfortable. 

Miyako was a natural at tethers, and Alter Ego realized suddenly that he had had an unconscious bias towards assuming that was to do with her being a natural Empath.

This was the interlocking style of a Flora. Tether upon tether upon tether… connecting everyone together. Miyako sustaining it flawlessly. Like she was made for it.

Kokichi let out a little gasp, realizing what the ‘encompassing’ feeling he’d always gotten when he had tried to Empathically reach out before was. Of course he couldn’t feel a distinction between people…they were all tied to Miya. Kokichi wasn’t reaching out to other minds, he was reaching out to her. 

“Oh my sweet girl…” Kokichi sighed, looking out at Mew bouncing on the lake. “...well, that answers how we’re all in the same dream…but…” Shaking his head a little, Kokichi looked over at Shuuichi and explained for his sake. “Miyako’s tethered us all together. However, just untethering us all would still just…leave us asleep, but separated. In comas, basically, and left to the influence of whatever did this in the first place, rather than the collective influence we’re all having here.”

“So…we have half of it. But we need to figure out what’s keeping us asleep.” Kokichi shook his head, stressed. “Lazaro said it’s powerful, not just a suggestion of sleep. Even people who don’t need to sleep have been pulled in, so…it wouldn’t be something like a gas that’d make us all pass out. It has to be magical in nature. Able to…create a dream dimension, or something.”

Shuichi’s brow furrowed, crossing his arms. “You said pokemon don’t exist in the world outside? What does exist? That could do something like this, I mean.”

“Magic,” Alter Ego said, “Think how psychics work here, along with stories of witches. That seems to be the most fantasy translates in here, everything else explained as being done by pokemon, but the concept of…everything pokemon do tends to have some influence by magic in the real world. Elementals are creatures created by the energy signatures of certain elements, and they can do things fire pokemon and electric pokemon and such can do. There are also divine creatures, beings who seem to embody the energies of the universe as concepts–”

“You keep mentioning ‘energies’,” Shuichi said.

“A lot of ‘magic’ is actually the manipulation of energy… though, admittedly, I don’t have a ton of knowledge outside of what that means for Empaths,” Alter Ego admitted, “And how you define ‘energy’ might change from field to field. In truth, this feels like something that could be accomplished by an Empath, as Empaths manipulate minds on a grand scale, and the more powerful, the more realistic and inescapable that hold on minds can become… but.”

“But?” Shuichi prompted, before guessing, “Actually, is it the ‘sleep factor’ that makes you uncertain if it's an Empath?”

Alter Ego nodded. “Exactly. Empaths don’t need a physical element like that. And in truth, they can’t force someone to sleep. Their influence is on minds, the most they can influence a person's actual body is to briefly take it over. And even that requires a great deal of raw power, and at this scale? Unheard of.”

Shuichi adjusted his hat. “This much influence feels like it’d limit who was capable of it, even if they could manipulate minds. Let’s take away the common answers and assume it’s impossible for them. Would the gods be capable of this?”

“I’m not actually sure?” Alter Ego admitted, “Presumably yes, but gods don’t interfere like this. I say ‘the divine’ like it's obvious, but most people have no proof or belief they’re real. And everyone I’ve ever met who has real, actual ties to the divine always say gods don’t interfere as a policy with day to day things in the world. Kaito explained it once as the gods ensuring free will, and Temp explained it as the gods limiting themselves to issues as large in scope as they are.”

“...I’m sorry, does this imply Kaito has a direct connection to a divine being?” Shuichi asked, his train of thought taken off course for a moment, before shaking his head, “Wait, maybe that doesn’t matter… or maybe it does? This can’t be as simple as Kaito asking the gods what’s happening, is it?”

“Not a chance,” Alter Ego said, “My friend Temp is the only person I know who can expect an answer when he speaks to the gods, and it’s always cryptic. Kaito prays all the time, but I don’t think he’s ever gotten a real answer. That’s just how it is with the gods.”

“Okay. Then let’s take gods off the table,” Shuichi said, “...you said people don’t believe in the gods. What about magic? How commonly known is that?”

“Generally? It’s not. Most of it is known through stories and myths, the world works really hard to keep magical communities hidden from the rest of the population, because of how badly those communities have been targeted in the past,” Alter Ego explained, “Empaths are a secret, for example.”

“I see… but we’ve transferred things we know to this dream, in a lot of ways. So if someone seemed to know a LOT of fantasy elements? Or even invented them?” Shuichi asked, taking out his phone, “Would you think a fairytale here could count as information on the outside?”

“Um…” Alter Ego floundered, uncertain.

Kokichi listened carefully to the information Alter Ego was able to give them, Mesprit seeming to do the same, all while rolling and flipping gently through the air. He agreed that this likely wasn’t the work of an Empath. Even just being tethered like Miyako was was something Kokichi knew he’d only be able to maintain while stretching himself to his limits, so trying to influence what the tethers were doing, and force everyone asleep through them felt…borderline impossible, if not something Kokichi would only be able to achieve through nearly destroying himself. 

So…something that powerful would be more aligned with the levels of influence a divine force could make…but as Alter Ego explained, it was incredibly unlikely that any god would do something like this. 

But…with Miya doing the work of keeping people together, if the only work needing to be done was put people asleep and create a dream…

“Possibly?” Kokichi shrugged. “But while Aceto and Arven made pokemon…it sounded to me that Aceto wasn’t really aware of the greater scope of things at all. He was aware he was dreaming, but…well, Kaito didn’t say so, but from what he described it sounds like Aceto-chan is always a lucid dreamer, and he thought this was just all his dream, that other people weren’t in it too. So I really doubt it was him.”

Kokichi tugged on the ends of his hair. “...do you know any fairytales about people falling asleep?”

“I don’t. I’ve never had much mind for fairytales,” Shuichi said, clicking through his contacts, “But for a case I worked, I met this librarian who’s…a bit obsessed, to say the least. Especially grim and dark ones. Let me reach out…”

Ring. Ring.

The phone rang for a few moments, before a slight harried voice came through the speaker.

“Toneido Municipal Library, what can we get in your hands today?”

“Nao Umezaki, good day,” Shuichi said, putting her on speaker, “I apologize for the sudden phone call, this is Detective Saihara. I have you on speaker with Kokichi Ouma and,” Shuichi glanced over at Mesprit and Alter Ego, “Some associates helping me with inquiries into a case. Could I trouble you for some information?”

“Oh, Detective! It’s nice to hear from you. Though I have to guess, if you’re calling here specifically instead of Delfino Plaza or Usott’s library, it’s more than just reference material,” Nao joked lightly. “Sure, I’d be delighted to help out on a case, what do you need?”

Even through the phone, there was a slight…not edge, with the aggressive connotations that word usually carried, but…something Kokichi picked up in the librarian’s voice. A slight thread of nervousness, though it seemed more pronounced towards Shuuichi specifically than towards helping out a case. …and from the fact she knew who he was with his real name told Kokichi that Shuuichi had chosen this reference for a specific reason. 

“Hi, Librarian Umezaki,” Kokichi greeted. “We were wondering if you knew of any folklore or fairytales pertaining to…enchanted dreams, I suppose. Works describing people magically or supernaturally being put to sleep, or beings associated with dreams.”

He glanced to Shuuichi, asking if that was the extent they’d ask for.

“Thank you. And yes, if you could recommend works where the act seemed both more powerful than usual, and rare?” Shuichi added in, “Basically a creature or event where the people being put to sleep wouldn’t be a daily occurrence or unnoticeable. It’d be a dilemma.”

Shuichi didn’t know why Nao was nervous around him. Nor did he know why he took so much… satisfaction in it. They had met on a case where the library happened to be across the street from what had ended up being a pokemon gang’s headquarters, and Nao had been the one to call in the report, being the first to notice something wasn’t right and calling for help. She was a lovely enough woman, and Shuichi could admit there was almost something attractive in her, the scars she had explained away as being carpentry accidents adding to her appealing nature rather than detracting. All in all, a pleasant enough person to interact with.

But in the same way something about him brought something uncharacteristically nervous in her, something about her brought out something uncharacteristically aggressive in him. Nothing that made him act unkindly to her, in the same way she didn’t act unduly afraid of him, despite her nerves. 

It was more just this sense that… if he were to step on her back? Or her head? He’d probably get something out of it. 

It was a bizarre way to feel, but, well, some part of Shuichi had realized recognizing the feeling had relaxed something in him. Recognizing the aggressive feeling and not being hurt by it. He wasn’t ashamed. He didn’t know if he should have been. It just felt satisfying. 

But that was never why Shuichi reached out to Nao. Shuichi always reached out to Nao when he needed gossip and legends and myths because Nao was really good at collecting stories and information, fiction or otherwise. If there was some niche piece of lore about pokemon or haunted houses or the weird van moving around the city at odd hours? Nao knew something about it. 

“We appreciate any help you can provide.” Shuichi added in. Smiling lightly. 

Nao hummed a curious little note, and there was some background noise from the phone, likely from her moving around. “Stories about sudden sleep and dreams, let me see… Well, there’s all the lore about Darkrai, of course, though that’s not exactly niche. Powerful and rare, yes, but I think just about every children’s fairytale book has some spooky story about Darkrai in it…”

“Ah, there’s the story of Princess Boreal, cursed by a scorned Hatterene breeder to prick her finger at the age of 16 and fall into an endless sleep. A classic tale, with about as many deconstructions as there are versions, though a personal favorite comes from an online forum that theorized the incursion of sleep came from a distillation of Sleep Powder powder that the needle had been coated in.”

“There was an urban legend, local to Ricco Harbor out east, about a hoard of Hypno swarming the port town and putting everyone to sleep as an organized effort, stealing everything but the building foundations out from the sleeping residents’ noses…”

“Ah…and the Dreamyard. Ruins of a people unknown, but now home to a particularly powerful Musharna, there are tons of legends about people going missing or lost around there, only for some to turn up miles away, talking about having a nice dream.” Nao paused. “I always thought those stories were particularly unsettling, since how they’re phrased is never overtly scary. But having your body completely surrender to a Musharna’s dream…it wigs me out, honestly.”

“Ruins…” Shuichi murmured, looking to Kokichi, “We do know this is having an effect around a large area. Having it be worldwide is beyond my ability to believe, personally, but the size of a town? Or a city?”

“That does sound closest, though I’ve never heard of these things myself.” Alter Ego said, “Does she know anything more specific about them? What they look like, maybe? Or how people escape them, if they do?”

“Well, Nao?” Shuichi said, his tone… expectant. “Did you hear them? Anything like that?”

“Well, Musharna’s just a pokemon, so… And updating the pokedex is what Aceto and Arven have been doing for the past two years.” Kokichi got out his own phone, scrolling through the Pokedex app. 

“Heh,” Nao nervously laughed. “Just those stories about people turning up weird places…but Leader Fortuna’s right. If that Musharna exists, or one like it that the legends were based off of, it’s still a pokemon, and you can just…talk to pokemon. Use an Awakening or Wake-Up Slap, or just…reason with it. All pokemon have unique personalities, just like people, but Musharna and Munna aren’t ones typically categorized as malicious, or even tricksters, if I remember right. If someone was caught in a Musharna’s dream, I’d think asking it to let them go would work.”

Shuichi smiled. “Ah, perfect. That’s incredibly helpful, thank you Nao. There’s going to be an announcement later put out by the Pokemon League that will add some context to our questions. I’m going to add you to a group chat; if you have any questions, please feel free to utilize the group chat. We will call you if we need anything else.”

“Wait, what?!”

Kokichi just gave Shuuichi a look as he sighed quietly, shaking his head as Shuuichi hung up. Alright… 

“Musharna, the Drowsing Pokemon,” Kokichi read from the pokedex, “The evolved form of Munna. They emanate multicolored mist from their foreheads which is manifest of it and people’s dreams. The mist can take shape, turning a dream into reality. Musharna are not graceful wakers, and it’s best to steer clear of a recently awoken Musharna, terrible grump they can be.”

Kokichi pursed his lips. “...that does sound applicable.”

Shuichi held back a chuckle–okay, he was mostly kind to her–before listening to Kokichi’s pokedex reading. “...wait, don’t the researchers tend to update these indexes after seeing for themselves, these pokemon? Is it possible Aceto and Arven have actually seen this pokemon for themselves? Do you have their number? I suppose I could dig into the group chat for it, though you said they were coming to us. How soon? Easier to meet up with them back at the circus and ask then?”

“It is possible,” Kokichi hummed, looking through the page contributors. …hm… A.D.? Initials weren’t the surest thing to go off of…but Aceto Doppio, or even Arven and Doppio would fit… “Kaito had apparently just gotten off the phone with them when he called me about them coming over, and they had already been heading our way to check out a pokemon that piqued their interest…”

“Given that wherever a Musharna, or maybe even a particular Musharna we may be looking for wouldn’t be…here?” Kokichi gestured to Kokoron Lake, and got a confirming nod from Mesprit, “We may as well head back to Usott, though we can ask when their ETA is.”

Looking a little sheepish, Kokichi ran a hand through his hair. “...either way, I’d think Aceto would want to check in with his parents before going anywhere else anyway. Gosh…and I don’t even know where Arven’s parents are…”

“I understand wanting to keep tabs on loved ones and tying things up, but I’m certain both of them will have realized the urgency of this situation by now,” Shuichi said… before his eyebrows raised. Looking up, his hat now hovering in the air above his head. “...Miyako, return my hat.”

Mew was nibbling on the brim of the hat. Gently spinning in a sumersault as she contently nibbled. 

“Miyako. Miyako, young lady, return my hat, it’s… I will count to three, and you will return my hat. One… Two…” Shuichi paused, before pouting, “I’ve raised a hat thief. I’m a failure as a parent. Miyako, don’t put fabric in your mouth, it’s bad for your stomach!”

“I think that might be part of it,” Kokichi said softly. “Even if our loved ones are still waiting for us in reality…the version of them we have and grew up with here won’t be. In a certain manner…we’re trying to end the world. Even if it’s to save our real world, I wouldn’t blame anyone for being afraid and wanting another moment with their loved ones. And…Arven and Aceto are kids. Even you and I deserve the comfort of a parent in a stressful time, so do they.”

Closing its eyes, Mesprit floated over to Kokichi and gently embraced around his shoulder. {The mind never truly forgets. Even in a false reality, our connection is real and will stay with you always.} Mesprit gave Alter Ego a slow blink. {I believe it already has.}

Hugging his dear friend back, Kokichi smiled a bit at Miyako’s antics…before his stomach softly dropped. …that might mean she could be getting hungry, huh. 

“Okay, let me try to call Aceto, and we can start heading back. Hopefully they might know where a Musharna is off-hand…”

-

Arven was driving the moped, Doppio sitting behind him and holding on as they roared with as much oomph as a moped could roar. “I should have gotten the motorcycle,” Arven lamented, “I always told myself I would someday, and now the world is ending and I still just have the moped. Lame.”

He looked at the little connecting car of the moped, where Mabosstiff was happily sitting, tongue blowing in the wind. “Sorry, ol’ man! No motorcycles for us.”

Mabosstiff barked happily.

“Sorry…” Doppio said quietly, then a little louder to be heard over the road. “If I knew that this was actually you, I’d’ve said to just go all in on the motorcycle. I think Lazaro and Dante would’ve even helped pay for it, if we agreed to take extra safety lessons.” 

Doppio hadn’t really been dreaming with restraint, but…there were maybe a lot of things he would’ve encouraged if he’d realized what was going on sooner. There were a lot of cool things to do in real life! But, well…no motorcycles. 

Blinking, Doppio looked down before he realized, “Oh, I’m getting a call… Shoot, do you think I should take it? We really should get to Usott as fast as we can…”

“Just keep an arm around my waist, it’ll be okay,” Arven assured, “If you’re afraid of dropping it, put it in your front pocket, the road’s pretty smooth, I doubt we’ll have any big bumps.”

Nodding, Doppio shifted a little to hold one arm more securely around Arven’s waist and…just in case, looped his middle finger in the back hook of his phone case, bringing it up to answer. 

“Uh, hello, Doppio here!”

“Ciao, Aceto!” Kokichi’s bright voice greeted (and it never got less weird to hear that, even if Doppio knew in this dream Kokichi had learned that from Dante). “Sorry to bother while you’re traveling, but do you know when you and Arven are going to arrive in Usott? We’ve gotten a lead on how to get out of this dream, but your and his pokemon expertise are needed for it.”

“Oh, uh, yeah?” Doppio said unsurely, before speaking up to Arven. “Um, Prince Kokichi has a lead for us and he’s wondering when we’ll get to Usott?”

“Um, at this rate? I’d expect around 5?” Arven said, glancing at a road sign they passed, “We’re making good time, but it’d still be a few hours, especially if we’d need to take a break to give our butts a rest. Which pokemon though? Maybe we can give you the info you need over the phone?”

“...oh I don’t like you talking while driving…” Kokichi muttered, a predominant stressed tone in his voice, before he sighed. “Do you guys know anything about Musharna off the tops of your heads? We’ve read the pokedex entry and heard about the legend of the Dreamyard, but…do you know where we’d actually be able to find one? There’s a good chance whatever put us all to sleep is manifesting as a Musharna in this dream.”

“Musharna…oh duh…” Doppio sighed. “Yeah, we ran into one in Nored Forest. They…do sure make things out of dreams, don’t they.”

“Perfect,” Kokichi said, relief in his tone, “We’ll pass the word on to the others, you guys drive safe, alright? And we can touch base once you guys make it to the circus.”

There was a pause, before, “...you two stay safe, alright? I know this is daunting, but…it seems at every turn we’re bringing more people in who are working together to get us back to our reality. Whatever the differences are…the fact that’s true between both is that we’re not alone. I’ll see you guys soon, Mabosstiff too.”

“Alright, Kokichi, thanks, bye.”

“Bye Kokichi! Don’t worry, we’ll be safe!” Arven called back, his voice high and eager, before sighing as the phone disconnected, “I wonder if we know him in real life? He’s so cool. You haven’t told me much about the real world yet, Aceto. Do we still know Kokichi? Go see his performances?” 

Carefully putting his phone away--they’d still have Arven’s to contact the others, but he’d rather not give anyone a heart attack if he dropped it on the road--Doppio sighed as he looped his other arm back around Arven. “We know Kokichi, but he’s not a performer. He’s the heir apparent of the country we live in. I…”

Doppio looked down, staring at the back of Arven’s shirt. “...you know my, erm…biological dad?”

“Heir-apparent… What, like? Royalty?” Arven asked, sounding befuddled, “What, do we live in the middle ages?” There was silence at that, and Arven groaned, “Oh noooo. I’m way too right, aren’t I? Do we at least have televisions? …noooooo.” Arven groaned again.

Mourning the loss of the cool technology in their lives, Arven continued, “The crime-boss extraordinaire? How could I forget?” Arven scoffed, shaking his head a bit as he turned the moped down a new empty road. “Still can’t believe you and him share blood. You’re one of the most legal-minded people I know. I remember you looking like Officer Jenny was gonna kick down our door when I got my hands on some wine. What about him?”

Doppio chewed the inside of his cheek with a sheepish smile amid Arven’s laments, before he quickly remembered that having his teeth near anything squishy while they were driving was a one-way ticket to pain town. “We have phones! …within the last year. People are very excited about the concepts of trains.”

Tightening his arms around Arven’s waist, Doppio sighed. “...in real life, my dad was…kind of in the same position. And it got me in some trouble that Kaito got me out of. Kaito, being Prince Kokichi’s husband. While dealing with that, they had me live at the castle for a while…you too, actually. I, uh…actually just left. Tonight’s my second night staying with Lazaro and Dante, and…my first without you.”

“Really? Those two together? …huh,” Arven said, tilting his head, trying to imagine it, “Kaito got really lucky, that’s all I can say to that. I can see him helping out though. Guy lives for that sort of thing.”

“And, oh! You know… it didn’t even occur to me that we might not be together?” Arven admitted, feeling the reassuring and… very nice feeling of Doppio pressed against his back as the moped rumbled, “Still, I’m glad to hear it confirmed. Our first night not together… Wait, what does that actually mean? Why would I live in the castle with…”

“...” Arven sighed, “...actually, I feel like I know. I guess Mom and Dad are still pretty distant, huh? In the real world? So much so I’m living in the castle with you? Or, I was?”

“Them with Gym Leader Shuuichi, yeah,” Doppio confirmed. “They are kinda…almost disgustingly in love. L-like it’s sweet and I’m happy for them, a-and all, but…there’s no question at all how into each other they are.”

Smiling softly, Doppio resisted the urge to…nuzzle Arven’s shoulder or something. “Of course we’re together. I think I would’ve caught on that something was up if I was having a dream like this, but you weren’t there. And I wouldn’t get comfy with anyone else in my dreams.”

There…were some things Doppio would hold back, though, and he had to remind himself again not to bite his lips. “...yeah… You have your house, and were living there when we met, but…when we got worried that my dad might target you to get to me, when Kaito was helping me out, and…I think he was worried about you being in your house with Mabosstiff anyway, you moved into the castle with me.”

Doppio paused, blushing a little. “...well, we actually started out trying to run away, to avoid my dad, but Kaito and Gym Leader Lake found us really easily…a-along with an assassin that, um, Gym Leader Maki’s dad, who was also tailing us, took down… And they brought us back. So…from there. Yeah.”

“Wow… our life out there sounds even more complicated than it is here,” Arven said, raising an eyebrow. “...I’m a little disappointed. I like our lives. We found cool pokemon and explored interesting places, and have talked to all sorts of people…we did a lot of good here, did a lot of cool things. It’s a shame to lose it… Wait! Is Mabosstiff out there?” Arven asked, sounding alarmed.

“Yeah…” Doppio said softly. “I thought it was a really cool dream. Working on our figurines and pokedex in the real world is always so much fun and…getting to see them as real creatures is incredible. If this really was the real world, it’d be great, honestly.”

But…it wasn’t. And Doppio was starting to realize that…maybe his perspective of having always known it was a dream wasn’t the most…helpful, to everyone whose world was suddenly ending. 

Gently patting Arven’s stomach, Doppio nodded. “Yeah, Mabosstiff is out there--he’s your dog, Chief. There…isn’t really much difference between them at all, really. Kinda because we based the species Mabosstiff off of Chief, I’d think.”

“Oh, good,” Arven sighed. “Maybe it’s awful of me to have a favorite, but… I mean, I do. I’m glad at least Mabosstiff is gonna be out there with us.”

Arven glanced down at Doppio’s hand, before flushing, looking up at the road again. Trying to stay focused. End of the world! New life ahead! A life where, well… he and Doppio weren’t going to wake up together. At least not that morning.

…huh. 

Come on, that wasn’t so bad. Doppio wasn’t far, it sounded like. And this was only the second night! And they had been together, traveling together, for a long time now. If anything Arven had lucked out too. Getting to spend all this time with Doppio, on the first few nights they were sleeping separately. Almost miraculous, really, Arven was thrilled. Should be thrilled.

“...so, uh,” Arven swallowed, “...so… sheesh, this is such a dumb question,” Arven sighed, turning red, “...is our relationship the same out there as it is in here? I mean… do we kiss and stuff?”

“Mhmm,” Doppio hummed, watching the road pass by and just…trying not to feel guilty. “Even…even if I thought you were just a figment of my imagination…I haven’t treated you any differently than I normally do. We kiss ‘n stuff. I wake up to you trapping me in a Bewear hug most mornings.”

“...I was really missing you,” he admitted. “Maybe that’s even more why I thought this was a normal dream… Alone going to sleep for the first time in, like…a month or something, and I just…missed you.”

Arven licked his lower lip, glaring at the road. Focus. Focus. End of the world! Big things happening! Dire consequences! 

…though, really, well… they had already told Kokichi where to find the pokemon…

Feeling incredibly stupid, Arven slowed down the moped and pulled over to the side of the road. Huffing as he leaned against the handle, entirely embarrassed at himself as he said, “...wanna… um…” Arven looked for the words, before sighing, looking over his shoulder at Doppio. His expression both pouting and determined. “...wanna enjoy some of our time together? Before we wake up alone again? L-like…” Arven turned bright red, “I mean, you know. Like.”

O.O

O.O

O//////O

Turning bright red, Doppio immediately put his hands over his face, unable to take Arven looking at him like that. All…cute and devastatingly handsome. “...we… I-it’s just waking up, I-I-I’m gonna see you tomorrow anyway… If it’s not that Musharna, o-or there’s something else…we should be around to help, or there might not be a tomorrow! Arven…”

Arven’s shoulders raised, his chest inflating, like he was gearing up a counterargument… before he deflated, still bright red and flustered, but able to see the logic. “Right. Okay…that’s true. Definitely want there to be a tomorrow, and we are the pokemon experts. We basically made them, right? We’re a big deal, and we should totally… focus.”

“...” Arven looked away, sweating slightly, clearly having some sort of moment where he was repeating that speech in his head, trying to convince himself of it. “...gah, can we just blame this on teenage hormones going crazy or whatever? Don’t tell anyone I really tried to delay saving the world because you felt, uh…” he flushed again, “Really good against my back. And smell nice. I mean, like always.”

Doppio let out a devastating groan, fighting the urge to pull his sweater up over his head…and falling prey to the urge to quickly lean forward and press his lips to Arven’s. “If anyone asks about the timing, there was traffic,” he groaned, giving Arven an apologetic, flustered look. 

And, with them off the road, he worried his lip…before letting out a breath. “...you told me before that tomorrow’s a half day at school because of the holiday. As soon as we wake up, I’m coming over to the castle and we’re spending the day together…i-if that’s okay?”

Arven happily leaned into the kiss, though, really, it was a drop of water to a man dying of thirst… before his eyes widened. Considering Doppio’s… compromise was the wrong word. Plans not quite right either. 

Whatever you could call it, Arven seemed to light up at the idea… before saying determinedly, “Okay! The faster we actually fall asleep, the faster we’ll wake up and get to spend the day together! Come on, Aceto!” Arven said, turning around and determinedly grabbing the handles, “Let’s go save the world! Or end it! Whichever gets us to tomorrow faster!”

And they were off!

-

Huffing and puffing, the ladies slowed down on this rooftop, one of them gesturing for the other to put down the large bag of stolen jewelry, which thumped with a clang onto the rooftop cement as they both sat down at the edge, looking at the view of the rest of the city. Taking a break.

“...you heard the rumor going around?” Amber asked. 

“Is that why you wanted to pull this heist today?” Stacy laughed, brushing her hair back, “...totally. Course I heard. Soooooo, what? Do you believe it?”

“I guess??” Amber whined, laying back and sighing, basking in the sun as she pushed up her mask, letting it sit on her hair, “...like, it made sense when I heard it. Y’feel me? I heard ‘hey we’re all in a dream’ and was just like, oh. Okay. That totes makes sense.”

“Yeah?” Stacy giggled, pulling a leg up to still stare at the view, “What, think our perfect, unhindered ‘shopping’ spree could only be pulled off if literally all of reality was letting us do it?”

“...”

“...ah, geez,” Stacy sighed, laying down next to Amber, “You’re probably right. I guess I felt that too. The ‘oh’ moment.”

“Yeah,” Amber said, “...who do you think we are, out there? Still thieves?”

“I bet we’re straightedge and boooooring,” Stacy laughed lightly, though the laugh was a little sad, “I bet we both have totally normal jobs and, like… husbands. And six kids each. And we’re balding.”

Amber laughed, hitting Stacy arm lightly, “Like anyone would marry you. Or you’d let anyone marry you. Maybe when you get through the whole city, slut.”

“Gasp!” Stacy said aloud, “How dare you! I’m not a slut, you’re a skank.”

“I’m not a skank, I’m amazing and classy, and I bet… I bet I own the jewelry stores,” Amber snickered, not believing her own story at all as she said, “And I bet you stayed in school and you’re, like, a top student. And a total hot nerd about it.”

“At least you got the ‘hot’ part right,” Stacy giggled… before taking Amber’s hand, “Do you think we’re still besties? Or is that too good to be true too?”

Amber squeezed Stacy’s hand tight. “We’re definitely still besties. You couldn’t get rid of me with a stick. And if we’re not? I’ll come find you and we’ll get babysitters for our dozen children and we’ll go out and do something cool for a night. I bet we’re still hot balding too. Our husbands don’t know how good they have it.”

“Totally,” Stacy said, “...I love ya girl.”

“Yeah,” Amber said, “I love you too.”

-

Mike…truly lamented there wasn’t something like a group chat in the real world. The sheer efficiency with which information was conveyed… What could’ve been days of investigation and relay, if not weeks in their reality was condensed into a few short hours and a few texts Mike could read in minutes, learning that the pokemon Josie had found, Mew, was if not Miyako herself, then a representation of her, that they were in the same dream because of something called a psychic tether that Kokichi could sever when they needed to, but he wouldn’t because something was keeping their physical bodies asleep--likely the reason why Mike’s disruptor wasn’t actually waking them up--but that that thing was likely a Musharna (or projecting as one) and…that there was a known Musharna in the Nored Forest. 

An insane amount of work and information just…to everyone like that. It almost made him want to cry. 

But…everything he ever wished for or no, Mike wasn’t going to settle for living in an illusion while his real body rotted away. So no tears were shed, as their groups made their way and split up into the Nored Forest, on the lookout for Musharna. 

…and of course Mike paired up with Ava, what are you, nuts?

…and of course he’d been marveling at all that technological wonder that led them here while they were walking. It deserved to be marveled at!

“Arceus, even just a portable phone with no other features would be incredible… It doesn’t feel like we’re all that far off, either. If anyone can remember how radio waves work, we could really see something like it in the near future.”

“It’s a shame we can’t just leave each other notes, considering even remembering writing the notes would disappear along with everything else…” Ava mused, before looking to Mike, “How serious are you? About remembering radio waves? Would that really bring us portable phones faster?”

“Deadly.” Mike nodded to Ava, keeping an eye out through the forest. On the bright side, it was a waaaay less creepy forest than the one outside of Edahu, and he doubted they’d run into any Wisps there to turn them around in circles…but they still were looking for a different kind of jerk. “We don’t even have radio in the real world, transmitting anything not through a dedicated physical medium like wires and cables just…isn’t technology we’ve figured out. Having the possibility occur to people would put us ahead decades.”

“...if that’s…even how it works,” Mike said softly, glancing down with a frustrated tick in his brow. “Stuff like…hacking, I’m good at that here. But even the basis of it just doesn’t exist outside of the dream. So…I can’t help but wonder how much is just dream logic, essentially. People wanting technology like this, and a solution just happening to make it possible.”

“I’m an optimist, at the end of the day,” Ava said, looking up at the light coming in from the top of the trees, “And this sort of technology? Would really help people. If you say remembering even just a bit, how radios work, would put us ahead?”

Ava stopped, facing Mike. Smiling lightly, she said, “Put up your hand. Whichever one you write with,” as she pulled at the red ribbon that held her hair up into a ponytail that day. Letting her hair fall. 

Pressing the end of the ribbon to his wrist, Ava said, “There’s this concept of memory association. That you can remember something easier, almost instinctively, if you associate it with something else that you’re more likely to see. And, well, I do like red ribbons. And assuming you and I see each other out there?” Ava said, smiling, “Explain to me how radios work. Simple as you can.”

And as Mike did, Ava echoed it back. Her tone light, almost songlike, as she wrapped the ribbon tightly around Mike’s wrist. Each circle around his wrist, repeating the simple instructions he gave her. “A transmitter radiates… an antenna catches… radio waves, red and blue…” and the simple instructions became a little rhyme the more she tied, over and over… before, finishing with a little tie into a neat little bow, she finished it off like a nursery rhyme, “Makes the phone. My way to you.”

And making sure the bow was secure, Ava held Mike’s wrist for a moment… before she let her hands drop. Smiling softly. “Maybe it’ll work. Maybe it all will. I’ll hope for us.”

Mike gave Ava a slightly confused look as she asked him to put his hand up, but he did. And as she told him about memory association, and asked him about how radio waves worked, and tied the ribbon around his wrist… Mike soon took another cue from the ribbon, in color, blushing as he looked at the cutesy little bow. The bow from her hair, an attempt to bring something over to the real world…to bring not just knowledge or a way for technology to advance, but also…a…

Apparently their physical bodies were still just there, in the real world. Fast asleep. The ribbon on his wrist wouldn’t be there when Mike woke up. But he didn’t mention that as he looked at it for another moment, feeling the fading warmth of where Ava held his wrist. 

“...I mean I hope so too,” Mike mumbled, looking away as his face burned. “But…yeah. Sure. You can be the optimist between us.”

And…even if she wouldn’t have physically given him a ribbon…maybe he could gift one back in the real world. When he found her. If Kaito and Doppio knew her, then it couldn’t be so hard to figure out. 

Mike snorted, smirking a little. “If I do remember, that means they’ll have to let me check out the transmission tower at the castle again. At least eventually.”

“Didn’t you mention something about burning yourself on that?” Ava asked, smirking lightly as they walked easily through the shifting lights of the woods, “Well, I’m sure you learned from last time. That’s one of the drawbacks from doing… well, anything, really. It very often hurts while you’re learning how to do it.”

Ava looked up, placing her hands behind her back. She swayed lightly in her steps, at first lightly, and then like her movements were a slow, simple dance to a tune inside her head. Hair shifting and swaying in her movement. 

“...you know,” Ava said, reaching out to gently run her hand beneath some of the light beams, “Something that’s true? We’re all painfully common. There’s… plenty of people like me. Everywhere… I’m not unique. Individual, sure. But not incomparable.”

Mike blew some air out, waving away the notion. “Mistakes are mistakes, they happen. I didn’t burn the castle down,” And he hadn’t killed Tim, “So it’s fine. And I know what to avoid next time…along with probably getting another set of safety gloves. Maybe I’ll get some real welding gloves that can stand up to sustained heat, not just non-conductive shit.”

While Mike couldn’t really think to describe his walk through the woods as anything but ‘trudging’, Ava…looked ethereal. Like dumb romanticized descriptions of wood nymphs in their element except…actually pretty. Though what she said didn’t really fit the museum painting vibe. 

Mike wrinkled his nose a bit. “...maybe, literally, I guess. But none are right in front of me, like you are, so that makes you special in my eyes.”

Ava laughed lightly at that, pleased and amused… before she sighed. Stopping and looking at the dark distance of the farther trees. “...I don’t know if this is actually the end. But we’re getting close. Finding a pretty big piece of this puzzle, as I’ve started to think of it. Once we find this person, and we negotiate our freedom, then Kokichi breaks the tether… Really after that, the last piece is ensuring all of us waking up doesn’t doom the royal family.”

“...this place is pretty,” Ava said, “...after we find this person? And negotiate our way to waking up? Maybe I should remember here. So… in the real world, you don’t go looking for someone who isn’t who you thought she was.”

Ava looked to Mike. Her tone calm, and her expression empty. “What do you think?”

Mike nodded, his frown considering the plan. Depending on how the negotiations went? They…might be able to ask Musharna to keep Queen Junko asleep, like…forever. None the wiser to where she was or what was going on, so…yanno, a fucking war wouldn’t break out. Then it’d just be a matter of hiding the physical body, and if they woke up Kaito and the princes before anyone else, then they could do that without risking getting caught. Though Mike wasn’t really sure where you could indefinitely hide a body that wasn’t burying it alive. 

…look, keeping someone hostage in a dream? Sure, he was fine doing that to a baby-killer. Burying her alive for eternity? …well, maybe he was still okay with that, but it was something he’d need to take an honest look at himself for. 

Mike blinked, meeting Ava’s empty expression. And feeling something in his chest drop, he scowled at her. “...if you don’t want me to go looking for you in our real lives, you could just say so.”

“I don’t know what I’d want,” Ava said, “I don’t know who I am. I only know the person I’ve been to you. And when I wake up, I’ll be someone else. And I don’t know that person.”

“...” Ava looked down, tucking her hair behind her ear a bit, “It makes me sad to think about it. A part of me wishes I’d never remember. That I could just be me out there. This person, now. But I don’t think I get that choice. I think I disappear when the dream does. And maybe it’s just better to get it over with?”

“...” Ava laughed lightly. Sadly. “I should have the least connection to this world out of anyone, considering how little I’ve been in it. But so far? Out of everyone we’ve talked to? I think I’m the first one who’s just openly wished she didn’t have to go.”

There was something angry in Mike. 

Ha. Understatement of the century. 

But, still, there was something angry in Mike, something that so often he was unable to contain. The thing in him that couldn’t leave well alone when he saw things that were wrong. That never just shut up and lowered his head, and instead hissed and bit and screamed until his hooves ached and there was blood under his nails. That never wanted to trust another person again, because all people did was hurt you. Either by failing you over and over, or…because they left. 

That angry thing in Mike wanted to snap that, oh, sure, Ava would just leave, just like everyone else…

But…in a rare moment? Everything around that angry thing saw what was in Ava too. The utter sadness of not just her leaving Mike, but her leaving herself. Of course Ava wouldn’t want to leave the dream, it was the only place she, as she was now, existed. Ava was looking down the barrel of her existence, and she asked him what he thought about shooting herself before they all did it to wake up. 

And Mike…

He squinted and looked down, hating how hot his face felt. How hot his eyes felt. “...I don’t want you to go either,” he whispered quietly. Feeling like thorns were in his throat, as the heat just kept building up. “...I’d miss you too much.”

“Heh…” Ava smiled, her eyes scrunching upwards, and maybe it was that small movement that showed the light, thin tears that had been threatening her vision. “It’s terrible, isn’t it? And sometimes… sometimes things are just terrible. And you have to go on anyway.”

She laughed at that. Soft chimes through the silent forest… before she sniffled. Wiping her eyes with the back of her palms. “...it’s hard, isn’t it? I can’t think of anything to say…heh. I was starting to think I had some pre-planned thing to say regardless of any situation brought up. It all came so easily to me, so far… but this? I just… I just don’t know what to say.”

Mike wasn’t a physical person. In most cases, he hated being touched. 

(But touch wasn’t always associated with something bad, in his life.)

Jerkily, the action starting out aggressive, but instantly slowing once he got towards Ava, Mike gently took one of her hands in his, just…holding it. Slightly too firm, but not squeezing the daylights out of her, since he did actually know how to be delicate. He worked with tiny, fragile things all the time, things that had to be precisely placed otherwise the whole of a project could be ruined, of course he knew…

And as he glared at the forest floor with watery eyes, he took a small breath. 

“...she won’t be you, the person that wakes up… But…is there really no chance she won’t be you, plus? If…people have variable memories here, then…they might when we wake up too. If she remembers all of you…that’s still you existing in a way, isn’t it? Even if as not exactly yourself…”

Ava clutched his hand back. He was the first person she had ever touched. He was warm.

“That’s a nice way of looking at it,” she admitted, giving him a watery smile, “I worry… I worry that I’ll be such a small, brief moment in her life. That maybe she’ll forget me entirely… I think a part of me wants to stop you from grieving me, if I can. It’s a normal response, during a… terminal case. You start thinking about how your loss will affect others. You want to find ways to spare them the ache. But nothing really works. You can’t control other people's feelings.”

“And a selfish part of me wants you to miss me,” Ava admitted, “You’re important to me. I want to matter to you. I’m sorry.”

Mike snorted. “...no offense, Ava, but if she remembers you at first, she’d be a fucking idiot to ever forget you.” You’re amazing, he couldn’t bring himself to say. You’re the second friend I’ve ever made and you mean the world to me. Anyone who’d forget you is a fool.

Briefly he flashed her a watery glare from the side, before huffing. His voice growling slightly. “Never apologize for wanting to matter. You do. And you matter to me, which is, like…ten times mattering. Fucking…tough nuts. I’ll miss you, so…fucking revel and despair in that.”

Mike swallowed thickly, hating how stupidly his vision was blurring. They were supposed to be searching, damnit. “...people say that no one’s truly gone as long as they’re remembered, and that’s why we have holidays like Remembrance, and we tell stories about people that are gone to honor them. To keep them with us.”

“...”

“...my dad’s gone,” Mike admitted, his voice softer and…honestly more vulnerable than it had been in the time Ava had known him. “I don’t even know if he’s fucking dead, he’s just…gone. And he’s a boring, good-for-nothing moron…”

Mike’s breath hitched. “...and I’ve never stopped looking for him, even when my mom gave up. And…maybe that’s dumb. I’m pathologic or something and it’s horrible for me. But it feels like…like if I still try? If I still remember him then…he’s still somewhere in existence. And that seems…better, than him just…truly being lost and forgotten. Because if no one remembers you then…were you even ever there?”

“...so fuck you, I’m remembering you,” he finished, the bite and vitriol back in his voice, even as it wavered, a few tears dropping onto his glasses. 

Maybe in another setting, another moment, another life, Ava might have said something… therapeutically profound, to Mike’s revelation. Something about it being normal to worry about a missing parent, and to feel an awful sort of hope that maybe they didn’t really leave, maybe they needed help, maybe they needed you. That the side of Mike that kept looking was an admirable side, and not dumb, but kind…

But Ava was just a girl trying her best in a hard situation. And she squeezed Mike’s hand lightly, as she said, “Thank you…I’m sorry. And thank you. I do want to be remembered. I want to be remembered by you.”

“...it’s kind, to keep looking,” Ava did manage to say, looking significantly calmer. Some of her grief spent in this moment. “But that’s always been the most consistent thing about you. You’re kind. That’s why I stayed with you. And I’m glad I did. This was a good way to spend this life. I don’t have any regrets.”

Pulling her hand gently from his, Ava pulled out a handkerchief and wiped her tears, before passing it to him as an offering. “Maybe I’ll just ride this out until the dream ends. Whoever wakes up on the other side of it…that will come in its own time. Maybe there’s no true benefit to me rushing towards it.”

“Good. Because that’s what’s happening,” Mike growled, gently squeezing Ava’s hand back. 

He shook his head a little, still not agreeing with Ava’s declaration of kindness, and blew out some embarrassed air as he accepted her handkerchief, pulling off his glasses to wipe the lenses into something he could still see through. “It’s your existence, the only person who has a say on it should be you. And if you do want to wake up…s’not like you need my permission to--”

SCHLORP

Mike paused, or was paused, fumbling his glasses for a moment as his hooves got stuck in a suddenly marshy bit of mud. “Ugh, oh for fucking…”

Squinting, Mike spotted movement in the…pond? That was suddenly in front of him, his impaired vision masking the flurry of tiny tadpole mermaids hurriedly swimming away. 

“Oh, careful now,” Ava said, shuffling carefully over to steady Mike, looking curiously at the… interesting little pokemon? Swimming safely away from their steps. “Interesting…”

And when she looked up and around, she saw the trees around them had changed. Normal, healthy bark suddenly looked like it had been burnt to a cinder, and the leaves above were a bright, sharp silver. Sprouting from the roots were little white puffing flowers, but blooming on its branches were soft, pastel flowers of a variety of hues. 

“...I think reality and ideas might be blending more loosely together here,” Ava whispered to Mike, “I think something might be coming towards us.”

Quickly putting his glasses back on, Mike took in the changed scenery in front of them with a scowl. However, at Ava’s warning, the scowl turned into a wide, sharp snarl of a grin. Matching its partner’s mood, Rotom popped out of Mike’s hood and hovered in front of Mike and Ava, the partners sharing a knowing look. 

“Saves us the hassle, then.”

Ava’s expression cooled, reigning herself back in as she held herself with more poise, listening to the whistle of wind that was starting to form around them, making anything past the quick moving air difficult to see as the wind picked up dirt and mushrooms and flower petals and silver leaves. “Amaina, we may need your help.”

Amaina flew out from Ava’s button up blouse, hovering above her shoulder. 

O.O Let’s do this

Ava looked at the mess of imagery in the wind–every time she tried to focus on the wind surrounding them, she saw something new: a beach just past the shimmering sands. The top of a mountain. Silhouettes suggesting they were surrounded by a town of cat-people–before she called out, “Musharna? May we have a word?”

“Oooooh? New friends have come by to say hi? Wooooow, things are so fun lately.” From the foggy forest mist (or mountain or bog or…) came a laid-back, pleasant voice, and soon following it a pink floating pokemon drifted their way, the fog emanating from it endlessly changing shapes. The pokemon seemed to be asleep, and just as capable of speaking while being so. 

“Pretty bold to call us friends when we haven’t met yet,” Mike said, not quite keeping the aggressive edge out of his voice, though he was trying.

“Heh, is it? I think most people are friends you haven’t met yet, but you can’t be friends unless you try. Maybe that’s a lesson you have to work on though…”

“No one is entitled to your friendship or companionship,” Ava said, though her tone was gentle, almost amused. Like they were strangers waxing philosophy over drinks, rather than entrapped people potentially about to negotiate with their captor, “And Mike did not ask for your help. Unsolicited advice can be a bit insulting, if not presented compassionately. Maybe leave psychoanalyzing to the professionals.”

Mike glared at the Musharna, and Rotom buzzed, but they held themselves back for now. Negotiation might be their only true way out of here, and Mike wasn’t about to ruin it for everyone. Even if Musharna was a jerk. 

“Oh?” Musharna said, sounding a little surprised. “I see… I’m sorry, Mike. I just know what it’s like to be alone too; it’s not very fun. But you’re always surrounded by people… It’s confusing.”

Mike grit his teeth a bit before letting out a testy breath, his tail flicking. “I’d appreciate cooling it on the mind-reading too, yanno.”

Musharna just tilted to the side in confusion at that. 

“W…whatever,” Mike huffed, pinching the bridge of his nose for a moment. “We could chit-chat all day, but we don’t have time for that. Can you stop putting everyone to sleep?”

“Hm? But in a dream you have all the time in the world,” Musharna mused. 

Ava tilted her head. “Could we have your guarantee of that? From the time you put us all to sleep, till now, may I ask how much time has passed in reality?”

“Barely any,” Musharna sighed, stretching in his sleep and curling back up in the boughs of a fog-made tree laden with fruit. “Compared to my time before guests…it’s a fraction of a fraction of a fraction…”

Mike squinted. “...what’s that in standardized time? For all we know, your time ‘before’ could be, like, hundreds of years, so even a handful of days would be a fraction.”

Musharna made a soft sort of trumpeting sound from his snout, very much whining. “What a hard question…”

“Not really, if you have a watch,” a chipper voice rebutted before Mike could ask again, Josie and Flareon hopping over a set of glowing stones rising out of placid water. “Or any manner of clock. Hourglass, sundial…”

Crouching as he neared Mike and Ava, giving them a cheerful nod, Josie reached into some of the curling fog, sculpting it into a slightly misshapen clock. “Anything like this near ya? Could tell you how much time has passed.”

Musharna paused for a moment, before letting out a wondrous laugh. “Wooow, I see one! Hmmmm~ The short, slow bit has moved over two numbers. Does that help?”

Josie clapped. “Eyyy, look at you, good job! That does help, thanks!”

Mike felt like he was going to explode into a fireball. 

Ava raised her eyebrows, impressed as Josie manipulated the environment. So, this part of the dream was…working under different rules than the rest of the dream. Perhaps concentrated to reflect the reality of the people in the forest? 

“So, two hours then…” Ava clasped her hands together, thinking that over… before nodding. “That will be acceptable. You are correct, we do have all the time we need. So…”

Ava leaned back and sat. Her feet hovering above the air, as the velvet lined egg seat caught her easily, Ava crossing her hands over her lap, a black journal resting beneath them. Ava had no idea why she had felt so confident something would be there for her to sit on. But it felt natural for her to be there, as she opened up the journal and glanced down. Seeing a list of names that she knew were people wandering the forest. People influencing the dream.

“Let’s get into it then,” Ava said, “In your own understanding: what are we doing here? Take all the time you need.”

It certainly wasn’t days, and they weren’t being left to wither and rot in their beds, at least… But time still was moving. So their goal remained the same--get out before they died, and in a way that wouldn’t put Miyako at risk. 

Mike raised his eyebrows at the seat that just condensed out of the fog for Ava, though Musharna didn’t seem shocked or surprised by it in the slightest. No, the pokemon just seemed a little…confused. 

“We’re having a dream.”

“Hmm, I worded that wrong, I apologize,” Ava said, watching as more names were added to the journal. Interesting. There were names on here that actually shouldn’t be nearby. The rules were bleeding more. Maybe because the creature was focusing on something else? “Why are we having a dream?”

“Oooh, because dreams are the best!” Musharna laughed kindly. “Anything can happen in a dream, and they’re so much fun! And even better shared with more people!”

“Uh, counter,” Josie said, raising a hand, “If anything can happen, that means decidedly not fun stuff can happen and that kinda sucks.”

Musharna paused, before a slightly guilty tone entered his voice. “...well…you do have a lot of not fun dreams… But you’ve been having fun now, right? It’s better like this.”

O.O ??

OoO okay but WAIT I’ve been looking at this kid for a minute and

O.O while he does not have the tush

OOO HAVEN’T I ALREADY BEEN GIVING HIM GOOD DREAMS?? I DIDN’T HAVE TO TRAP HIM OR ANYTHING I JUST DID IT

OoO sounds like a skill issue if you need to trap people for good dreams to happen you know they sleep like half the day already you nerd

“That is a point. If the goal was to give us all good dreams, could it not have waited for our normal sleep cycles to occur?” Ava asked, “Why must we all be asleep now?”

Josie blinked, giving Amaina a confused look. He was…already getting good dreams? Kaito had said it seemed like he was an outlier to the ‘paradise’ theory, but if someone else was already messing with his dreams…

As Ava talked to Musharna, Josie caught Mike’s eye and nodded him over to the side. “...hey, I think I wanna throw up now,” he murmured to the other boy.

And what they were doing was important. It had Miyako’s life hanging in the balance, if not their ability to ever wake up…but Mike glowered, then smirked sharply at Josie. “You know you can manage that on your own, right? Don’t need a machine to do it.”

Josie sighed. “Look, I was making a joke, but I see it didn’t land, like, at all. I’m sorry, you making a way for us to wake up is really badass, honestly. It’s incredible that you figured out how to make something like that, and it’s probably saved our lives. Can I use it to wake up?”

Mike had been planning to hold it over Josie’s head a bit, make him grovel and say nice things about Mike and his invention…but hearing Josie get about halfway there himself, with an apology to boot? Mike blinked, startled, before he huffed in embarrassment, looking away, but still pleased. “Damn, you don’t have to suck me off or anything. Fine, sit down…”

“Don’t people usually sleep at night?” Musharna hummed, before a shorter hum followed. “Oh, well, it’s right now right now because June asked me to give some people a nice dream… It’s been a loooooong time since I’ve been to Dicea, or around so many people… It’s been soooo…” The pokemon yawned, stretching out on a cloud-patterned bedspread. “Cooooozy.”

Ava was about to ask from the peanut gallery for examples of why now wasn’t an ideal time for literally everyone…but she hummed a bit when she suddenly heard retching. Okay, her backup was mildly distracted at the moment. Time to look for reinforcements. 

Ava looked down at the journal, about to grab one of the parents to discuss infant feeding times, when she suddenly heard a voice come in from the right, “See, told you guys I heard something this way… Girls?” Tim frowned, looking behind him, his hair moving with the wind as he realized, “Cali, Kimiko? …ah, shoot. Okay.”

Tim looked back, crossing his arms and frowning, leaning his weight onto his back leg. “So, I’m assuming this is the guy? What’d I miss?”

“We’re trying to convey to Musharna here that not everyone should be asleep right now,” Ava explained, prompting Tim, “Like perhaps people with infants–”

“Hey, I know Empaths can be aware of what’s happening to a person on the outside,” Tim said, looking dryly at the sleeping pokemon, “Do that now. Can you smell smoke around anyone? If anything smells like it's burning? Wake them up.”

Ava startled slightly at that. Oh, that was… very practical. Definitely Maki’s son.

“Smoke?” Musharna mused, still with that laid-back tone. “Hmmm…well, I’m not an Empath, but…” Deco…didn’t really have connections to everyone in the dream, that wasn’t something that he did. In fact, having everyone all together in a dream like this was pretty novel! But he did see a way to follow through connections he could find, and…

“Aaaaah, that smells like smoke… I can’t wake them up, but I can stop keeping them asleep, if that helps,” Musharna said, smiling slightly in his own tapir way, happy to be helpful. 

“Uhh…” Mike said softly, unsurely from the side, not…really sure what was happening. 

Josie wasn’t just throwing up like the others. He was…changing. Flickering, like a film reel that had two images on every cell, offset from one another. And, more than that, there were a few huffs that weren’t just from throwing up that…Mike unfortunately could recognize as being pained. 

He looked around, unsure of what to do…but Flareon came up, rubbing against Josie’s…now much broader shoulder, the…almost adult wiping his mouth with a gasp and sending a tired, but fond look at the pokemon. And then a reassuring one to Mike. “Fuckin’ weird, huh?”

Mike could only stare.

Rest in peace, Ava thought lightly, watching the child disappear, before looking back to the pokemon. “So, even if you release the hold you have on us, you can’t awaken us?” she confirmed. “But we know you spread a fog around to put anyone who wasn’t asleep down. Is the fog still there?” 

“Mhmmmmm,” Musharna hummed. “Sandmin make that fog when we sleep… It’s so we can see each other…though it’s been a looooong, looooong time since I’ve seen anyone else…”

“But you can stop that fog,” Josie confirmed, coughing into his arm for a moment as he and Mike rejoined the others. “For specific people too? Liiiiiiike…could you stop it for everyone but Ju…” A twitch went through Josie’s face before he rolled his eyes a little. “Everyone but June?”

An idea lit up his eyes, and Josie smirked. “We wouldn’t want to leave you all alone, after all, and if she was the person to ask all this from you, then I think she’d be more than happy to stick around.”

Musharna seemed to consider that, spinning slowly in his fog.

Ava nodded approvingly, backing up Josie’s idea as she said, “If June was the one who requested this dream in the first place, it’s reasonable to assume that she opted into the dream. She consented, and desires this. Everyone else though?” She smiled gently, expression sympathetic as she explained a hard truth. “Even a good thing offered against someone’s will is a painful experience. It takes away agency and dehumanizes, and…”

Ava blinked, before looking down at her journal. Two people coming to mind who could explain it more passionately than she could, in this moment.

She clicked on Doppio and Kaito’s names. 

She had known, somehow, this would work. In fact, she suspected it only worked because she imagined it would. But they weren’t like Tim and Josie’s arrival, full and actually there. They both seemed to shimmer to life, made of light, like poorly defined holograms. 

“Oh?” Kaito said, looking around, his voice tinny and a little loud, like he was speaking through the wind, “Oh, this is trippy…Tim! Timothy!” Kaito grinned, looking at Tim. “Hey kid! Recognize me? I love you! Sorry if you don’t recognize me and that’s super weird!”

“Hi Dad,” Tim said, pointing to the sleeping pokemon, “Ava’s trying to explain to the dream guy why forcing good things on people hurts them if they don’t agree to it.”

“Oh!” Kaito said, looking back at Ava, seeing Doppio on the other side, “...oooh.”

That only seemed to confuse Musharna more, but thankfully Ava had a plan. 

“A-ah,” Doppio said, startled, but obviously trying to downplay his reaction…because by the way he was sitting on air with his arms around something, he was, er, in the middle of something. As he glanced around the group, he said, “Oh, no Arven, I think I’m…being mind-conference called. …this might actually be the weirdest thing that’s happened so far.”

“Hey, Doppio,” Josie waved. Doppio waved back, before quickly putting his arm back around the thing that was invisible to them. 

And as Tim explained why they had been mind conference called…

Doppio sighed, giving Mariah a ‘really? Like this??’ kind of look, before it turned guilty as he glanced at Josie. “Guess we’re all just sharing stuff…”

Looking over at Musharna, Doppio lightly glared before--with a small gesture--pointing over at Kaito. “This guy likely saved my life. He saved me from a life as a puppet and one where I convinced myself I was okay with that, and one where I had no one else but someone who didn’t even consider me a person. I owe Kaito nearly everything my life is now, everything I’m grateful for…”

“But sometimes I want to throw him out a window for it,” Doppio said, his expression pinched. “Every step of the way was us metaphorically at each others’ throats, and now when he thinks about overstepping with someone, he calls it Doppio-ing it. I’m a cautionary tale. And with everything…we can never have just a normal, pleasing relationship. Even if what he did was good. This is resentment I’m probably going to have to work through for years and feel guilty about it the whole time, so…yeah. Don’t just do things to people, even if you think you’re helping.”

Ava met the ‘really?’ look with a mildly resigned shrug. No one had consented, but considering the motive of the ‘dream guy’ as Tim kept calling him, what all of this was, when stripped down to its basic motivation, was a therapy session. One being shared by hundreds of trapped people, by a being who was convinced trapping and changing them was the best form of therapy they could get. And therapists, especially therapist wannabees, had to be reasoned with at their level.

And every therapy session demanded a certain level of openness from its participants. 

Kaito frowned, giving Doppio a concerned look, saying, “You don’t have to be guilty about it…” before he sighed, looking to Musharna and rubbing the back of his neck. “Look, I do call involving myself into people’s lives ‘Doppio-ing’ it. But, like… where I fucked up was forcing myself into problems that weren’t life threatening. No one could have said shit to me if all I did was pull Doppio out of a dangerous home-life, but that wasn’t all I did. I became controlling over his life. His, like, day to day problems, the stuff he could have taken care of himself if I had just given him time and, like, general encouragement. I wasn’t helpful, I was invasive.”

“And, like, this!?” Kaito said, gesturing around at the wind around them, full of flashing images of their dreams, “Literally changing who we are, as people? Changing how our day to day goes? It’s invasive! Like, if me being invasive is ‘Doppio-ing’, this whoooole thing is ‘Kaito-ing’, easily. Trust me, everyone who knows what’s happening? Hates this shit.”

Kaito grinned, shrugging… before his grin sharpened, eyes focusing with violent intent as he said, “Hey, while I’ve got you, where’s ‘June’? I need to talk to her.”

But as soon as he said that, he vanished. His time up in the whirlwind. 

Musharna considered all that as the images vanished. “Do you really hate it? It seemed like everyone was having a good time…”

“Not everyone,” Josie said lightly, though his eyes soon spelled death. “Getting rid of my friends? Making me a helpless little kid again? Taking away my moms?” Josie grit his teeth a bit. “Putting me back with Matthieu and Mick? Even deluded, there’s no way in the nine hells you’d think that would be good for me.”

“It was hard when you were already having a nightmare…” Musharna said softly, guilt in their voice. “I thought going to the desert was a good way to fix how that dream was going…”

“You know what would be an even better fix? Just letting it be a dream, and letting me wake up. I’ve already ‘fixed’ it in real life, I don’t need a worse solution in play-pretend.”

“Actually, that’s a point,” Ava said, looking down to her journal again, “This hasn’t been a universally good experience for everyone. Mike and I have enjoyed each other's company, certainly, and enjoyed exploring a pretty and interesting world… but I was born vulnerable and with no connections, literally left in the road, and Mike had to run from a difficult situation at home. Perhaps the moments we’ve actually been in the dream have been nice, but you gave us problems that we weren’t equipped to actually deal with beyond escapism already. If we had all spent more time in here, inevitably, those problems would have caught up to us, and we’d have been back to a normal, flawed existence.”

“Which makes me think you’re not prepared for the realities of what keeping a large group of people consistently happy actually entails,” Ava said, clicking on Kokichi and Maki next, “Easy fixes aren’t enough.”

Like Doppio and Kaito, Maki and Kokichi showed up in that same shimmering light. Maki looked around, assessing the situation, before resting her eyes on Ava. “...?”

“I know, somewhere in me, you two are the ones to explain what happiness for a large group of people looks like,” Ava explained, gesturing to the sleeping pokemon, “He needs some help understanding the concept.”

“Freedom,” Maki said immediately, looking back to the pokemon, “Freedom to make your own decisions, your own mistakes. So this is the thing that’s trapped us…” Maki’s hand twitched, like she was reaching for a dagger that wasn’t there. “You’ve caused a mess. Let us out.”

Musharna was quiet for a moment. “...this has been harder than the usual parties… I’ve never seen so many people at once. It’s nice, but…hard to pay attention to everyone at once. I’ve been sleeping so much, I’ve hardly had a moment to play… Even with someone else making the rules…”

Mike narrowed his eyes a little, looking at Musharna calculatingly. 

The shimmering Kokichi sighed, his gaze softer as he looked upon Musharna, having caught the last bit. “I understand wanting to try and salvage what you can…but in a case like this, just scrapping the plan entirely is much kinder than picking and choosing who you can help. Happiness for a large group…is never something one person can manage,” Kokichi smiled ruefully. “It’s, by its nature, something that can only happen collectively, by the group in question. Anything decided by a third or outside party, or even just one person a part of it is just…doomed to fail, by the fact that happiness looks different to everyone. There’s always going to be a push and pull, and trying to manage it for people, instead of just lending the aid they ask for, just makes no one happy.”

“Dreams don’t have to be zero-sum, though… And I can’t let you out. I’m not the one holding everyone together,” Musharna pouted a little, weirdly…unsettled by the woman. “But…I can make it so you can wake up, I suppose.”

“Exceeeeeeept June,” Josie quickly reminded, “Since she did consent to this.”

Maki and Kokichi both vanished. Ava sighed, closing her journal. “We already know who’s keeping us all together, and we can handle that. Good, it seems like we’re in agreement then–”

Perhaps she shouldn’t have said those words exactly. She, out of anyone, should know that wasn’t entirely correct, and Kokichi had literally just spoken about how difficult it was to predict what happiness looked like, with Maki discussing the right to choose. Maybe deep inside of herself, Ava, the girl who merely felt like she was cosplaying an imaginary woman in her head–the woman she suspected she actually was–recognized there was an argument for the dreams that wasn’t being heard. And that doubt rippled throughout the dream, which was mixing and melding and morphing together.

But stepping in from the wind, led there by their desires, stood Temp and Kyle. Temp’s children on either side, Addason in his arms, and Kyle’s pokemon by his side and in his arms. 

Tim frowned when he saw them. “You called more backup? Why?”

“I… didn’t,” Ava said. 

“Oh! Uh…” Phantump cowering in his arms, startled by the large, new group of people, Kyle looked around, nodding to Temp and his kids, who he was a little surprised to see. Though he supposed that he hadn’t exactly scoured everyone listed in the groupchat. “Ya…foun’ th’ Musharna, then?”

A tremor of nervous doubt rippled in Kyle’s eyes as he scooped up Mime Jr. as well, not wanting her to get stuck in the varied terrain all around. “So…we can all wake up then, yea?”

Musharna looked between the newcomers, a plume of fog sighed out from his head. “...do you really want to? I…suppose if I was meant to ask people to sleep, I could ask them to wake up too…”

Temp frowned, reaching down to take Celeste’s hand. “Why on earth wouldn’t we want to? My youngest will starve, at this rate. He has the stomach the size of an apple, even a few hours past when he should be fed would be devastating to him. A future in the dream isn’t a future for them.”

“...” Caleb winced. Scratching his arm as he hung his head, something uncomfortable clearly running through him. “...Dad? Um… before all of this even started? I saw someone that made me feel…weird.”

Temp raised an eyebrow, looking down at him. “Sorry, Caleb, what are you bringing up?”

“...” Caleb’s head lowered. A surprising amount of guilt on the pre-teen’s face, as he shuffled his weight back and forth. “...I don’t think I’m going to wake up with you.” Caleb looked around, before whispering, “I think a few of us won’t.”

A mildly pained look went through Kyle’s face as he listened to Caleb. His heart aching at the guilt on the boy’s face. The kind of burden that Kyle hoped never to see… 

“...somethin’s been naggin’ at me through all ‘a this, an’ not just the amnesia,” Kyle muttered, looking over the group…and his eyes lingering on Ava for a moment. “...somma th’ changes ‘n’t just havin’ a pokemon partner, innit. Somma it are…more.” He glanced down at his hand for a moment, expression tense. 

“You could say that,” Josie scoffed lightly. “If I could dream I was 10 again, then…well, what did you say earlier? Anything can happen in a dream?”

Kyle took a shaky breath. “...Temp’s right. The wee ones tha’ need feedin’, an’ everyone eventually… This dream can’t go on forever…even if it means endin’ som’ma us too.”

Looking at Mike, a hard resolve came through Kyle’s face. “...they said you had some’fin that could wake us up? Could’ya do that for me, please?”

Ava closed her eyes, the doubt in her that had called Temp and Kyle over nagging at her, painful and guilty. “Some of us might be losing more than others,” she agreed quietly. 

“Daddy…?” Celeste asked, looking to Temp… before Caleb reached over to put a hand on her shoulder, pulling her back, “But…”

“Dad, I think you’ve actually had a lot of people in your life you might miss,” Caleb explained, stepping away from Temp, bringing Celeste with him, who watched him with a worried frown, “I think me and Celeste being here might be wish fulfillment for me, in some ways. I don’t know. Maybe somewhere there’s wolves running through trees…” Caleb closed his eyes. “But our little brother isn’t like us. I know it. And I don’t want to be the reason you don’t live your lives.”

“...you’re my children,” Temp said, “I know you exist. I can feel it.”

“We did,” Caleb agreed, “And you need to wake up now.”

Temp frowned, looking down at Addason, who peered up at him with bright blue eyes. “...shit,” Temp whispered, looking to Mike, “...shit. I need to wake up too, however it is this flashing thing works. I need to understand what’s happening.”

Mike looked between Kyle and Temp, before glancing over at Ava, a complicated expression going over him…before he sighed, nodding. “Okay. But, uh…maybe not your baby. I dunno if you heard, but this shit sucks and makes you throw up and stuff, so maybe he can wait for our real wake-up.”

And, with whatever arrangements they made… Mike held his disruptor up. 

FLASH    FLASH    FLASH

Temp flinched, gritting his teeth and covering one of his eyes once the flashing was done, blearily glaring at nothing… before breathing through his nose and out through his mouth. In through his nose and out through his mouth. Brow furrowed… before he sighed. The pain leaving his face. Not so much as swaying as his expression calmed. Opening his eyes, something calm and tired in them.

Old.

“...I see,” Temp said, stepping back, “I see…”

Kyle…didn’t take the disruptor as gracefully as Temp. 

Again, that was a massive understatement. 

At first he just doubled over, and, figuring it’d be like the others, Mike took a small step back, not wanting to be in vomit range. But then, like Josie, his body seemed to…flicker. A rapid change of form, but unlike Josie who, until he righted himself, just kind of looked like he got bigger, Kyle’s change was…different. His hunched body going different colors, different transparencies, different…forms. 

Flickers of fur over skin, rigidness where there were bends, and bends at angles there shouldn’t be, and for Mike, right in front of Kyle, he could see flickers of perked fox ears flashing out of Kyle’s head. 

And that was all disturbing enough, not to mention the quiet sounds of pain coming from Kyle…until he lifted his head. Mike’s eyes going wide. 

Almost looking like a mask superimposed or…fused onto Kyle’s face, dead sockets felt like they stared right into Mike’s soul, Kyle screaming as he clawed at his face, at times with actual claws. Fangs dripping with spit as his form seemed to warp even more, growing and stretching like an inferno’s flame in harsh wind. Kyle whipping around towards Musharna, his tail high and threatening as he shrieked something more animal than human, 

“W̧͍̹̗̥̦̔̏̑͒̕H̸̺͚͜͜͏̡̌̆̅Ä̰̯̩́̎̿̊͛͛T̵̡̉̓̉͆͢͠ ͇͈̤̘̱͔̟̒̽͒D̡̳̥̻̅̿͠͠Ị̷̫̿͛̎̇͜D̥̦̬̲̈̓̂ ͎̮̹͍̻̥̐̑ͅY̥͎̫̝̲̠̊̇̓̒́ͅƠ̸̥͉̤̞̘̈́̕͝Ủ̡̺̦̮̞̟̕ ̵̼̻̿̈̔͠Ḓ̦̋͒͏̨̧̉ͅÓ̴̧̦̀͜͝?̥͉̺̞̪̍͊̒̈͘!͙͕͋̑̈́̂̅”̭͎̾͋͋̌̍́͜͡

(Ghosts, really, were tragic beings. Evading most of ‘death’ as long as they had the will to, but…a life as a ghost wasn’t really a life. A ghost was stuck. In stasis, never able to move beyond what they were. Because, if they did…they wouldn’t be a ghost. Moving beyond meant growing, learning…something that could only happen to souls in motion. Placed in their afterlife, and taking the time they needed before it all happened once again.)

(Kyle was…impressive, really. Able to hold on and harness his anger enough to stay as a ghost, stay firm against reapers and the allure of the afterlife. Able to remember himself enough, and not let that anger consume him, so that he didn’t simply become malevolent energy. As, he had once explained to Shuuichi, something that the Ghost Bureau was called in to solve.)

(But it was a delicate, fragile line he walked, one that took immense strength…and even the slightest imbalance…)

The lights in those empty sockets seemed to see everything and nothing, as the beast that was once Kyle roared, “̡͖͍͕̳̯̆̎̿̈͘C̡̢̭̟͕̘͗̽̿͘͜H̵̯̯͚̎̈̂͗͠͝Á̴̗̱̻͊̈͐R̨̢̪̦͇̈́Ļ͕̜̇͒͋̓͌E̪̭̗̯͆͑̾̚S̼͈̹̓̑͂͑̚!̸̵̗̉̊͐̍!̸̴̝̈̋̅̽͛̆͘ͅ”̱̲̳́̋́̌̓̅͘͢

Ava felt her seat disappear, depositing her onto her feet as she shivered, taking a step back. The loss of her chair feeling like the loss of her control over this situation, as she said, “What’s happened!?”

As Caleb stepped in front of Celeste, holding Addason close to himself, Tim’s eyes focused, and he sprinted forward, collecting Mime Jr. and Phantump up, running back to Caleb and Celeste and passing Phantump into Caleb’s arms alongside Addason and, despite Caleb being twice Tim’s size, turning around and holding an obsidian dagger, tensing into his mother’s ready stance, his chest out and head up like his father’s. Waiting for an attack.

Temp frowned at Kyle… but didn’t back away. Worried, but unsurprised. “Charles isn’t here.”

Mike stumbled back, not…sure what was going on, but he soon felt a tug on his arm, Josie’s gaze focused and steady (doing a great job on those things and stowing the fear for later). Following Josie’s urging, Mike joined up with Ava, pressing the backs of their hands together while Josie and Flareon stood in front of them. 

Musharna…woke up, his small eyes looking at Kyle in curious alarm, the fog all around them in the forest going black. Becoming shadowy versions of objects, not quite solid or distinct, but…threatening. Overtly. Machines taller than all of them, scarier in their vague form and purpose. 

And Mike sucked in a small breath, recognition coming over him. “He’s the guy from the movie…”

The Kyle-beast shuddered out a growl, still writhing as his form flickered and waved. His ears perking…but then moving in short halts, almost mechanically. Kyle groped and clawed at his form again…before shaking his head roughly, howling. 

“͔̲̒̿̄̓̚͡G̨̞̫̬͕̫̖͑̆͡o̘̼̐͌͆̈́͆̔͊ņ̲͔͉͚͗͑̑͗̈͞͞n̨͋̌͠͏̢̱̯a͒͆͏̷̡̪̮̗̻̺̂̂ ͚̈́̊̓̀́ḱ̵͓̙̟͊̍͌ͅí̵̛̠̬̭͈̱̏̅͟ḻ̛̗̙̺͇̟̈́̆̇l̨̖̻̝͕͂ ̛͓̄̍͛̽̔̌͜h̰̲͇́́̿i̷̛̘͂͋̓̎m̷̨̢̢̱̍͗̇…̬̮̠͗̄̆̍̊͞d̮̭̝͚̤̾͊̾̋̏̊͡e͐͏̯̦͏͙̬̫͊̀̇ŝ̸̜̼͇̪̚t̰̝͢͏͏̵̂͊̒̂͠͝r̤̭͔̤̯͑͌͌͛̓̒̕o͚̘̊̒̇̀̚ŷ̽̏͟͏̕ ̶̢̳͚̖͌͊͌́̾E̬͍͆̄̊͘V̴̧͖̲̙͚̖̓̓̀̕E̢̿̿̊͏̱̈R͙̻͉̣̱̭͇̃̑̎͡Ŷ͍̲͔̝̈́́͞T̵͇̺̽̈́̊́͘͜Ḧ̬̳̭́̒̐͡ͅI̵̡̡̻̤͉̱̺̦͐̈́ͅN̛͕̖̣̐̆̊͒Ḡ̡̻̱̫̜̀͒̑̑…̵̷̡͓͙̇̀̓͠”̻͈̫̙̬̉͌̄̿͗

“I don’t know what that means, Mike,” Ava admitted, wrapping her hand around Mike’s, leaning towards him a little, “He’s in pain…”

Temp frowned, still not retreating. The only one among the group who felt no need to run. But then, he wouldn’t. He was a templar for the god of Death and Trade, the god who made the reapers who had likely offered Kyle an out of existence over and over and over again… Temp knew, despite what Kyle looked like, despite his rage, well… he was just a man. Forced to wear his grief on his face.

Temp glanced over his shoulder. At the dead children mixed with the living. His own grief hidden in the shield of his living body. It made Temp want to sob. He almost envied Kyle. He’d like to turn into a great beast and punish the world too…but life and time and the natural order had taken his two eldest. No one for Temp to blame, except himself. 

Temp looked back at Kyle. “...they really are happy. Where they are. Wherever they are, they are where they have chosen to be. You know that better than anyone: death is where you choose to be. We cannot force; we can only beg.”

Mike would never call himself a particularly empathetic person, but seeing Kyle writhe and lash out, changing between beast and human and…machine… A tight expression went through his face, comparing it to the unsure teen they’d just seen, and the wire smirk from a picture he’d seen six times…

“...they had pictures of the real people, after the movie,” Mike muttered. “The murders of a serial killer half a century ago. …in the movie, at least, Kyle…saw his siblings die, then was killed by haunted machines at the end…”

Josie glanced down at Mike for a moment before focusing back in on Kyle. He…had a hunch that maybe that movie wasn’t as dramatized as it might’ve seemed. 

Mime Jr. wriggled in Tim’s arms, trying to get out, but…surprisingly enough, Phantump phased out through Caleb’s arms, quickly floating over towards Kyle. Eyes bright and steady as the small pokemon took a breath:

“KYLE-NII!!”

And the growls choked off. Empty eyes looking at Phantump…before looking up at the clusters of frightened children… Down, seeing only a hazy reflection of old, mechanical fox ears and pinpricks of eyes…

Kyle thumped to his knees, breath ragged, pained. Human and steady…mostly. His body just slightly transparent…and that stupid fucking fox mask on his face. The one that…

…a fox mask with a splash of blood over it. 

Kyle collapsed onto his elbows, one arm gently bringing Phantump close…as he started to cry. His back shuddering in only a natural way now, as sobs ran through him. A raw, but undeniably human voice pleading, “Vi…I’m so sorry… I’m sorry…”

Tim let go once Kyle stopped being a… whatever that was. And Mime Jr. scurried over as Temp sighed, taking a step back. Kyle needing to be left to process his loss.

He wasn’t the only one. Temp looked back at his own children, Caleb holding Addason while Celeste clung to Caleb’s side. Looking to Temp. “...I’m leaving with my children. I don’t care when we wake up, though I say that under the comfort that we will all wake up soon, now. I just want to be with my children until the end. Please leave us be.”

Temp headed over to Caleb and Celeste, Caleb frowning up at him. “But, Dad, can’t you help them? Wouldn’t you be useful–”

“I’m not accepting any trades for help right now,” Temp said, placing his hand on Caleb’s back, guiding him to the wind wall, “Come along. We’re going to the beach.”

“We are?” Celeste said, glancing back at the others, considering this… before lighting up, hopping alongside them as she asked excitedly, “Can I teach Addason how to swim!?”

“He’s a little too small for that still, Celeste.” Temp smiled, the four disappearing behind the wall. 

Mike let out a breath he wasn’t aware he was holding as Temp and his kids left, giving Kyle a nervous look as the…teen? Ghost? Sobbed on the ground, holding his pokemon tight, but before he could even fully turn to look back at Musharna, Kyle looked up, bearing his teeth (unfanged, but braces broken) and fixing tear-reddened eyes on the tapir. 

“...you are gon’ wake us all up, and never. Do this to someone again,” he growled. 

“...except June,” Josie reminded once again, relaxing and actually going towards Kyle now. 

Kyle just looked at Josie for a moment before letting go of a ragged breath, not arguing that point. 

Slow and unsure, Musharna sighed. “...but you were happy before you woke up. Wouldn’t it be better to--”

“Shut up.” Kyle snapped. “It ain’t. Fuck you. It was my choice to not join Vi an’ Beth. It was my choice to stay. I can’t sleep out there. I can’t cry. I can’t eat, or feel the sun, or anythin’...but I chose that. And for shovin’ it in m’ face, havin’ this all be a fantasy… You’re lucky I dun’ rip your soul to pieces.”

Musharna shuddered, the fog turning a light purple and thickening as he shuddered. “Scary… Okay, you can all wake up! Except June! Eeeep, at least she’s nice to me…” And as the fog thickened into a cloud…there was just a forest around them. Musharna gone. 

“...damn, dude, that’s kinda hot,” Josie whistled, bringing his phone out and starting to tap on it. 

Kyle dry-heaved, shuddering in tears as he curled up on the ground, holding Phantump and Mime Jr. close. “...I coul’ prol’lit’trally be ya granda’.” 

“Foxy grandpa, for sure,” Josie winked. 

Mike pressed his palms to his eyes, lifting his glasses. Muttering, “For fucks’ sake…”

Ava let out a small breath of relief… before she took out her phone and glanced at it. Josie having broken the news and the group chat blowing up with messages. Some asking for clarifying details, a few asking what was next, a lot of relief texts, many, many gifs. 

Ava, in the name of being a part of it, put out a small smiley emoji… before turning off the phone and putting it back in her pocket. Sighing again.

“...we did it?” Tim asked, looking around at the group warily, “...do we… do we celebrate, or–”

There was a sudden, strange, simple song playing through the air. It’s quality friendly, but almost crispy. Like it was playing through a slightly lackluster speaker: doo-doodoo do-doo-dododo

And because Amaina loved fireworks, out came fireworks. The text hovering above the forest, big enough that people for miles would be able to see it, and if perched high enough, even farther out. 

Amaina no longer looked like a pokemon. She was a strange little doll with twin tails and wide eyes, dancing across the text with pom-poms and the confidence of a creature who just remembered the world was at her fingertips. Her adventuring party watching her from far below, a little too surprised to say anything.

“...oh.” Ava realized, staring at the cheering, dancing construct. “I remember.”

(Getting the text from Josie, Kokichi gently cradled his daughter that no longer looked like a pokemon and kissed her cheeks, only pulling away for other dads to get their turn. And, kindly, he proposed that it was time for Mi-Mi’s first proper Empath lesson.)

(It was time to learn how to sever tethers.)

Josie grinned up at the wild text in the sky, rubbing Kyle’s back, laughing a little to himself seeing the little figment he now remembered. 

And Mike turned to Ava, sliding his glasses back down and looking at her tentatively. “...what’s the verdict, then? You feel dead?”

Ava laughed lightly, brushing the tears off her face lightly. “Worse…I’m employed. With a PhD.” She laughed, before sighing, brushing her hands over her face. “...I don’t know when we’re going to wake up. Do you want to take a walk with me?”

Mike smiled faintly, feeling something…settle in him, more than sink. There hadn’t been a ton of clues, but enough and…well. He was a genius. Nodding, he started walking away from the others, getting a little peace in the forest. For as peaceful some nature-y place could be. 

“...so I’m gonna take a wild guess and say you’re probably a lot older than 12, huh? I’ve kicked the school system’s ass and there’s no damn way anyone’s giving me a PhD. Or a job.”

“Officially, I am…42.” Ava sighed, “With a physical developmental disorder that keeps me looking like this. Officially, my stunted growth predicts a generally shorter life-span for me, and officially, I’ll be lucky to survive into my 60s. Despite my truly tragic medical record, I proved to be an ambitious young woman who went flying into her career of psychotherapy, writing papers that seemed revolutionary in certain fields and earning accolades throughout my 30s, before seeming to retire from the more strenuous research and development side of my field and settling in to do somewhat easier passion work of… relationship therapy.” 

“Really, is it any wonder I’m insufferable about talking about relationships?” Ava huffed, shaking her head… before glancing around, making sure they were alone. “...unofficially?”

Ava almost asked if she could trust Mike to keep the secret. If she should really be honest with him. They hadn’t known each other long. He had a temper and he was a child. He could grow to be anyone, including someone who might hurt her.

…but she wanted to tell him anyway, as she said, “I don’t know how old I am, because I cannot remember what century I was changed. I consume negative emotions. I’m a demon.” Ava glanced over. “Dr. Ava Mariah, demon born from the Caged Red-Horned Ram. It’s a pleasure to introduce myself.”

…okay, yeah, he’d guessed older than 12, and Doppio had called her ‘Doctor’ earlier, so unless it was a weird nickname, even before she told him she had a doctorate, she was an adult, but…

Mike blinked owlishly at Ava for a moment. At first only able to think…whoa. She was older than his mom. But, after that, while the things she said made a lot of things make sense…the off-hand, story recitation way she said it made Mike pause, not fully taking it in…

Because it wasn’t the full story. 

And, again he blinked, before saying, “...that’s a super metal introduction. If you eat emotions, were you still able to eat here, since we’re psychically linked? Am I gonna make you vom when you wake up?”

He pouted a little. “...is the anti-starvation meal you promised before off the table now since you don’t eat physical food?”

“I still eat physical food. Just, mostly for pleasure. It still tastes good, and goes through me, my body was human once and can still function that way. But feeding on emotions keeps me going even when food isn’t available, and food doesn’t keep me going when emotions aren’t,” Ava said, “If that makes sense to you. It’s really the easiest way to explain it. And I was still able to eat here, I think. Or, at least it felt like it? Maybe that’s not a feeling I can trust, actually.”

“...Souda was nourishing,” Ava sighed, “And I didn’t realize before that that I was actually holding back from feeding on you. I didn’t know I was supposed to then, but also, I think subconsciously it felt a little rude. You’re a friend, after all.”

“....we can still go get something to eat,” Ava agreed, before looking over to Mike, “But… you do realize some things are off the table for us, right? Between us? I just… want to be sure we understand each other.”

“Huh…” Mike said, absorbing that. “I wonder what an ‘emotion’ is actually classified as, when it comes to nutritional value for you. Like you’re not just eating a vague concept, there’s something there. Energy? Or, like…specifically some forms of radiation? Or psychic energy, or…the output from certain chemicals… That’s fascinating.”

…as was the fact that she didn’t eat from him, even at the most subconscious level. If demons ate negative emotions, Mike figured he had enough bad vibes to be a damn feast. But that was…kind of nice, that she wouldn’t want to eat a friend, even if he’d probably be just fine with it if she asked. 

…a friend. 

Mike met Ava’s gaze, his jaw tightening for a moment. That angry thing in his chest from before…quiet. Sinking. More…resigned now, just nodding as it affirmed…yeah. Everyone left. 

“I mean, yeah,” Mike said, looking ahead again. “Kids and adults don’t live in a fucking aparthied, but there is a boundary there, I know.” 

Maybe he’d just…gotten used to the weird lucky breaks with Tim. Mike didn’t think he still had it in him to feel disappointed, but here he was. Some mistakes he really just didn’t learn from, huh.

“Good…though your crush was very sweet,” Ava teased, giggling lightly as she knocked him with her shoulder… before she sighed, looking up at the sky, “That was the last one, I swear. Oh…you know, every time I start a new life? I go somewhere with new paperwork saying I’m 20, with a sob story of a mother who refused to get me diagnosed for a disorder I clearly have, and now that I’m an adult I’m pursuing it myself, blah blah blah… I’ve never gotten to be a kid. Even when I was a kid, I didn’t get to be one. All I remember from then was a terrible night where I was turned into this.”

“Sometimes I thought about trying to live out a childhood. But it’s the sort of daydream that only works if you, well…” Ava shrugged, “Lie to everyone you convince to love you, as your caretaker. It becomes a bit pathetic, if you think about it for more than a second, and a bit predatory, if you think about it a few seconds longer. I can’t be someone’s child. So I can’t really experience a childhood.”

“But this, all of this? Our adventure, our talks, you,” Ava said, eyes bright, “...I was wrong, before, when I said that my real life would devour and make unmemorable everything that happened here. This? This was everything I had ever longed for and never thought I could have. Real childhood memories…”

“...I hope we’ll remember it,” Ava admitted, smiling at Mike, “I don’t want to lose it.”

Then she paused, really seeing his expression. “...I’m sorry. I’m being unkind.”

Mike startled slightly at that, his eyes going wide as his face turned red before he shoved his hands in his pockets, hunching into his hoodie a bit. Muttering about how he didn’t know what she was talking about, shut up, who even brought crushes up, how dumb, no way…

But he did get over himself enough to quiet down as Ava talked more and…

For all that Mike felt…stuck. Whenever he hated where he was, and knew he was bound for more…it was rare he even huffed in frustration about wanting to grow up faster. He didn’t think he’d ever go off preaching about how childhood was a gift or anything but…it was something that Mike claimed and wasn’t giving up until his time was done. 

It sounded…hard, not really having one. Resetting your own life over and over and over but skipping that part that, for a lot of people, was vital. And… (Already, gears were turning. Thinking. Scheming.)

…but he paused, hearing that the Ava he had gotten to know wasn’t gone with a dream, subsumed into a real life, and…

“You’re not unkind to value your own happiness,” Mike snapped, before he took a breath. His ears flicking with nerves for a moment before he grumbled out, gruff but…tentative. “...I told you I’m gonna remember whether you like it or not. …a…”

He huffed, looking down in embarrassment. “...when you said that shit about boundaries, were…you just talking about crushes and…not that you didn’t want to be my friend?”

Ava startled, looking over at him, stopping her slow walk. “...I think we’re past that point. I think we’re already friends. I’m not sure I can roll back the clock, on that.” 

“No, more what I mean is… well, yes, the big one is the crush,” Ava smiled, “It’s not that unusual for someone young to crush on someone older, but as the older person? I can’t encourage it, or pretend to not be aware of it. I know you feel like you have full agency over your life right now, Mike, but a decade from now you’ll look back at 10-year-old Mike and realize how little control over anything you had. That’ll be a good thing, someday. One day you’ll be free to fully, truly show the world how amazing you are, and you will. But right now? Childhood has put limits and walls around you that you might not even recognize. And as someone without those walls or limits? Me pretending they aren’t there would be exploitative and cruel. So I just need to be honest with you that that will never be our relationship.”

“Friendship, though… that’s easier,” Ava said, putting her hands behind her back and shrugging. “Especially as time goes on. I’d love to be your friend… There are certain social limits to how I can act in our friendship. Mostly because I need to act a certain way to get people to respect me as an adult, especially considering the obstacle of what I look like already,” Ava said, gesturing to herself, “For example, I don’t think I can be the kind of friend you take to a playground. But!” Ava lit up, “I think you could tell me about your latest inventions, and I could take you to see movies, and we could eat meals together without it harming my reputation any. It’s actually pretty healthy for kids to have friendly adults in their lives. And I’d enjoy it…”

“Would that be enough?” Ava asked, something uncertain in her expression, “I know that’s not as casual and carefree as what we had. It’s just… what we can reasonably have.”

Mike flushed more, but even as he stared at the ground there was a certain eager happiness in his eyes that suited his age more than most of his expressions. (...things changed. And…maybe not everyone left.)

“I’m 11,” Mike corrected petulantly before he sighed. “Yeah, I know. Just a couple days ago an adult sat me down to tell me how my…fucking grand plan to get around those limits and walls failed spectacularly. I know that our relationship and interactions won’t and can’t be like two kids the same age hanging out.”

He wrinkled his nose. “...but I don’t want that from you anyway. It’d feel condescending and you’re better than that.” Mike rolled his eyes a little. “I don’t go to playgrounds anyway, but…yeah. All that stuff sounds good.” Great, actually. 

He glanced over at her, smirking. “Just let me know when I’m being a dick about trying to convince you to use that adult privilege to get machine parts I can’t buy myself.” He looked down again, kicking at some small twigs with a hoof. “...it seems like I’m gonna be sticking around Usott anyway, for the time being. …you do live there, right? Since Kaito and Doppio both know you ‘n stuff…”

“Oh!” Ava suddenly laughed. This one a little wheezing, genuinely laughing considering everything that’s happened recently. “Yes, I live here and I know them. Guess. Guess how I know them.”

A little grin crept up on Mike’s face as he listened to Ava laugh. “Well…” Mike pressed his fists into his pockets, tipping his head back a little. “You’ve obviously made a fell pact with them, trading nefarious demon secrets in exchange for the most volatile and disgusting emotions known to man…”

He smirked a little more. “What people might call therapy, I guess.”

“An excellent guess, got it in one,” Ava laughed, before groaning, “Oh, the gossip. Curse my professionalism and medical vows. They’re all so fascinating. I love my job.”

Giggling, Ava looked warmly at Mike. “...I’m glad you’re staying. Don’t let me become your therapist. You think developing a friendship between an adult and a child is challenging? Therapists and their patients are a whole different thing. Though, you probably do need a therapist, just so we’re clear. Can I recommend a great anger management therapist? She’s a bit unorthodox, but her success rate is fantastic.”

“Oh!” Ava said, reaching over to grasp Mike’s wrist, the one tied with the ribbon, “And remember this. Look at how much good we did here, everyone being able to talk to each other as they went? All of this should have taken weeks, at best, and instead it was a day and a half! Mike…” Ava squeezed his ribbon wrist, “You would help so many people. Someday? With technology like that? You’d be the father of the future.”

“Maybe that’s a lot of pressure,” Ava said, looking slightly sheepish, “I just… really think you could do it. I have a lot of faith in you.”

“I wasn’t planning on it,” Mike snorted, returning the warm look. Actually feeling…good. That warmth not a ball of fire seething to get out. The air around him not feeling like a film he had to punch through for every step. Just feeling…happy. Though he rolled his eyes, sticking his tongue out a little. “Yeah, yeah… Look, let me get de-classified as a runaway first, then you can prod me into looking for professional help. After cooling down from this, I think I could use a new challenge.”

Though it wasn’t like he was lacking for projects in the slightest. 

Mike looked back at the ribbon Ava had tied, recalling her rhyme, and…like, of course. It wasn’t all just altruism, the tech of this dream was Mike’s dream. Personally. Everything he yearned for through technology. If he had his way, he’d be able to remember every little detail of every piece of tech he’d ever glanced at through the dream and the false backstory it gave him, and could get started making it real tomorrow. Mike wasn’t about to let a chance like this slip past him. 

But…

For a moment, Mike’s eyes widened, looking…alarmed. Before his eyes crinkled and…started to well. Pink flushing around the furry bits of his nose. His voice cracking as he said softly, “...thanks, Ava.”

-

Mike twitched, the ache in his back spasming as he blearily opened his eyes, looking around his dark room. Why was he awake…? It was the middle of the night for fuck’s sake… Maybe he…

He paused, looking at his wrist for a few moments…blinking tiredly before he even realized… “...why am I crying? …ugh.” Mike sighed and put his head back down, hugging the pillow under him as he stretched his legs out in the bedding nest on the floor. He’d figure it out in the morning.

-

Shuichi woke up to the sound of whispers. 

He had… a strange dream. Though in the way of dreams, he already found vivid aspects of it melting through his fingers. It was an annoying process, the act of forgetting dreams. Shuichi briefly found himself longing for the days where dreams felt clear, like reliving moments, living again.

This one didn’t feel like that, though parts of it did. 

Shuichi remembered a little pink creature, bouncing on bubbles on a pretty lake while he and Kokichi watched. The creature was Miyako, though Shuichi only knew that from dream logic. It had been nice.

He remembered Miss Kirigiri giving him a massive, beautiful snake. It made him want to pet Nini and it made him want to talk to his mentor. There was a tightness in his chest. Like he missed them.

He remembered a detective agency… but those memories were the weakest, and fading fast. Just vague memories of running a neat little detective agency. Helping teenagers with memory issues, all with their own little creatures. 

All fading, fading, fading… unimportant, in comparison to hearing Maki tensely whisper, “I can’t believe I missed…”

“Be glad,” Kaito whispered, his voice sounding… oddly deadened. Serious, even as Shuichi heard the familiar coos of Miyako being bounced in his arms. “This next part would be harder with blood.”

Shuichi’s eyes widened, and he sat up… just as Kokichi did.

Though Kokichi had not forgotten. 

There was a debate. A long explanation for those needing help catching up. Shuichi and Kaito remembered the least, though the bits Kaito seemed to remember made Kaito emotional to recall them, while all Shuichi remembered was a vaguely pleasant experience. Maki remembered more, and Kokichi remembered everything. Explaining who the woman on their floor was, and what it meant, and what she was trying to do.

Shuichi had wanted to hold Miyako when he realized, and he let the others debate what to do next as he looked at her. Numbly grateful that the horror had ended well, furious that it had happened at all. 

Maki wanted to bury the woman in Temp’s graveyard. Call over a carriage, bring the body down, who would dare accuse the royal family of a rug actually being a corpse? 

Too many people, Kokichi had argued. Almost anyone. 

Kaito offered to take the body alone, put her in a bag, ride out a few days and sink her in water. “No one else has to be involved,” he offered, glaring down at the woman, “I can do this alone.”

Kokichi shot this one down with a worried, mildly disappointed look. Kaito had looked away, not bringing it up again.

Kokichi offered the most practical solution. Tell people the truth: a woman entered their room at night and collapsed into a coma. They couldn’t explain why she had been there, or what had happened to cause the coma. But they called for medical, and medical sent her to a coma ward, and now it was done. “Her name was June. She was a muse. And this was all a strange, random event that we have no more additional information on,” Shuichi added in, backing up Kokichi, “Who could argue with it? No one would ever believe she’s the queen, even if we did tell people. It’d be madness.”

“Okay… but I hate it,” Kaito admitted, glaring at the woman, “She tried to kill Miya. She was nice to us, nice to Hajime, has just been hovering in our peripherals for ages… She tried to kill Miya. If Amaina and Maki hadn’t been there… if Mike hadn’t had the disruptor…she almost killed all of us.”

“...we’ll send her the ugliest flowers,” Kokichi said, “And one of those ‘fuck you’ bouquets.” 

Kaito laughed… and then he cried. 

But that was okay. In a way, everything was. It hadn’t come from who they had thought it would, but Miyako had survived the assassination attempt that they had feared. Survived an attack from the only person who reasonably knew how to kill her. And now it was… done. And everyone was safe. And everything was okay.

The long night was over.

-

Kitty wasn’t the most attuned or sensitive Empath, but she had consistently used her powers for decades at this point, so when she snapped awake, mind reeling with a fantastical world, she was only distracted for a second before she bolted out of bed into the next room over. And while she had also been a psychic investigator for decades, she couldn’t help the way her heart leapt into her throat, seeing the immobile fursuit on the ground. Like an abandoned doll or…costume pieces in storage. There was only so much Kyle could do to emote, but it was painfully clear the efforts he constantly put in when they just…weren’t there. 

“Kyle?” she whispered, kneeling by the old fox. Still feeling her friend, but… 

…if a person could see or sense auras? They would see a…puddle. Bubbling black like tar, pooled at the bottom of the fursuit, not filling the whole thing as Kyle usually did. And for what Kitty could sense, emotions…there was such a consuming sense of grief and loss and anger. To the point it made Kyle’s usual dark clouds of such things feel like a Zenith with the best weather ever recorded. 

Something was wrong.

“...okay, okay, I’ll get help, just…hold on. It’ll be okay,” she whispered, before gently pulling the…much hollower-feeling than usual suit in for a hug. Her eyes scrunching closed as she had to make sure the head didn’t fall away. 

-

It wasn’t like he was constantly being sent off to Usott or anything--this was Wyatt’s literal second time heading over to the capital, and he knew for a fact that was one of the least on record for his fellow Corbran guards, even not counting vacations. But Wyatt liked to think he had some of the most varied and weirdest reasons to be called over. Escorting some runaways with assassination threats? Weird. 

Assisting Detective Gukgak because they got a call from the Luminary envoy, someone speaking on behalf of the king himself, worried because it seemed like the whole of Usott had just…shut down? Very weird. But also very cool, and Wyatt was pumped to assist the former captain (back when the guardforce had its own investigation unit) because…well, if Sklonda was being called in to check it out, there was some super-duper weird stuff going on. 

Not because she was a goblin! Come on, he wasn’t that insensitive! But just because she was good at figuring out magic-adjacent stuff. 

However, by the time they got to Usott, things seemed pretty going-on to him. Maybe even a little extra, since even not knowing the regular traffic and types of gatherings that tended to happen at Usott Castle, this one seemed a little…harried. 

Looking around as they got out of their carriage, Wyatt just done chatting with a few stablehands he’d met on his last trip over, he noticed the keen look in her eyes. “Something up?”

“Probably not,” Sklonda answered, before giving a nod to some other people who had seemed to just arrive at the castle. “Just taking note that I’m not the only person with tincture foundation out here.”

Wyatt raised his eyebrows, looking over at the woman with the flipped bob and a-line skirt and…highly-anxious expression under a plaster smile, and the man with the heavily stern expression in all black next to her. Huh… Well, yeah, not suspicious, really, but something to keep in mind. 

-

Mike pressed his head against his door, mentally cursing at his stomach to pick itself up off the damn floor. Since when had he ever been afraid of Doris? Pathetic… 

…

…alright, Teavee. Face the music. 

-

Tim didn’t really remember much of the dream, and neither did most of his friends. Cali and Kimiko had woken up with a passion to play more pokemon themed chess, designing their own pokemon, including little special ‘extra’ moves they could do, and Tim had found himself petting Chase, imagining her being able to electrocute people but, like… it being a little less ‘ooph’ than the one that had gotten him, somehow. If his parents hadn’t sat down with him to check in if he was okay after everything, Tim wouldn’t have realized anything had happened at all. 

He was told he’d hear stuff about a woman who had snuck into his dad and uncles’ room to cause mischief, and that his mom had run in to help, and now the woman was in a coma ward. Tim didn’t ask how these things were related. He just took it on good faith that his mom had kicked the woman’s ass so hard that she was just never going to wake up again. And, well… good.

Tim was told not to visit the coma ward. So of course he knocked on Mike’s door and asked if he wanted to sneak into the coma ward with him and look at the weird invader woman.

It turned out looking at a woman sleeping was pretty boring, more than anything else, and it ended up being more fun to look at the truly ugly fake flowers next to her bed as they sat on its side, Tim saying, “I bet they’re, like… symbolic. Uncle Kokichi seems like a symbolic flower kinda guy.”

Mike had never even seen a hospital as big as Usott’s city hospital, and just the novelty of that was enough for him to pull through the initial, ew, hospital revulsion that ran through him. They had a lot more tech than he’d seen in Edahu…though of course, not as much as…

…it was weird. Mike remembered…bits and pieces of something. Something big. The big thing he assumed the weird clown fairy had warned him about, so…it already happened, and so Mike returned Tim’s disruptor to him (though he kept the clasp. Friend or not, Mike wasn’t just going to give away something that could bring objects through dimensions…reportedly). But he kept…feeling like he was missing something important. 

…his wrist felt cold. 

But he hadn’t really been able to think about it much, since…

“He seems like the kind of guy that’s read every pseudo-science book about flower meanings and arranging and soothsaying just for the luls,” Mike snorted, watching the heart monitor on the wall with idle interest.  “I bet they’re some big, complicated insult that almost no one will get. If the fake flowers aren’t a spit in the face enough.”

…Mike wasn’t sure why he thought that but…it felt important to hang onto that knowledge. 

“Yeah. I’m kinda surprised she’s still alive,” Tim admitted, looking at the sleeping woman for a bit… before he shrugged, feeling like he had her pretty well memorized now–in case she wakes up–before looking to Mike. “So… your mom’s here now, huh? I bet that’s weird.”

“Yeah,” Mike agreed, wrinkling his nose. “I really didn’t think she’d come, even with everything your uncle said. And I don’t think she thought she’d come, with how much she looks around at everything like it’s a huge haunted house.”

He glanced down, expression tightening as he blew air out through his nose and kicked his legs off the bed a bit. “...they were all set to argue for me going back to Edahu, just…changing shit, as if that’d work. But when I said no…” Mike sighed. “...they’re looking for a…’joint-living situation’. So it wouldn’t just be me and Doris. For ‘care and accountability’ as ‘trauma recovery’. So I’m not gonna be living in the castle forever.”

“Sucks for you. Castle’s awesome,” Tim said, digging into his pockets before pulling out a box of chocolate covered pocky sticks. “Uncle Kokichi gave me these. I think he was worried I was traumatized by dream stuff. Want some trauma chocolate for weird dream stuff and weird mom stuff?”

Taking one for himself, Tim munched on it slightly. “...so, what about the whole ‘extra legs’ thing? I mean, your mom’s like you, right? Too many legs?”

Mike stuck his tongue out in disgust. “Ugh. No thanks, you can have all of those. Does he always try to make up for stuff with food? He kinda looked like I hit ‘im when he tried to give me ice cream before.”

However, the disgust morphed into startled surprise for a moment before…oh. Right. That…happened. …ugh…his back hadn’t hurt in the dream… 

“More like you have too few,” Mike scoffed, gathering himself again. “I don’t know how you stand it, and I’ve been using two for like a month now. I guess Cor’s used to it or something, ‘cause my mom kept looking like she was about to fall over.” He shook his head. “Two is weird.”

“Nah, two isn’t weird, two is, uh… restrained,” Tim said… before kicking off his shoes, pulling off one of his socks as he wiggled his toes at Mike. “These are weird. Can you move all of your toes individually? Like this?” Tim asked, straining for a moment before proudly moving just his middle toe. 

“Eeugh!” Mike startled and leaned away, but it was clearly the disgust one would have at a carriage wreck, morbidly curious and unable to look away. “Dude, that’s gross… No, I can’t.” Mike pouted. 

A little awkwardly, he loosened the laces of his shoes and kicked them off, pulling off a sock as well and, after a stunted moment, scrunched all the toes of the foot. “...this feels so wrong. Like I’m moving bones that aren’t meant to shift. You know anyone that can move their inner ear bones? It’s creepy.”

Tim’s eyes widened, impressed at the idea. “People can move their inner ear? Hold on, let me try.”

Tim glared at the wall, focusing on something internally… his brow furrowed harder…his freckled skin reddening a bit… before he huffed, taking in a breath. “No.” He pouted, clearly devastated he hadn’t managed.

Leaning back on his hands, next to the sleeping cage of one of the most bigoted people in the whole of the world, in history, Tim stared idly at Mike’s attempts to move his toes. “...you should just be a ‘Taur out here. I don’t remember anyone being surprised in the dream. People would get over it.”

Mike nodded knowingly. “Outer ear? Just depends on the person and their ear-shape. Inner ear? You’re a fucking freak if you can, and all it does is make a sound only you can hear, I’ve read. Worst skill in the universe. At least with double-jointedness you can freak other people out without saying anything.”

Putting his sock and shoes back on--also weird things, but he made sure to do them so he didn’t have to think about it later--Mike looked over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow at Tim before shaking his head. “Maybe in 50 years if people start getting cool with other species now. People were cool with giant dragons and living bags of trash in the dream, it’s not an accurate gauge of real life. And I’m not about to get myself strung up and dissected trying to be an example of tolerance.”

Wrinkling his nose, Mike gave Tim a morbid look. “I heard they used to skin all the werewolves they caught and killed. To wear them. And that they made pin boards of fairy wings.”

Tim sighed, kicking his legs a bit. “Beware! Beware the werewolves, hunting and murder is in their nature, and the closer to the full moon it is the more inclined they will be to devour you, even if food is plentiful. Beware!” Tim said, letting his hands pop out, like he was writing it on a banner, “The fairies are cruel and cunning, do not accept their drinks or food, do not give them your name, they will steal you away to be toys in their kingdom, they have no concept of pity or compassion. Beware!”

Tim gave Mike a dry look. “The human. They’ll dissect you for pieces and display your corpse as art. Beware, beware…there’s a book in the archives of the library, where like every other entry just starts with ‘beware’ and then explains all the ways the species will totally murder and kidnap you. It’s dumb and misleading, but I think that’s true for us too. Killing people has to be trained into you. Only freaks do it for fun. Not everyone is a freak.”

“...I dunno, maybe you shouldn’t do it,” Tim admitted, glaring at the wall, “But someone should. Someday. You have too many legs, but, like, you shouldn’t have to hide that. It sucks.”

Mike listened to the rigamarole with mild, grim amusement. Who hadn’t heard stuff like that? Propaganda painting everything but your species as bloodthirsty or cruel, but above all dangerous. And, of course, the rumors about your species were blown out of proportion, all to defame you and stir up hatred from the real dangerous ones…

Mike sighed and closed his eyes, adjusting his hat. “...it does suck. And you hear just the most batshit takes from people about other species that you can tell they legitimately believe and think it’s super normal. …it’d be nice to…”

He opened his eyes, looking dully at the floor. “...live in a place that isn’t just one kind of people. Not have to have breakdowns of charms and illusions and potions and all sorts of bullshit just in case a person sees you. Have the proper amount of legs and not think about it.”

“...maybe I’ll do that when I’m not like a damn foot shorter than most people.”

“Oh, shoot, are you gonna get bigger? I assumed this was permanent,” Tim said, smirking as he waved his hand vaguely at Mike’s whole body, “You have strong ‘angry shorty’ energy. Assumed it was natural.”

“Well… maybe someday somewhere like that will exist,” Tim said, shrugging as he kicked his legs in the air a bit, “I don’t remember the dream much, but I remember people just being more or less, like… nice. To each other. No matter who they were. I’d like that. It’d be nice if somewhere existed like that.”

Junko Enoshima slept behind them, still and quiet, as Tim shrugged again. “Someday.”

“Oh fuck off,” Mike snorted, rolling his eyes with a grin. “I know ‘Taurs that make your dad look like a twink. I haven’t peaked at 11--we’ll see who’s looking up at who in a few years.”

From the joke, though, Mike let out a breath, looking at his wrist. People being nice to each other, huh? Maybe even…kind. 

“...someday.”

-

Kaiden Hima had realized he needed to step aside into an ally, because if he kept trying to walk like he was feeling normal and cool and good, he was going to vomit, and that just wasn’t the sort of life he was living today. 

Oh, sure, maybe life would overrule him on that front. But as Kaiden wrapped his arms around his stomach and crouched in the alley, resting his forehead on the cool bricks of the wall, he was determined that he was going to have his way on this subject. He was not throwing up! He was not laying down! He was not going to start acting goofy and doing stupid little ‘come hither’ things! 

He was totally in control. Totally. 

Tangouai and Milo both hadn’t had an incident since the medication… Kaiden and Tangouai were literal twins. Fraternal, sure, but so far it looked like the medicine had a really good success rate. So… so there was no reason for it to not work. And it was working. Kaiden wasn’t going to be the only fucking seedling left in the city still dealing with this stupid shit, it had to be, like, in his head, he was just… he was actually just fighting off a bug and a little tired and it was a pure coincidence it felt like a heat and he was fine and Leanne could stop worrying about him and–

Kaiden vomited. Which was what happened when you kept every muscle in your body clenched too long, literally clawing your fingers into your stomach as you subconsciously held your breath. Your body knocked its metaphorical hand on your literal temples and told you to calm the hell down. Via vomiting. 

Okay, fine, life, you got that one. But Kaiden was winning this next one–he collapsed.

Dammit. 

Lupin loved autumn. It was getting pretty close to the start of winter, so he wouldn’t blame anyone for lumping the weather lately just into general winter weather, but there was a certain crispness in the air that didn’t quite sting through your nostrils that he always attributed to fall weather. Even with most of the leaves gone--or in compost piles for all the creatures that needed a home for the winter, or their substrate friends who were getting a feast--and the last lingering Harvest decorations put away before people broke things out for Unity, there was still a sort of peace that Lupin enjoyed. The sense of settling in. 

Though he was already quite settled into many aspects of his life, naturally. Another year of school was on-going, he’d gotten comfortable in the rented part of Zinnia’s house, having made a convincing argument that, while leaving undergraduate, it would be more efficient for him to be closer to the university…even if he was still at his parents’ house most evenings. But what kind of son would he be if not one that would keep in touch and help out as they aged? They had raised him, after all, it was only the natural order of things that he would return the favor. 

He was happy to. Truly. Especially on a holiday meant to honor your elders. And apparently there had been some hullabaloo at the castle all day, so Lupin was pleased to listen to his parents’ stresses and alleviate the concerns he could. 

…he did love the fall, but with everything considered, it was pretty dark as he was walking back to--

“Oh?”

It was just a shadow at first, as his eyes adjusted from the storefront lights into the alley shadows, but…someone had just fallen, hadn’t they?

“Shoot…” Lupin said softly in worry, noting the vomit, and the way the man seemed to struggle to stay upright. “Are you alright, there? Hold on…here.” Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a water bottle, offering it with a slightly sheepish, knowing smile. “It’s unopened, if you’re worried. Is there some help I can get you?”

Ah, geez. 

Kaiden swallowed his urge to immediately wave the guy off, because, as much as Kaiden didn’t really want anyone to see him like this… he’d like even less to be discovered by Leanne or Milo here either. Kaiden had assured Milo he could walk by himself back from the bar and Milo hadn’t even argued with him a little! Ever since the medication had gone around, the endless hypervigilance had been slowly receding for the group, and honestly, Kaiden had always felt like the others took it further for him than everyone else. 

And, like, he got it, kinda… kinda. 

Kinda.

But, if he could get home! And get some rest and take care of this himself? Then no one would know anything had happened and he’d be gucci! Ugh… what was he doing?

Oh, right. Good samaritan. 

Kaiden glanced up at the person, weakly taking the water bottle–though notably not opening it up, just holding it to himself–as he peered at this new person in the dark. He was hard to make out, but Kaiden guessed that tone was probably red in the light. Sharp features. Honestly, very attractive. Kaiden sniffed warily, to see if this guy’s intestines were gonna make Kaiden extra stupid… no. Okay, good.

Hopefully it was the same both ways. It was rare for spores to find a match, biology wise, outside of Flora. But not so rare that it never happened. Sometimes when the spores were ravaging you, you came across someone who, something in their biology–some science about breeding and intestines and germs that Kaiden had never really understood–that made you go wild when you met them. Like, they became your whole world, there was no ignoring them and became the most attractive thing in the world.

(Shuichi and Nao had made bad decisions, yes… but they had also gotten unlucky.)

But so far, Kaiden couldn’t smell anything off this guy, and that was enough to make Kaiden relax a little as he smiled thinly up at him. “Um, yeah, actually. I don’t live that far from here, but uh…think something I drank turned on me.”

Lupin barely paid it mind that the man didn’t even try to test the seal on the bottle; even taking those pre-meditative measures to try and help people out in the safest way possible, taking any sort of drink from a stranger was taking a risk, and especially in settings with addictive substances. But Lupin still offered it, hoping to make small differences where he could. If someone needed water later, or the bottle in the difference in hydration helped them out? Perfect. Even if they just needed something to throw, it was better than nothing. 

Returning a gentle smile, Lupin nodded. “Always a risk, isn’t it. Do you think you can stand? You look a bit taller than me, though I could easily help brace you under an arm, but if I’d need to carry you, I think you’d be safer with me hailing a pub stop cart.” It wouldn’t be the first time Lupin waved down the--frankly genius--service to help people out from alleys or the backsides of bars. 

Thinking for a moment, Lupin frowned. “...ah, my apologies for being thoughtless. If you think someone tampered with your drink, I have some saliva tests for the more general things. And thankfully we’re not that far from the hospital…”

Kaiden immediately shook his head–oof, dizzy–before he said, “Sorry, poor w-wording.” Kaiden sighed, taking in a deep breath in through his nose, out through his mouth… still no effect. Okay, good, this guy really was probably safe. “I don’t drink a lot, I m-mean it just caught up to me. Um…”

Going into a cart where there were potentially other drunks packed in with him sounded like a potential nightmare. “I’d really appreciate your arm, yes. I can offer you some c-coin for the trouble?”

“No problem--it’s better to clarify that that’s not a worst-case scenario for the night, right?” Lupin said, his voice light, like he would be offering a comraderly laugh if not for the worry it’d agitate Kaiden’s head even more. “Alright, if you’d allow me…”

With a little maneuvering, Lupin got under one of Kaiden’s arms, bracing one of his own around Kaiden’s back and, with a countdown and Kaiden’s go-ahead, they rose up, Lupin easily taking quite a lot of Kaiden’s weight, despite his caution about carrying him earlier. 

“And it’s no trouble at all!” he assured once they started moving, Lupin setting an easy pace in the direction Kaiden indicated. “No coin needed, really; I’d feel like I was extorting you. I’m happy to help if I see someone having a less than perfect night.”

“Nice of you,” Kaiden said honestly, closing his eyes to let the swaying feeling settle… and fuck, to give his body a second to get its delight at being manhandled out of its system. Yes, yes, big strong person picking you up, fantastic, we’re all thrilled, nerve-ends. Are you done? Calm the hell down. “Um, you know where the dance studio is? Has that wooden ballerina hanging outside its door, down over deep into Yippen? I live in the apartments above it.”

Kaiden tried to not make himself too difficult to carry. He focused on making his legs work. It was a bit of a silly workaround, but he told himself that maybe Leanne was home. And if she was, well, oh-ho-ho, legs, didn’t you want to get home to Leanne? With her good, good Flora scent? His Leanne smelled like grass… the thick stuff, like devil thorne. The sort of grass that strangled the more delicate flowers around it and you had to dig your fingers into the dirt deep to pull it out by the roots…but it kept such pretty little flowers within itself. Like the grass was the little flowers’ protectors…

…fuck, yeah, okay, Kaiden’s legs would move for that. A part of him actually hoped Sweet Lea really was home. Leanne sounded amazing in that moment.

Kaiden waited for the accompanying thought of ‘maybe she’ll beat the shit out of me’ to come up, and was still surprised when it didn’t. The medicine had had some effect on him, at least. It just didn’t seem to work as well on him as it did everyone else.

“You’re strong,” Kaiden said, even though his mind having long moved onto Leanne, his nerves in his body still sending up little fireworks letting him know Hey!?? Hello!?? Hot strong person literally pressed against you!! “And you speak well. Strong, composed, nice. You’re the whole package, huh,” Kaiden said dazedly… before he flushed red and hung his head, “I’m sorry, I did not mean for that to come out like that. Sorry, the drink’s making me stupid. I’m just saying ‘Hi, you seem cool’.”

“It’s a safer world, with more ‘nice of you’ acts in it, I think,” Lupin did laugh lightly there, though he took care to keep his voice quiet. “We all have our moments, and it’s lucky if someone’s there to help out. I suppose choosing to do so is just me raising the odds.”

Thinking for a moment, Lupin made a small noise of confirmation. “Ah, yes, I believe I know the place. You’re right, it’s not far. Are you a dancer yourself? I can’t imagine it’s a lease requisite, but that would be a phenomenal location if you are.”

Sometimes talking made it more difficult to focus on walking, but sometimes not being hyper aware of your inebriated body helped as well, and Lupin didn’t really know a better way to find out than to just…try. And unlike keeping things quiet, making smalltalk was just the polite thing to do, and it was simply for someone to ask for quiet afterwards. 

Though initiating talk meant that, well, people would talk. 

Very slightly Lupin raised his eyebrows, glancing over at Kaiden, before he smiled softly. “Well, thank you for the compliments. The sentiment is appreciated, regardless of how it came out. I’d hope to make the same sort of impression anyway, but maybe take your observations with a grain of salt while you’re inebriated. Predicament aside, you’ve been quite genial yourself.”

Lupin grinned softly. “I don’t regret it, but I do prefer not getting into a bar fight for offering help.”

Kaiden shook his head, feeling his stomach clench with longing as he got out, “No, I don’t dance… Thought about taking the lessons a few times. They make it look fun.” He admitted, “But everywhere down that street-alley is some sort of physical fitness training thing… Two of my roommates–” well, sort of, with his brother. Tangouai actually got the apartment across the hall after the first year, “--are really fitness focused, so it's good for them to live there. Other one’s really into the bar scene, so the fact that there’s a drinking street so nearby helps. Just… worked out well that way.”

Kaiden along for the ride. 

Though, his interest was piqued by that last add-in, as he looked more at the guy helping him home. Damn, he really was pleasant to look at. Kaiden got the feeling the guy would be attractive even if Kaiden wasn’t hoping to get his bones jumped any second. Sharp features, bright eyes. It was a little intimidating, honestly. Kaiden suddenly feeling a little shaggy and unkempt in comparison. 

“S-sounds like a story,” Kaiden smiled lightly, “Someone give you a tough time?”

“You should!” Lupin encouraged, nodding slightly as he took in Kaiden’s story, getting a picture of how he ended up where he ended up. “That’s not to say you should only start up hobbies people you know like, but if it seems fun…well, then why not? I’m certain there would be beginner or free-form classes if you’re looking for a place to start.”

And while what he said stood, getting into hobbies shared by people you knew was a fantastic way to bond as well. His roommates would likely have tips and cautions to share as well, which were always nice to have as a newbie. 

“One story in particular, though,” Lupin rolled his eyes a little, “I don’t know if you could possibly believe it, but some people aren’t enthused by a straight-edge hanging around bars and disparaging their habits. Added in with just general substance-fueled bad judgment.”

“No, but the story in particular was fueled by an…acquaintance of mine, who thought it would be the funniest thing in the world to orchestrate a bar fight with me in the middle.” Lupin sighed softly. “He does have a questionable sense of humor.”

Kaiden chuckled lightly at that. “Sounds like a handful. I’m guessing he’s the reason a straight-edge is hanging out at a bar to get into fights? You don’t strike me as the overly preachy type. I haven’t gotten a lecture yet, at least, so I guess I might have some confirmation bias.” 

He noticed the street path change, and that was how he knew they were close. The athletics street had a certain type of cobblestone it used for its pathways. Kaiden had always suspected this was to accommodate the big, deep basements that were common on this road. Dicea didn’t seem to dig down much, but this street was an exception, “Here, this is the street.”

“In part,” Lupin grinned, taking mirth in Kaiden’s laugh. “I have complete faith in his ability to slither out of any trouble that comes his way, but I think an extra eye helps; and more than just for him, too. But my route just happens to take me past a lot of the drinking streets, and seeing someone in an alley that might need help isn’t all that strange to see.”

“I’d say to count yourself lucky on the lecture, though,” the redhead teased. “I’m told they can come as easily as I breathe, so perhaps the air’s just a bit too cold for it tonight.”

Lupin had been keeping an eye on the streets--his mental map had filled out since Kaiden had told him where he lived and he had been tracking their progress--though he just said, “Ah, thank you,” when the man pointed it out, turning to walk down Yippen and looking for a wooden ballerina. “Do you know if your roommates will be around? I don’t mean to pry, but I would worry about you being alone feeling like this.”

Kaiden felt a bout of nerves run through him at that. He was still holding the unopened water bottle, and while he was certain this was just a nice guy genuinely asking out of concern…well, years and years of being on constant alert against ‘friendly’ Flora who thought an unpregnant human walking around just meant they were up for grabs left you with a level of paranoia that was hard to shake. 

“Yeah, they’re probably all home,” Kaiden lied, watching his feet as they got closer to his building, which was near the dead-end of the street, “I mean, it's late, odds are good.”

Odds were bad. Leanne and Tangouai were both probably at matches right about then, and Milo was working, and still might be home later after that, if he decided to go to his club after. Ugh, that was pretty disappointing to think about actually. As much as Kaiden had imagined Leanne at the end of this trip to get his body to cooperate, truthfully he was probably about to head home and be mad at stuff and maybe take a bath and then pretend to be asleep when everyone else got home. Wait for his body to calm down when he woke up.

Kaiden was really, genuinely not looking for ‘that’ kind of help… but his stupid traitorous body added ‘casually’, “Though, if the lights are off in the windows, maybe not? I-I might make myself some coffee to sober me up, I don’t know what your night is looking like if you–” shut the fuck up tongue, “--want to come up?”

“Good,” Lupin hummed, nodding, before laughing softly. “I’m going to try and not freak out my own roommate too much when I get back. She knows I’d likely be getting back around this time, but I try to be courteous.” That, and Zinnia was a fantastic swordswoman, and during the start of their rooming together when she thought there was a home invader? Lupin thought it was lucky he still had his head. 

There was…a lot to be courteous of, and a learning curve in having a roommate, he’d found. Including such things as…guests. 

Lupin glanced over at Kaiden in surprise for a moment before they stopped at the dance studio. “...you’re very sweet, but even if you sober up, you still are offering while drunk. Again, I would feel like I was taking advantage of your hospitality. So…thank you, but I would rather see you off safe and sound with people you trust more.”

Kaiden had to fight the urge to sigh in relief, even if his stupid as shit nerves immediately set up flares of a tantrum. Good, that would have been disastrous anyway. He needed to go upstairs and take the medicine and hope that a fresh dose took the edge off. Shit, maybe he actually would start to drink that night. Drinking made you stupid, sure, but it also made you slow and tired and Kaiden felt too wound up. Medicine to make him more human than seedling, and a nightcap to get him to sleep. Hopefully it’d all be better in the morning.

“Fair enough,” Kaiden risked a proper grin this time, feeling a little more at ease now that he was at his building, “I think getting some rest while you helped me walk gave me some strength in my knees back. I bet I can make it up the stairs from here. Um, thanks for all of this. My name’s Kaiden, by the way. In case I see you around again.”

Kaiden risked taking a step away from the guy, then another… and while his nerves wailed at the lack of warmth and contact, his legs didn’t give out from beneath him. Progress! “Um, I’ll keep the water and drink it upstairs,” he promised, feeling a bit insulting now that he was safely back and the guy hadn’t tried anything. 

Nodding, Lupin slowly backed off of Kaiden, staying just close enough to see if his self-assessment was true. And to be there to prevent the worst of a fall if it wasn’t. “I’m Lupin; it’s been nice to meet you, Kaiden. I’ll look forward to seeing your name at the top of a dance troupe’s billing one of these days.” He smiled. 

Seeing Kaiden indeed making his way forward, Lupin gave him a little wave and a soft laugh. “Don’t worry about it; use it to water a plant or as paint water or even a disposal site. Trust me, I won’t be offended.”

“I hope your night gets better, Kaiden. See you.”

-

Nill snickered as he counted his new coins, clinging them gently one by one into the bag as he did the math in his head. 120, 140, 160… 200! All there. Hehehe, he was gonna lose this so fast tonight. But, that was the nature of the game: gambling money wasn’t ‘paying the rent’ money. It was ‘Buy five more shots and impress the person at the stool next to you’s’ money! Or maybe it was time to buy some new cutlass… he hadn’t checked out the latest stocks in the blacksmith’s place in maybe a month? Could have something exciting and new–the fuck, is that “LUPIN!”

Nill grinned wide, even as he raised an eyebrow, heading away from the ‘gym’ and running towards his favorite stick in the mud, throwing an arm around his friend’s shoulder as he said far too loudly for that time of night, “Lupin! Son of a bitch, what the hell are you doing in a dead-end like this? You lost, buddy?”

Lupin looked over in surprise…for a split second, his brain registering his name before recognizing the voice. But as soon as he did, he let out a much softer sigh than he wanted to as his expression flattened, preemptively bracing himself for Nill’s approach. “Good evening, Nill, fancy seeing you here.”

“I’m not lost in the slightest,” he informed, “Simply helping out someone that needed a hand back home. And as we are in a residential area, I’d ask you to consider your volume this late.”

Giving Nill a critical eye-over, Lupin tilted his head a little. “...do I even want to know what you were doing out here? It’s not too far from your usual haunts, I’ll admit, but this is a little out of the way.”

“Betting on cage matches,” Nill answered easily, patting Lupin companionably on the shoulder as he led him out of the backstreet area, “Believe it or not, my good Mr. Anuncul, this is a dangerous and nefarious street corner. Full of goons and grifters eager to separate hard working men like yourself from your well-earned coin… and by that, I mean I’m here, and I need you to treat me to some food, now that I’ve captured you.”

Nill’s snickered, thumping Lupin on the back as they cleared the back street and ended up back on a main road, looking around. “Alright, so where you treating me? It’s damn cold out here, take me somewhere hot! Maybe a noodle place?” 

Lupin had the thought to roll his eyes, but…one thing he had learned about Nill during their friendship was that while the infuriating man teased and exaggerated…he didn’t often lie. Mislead, sure, but it was rare that Lupin actually caught him in a straight up lie. …’caught’ maybe…being the most pertinent word there. But while it seemed logical to brush off the assertion of ‘cage fighting’ and just assume Nill had been off gambling that night…it really could just be that. 

“I am more than capable of defending myself, and I’ve been to this part of town before, Nill,” Lupin said evenly. “Most people are quite nice and reasonable…though I suppose one severe outlier may raise the average.”

Bracing himself to barely move at the thump, Lupin did grant himself a suffering sigh, giving Nill a disappointed, though unsurprised look. “Are you broke again? I’m still holding to my promise to help you out, but…look, did you at least skim the gambling addiction brochures I gave you? Basically any clinic will have information about easing oneself from addiction as well, and I’ve been brushing up on the basics lately…”

Because, well… While she was still in undergrad, Lupin was terribly proud of Aster for going into the medical programming, and he had always been honored to provide advice or aid when she worked up the courage to ask someone. He may not be studying medicine himself, but if she asked him for help studying…what? Was he just going to flounder and be of no help at all?? Are you kidding?!

Sacrificing his wrist to the elements, Lupin took a glance at his watch. “...I should be heading home soon, I hate waking Zinnia up coming back…” Fighting with himself for a moment, Lupin sighed. “...alright, we can stop somewhere on my route back. But as you seem to be as in control of your facilities as ever, I’m not walking you back home.”

Nill rolled his eye, having nowhere near the self restraint Lupin did. “Enjoying something isn’t the same as being addicted to it, Lupe, and one of these days I’m gonna convince you to try having fun for once in your prim and proper life. I promise, if you enjoy yourself too much, I will happily start beating you over the head with all the brochures you’ve given me in the last year until you’re good and stuffy again.”

Nill was both kidding and kind of not. Nill didn’t consider himself the philanthropist type, but Lupin pulled at the compassionate, generous side of Nill that probably would have been better suited to charity donations or something: he just couldn’t help himself! If Lupin didn’t have someone as sweet and kind as Nill himself was to come around and noogie him into having some actual fun in his life, then Lupin would literally never take a single risk in his life, Nill was basically one hundred percent sure. And now that Lupin was here, in front of Nill, all proper and riskless?? How could Nill just pretend to not notice this suffering anymore!? 

Lupin was Nill’s pet project… whenever Nill remembered to work on it. Which was basically whenever Lupin was around. And sometimes when he wasn’t! But Lupin was hard to drag away from his life when Nill remembered to go harass him into a nightlife when he wasn’t around, so it usually wasn’t worth thinking about it otherwise.

Thankfully, The Change God gave Nill plenty of seemingly random opportunities to save his stagnating friend/pet-project. And Nill took advantage! Of both the opportunity to help Lupi and also of Lupin’s wallet. What?? No one was accusing Nill of being a saint. Nill didn’t believe in Saints anyway.

“True, but the entire psychology behind gambling is geared specifically towards habits that form addiction. And when you’re gambling with actual money, the same stakes that give you a rush are the ones that leave you broke. And asking friends for meals.” Lupin paused for a moment. “...which they are perfectly happy to do and in no way consider you a burden, but those don’t lock out worry for your well-being.”

“And I have plenty of fun,” Lupin insisted, knowing this was a long, on-going, circular conversation between the two of them. And yet… “I spent a nice Ancestors’ Day with my parents today, for example. And Zinnia and I have planned a spar on Wednesday, which I’m quite looking forward to. Along with plenty of other plans that keep my days full and rewarding.”

Which was true. Sure, school may not be ‘fun’ in the strictest sense, despite how much Lupin enjoyed learning, but he had plenty of hobbies and plans with people to fulfill that anyway. 

(After all, he’d get some strange looks if all he truly ever did was work and study. High school had been a learning experience for many things.)

“Is it Ancestor Day? Knew I saw less people down there than usual today. Even people with nothing to celebrate feel off, hanging with scoundrels on the holidays.” Nill snickered, interlocking his fingers behind his neck and leaning his head back into his grip, looking around lazily… before smirking. “Ey, kebabs! Let’s go there, come on. It’s even cheap, so I won’t eat you out of house and home, my good Mr. Anuncul.”

Nill sternly steered his friend into the small counter-stand stall, ducking under the covering that protected the stand from the elements. Popping himself down on a stall, Nill grinned at the man running the stall and rattled off random order numbers for both of them. 

He had no idea what those order numbers would equal, food-wise. But rolling the dice was part of Nill’s current Identity. Besides, not memorizing menus made it easier to avoid stagnation and defaulting to the familiar. Maybe he’d eat something entirely new today! Who knew! Nill didn’t.

“You helped someone to their place down there, huh?” Nill asked, raising an eyebrow at his friend. “You know, that’s one of those niche-community neighborhoods. If they live there, they tend to be involved in the scene there, so I might actually recognize whoever you helped. What’s their name, so I know who owes you a favor?” Nill asked with a smirk.

“Everyone has something to celebrate, even if they choose not to,” Lupin mused. There was a reason it was ‘ancestors’ day’ and not ‘parents’ day’. “We all come from somewhere, and even just acknowledging that the past happened is a proper form of celebration for today, I believe. Though observance is, of course, a personal choice and there’s nothing wrong with just treating today and tomorrow as regular days, simply with the understanding that there are those who do celebrate.”

Lupin looked over at the kebab stall that Nill pointed out, humming lightly as they headed over--not that he objected enough for the steering to be necessary, but he’d…mostly gotten used to how tactile Nill was as a person. While this was just a favor to a friend, he still glanced over the menu idly, only not glancing over to Nill in confusion at his quick, sporadic order because…well, it was Nill. 

“Perhaps,” Lupin said lightly, “But I wouldn’t be so cruel as to sic you on an unsuspecting person when they’re already having a rough night. And it’s not something he owes me for, you know that. I’m happy knowing one more person made it home safely that might’ve otherwise not been. We would all be better off with an extra eye on our back.”

Lupin’s eyes lowered slightly, his shoulders going down a micrometer. “...even the smallest outcomes still help.” …it was outlandish and egotistical (though it wasn’t like he hadn’t been accused as such) to think oh. Lupin Anuncul could’ve stopped the entire epidemic last year. And he probably had helped a few people be safer than they would’ve been. 

But it still stung, finding out that he could’ve…at least recognized that some of the drugs he’d noticed people taking at parties were a cut above the usual wildfare. Maybe an extra report could’ve done something…he didn’t know.

Nill hummed at that, happily accepting the tea that he had apparently ordered with his meal, sipping at it–nose wrinkling as he realized it was lemon tea. Ugh–before he asked, “You gonna tell me what the big sigh was about or am I gonna have to needle you to talk about what’s bothering you? Again? You and I both know I will, but damn man, it’s starting to make me predictable, and you know how I hate that.”

“I didn’t sigh,” Lupin said, rolling his eyes (and quickly reviewing the last few seconds in his head. …right, he didn’t sigh). “And while you hate it, constant chaos is still its own form of predictability. Like most things, structure is what gives form to unpredictability.”

…Lupin did sigh softly then, reaching up to re-tighten his ponytail. 

“...just thinking about last year a bit. I’ll admit I haven’t gone out as much as last year, as the post-graduate course I’m in has already proved more rigorous than undergrad, but the few parties I have seen seem…more restrained. There is certainly no stopping college students from embracing their first steps into adulthood, but…I think most people really don’t want any repeats.”

“Yeah, but society and everyone else already adds all that structure to throw chaos at already.” Nill smirked, sipping at the awful lemon tea some more. Ugh. Maybe if he drank it enough his taste buds would change. Worth a shot. “Which is what makes you such a joy to hang out with: literally doing anything with you is creating change within the world. You’re so stable that merely introducing anything into your environment is a blessing to the Change God.” 

Lupin was also just pleasant to be around, but Nill wasn’t gonna say so. He’d need to change a lot more before he brought that up. 

Though, Nill’s nose wrinkled as he realized what Lupin was talking about. “Those weren’t parties, man, those were cult recruitment centers. Fucking poppies and poppers…they targeted college kids, absolutely, but that shit ravaged my circles too. There’s a lot of people I know still recovering, and a lot more who just…”

Nill sighed, shrugging. “Some people just vanished, man. That shit-ass cult just disappeared them somewhere, they never came back, even after the medicine got around. Casualties of the war, I guess. Makes me sick, thinking about it. You know… I almost got swept up in all that. I ever tell you what stupid bullshit saved me?”

Nill didn’t tell him right away, pausing to thank the guy giving them their food, lighting up to realize his random kebab was mostly meats before he started chowing down. “I was at a party, someone was handing me that shitty beer, and this little guy, with weird monochrome hair, right? Sat down with me, leaned in to sniff me, and told me I ‘shouldn’t bother’. Said he could smell who was and wasn’t gonna survive the trip and that said that I’d sooner jump off a building than grow a womb. Said I didn’t have that in me. And you know what stuck with my drunk-ass?”

Nill chuckled… before scowling. Gripping his kebab. “I was pissed that some little shithead would tell me that I couldn’t handle some ‘change’. Who the fuck did he think he was talking to? I was so mad that I threw some swings at him and started a fight, and it was scaring all the college students they were actually trying to recruit enough that those fuckers kicked me out and told me I could never come back to their warehouse, so I stomped on out of there. Didn’t occur to me until the next day to wonder what the hells he meant by ‘growing a womb’. Didn’t find out how literal he was until everything came out about how dangerous those poppers really were. Thought it was some shitty form of flirting at the time, some asshole with a breeding kink.”

“...” Nill sipped his tea, “Wonder sometimes if I could have warned people about the ‘womb’ thing. I wasn’t gonna be the one to stop people partying, even if it made people act crazier than the usual stuff, but setting them up to either breed or die? Maybe no one would have believed me. It’s not like I believed the asshole who told me. But shit, maybe I could have at least told someone.”

Lupin huffed a barely there, but still fond laugh. Nill’s attitude had been somewhere around insulting when they first met (though their aggravation was…probably somewhat elevated by the death threats) but by this point Lupin understood enough to know Nill wasn’t just taking potshots at Lupin’s personality (or lack thereof). A true devout of the God of Change, Nill just…sincerely meant that Lupin’s stability was something he enjoyed for the sake of changing. Even if Lupin didn’t think he changed all that much. 

…story he had told to Kaiden earlier about the bar fight non-representative of most of their interactions, of course. 

Paying for Nill’s food and giving the stall-owner a smile and thank you, that smile soon faded as he shook his head a little, his previous gloom returning as Nill told him his own experience with Poppy Culture. Though he couldn’t help but crack a smile at what ended up saving his friend. 

“...that’s the most ‘you’ way to have avoided that possible,” Lupin huffed, amused, before the severity of the circumstance brought him down again. “...I noticed some missing people as well. And of course there are the official records. I believe that man you mentioned is still on the foreign fugitives list, though I suppose there could’ve been multiple people with that kind of hair involved.”

Lupin closed his eyes for a moment, crossing his arms as he leaned against the stall counter. “...we’ll never know the impact our actions could’ve made, if we’d decided things differently. If it could’ve been the difference in someone’s fate.” Opening his dark, umber eyes, Lupin looked over at Nill, finding himself…unspeakably thankful that his friend hadn’t ended up as one of those ‘casualties of war’, even if others hadn’t managed to avoid that fate. “...I suppose it’s all we can do to just…keep that in mind, about speaking up when we notice something off.”

“There better never be something that ‘off’ again,” Nill scoffed, “Most of the time when someone’s pushing something on ya, they want coin or an easy lay. And sure, that sucks, but these people? They wanted lives. How do you even prep for something that evil? I don’t even know if I really believed in the concept of evil, until I saw that shit. No other words I can think of does it justice: greed, cruelty…don’t even like to think of calling it ‘faith’, cause you can believe in something without hurting people like that. No excuse would dismiss it: it was just evil.”

“Glad it’s cleared up now. I don’t know anyone who’s still on those things. Even the people that wanted to stay on poppies got the medicine, because apparently it thrilled them to get cured when they didn’t want to be. Weird how that kind of worked in the medicine’s favor,” Nill said, “Even better that the addiction doesn’t linger once the stuff’s entirely out of your system. That’s what really gets people, with the other hard stuff, you spend the rest of your life missing it even when you’re off it. This stuff? I don’t think you could pay anyone to touch it again, once they’re cured. Sort of catastrophe that only happens once, I hope.”

“Glad they didn’t manage to recruit you.” Nill said, grinning at Lupin and nudging his arm a bit, “Pretty college boy like you? They wanted guys like you. Maybe they just wanted smart baby-makers, who knows, but if I can be grateful for one thing about your nature, it’s that you’d have never gone for that stupid shit.”

Lupin’s expression was grim and stern as he nodded in agreement. You never knew what the future held--he was confident there wasn’t anyone who thought after the end of the war they’d have a cult drugging people into indoctrinations across the nation. However, something that sinister and devastating…Lupin would live happily if the years of the greatest world consequence were limited to his youth. 

“That mindset of treating people like objects is…” Lupin huffed. “It would be baffling if not for the knowledge of how pervasive propaganda can be. And yet, still, personally I can’t even imagine how warped a world-view must be to go out…collecting people.” He paused, looking down. “In some ways it made it all the more sinister once things came out about the cult, because when I misnomered those events as parties, that’s really what they looked like to me. Wilder than a lot of others, sure, but just people out having fun. And knowing what was actually happening there…”

Lupin really hoped it was something that only happened once. For everyone’s sake, but especially the surviving victims. 

A little amused at the arm nudge, Lupin laughed softly, the notes as careful as always. “I’ve yet to be called out on just carrying around water. Though considering the revelry I’ve sometimes gotten followed by people knocking back the ‘vodka’ and shouting in exhilaration, I don’t think the level of deception needed is all that high.”

“And despite you often going for the ‘stupid shit’,” Lupin grinned, nudging Nill back, “I’m very grateful that same nature saved you from recruitment too. I don’t want to find your name in an obituary anytime soon.”

“Tsk, haven’t you heard? It’s the great injustice of the universe: guys like me live forever.” Nill snickered.

Nevermind when they didn’t. To the people who disappeared… Nill hoped whatever pain there was didn’t last long. Sometimes that was all you could hope for.

“Alright, alright, so you went and celebrated Ancestors’ Day. What’d that look like? Let’s talk about something lighter, the shit from last year is enough to turn a guy’s stomach and I wanna enjoy my shitty lemon tea,” Nill said, sipping at the gross drink again, “How does the Anuncul family celebrate? I’m imagining you all in suits, discussing taxes and the scandal of a second cousins’ latest haircut.”

Lupin didn’t exactly consider that an injustice. As crazy as Nill drove him, Lupin really was happy that they’d met. 

Nodding and accepting the change in subject (eesh. He hadn’t meant to bring up something so heavy, really. Something to consider for future conversations.) Lupin did his careful little laugh again, giving Nill an amused look. “I don’t think you’ve ever seen me in a suit.” …nevermind that he…did tend to dress in more traditional, formal styles. 

“It was a bit different this year, I’ll be honest,” Lupin hummed. “Considering your propensity for having your finger on the pulse of things, I’ll assume you heard about the intruder in the castle residential areas last night? And there was another sort of frantic news at the castle aside from that as well, though my parents didn’t go into detail. I have to assume it was more sensitive matters. But that all adds up to them pushing back our meeting today, and being a bit more preoccupied.”

He looked out ahead, just watching the nightlife. “I expressed my gratitude to them for being my parents, as usual, and Mother requested a game of Four Souls, while my father…coached and rule-kept, I suppose. It’s been a while since we played, so that was,” Lupin barely hesitated at all, “fun.” 

A game, because ‘a quick game of Four Souls’ tended to end up being three or four hours. 

“We had a lovely dinner, and then looked over the family tree, Mother and Father doing the time-honored tradition of telling the stories of notable Anunculs…which are most of them.” Lupin tilted his head a little. “My father has started to urge me into thinking of ways to describe my own achievements in a format that will fit the others. I think he’s excited to have a ‘full epoch’ of sorts filled out until I add more members.”

…thankfully urgings for that were still on the rare side. He was reminded to take note of accomplished classmates in his field, but Lupin had a feeling his parents were waiting for him to get hired by the government first before getting married.

“Pffff, the reality is way stuffier than I even imagined.” Nills laughed, before giving Lupin a keen look. “Okay, you opened the door for this question: what are the Great Accomplishments of Mr. Lupin Anuncel the… I’m making a guess here, second? Third? Don’t try to tell me it’s not a family name, man, I know a legacy name when I hear it. No way your folks would have come up with a name as cool as ‘Lupin’ otherwise. It’s a badass name.”

Lupin gave Nill a slightly curious look, more than being reproaching. He didn’t think the afternoon had been stuffy at all. Really, compared to the bits he could remember from his childhood, the day had been absolutely thrilling. Father had even complimented some of the strategy he employed in the game! It had been a really great holiday, and Lupin had done everything he could to make his parents feel properly honored. 

With an exasperated but fond grin only a few degrees away from a smirk, Lupin laughed, “Well, thank you, but I’ll have to correct that my parents are fully capable of having come up with my name themselves…” His grin turned sheepish. “But I am the third. Fourth, if you count middle names people went by.”

Folding his hands behind his back, Lupin stood tall. “If you’ll excuse the unedited formatting, Mr. Lupin Anuncul the Third has accomplished the exceedingly rare feat of salutatorian in my high school class, though I logged the most amount of community service hours by a large margin. I was also scouted for the management program at university my second year attending, though I graciously declined to get the most out of my undergraduate opportunities.”

There was a heavy pause, before Lupin exaggeratedly rolled his eyes. “...I can also do a flip on a moving horse, and I have the city parkour record for the Camellia Route.” Though those were things that were definitely never getting into the Anuncul family legacy recitation. 

(...another that would never make it in, mostly because Lupin wasn’t sure it was actually an accomplishment, but was still a bit proud of was…managing to have a complete nervous breakdown but pull it together outside of the city before returning and having no one notice at all.)

(Year 10 had been…difficult. In certain ways.) 

“Eyyyy, y’know what, I’ll give it to you, those are some serious accolades. Ones worth a toast! And to show you how impressed I am, they’ll be my treat too!” Nills smirked, looking to the stall keeper, “You have sake? Two shots of sake! We’re toasting our accomplished peer here! …oh!” 

Nill’s eyes followed the sign the stall keeper pointed to, and nodding, signed what he was talking about. The orders the stall keep could apparently read on people’s lips, but anything more than that required signing.

The stall keeper watched… before nodding. Signing a good-natured congratulations to Lupin, before putting down two clear shots of sake.

“Alright, now you have one chance to drink this shot before I drink two,” Nill snickered, “Then you can let me walk your pretty self home, so that no one gets all smitten with you on the way. If they see you with me, they won’t even notice ya, they’ll be too busy tripping themselves up over me,” Nills said, jabbing his thumb at his chest, winking as he made his muscles pop, “It’s a public service, really, keeping the potential pervs’ attention on myself. Who can resist?”

The stall keeper rolled his eyes. He didn’t have to hear to get the gist of that.

Lupin gave Nill a flat look. …so this hadn’t been a ‘I’m broke and am going to ask my friend for a meal’ kind of night. Not that the money to buy two shots was the same as a meal--though it could certainly be a decent meal at some places--and that even with tight pockets people didn’t deserve to have fun expenditures but… Nill.

However, Lupin was distracted from his ire as he followed the indication to the sign too, starting to flush a little in embarrassment that he hadn’t seen it before. Shoot… Flushing a little more at the congratulations, Lupin grinned weakly and signed a thank you back. What a folly to have even with a joking conversation about accomplishments. 

Though even with that, he could only roll his eyes at Nill. (And pretend just…not to notice the muscle popping.) “People who aren’t interested, I’d imagine. And you know I don’t drink, Nill…” Lupin gave him a tense, worried look. “...you’re alright for two? I know you’ve just eaten, and you don’t seem like you’d been drinking before, but I have to ask.”

“Yeah, I know. Which just means more for me~” Nill said, putting up both shots as a sort of toast, before drinking them both back, slamming both glasses onto the stall, before signing thanks again and standing up with a grin. “Ha! Yea, I’m fine man, honestly this is just the start of the night for me. I was serious on the offer to walk you back to your place, but after I’m just heading back out to keep my night going. Gonna be a full night for me.”

Heading out of the stall, Nill took a deep, appreciative breath of the cool night air. It was a nice night. Nill felt good. The stars were out, which was kinda pretty in a background sorta way, but Nill liked the dark blue between the starlight. 

He already knew the answer was gonna be ‘no’, but Nill couldn’t help but ask still. “Hey, Lupin. What color do you see when you look at the sky right now?” It was Nill’s favorite game, comparing colors to other people. His color vision was brighter than others. Dark, subdued colors popped for Nill. His night vision was near perfect for that reason, and he was pretty sure the only time people saw the way he did was when they were high on shit, because it was the only time they ever mentioned anything close to what he saw every day.

And he liked to talk about it, because sometimes he felt lonely that there was no one to talk with about it. So bragging gave him an excuse, when really, he just wanted to talk about, damn, look at that blue…

Lupin sighed a bit and shook his head, taking a breath of that crisp but not yet stinging fall air. He’d miss it when it was gone, though there was plenty to enjoy about winter as well. “I know you’ll well do as you please, but look after yourself, Nill. And while I appreciate the offer, I wouldn’t want to take you out of your way when I’m fully capable of making it back home myself.”

Still, as it was, they were just moving away from the stall so…for now, they could still walk together a little longer. 

“Hm?” Lupin gave Nill a questioning look at the sudden question, though it wasn’t an unusual one from his friend. Looking up, Lupin tried to let his eyes adjust back into…well, not darkness, thanks to the street lights here and there, but relative darkness. But still…

“...I imagine that if I held up something actually black, then it would be obvious how blue the sky is, between the stars. Perhaps I’d even be able to notice the streaks of green or purple as well. But all I can really see is darkness.”

“...have you been out of the city much, Nill?” Lupin asked softly. “I’ve only seen the view once, from the mountains north of here, but away from the city lights, it felt like one could see the whole universe in overlapping painted swirls… I imagine what you’d be able to see would be all the more spectacular.”

“Once, sort of. I’m still preparing for my pilgrimage and…” Nill shrugged, something briefly uncomfortable running over his features before he smoothed them out, putting his hands behind his head and throwing on a grin again, “Would hate to spoil myself the wonder of my first real time out of the city! Go out into the world, really put my life in Usott behind me for the long term by starting strong and going strong!”

“...I’ve been out to the farms, of course,” Nill said, “But who hasn’t? You went up the mountains?”

Lupin glanced over at Nill, something contemplative running over his face, though he didn’t comment on the pause. “I don’t know if it’s really spoiling if you enjoy yourself, but your choice in how to experience anything will be the deciding factor. I’m sure when and how you decide to, you’ll take the world by storm.”

And while he would be happy for Nill taking on the next section of his life…Lupin would miss him. 

“Once,” Lupin repeated, nodding. “When my father had his official retirement from the secretaries. His coworkers, including my mother, worked on a vacation gift to send him off, and we went to the hot springs up there. While it’s not exactly a sort of ‘once in a lifetime’ trip, I do feel very fortunate for the experience… Every view is breathtaking, and if you’re willing to spend a full day for it, you can make it to the waterfalls a bit down the mountain.”

Lupin smiled softly, still present but obviously thinking of his memories. “And people say that our central mountains are completely different from the ones on the border. I would love to see at least one of the ranges one day…”

“Sounds like a trip,” Nill said honestly, “Maybe when I take my pilgrimage, I’ll make sure to go through the central mountains. Maybe I’ll drag you out there with me. You strike me as someone who’d enjoy a pilgrimage. I won’t make you wear a suit or anything!”

Nill laughed boisterously, before cracking his neck a bit. “Alright, I’mma run off on ya. I’m sure I’ll see you around soon again, Lupin. Life just keeps throwing us at each other. Or maybe all that red hair is just tough to miss in a crowd. Either way,” Nill snickered, before waving him off, “See ya!”

Lupin thought about it. Going off, seeing the world…embracing the winds of change as freely as Nill did. 

It sounded incredible. Seeing all the little hidden treasures Dicea or…even the world had to offer. Mountains, valleys, glades, marshes, forests… It always felt like the areas around Usott were incredibly varied, but Lupin knew even the varieties they had were only a sliver of their categories. 

(It sounded nerve-wracking. And impossible. Where would he even get the time to do something like that? Already he knew he was putting off internships, and while the allure of discovery was there, being in places he knew so little about was…unnerving.)

(Frightening, for how unprepared he would be. Just…useless as a traveling companion.)

“I’ll keep that consideration in mind,” Lupin carefully laughed, before giving Nill a wave as those winds of change blew another direction. “Have a good night, Nill, be safe.”

-

The house was quiet when Lupin got back, and glancing at the rack by the door as he took his own boots off, he could guess that Zinnia was still out. To his knowledge she hadn’t planned to stay the night with Aster, but it could’ve been planned spontaneously. As much as he did enjoy the nights the three of them spent together, he was supportive of the ‘girls’ nights’ they set up without him. 

Walking in, Lupin paused, folding one hand around a fist as he bowed his head to the small shrine of the Heikkas. He had given his respects with Zinnia that morning before he headed out, but…well, it was still Ancestors’ Day, for however many hours or minutes were left, and it felt right. He had never spent all that much time with Zinnia’s parents, but through her stories, and knowing her…he had nothing but the utmost respect for them. And he whispered his gratitude for raising a wonderful daughter that was his dear friend. 

With a final nod, he moved on to his room, setting about to unload his bag and extra layers. Alright…he still had time for a few hours of studying, perhaps…one per discipline would work, including the chapters he knew Aster was working on, ah, and he could get some exercise done for the things he just had to read. He could even do a little more than light things since Zinnia was out, and that would likely help his sleep later!

And, later, well into the night after studying and working out and a shower, Lupin set about his skin care routine, returning to his room with his hair smoothed back and a face mask on, and, unlocking a drawer in his desk, brought out the notebook. And, as faithfully as he could, he set about recounting the day. It was a diary of sorts, but just one that…

“Aaaaaaaaaugh,” Lupin groaned quietly, tipping his head back in a cringe. Kaiden had obviously been wary about the water, he should’ve held off offering it, not been the first thing he did. And talking about Nill needing an extra eye, even if he hadn’t named him to Kaiden, how obscene, Lupin hadn’t even thought about how insensitive that was! Wrong, ridiculous, he needed to be better… And…and Kaiden wasn’t even sure if his roommates had been home, while it was good to turn down an invitation made while drunk, if something happened to him??? Lupin had just SENT HIM OFF like it was NOTHING! Ugh, and then not seeing that sign at the stall and being so rude… Lupin couldn’t believe himself. 

…and all that wasn’t even to get started on the day with his parents. Lupin shuddered, still feeling the shame that had run through him when he had recounted his gratitude, and his parents had to prompt him to continue. Ugh he just wanted to…

Sighing, he finished the day and locked the diary up again, before looking up at his mirror. Meeting his own gaze sternly. 

“You’re perfect,” the reflection said, even with a pinkish slather over its face and bangs going wild behind a headband. That one piece of hair that never did anything he wanted still managing to stick out in an entirely different way than the rest. “You’re perfect, and you will never stop striving for perfection, for it’s in those efforts that greatness is found. You make the lives around you better, and every grain of your sand is for a better tomorrow.”

“You’re perfect,” Lupin repeated to himself, refusing to look away. 

Because he had to be. 

-

As promised--even if Arven didn’t really remember it--Doppio did head to the castle on Ancestors’ Day and…well, they spent some nice time together, in lieu of Arven going to school. But even if Dante and Lazaro had given no expectations that Doppio should feel obliged to do anything for the holiday…it was Doppio. So of course he did. 

So he and Arven had headed back to his house, and just…hung out. All of them getting to know each other more, and despite his own insistence, Doppio had a lot of helping hands in the kitchen that night. So Arven did end up having plans for Ancestors’ Day. 

However, waiting for him in the mail was a Quick Message, a type of inner-city mail meant to reach its recipient within an hour or two. It read:

Hey Hotshot!

I’ll come all the way over to the castle myself to carry you by your scruff if you don’t come to our celebration tomorrow! Bring nothing but your wonderful self and a bright attitude--along with an appetite! See you at noon!

--Tsume Inuzuka 🐾

Then, apparently there was another Quick Message delivered very soon after the first.

Arven,

Hey, sorry about my mom--I’m sure you’ve got plans with Doppio, if not your own folks. So no pressure, dude! Still, it’d be cool if you came over B) I know Akamaru’s been missing you and Chief. See you soon either way,

--Kiba Inuzuka🐾

Arven blinked, re-reading the two notes. He hadn’t really had plans with Doppio for Descendants’ Day, but if Arven stopped to think about it, he supposed really he should let Doppio’s new ancestors, well… dote on the guy, really. This was the day for them to tell him he was awesome and amazing and they loved him. And, well… maybe Arven didn’t want to distract Doppio from that.

Doppio would invite him to come, of course. Of course he would. Arven was his favorite person, and Arven didn’t think he was being presumptuous to say so. But if Arven already had plans… maybe Doppio would just enjoy his family. 

Besides. Arven liked the Inuzukas.

-

Man, there were a lot of Inuzukas.

Arven took a breath as he walked out into the backyard patio, giving himself a moment. The house was packed. Full of people, full of food, even still full of dogs, despite the now familiar sight of watching Chief run around with a pack of eager dogs outside, playing and racing. Arven sat down on a chair and gave himself another moment. It was a lot of people…

“Oh, uh…” Hinata squeaked, startling as she looked around for a moment, as if seeing if she should excuse herself…before giving Arven a sheepish, embarrassed smile. “It’s a lot, isn’t it?”

Arven startled, having not noticed her…before his eyebrows went up a bit. “Oh, I know you. You’re Hinata, aren’t you? I saw you at the competition. You kicked your cousin’s ass, right?”

“Oh, heh…” Hinata laughed softly, half-hiding behind one of her hoodie sleeves in mild but pleased embarrassment. “Uh, yeah, that was me… A-and you’re Arven, that started, um, heckling Neji with Kiba.”

She twiddled her fingers for a moment. “...I, um, know that as a fact, not a question… Um. I-I’m sorry you guys got kicked out.” Taking a breath, she blushed a bit. “And I know I don’t need to apologize for that. If Kiba didn’t already tell me, then Doppio did.”

“Apologize for it?” Arven asked, genuinely surprised she would even consider it enough to need to be reassured, “I had a blast that day. If anything, I actually owe you an apology. I probably embarrassed you, and definitely took attention away from how good you were doing.”

Arven paused, considering his logic…before nodding. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. You can kick my butt if you want to, I’m not much of a fighter. You’d super win,” Arven laughed, “What brings you here today?”

It…had been embarrassing, and it had been that much more difficult to reach out to Neji afterward, but…hearing the story from Kiba afterward? And hearing it again from Doppio, and seeing how he teetered between embarrassment and pride? It felt…nice, that a near total stranger would hear about someone being unkind to her and just…take immediate, unremorseful action. 

She could see how Arven and Kiba had become friends. 

“N-no, that’s alright, it was nice of you,” Hinata assured, before giving Arven a somewhat knowing look. Almost tricky, and uncharacteristically confident. “Did Tsume invite you too?” A small, secret smile turned up her lips. “...and did Kiba immediately make an addendum to it?”

Arven laughed a little sheepishly. “Exactly what happened, yeah. I wonder how many other wayward kids she’s collected here. We’re not exactly easy to pick out from the crowd,” Arven observed, craning his head over to peek inside the house, which was still a mass of people. “It’s nice watching them celebrate their kids though. And, I guess what I’m really asking you when I ask what you’re doing here is…”

Arven looked at her curiously. “Are you not celebrating with your family? Or are you just spending some time here before doing their thing.”

Hinata giggled softly into her sleeve. “So far I just know you and me, but that’s just because we’re Kiba’s friends… I know Shino’s been invited too, and he might stop by with his dad later, but their family is doing their own celebrations right now.” Hinata laughed a little more. “I bet Silkie would invite her whole class if she thought to.”

“Did Tsume catch you in a back-breaking hug on the way in too?” Hinata asked, her expression soft and fond. “I used to get really nervous, but…I think her hugs are the best. Though, um, please don’t tell Kiba I said that, I wouldn’t want to make him upset…”

That soft smile saddened a little as Hinata put her hands in her lap, twiddling her fingers. “...my parents aren’t…great. So…there wouldn’t be a celebration at home for me. After Kiba and I met, Tsume found out, so…I’ve been invited to the Inuzuka’s celebrations ever since. It’s…”

She looked towards the patio door, even outside hearing the non-stop excited chatter. “...it’s nice being around people who actually care about you, you know? B-by now…they’re family and…” Hinata trailed off, before blinking and looking up at Arven, like she had forgotten he was there and was just now remembering, turning pink before she looked down again. “Ah! So, um, yes, sorry, you…didn’t ask… Um… Yes. I’m celebrating here.”

“No, it’s alright, I did,” Arven reassured her, “Trust me, no one enjoys talking about cruddy families more than me. My mom is only not the worst because I know people whose parents are actually the worst, and she’s only tolerable in comparison to literal nightmare fuel. But, if I didn’t know about the actual worst parents?”

Arven leaned back and groaned a little, “She’s. The. Worst. I’d be better off just being an orphan, at least I wouldn’t have to run errands for her then. In every other respect? I don’t even have ancestors. None worth honoring anyway.”

Arven huffed, wrinkling his nose in disgust… before smiling a little at Hinata. “So, yeah, when I ask about parent stuff? That sort of venting is what I’m asking for. I am very down for hearing about shitty parents, so long as you don’t mind me complaining about mine right back at ya.”

Hinata looked up, at first in surprise, but then with a sort of…knowing. Easing, as she felt the peace of someone saying, ‘it’s okay, me too’. She loved Kiba and the rest of the Inuzukas, and they had never once made her feel bad about talking about her family, and even encouraged certain outrages and rebellion, but… Well, one of the things that made Hinata feel so safe in Kiba’s home was that it was a place of love and warmth filled with people who filled it with those things. 

She didn’t need someone who knew what it was like for her to feel heard and validated, but…it was just a different experience. 

Nodding a little, Hinata smiled back at Arven, attempting something a little brighter. “I don’t mind.” She looked down for a moment before saying, “Fuck your mom.”

Arven smiled at her declaration against his mother, nodding as he looked around. It was only relatively calm out here in comparison to inside. There were plenty of people milling about in the backyard, talking and laughing, chewing on food they had taken out there. It was a calm, easy atmosphere. 

“I wonder if all these people actually know each other,” Arven said, doubt in his voice, “I mean, I’ve heard of large families before, but… it’s hard to wrap my mind around the idea that all these people are connected to each other in some way. It’s like the Inuzukas are hosting a whole community here.”

Hinata laughed softly, following Arven’s gaze out over the scattered Inuzukas. Not everyone there had the same birthmarks as her friend…but Hinata had been told not everyone in their family had them, and that wasn’t even counting all the spouses or adoptees. Or just people like her, who had been brought into the family regardless of solid lineage. 

“Well…a long time ago, families or clans were basically entire communities,” Hinata said softly. “You might only be related to someone in the most distant sense, but… Tsume told me a while ago that defining family by blood was a stupid way to do things. That the sense of community with someone is the thing that makes them family, and that it’s the bonds we choose that matter more than anything.”

She smiled softly, twiddling her fingers again. “...I think it’s a nice way to define things. Friends can mean a lot more than someone you might share a great-grandparent with, but…who you care about is your choice. You…chose your obligation, in a way.”

“Oh yeah? That’s a nice way to think about it…” Arven admitted, watching the people. They all seemed happy, in various ways. Some speaking animatedly, a few looking quietly fond, others in what looked suspiciously like passionate political debate. Family party stuff… “Sometimes I wonder if I’m just not built for this sort of thing. If family is who you choose, I know for a fact that there’s a guy, like, trying to choose me. And I… like him and his family, well enough. But I just…”

Arven shrugged, looking a little tired. “Don’t fit. I’m out of place, even when it’s me and him alone. He only really relaxes when I’m there with my boyfriend, and I think that’s just because his attention gets divided. I think he just feels obligated, which… it’s nice that someone wants to be. But it kind of sucks when it comes from someone who can’t just relax and be with you, outside of that obligation. It’s a bummer to look at someone who clearly wants you to be a part of his family, and both of you realize that it’s just not enough.”

Arven suddenly chuckled, “I wonder if Kiba would have any idea what I mean, when I say that. His family is just so welcoming and relaxed as a default. It’s hard to feel out of place around them, they just won’t let you.”

Hinata nodded knowingly and sighed softly. “Prince Kaito…”

She looked up at the sky. It wasn’t even really overcast, and it was in no way raining, but it just had the feeling that if she looked around and saw small icy flurries, it wouldn’t be surprising. “...that’s a horrible feeling, to realize trying isn’t enough. But…um, if you don’t mind me saying…”

Hinata looked around nervously before glancing at Arven’s knees from the side. “The…choice goes both ways. And… Doppio told me about how…when he was looking at applications for people to adopt him, he didn’t just…want people he liked enough. Who were nice, and pleasant, and he couldn’t find an issue with. That he wanted to find people who…he fit with, I suppose. That he deserved to.”

“...I kind of envy his confidence,” she laughed sheepishly. “But he’s right. And you deserve more than someone you like well enough too, so…I don’t think that’s something you should really feel bad about…even if you do.”

She shook her head a little with a small grin. “I think it’s a good thing Kiba wouldn’t get it. Once I…” Hinata paused before shaking her head a little. “...I ended up spending the night here, when I hadn’t been hanging out with Kiba before. He didn’t even look surprised to see me in the morning. The Inuzukas are just…the type to be a home, if…that makes sense? If you’re family, you’re everything.”

“Pack is everything,” a small, high voice yawned, a young girl with red triangles on her cheeks coming over and flopping on the patio deck next to Hinata. She stretched through another yawn before lying down facing the teens and closing her eyes. 

Arven’s expression softened. He liked to think he was actually pretty good with kids her age, if entirely because Chief drew them to him like flies. Kids always both desperately wanted to pet the giant dog and also wanted long reassurances and encouragement to do so. It had taught Arven patience and The Soft Voice as he asked, “Oh yeah? That a family motto or something?”

“Mhmm,” Velouria nodded, not even opening her eyes but full of confidence. “Aunty Tsume said Inuzukas have been following that for centuries… Kibby said that the cool lady in his weird dream last night said it too.”

Hinata smiled fondly. “Hi, Velouria. Got tired running around with your sister?”

“Yeeeeaaaaah,” the girl drawled, rolling slightly onto her stomach. “Uncle Guy is still seeing how far he can throw her, but I got sleepy… I think I was supposed to find Kibby, so I could take his room or something, but you guys are his friends so this is close enough.”

“Makes sense enough,” Arven agreed, “Though, I actually know where his room is, and I bet Hinata does too. Do you want us to walk you to his room? It’s a chilly day for a nap outside.”

“Mm, no,” Velouria said simply. “It’s too loud in there. And last time Silkie and I went in there we--”

CLANGGGG!

The patio door slammed open way too forcefully, Kiba only cringing a little and calling back a blanket, “SORRY!” before he, more carefully, closed it, looking around the patio with a grin. “Hey! Here’s where you guys are! Aw, man, sorry if I’ve been ignoring ya, meant to find you ages ago…”

Velouria peeked an eye open, while Hinata tried to hide giggles behind a sleeve. “But Mommy found you first,” the 8-year-old nodded sagely.

Kiba blinked at her in surprise, unaware of the flurry of lipstick marks across his forehead and cheeks. Wow, Vel’s nose was really good… All together like this it was hard to tell scents apart, seeing who was hanging out with who. “Uh…yeah! But--”

Kiba waved a hand, brushing that off before grinning brightly at his friends. “Hey! Hi! I’m glad you guys came! I know you sorta know each other, but you’ve gotten introduced and all…?” 

“We’ve been talking family,” Arven said easily, smirking at all the lipstick marks on Kiba’s face. To be a bro, or not to be a bro… eh, he’d figure it out at some point. “Bonding over cruddy parents. And talking about how nice your family is, actually. No wonder you can’t stand still long enough to chat, your Descendants’ Day is a literal, actual party. I feel like I’ve seen less people at a festival event.”

“Ah, yeah…?” Kiba considered that for a moment, before snorting derisively--to the cruddy parents--and then grinning sharply. “Good you guys can bond over it. Don’t think I’ve offered it to you yet, Arven, but Hinata? That offer for me to kick your old man’s ass is still on the table. Like, forever.”

“I know, Kiba,” Hinata said, calming her giggles. 

Laughing a little more sheepishly, but with clear fond pride, Kiba looked around the backyard, seeing the host of folks mingling around. “Ha, maybe. Though with so many generations, we’ve gotta have something this big to fit in everyone all ancestor and descendent-ed up. Though!” he barked, Velouria making a whiny little disgruntled sound, “That means you guys too!”

Scratching the back of his head, he asked more quietly, “You guys all good? If you came out here to get a breather, we could hang in my room if you wanted some place not butt-ass cold.”

Velouria rolled onto her back and extended her arms, demanding, “Nap time…”

“I mean, I’m alright now after chilling out with Hinata a bit,” Arven said, before snickering a little at the pushy 8-year-old, “But someone among us has strong opinions on the subject.”

Snorting, Kiba chuckled before crouching down, hefting his cousin up into his arms with a grunt. There was no such thing as too old or too big to be picked up in the Inuzuka family…and the last time Kiba had dragged Velouria around instead of carrying her he’d gotten chewed out something fierce. “Okay, heard loud and clear. Nap time we go.”

“I-I’ll head back in with you,” Hinata said, getting up with a small nod. Though she looked to Arven next. “Will you too?”

“Sure, I’m coming,” Arven said, standing up with a stretch, “Chief’s out there having the time of his life right now, so that leaves my social schedule pretty open.”

Following Kiba inside, Arven looked around curiously, dodging and weaving around the thick crowd of people. The smell in here was strong… and sometimes not in the best way, but more often than not it was kind of… interesting? Like the circles of people around, the ones who were talking to each other, were so tightly in each other's spaces that when Arven dodged around them, it was like the group together made some sort of… new scent. A big group scent. Something that defined them as a whole.

…it was super weird to think of smells like that. Arven was super weird. 

“Pardon, pardon, ‘scuse me,” Arven said, taking a breath as they got upstairs, “Kiba, admit it. You’ve hired all these people to show up to your mom’s party. No way you know this many people.”

“You’ve caught me. I got embarrassed with how much I hyped up the family, and had to hire a bunch of people to show up to impress ya,” Kiba snickered, nodding. 

Kiba walked through the crowds of people with a practiced ease, getting his friends through thanks to the superpower of carrying a sleepy 8-year-old and managing to just give nods and grins and winks to the various family members that caught his eye. Not that he normally minded being stopped every couple feet. It was like that for regular family gatherings too, but all the more pointed on Descendants’ Day, and…well, if it was a day to make your kids feel special and loved, damn, it was working. 

Kiba just…loved it. The scent and energy filled the home so much he couldn’t even imagine it feeling empty and lonely. 

Though…yeah. While he liked it, he didn’t want to get his friends stuck in the congestion, so he proudly used Velouria as a shield! …except for one of the few people it was more like a honeypot for. 

A curvy redhead with short hair and lipstick the same shade as what was covering Kiba’s face popped up, cooing softly. “Awww, my girl… Sweet Vel, you headed to Kibby’s room?”

Sniffing softly, Velouria nodded, not opening her eyes from where she was resting her head on Kiba’s shoulder. “Mhmm. Wake me up if someone brings pie or something…”

The woman giggled softly and rubbed Velouria’s back, giving Kiba a grateful nod (though there was a certain glimmer in her eyes as she looked over his face). However, her eyes lit up even more as she took in the other two members of their little party. “Hinyata-chaaaan! Oh, come here!”

Pausing only to give Hinata a moment to collect herself, Evada pulled her into a big, loving hug, swinging the teen gently. “Darling, you are one of the sweetest, most thoughtful, badass girls I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. People don’t say it enough! The way Vel and Silkie look up to you means Si-si and I’ve raised them right! Oh, you’re wonderful, dear, and never forget it!”

And with a smacking kiss to her cheek, Hinata gaining her own battle paint, Evada let her go with a nuzzle before turning to Arven. Her eyes gleaming like a fox cornering prey. 

“I know this is the first time we’ve met, dear Arven, but you’ve got to pay the love tax to continue on your way. Lemme get in there?” Yet, still, she did phrase it as a question, even as she opened her arms.

Arven watched the warm woman–like Doppio, she smelled like a type of heat, though it wasn't sunshine. Arven wasn’t sure what to call it. Maybe sauna or kitchen heat?--shower the others with affection, before turning to peer at him. Arven didn’t really see the appeal of women, but his blush didn’t stem from her being attractive anyway. It was more just the flush of being suddenly under the eyes of someone who was entirely seeing him.

It was strange, to be observed. Arven wasn’t used to it, as he stammered, “Oh, uh, s-sure!” even if he didn’t entirely understand what she was asking for.

Kiba and Hinata shared an amused, knowing look, and Kiba could hear Velouria’s soft, snickering laugh in his ear. 

And, with a pleased sound, Evada got in there, scooping Arven up into a great big hug, swaying him even a little more than Hinata. “Oooooooh, I WISH Kiba brought you around more so I could’ve met you sooner, sweetie! He’s been hyping you up for ages, talking about your ‘cool hang outs’ and ‘awesome dog playdates’. Kibby’s got a heart like a compass towards only the best things, so I know you’re the real deal! Don’t be a stranger, alright?! I’ve gotta get more dirt on ya to really let you know just how precious you are, as if you just being here in the flesh isn’t enough!”

She pecked him three times on the forehead before easing off, bringing out a tube of lipstick to reapply, her marks of conquest evidently on purpose. Looking at the group of kids fondly, she nodded as if catching something to approve of. “You all be good, alright? I’ll be back downstairs, but I’ll come check on you later, Velly, if you don’t come down. Or let you know when Keats is napping too,” she snickered, giving them a wave as she headed to the stairs. 

Chuckling, Kiba gave Arven a sideways look. “So, that’s my Aunt Evada.”

“Gah! Ah, uh, th-thank you???” Arven gasped, the entirely foreign sensation of being lifted off his feet, the equally foreign feeling of slightly wet warmth on his forehead causing Arven to go a little dizzy at Sudden Sensations, to the point where he swayed a little when he was set back down, giving her a pleasantly bewildered look as he gave her a somewhat dazed wave goodbye, “...what was that?”

Arven looked over at Hinata and Kiba, just entirely confused. “Does she do that to everyone??” he asked, following them to Kiba’s room.

“Just family,” Kiba chuckled, heading over to his bed. At the edge, he unceremoniously opened his arms…but Velouria didn’t fall, just hanging on him tighter. Rolling his eyes, he started to try and pry his cousin off. “Aunt Evada is friendly with a lot of folks, but only family gets the swing-hugs and kisses. And it’s Descendants’ Day too, so we get even extra.”

“We couldn’t even see Silkie’s face earlier,” Velouria softly laughed, even as she plopped down onto Kiba’s bed with a soft, “ooph!”

Reminded of his Aunt’s habit, Kiba peeked into a mirror before rolling his eyes, getting out some wipes and passing them around. 

Wiping her cheek, Hinata gave Arven a small smile and a shrug. “There’s nothing ‘just’ about guests here. W-we’re their kids so we’re going to be celebrated.”

“Obviously,” Kiba sniffed, before moving things around, bringing out a desk chair and an ottoman so his friends would have places to sit, though he was happy to perch at the edge of his bed, feeling Velouria curl up against his back. 

Arven peeked into the mirror over Kiba’s shoulder and, gasping, wiped his palm over his forehead, smudging the kiss marks into kiss streaks. He flushed a bit, shoving his hands into his pockets, kicking the floor a bit as swayed a bit. “Family, huh? Your family is really nice, Kiba, sometimes it’s a little tough to remember they’re like this with everyone.”

Arven was pretty used to Kiba’s room by this point, and he plopped himself down onto the incredibly oversized bean bag that Kiba had in his room. He honestly didn’t know how Kiba even got this thing into his room, he’d have had to squish it inch by inch through the door or maybe launch it into the oversized window or– “Okay, but seriously, how did you get this thing up here?” Arven asked, sinking into the bean bag.

Snorting, Kiba tossed the bag of wipes at Arven, cheering as Hinata tossed her used one right into his garbage bin. Not the easiest shot with something so featherweight. Though instead of him answering, Hinata giggled softly as she brought her legs up in Kiba’s desk chair. 

“Kiba, Shino, and I just tried getting it through the door. It clearly w-wasn’t going to fit at first, but…we thought, since it’s not fully solid, we could wedge it in bit by bit.” Twirling one of her hoodie drawstrings around a finger, Hinata gave Arven a sheepish look. “We’d barely moved past halfway when Hana came home, and she t-told us we could just take some of the stuffing out then put it back in once it was in the room.”

“We would’a made it!” Kiba insisted. “Like…sure, sis’s way was faster, but I was still finding bits of fluff everywhere for ages. They were both equally good methods!”

“Ooooh! Oh yeah, that makes so much sense,” Arven blinked at the ceiling, astounded, “I would have never guessed at the stuffing thing, but yeah, that makes a lot of sense.”

Arven smiled, not quite amused enough to laugh, but feeling… really warm and comforted in this moment. Just hanging out in his friend’s room, with two cool people and a sleepy little kid, while down below they could hear the murmurs of the rest of the family partying. 

It was chilled out and relaxing. It made Arven remember hanging out with his friend group back in middle school, only instead of it being a bunch of older kids he was both embarrassed by and idolized a little, it was people who were actually fun. 

“So, you and Hinata, you and Kiba…” Arven struggled to sit up on the beanbag, managing it after a moment, “How’d you guys meet?”

Hinata twiddled her fingers, looking a little sheepish, while Kiba grinned. “Through tutoring! Like, we were in the same middle school and all, but it’s not like you talk to everyone there, right?” Kiba explained, nudging at a hackysack with his foot for a bit before kicking it up to toss around between his hands. “But she, Shino, and I all were in a tutoring group with Miss Kurenai and…the rest is history!”

Hinata nodded, looking a little guilty. “We’d known of each other…o-or, at least I knew Kiba because he’s not the kind of person you can really miss, but the three of us had never really talked until it was just the three of us. We, uh…” she glanced up, giving Kiba a slightly teasing look, “didn’t really get along at first, but between helping each other with the subjects we struggled with, we then started hanging out in school outside of tutoring, then outside of school and…yeah.”

“Bahhh, who gets along with people off the rip anyway, especially in middle school?” Kiba waved off. “We’re tight as the Sages now, and that’s what counts!”

Smiling softly, Hinata nodded in agreement before looking to Arven. “Ho-how did you and Doppio meet? He, um, makes it sound like you’ve been through a lot t-together.”

Arven chuckled a little at that. “Do middle school us’s even count as real people? I wouldn’t recognize middle school me anymore, and that was only a few years ago. He was a loser,” Arven said, no guilt in bullying his slightly younger self, “But then, every middle schooler is a loser.”

Arven hummed a bit at the question. “Aceto? It was a bit dumb, on my part. I thought I saw him steal alcohol from the butchery and decided to go defend her honor. It was… a huge misunderstanding, basically entirely on my end.” 

Hinata and Kiba listened in interest, hearing the start of the power couple, and Kiba couldn’t help but laugh that even Arven and Doppio had a rocky start. “Aw, but that’s cool of you to wanna make things right. I mean…” Kiba sighed, looking to the ceiling in exasperation. “Yeah, you never know who’s stealing for survival and if it’s not a super small business or something insane to steal you should just let it go if not try to help out the person…but still.”

Looking a little amused, Hinata mentioned, “He did say you two bonded over c-cooking… Was it cooking alcohol? I could see him being the type to try and get some without an ID…”

Kiba snorted. “My mom would destroy me. Like, getting booze illegally and I didn’t even get stuff to drink normally? I’d be treated to a full lament of how she raised a nerd.”

“Aceto is a nerd,” Arven said fondly, “And it was absolutely cooking alcohol. But that’s kinda why I got so hot under the collar. I thought he had swiped her personal bottle of real alcohol. That’s not a survival thing, that’s just… rude! A shitty teen being shitty to someone who’s really nice to shitty teens!”

Arven huffed, mad at the potential scenario. “But, that’s not really what was happening. Aceto…well, Aceto…” Arven suddenly blushed, looking away, “He’s kinda dangerous, in a criminal kind of way. He’s honestly too tough to be wasting his time nicking alcohol from butcher ladies. So, like, yeah he needed help with stuff, but it wasn’t help I could give. Looking back at it, I honestly took a huge risk confronting him, he could have seriously messed me up.”

“...” Arven flushed, “I dunno, I think that’s kinda cool, now that he’s past all of it. It sucked at the time I was finding out about all of that, cause Aceto was actually having a really hard time when I met him? But now, just knowing how tough he actually is? It’s just another thing I like about him.”’

Kiba raised an eyebrow. Look, he didn’t think Arven was lying, but…Doppio dangerous in a criminal sort of way? He’d chatted with the guy before, they’d hung out in groups, and he’d heard things from when Hinata and Shino had hung out with him, but… Look. Maybe it was just certain social stuff? But the nerdy, kinda shy dude didn’t strike him as…

Hinata nodded knowingly in agreement, and Kiba just raised his eyebrows with a little ‘huh’. 

Smirking a little, Hinata laughed softly. “You wouldn’t really think it at first, m-maybe, but Doppio does have a vengeful streak. I’m glad things worked out for you two, though, that would’ve been, um, scary if it’d gone poorly…”

“Okay, but,” Kiba raised his hands in partial defense, holding the hackysack with his thumb in one, “I knoooow it’s not indicative of all strength, but…be honest. How much do you think he can pick up?”

“I mean,” Arven blushed, entirely fibbing to puff up his boyfriend as he glanced away, embarrassed at his own boldness, “I’m 180 pounds, so.”

Kiba raised his eyebrows before snickering, letting out a wolfwhistle only to stop and laugh more quietly at the fists connecting with his back. “Oooooh, damn. Okay, we already knew you two were head over heels, but Doppio’s got it.”

Hinata blushed a bit, hiding behind her sleeves. “That’s really sweet… And good to know.” While she glanced down, Hinata’s gaze became oddly focused. “I could probably start teaching him some flip-pins, then, if he can pick up you. If he can move around 180, then he should be able to maneuver quite a lot of people…”

Arven laughed at that, sitting up more now, even if it was a challenge to do so on the bean bag. “Sorry, maybe that was TMI. Do you guys…” Arven glanced over at the sleeping 8-year-old, before realizing now was a bad time to ask people his own age if they also had problems trying to figure out where they were, sexually. 

It wasn’t something he had ever really talked to anyone about before, not in a serious way. His middle school friends made a bunch of crude jokes that mostly had Arven huffing and rolling his eyes at them, and before Doppio Arven’s sexual preference had been his hand and a few extra minutes of spare time, and that was really all he needed. And then suddenly there was a Doppio in his life and Arven was sometimes just… overwhelmed. By his conflicting desire and fears and embarrassments… He couldn’t even really talk to Doppio about it, because voicing it all aloud to him felt even more embarrassing than just living with it. 

And GOD KNOWS he wasn’t talking to KAITO about it, ahhhhhhh.

But Kiba was a bro and Hinata was easy to talk to and Arven could see himself confiding in them about it… but. Eight-year-old. 

So instead he asked, “Do you guys wanna grab some dessert soon? Not to brag, but the pie I made is gonna rule.”

Kiba gave Arven a thoughtful look for a moment, while Hinata just murmured that it was fine, but it was the sudden snuffles from behind Kiba that set things into motion. Looking down, Kiba saw gleaming eyes peek out from behind his hip. “...Kibby. Pie.”

“Uh huh,” Kiba responded mildly. “Yeah, Arven just talked about pie. And his bragging is well-deserved, Vel. He’s kick-ass in the kitchen.”

Kiba just nodded, affirming it was all true at the pout that followed the highly interested gaze, until Velouria let out a deep, bemoaning sigh. “...Kibby, could you get me some pie, please?”

“Eyyyyy, there’s the manners I know you know!” Kiba cheered, before ruffling Velouria’s hair through her hood. “Yeah, we can grab you some dessert on our way back. Hang tight, your coolest cousin is to the rescue!”

Hinata could only stifle a laugh as she heard Velouria murmur, “You’re gonna get Hana to help…?” as the teens got up and left the room. 

“Oh nooo, I woke her up with the promise of pie,” Arven snickered, the three heading out as Arven ran his fingers through his bangs, covering his scarred eye a bit more now that they were heading back to where the people were. “Eight-year-olds are so brutal, dude, I hope she actually will like the pie. Otherwise I’m sure to hear about it.”

Arven was honestly just humble bragging; he knew his pie was gonna kick ass. 

The three headed downstairs, back to the process of ducking and weaving around the adults before they found themselves at the dessert table, near the kitchen. They were far from the first people to hit the table, and Arven looked with interest at all the different things available. “Oh, I think I found the quiche your mom made, Kiba,” Arven laughed, seeing a burnt, half melted mess of a dessert near the end of the table…which actually had a few slices taken from it, surprisingly enough, “...I’m gonna try it.”

“Vel has a second sense for this stuff, I swear,” Kiba chuckled. “You could be on the other side of the city and get a treat and she’d be dashin’ your way. I’m sure she’ll love your pie, man; I think we’ll be lucky if there’s any left.”

There was a lot of food up for grabs at the Inuzuka house party, though there was something a little interesting about the dessert table. There were plenty of the things you’d expect, cookies, cakes, pies, but a distinct lack of anything chocolate. Maybe one or two things with a little, but a noticeable absence. 

“Fifth save your stomach, Arven,” Kiba snorted, shaking his head a little as he reached over, shouldering his way into grabbing plates for his friends and one to bring up to Velouria. “Look, I have seen the bathrooms empty today, but I wouldn’t bet my pants on it.”

“Gross…” Hinata sighed, before looking over the offerings. Pointing to a pie, she asked, “Is this one yours, Arven? What kind did you make?”

“Pecan pie with a chocolate mousse base,” Arven said, grabbing the slice of quiche and sniffing it… his face wrinkling a bit, “Fascinating. Nothing quite like bad food. Don’t tell your mom that.”

Along with the quiche, Arven got some real desert, thin slices of a few other pieces, and once he was settled he stood around, waiting for Kiba and Hinata. “Hey, Kiba, how’s things going with the puppet master? Has he noticed you staring at him yet?”

Hinata made a little enticed sound, grabbing herself a slice while Kiba just blinked, startled for a moment. Like…sure, Arven had told him he liked to live dangerously when it came to chocolate but that was…pretty intense to make it for a party… Eh, he’d just warn Vel to only eat the top. 

“Cross my heart, man,” Kiba promised, grabbing a few slices of pineapple pound cake both for him and his cousin. 

As the teens got their desired desserts, they naturally shuffled back into a free corner, starting to dig in…though Kiba just turned red, looking away while Hinata gave him a soft look and patted his shoulder…before stuffing her cheeks with more peach cobbler. 

“L-look, it’s not… Augh…” Kiba huffed. “He lives in Carbosi so it’s not like we really see each other that much.”

“Bu’ you go’ a letter from ‘im,” Hinata pointed out, mouth full.

Kiba’s blush deepened a shade. “We talk! Because we’re friends! Hey, d-did you know apparently the freaking king of Luminary is staying in Carbosi right now? Ravin’s excited to put on a good show at the Death Battle if the guy goes.”

“The king of Luminary? Really?” Arven asked, raising an eyebrow, “I’m surprised I haven’t heard about that from the royal family, that seems like it could be a big deal? But no one’s mentioned it at all.”

Arven paused, before shrugging. “Well, actually, Kaito has a weird relationship with his family. Maybe he and his cousin aren’t close. But really, Ravin lives in a different city? Doesn’t that… get hard? To keep up a crush from that far?”

Hinata hummed softly, thinking that over. “Maybe…it’s a security concern? Like they don’t want to make a big announcement of his visit or where he is. I-I wouldn’t be surprised if Ravin found out, um, even if they were trying to be subtle about things…”

Kiba shrugged. “He said he found out because they, like, the king’s group, kept getting in trouble with the Guardforce. So that’s probably something they wouldn’t wanna advertise a bunch.”

Kiba’s small distraction only worked so well, though, and he could only sigh, leaning back against the wall and kicking the back of his foot against it. “I mean…I-I guess? Makes…” He huffed, bright red, before giving Hinata and Arven stern looks, silently making them promise that they wouldn’t go talking about this willy-nilly later. “...sometimes when neither of us have visited for a while, sometimes it’ll be just like, oh! I can be a normal fucking person around him again, cool. But…”

Kiba groaned miserably, knocking his head against the wall. “But then I’ll get a Fifth-damned letter and I’ll get so fucking weird I’ll wanna throw up.”

Hinata gave him a sympathetic look before giving Arven a nod. “We’ve known Ravin a-and his siblings since middle school too. So…it’s been a few years.”

Arven nodded along, whistling low at the idea of having a crush for years. “That sounds rough, I can’t really imagine. I never really crushed on anyone seriously before Aceto, so…”

Arven suddenly remembered what he had wanted to ask upstairs, and poking at his pie–man, his pecan-chocolate pie wasn’t actually doing that well here, there was a lot left. Did people not like…pecan?--he asked a tad uncertainly, “So…okay, but when you say ‘weird’...” Arven burnt up, glaring at the ceiling for a moment before huffing, “Hinata, do you date? Because being around someone you like does… funny things to your head, and it makes you act so dumb sometimes, I can’t even believe how dumb, it’s like I’m suddenly a different, more cringe person. Weird like that?”

And with that question, suddenly they were like a trio of fresh tomatoes on a vine. Hinata blinked, like she was surprised to be addressed in this conversation, before she lit up in an instant, shrinking down as she brought her dessert plate up to hide behind. Though, she did give Arven a commiserating nod. 

It was Kiba’s turn to give her a pat on the shoulder, just letting Hinata process through her embarrassment enough to talk. 

“...I don’t think you guys ever met, but, um…if you remember the guy next to me at the tournament…”

“Naruto,” Kiba explained, before making a little ‘huh’ sound and explaining even more for Arven’s sake, “He’s the guy I told you about that kicked me out of the tournament.”

Hinata sighed and nodded, steaming from embarrassment as she cringed. “...I, um, I had a crush on him since the end of elementary school… A…” She sighed again, closing her eyes. “A dumb, acting differently, cringy crush.”

“We did… I… I did confess to him, a-and we dated for a while in middle school, but…” 

Hinata looked like she was going to melt on the spot. “...through dating me he figured out he didn’t like girls. Um, romantically.”

Kiba closed his eyes mournfully, pulling Hinata into a side-hug. All things considered, it had been a pretty clean break-up, and Hinata and Naruto were still friends--honestly even closer than they had been. But Kiba had been there for Hinata’s utter humiliation to be the girl that made her boyfriend figure out he was gay.

“Oof,” Arven winced, literally flinching in sympathy… before he suddenly started fretting, “Wait, wait, but like… Okay, how long did you guys date before he noticed? Were there…” Arven’s brows furrowed, staring at the floor, “Were there signs? Not that it’s your fault or you should have noticed or anything mean-spirited like that, I just mean…”

Arven’s lips thinned together, before looking around to see if they were being listened in on, then leaning in to whisper, “Did Naruto…ugh, it feels weird to ask this about middle schoolers, maybe your head wasn’t even there. But did Naruto…okay, do not spread this around, please and thanks, got it? Cool, cool? Did he avoid being nude around you?” Arven whispered, looking deeply worried, “Like, could that be a sign? That maybe he’s not attracted to you? Or…” Arven squinted, “...13-year-old you?”

Hinata just simmered even more, while Kiba just looked at Arven for a long moment. 

When she could speak again, Hinata shook her head a little. “O-our heads weren’t there. We, um, didn’t really do anything more than kiss… Though everyone in our class has seen Naruto naked before. A-and…um, we went swimming, but, again, not… Not in that context at all…”

Kiba tilted his head a little, looking over Arven. “...people all have their own comfort zones with nudity. Some people are like Naruto and would be just as happy if tomorrow clothes didn’t exist. Some folks would die if someone ever saw their knees. How comfortable someone is or isn’t being nude around ya isn’t really a sign on its own towards attraction or anything.”

He raised an eyebrow. “...and Doppio’s super into you, man. Have you seen you two together?”

“Uuuugh, I know, I know, he’s definitely attracted to me,” Arven agreed. “And it’s not even how comfortable he is being nude, it’s just… This is kinda embarrassing to talk about,” Arven admitted, rubbing the back of his hands a bit, scratching at them lightly as he rested his fork on the plate, “But sometimes I think he’s more into me than I’m into him, and then other times I think I’m more into him than he’s into me, and sometimes I think me being into him makes him less into me, and other times I think I scare him off because I get weird when he’s into me and–gah!”

Arven scowled, shaking his head. “It’s not as straightforward as I always thought it was gonna be. It’s like there’s… levels to attraction, and we’re both constantly jumping between levels, and sometimes I worry it’s me. Because me being attracted to him turns me into someone weird that he’s not attracted to. Do you know what I mean?? Am I crazy!?” Arven asked earnestly, looking between the two, clearly fretting, “Is anyone else dealing with this?”

Hinata frowned a bit, joining in with Arven’s fretting, but Kiba…just took it in. Contemplating for a moment…

Before he shrugged. 

“I think that’s normal, man,” he said simply. “All those different levels and constantly changing ‘em, and having your changes make him change too…I think that’s just what being in a relationship with someone you’re attracted to is like. That kinda happens with most emotions, right?”

Hinata shifted her weight between her feet, blushing fiercely. “I…guess? Like…I liked dating Naruto, but…when I look back… The - the only difference between going on a date and hanging out is the intent, but…I think there’s actionable intent, a-and emotional intent. And while we both decided on dates…one of the big things that I noticed in retrospect was that it always just felt like we were hanging out. Which I liked! But…it never felt like anything more. Just…actions, without the emotion behind them, even if the emotion that was there was still friendly. Um…t-to answer some of what you asked earlier…”

Kiba nodded earnestly. “Yeah, like, it was nothing about you really. Naruto just didn’t have the romantic heart for ya. So, like… But Doppio does for you,” Kiba nodded to Arven, half-stating and half-asking. “I trust ya, man, but…have you asked if…” Kiba huffed, rolling his eyes. “When you get horny, it turns him off? Cause, yeah, maybe his heart’s not there, maybe he’s got other sexuality stuff going on, but…maybe his expression is just something you’re taking to be non-attraction?”

Kiba snorted in embarrassment. “Or maybe it’s just normal weird horny shit that even with a partner gets weird. Know there’s plenty of shit I wouldn’t tell Ravin even if we were dating. It’s normal to think, but damn is it just mind stuff.”

Arven immediately shook his head, insisting, “No, Aceto absolutely loves me. I trust that, I don’t think he could pretend to love me even if he wanted to, he’s just not the type. He’s forthright, it’s a really attractive quality to him. But there’s different levels to love in the same way there’s different levels to attraction, and, well…I mean,” Arven looked sympathetically at Hinata, “It’d really suck to find out after all of this that he just really loved me as a friend and I made it weird by adding a bunch of romantic stuff that maybe he wasn’t actually feeling.”

“And I guess maybe I’m worried that because the sexual side is confusing, maybe the romantic side is confusing and I just…haven’t noticed?” Arven pouted, “I’m making less sense the more I try to explain it. I just don’t want to be repulsive to my boyfriend. Or, if I am, I don’t want to not know it. I want to know!”

“...but without asking him.” Arven said, squinting again. “Because that would be embarrassing and I would die. It’d almost be as embarrassing as Kiba admitting to Ravin he’s got a thing for the puppets,” Arven guessed, absolutely just teasing.

Hinata nodded a bit. Doppio was incredibly earnest, even if he got nervous and shy easily. She imagined it could’ve been a huge disaster, how the two of them had stammered around each other at first, when he had asked her to teach him Gentle Fist… But somehow they made it through, and once they had started talking more? Doppio was incredibly straight-forward about the things he thought. To the point Hinata had worried that she was completely missing some entirely new level of mind-game, but…no. That was just how he was. 

So…whatever Doppio confided in Arven about their relationship, Hinata was inclined to believe that that was exactly how Doppio really felt. Naruto was straight-forward in his own way but…well… He tended to be less introspective than Doppio. 

“Ugggggh.” Kiba shot Arven a dirty look, before looking out past his friends with a thousand-yard stare. “...he might actually think that’s hot. Fuck.”

Kiba sighed, though, and gave Arven a ‘sorry but not sorry’ shrug. “Sorry, man, but I think you should just ask him. Trying to guess around someone’s feelings without asking them, especially in a relationship, and especially if you do shit to manage those feelings you’ve only guessed about, is…kinda what can break a relationship. It’s all about trust. It’d be embarrassing, but…Doppio would take it seriously, right? He loves you, man; who can you trust if not him?”

Arven knew Kiba was right, but… he tried imagining the devastating conversation of asking, “Hey, remember when we got really frisky and I lost my nerve and then also acted like a total creep at the same time?? Which part of that turned you off completely, the creepy part or the being pathetic part?” And Arven just groaned, covering his face, “...you’re right,” Arven muttered, entirely defeated, “Ugh. But if this ends with Aceto telling me he wants an open relationship because I’m not doing it for him, I’m making you responsible for secretly beating up everyone he ever flirts with for the rest of our lives. In exchange, I will make fun of your relationship with puppets a generous 50% less.”

“You know, I think Doppio’s a good guy…but yeah, sure, I’ll take responsibility for that.” Kiba nodded sagely, fully meaning it…even if he had a good feeling things would be okay.

Hinata, still red and still hiding behind her desserts (while also eating them), thought for a few moments after Arven defeatedly relented…before giving Kiba a quietly curious look. “...so…what kind of weird stuff do you think about Ravin?”

Kiba yipped, giving Hinata a betrayed look. 

Arven laughed a little, pleased to not be the only one wondering. “Look, I’ve already thrown weird puppet attraction on the pile. Whatever you actually daydream about with him can’t be any weirder than that. And honestly, whatever you say is probably not as weird as me anyway. I’ll trade you guys one of yours for one of mine,” Arven asked, half hopefully. He had been wanting to bring up the ‘smell’ thing with others, mostly to see if it was actually more common than it sounded.

…because no one else ever mentioned an attraction to people's smells, and Arven had never seen it written into a book, and look was the smell thing just really weird?

Kiba turned that same look onto Arven before whining softly, crumbling under the force of his friends’ curiosity about his damn wank material. In the middle of a family party. Very, very cool guys. 

(...but he couldn’t lie he wasn’t a little curious about their weird horny imagination stuff.)

“Uuuuuugh you guys are the wooooooorst,” Kiba groaned, before looking around, making absolutely sure no one else was listening in. And…he turned red, hunching his shoulders up as he muttered to Arven and Hinata, “...I wanna lick his stomach. And, like…have his fingers in my mouth. He’s really good at, like, carving and molding and making stuff with his hands, you know?! I just…can’t stop thinking about it.”

Arven gasped a little, saying excitedly, “Oh, oh, same! The stomach thing, not the hand thing. Stomachs feel weirdly good?? Every now and again Aceto puts his hand on my stomach, like, in a side hug or in…other times,” Arven smiled loopily, “and I just melt.”

“The hand thing I can’t relate to so much,” Arven admitted, shrugging, before glancing at Hinata, checking on her, “Hey, this isn’t too weird for you, is it? I know it doesn’t really matter, but it’s two guys and one girl chatting about this, I don’t want you to feel pressured to say stuff you didn’t really want to around us.”

Kiba sighed in defeated longing, nodding along with Arven. Of course Kiba would have a stomach thing for the guy he’d literally only ever seen wear jumpsuits. It was probably a hidden blessing, Kiba’d lose even more braincells if Ravin ever stretched when they saw each other and Kida saw a mid-drift peek. 

“Uh, n-no!” Hinata said, looking to the side as she shook her head. She seemed embarrassed, sure, but…also invested. “It’s, um…it’s fine. I don’t…”

Hinata looked down, pressing her fingers together under her plate. “...I saw Kiba’s Aunt Sierra break a watermelon between her thighs once and I…” She shrugged a little, blushing more. 

“You and Aunt Evada,” Kiba sighed.

Arven looked curiously at Hinata… before saying, “Oooooh, is it a ‘being crushed’ thing? Yeah, uh… some people are really into being crushed. Like, physically. Or is it a strength thing? I feel like that’s pretty normal, nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“So, for me, right? I’m really into smell? Aceto kinda hates it,” Arven laughed lightly, like that wasn’t a huge concern for him, “Kiba, I’ve told you about this before, but I just… if it wouldn’t make Aceto immediately want to take a shower, I’d be weird about it. I like it when he’s sweaty and…” Arven flushed, embarrassed, “I’d shove my nose anywhere he’d let me, really. Scent just drives me wild.”

Hinata gave a helpless shrug. “A strength thing? A ‘wow I wish that were me’ thing? An ‘I wish someone was the watermelon between my legs’ thing?”

Kiba nodded. As he’d said earlier…horny shit was weird. 

Though hearing Arven’s weird thing, Hinata just gave him a curious look before glancing at Kiba, then nodded as if something clicked for her. “Oh… I see. I mean…f-from how you describe it, I don’t think it’s as much for me, but…there’s nice stuff about a person’s natural scent…right?”

“You were into Naruto,” Kiba mused, grinning at the dirty look Hinata gave him before chuckling. “Look, I’ll let my guy gush about it if he’s down, but Arven describes Doppio as sunshine~ It’s cute!” 

He gave Arven a little shrug. “Doesn’t get me as much as you, like I said before, but, yeah. Nice smells are a cherry on top.”

Hinata grumbled, still a little embarrassed, “You told me Ravin smells like sawdust and paint.”

Arven beamed, relaxing a little. “Well, what did Naruto smell like then? He strikes me as a guy who’d smell like food, from what I’ve seen of him.”

Arven swayed a bit, indeed gushing as he said, “I’m not embarrassed for recognizing the type of smell Aceto has. He’s sunshine and an amazing summer day. He makes me so happy, guys. I hope he’s having an amazing Descendants’ Day, considering it's his first one with his new family. Honestly, Kiba, I’m really glad your mom invited me to yours. I think Aceto feels guilty about talking about how happy with his new family he is with me, and I’d really rather he just relax and enjoy them rather than worry about my feelings.”

“Well…my nose isn’t really as good as you guys’...” Hinata mumbled, while Kiba looked Arven dead in the eyes. 

Look, he was happy for Hinata for the happy parts of her relationship, and he was sympathetic to her mourning, and understood the lingering feelings she still had, if less overtly romantic. And Naruto was still one of his friends! But…for real, she was too good for him. 

“You know that guy--and if you’re lucky it’s just one--at school that held off on using deodorant as, like, a daily hygiene thing every day for way too long?” Kiba left it there…though, besides that, yeah. Naruto did smell like food. Salt and mushroom stock and wind. 

Kiba and Hinata both lightened up, though, hearing Arven describe Doppio’s smell, and just…seeing how happy he was while doing so. Embarrassment and conversations needed aside, they truly were a cute couple. Kiba grinned warmly, brushing off the thanks for the invitation like it was nothing, before he gave Arven a considering look. 

“...how do you feel about it? Besides being happy for him, I mean. That’s a pretty huge change, for him to get adopted, right?”

“I love that he has a family. They’re nice and interesting, their house is cool, they have a pool,” Arven smirked, “The pool was an incredible surprise. But, beyond that? They make Aceto happy, and that’s all I want for him.”

“It’s mostly him moving out of the room that’s a bummer,” Arven admitted, frowning a bit, “This is going to sound so needy, because he really is close by and people our age don’t sleep in the same room anyway, but… I miss him, living with me. It’s so odd for him to just not belong in my room anymore, to have a space separate from me. It’s good, it’s probably healthy, but… I do miss having him all to myself.”

Kiba sighed, leaning against the wall. “Yeah, I get that… I mean,” he nodded to the bustling party around them before snorting, “It’s not exactly a ghosttown around here, yeah? And even normally family’s over all the time. But when they’re not?”

As Kiba frowned, his whole…vibe changed. Something less bright, less vibrant. Something…quiet. Lonely. Shino called it his ‘kicked puppy’ look. “I hate having the house to myself. You’d think I’d want a little space, but…I really don’t. And it’s a good thing that people have their own lives and everything, and I’d never wanna…like, glue ‘em to me or anything…but I kind of want to,” Kiba said, squinting. 

Hinata leaned against Kiba’s arm briefly, getting a small grin for her efforts, before she hummed softly. “Any big change is going to feel shocking, I think… A-and with you two staying together and getting used to that, then…not doing that’s going to be hard. I don’t think it’s that needy to miss him being in your space as much as he used to.”

“...though you two are definitely on the touchy side of things,” Hinata softly declared. Kiba just shrugged, knowing and accepting. 

Arven laughed, taking Hinata’s jab in stride as he rebutted, “Wait until you get your next crush. Then you can join us in the ‘way too needy’ club. Though, between the three of us, anyone you get a crush on? Is gonna want to shower you with attention.”

Arven looked between the three of them… before chuckling. “You know what’s fun about the three of us? We have the full eye-spectrum between the three of us. Actually, Hinata, maybe no one’s mentioned it to you yet, but you know I’m blind in one eye? Figuring out depth perception was rough,” Arven laughed, like they were sharing an in-joke.

Hinata smiled as she looked down. It was a very kind thing to say. Sure, they were having a pretty personal conversation, but she and Arven just…hadn’t really talked before today, and for him to wish that… It was nice. 

Kiba tilted his head a little, not really…knowing what ‘full eye-spectrum’ meant, though he blinked in surprise at what Arven was telling Hinata. “Oh, seriously? I thought you just liked wearing your hair like that.”

“O-oh?” Hinata said, a little confused before nodding. “Ah, yeah, Kenna, um, my little sister, said that was one of the hardest things to adjust to, going blind. She can still see differences in light, and extreme contrast, but…” Hinata tilted her head a little. “She said things just kind of went…flat. And figuring out how to adjust to that was a nightmare.”

“Oh, really? I sort of thought it was obvious, but nice, people really don’t notice, huh?” Arven asked, delighted, “Though, oh! Is that what you have then? I assumed you were fully blind, but is it more just everything becomes muted then?”

Kiba chuckled sheepishly. “I mean…I’m not always the most observant guy around. But it’s not like I’d come up to you from the right and be like, ‘yo, Arven, look at this!’ Sorry if I was bein’ a dick or anything and I didn’t notice.”

Hinata, though, just gave Arven a puzzled look before her lips made a little ‘o’ and she looked away in embarrassment. “Ah, um… Arven, I’m not blind. My irises are just really pale… I-I, um, know it looks a little, um…off-putting if you’re not used to it…”

Kiba huffed out a growl. “The only people who think that are jerkwads. Not worth your time anyway!”

Arven startled… before he suddenly looked mortified. “You’re not blind?! Wow, I’m sorry! I just assumed since I first saw you… ah, geez, I’m a jerkwad, I’m sorry! It’s not that it was off-putting, I just…”

Arven grinned sheepishly. “I don’t meet a lot of people with eye stuff going on. Was trying to find a segway into being ‘blind’ buddies. It was dumb, I’m not even fully blind so maybe it wouldn’t have made us relatable still, but… uh, I’m digging myself into a hole, nevermind. Sorry for assuming.”

“N-no, it’s alright!” Hinata quickly assured, turning red. “Um, I mean… I-I didn’t even notice you assumed, a-and Kiba just said he didn’t notice for you, and I didn’t either so…um…it’s okay.”

Kiba snorted, chuckling lightly. “Aw First, hey, if nothing else? Good example why talking about things works. You’ll find your blind-buddies one day, dude. And hopefully not because one of us landed in the hospital, as cool as that club’d be.”

Arven sputtered some more… before laughing. Calm and relaxed, giggling with his friends.

-

Khalid liked to think he was a nice guy, and generally knew what his friends and classmates were up to. Not for any nefarious, scheme-y reason! Hey, he just was an open ear to listen to people get excited about things, alright? And most people were more than happy to share, so, yeah, he had a good idea about things. 

So Hugo not showing up to class wasn’t a huge deal. The guy didn’t brush off his education entirely, but he did just disappear sometimes, apparently working on elective athletic work. Or just skipping class to train. 

What was a big deal was Fiora not showing up to class. For all the years Khalid had known her, Fiora had missed class once, a few days when she had gotten the flu. Even on occasions when she probably should’ve been home and quarantining, she at least had shown up for a bit all geared up with anti-spread loot to get the day’s work. And while that was weird enough, when he took a peek at Teach’s workload for the day, it…looked like Fiora had turned in every essay and project Khalid could think of that they had coming up. So…she was there, but…

…well. Simple enough for Plan A. Fiora and Hugo were friends, and specifically jock friends, so the practice gym it was~

…with an entourage, it seemed. Khalid could only grin to himself, listening to the footsteps behind him as he laced his fingers behind his head and walked. 

Eden and Gerard were focused, intelligent, dedicated people with grand ambitions and the fortitude to endure the hardships to reach those ambitions…and they were also, like, 19 and bored and not currently doing anything. So when they saw their friend get up and wander off, whelp! It was time to wander.

Especially when it was Khalid leading. Khalid tended to lead to fun. They were also not immune to fun.

It wasn’t the longest walk over to the practice gym, and before Khalid even opened the doors, he grinned. Right on the money~ It wasn’t a barrage of noise, but there were the tell-tale sounds of spaced out ‘thwaps’ and ‘smacks’ and grunts that meant…

Fiora and Hugo were going at it. Practice polearm versus practice sword, their back and forth could be described as wave-like, but only that of a fierce tempest. A dance, but with violent, whole-hearted aggression and pulse. Both in gym clothes, Hugo was in a sweat-dampened tank-top, while Fiora had foregone a shirt entirely, and there were myriad red welts and light scratches covering the both of them, some even already starting to bruise. Though, if they had been there since the start of school, ‘already’ was a much looser term. 

They were both breathing heavily, obviously having been working out at a high capacity, but…

Admittedly, Khalid didn’t know Hugo all that well. It was hard to, when the guy didn’t spare much time for most people. Khalid could make assumptions from that type of lack of information, sure, but what was far more reliable was the fact that he knew Josie, and no one knew Hugo better than Josie did. 

So while Khalid couldn’t quite identify what the pursed expression on Hugo’s face was, he did get the sense that something was…wrong. But he’d only opened the doors and had taken in the scene for a moment, before seeing Hugo start to say something…

Before Fiora collapsed. 

Gerard and Eden both moved.

“Fiora, what on earth!?” Gerard demanded, skidding onto his knee and looking Fiora over for debilitating injuries, placing a hand lightly on the side of her neck, “Where do you feel hurt?”

Eden, in turn, was standing between Fiora and Hugo, a suddenly grim look on her elegant expression. “I think that’s more than enough now. Step away.”

Hugo had been faster, dropping his sword without a thought and catching Fiora before she hit the ground, but it was clear by his wide-eyed, shocked look that his body had moved before his mind. As Gerard and Eden came over, he gently lowered her to the ground, seeing her dazed eyes open already (good, only a few seconds), and he…vaguely heard Khalid shout back that he was getting the nurse. 

As Eden took up guard, though, Hugo gave her a fierce look. “Took the words out of my mouth.”

Fiora blinked dazedly up at Gerard and… Look, no one looked incredible while they were working out, but Fiora looked…awful. Beyond what you’d expect, there were bags under her eyes, and while her sudden pallor was easing back now, she still just looked horrible. Quietly, she mumbled, “Gerard…? Isn’t class going on?”

“An excellent observation. I wish you had made it within class with me, rather than overworking yourself,” Gerard chastised, though it was clear there was concern adding to the sharpness of his words. His eyes kept brushing over the worrying marks of his friend, recognizing signs of steady dehydration and stress on top of the more than evident bruising from overwork. “How long have you two been at this? You’re not foolish, you know to take breaks. What happened!?” 

Hugo shifted slightly in discomfort, not thinking they had been at it that long, before he looked over at the caged clock, grumbling sheepishly after a moment, “...since 9. Though…” His eyes narrowed a little, glancing over to Fiora for just a second. “...she was already here when I showed up.”

But it really hadn’t looked like Fiora had done anything more than warm-up stretches. He had asked her a few times if she wanted to break after one of them made a point, but…she just insisted on another match, and Hugo had never been one to turn down another round. 

On a normal day, Fiora would have vehemently argued with Gerard, defending her ability to respect her limits and her knowledge of safe and effective activity, but… Instead, light brown eyes just crinkled, plain, unfiltered hurt shining through them. 

“...I came out to my parents yesterday,” she murmured.

Oh.

Oh.

“...this was still foolish,” Gerard muttered, though all the bite had been taken out of his tone, his brow furrowing as he looked her over again. She did not have the irritation of something that had perhaps only been… difficult. To explain. This was the hurt of it going poorly. “But perhaps some moments can only be met with foolishness.”

Gerard paused, frowning. “...do you… want to talk about it?”

“Can we ensure she’s alright first?” Eden asked, crossing her arms, looking frustrated, “Fiora just collapsed and she’s not exactly bouncing back. She needs water, if nothing else.”

Hugo huffed and grumbled, a dark cloud going over him as he realized what their spar had really been about. Sothis-damned shitty old men… Searching through their bags, he found Fiora’s water bottle--full enough for now--and brought it back, offering it to her. …he knew Fiora would never go for him challenging Fucking Ludwig to a duel so… 

“...Josie could get half the damn school on-board for sending him hatemail,” he offered. 

Taking the water and sitting up a bit, Fiora shook her head a little as she drank. Voice a little shaky as she whispered, “...it’s not like I’ve been disowned or…thrown out or anything…”

And just like not showing up to class, or speaking with contractions, or, though none of them had seen it, not changing into one of the skirts she’d started keeping in her locker from last year, another rare, dangerous thing happened. 

Fiora was a person that wore her emotions freely, and it wasn’t strange to see her tear up from a moving soliloquy in a play or a display of heroic courage from a classmate. But seeing Fiora actually cry from being upset?

Her lips trembling for a moment, tears welled up in her eyes as Fiora started to cry.

Eden and Gerard stared at her… before Gerard urgently looked at Eden, who gave him a baffled look back. What? Like she was supposed to know what to do!? You do something! 

Gerard sputtered, not sure what the next step was–they were a group that understood crying was totally okay… in theory. From being assured about it their whole lives by various authority figures and stories. But boy they didn’t have much experience with it still–before asking, “W-would you like a hug?”

But seeing Eden glare at him–what? What? You don’t get to judge, you didn’t have an idea in the first place!--he took a breath and opened up his arms, offering the hug in a less uncertain way.

(Hugo didn’t know what to do either. Despite having plenty of experience with tears, these days, just like Fiora was the emotional brain for Eden and Gerard, Josie was Hugo’s.)

However, awkward implementation or not, Fiora pushed herself forward, sweaty body and all, into Gerard’s arms, starting to sob. 

It…really hadn’t been that bad. And Fiora had never been a person to wallow. That’s why she had pushed herself into schoolwork over the evening…and night. And had gotten to school early, taking on errands for the faculty and early block, and then when there was nothing left to do, she had come to work out a little…absolutely knowing that Hugo tended to come in at least for a little bit every morning, and, well, if they were both there then perhaps they could get a few spars in, and…

…and she would be right back to being the best she could be, an Aegir to outshine them all! 

…but just…for now. Fiora just wanted to cry. 

Gerard held her stiffly for a moment… before he sighed, letting himself relax into the hug as she sobbed against him. Eden crossed her arms again, looking distinctly uncomfortable. Not really sure what to say… before she sat down next to them. “So you told them, hm? Well… that was brave of you. It was always too much to hope they’d take it gracefully. Your father is a total ass.”

“True,” Gerard frowned, lightly rubbing Fiora’s back, “Hate letters are all well and good, but if he was cruel, we can do much worse, if you desire. We can get… creative.”

Fiora sobbed an indistinct sound of garbled words before she sniffled loudly and shook her head a little. “They just s-said ‘oh’. And - and Father asked me if - if it was just s-something with my friends, o-or if we’d have to change paperwork…like it was all some - some huge hassle, and…and Mother looked so d-disappointed… They didn’t e-even ask for my name and - and they kept call-calling me Ferdinand all night even when I t-told them…”

Hugo scoffed, sitting down as well as he looked away in anger. He usually didn’t care much for the kind of creativity Gerard excelled in, but he might make an exception this time. 

It wasn’t…horrible. And that night… It had been Descendants’ Day! A day for appreciating your kids and looking forward to the future, and…for all the nerves Fiora felt that had kept her from telling her parents so far, she had just felt…dishonest. Dishonorable. Receiving their pride and praise while keeping something so huge about her identity for them. So she had held her head high and finally told them! 

…and they just treated it like something to sigh about. They were still going to support her, they were still going to love her, and it was far from a horror story. …and yet Fiora still felt like her heart was breaking. 

Eden’s face tensed, that tension still running through her shoulders and down her spine. But Gerard actually seemed to relax a tad, understanding Fiora’s feelings a little better, hearing the sheer… disappointment, in her tone. Perhaps he and Eden and, really, none of her friends had expected better of her parents… but maybe Fiora had, despite everything, had hope. And that hope had been dashed.

Gerard could understand dashed hopes. 

“You know they’re incorrect, though, yes?” Gerard asked, “Your discovery of who you are, your courage in embracing it, taking a hold for yourself something circumstance tried to deny you… that’s something to celebrate, it’s not a… ‘hassle’ or anything ridiculous like that.”

“Does that even need saying?” Eden asked, genuinely startled, “Of course it’s not. Your parents are, and have always been, just… incredibly lazy. They don’t take the time to understand others, they always jump right to the easiest conclusion, they chase aggression and bigotry like cheap dopamine hits to bolster their own ego, since they have always been too lazy to find worth in things the hard way: through actually thinking it through. It’s astounding the two of them made you; really creates an issue with both the concept of nature and nurture.”

There was another loud sniffle, and Gerard would be able to feel a small nod against his shoulder. It could never be said that Fiora von Aegir wasn’t wholly proud of herself. She believed in living to her highest expectations, and even missteps were chances to learn for the better. From her storied lineage, Fiora believed it was the duty of those with drive and privilege to act in the best wishes of those that didn’t, and to make a future that was bright for everyone. 

It had been nerve-wracking to come out initially, sure, but…really only for a moment. When Fiora had come to school last year and announced herself, it had been positively jubilant. One of the happiest, most freeing moments of her life, and…for the most part, people had wanted to share in that with her. Hells, her relationships with quite a few people had actually improved since she had come out. 

Fiora’s parents hadn’t made her ashamed of herself or her needs. She was just…disappointed. Hurt. Angry that they couldn’t even muster a congratulations or a ‘thanks for telling us’. That they just brushed off her identity like a phase to mostly ignore. 

…Fiora had often disagreed with her father on what they considered important. 

She never defended the positions her parents took, but often enough she had disagreed with Eden’s dismissal in turn. But today she just…didn’t have it in her. So Fiora just kept crying into Gerard’s shoulder. 

Nodding shortly along with Eden, Hugo looked to the side awkwardly as he stretched his neck. “...well. You know my parents love you, so. If you didn’t want to go home today…” he awkwardly offered.

There was a wet, almost gargling noise, before Fiora laughed, “I might take you up on that… Thank you.”

Khalid winced a little, though he still held the gym door open for the school nurse. Well, he could guess she wasn’t crying from an injury if Gerard was holding her like that…

Gerard tried not to pout… too much, that Fiora was going to go to Hugo’s place. Hugo’s parents did adore her, which was fair enough. She could also come to Gerard’s! Or… Eden’s, sure, or anyone’s. Hugo just offered first! …pout.

But Gerard backed off a little, as the school nurse came in, fussing and checking over Fiora. After a checkup, it was roughly what everyone had already guessed: she needed water and rest. Both of which she could get at the nurse’s office, if she wanted to utilize one of the beds?

“I can walk you there, if you want to?” Gerard offered.

“...or we could play hookie,” Eden said, “And just skip the afternoon class. Go eat some food somewhere?”

The nurse smiled, clearly unconcerned by the idea. Kids weren’t required to go to every class. Just encouraged.

Somehow Fiora looked even more gross than before, eyes now red and puffy and nose snotty…but as she glanced down at her tacky, sweaty stomach, she smiled slightly. “...I think I should like a shower first, but…that sounds nice.”

-

Josie had been feeling weird lately. Contemplative. Maybe it was just him getting into the holiday spirit, and while he’d had a kickass couple days hanging out with his moms and aunt…thoughts about his previous family had crept into his mind. Which did happen, time to time, but…usually while Josie was going through a low. Which was a little concerning, but…he didn’t feel low. Just thoughtful. 

So…he’d had a lot on his mind, and who better than to dump all that on than--Hugo wasn’t in class. And…weirdly enough, Eden and Fiora and Khalid weren’t in the Year 11 classroom either, which was very strange, and Josie remembered Gerard slinking off from class earlier, which was normal since he was as much a visitor to the Juniors as Josie was, but…he’d never come back. 

…maaaaaaaan, Josie was going to pout so hard if Hugo left with a whole posse to go have fun during school. But, alright, good for him. But that left…well, Dimitri and Dedan had a game scheduled today, and there was no way he was going to go to Irene with this, and Mercy was busy today and that was why he was gonna stop by the mosque tomorrow, so he could just wait for that, but…

…well, that hadn’t been the only thing on Josie’s mind. 

-

…it was a little weird, maybe, but Josie just looked around at some of the artwork in the main hall of the castle, holding his giftbox, as he waited for someone to tell him if Kaito was available today.

Kaito, for once, was not on baby duty. 

Well, ‘for once’ didn’t convey the right tone: Kaito hadn’t stolen Miya from either of his husbands, or Maki, or Ikuo’s designated time with her. Kaito tended to get restless and bored when his family were all busy, his husbands working or studying, his extended family also working or studying, Maki… well, Maki was actually much better at relaxing than Kaito was these days, and she mostly just volunteered at the dojo or hung out with her girlfriend or wandered around or spent time with Tim or babysat Miya and, well, she was just busy despite not working. Busy relaxing! It was cool and Kaito admired it! 

Couldn’t replicate it for the life of him, but he did admire it. 

…okay, and mildly envied. Why was Maki always good at everything!? She was even good at being bored! It was only a little annoying, and Kaito was honestly looking for excuses to draw her into a good old dance spar. Hadn’t figured out anything yet, but darn it, he wanted a good dance spar! 

…what had he been thinking about? Oh, right! Not volunteering for Miya duty! 

Yeah, so, in an effort to be as good as Maki, and really everyone else, at filling his time without throwing himself at the mercy of a fickle, sleepy baby, Kaito had decided he was taking his free time that day for just himself! To do Kaito things! Like pray in his shrine! And, and, doing some figurine painting! Or maybe go for a jog! Or… well, those three things! Read a book? That was a hell of a time commitment, maybe not read a book. Either way! It was gonna be a day where Kaito was only going to focus on himself, focusing on his own fulfillment, like the Kaito who had lived that spotty dream world had done! 

Kaito couldn’t remember a lot of the dream. But he knew the place had meant to be their own personal paradises, or something, so…so whatever had been in the dream had been something Kaito was missing in his regular life then! And he remembered from the dream, uh…well, okay, mostly the end stuff, running around being scared out of his mind that his kids were missing and trying not to show it as he single mindedly ran for his husbands’ help. But before that! …well, okay, he remembered spending a lot of time with a kid. But before that! Uh…

…something about… medicine? Or a business? Or something?

…which Kaito was currently choosing to interpret as ‘keeping busy’, since he didn’t actually understand why that would be his ‘paradise’, it sorta just sounded boring and hard. So as Kaito still thought over how he was going to spend his free time that day, and becoming more and more restless the more he tried to gear himself up for some figurine painting, Kirumi had arrived and–

Him? Someone was asking for him? Oh, okay… weird?

So Kaito had headed down, curious which ‘young man’ wanted to see him, assuming it was probably Arven, the teen calling Kaito down because he didn’t feel like walking up… before Kaito gasped. “Storm kid!”

Josie looked over from the landscape he was looking at, tickled, and gave Kaito a wave in greeting. “I have a nickname already? I’ll be honest, that’s a much nicer one than I was expecting.”

Laughing softly, Josie gave Kaito a more sheepish look as he calmed. “Hey, so I don’t really know how busy you are, off doing prince things, so thanks for coming down. I…wanted to apologize to you.”

“You might’ve noticed, but I’ve got some shit going on,” Josie snorted, half-laughing at his own joke of an obvious statement, “But I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. I know you were just trying to help out and, yanno, not leave me to die in a hurricane, and you didn’t need me being an asshole to you. I know I can get pretty mean, and I’m sorry I was to you.”

“I, uh,” Josie offered the box, “Here. Gift with the apology, plus thanks for the basket you gave my family.”

Inside was a little diorama-like setting piece, likely for tabletop games. It was a little cave, sparkling gems pressed into the ‘stone ceiling’, hanging over a lightly rippling lake. 

(Josie had no basis to think it was something Kaito would like, but when he saw it at the figurine store it just…seemed right. And who was he to fight against what seemed to be a lucky guess?)

“I mean, it wasn’t a hurricane,” Kaito said a tad warily, not sure what was happening right now. One of the kids had come back. Voluntarily. It wasn’t even by accident, which was what usually happened. Had the kid’s moms put him up to this? Nah, those ladies had wanted to kick Kaito’s ass. Understandably, really, Kaito had…well, Kaito called kids ‘kid’ for a reason. For the little kids, like Tim and Miya it was easy, but for the older ones? Kaito needed the regular mental reminder, to remember that these teenagers were kids, and he had to treat them more gently than he would have with just some guys he was hanging out with.

Kaito was the adult. And maybe Josie wasn’t a kid in Luminary, maybe Kaito was only a few years older than him, but in Dicea he was still a kid. One on the cusp of adulthood, but that didn’t mean much when it came to the whole ‘power exchange’ thing. Kaito had a responsibility to be better. 

That included not baiting an already pissed off and suicidal teen into being more emotional. Which… Kaito should apologize for, the second he was done opening the gift, which would be very funny if it was some sort of a pie in the face gag and now that Kaito had thought of it he almost hoped it’d be something like that–oh! 

Kaito’s eyes lit up in open wonder and joy as he pulled the figurine out of the box, gazing at it in open awe. Gorgeous… and weirdly… familiar? What was this feeling of…it was like it was at the tip of his tongue–

(A cavern full of beautiful glowing stones, covering a city that both was and wasn’t Kaito’s home. A safe, tucked away place in a region of beauty, the sort of beauty that made Kaito gasp, that felt natural to him…)

Kaito felt the back of his eyes burn slightly, which was a silly way to react to a very nice diorama figurine, but, whatever, Kaito was an emotional guy! And he grinned at it, looking it over cheerfully… before saying, “I mean, you don’t owe me an apology, assholes bring out the assholes in others, so that was my own fault--but I love this, so I’m keeping it anyway. Thank you!” Kaito grinned, looking at the kid, “...” before tilting his head in slight confusion. Obviously Josie was familiar, Kaito had seen him a few times now, but… the familiarity felt different now. Like the cavern, like something was on the tip of his tongue…

“Uh, so, not to be full of suspicion at a good turn, but I have to imagine something brought me to mind, if you’ve come to visit me out of the blue. You were feeling really shitty the last time we talked. You uh… feeling shitty again?” Kaito asked with a frown, “...I’m still intrusive and nosy, if that's what you were looking for?”

Josie shrugged, but found himself grinning as it genuinely looked like Kaito liked the figurine. Luck strikes again~ “Could you guess who gave me a shop recommendation?” he laughed, before lackadaisically explaining, “And I really do. I mean, a verbal one would do, and my moms told me to get on it since they took me home that day, but after that gift basket? I couldn’t let you out extra me. I’m gonna be that guy, competing in generosity with the royal family.”

Waving Kaito off a little, Josie said lightly, “It’s not totally out of the blue, I have been meaning to do this, and, don’t worry.” He grinned a little more sincerely. “I got my meds adjusted and everything, I’m good. But if you happen to be offering…”

Josie looked around the hall a little, before letting out a little exasperated puff of air, scratching the back of his head. “...you know, I never thought I was gonna be the kind of person to get some meeting with a member of the royal family to bitch with, but…” Josie gave Kaito a small, sheepish grin. “Think you’re feeling kind and/or nosy enough to listen to the ails of the poor commonfolk?”

“To be fair, my husband was the one who, uh, ‘suggested’ I send a basket. And I don’t know if you know this yet, but when your spouse suggests you do something? That’s what you’re doing.” Kaito snickered, only slightly exaggerating. Kaito would have probably thought to send gold. You didn’t always know what a person wanted! Gold was a good catch-all! “So, if you’re competing, you’re literally competing with an Ouma. And those guys are impossible to beat, trust me.”

Kaito’s eyebrows shot up, a little surprised that Josie actually took him up on his offer… before he grinned. “Are you kidding?! I love listening to ails! I’m a listening to ails kinda guy! Especially the commonfolk, the elite like to complain strategically too much, it’s a headache trying to keep up.” Kaito sighed, as always using the ‘common’ title waaaay less tongue-in-cheek than anyone else would. 

There was a reason Kaito was still a ‘Momota’ and not an Ouma or even a Saihara. Kaito was improving. But he didn’t want to pretend he wasn’t who he was. That was spore-Kaito’s idea and that guy was a drugged up idiot.

“Though, I tend to need to move around or be doing something, like eating, for talks like this,” Kaito admitted, “I have friends who like to just lay on their back to complain and wow I have no idea how they do it, so… if that’s alright? I could treat you to some food or something?”

“Wise words from the married,” Josie chuckled. And…at the end of the day, it didn’t really matter which of them had the idea to send the basket. It had shown up at their door and his moms had been delighted and flustered and had poked him even more into considering his apology…once he had evened out a little more, of course. The initial subject had been enough until he pulled his head on straight again. 

Snorting a little at Kaito’s enthusiasm and description, Josie leaned onto his heels. “Gonna keep the trend going and hope it turns out better than round one, eh? Heh, sure, I won’t say no to a treat. You ever been to the bun place on Islet? Lends itself to walking and talking if you wanted to double up on stuff.”

“I haven’t!” Kaito said cheerfully. “But I can follow you there if you’re willing to lead the way. Though, meet me at the front door? I wanna drop off the gift to my room,” Kaito explained, grinning at him, “Round two! Looking forward to it! Be right there.”

Kaito hadn’t been doing anything else anyway.

-

Dropping off his present and telling his husbands where he was going, Kaito raced back down to the front door, sweating only slightly from all of the running around before the two headed down the hill. Familiar trees and parks lazily passing by as Kaito, at least for this part of the journey, literally didn’t even need to watch his steps, each little dip of the hill’s roads memorized as he focused on Josie.

“...so,” Kaito said, shoving his hands into his coat pocket, “You do seem better, since the last time I talked to you. Look, I really am sorry for that day. I’m sincere when I say how you acted was more my fault than yours. People sobbing in the rain trying to bait the sky to zap them to death aren’t the most receptive to invasive questions, and if I had been more sensitive that would have occurred to me before things got bad. It was understandable for you to lash out at me. It was even understandable for you to run out into the rain again! …sort of, I still don’t love that part, but again, more my fault than yours, and I lost my temper and…”

Kaito huffed, rolling his eyes at himself, “That shit was on me, not you. Sorry.”

Josie nodded slightly, pulling up his scarf a bit in the chilly air as he listened to Kaito’s apology. “Very true, you’re right. But! Apology very much accepted. How I acted was understandable, but…it still wasn’t kind to you. Even if I acted in the only way I could, and it wasn’t really my fault, I should still apologize because you were hurt. So I did! And now you have, so…we’re all good, far as I’m concerned.”

He huffed a small laugh as a thought came to him. “I don’t think I ever heard--did those diapers make it home okay? Little daughter all clean and happy?”

“...ugh, most of them?? No, not even, it was like half.” Kaito sighed, recalling the sheer disappointment he had felt when he realized his quest had been fruitless. “But, it was okay. We had diapers, I was just…”

Kaito waved his hand vaguely, looking a little tired. “I have weird ‘fits’. I do this weird thing where when I’m stressed about stuff I just, like, ‘pick’ a problem and that becomes a do or die situation. I was stressing out about something, heard from someone that people were getting extra supplies of stuff because of the storm, and it occurred to me we had our usual amount of diapers so clearly we needed even more, just in case, nevermind the damn storm…it was irrational, is what I’m saying, and losing the diapers was no real loss. Still, glad I was there for ya… Mostly to get you out of the cold, you do know there was no way lightning was just gonna strike ya, right? Sure, you were standing next to a tree, but…”

Kaito waved at all the trees around them. “That still leaves lightning with just soooo many places to go. Were you really trying to get hit? Or were you having a theater kid moment?”

“Damn,” Josie chuckled. “Diapers for the diaper god, then. At least the cosmic babies will be clean.”

He listened to Kaito’s explanation, humming softly to encourage it and to show he was listening. “Irrational, but makes sense for the type of irrationality.” Josie nodded. “Like trying to expend all that stress energy for a problem you might not be able to do anything about for a problem you can do something about, but the stakes of the latter just rising to be the most important thing ever so, like…duh. No need to stress about anything else, brain, we’re on the big one.” He shrugged a little. “We all have our ways to cope.”

…like trying to get struck by lightning.

Josie gave a grand shrug, exaggerating his steps in a little pseudo-dance for a moment. “Some of A, some of B. I know lightning wasn’t going to hit me, but I already found myself outside and I was like, oh, you know the most available lethal thing out here? Lightning. And not to be too morbid? But if that was going to fail as a suicide attempt, that’d mean that lightning just didn’t hit me. Less bad than other methods going wrong…though,” he rolled his eyes, “being out in the storm at all was still pretty bad in itself. So even that kind of thinking was a bit melodramatic.”

“Nah, I get that. I ask if it was a ‘theater kid moment’ because I am a theater kid. And there is NOTHING!” Kaito suddenly loudly proclaimed, grinning fiercely, “More fun than moping dramatically. With, like, set dressing! And mood lighting! A grand storm, the rain beating against your frozen skin, which still,” Kaito said, voice hushed as raised his hand upwards, towards the wind, before catching it and bringing it tragically to his chest, “Cannot compete with your frozen heart. What could a raging storm possibly do to you, that your own fears and despair have not already ravaged you with!?”

Kaito closed his eyes. “It’s hard. It’s hard and no one could understand…” Before he snickered, grinning cheerfully at Josie. “I think I’ve done that easily half a dozen times. I love set dressing my feelings. Gets me really into them. There’s something about feeling your feelings with, just, all of yourself. It’s always very melodramatic and stupid, but I think there’s catharsis in being a little melodramatic and stupid. And I’ve done it in some pretty stupid places too, though I’d blame most of that on feeling invincible rather than suicidal.”

Kaito closed his eyes, smiling fondly as he suddenly started moving his feet carefully one in front of the other, clearly walking a perfectly straight line as he explained, “My bedroom had this massive balcony, right? And if I was deep in my feelings? I loved going out onto that balcony, especially in bad weather. I’d get up onto the flat stone railing, and I’d walk it, over this massive height, the sort of fall you’d have no hope of surviving right? But I didn’t want to die. I just loved the thrill of walking that edge. It always made me feel a little better, when I was pissed or sad, that… rebellious joy of the risk.”

“Something like that?” Kaito guessed.

Kaito turned a few heads as they walked, and Josie could only grin, giving some people waves, and a few others pantomimed applause, like they should clap for the grand performance Kaito was putting on. He let out a small sound of joy, joining in himself when a few little kids enthusiastically took his suggestion and ran with it. Definitely worth the mildly embarrassed look their guardian gave him as they shuffled the kids back on their way. 

“I think you told me something like that when we talked before too,” Josie recalled, humming lightly. Imagining the high wall of Kaito’s balcony, and recalling a few dangerously precarious high spots he’d climbed up to over the years… 

“Something like that,” Josie partially agreed, before rolling his eyes at himself a little. “...but I feel like we’d easily talk circles around each other for hours if no one stopped us, and…how I was feeling back then, or why I was out and about isn’t what I wanted to ask you about.”

So, what’s the subject, Josie?

…

…come on.

Josie let out a little sigh. “I…told you about the well when we talked before, right?”

“My Maki says I’d monologue with people for hours if they’d let me, and is there really any lie in it?” Kaito chuckled, though his face sombered as he realized, ah. The kid was warmed up then. Ready to talk.

…don’t Doppio this, Kaito. Don’t be intrusive. Only help with what they need, or what they ask for. Don’t… hurt anyone else.

“You did, yeah, but I could use a refresher if we’re going into it again. Or don’t, if it’s not relevant and you’re just segueing. I’m just… here to listen if you need that. About whatever,” Kaito reminded him. “And you can change your mind on that whenever, I won’t, like, dig the way I did back then.”

Josie gave Kaito a skeptical look, but it was an entirely light-hearted one. Still…he appreciated the intent. 

…

Josie put his hands in his pockets and tipped his head back a little, looking up at the sky. It didn’t matter if it was true blue not a cloud to be seen or the most grey, overcast day ever recorded, it was always one of his favorite views…

“...once upon a time, almost two decades ago, there was a miserable little family called the Etrigs,” Josie started, figuring the beginning was a better way to start than the middle of the first act. “They weren’t always miserable, maybe a little backwards, but they were happy in their own way, a family of three: Matthieu, Celine, and Micklaighn. But misery came the day Celine died, and while Matthieu remarried, that joy never returned. And with his new wife, Keiko, that new family of three became a family of four, with baby Josie. And maybe some asshole in the sky took pity on that miserable family, because wouldn’t you believe after a tragedy like that, little Josie was blessed by the gods. A blessing in the Etrig family that seemed to have missed a generation until he was born.”

“And Matthieu and Keiko were so miserably happy that they had made a blessing that they forgot all about the child that was already there. However, Micklaighn wouldn’t just take the bad hand fate gave him sitting down…”

Josie paused there, just taking in the sky for a moment. 

“...I really felt for Doppio, you know? What he was going through… I was taken by CPS when I was 11, and it really sucked, so, like…whatever his own specifics, I got that much.” Josie paused again. “...my brother has a no-contact order until I turn 20, or I get an official restraining order against him. I was…highly encouraged not to contact him until I’m 20, if I ever do.”

Blessing?

…oh, huh.

Another one chosen by the gods. 

Kaito almost thought about holding back being familiar with that idea, almost considered acting more confused or skeptical than he actually felt… but then he remembered he was a Momota, dammit. And Momotas thought they were god-chosen long before someone had actually sat Kaito down and told him he was Atua-touched and his smallest husband was practically divine himself. It’d literally make less sense for him to be skeptical of divine gifts.

So letting himself relax into the idea of being honest in his response, Kaito whistled low, “A blessing, huh? That’s a hell of a lot of responsibility. People hand over countries for stuff like that, it’s not the easiest thing to live with.”

But that wasn’t what was bothering the kid, as Kaito sighed, rubbing the muscle in the back of his neck. “Right. And you’re just shy of 20 now, huh? I’m certain one of the kids told me you seniors were 19, so whether that’s just a year shy or a few months from now… ugh, no wonder it's on your mind. That’d consume anyone.”

“...what was it you told me again? You were in that well for, what… a few hours? Nightmare…” Kaito frowned, “...how old were you again? I’m hoping you’re about to tell me 11.”

Josie huffed a little derisively. A lot of responsibility, and people would hand over a lot for blessings. Entire childhoods, in fact. 

“In spring,” Josie confirmed. “But, you know what’s funny? I hadn’t really been thinking about it at all until the other day. Stuff like managing to graduate or what to get people for Unity was way more thought-provoking.”

Glancing over, Josie gave Kaito a grin, before it fell. “I was 9. And I lied to you a little before. I didn’t fall in the well; my brother pushed me.”

More than just an absence of a smile, Josie’s expression dropped more as he sighed, idly people-watching as they walked. “As soon as I was born, it was like my brother didn’t exist. And my birth dad wasn’t a great guy in the first place… And, yanno, like a traumatized kid who’d just lost his mom and was being shoved to the side for the, fucking…better replacement, he took up a horrible coping mechanism--blaming it all on me.”

Josie swallowed. “...my brother tried to kill me constantly growing up. The well was one of the worst offenders, but it still wasn’t enough to do anything. It wasn’t until I was 11 and he left me in the mountains during a flash snowstorm that got other people involved to search for me that everything just…fell apart. No more deniability. And I was out of it for weeks so I wasn’t able to screw the whole investigation up claiming that everything was my fault like usual.”

Yeah. Kaito had thought the two might be related to each other. Still, it made Kaito frown with a small wince, hearing Josie just plainly say it. Though he smoothed out his features, trying to keep the horror from his eyes as he nodded, listening to Josie explain the blatant murder attempts on his life. Kokichi, Maki, Shuichi, Tim… Miya… all flashing painfully through his mind. 

…they were just kids. Children. Kaito couldn’t fathom it, wanting to murder a child…

(Lost in the snow. Eevee turned into a Flareon–)

OH!

RIGHT! 

Kaito reeled a little, some of the memories coming back a little as he realized the ‘kid’ he had been hanging out with in the dream had been Josie. Right, that was right, Kaito had even known that at the end, it was just… the dream muddying things. Right, right.

…aw. Kid.

“Damn, I was really hoping the well would have been the first and final straw that got you taken away. Not just one more shitty memory in a line of shitty memories.” Kaito sighed, reaching over–and up–to pat the back of Josie’s neck, before letting his hand fall. “...your parents knew? That this was happening and just…? Or,” Kaito’s expression suddenly dimmed, “Did they just pretend they didn’t? Good ol’ denial?”

Josie shrugged, a small, tired smile on his face. “When they pulled me out, I told everyone how I tell the story these days--I fell. Wells are dangerous, the sides are slippery and the rocks in the column can crumble… That one wasn’t that high either, so it was believable a curious little kid could’ve leaned too far over to peek in and slipped. I guess someone could’ve made an argument about negligence towards my parents but accidents do happen.”

They had just seemed to happen to Josie a lot, funnily enough, if people had even noticed the bruises back then. 

Josie sighed. “...I think it was more denial on Keiko’s end. Even if she was his step-mom, she really loved Mick, and I think she had a lot of guilt about coming in as his ‘new mom’ and…all the stuff about how Matthieu treated him. So every excuse I ever made to get him off the hook…I think she just wanted to believe it.”

…his back hurt. 

Josie flexed his fingers in his pockets. “...Matthieu knew. I don’t think he ever overtly acknowledged it but…considering how disappointed he always was in me for not fighting back or overpowering Mick, he knew. Think he had some bullshit reasoning of it all just being stuff for me to overcome and get stronger from. And it was just more disappointment when I never did.”

“Fuck him,” Kaito said, glaring ahead of him, not really seeing anything but an enemy, vague and fuzzy, in his head, “...though, it sounds like you got well away from there. Which is a relief. Those people didn’t deserve you.”

And it meant there was no real, immediate danger. Nothing that was about to spark Kaito into acting like a crazy person. There was no danger. Just a kid who had had a very rough childhood, and was considering an uncomfortable encounter in the future. 

That sucked, but… it wasn’t threatening. Josie was okay.

Kaito huffed, before turning that huff into a low whistle. Or, he tried to, he wasn’t very good at whistles, so it was mostly just a very pronounced huff of air but more pointed. A ‘phoo’. “...anyway, this isn’t about your parents though. It’s about your brother. So, you said you hadn’t started thinking about contacting him till recently? What changed?”

Yeah. Fuck him. And while Josie felt a little more for his birth mom…fuck her too. She had been an adult, and one responsible for him and Mick and she had just…let it all happen with a sad look on her face. Of all the arguments he listened to his birth parents have, he couldn’t remember a single one about the abuse he and his brother had received. 

Getting into the bun shop, Josie took a deep breath of the smell of warm breads and fillings before getting a tray, nodding to Kaito to take a look at all the different platters and baskets to choose from with him. 

“To be honest, I’m not super sure. Though…” With a mildly embarrassed grin, Josie explained, “I’ve been having a bunch of nightmares lately, though they seem to be calming down. And…for all that it was ultimately my birth father that was the worst? The things I tend to dream about are mostly what Mick did to me.”

“My whole life my brother’s been this…consuming, untouchable monster to me… But it’s almost been ten years since I’ve seen him. And yet, I have the same shadow.” Josie looked between some buns, debating a barbeque pork bun and a pineapple dessert-y one. “...I have no idea who the person my brother became is. And…I’m tired of a childhood nightmare haunting me. I guess I’m just…curious. But I’m not really sure if it’s the brightest idea…”

Josie’s eyes lowered a little as he shrugged. “The person I remember despised me, and always made sure I remembered that I ruined his life. The person that exists now is different but…I don’t know if me reaching out would just be…a painful reminder of a shitty past.”

Kaito lit up, seeing the types of desserts he actually liked best: Sweet breads! But, like, lots of different types of sweet breads! Sweet breads with stuffing, sweet breads with sesame seeds, sweet breads with a glaze finish! Kaito was very generous with putting breads on his tray, and also got himself a warm coffee, paying for both himself and Josie and encouraging Josie to add more to his tray when Kaito deemed it ‘not enough food’. 

As they went to sit out next to the firepit, kept lit on the cold fall days for patrons to still enjoy the outdoors as they munched on SO MUCH SWEET BREAD, Kaito nodded grimly. “Even when you know better, the person who’s actually behind the hand that’s physically harming you? Tends to be remembered as the perpetrator. They get to be the star of all your night terrors, and little by little you start to forget the face of the person who really hurt you.”

“...or, maybe you can’t actually relate to that, sorry,” Kaito said, shaking his head. Focus. “Look, I won’t say there aren’t benefits to confronting the person who hurt you. Actually, in practice, I believe pretty strongly in the idea. It could give you the chance to say all the things you’ve wanted to say. It could give them a chance to apologize. Hell, maybe all that happens is you see them and they’ve got a pot belly and a zit on their nose and a receding hairline and they just… don’t look dangerous anymore. Or all powerful. They’re just a shitty person who was shitty to you. That can help a lot.”

“...but the risk of it going the other way is high,” Kaito admitted, biting warily into one of his breads. “And man, when it goes wrong? It goes wrong. Have you considered asking someone to vet him for you?” Kaito paused, “And that’s not me volunteering, to be clear. I’m talking one of your moms or something.”

“I mean, Matthieu beat me the fuck up too,” Josie said, digging into his bun. Perfect after-school food, he’d brag alllll about it to Hugo later after he needled what on earth his friend had run off to do out of him. “He just tended to keep his schemes separate into their own type of stress. Maybe I just think of him more of a thing, or a force, that sucked, rather than a person.”

He smirked and huffed a little laugh as Kaito explained the benefits to confronting the darkness. Whatever weird combination Josie rolled…they all were something he was hoping for. ………sure okay he…kind of wanted, maybe, a chance to reconnect with Mick, but even just giving fuel to his brain to categorize the beast in his nightmares as something purely fantasy would be great. 

But…

Josie sighed, stretching out his legs a bit. Fantastic legroom between the seats and the firepit, good planning… “Yeah, I probably should reach out to my old caseworkers to, like, even get his address… I guess I’m kind of expecting, if I tell, like…almost literally anyone else this?” Josie rolled his eyes a little. “That they’re just going to look at me like….you’re reaching out to the guy that tried to murder you for years. And I just have to say yeah, like a dumbass, and even more of one when I have to explain that it’s not even me being a suicidal dumbass.”

Kaito chuckled at that, nodding… before giving Josie a curious look. “So why tell me? Just taking advantage of my nosy, busy-body nature? Or…did you hear some relevant rumors?” Kaito asked, not sure what to expect. He had come to terms with the fact that he was not well known in Dicea, though it had taken him over a year to internalize the belief in a way he could actually live day by day with it. To go from his life being an open book for anyone to know and gossip about to being basically unknown outside of being Kokichi’s husband had been an adjustment, but one he had found himself appreciating more, now that he, well… trusted it.

It wasn’t people trying to pull one over on him, or mind games, or anything like that. People just didn’t know him here. Once the paranoia died down, Kaito found he liked it. 

Josie gave Kaito a small smile. “I do know you have a, what I can only imagine, complicated relationship with an estranged brother, or ex-brother, or whatever you want to call him…but I wasn’t really thinking about that. You’re a nosy royal who’s willing to listen and…”

Josie shrugged. “You don’t know me. You don’t have years of anger on my behalf, so…explaining all this to you, yeah, it’s tragic and horrific and all that, I know I’m a nightmare story,” he rolled his eyes, “But it’s…just that. So even without the biases, if it was still just a batshit idea, then…I don’t know. I could chalk up me thinking about this lately to ‘call of the void’ thoughts, rather than something to actually consider.”

“Oooh, good answer. I actually really get that thought process,” Kaito admitted, “Don’t get me wrong, having someone who loves you deeply be absolutely outraged on your behalf? Feels amazing, it just fixes broken pieces in you, gives you back self-esteem and self-worth you didn’t even realize you had lost…but in other ways, it’s really emotionally draining, trying to vent and also managing their anger on your behalf. Sometimes it helps just to talk to someone who’s willing to let you be angry or all introspective or sad and they just… let it be just that. A venting session. Or maybe an… introspection session? Whatever one that actually leads to a person thinking about what they actually want to do about a situation.”

“I have a history of seeking out assholes, specifically to get that reaction,” Kaito admitted, “I never really mean them to be assholes, it's usually just random people at bars, but it almost always ended up being assholes, and I kinda liked it that way. The people who are almost a little derisive, a little dismissive? There’s a lot of reasons I’m drawn to that, but I think a big one is that, like… defending myself from them makes me more confident I’m in the right, about whatever I’m mad about. Like, no, I am right to be pissed off! …oh, sorry.”

Kaito grinned sheepishly as a couple walking past them glanced over at the suddenly passionately shouting man, Kaito giving them an awkward wave before looking back at Josie. “Anyway, my point is, I get it. Sometimes you don’t want to confide to a loved one, just because the reaction’s gonna be too much and that’s not always helpful. I have also been that guy to my loved ones plenty. Not always my proudest moments, but, well…it’s hard not to have a big, loud response to loved ones being wronged, or in pain. Sometimes I’m just not the person they should talk to, and I understand that. Just all of us learning to communicate.”

Kaito scratched at his goatee a bit, particularly impressed with this sweet roll and offering Josie a piece to try, before saying, “Alright, well, believe it or not, the ex-brother situation, among others, means I actually have lots of experience with who and what and why to confront. Or don’t confront. I’ve done that too. So, talk it out with me, man. If the void’s calling, what’s it saying?”

Josie nodded, Kaito getting it completely. That had been one part of how he had befriended Mercy, after all. Like, he had opened up to her because he’d thought, at the time, she was the only other person he’d ever met that could really understand what having a Deity Mark was like, but…she had also been a stranger that still had a sort of patient kindness that made her willing to listen to a stranger’s bullshit. And considering he had been in the hospital for a suicide attempt, talking to the people that loved him was…difficult. Their pain too great for Josie to even begin trying to explain his own. 

He liked to think he had things a little more under control than going out seeking jerks to defend himself from just to let that defense be expressed…but he was here talking to Kaito, and Josie had some pretty terrible adjacent vices so…he shouldn’t go around throwing rocks. 

Trying the sweet roll--Josie gave an appreciative hum--Josie snorted softly. “I’ll warn you, it really does make me sound like an idiot that’s learned nothing… I miss him.”

Josie’s expression softened a little, eyes squinting a little as he looked at the fire. “I have no reason to. He was a nightmare the entire time I knew him, even if he wasn’t always gunning for my throat. And even the times I’d tentatively label ‘good’, just in comparison, they… They weren’t the basis for any kind of relationship to be built upon. He was so bad that even now my shitty brain still echoes him when it’s trying to kill me.”

“...But I still fucking miss him. And I want to know so badly what kind of person he’s grown up to be. Even if…I don’t really have any entitlement to.” Josie sighed. “...he’s 26 now? That’s a world of difference from being 17.”

“So I think that, and immediately feel, like…gross. Because I think…one of the best outcomes for him, like, growing as a person, would be to just forget me. And even if it’s not hate anymore, he still doesn’t have any reason to have anything to do with me.”

“I don’t think that’s stupid. I miss lots of people who were awful to me. I don’t know if a relationship that could hurt you that badly, that consistently, can come without an attachment issue. Hatred is its own sort of relationship…but, god, if you can take away one thing from this?” Kaito said, face growing tense. Stony. “Hatred is a part of it.”

Kaito’s grip tightened involuntarily, the sheer anger of that sentiment running through him… and he pouted, looking at his smooshed bread. “Aw, shoot… eh, I’ll still eat it. But uh, what I mean by that? Is that… shit, what I mean is…”

Kaito paused, collecting his thoughts. “...I spent so much time trying to understand why I still loved people who hurt me, or defending them from other people, or feeling guilty about loving them too much or inconveniencing them with my hatred, that I sometimes forgot that the hatred was there. That the hatred was a part of the issue. It’s not all or nothing, you don’t just miss them, or just love them and that, just, erases every other emotion, or invalidates them. It’s all a… big mushy mess,” Kaito chuckled, grinning a little cheekily as he showed off the crushed bread in his palm, “It’s all a part of each other, pretending the love isn’t affected or changed by the hatred and that the hatred isn’t affected by the love is…so easy to do, and so hard to untangle, and so vital to understanding any of it. It’s everyone else you have to convince that you can possibly love someone you should have every reason to hate, but internally? God, Josie, you have to remind yourself every now and again that the love doesn’t mean there isn’t some serious fucking anger there.”

Another tight squeeze of the bread, Kaito’s eyes widening for a moment, a flash of bloodlust and heat running visibly through him, practically shining with it… before he relaxed, pouting again as he started to pick the bread off of his palm. “Actually, pass me a napkin? I don’t think I can eat this without looking too silly. I’m very vain. Anyway, you sound more hung up on how it’ll affect him or inconvenience him than it will you, is what I mean.” 

Hatred was…part of it. Josie was no stranger to conflicting emotions. Maybe not towards other people, exactly, but…towards himself? Oh sure. Towards the universe? Constantly. And in a cosmic sense, of course hatred was part of it. Everything was part of it, that’s what made it everything. 

But…hatred towards Mick?

Josie gave Kaito a mildly wary glance at the wave of something hot and dangerous that came over him, but passed him a napkin with a wry smile. “...you know, my best friend gets pissed at me a lot. Says he wishes I’d get angry more. I definitely can, but for the people around me I just…tend to not.”

“‘Course I’m focusing more on Mick’s side of things--focusing on me was step one before even seriously considering whether I should reach out to him.” Josie ripped off a little piece of his pineapple bread and popped it in his mouth. “...I’m not sure I hate him. Or if I ever did. The main thing I can think to hate is like…why he did that to me, but I already know why. And back then I agreed with it, and now I just…get why he thought it. I’m way angrier at like…” 

Josie rolled his eyes a little. “Fate. Luck. Society. Our shitty dad. Than him.”

He stared at the fire. “...we were just kids given a bad hand. He made bad decisions with his but…I’m not mad about that.”

“Mmm,” Kaito hummed, nodding along. 

He didn’t really believe Josie. But he understood why Josie believed it. It was why Kaito had said all of that in the first place. He hadn’t thought any part of him really hated Byakuya, really. Or his mother, for another. Kaito had been so busy feeling bad for them or defending them or feeling guilty for his part in their lives that he just… never gave himself time or room to explore how much he resented–hated–what they had done to him. 

In some ways, he was still learning to cope and explore the hatred. He had needed time and space away from defending them to really look at it. And there was so much of it… it hadn’t just ‘appeared’ after everything was done. It had always been there. Affecting Kaito and how he thought of them and interacted with them and with other people. Realizing how much he hated his mother, or the things she had done specifically, had given him the breathing room to realize why Kaito had found himself coping with observing Dicea through her eyes for a while, when things had been going particularly bad.

He had put her face onto aspects of himself he just hadn’t liked very much. Thoughts that made him feel guilty, dressed up in her voice. Which only worked because there were aspects of her that he just hadn’t liked, including the elitist nature that not only had affected how Kaito had seen the world, but had caused her to abandon him when he had really needed his mother. His mother no longer seeing him as valuable, once he, well… no longer was.

He hated her for that. Which was why he related so much to the aspects of her he saw in himself. Aspects he hated.

He couldn’t cope with one without acknowledging the existence of the other.

But…as much as Kaito thought Josie would probably have a similar revelation someday, it wasn’t something Kaito could browbeat into him. And he didn’t really want to either. Some conclusions you needed to get to yourself, or otherwise it just hurt. 

But… the other thing though. “Look, not to get ‘protective’ on you, but,” Kaito frowned, “You ‘understand’ why he did it, but you do also still understand it was wrong, right? Cause, look, I agree, some things can push a person into being the shittiest version of themselves and it’s not their fault. Not entirely… but aspects of it were under their control. And you should hold them accountable for those pieces, if nothing else. Being a victim themselves doesn’t mean they get a pass on how it affected you.”

“Oh, yeah,” Josie huffed, the word coming out with almost his whole chest. “Like, I’m not saying he should’ve protected me. People wish and think they’ll do the ‘right’ and heroic thing in awful circumstances, but willingly putting yourself in danger for someone else is hard, and while he was older, he was still a kid, and protecting me from abuse shouldn’t have been his responsibility.” 

“But??? Like???” Josie said, his voice pitching a little as he gestured to Kaito, the both of them fully in on how ridiculous this was. “He could’ve not added to it??? I could imagine a world where maybe Matthieu asked him to try and provoke me, sure, but he certainly never asked Mick to try and break his coin cow. That was all my brother, and he shouldn’t have tried to kill me. I know. Like, making that kind of decision is the thing I hope whatever help he got this last decade actually helped.”

Josie shrugged a little. “I guess I’m just not mad about it.”

Kaito nodded, smiling warily. “Yeah, that’s basically what I’m calling out. Cause, look… as the brother that was tossed aside for the better one? I can’t imagine it ever even occurring to me to take that out on my brother. I mean…”

Kaito glanced at the fire, seeing banisters of dragons in a smoke filled room, the clash of war just outside the wall as he admitted, “Maybe if I had been raised with a more ruthless nature, sure. But Atua save me, I hope I never had it in me to try to kill a 9 year old because I was feeling neglected. Being the ‘unfavorite’ doesn’t make you a murderer. There’s other shit happening there, and that’s the shit you don’t want to give them a pass on.”

Josie gave Kaito a sympathetic glance before sighing, stretching his neck a little. “Yeah. And that’s the reason the no-contact order’s a thing, right? It wasn’t all just shitty parenting, my brother had his own stuff to work through, and to keep me safe and give me the space to unpack all the stuff they did to me, we were separated.”

“But…it’s been so long now that I…” He sighed. “Maybe he has worked through that stuff now, and…I want to know who my brother is without murderous impulses and with an actual support network.”

Josie opened his mouth, before closing it, thinking for a moment. “...the Mick I remember would never even think about trying to contact me after my birthday. …I really have no idea if who he is now would. So…it feels like it’s up to me to decide if I…want to try having my brother in my life. And I kinda do.”

“Okay,” Kaito agreed, sipping at his coffee, “I mean, that’s fair. Confrontation and closure are also just good by themselves, but an actual developing relationship? That’s…” 

Kaito suddenly laughed. “Man, if you had asked me a year ago? I’d call you an idiot. I’d have felt a bit bad about it, but I’d have meant every word. Before I had a bunch of assholes I also wished I could keep in my life somehow, I couldn’t fathom the desire. It just felt…defeating. Like someone running back to their abuser, over and over again, until one day they’re beaten into the literal ground and that’s the only way the cycle ends. It always felt like that.”

“Buuut,” Kaito shrugged, “I get it better now. And, hey! Sometimes people really do change. I know lots of people now who changed. Are better than they were, who I couldn’t imagine harming someone innocent. Not as they are.”

“Who am I to tell you that you shouldn’t at least see for yourself, if maybe your brother ended up one of them?” Kaito asked, smiling lightly, “It happens. And…it’d be a good thing, right? To have closure with him, one way or another?”

Josie chuckled softly. From most people he had been expecting the idiot comments. He knew it sounded insane, regardless of what people might believe in politically. Even just sending a letter to Mick, expecting nothing from it, he had expected the idiot comments. 

But Josie had spent the better part of his life now playing the fool so…why not have fun with the role? A mask could still serve the true face sometimes, couldn’t it?

“Hey, you asked what the call of the void was. My most pie in the sky brainworms want to see if a relationship is possible. If I just end up seeing him as some guy and get closure to parent my inner child, showing them that the monster under the bed is just some socks you forgot about? That’d be good too.”

Josie huffed a little, shaking his head at the whole situation. “...thanks, Kaito. You’re not half bad at this. Consider me one good hit on your batting average to brag forever about.”

Kaito snorted, rolling his eyes. “Give me time. Or, worse, let me hear word that you’re restarting a relationship with the guy and suddenly are walking around with black eyes and a haunted look. This is me calm because you’re not in any real danger, beyond getting your feelings really hurt and then putting the walls of your support system back up. If you were in danger, you’d have a whooole different Kaito right now. A tyrant.”

Sipping at his coffee, Kaito shrugged. “I’m working on it. But yeah, you don’t want the Conquering Lunatic of Luminary? Don’t let me hear anything about this guy putting his hands on you. I will get weird about it, I cannot help myself.”

“Still, I’m glad, if nothing else, that you got a chance to talk to someone about this. Get it off your chest.” Kaito grinned. “Love that, my favorite thing, all about it. You let me know if you ever need this again, okay? I like this stuff. It makes me useful.”

Josie laughed. “You’d be one in a very angry mob at that point, I’d have to say. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m suddenly the center of attention once I send that letter off. Trust me, he isn’t getting another chance to hurt me, at least more than a petty insult or two if things go badly.” Not quite because of Josie’s own willpower, but…well, he had plenty of people that refused to let him be a punching bag again. 

Giving Kaito a wink, Josie grinned. “Hey, and if I get a free snack out of it too? How could I resist, your grace~? You make it enticing.”

Kaito nodded seriously. “Food, man. Greases the wheels. Everyone’s pissed at you? Food. Everyone’s sad? Food. Need to do a massive apology that really can’t be adequately done but at least needs to be attempted? Food. It’s a super power.”

At that, Kaito cheerfully bit into his bread… before saying around a full mouth, forcing the food down after a moment, thumping his chest, “Oh, and if you do need to have this guy taken care of? Reach out to me, okay? I don’t mean ‘disappeared’, I just mean taught a lesson. I can make that happen. Just so you know you have the option.”

“The great Dicean pastime,” Josie sighed, basking in the warmth of the firepit. “Food solves all problems.”

“I appreciate it,” Josie laughed, “Though, again…you’re in line. You don’t get to skip to the front just because you’re the stranger I wanted to confide in, I’ve got a lot of people with their own special privileges I need to respect. You understand.”

“Tsk, well, good, cause I’ve got kids and really shouldn’t be offering stuff like that anyway.” Kaito smirked. “But you should know, that would have been a huge boon back in Luminary. I’m just saying, different year, different location? I’d have been your first pick! I had the connections!”

Kaito laughed, before settling in to finish their food and, he knew, probably never hear about this again. But that was alright. Josie wasn’t in danger, and he wasn’t really a friend either. Kaito was happy to be the random temporary asshole Josie could confide in. Sometimes that’s what you needed.

Besides…Kaito had gotten his chance to look out for the kid, in the desert, once already. And Kaito couldn’t remember a lot of it, but… he was pretty sure he had done an okay job at it. And Josie had, heh… grown up. And was doing better. And that was always what Kaito wanted anyway. He had just gotten to speedrun that, with this particular kid.

He offered to buy him another hot drink. It was cold out there, and Josie would have to walk home soon.

He didn’t push when Josie turned him down.

-

Lupin was…admittedly a little confused, but, as always, he was perfectly delighted to help. And it wasn’t like the building for the medical program was unknown to him. He just…didn’t quite understand what was so urgent to help. Or mildly needed. 

It made enough sense. With flu season underway, the future healers-in-training often gave on-campus examinations and vaccinations to those happy to let a student get some practical experience (under observance of a practiced healer, of course)--it was something Lupin had seen every year at university. And he supposed, yes, that people happy to volunteer to sign people in and hand out snacks was something that was needed…

…but it did look like there were a lot more people volunteering than people going in for any sort of purpose. The student from the detectives’ course made it sound like the medical students were severely understaffed, but…well…he supposed the information could’ve been a bit outdated, once they went out to look for more volunteers… 

Still. Lupin had signed up, so he would fulfill his promise. And it meant he got to see Aster, which was nice. 

In fact, the two of them were walking through one of the upper floors of the medical building together, chatting as they brought down more supplies. Really, Lupin was starting to feel a little guilty, feeling like this was really more of a socializing thing than--

And then the world shook apart.

Tangouai had told Leanne and Milo that he and Kaiden were going to the medical building that day to take advantage of the vaccination and flu shot fair they had put on that month, getting the shots they hadn’t grabbed yet taken care of. This was a lie, and frankly a stupid one, Tangouai kept arguing to Kaiden, as, “They’re going to notice if this is a long term thing. And they’re gonna wonder, like me, what the heck you thought you’d accomplish by hiding it anyway, you doofus.” 

“You’re a doofus,” Kaiden grumbled, both of them sitting in the observation room while they waited for the healer assigned to them, “I don’t want to worry them over something that’s gonna even itself out soon. It doesn’t work right away for everyone…”

“Kaiden, you don’t have to be in denial about this, because it’s not the end of the world if you're resistant to the medicine. It’s new! They’ll refine it, they’ll make new versions, like the vaccine and flu shots. You’re probably not even the only person struggling with spore cycles still!” Tangouai insisted, “Bodies are different and need different things, you and I are great examples of that.”

“You being entirely resistant to spores is not the same as me apparently still having them after everyone else has been cleared,” Kaiden said, glaring at his brother, “Spore resistance is an already understood thing, Flora have studied it for centuries. What if my thing is just…impossible to fix?”

Tangouai flicked Kaiden’s forehead. “You didn’t say what you meant to say.”

“Ow,” Kaiden pouted, rubbing his forehead, “Fuck you…what if…” Kaiden sighed, “What if it’s just a sign I’m not strong enough to clear the spores? Everyone’s always saying I have the weakest personality.”

“You’re passive, you’re not weak, and no one’s said that to you. Stop putting words in our–what the shit!?”

Tangouai’s eyes widened, instinctively reaching out to pull Kaiden closer to him and off the table as he felt the earth shake first, before his ears registered a thundering cracking sound that was way too close, a BANG that happened all at once and seemed to last ages. It took Tangouai a second to realize he couldn’t see, and that several blinks didn’t clear his vision, because there was a sudden, thick fog of debris clouding the air.

He could taste the plaster on the walls. It literally coated his tongue, as his ears stopped ringing and he realized the wall wasn’t there now. It had cracked and fallen away. And Kaiden was screaming.

They had to get out of there.

The first thing Lupin registered was the sound. An incessant, consuming ringing in his ears, like the very air and earth had decided to sing the most dissonant interval in existence. It was the kind of sound he could feel, and he felt it so much it made him nauseous…but the next few things he registered put that all from his mind. He felt…hot. Like being too close to a fire, and he felt impact aches, and…the shifting sensations he felt slough off his body as he pushed himself up answered at least part of that question, but more pressingly was--

Where was Aster?

Lupin shot up, his eyes wide, catching the climbing flames at the side of the hall for only a moment before he had to stumble back, away from the crumbling edge of the caved in floor, though, looking down into it… Lupin’s blood ran cold as he caught a glimpse of the pinkish, red-colored hair he knew so well. Faintly, he could remember hands against his chest before his memory shorted out, so…

“Nononononono,” Lupin…felt himself saying, even if he couldn’t hear himself over the ringing. Barely thinking as he moved to the edge of the floor and dropped himself down, eyes wide as he took in the still body. 

Aster was sweet. She was brilliant and kind and her gentle demeanor was one of her greatest strengths, he had always thought, and…and he was…he was supposed to protect her. Being a wall against guys who got too familiar with a pretty girl, people who took her soft words as a sign they could get away with whatever they wanted… Sure, he, Zinnia, and Aster all looked after each other, but…

But Lupin was perfect and he wasn’t supposed to be the one protected and if he had failed Aster then he failed failed failed fail--

She was breathing. 

His own breath catching in his throat, Lupin scooped her up as gently as he could, trying not to move her neck, and looked for the clearest path out. 

-

…Drake hated when he was right, sometimes. But as he ran forward with some of the healers he had recruited from the hospital, hearing the screams up ahead, at least being right meant he could prepare.

-

Nill was an Odd Job man, and these were, honestly, the working spine of Dicea’s economy. 

It wasn’t strictly a religious thing, though Maidens of the House of Change were expected as part of the process of discovering their first personal identities to do a bunch of odd jobs. The official number you were meant to aim for before declaring your first recognized identity were 100 odd jobs, each one with new people doing a new piece of labor or exercising a new skill.

But that was a pie in the sky, idealized version of the religion that realistically no one was actually aspiring to. Nill thought of himself as a particularly ambitious maiden and he had still only had 42 different jobs, and he had long already claimed his first identity. Most people really only did roughly 15 before they settled into something they actually liked.

Being an Odd Jobs person wasn’t an exclusively House of Change thing either. Lots of philosophies and career tracks in Dicea encouraged a period of time in people’s life where they developed working skills and character development through temporary service or labor jobs that otherwise didn’t make good career tracks. The ability to essentially donate time and energy to less desirable workloads, especially ones that people for their own safety shouldn’t do long term, such as mining or waste handling or high intensity labor jobs, were considered rights of passage for certain subcultures in Dicea. And Nill was personally pretty proud of it, tattooing onto himself little signs and homages of every odd job he’d ever had.

One day he’d cover up or bleach the tattoos away, when he was someone new. But for now, they made him happy. A sign of the variety of his life. 

And he had already been thinking about what tattoo he’d add to his skin that would represent the careful heavy lifting of various window panes for an older window glazier who needed assistance with the heavy lifting these days. She probably had a few apprentices who usually helped her out with the weight, but for today she had apparently needed the assistance of an odd job and had reached out to the House of Change for people waiting around for an odd job to be available. And Nill had been hanging out, so… here he was! 

He had been planning to swing by the medical center down the street once he was done to grab a flu shot too, hearing the festivities in the distance, the music and crowd always a sign that it was a designated shot day, when an explosion rocked the street. 

Earthquake?? Was all Nill could think, before he reached for the glazier and pulled her from the ladder, shielding her as the glass pane she had been working on fell and shattered, Nill wincing as he felt a few shards sprinkle onto the back of his jacket that day. 

“M-my goddess! What…!?” the glazier gasped, before pointing down the street when Nill started looking her over, “Smoke!”

Nill looked and saw the explosion had been what he had thought it was, on first impulse: an explosion. And he bolted towards the building, not even stopping to think about it. 

-

“Shit-shit-shit,” Tangouai listened to Kaiden whisper the word over and over again, the two stepping out past the door frame that was barely standing up, “Shit-shit-shit–”

“Kaiden, you with me!?” Tangouai demanded, looking back at his twin, “I need you awake!”

Kaiden blinked heavily back at him, still murmuring shit-shit-shit… before he nodded his head, biting his lower lip hard enough to bleed. “Y-yep, yes, sorry, awake! Don’t go that way, the floor’s cracking!”

Tangouai looked down to see what Kaiden was talking about, quickly backing up as he realized the piece of the floor he was looking at was indeed starting to shatter under his weight. As he backed up, Kaiden grabbed his shirt and pulled him back harder, just as the floor gave way. They were on the second floor, and the stairs they had come up on were on the other side of the hole. 

“C-come on, let’s look for a way out this way,” Kaiden said, pulling Tangouai away from the hole, the two heading down the debris clogged hallway.

Most of the flu and vaccination shots were happening in stalls outside the building, and Tangouai found himself hoping the fact that they hadn’t run into anyone yet was a sign the amount of people in the building had been… minimal. He hoped no one was in that rubble. He hoped, he hoped, he hoped.

Not good not good not good the blood on Aster’s head was minimal, thankfully, but being knocked out was dangerous, more than 15 minutes was sign of a brain injury, not to mention what she might’ve gotten falling through the floor, damnit, fuck why did she push him?! S-sure them both being unconscious wouldn’t do anything b-but he could’ve pulled her over to the side or done anything and if Aster died--

Lupin panted as he strode through the burning, crumbling building as evenly and as quickly as he could, blinking sticky bangs out of his eyes. In his own right he was already scuffed and singed, but Lupin didn’t pay it a single bit of mind, along with the gods damned ringing-- 

On the second floor, Lupin’s eyes caught movement that was decidedly human and he called out, “HEY! Do you know a way out?!” 

…or, it felt like he did. This alarm was really something else…

It was almost eerily silent, for a moment there. The breaks in the muffled silence only distant shouts and cracking of infrastructure and what sounded like a dull roar that Tangouai knew deep down was the sound of a fire. It was so silent that it occurred to him that his ears hadn’t entirely recovered until his whole body jolted, shocked by the sudden nearby shouting. 

Considering he had been the one to get them moving, Tangouai found himself too stunned to reply as his head whipped in the direction of the shouting, confused to be addressed. Getting himself and Kaiden out had been the simple goal his mind had latched onto and it was hard for him to dislodge that thought process now. Too shocked to think clearly.

But Kaiden, only led around by Tangouai, still had mental space to think as he grabbed Tangouai’s arm, pulling him towards the shadow calling out to them. “Coming, we’re coming!”

The twins ran through the smoke, the dense fog no longer just plaster but clearly the dark coloring of smoke, starting to build. It was getting hard to see, and it was because Kaiden genuinely couldn’t make out his features that he didn’t recognize Lupin as they got to them, only recognizing the silhouette of him holding someone. “Oh shit, are they hurt!?”

-

Nill’s eyes traced over the building as more and more people hurried out, covered in plaster white or charcoal black, and while he could have helped people already outside the building, he saw a ton of healer-to-be’s all already checking on people and helping out. Black smoke filling the building as the firefighters headed on their way. 

Even setting up a bucket line was going to take a minute to organize, before the firefighters got there. Nill knew technically running into a burning building was really, really stupid…but he had actually volunteered as a firefighter for a few months back when he was 21, and he was pretty sure he’d be fine! 

Or dead! Definitely one of those.

So Nill ran in, covering his mouth and nose with a bandana as he peered into the black smoke… his vision adjusting…

-

Squinting in the smoke, Lupin…saw that the people there were coming towards him, so, likely, either they had found something and were hailing him down, or they figured it’d be better to search in a group. And those were things he could only guess, because if they were trying to say anything, he really couldn’t hear them over the ringing. Which likely meant they couldn’t hear him, so maybe they had just seen him before, but…if he could speak over it…

“My friend is hurt, she fell through the floor!” he shouted. “We need to get out of here!”

-

Helping move supplies farther away from the burning building so people could be helped in an actually safe area, Cheri let her body go on auto-pilot as she focused. There were so many strong feelings around, fear and horror, but…

Shit.

Waving down one of the firefighters, she called, “There are still people in the building! Four or five, I saw go in before!”

-

Nill headed inside, his head shooting up as he heard– “LUPIN?!”

He had definitely heard Lupin, shouting at the top of his lungs about someone having fallen through the floor. Eyes darting around, he spotted the stairway sign through the smoke, bolting up the staircase. He kicked aside loose debris, before bolting out into the hallway, listening for the sound of voices, before turning the corner. “Lupin, what the FUCK, get out of this building!”

“Hey, hey, Kaiden, can you help him carry her?” Tangouai asked his brother, as they saw someone hurry to them, “I didn’t really notice till about five seconds ago, but I think I’m walking on a puncture.”

Kaiden blinked, looking down, trying to see Tangouai’s leg through the smoke. After a moment, he could see the silhouette of, yeah, something poking unnaturally out of his brother’s shins. “Shit-shit-shit, you can walk?”

“Yep! Shock is a great drug, I just can’t help carry a person.” Tangouai grinned, trying to sound reassuring, before calling to the man, “Hey, do you know where the stairs are!?”

“Yeah, yeah, just follow me. Shit, Lupin, come on pretty boy!”

Lupin startled slightly as he saw some debris fall, his breathing getting heavier as panic started to distract from the adrenaline. He was starting to feel his own injuries, at least in placement, and while that gritty, hot feeling of being too close to fire was there, he felt…wet. And he knew some of that blood, at least, wasn’t his. 

Squinting between the two guys--hey, wasn’t that…?--Lupin…couldn’t make out what they were discussing, but he saw where they kept gesturing, so with a panicked, frustrated sound he strode forward in that direction, just…hoping. Trying to keep Aster still. 

Kaiden gave his brother a worried look, but Tangouai didn’t even seem to be limping, his adrenaline pushing him forward. So Kaiden went to go help the guy with the limp person, shouldering the weight of her other side, Tangouai trailing behind as Nill led the way ahead, the group following his silhouette more than tracing the walls. 

The stairs were the hard part. And halfway down firefighters headed up, checking on them before continuing on to check the building for more stragglers, others heading for the fire, the five of them breaking out into the sunlight where they were immediately directed by healers further out into a grassy part to sit down on as healers swarmed them.

It almost felt like too much attention considering the situation, but Kaiden looked around and realized dazedly that outside, their group was actually notably one of the physically worst off. Kaiden had cuts on his face that he hadn’t realized were there. The guy who had led them out had glass shards in his back that he seemed stunned to find out about. Tangouai had a piece of wood lodged in his shin which he kept insisting ‘wasn’t that bad because he couldn’t feel it’, repeating this over and over until even Kaiden could tell his brother was deeply in shock. And the other two…

Lupin knew one of the worst things he could do was to keep holding onto Aster, once they got outside. It was one of the most thankless, yet important things a healer did, pushing loved ones away from a critical situation. But even knowing that…he didn’t want to let her go. Holding her, he could feel her breathing, and he knew she was still alive, that he hadn’t failed one of his dearest friends in the world and she wasn’t going to die--

He did still let her go, letting healers attend to her, but…it felt like agony. He kept looking over, like the rest of the whole world was gone and--

Lupin startled at the hand on his arm, blinking owlishly as he tipped over while sitting a bit… What…was…

-

Lupin stared blankly at the off-white hospital ceiling. He knew he was on enough painkillers that he couldn’t even really feel the injuries on his back…or the cracked rib, or any of the myriad cuts and bruises all over him, but with the bandaging and treatment, it still felt a little smothering. 

…Aster was going to be okay. And…and that’s what mattered. There were no fatalities from the explosion, though the cause was still being investigated. Everyone was okay.

…

…no disability was the end of the world, it was just a different experience. 

Lupin felt something unsteady shake through him, as he recalled his parents’ visit. …heal time was well and good but…he couldn’t just lay around doing nothing. He…he needed to…um… Were there books? On…how to read lips?

Nill didn’t know if Lupin was allowed visitors, so he didn’t ask anyone just in case he wasn’t. 

Instead, he strolled in and, telling the healer working the front desk that he was there to get the stitches on his back checked on, he angled himself to watch as she looked up his appointment, saw Lupin’s name and room number, and promised to get his appointment time cleared up with the appointment desk before heading upstairs. 

If his heart pounded a little, being in another medical building? Well, that was just how it was.

Nill headed into the room and grinned, giving Lupin a wave. He had heard already–of course he had, he had been sitting next to Lupin when the guy told the healers over and over again that he couldn’t hear them yet–and he went to grab a rolling chair, bringing it to the bedside and flopping down on it. Looking Lupin over.

…you good? He signed. 

Then, after a beat, he grinned sheepishly. You don’t look good, pretty boy.

Lupin only barely saw the door open from the corner of his vision. Lucky, he supposed. Maybe staring at the ceiling wasn’t the best thing to do…er, at all. Anymore. He gave Nill a surprised look for a moment before returning his wave. 

…his eyes squinting a little as Nill signed to him. 

“That may be one of the first times you’ve ever said that to me,” Lupin said softly. Or…he tried for soft. He had been told he’d been shouting before, which he did know, but apparently learning volume control entirely through feel was going to be a new skill. 

“...I’m much better than I had the potential to be,” he answered. “I haven’t gotten any details, obviously, but they said Aster is going to be alright. So…we’re lucky, I suppose.”

His eyes lowered a bit. “...I’m just thankful I didn’t make her injuries worse.”

What were you going to do, leave her in the smoke? Nill scoffed, shaking his head, You did what you had to. Traded one risky situation for a less risky one. No one could have done it better.

Lupin quickly looked back up to read Nill’s sign, sighing a little. “...I still feel like I could have, but…I’m just grateful she’s okay.”

Crossing his hands over his stomach, carefully not agitating his ribs, Lupin smoothed the back of the bandages over his palm. “...what were you doing at the university anyway? I don’t recall seeing you with the other volunteers before…everything.”

Nill scoffed, cutting a line back and forth across his neck as he shook his head no, Nah, not volunteering. Assisting in window installments. Job #47! He grinned proudly, putting up three fingers, Three more to fifty! Check me out, all pious and shit!

Nill chuckled a bit… before sighing. Can you hear anything at all?

Very briefly, Lupin’s expression tightened. The way Nill’s mouth had opened right there…it didn’t look like words. And…well, he was kidding himself a bit with the detective work--Lupin knew it was a scoff. But just because he knew Nill, and could recognize the expression. But not because…

“Congratulations,” Lupin responded, giving Nill a little nod. “I don’t recall if you’ve told me if 50 has a specific significance, but that sort of merit regardless is really something.” He should…do something. While Nill would enjoy it, Lupin didn’t think a party would really suit a celebration of his 50th job, and he doubted he’d be the best person to throw that particular kind of party anyway, but…maybe a good gift. 

Lupin looked down for a moment, reciting, “Not really. The explosion ruptured my eardrums, but it seems like they’ll heal well. Once they do, I’ll be back to see what the…reality of my hearing will truly be like. I’ve been told, from my symptoms and the examinations, that the cilia in my cochlea have…likely been damaged. And that’s the kind of ear injury that cannot heal, and thus leads to permanent hearing reduction and loss.”

His expression was…carefully even. Lupin had had enough of being told his expressions were unsightly for one day, thank you very much. 

Nill’s expression twisted enough for the both of them. Half a scowl and half a wince, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair as he looked away, frustration racing through his brow for a moment. Like he wanted to argue, and was pissed off that he wasn’t sure with who… before he grinned wanely, still something of a wince in the grin, something that looked like a grimace, as he signed, So, I don’t know, is losing your hearing finally worthy of some damn booze? Or we keeping it more together than that? 

No, but it was worth a snort. Which Lupin did, the sound harsher than his usual fare…though he couldn’t hear it. Feeling unsettled still by just the physical feedback of the exhalation without what he knew should accompany it. 

That was one of the worst parts, at least so far. Lupin knew the sounds he should be hearing, so well in some cases it was almost like his memory could just provide it in tandem with the signs that indicated it was happening…but he couldn’t actually hear them. It was…uncanny. In the worst, most unsettling way. 

“We’re keeping it together. Maybe ask when I don’t have a cracked rib and am concerningly prone to ear infections,” Lupin said dully.

…ack. That wasn’t the right tone, he could tell. 

Forcibly perking his tone up, Lupin made himself look right at Nill, refusing to let his eyes avert. “It’s not the worst thing. We all made it out alive, and plenty of people are hard of hearing. And plenty still lose some hearing over the course of a life. It’s a more normal experience than some would think, and…” Keep pauses short, Lupin, lingering makes one look a fool or displeased, “I already know sign, and so do most people, and classwork already has accommodations so I’d just need to update my file at school. There’ll be adjustment, of course, but I have every advantage I could think of for the transition.”

Nill’s eye narrowed…before he scoffed again. Standing up and, without word or warning, crawling onto Lupin’s bed and sitting on his legs, adjusting his weight as he studied Lupin’s expression, looking for signs of pain, before resting against his knees. 

Nill pointed to himself. Then he pointed to his eyepatch. And signing sternly, he said, Change you didn’t pick for yourself is bullshit. It sucks. This sucks.

Lupin startled…mildly. Holding himself back from a bigger reaction as he quickly looked around, trying to catch any sign that something else was going on, before…oh come on. That wasn’t fair.

He liked to think he was perfectly capable of striding past embarrassment. Sure, Lupin could be mortified later, but in the moment? Like nothing happened. But Nill was definitely testing his capabilities, crawling on top of him and - no, bad phrasing. Straddling his - no that’s worse. Trying to…

Ugh. Too late.

Lupin could feel the heat on his face as he, at least, kept his gaze on his friend. And…and, yeah, he knew it…but…

A strained expression started to pinch at the corners of Lupin’s face. “Change not picked by the recipient happens all the time, and while it’s not always ideal, sometimes there’s nothing to do about it. I…”

Brown eyes averted. Lupin knowing that wasn’t what Nill was saying, and that small indication letting Nill know that he knew it. 

“...I’m lucky this is all of it. And I’m not ungrateful for the situation I’m in.”

Nill gave Lupin a raised eyebrow… before reaching out and tapping Lupin’s cheek. Making sure he was looking at him, when Nill opened his mouth and stuck his finger in, gagging.

…then he licked his finger and, smirking, booped Lupin’s nose with the slobbered finger.

O_O

Lupin stared in wide-eyed, annoyingly pink-faced confusion as Nill put a finger in his mouth…before flinching back into his pillows with a disgusted look. 

“Eugh. Why??”

Nill laughed boisterously, before smirking, sticking out his tongue a little, I wanted a real reaction from the real pretty boy for a second. Not from Mr. Anuncul. Lupin’s more fun.

It was obvious. Lupin, very obviously, couldn’t hear. So it was no surprise. It shouldn’t be a surprise. But as Lupin watched Nill tip his head back and could see the points of his canines and felt his body shake on top of him, something felt wrong and it took Lupin embarrassingly long for it to hit him like a full-speed carriage. 

He couldn’t hear Nill’s laugh. 

And while Nill may have wanted ‘fun’, a version of Lupin that was ‘fun to hang out with’ and that they could actually have a good time out together before whatever batshit scheme Nill had for the night became the focus of the plot, Lupin

Lupin couldn’t hear Nill laugh. 

And a true, genuinely distraught expression cracked through the placid, pleasant mask, Lupin’s breathing getting heavier and uneven, not forced into a stready rhythm any longer. Even that stubborn piece of hair, still sticking up a little even though the rest was loose, seemed to wilt. 

Nill paused, looking over Lupin in concern. He supposed he had asked for this, but…seeing the flash of grief on his friend’s face was still shitty. A repressed Lupin wasn’t better, but a grieving one was still hard to look at.

Lupin wasn’t as hard to read as he thought he was. At least, Nill didn’t think so. Maybe it was just because Nill found himself staring at the prim and proper guy’s face all the time, but Lupin wasn’t actually expressionless. It was all in the little things. The slight tension in his eyebrows when he was annoyed. The line that moved from just beneath his eyes to against his lids based on when he was sad or happy. The slightly crooked way he smiled when the smile wasn’t painted on. 

Lupin’s expression was a slight tension in his brow and his mouth open slightly. On anyone else, it might have been slight, unhappy surprise… but Nill saw someone who was distraught.

Which sucked. 

Nill glanced over his shoulder, before huffing, looking back at Lupin. If you’re up for a hug, we can tell anyone who walks in that I’m ravaging you or something. Protect both our reputations. He grinned thinly. Regretfully.

While the idea of indulging in booze, jumping into the void for that, wasn’t appealing to Lupin…indulging in other ways was more tempting. Just saying…fuck it, no proper order or other proprieties, just…going for it. Honestly, he didn’t even think it would be a pity fuck from Nill, he could imagine his friend agreeing just for the novelty…

…in a different circumstance. But even staring into that void, Lupin knew that it would affect their friendship maybe in a change that he couldn’t handle. 

…plus, like…what. From what he had been able to catch, his parents only considered this a minor setback. Not…ruining his life’s plan fully, since…what he’d lose in capability, at least in the short term, he could make up for being a…diversity hire for the castle…

Another crack went through Lupin’s expression as he shook his head a little. “Broken rib,” he reminded, voice…pained. Softening even more as his eyes squinted, still brimming with hurt even if not tears. “...I can’t hear your laugh anymore.”

Boo broken rib. Nill was gonna stuff this boy full of painkillers and then hug him anyway.

But as Nill pouted, considering where he could get Lupin ‘The Good Stuff’, he frowned at Lupin’s explanation. His laugh? Hmmm…

Smiling lightly, Nill reached down and stole Lupin’s wrists. First one, then the other, as he brought Lupin’s fingers up this neck, pressing his fingers to his vocal chords. 

Grinning, Nill let go of Lupin’s wrists to sign at him, Help me out, tell me a joke. A classic Lupin ‘zinger’ he said, spelling out the last word.

It took him a moment to figure out what Nill was doing with his wrists. And…there was a part of Lupin that just wanted to…

(snap. It wasn’t the same, nothing was the same, nothing would ever be the same, for everything every accommodation would do it would never give Lupin anything back that he’d just lost)

…but it was very kind. So Lupin just sighed, thinking for a moment before offering a thin smile. 

“A horse walks into a bar. The barkeep looks at him and asks, ‘You’re in here a lot, are you an alcoholic?’ to which the horse replies, ‘I don’t think I am,’ and promptly disappears,” Lupin started. “This is where the philosophy students start laughing, recalling Descartes’ famous postulate, ‘I think, therefore I am,’ but I didn’t explain that first, as that would be putting Descartes before the horse.”

Nill didn’t start laughing until the second part of the joke. Because he knew Lupin, and Lupin, when he wanted to be, was a funny bastard. Nill chuckling low first, eyes crinkling upwards, before he laughed. Chest heaving in little bursts as he grinned, forgetting himself for a minute as he said aloud, “Lupin, fucking hellfire, man!”

His throat buzzed and hummed at the effort. Catching and jumping with his breaths against the laugh.

When he was done, he chuckled a bit more, before signing Well? Am I still sexy when I laugh? Don’t lie, I know the baritone wasn’t all my charm. He smirked, sticking out his tongue between the smirking teeth.

Despite himself? Or maybe…despite, despite himself, on certain levels, Lupin found himself grinning a bit as Nill started to laugh. It was one of the jokes he’d learned for social preparation, but…well, there was a reason Lupin remembered it. He found it genuinely funny, so he liked to think it was a crowd pleaser. 

And while Nill had primed himself to laugh? Seeing him enjoy the joke brought out that grin.

…and so did the vibrations he could feel against his wrists, that uncanny, unsettling feeling of almost hearing something he knew so well was eased, at least partially, and Lupin found himself even noticing new things…

‘Beautiful’ came to mind before ’sexy’, but it wasn’t that far off. 

Rolling his eyes a little, Lupin conceded, “I’ll admit, this was a good idea, but don’t let it blow your ego too far out of proportion. I always thought it was special, how you’d grace people with such a unique sound. Discussions of taste aside, I’m glad it isn’t lost to me forever.”

“Lupin, they could build monuments to my humility, and should.” Nill said as he signed, carefully pulling himself off of Lupin’s lap and settling on the edge of the bed, smirking at him before signing, So, you really gonna spend all day here? What do you have, one, two broken ribs? That’s no excuse, let’s go out and celebrate surviving that bullshit.

…do not mourn that. It is much safer having him off your lap, painkillers or no. 

Lupin gave Nill a tense look. Because…he really should spend the rest of the day in the hospital, having healers nearby for his ribs and burns and to help with the…whatever he could only assume was some sort of antiseptic they put on cotton over his ear canals to prevent infections, and this was heavily, heavily stressed, he was now extremely vulnerable to. The wisest, healthiest use of his time right now was to rest and let himself heal. 

…

And it wasn’t a celebration that was tempting. But using his time for literally anything else but just lying there.

Lupin closed his eyes for a moment with a small sigh. “...Aster’s sister came by to drop off some of my clothes while she was visiting, they’re on that shelf to the left. Could you bring them over? Then just…let me get dressed then I’ll discharge myself.”

“Hah! I win!” Nill cheered, certain his triumph would translate without having to sign it as he got up and hurried over to the shelf pointed out. Throwing the clothes onto the bed, Nill signed jubilantly, I’mma go take a piss, get dressed before I’m done or I might ‘accidentally’ get a peek! Go, go, go!

Then, giving Lupin what he likely thought was a wink–Nill sometimes forgot he couldn’t really wink anymore–he hurried off into the bathroom. 

“Crude…” Lupin sighed, giving Nill a flat look with a tragically pink face.

…did he ‘accidentally’ want to be peeked on? 

No. No you don’t, Lupin. 

…

Get dressed, moron. 

-

While Lupin got some concerned looks, which he expected, he was able to discharge himself quite easily. He supposed it was an easily sympathetic thing, wanting to recover in the comforts of home if one was able to…though Nill’s suggestion certainly wasn’t aimed at walking Lupin home, and the plans he’d spawned from it weren’t that either. 

There were quite a few people in the hospital lobby, though it was by no means hectic. Lupin supposed it had been enough hours for the immediate aftermath of a disaster to calm, and…well, he, Aster, Kaiden, and the man he had been with had been by far the most affected. His parents had already come and gone, Zinnia had come by for a little while, but even he had suggested she go see Aster, and…well, he wasn’t sure who was there for the other two. 

But while Lupin could assume most of Aster’s family was in her room, he did recognize one face in the lobby. Dex looked…tense, and, well, didn’t that make the most sense. Lupin didn’t mean to pry much, though he had heard Aster’s brother’s anger issues had gotten a lot better over the years, so…he could guess Dex was doing some self management, away from their family. Trying to respect that, he just gave the guy a nod as their eyes met, Dex returning it--

Though, almost immediately after going through the doors, Lupin could only blink in surprise at the kid that strode after him that had…been a bit near Dex before. He…couldn’t quite catch what he was saying, but…the kid offered a card. A…business card, which Lupin looked over. 

Riz Gukgak

UnLicensed Investigator

Nill made no pretense about not blatantly looking over Lupin’s shoulder down at the card he had been given, casually throwing an arm around Lupin’s shoulders as he asked the kid, “So, what? You’re a boy detective or something?”

A woman–foreign looking, even for Dicea’s standards–glanced over at the group, orange eyes glancing away from a soft, albino looking young man who was chatting quietly with her in the waiting room, updating her on something. She clenched and unclenched her hands, clearly uncertain how to approach them as her eyes studied them.

“Just detective is descriptor enough, sir,” Riz promptly corrected, adjusting his briefcase in his hand as he closed it back up. 

Lupin hadn’t even seen him open it to get the card. 

“I’m really sorry for the - ah, oh?”

I can’t hear you, Lupin signed, trying to push past any embarrassment. Though, any need he felt to explain further was admittedly eased as Riz flushed with his own embarrassment.

Setting his briefcase down, he started signing while talking, the signs a little more simplistic and brief than his words, but doing the job. “Er, sorry about that. Uh, yeah, I’m a detective, and I’ve been looking into the explosion you were all caught in. I’m really sorry that happened to you two, and I understand if you just want to get out of here, but!” The kid did a little sort of bounce, punctuating the lift of energy in his words.

Lupin…found that that translated really well. 

“If you could answer a few questions, or just let me know about anything odd you might’ve seen before the explosion, it would be a huge help. Or if there’s anything you think of later, heh,” Riz nodded to his card, “You’re now well-equipped to find me later.”

Lupin squinted a little at the card. “...isn’t there a tiny ‘un’ in front of ‘licensed’ on here?”

“That still doesn’t bar me from helping with the investigation,” Riz responded without missing a beat.

Nill smirked. “According to who?”

Nill wasn’t actually going to stop the kid from asking them questions; whether the kid was investigating or creating a news report or was just curious, Nill was fine talking about the explosion. As scary as the whole thing had been, he had run headfirst into that problem, and maybe there was something about volunteering for the crisis rather than being caught up in it that made it all feel more like a thrilling adventure, than anything traumatic. 

Lupin might feel differently about it though, as he glanced over at the man. Tapping him on the shoulder so Lupin would look over at him, before awkwardly signing with one hand, You good?

“Anyone who’d change what they say depending on whether the ‘un’ is there or not.” Riz grinned, his lower snaggletooth poking out a bit. He’d always thought that it was a little funny that the illusion charm didn’t try to hide his teeth, but the Gukgaks were the only goblins in Corbra he knew, so Riz supposed that it could be explained more easily as a family trait. Though he wasn’t really sure how a charm could extrapolate that. 

Lupin looked over at the tap and nodded slightly. He’d probably end up talking to people legally looking into the explosion at some point, but he supposed it couldn’t hurt talking to this kid. 

(...and it was kind of practice for his actual statement, if you thought about it like that.)

“I’m afraid I didn’t notice anything unusual at the time,” Lupin began, mildly lamenting. “Another student had let me know that the pop-up clinic could use a hand, and as I had some extra time, I decided to volunteer. I’ve done so in the past as well, and nothing seemed different about this time…” Lupin paused, remembering his sentiments before he and Aster had gone into the medical building. “...though there were a lot of volunteers. I’ve seen just about every type of drive the medical program has put on for the last three years and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a turn-out so robust before.”

“I see…” Riz said, his voice slowing down a bit as he notated Lupin’s statement. He was frowning slightly, gears turning in his head. “What’s the student’s name that asked you to volunteer?”

“Ah…Drake Soga, I believe,” Lupin said after a moment. “Though I may be mis-remembering his last name. I know he’s in the detective track at school. We haven’t had much reason to run into each other, but he’s on campus enough that it’s happened by chance.”

In the corner of the room, there were whispers. “--eanne, now might not be–” before there were quick, hurried steps over, the young woman with the orange eyes looking aggressively around the room, seeming to almost burst with energy, though her tone was surprisingly soft as she demanded, “You.”

Nill raised an eyebrow, smirking lazily. “Mo’i?”

The woman’s eyes narrowed, still full of that aggressive energy as she shifted from foot to foot. “...dark skin, white hair, one eye. I’m making an assumption. Did you lead a group out of the building?”

“Was part of the description ‘devilishly handsome’? If so, then yes–”

“Thank you!” the woman snapped, twitching when the man behind her sheepishly put a calming hand on her shoulder, whispering in her ear. She grit her teeth at whatever he said, before taking a steadying breath, glaring at Nill. “Thank you. You led my partner and his brother out. So… thanks!”

Nill chuckled, stepping back from Lupin and signing at him, The orange haired guys we escaped with? This is one of their partners. I’ve never been thanked by someone who looks like they want to punch me in the face so much.

The woman’s brows furrowed in confusion, watching Nill’s hands. Clearly uncomprehending.

Hmmm… Riz would have to follow it up, but one of the healers had told him that a university student named Drake had brought a lot of them over to the campus before the explosion had even gone off. Said that the drive was going really well and if there were professionals that wouldn’t mind and had the time, the students would benefit by more oversight, or something to that effect…

Lupin’s story made it seem like maybe Drake was involved, trying to get more people around the explosion, but…why would a terrorist bring extra healers too? Unless…

As Riz pondered over that, Lupin looked over at the woman--then duo--that approached them, trying…to parse out what she was saying. It…looked like she was saying thank you, but that really didn’t match the body language, so…

Oh. Lupin’s eyebrows rose as Nill explained it. 

“Ah, you two know Kaiden, then?” he asked. 

The woman seemed to inflate for a moment. Hard, toned muscles tensing, like she was going to literally inflate and explode…until the white-haired boy behind her lightly pulled her back, smiling warmly as he explained, “Yes, we do. He’s our partner. Thank you again for helping lead the twins out, my girlfriend here has been a bit beside herself since she heard–”

“--HOW DOES HE KEEP GETTING CAUGHT UP IN EXPLOSIONS?!” she suddenly shouted. Wind from seemingly nowhere puffing up and around her, hair flying for a moment.

“--and she can be a bit emotional sometimes.” The boy smiled. “I’m Milo, she’s Leanne.  We just wanted to be sure to thank you before you left the hospital, though we’re sorry to interrupt an… interview?” he guessed, glancing to the kid with a kind but somewhat incredulous look, before looking back to Lupin, “Ah, and, I’m sorry, we’re… I kept meaning to learn Sign, but…” Milo smiled sheepishly, before looking earnestly at Nill, “Um…?”

“No worries, I’ve been keeping him up to date,” Nill said.

He had been signing Okay so the hot angry one definitely knows this Kaiden guy, but I’m curious how YOU know this Kaiden guy, since if we’re thinking of the same guy then I’m pretty sure I know of his twin. Oh wow she just screamed something about Kaiden getting caught up in multiple explosions? Guess it’s a pattern. Okay, so the cutie-butt with her says their names are Milo and Leanne, he’s cute, I’d tap that. He’s basically apologizing for everything under the sun, not worth translating. She’s hot too actually, damn, I don’t remember what that Kaiden guy looks like but apparently he can draw them in, huh?

“Thank you for translating.” Milo smiled.

Riz jumped a little, just from the pure shock of volume, though he made sure to keep notes on all these new things too. He’d talked to a family member of one of the other victims--that had been easy to figure out, as Dex hadn’t exactly been quiet about his frustrations when Riz saw him storm out into the lobby--but he hadn’t been sure about these two. Connected as well, huh? And with a history of explosions…

“Something like that,” Riz muttered, giving Milo a glance in kind before whipping out cards for him and Leanne as well. “Actually, I’d like to speak with you as well, if that’s alright.”

Though as professional as a 14-year-old could be…Riz’s expression settled into a sort of beleaguered grimace, catching just how Nill was translating for Lupin. 

Lupin’s own expression was on the dry side, though he nodded a little. “By chance, really--I helped walk Kaiden back from a bar the other night. The one we ran into each other, actually, if you recall.”

Wide (almost…glowing, in a sense, though his eyes just looked normal if you looked at them) eyes glancing between the groups, Riz sighed a little and explained to Milo and Leanne, “Apparently you all know each other through the grapevine. He,” he nodded to Nill, “knows Kaiden’s twin, and asked him,” Riz nodded to Lupin, “how he knew Kaiden, so that’s what he’s answering.” To Lupin, Riz signed, “They didn’t ask that to you, just saying that yeah, they’re Kaiden’s partners.”

Lupin blinked, looking a little embarrassed before giving Nill a dry glare. “...you’re an awful translator.”

Nill stuck his tongue out at the kid, “Narc,” before smirking at Lupin. “Hey, hey, give me five copper for my services, and I’ll be at 48 jobs.”

“I guess a job poorly done is still, by technicality, a job. Though considering we didn’t negotiate anything, I prefer to think of this as a favor--I’d hate to destroy your reputation with an appropriately scathing review,” Lupin said placidly. 

Shaking his head a little, Riz looked over his notes before looking up at Milo and Leanne. “You weren’t at the university when the explosion happened, right? Were your partner and his twin just…taking advantage of the drive?”

For a student-led drive like that, appointments wouldn’t have been set up for anyone, so it was…unlikely that Kaiden would’ve been targeted, or that the previous explosions Leanne mentioned were related. But it was something to keep in mind until he could really disprove it.

Leanne’s face twisted a bit, suddenly looking uncertain. “...yes, he… they–”

“They went to get their flu shots, yes,” Milo smiled easily. It was interesting, it was like the more flustered and angry Leanne got, the more relaxed and soothing Milo became, to the point where Nill suspected one equaled the other. Nill wondered what Milo was like when Leanne was calm then, and vice versa. Nill bet cute. Both of them had strong ‘cute’ vibes, even the one ripped and toned and still looking like she was looking for a fight. “Now, don’t let us keep you, you did look like you were heading out… though…”

Milo frowned, looking Lupin up and down with new eyes. “...should you? Be going out?”

Nill signed to Lupin The twins were getting flu shots, maybe, Leanne’s tone of voice suggested she wasn’t sure. Weird for them to be in the building for flu shots, right? Milo’s trying to shut down the conversation and send us on our way, but he’s worried you’re gonna drop dead the second you leave the hospital and is asking if you should really go. I think, to reassure him, we should offer him and his lady friend to come with us, and see if I can’t get the most color-coordinated threesome of my life. Stop reading my signs, kid, these aren’t for you.

Riz nodded, noting that down. Most likely? Just people caught in the unfortunate crossfire. Still, he’d keep them in mind…especially since the man with the eyepatch seemed to think them being in the building was odd. And also…

That same grimace came over Riz’s face, while Lupin just sighed. “Sorry, Riz.”

“Nill, Sign is the same as talking publicly; I’d ask you to refrain from profanity even if I know you’re not deterred even in Common.” Giving Nill the Look of Disapproval, Lupin softened his expression to give Milo a kinder look. “I am perfectly fine, though I appreciate your concern. I’ve already assured the healers that I’ll take my rest and recovery seriously; the hospital just isn’t that kind of setting for me.”

…these two did seem worried, and if they were in the lobby and not with their partner and his brother…

Lupin’s expression softened a little more. “The other person here that was caught in the explosion is a friend of mine; I was intending to stretch my legs a bit by getting her some flowers. If you’d like, you could come with us and get some flowers for your partner and friend? Even if they won’t stay in the hospital for long, I find that they brighten just about any kind of room.”

Leanne eyes fitfully shot to the double doors that led to the rest of the hospital, clenching and unclenching her fists, clenching and unclenching. “...we–”

“Actually, Sweet-Lea, I’d like to do that,” Milo whispered to her, entwining his hand around hers, entwining their fingers, “If Kaiden doesn’t want visitors right now, then let's give him some space, okay? He likes flowers, it’ll be a nice plus when he’s ready to see us.”

Clench, unclench, clench, unclench… before a stiff nod. “Okay,” Leanne sighed, her shoulders falling, somewhat defeated, “Fine, yes. Thank you for inviting us.”

Flowers? Nill pouted, What do you mean we’re getting flowers? Let’s go out and make bets with suckers over who can stand in the center of drum circles longer, make bank on you.

“So are you… deaf?” Leanne asked, looking genuinely surprised at that, speaking to Lupin, “Sorry, I’ve just never met anyone who was deaf before.”

She says she’s never met a deaf person before, Nill signed, as he said aloud with the next sign, “Seriously? What, do you just not meet people?”

Leanne huffed, crossing her arms and looking away. Milo smiled sheepishly. “It wasn’t common where we used to live. Sorry.”

Wide eyes looked over the groups for a moment before Riz cleared his throat, doing a little attention-getting flourish with his hands as well. “Well! Um, thanks for your time, and please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or the Usott Guardforce or the Corbra Guardforce if there’s any information you’d like to pass on. Have a good one!”

With a final nod, Riz walked back into the hospital. If the other two victims weren’t accepting visitors from their loved ones, he likely didn’t have a chance, but…he could still try. 

Waving goodbye to the endearingly precocious kid, and rolling his eyes a little at Nill, Lupin started to lead the way towards one of his favorite flower stalls. However he paused for a moment as Leanne addressed him, glancing at Nill’s signs. “...I guess so. The Deaf community isn’t so exclusionary towards various degrees of hearing loss, so…” he trailed off for another moment before shaking himself off to speak more confidently. “My hearing was damaged in the explosion, so this is all new to me. Thus why I cannot read your lips with more accuracy.”

Nill gave the kid a little wave–always nice to see someone get a head start on their identities, and the kid seemed to be really embracing that Boy Detective thing–before signing to Lupin, I’m calling it now, that kid is going to get his nose into all sorts of stuff with this explosion thing. But, hey! Narc’s gone! We can totally talk behind these two’s back all we want! Win!!

Leanne squinted at Nill, watching his hand movements… before turning to Lupin and asking him, “Is he talking about us?”

“I don’t think he can hear you ask that, Leanne…” Milo laughed sheepishly.

“You. Translate what I said to him,” Leanne said sternly to Nill.

Heh, she wants you to narc on me. She doesn’t know we are the bro’est of bros to ever bro and you would never–

Lupin had a similar feeling. He just hoped whatever the kid found wasn’t over his head… B-because he didn’t want Riz getting into trouble! Not because he was short! Shoot, that was a horrible way to phrase that…

Staring right into Nill’s eye with a deadpan look, Lupin explained, “My acquaintance is trying to take advantage of the fact you don’t know Sign to talk about you behind your back. Which is a rather rude thing to do to someone that doesn’t speak a language you know.”

“What’s more rude? Taking advantage, or someone tattling,” Nill asked.

“Taking advantage,” Milo and Leanne both said at the same time, before Leanne huffed, crossing her arms tighter, “Look, can we just go get these flowers? I either need to go get flowers, or break down those hospital doors.”

“She’s kidding.” Milo smiled.

“I’m so serious,” Leanne said.

“Annnnd, we’re going now,” Milo said, gently coaxing the three taller people out, waving them like someone landing a plane as he said, “We’re going, we’re going, we’re…good.”

The group shuffled out, and Milo found himself walking in step with… actually, he wasn’t sure. He hadn’t caught the red-head’s name yet. Shoot, how to ask… “Um, Leanne, do you have any pens on you?”

Leanne did, passing it over, and Milo pulled out a piece of paper that had a few street addresses on it, writing onto its clean side, Hey. What’s your name? Before showing it to Lupin.

Absolutely taking advantage, and while they were on the subject, Lupin didn’t think Riz was a ‘narc’ either for clarifying the needless confusion Nill’s translations caused. …he just hoped Nill hadn’t created an awkward conversation for the kid’s parents later. 

Settling into a pace, Lupin was mildly surprised at the paper Milo showed him before his expression tightened with a sigh. “Oh dear, my apologies… Introductions are something I’ll need to figure out new openings for as well, it seems. My name is Lupin; your names are Milo and Leanne, correct? It’s a pleasure to meet you, even in less than pleasant circumstances.”

Milo smiled, before quickly writing, using his hand as a makeshift table, You lost your hearing today? That  He paused, crossing out his first attempt, clearly trying to think of the right thing to say, I’m sorry that happened. You’re handling it another pause, gracefully, as far as I can see. I’m sorry you have to.

There was a subtle downturn of Lupin’s eyes before he gave Milo a gracious smile. “Thank you. It’s not ideal, but I’m thankful that I wasn’t left worse off. My friend, Aster, was unconscious as we got her out of the building and while I was told she’s alright, I don’t know if she’s woken up.” Lupin glanced down for a moment, his soft frown tinged with worry. “I hope she will have by the time I return, but either way, I think the flowers will be a nice gesture. I…think it’s unlikely she will be returning home tonight.”

Milo winced at that, chewing lightly on his bottom lip before writing down I’m sorry about your friend. Do you know if she’ll be okay?

…and then Milo gasped, suddenly looking distraught, quickly taking the paper back and urgently adding in, Not that I want to suggest she wouldn’t be! Sorry, I only thought of how presumptuous inconsiderate that was after I showed you the first message. I’m sorry. He gnawed slightly on his lower lip, worriedly passing Lupin the new message.

Lupin let out a soft (careful, polite) laugh, gently waving off Milo’s palpable nerves. “You’re fine, I didn’t take it as you doomsaying. It’s a reasonable thing to wonder.”

“From everything the healers told me, she’ll be okay,” he confirmed. “It’s just since she’s unconscious, only her emergency contacts are given the full picture, so I don’t know any details.” …well, Lupin was one of her emergency contacts, but since he had been admitted as well, he assumed there was some policy about not stressing him out too much, or some privacy policy since her family was already caught up on the situation, but it was some reason. If Aster couldn’t tell him herself when he delivered the flowers, then he’d ask Zinnia, if she knew, or one of Aster’s siblings. 

“I was similarly informed that your partner and his brother were alright,” Lupin nodded to Milo, “So I’m happy you were able to get that good news as well. I don’t mean to pry, so don’t feel obliged to answer, but why were you and Leanne waiting in the lobby? I can’t imagine they’re not allowed visitors at this point.”

Milo smiled and nodded as he listened to the first part, his brow furrowing slightly in concern at the lack of details, lightly reaching out to pat Lupin’s shoulder in sympathy, before considering the rest. 

Milo glanced over his shoulder at Leanne, who was walking with and chatting with Nill… or, well, it sounded more like the two were taking sniping jabs at each other.

We’re not sure why the twins are refusing to see anyone, but Milo glanced over his shoulders again, smiling at Leanne when he caught her eyes, before looking back to the note He gets really insecure admitting anything’s wrong. Kaiden, I mean. My partner’s convinced we’re one major inconvenience from breaking up with him. 

Milo laughed lightly as he wrote that… before sighing. He’s just insecure. His brother is looking out for him though, so I’m not worried. I think I can guess what he’s hiding from us anyway. It’s nothing bad. At worst, just a little embarrassing. He can be a little silly sometimes.

…but that’s one of the reasons I love him. Not despite it. Milo smiled fondly at the note, about to hand it to Lupin to read… before blanching, turning pink as he took the note back and added in at the end Sorry if that was too much information! 

Ah… Lupin would think it’d be odd if it was the hospital relegating Milo and Leanne to the lobby, so it being the twins’ choice made far more sense. Maybe not for wanting to comfort and be comforted by your loved ones, but Lupin wasn’t about to judge someone’s choices after a traumatic event. Especially if it fed into a pre-existing trauma. 

Smiling a bit at Milo’s apology, Lupin shook his head. “It’s only a problem if you say more than you mean to. Your feelings for your partner are very sweet, and whatever he’s embarrassed about, I hope you can see him soon, though, I agree, it’s fortunate he has his brother to rely on in the current state of things.”

Glancing over Milo for a moment, Lupin tilted his head. “...if it’s not too presumptuous of me, would I be right in guessing you all live together? During our brief meeting before, Kaiden spoke very fondly of his roommates--if you’d allow me another guess, are you the one interested in mixology?”

Milo gasped, quickly writing into his paper Wait, do you know Kaide

He frowned, realizing he was running out of room to write legibly, before looking at the others. “Can we stop somewhere and get a notebook or something?”

“You want to stop somewhere?” Leanne asked. “For a conversation that’s going to last, what, maybe another ten minutes?

Milo smiled sweetly. “Please, Leanne? I’m really enjoying talking to Lupin here. I’d really like to enjoy his company more, tonight.”

Leanne frowned. “Milo, I don’t care if he’s not letting us in, I want to wait in the waiting room until–”

“Please,” Mila smiled, “alpha?”

Leanne balked, her whole body tensing up as she started to stammer, before snapping at a laughing Nill, “Shut up. M-Milo, we talked about calling me that in…ugh, fine, let’s find a place selling notebooks.” Leanne scoffed, glaring flustered at the ground.

“You’re one of those types huh?” Nill snickered.

“Shut. Up.”

Milo looked away from his flustered girlfriend, writing onto the back of the paper to Lupin, We’re going to stop to get a notebook. Is that alright?

Lupin could extrapolate that question, but as Milo looked up and back at the others… He was trying but…he was really missing something, wasn’t he? That…didn’t feel great. It…seemed like Milo was asking something, and Leanne wasn’t really about it, but then, well, Milo must’ve said something that…embarrassed her? Yeah, by the way Nill was laughing, definitely embarrassing. But Milo seemed just fine doing it so…

Still a little confused, he nodded. “Quite. It’s not really like we’re on a school trip together, are we, so if there’s other shopping you’d like to do it’s not like you exactly need permission,” he said lightly. “And, yes, I do know Kaiden, but only in the lightest sense. As I reminded Nill earlier, I happened to run into Kaiden the other day and helped him back home from a bar.”

“I knew he got home late that night,” Leanne whispered, “Why won’t he just…ugh, he’s so frustrating. He’s so much work.”

“I’m really out of space to answer…” Milo murmured, looking around for a shop, before pointing to a convenience store, glancing at Lupin to confirm he wouldn’t mind heading inside before hurrying in. Taking Lupin with him.

Nill and Leanne waited outside, Nill tapping his foot on the ground before saying, “Well, they seem to be getting along. Kinda cute looking together, eh?”

“Are you dating the red-head?” Leanne asked.

Nill laughed, shifting from foot to foot. “Lupin!? Hah, I wish… well, I mean, not in a pathetic kinda pining way, I’m not yearning every night or anything like that, just… I mean, I know off-limits goods when I see it.”

“He’s too good for you?” Leanne translated dryly.

“I didn’t say that, I just mean…” Nill shrugged, “Look, some things just aren’t gonna happen, and me and the pretty boy? Yeah, that’s one of them. I’m not crying myself to sleep over it, I get plenty of companionship.”

“You talk a lot about how you’re not pining to someone who literally didn’t ask,” Leanne said, before smirking at him, “If you need advice on sealing the deal, just admitting you want him is usually the first step–”

“Oh, you’d know, ‘alpha’, huh?” Nill scoffed, snickering as she immediately flustered again, “Hey, hey, I’m not judging. Different strokes for different folks. You one of those groups that does lifestyle dom/subs then?”

“Not as all encompassing as Milo just made it sound. He likes to fluster me,” Leanne said, rolling her eyes, “One of them enjoys the fun of it and the other one enjoys the security of it. There’s nothing wrong with it.”

“Pretty sure I said something similar a second ago,” Nill said, shrugging, “...so you, uh, open–”

“I will disembowel you if you bring that up to me again tonight. One of my partners is in the hospital. And your crush is still injured. Have some self respect,” Leanne snapped at him, baring her teeth in a growl.

“Woah, woah, woah, message heard, damn. Sorry… ‘alpha’.”

“Shut up.”

“We have the notebook!” Milo said cheerfully, he and Lupin coming out, Milo holding a notebook and new pen, and a mildly surprised Lupin holding a bag, “And snacks! I didn’t know what you liked, Nill, so I got a bit of everything!”

“...heh. Cute.” Nill smirked, though he was watching Lupin’s bewildered expression.

Lupin…wasn’t all that sure why Milo asked him to shop with him--if he simply didn’t want to go into the store alone, Lupin figured he would’ve preferred Leanne’s company, though maybe that was some of what they had been talking about before--but he was happy to assist. And it turned out to be a bit more than just a notebook, but it wasn’t like Lupin was going to turn down a suggestion of food. 

Even…a lot of food, which came with the question of what and how much was socially acceptable to eat but… New experiences to figure out and navigate in his new reality, Lupin supposed. 

The store was on its own, honestly… 

“The shop isn’t that much farther down, if there was anything else you’d like to get…?” Lupin asked openly to the group.

Milo took the bag from Lupin, handing it to Leanne to hold, who dryly accepted it as she shook her head, while Nill signed, All good on my end. Keep chatting with the cutie. I’m enjoying watching you guys walk ahead of us.

“Okay, so, Leanne, may I get a pastry? Thank you~” Milo said, reaching back to grab a pasty as Leanne just dug one out, wordlessly handing it to him. Popping it into his mouth, Milo cheerfully wrote into the first page of the notebook, Neat, I can eat and talk to you at the same time! Anyway, you helped Kaiden to the apartment? Thank you so much! Though Milo licked his lower lip, why did he need help getting home?

Incorrigible, Lupin signed, rolling his eyes, before continuing to lead next to Milo. 

“Over-indulged, I assumed, but it could’ve just been a drink that didn’t sit right with him. I did ask about him being spiked, but he waved it off and didn’t want to take any of the quick response tests I had.” Lupin shrugged lightly. “He’s not the first person I’ve run into having a wilder night than they could handle, so it seemed natural to offer a hand. He seemed alright enough by the time I dropped him off.”

“I see…” Milo whispered, before writing into the notebook, Thank you for that. Honestly, I’m surprised Kaiden let you help him. Like I said, he can be insecure about that sort of thing. 

Milo paused, recalling Lupin’s previous question and thinking of what to say, As for the mixology question, yes. That’s me, though ‘mixologist’ makes me sound much fancier than I am. I’m a bartender, I, Milo hesitated, not sure if, one, Lupin would recognize the name of the place, or two, how he’d feel about it if he did…before deciding, well, Lupin seemed nice enough. And Nill was his friend, and the more Milo looked at him the more certain he was that he had at least seen him walking around that street, work at The Bunny Nook. Have you ever been? If I’ve served you before, sorry, I’m not always great at remembering patrons.

“Hm,” Lupin hummed softly, a quiet noise that, perhaps, wasn’t even intentional. He’d noticed some wariness, sure, but…no more than anyone else on a rough night. People tended to be kind, but it was naive to assume that everyone peeking their head into an alley would be an ally. “Well, whatever led him to that decision, I’m glad he did. He may have been able to make it back home himself, but we live in the world where he got a hand and made it back safely, and that’s a pretty good world to live in.”

“It may be a matter of degrees,” Lupin laughed softly. “Still, Kaiden mentioned you enjoyed the art and science of drink mixing. Which, at least in hobby, I think qualifies you.”

Though Milo did it vocationally too, at… Lupin’s eyebrows raised a little, but that was the most bombastic sign of his surprise. “I’ve never been myself, no, so no need for that worry. I’ve volunteered with the Black Spots before, but I’ve always heard the security at the Bunny Nook is so tight that there are rarely any issues of note. How do you enjoy working there?”

Milo lit up at that, genuinely surprised and wearing it plainly on his face as he wrote in, Oh, you’re a black spot? I would have never guessed, that can be scary work you all do! He paused, before quickly writing in Not that you don’t look strong or brave or anything! It’s just it can be a dangerous thing to volunteer to do, so it’s admirable, not that it’s unexpected! Not that I would have guessed. Or–

“Milo, I can hear you writing him a novel. Take a breath,” Leanne called from behind them.

Milo took a deep breath in, then out, before writing Yeah, I’m thankful I’ve never seen an issue with that where I work. But security sort of has to be tight and constant for a place that hosts a BDSM club. When you’re playing with power kinks all of the time, you have to be extra vigilant that everyone playing actually chose to be there. I know a lot of black spots are involved in scenes themselves, do you indulge? Milo asked, face lit up with the excitement of someone hoping they found someone who shared their interests.

Lupin gave Milo a kind, amused look. Not a ton of people would even recognize the Black Spots by name, though for someone that worked in a sex bar, it made sense that Milo would. By the nature of trying to help people that were often heavily supervised, it was dangerous to just, for example, give a list of names to the staff of bars and clubs and other common recruitment places, but the staff, at least by now, tended to know of the organization generally. 

“It’s not something I do often, even aside from the precautions over being recognizable, but it happened to work out for me when I learned about the organization. I happen to fit into quite a few demographics, so if I could use my privilege to help people in dire situations, it felt wrong not to.”

Lightly tapping Milo’s points about the security in BDSM clubs and nodding in agreement, Lupin then gave him a politely apologetic look. “No, I’m afraid not. I’m not all that interested in casual sex, and dating just hasn’t been in the cards for me yet. I’ve just started post-grad, and there’s a lot I want to focus on in terms of my education and career before looking to devote my attention romantically onto another person.”

And so far, that was the best explanation to get his parents to stop asking about his love life.

Understandable. Kaiden’s a bit like that, actually. Basically anything is more important than sex to him. Which is maybe a strange romantic choice for someone like me, but… Milo shrugged, smiling happily, Well, we love each other for other reasons. In some ways, I think Kaiden and Leanne would be ace and aro respectively, if it wasn’t us three specifically.

Passing Lupin the notebook, Milo added in the last sentence, Are you ace? It’s okay if you are.

Milo was content to let Lupin keep the notebook for a moment… but started to sweat as Lupin read it, suddenly urgently waving his hands and reaching for the notebook, adding in hurriedly, Again not to make a ton of presumptions you JUST said that you’d explore it more when you’re less busy and that’s an entirely valid response too! Not having sex yet doesn’t really define you or your preferences beyond that of wanting to wait! Before he sheepishly handed it back.

“Identity labels are often more for the benefit of explaining things briefly for others’ benefit, rather than being the end-all, be-all of the complex, fluctuating matter of the self, in my experience,” Lupin mused, “Though I think that’s wonderful you three have found things so special in each other. Uniqueness doesn’t inherently give something more meaning, of course, but any expression of love is to be cherished.”

A little amused at the back and forth, Lupin didn’t laugh for fear of making Milo fluster even more, though he did catch Milo’s hand as he passed the notebook back the last time, giving the back of it a little pat. “I don’t assume the worst of you. Your clarifications aren’t a bother, but you don’t need to explain yourself for fear I’ll assume the worst interpretation. I have faith in your intentions.”

“But, to actually answer your question…” Lupin trailed off for a moment, humming softly as he waved to the others, turning towards the flower shop. “No, I don’t believe so. It’s just not an area of my life I’m putting much focus into, at the moment.”

(...because somehow, magically, he knew he’d be expected to somehow find the person he would end up marrying right away, and then would have to plan that marriage in three to five years, then consider children loosely in the first after that, then more seriously within the next three to eight, and…)

(...it felt…petulant. But Lupin just…wasn’t ready to give up his life yet.)

“What in the hells are they talking about over there?” Nill muttered to Leanne, the two having started discussing the explosion, wondering what had really happened and trading theories back and forth, “Hey! Milo, tap Lupin for me!”

Milo tapped Lupin, pointing back at Nill.

What’s this guy already got you talking about? Is he making a move on you? Damn, you have game… want me to give him a thrashing for ya? Nill signed, his smirk clearly half teasing.

“Isn’t this the flower shop?” Leanne asked, pointing to the store they were standing in front of, adjusting the bag of snacks in her hand, “Are we getting flowers or not?”

Lupin returned the smirk, though in a much more placid fashion. No, we just got on the subject of his partners and he was asking about my own love life--all in the natural flow of conversation. Please don’t send anyone else to the hospital today, least of all yourself.

Seeing Leanne’s point, Lupin nodded a bit, walking forward to open the door for their group. Traditionally, he, Zinnia, and Aster all got well, bouquets, or trios of lupin, zinnia, and asters when they got each other flowers. Which would still be uniquely them, among the possible cherry blossoms or other small pink flowers which were actually Aster’s favorites, which she’d likely get from others… Ah, their regular bouquet, but with verbena to round out the gaps as a wish for healing and an appreciation for life--she’d like that. 

Once everyone was in the store, Lupin headed in with a mission, his idea fully fleshed out in his head. 

Milo headed over to Leanne, the two of them whispering what flowers they should get Kaiden and discussing if Tangouai might like some as well, while Nill hopped over to Lupin, trailing his steps as Lupin single mindedly went after his goal.

Nill had never had any strong opinions about flowers, outside of the time he had had to learn how to transport and deliver them without damaging them for events. That had been job 16, he was pretty sure. Maybe 17. A long time ago, really, and his time away from flowers hadn’t made him any more inclined towards them, distance making nothing grow fonder.

They smelled alright. Flowey. 

Step one was finding all the types of flowers that he wanted, so Lupin wouldn’t waste a clerk’s time looking for them, and to draft up a new plan if any weren’t available. Looking through circle-bloomed perennials, Lupin noticed Nill follow him. “Is there anyone you’d like to give flowers to, Nill? Perhaps even getting a bouquet to give to a stranger in a spontaneous gesture might pave way for something interesting.”

You think so? Nill asked, looking idly around the flowers, keeping his signing visible to Lupin as they walked, I don’t know much about flowers. Which ones would you recommend? Do you have a favorite?

Asters, check, and they had zinnias in pink, which would go well with the otherwise very purple-dominant scheme. Onto the ‘filler’ flowers…

“Carnations are usually a safe bet, if you don’t know exactly what you’re going for. They’re seen as flowers to signify an event, without the kinds of connotations something like roses have,” Lupin explained. “They’re quite lovely too, though my favorite flowers are balloon flowers. They look like perfect five-pointed stars when their petals unfurl.”

“Balloon flowers, huh…” Nill muttered, before tapping Lupin, Be right back. Don’t miss me too much~

Giving Lupin a wink–again, he forgot–he headed over to the purchase counter, leaning against it and chatting up the person working, asking about, hey, what do you have when it comes to ‘Balloon Flowers’...?

After some time, Leanne and Milo came out with simple vases of marigold, one of them with a rose placed among the marigolds to distinguish it as specifically for Kaiden among the twins. 

Finding all the flowers he needed, Lupin took the lesson he’d learned in the convenience store with Milo and spoke to one of the clerks while signing at the same time. It was something that Lupin realized he’d done too, but if someone signed to him, whether or not he registered it consciously, he’d sign right back his response, so it was an effective way to communicate without leading off telling every person around him he’d lost his hearing. 

…though it wasn’t something he had to hide! Or felt ashamed of! Being Deaf was a perfectly common and normal thing to be (Leanne having never met anyone Deaf before aside) so he didn’t need to hide it! It was just…easier not having that whole conversation when he just wanted to buy a bouquet for his friend who’d likely saved him from worse injury in the explosion they’d just been in. 

Yeah. 

Sighing a little to himself, Lupin looked over the bouquet. It was nice, but…too much purple? Aster did like purple, and it was the signature color of their namesakes, but…

“Pretty flower for the pretty boy?” Nill said from where he was leaning against the side of the door, waiting for Lupin to walk out… and pouting when Lupin walked right past him, entirely unaware he was there. “Hey, hey, hey, don’t ruin my line by not hearing it, come here.”

Pushing off the wall, Nill twisted himself in front of Lupin, grinning at him with his best alluring smile, bringing up between his fingers the long stem of a single balloon flower, signing with his free hand, for you.

Lupin stopped, looking up in confusion at the…weird sort of slinking shimmy Nill did to get in front of him. Not all that unusual for Nill, sure, but still a little odd, but…

Lupin’s expression softened, a small, genuine (you could tell, because it was a little crooked) smile blooming on his face as he accepted the flower. “Thanks, Nill. Ha, really taking my suggestion to heart, did you? …I appreciate it.”

Giving the flower a gentle, happy little look, Lupin took a breath. “Well, I do want to deliver these to Aster, but you don’t have to walk all the way back to the hospital with me if there’s more you’d like to do with your evening. …I would caution against your usual plans, considering I’m fairly certain they were talking about glass in your back when we were getting checked over.”

Eh, what’s a little several stitches along my spine? It’s still gonna be a long day for me either way. I’ll walk you back. Gotta make sure that horndog Milo doesn’t try to swoop you up again. Nill snickered, glancing over at Milo and Leanne. 

Milo was practically bouncing on his toes, a little giggle on his lips as he and Leanne congratulated themselves on finding Kaiden in a flower. The man practically glowed with a sweet innocence. Nill wondered how much of that was just ‘Milo’ and how much of that was his playing a role for Leanne.

(It was honestly just mostly Milo. Milo wouldn’t have wanted a partner he couldn’t be himself around.)

How are your ears feeling? Still not infected?

“‘What’, is the difference in you tearing even larger holes in your skin that could be otherwise avoided. And a significant amount of pain. And infection risk,” Lupin grumbled through a sigh, rolling his eyes a little more light-heartedly at Nill’s joke about Milo. 

(Perhaps it was a little ironic, considering the type of volunteer work Lupin had talked about with Milo earlier. But if someone was actually flirting with Lupin? It tended to go right over his head. People were just friendly! Or making jokes in crude taste.)

Perhaps with most other people, Lupin would insist once again that he was perfectly fine, but…

For a moment, Lupin glanced down, lowering his voice to something more subdued. “My ears feel alright for the most part, though I think I’m starting to understand the…effects the damage may have to my sense of balance.”

“...” Lupin took a small breath. “...my ribs are starting to hurt a bit, so…I may stop by a pharmacy after checking with Aster, and…likely will head home afterwards.”

Eh, let me run an errand for you while you’re seeing after your friend. I can go get whatever you want from the pharmacy, save you a trip. Get me a trip while I’m at it. I’m starting to get tired, Nill admitted, realizing that once he was done with Lupin, damn, he could sleep for a week. That had all been insane… Get myself high, take a two day nap, see if I wake up a new person.

Lupin smirked a little. “Don’t we always, in technicality?”

Smoothing his bangs a little, Lupin gave Nill a tentative smile. “If you’re really okay with that? I don’t know how long I’d be, and I wouldn’t want you to have to wait around somewhere to meet up with me again if you’d rather just go home.”

Eh, you’ll owe me a drink or two. One for every hour you make me sit around! Nill decided, nodding decisively, that’s the deal. Can’t take it back now. Deal? 

Lupin’s smile quirked as his shoulders rose in quiet laughter. “As long as you’re not mixing painkillers with it? Deal.”

-

Something about this felt…less than legal. Not that Riz was wholly unfamiliar with that line, but usually whatever grey thing he was doing felt right. A nebulous means to a needed end. This felt…a little shakier. But perhaps this was his just desserts, in a way, seeing how his mom felt when he took on cases. 

But however legal or morally correct it was to have a 10-year-old as an informant, Riz had to say that Bianka was genuinely helpful. Coming over to Usott with his mom to check out the total silence happening--which was totally done by the time they got there--he’d learned…a lot from Bianka. That, coincidentally, the woman that had broken into the princes’ room that same night was named June, who was a ‘muse’ and had been working with one of the housekeepers in the castle, and that housekeeper had been hyping up her services to others in the castle. And that there were a lot of issues that night, because, not the majority, but everyone on night shifts had fallen asleep through them. Even to the point, Bianka had told him, that one of the housekeepers had fallen asleep on the stairs into a laundry basket. And that quite a few people remarked about having strange dreams that night…

There was something going on. Riz hadn’t quite pieced it together, but he was getting there…with a 10-year-old’s help. 

And she seemed to be in a perfect position to help him out again with the explosion, even the same day. Apparently Bianka had an older sister in college, so by the time he stopped investigating at the hospital, she had some juice for him. 

Not the most solid leads, but questioning the resident arsonists might give him helpful clues all the same.

-

Kaiden was actually doing okay, all things considered. 

Tangouai, between the twins, had come away from it worse. Once the adrenaline shock of everything had settled down, it had been discovered that not only had Tangouai’s shin had been punctured, but that the wound had caused him at some point to step on his ankle wrong and twist it out of place. His ankle and shin wrapped up tight with bandages, his brother had been annoyed to be handed a long forearm crutch, though Kaiden had found himself looking curiously at it. 

“They make these out of metal?” Kaiden had asked, still trembling–he hadn’t realized why the shaking had started by that point–as he looked over the long, adjustable metal pole, “Weird. Why not just make it out of branches?”

“To re-use them.” Tangoaui said in that tone of voice that always made Kaiden want to withdraw and stop asking questions, feeling foolish.

It had been years already, but Kaiden, out of the four of them, had still had the hardest time adjusting to life in Dicea.

It was incredibly unfair, but Kaiden sometimes resentfully thought that it was the other three’s coddling of him that had made it so hard for him to learn how to live in Dicea. But then, he had to admit to himself that after this much time, certainly if he was better at being a person, then by now he’d have forced himself into the uncomfortable experiences he needed to be just… a functioning person. That his inability to integrate as seamlessly as his companions was more a personal failing than anything else.

Sometimes, when Kaiden was being the most fair to himself, he remembered that he struggled to fit into Danganronpa too. A setback to literally living half a life, as the hidden twin…

When your strong, outgoing twin had literally been your face for most of your life, was it any surprise that suddenly being given your own life to live wasnt a seamless, easy process? Especially when all the reasons you were the secret twin was still there fuck fuck fuck–

Kaiden couldn’t hide the shivering, feverish ravage of his body from the medical personnel, not literally in the hospital, but he asked for no visitors. Just not ready to face his partners and show off, yep. Kaiden was still the sick, damaged seedling twin. Literally in a whole new country, with medicine that was supposed to solve all his problems, and still, still, still…

It was frustrating, okay? Kaiden just wanted to put it off a little longer. Pretend he was as okay as he was supposed to be right now. He was fixed. He was fixed. Even if it was only pretend, he just wanted to be fixed, for a little while.

Kaiden and Tangouai did go home the next day. And Kaiden spent a day being fussed at and pampered by his worried partners. Kaiden putting the vase of marigolds, a single rose among them, on the nightstand next to his bed. 

(He, Milo and Leanne did not all have a single bed. They often slept together, yes, but each one had their own space that they could retreat to, when they or the others needed it. Living at the beck and call of another species their whole life had made them value the agency privacy allowed.)

In the name of that agency, Kaiden decided when Leanne and Milo both headed to their respective jobs that day, he was going to go search out the two people that had been in the explosion with him and Tangouai. He had gotten their names from Milo and Leanne. Lupin and Nill…

It turned out, both of them were easy to find out about, and both of them were challenging to actually find in one spot. Nill had a reputation among all the various bar cultures dotted around Usott, the man apparently spending so much time in them, when he wasn't working odd jobs, that the people Kaiden talked to didn’t feel entirely confident Nill actually lived anywhere. Or if he did, no one had ever heard where. 

Lupin, in turn, had a reputation as a frequent city volunteer, and it was quick that Kaiden discovered where he lived, though… when Kaiden went to knock at his home, a stern older man dressed with so much polish that Kaiden immediately felt scruffy and dirty had politely informed Kaiden that Lupin had moved out some time ago. And instead of telling Kaiden where Lupin lived now, it had somehow become a conversation not just of the various volunteer places Lupin could be found at, potentially, but also a very subtle dressing down as Kaiden was coaxed into admitting that, no sir, he didn’t volunteer anywhere, and no sir, he wasn’t going to school, and sorry sir, he guessed he wasn’t really contributing anything, no, and, yes, Dicea is at its best when anyone who can should be out there making it a better place for everyone, and yes, that was a better way to do things, and yes, that was a hint of an accent, sir, and yes, representation was important and Kaiden probably should be more involved with the community to ensure concerns for his own community were adequately represented and yes–

And by the time Kaiden had escaped from that conversation his brain had been spinning in a worrying fear that society was about to collapse because Kaiden, specifically, was not pulling his weight and it was entirely because he was a selfish, self-absorbed prick, though the older man hadn’t said that specifically. It was just the implication Kaiden had come away with. That, and he didn’t know where Lupin lived, still. And that Kaiden should just start hitting up volunteer places at random, and should volunteer at them, unless he was content to live life as a social parasite.

So, uh, yeah. Dazed, he went to go check a random volunteer place.

Weekends tended to be very busy for Lupin. Sure, he ensured that on days he had classes they didn’t end up consuming his whole day, but weekends were where he really thought he could shine, dedicating himself fully to any cause that needed a hand. 

However, after meeting with his advisor at school to start setting up the accommodations he would be needing come Monday--and though he had been assured plenty that he didn’t have to be back by Monday, and that it would be entirely understandable if he took some time off, or even longer considering that he had been hurt on school property…Lupin would be returning on Monday--he had headed over to the weekend market he had volunteered to set up stalls for and had been stared at and informed that people thought he had been in the hospital. And…even after explaining that he had been, but was discharged, he had been sent on his way, firmly told to not worry and get some rest. 

And that had been the story with the other two engagements Lupin tried to fill his time with as well. He didn’t want to just give up, but he could recognize a pattern when he saw one, and he didn’t want to waste people’s time telling him to leave so…

…well, now what? 

Walking down the street, Lupin mused to himself, trying to think of the best way to fill his time. 

Kaiden literally almost walked around him. 

He had known, in theory, what Lupin looked like. When Milo had told him that the man in the smoke, carrying the–he hoped more than–body had been the same one who had escorted him home, Kaiden had a vague memory of what that meant. Tall red-head, roughly around Kaiden’s height, with…eyes. Definitely had eyes. Fair skin. Uh…

…and that had been about the extent of Kaiden’s memory of what Lupin looked like. Red head. Roughly his height. Polished, but most people who dressed like they put thought into their appearance earned the ‘polished’ term in Kaiden’s head.

So when Kaiden had walked the opposite direction on the sidewalk Lupin was on, he was literally entirely prepared to just walk around the guy and keep going, not registering him as the person he had been looking for all day, only by chance happening to notice the small singe mark on the side of the guys face and thinking explos–OH!

“U-uh! Excuse me!” Kaiden said, turning around rapidly and following behind the guy, “Excuse me! Uh, sir?” 

How embarrassing… Lupin hadn’t registered Kaiden at all, at first. He’d been contemplating seeing if he could find any books on how to improve his skill at lip-reading and had just walked past the other person on the street like nothing. Not even a nod, really, which was horribly rude, and after a step Lupin had felt bad, but it would be weird to turn around and correct that. After two more steps, though, Lupin realized just who he had walked past, and in that situation it wouldn’t be odd at all to turn back!

So…that’s what he did, Lupin startling a little at how quickly Kaiden had seemed to turn back towards him in turn, saying…

“Good morning, Kaiden! Fancy seeing you, I’m glad to see you doing well,” Lupin greeted, smiling and giving the man a wave before looking a little sheepish. “Ah, I don’t know if your partners informed you, but I lost my hearing in the explosion, so if you don’t know Sign as well, we’ll need to rethink our communication.”

Reaching into his bag, Lupin pulled out a pen and a spare notebook he’d brought along. “I wouldn’t want to presume if you just wanted to say hello, but Milo had a good point in communicating through writing with me yesterday, if there was more you wanted to say.”

Kaiden had startled when, after calling to him a few times, Lupin had suddenly turned on a random third call, Kaiden needing to take a step back to not accidentally run into him as Lupin immediately started talking a tad too loud at him. Kaiden wasn’t sure if Lupin was raising his voice on purpose or not– it wasn’t quiet out on the pathways, but it wasn’t that loud either–before he realized, “Oh, right! Right, they did mention your hearing… I’m very sorry–oh, you can’t hear me.”

Kaiden laughed a little sheepishly as Lupin continued on as Kaiden tried to talk, passing over a notebook with a pen latched onto it. Kaiden looked over it, and since no one else had written in it yet, he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to format his writing. He supposed just… a but like how he’d really talk? Though maybe with more information condensed down, so Lupin wouldn’t have to keep waiting on Kaiden to get to a point, reading over and over again.

Okay.

Hello, Kaiden started with, I’ve been trying to find you all day, actually, though maybe what it boils down to is just saying ‘hi’. I wanted to check in on you after everything that happened. I believe I met your father today? Some people I asked around about you think you’re still living with your parents, I think.

It really wasn’t the most fluid form of communication, was it… Sign would always be the best, unless the hearing Lupin regained after his eardrums healed was significant, but…hm. Writing was alright for now, but he’d try to think of an even better way for people that didn’t know Sign. 

Reading over what Kaiden had written, Lupin sighed a little. “Ah, is that so… In all fairness, I did only move out at the start of the school year, so it hasn’t been long. I hope my father treated you well? As you might imagine, he and my mother were quite worried about the events yesterday, and Father tends to, hm, fixate on certain ideas, so I’m not sure if he would’ve asked after your own well-being.”

Lupin smiled softly. “I appreciate you asking after me, though. How are you doing? I heard from others that you were alright in terms of injury, but that’s not the only concern, is it.”

He was alright, I didn’t tell him I was in the explosion. Said I just wanted to check in on you. Kaiden wrote back as explanation, not wanting to make Lupin’s father out as being less caring than he could have been. It wasn’t like Kaiden looked like someone who had recently been in an explosion. If anything, he didn’t so much as have a bruise. Entirely healthy and fine after standing literally right next to a collapsing wall, debris flying everywhere.

…okay, sure. There were some benefits to still being a seedling. Kaiden would still rather that the medicine work, but being damn near indestructible was a uniquely helpful trait, when literally standing in an exploding building. Something Kaiden had now proven several times.

He knew, in some ways, being as functioning as he was while still being entirely a seedling in the ‘ready’ stages of breeding made him a wildly desired success case, in Danganronpa, for both sides of the Flora breeding program debate. But he wasn’t exactly jumping for joy at being a truly ‘successful’ version of a seedling. Especially after spending so long specifically hiding it.

I’m alright. I sought you out today because I feel like I owe you thanks? Again? Tangouai says that following the sound of your voice got us closer to the staircase, closer to help. We were really lost among the smoke, we could have easily gone the opposite direction and ended up deeper in the building. So, thank you.

Then, hesitating briefly, Kaiden asked, Are you doing anything right now? I’m not sure how someone thanks someone else for potentially saving them and their brothers life. Saying ‘thanks’ feels a bit inadequate. 

Lupin nodded knowingly. He loved his father, of course, but he completely understood not wanting to ‘get into it’ with Reginald Anuncul. 

Giving a soft, bashful laugh, Lupin gave Kaiden a warm look. “I don’t think any further thanks is needed--we were all in a tough situation. You helped me carry Aster, and without seeing you and your brother react, I wouldn’t have known Nill was there and where the open stairs were until he was right in my face. We all helped each other.”

“Still…” Lupin said slowly, “Do you enjoy coffee or tea? I’ve found myself with a rather open morning, and I’d enjoy getting a warm drink with you.”

A little sheepishly, Lupin offered a grin. “I’m still adjusting to my hearing issues, so if you wouldn’t mind indulging me, I’d like more practice figuring out how this new way of communicating should really…go, I suppose.”

Kaiden grinned, a little relieved Lupin had offered. He wasn’t sure if Lupin really wanted to talk to a still relative stranger, despite now two odd meetings, but Kaiden did want to and hadn’t been sure how to bring it up. 

So, nodding enthusiastically, Kaiden wrote I’d love to! And if being a guinea pig would be helpful to you? I’d consider that a better attempt at thanks, and it’d be doing me a favor to let me help, get that out of my system. Kaiden grinned… before sheepishly writing in also, I hope this isn't rude, I just don’t think you’re doing it on purpose… your voice is a little raised while you talk. Not quite shouting, but edging there.

Lupin blinked, looking a little startled, before pink started to tint his face. And speaking more quietly, he cleared his throat. “Ah, thank you for letting me know. That’s another thing to practice, among it all. You never really realize how much one’s volume is auditorily adjusted, rather than being by physical feeling.”

Gesturing down the street, he asked, “Is there a particular establishment you’d enjoy going to? I’m partial to Pegasus Coffee Co, if you’re familiar.”

Kaiden nodded, pointing down the street in the general direction he knew that particular coffee shop was, before he wrote down I’ve been there once or twice. Their pastries are really good, though I can’t pronounce half of them.

Kaiden started to walk, before hesitating, looking back at Lupin. Deciding to let him lead and following his steps, Kaiden feeling like Lupin not being able to glance over and see his body language if Kaiden stepped ahead by mistake would make communicating harder. Kaiden would try to keep lined up with him. 

I have to say, I was surprised when my partner told me it was that red-head that we had run into in the smoke. I’m not saying it means anything, but it’s surprising we ran into each other twice now.

Lupin gave a soft laugh in agreement. “Gaucaçi, and the words that come from it, aren’t the most intuitive to know how to say if you aren’t familiar, are they. At least for pastries, thankfully, people tend to get the idea if you describe what you’re looking at.”

Off on their way…hm. Another new thing to learn. Lupin knew the way to the cafe pretty well, so he didn’t have to focus much on that, but after just walking past Kaiden before, he wanted to keep better attention to anyone who may be nodding or waving or wishing a good day. …but he wanted to keep the majority of his attention on Kaiden, because they were talking, so…he had to be purposeful with how he divided it.

“It is a bit of a coincidence, huh. Same with the person running into a dangerous building happening to be a friend of mine. As large as it literally is, sometimes Usott feels pleasantly small.”

Lupin glanced over Kaiden carefully, trying to gauge his reaction. “Milo and Leanne alluded a few times that they aren’t originally from Usott. If you aren’t as well, may I ask where you moved from?”

It still felt plenty big to Kaiden, but he had to admit, it was kind of nice running into the same face a few times. Socializing was a bit easier when you didn’t have to do the intro part over and over… though admittedly, they had never really done the intro part. Not a lot of ‘how do you do’s when it came to pollination heats and exploding buildings.

Kaiden hesitated, for a moment. The fact that he and his group were from Danganronpa had been a strict secret, for the first two years they had been there. Hiding from any Flora in Dicea that might swing by in the middle of the night and inform the escaped seedlings and pets, sorry, time to go home now. 

But after meeting a few seedlings and flora that lived in Dicea that were openly from Danganronpa and they hadn’t been the ones disappearing with the cults? Had eased some of that fear in the group. Kaiden still didn’t really trust them, but most Flora living in Dicea weren’t a part of the hive, in various ways, and had no interest in capturing them. Flora still hive connected tended to just be visitors, temporarily in Dicea, sowing havoc before escaping back over the border. The only serious threats being the death cult humans they left behind to spread pollination and, well… Monokuma.

Milo had met Monokuma. Had spent a night and a day with him and at the end of it all, had come home and with a smile had said that Monokuma wasn’t going to come after them. That none of them were ‘fertile’ enough to be worth it. That capturing them would be a waste of resources.

No one looked at Kaiden when Milo said this. Milo had clearly managed to tell a very convincing lie. And worse, he was still trembling even as he talked to them like it had all been a victory. Clearly one of the scariest feats he had managed, unexpected and alone.

Leanne had wept. Furious she hadn’t been there to protect him. Kaiden had clutched at Milo and refused to let go for hours. Tangouai kept watching out the windows, holding a bat covered in nails. Just in case. Just in case. Just in… nothing happened. Not for weeks, not for months, and then not even when the death cult members had started getting chased down and captured by Dicea for the last year. Medicine spread, the danger passed. 

The danger was passed… but Kaiden still flinched, unconscious of it, as he wrote down quickly, Danganronpa border. Leaving it at that, so that he could argue he had meant the Dicea side of the border. If he had too. If it became a problem.

Then, adding in, he asked Your father mentioned you were in school? What are you studying? I’m assuming not ‘inexplicable explosions’ Kaiden smiled, shrugging as he saw Lupin’s eyes get to the last sentence.

“Oh, yeah, that is quite a bit away--no matter where on the border you were,” Lupin joked. “I’ve always wanted to see the border mountains, it must’ve been something else growing up around them.”

Huffing a small laugh at Kaiden’s own joke, Lupin explained, “I’m in a custom program involving political theory, management, and pedagogy--what I wanted to study didn’t exactly fit within the pre-established post-grad programs, so I’m taking pieces of a few. I’m,” a small pause, “going to apply for a secretarial job at the castle as an eventual goal of all this, so I’m trying to round myself the best I can.”

“Dance considerations aside,” Lupin grinned, “What do you enjoy doing, Kaiden?”

Kaiden nodded along with Lupin’s explanation, before frowning, writing down a word he didn’t know. Pedagogy? 

Though, before he passed Lupin the notebook, he considered the question Lupin had asked. I’ve been trying a few different things, but mostly I read a lot. He admitted, I also think I might be into plays? I say might because I read a lot of playscripts, but I’ve only ever gotten around to seeing one real performance a few years back. I’ve been a bit of a homebody my whole life, it’s a hard habit to break. And the mountains were really beautiful, yeah. But also some serious steep hiking there. Best shape I’ve ever been, roaming around those mountains. You couldn’t pay me to go hiking again now. 

Kaiden paused, not sure if how that was partly a joke really conveyed itself well in the writing… before adding a little :) at the end of it, hoping that might convey the tone better.

Considering he just outed himself as a book nerd first and foremost, Kaiden’s biceps shifted beneath his shirt a bit as he passed Lupin the notebook. Kaiden’s muscular frame partly hidden in his clothes, but most notable in his arms.

Not the most common word, even in academic circles, but once Lupin had learned it, it really did seem like the most concise way to describe the concept. “Pedagogy is the study of learning. It encompasses sciences, in how brains retain and store information, and history, in the study of how trying to teach has been implemented through history, and how that’s changed what people know or what they’re expected to know, and social concerns, with how people approach learning in vivo. It’s a bit of a meta subject, especially the more you talk about it.”

And more than anything else, Lupin found it fascinating. Because regardless of anything else, people would always be learning from the world around them, so stripping away layer after layer of biases still gave you material to consider, but then each layer in itself was something new! It was the kind of subject that he could easily see people spending lifetimes with…but having it be a ‘third of his major’ was…about as deep as he could justify getting into it.

Lupin read through Kaiden’s interests, humming in his own interest, though he laughed a little at the comment on hiking. “That’s really interesting, loving the scripts themselves. I don’t know if I’ve ever met someone who’s poured over a script before ever seeing the play it corresponds to. I might have to give that a try myself.”

“I do hope you find yourself liking plays, if going to them is something you find an interest in,” Lupin smiled, “The most I tend to see are park-plays, or ones put on during festivals, but I have heard there’s going to be something of a resurgence around now, since we’re getting Luminary scripts. I think there’s a Luminary play being shown right now, actually…”

Kaiden watched Lupin’s expression as he talked, the way his eyes lit up when discussing Pedagogy… and taking the notebook back, Kaiden wrote in plainly, You really like Pedagogy, huh? That’s cool! Honestly, I think it’s endearing to see what people get passionate about. Is there some way you’ll end up integrating that with being a secretary at the castle? ‘Secretary’ is like… Kaiden wrote in the dots, not seeing an issue with grammatically adding in how he was uncertain with his own guess a sort of leadership type thing, right? The people in the castle write laws and stuff, organize things. That will be you?

Danganronpa’s concepts of hierarchy, for itself, were very simple. Humans listened to Flora. Flora listened to Junko Enoshima. That was it. There was no greater hierarchical structure in Danganronpa beyond, at best, being someone Junko favored versus being someone she couldn’t care less about. And everyone knew, among the Flora, who was who. Who they were in the eyes of their queen an obvious, social map within the hivemind. 

Social politics– who you were friends with– was how politics and everything else that required leadership or responsibilities worked in Danganronpa. And who Junko was friends with, her social circles, mattered most of all. The castle wasn’t a political structure, as far as Kaiden was aware. The castle was just where Junko Enoshima lived. And by that standard, was the most important place in Danganronpa.

Strict hierarchical societies were for places like Luminary, the rigid structure designed to make it easier for Flora to narrow down who they had to manipulate. It was such a non-issue for Danganronpa that Kaiden hadn’t even heard of the concept until he came to Dicea. The concept of a central person named ‘Ouma’ had made sense to him, but his mind had been absolutely blown hearing that there were currently two of them. It had sounded like madness, but Kaiden had gotten his head around a lot of it by now.

Though, he added in with interest, Oh, really? I keep meaning to actually look at theater schedules, but I’m never in that area. Do you know what’s playing?

Lupin laughed a little sheepishly. “I’m hoping I’ll get to. Great understanding of pedagogy is, naturally, more of a focus for people involved with the school boards, but the government still is the body that creates schooling laws. If I demonstrate initiative in that field, it seems reasonable that I’d be working with those teams, though it’s all a ways off at this point. And, yeah, secretaries are the big organizers of the country,” Lupin chuckled.

Maybe not the backbone, if you were seriously considering the metaphor, but definitely the brain, and maybe part of the nervous system. Serving the needs of the country, giving the direction and organizing how to get there…it was truly remarkable work. Lupin joining the effort would be doing his family proud. He’d been told as much since he was old enough to understand the concept.

“Ah…I don’t think I know every listing off the top of my head, but the play I mentioned before is called Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, which is related to the story of Hamlet, if you’re familiar. Star Road Protectors has been playing for a little bit as well--I remember the poster since it’s truly an explosion of color. I’m…fairly certain there’s a musical going on now too, but I don’t know what it is.”

“Oh.” Kaiden said aloud, though he subconsciously mouthed the sound to make sure Lupin caught it before he started to write, I did read R&G, though I didn’t entirely get it? The wording and dialogue’s pretty complicated, it might end up being one of those things where if you don’t get the body language and setting, its just not going to translate. Like it read like they were really calm? For a pretty weird situation? And it took me a re-read to realize they were getting the main characters names switched up, but I still haven’t worked out why. Maybe I’ll go see it just to see if I can’t make more sense of the script afterwards.

Though, Kaiden’s eyebrows raised a bit, oh, Usott does musicals? They were really common at the border, so when I didn’t hear about them casually here I sort of thought they didn’t happen this far south.

Danganronpa didn’t really do ‘plays’. There wasn’t much story telling you could compel someone with inside of the hivemind. Some Flora liked to compel humans to put on plays for the novelty of not knowing that was going to happen, but ‘Reality Games’ were the main form of entertainment in Danganronpa. Putting humans through hurdles and challenges and betting on the results.

But for the Flora themselves, they liked music. Specifically, harmonies. Flora weren’t good at telling stories to each other, but their individual bodies, singing together to make wall shacking, memorizing harmonies? It was the most natural flow of art for them, once that challenged them physically and scratched a community itch that even just existing within the same hivemind couldn’t quite fulfill. It was rare, but entire cities could suddenly be caught up in an effort to harmonize sing, if the song provided was infectious enough and the surrounding inhabitants were in a good mood. 

There had been one moment, when the twins, Milo and Leanne had been well past the last border city outskirts and had started to climb through the mountain that separated them from Dicea, that a nearby village had started to sing so loudly that it had echoed through the mountain. The flora closer to the border were less human-hating than those that lived closer to Junko, and maybe Kaiden had just felt tired and, in a morbid way, already a little homesick… but for once the sound had just been nice. Distant and unthreatening and pretty.

Being a human among the cacophony could be a little overwhelming and frightening. Especially if you were in hiding. Too many reminders of just how many there were.

…Kaiden wondered how well he’d handle a musical. I haven’t heard of Star Road Protectors I don’t think. Have you seen it?

“Huh…” Lupin said softly, walking more quickly for a moment to open the cafe door for the couple elderly people he’d seen starting to leave through the front window, giving them a kind smile. “I’ve seen Hamlet, but I’m not familiar at all with ‘R&G’--just from your description it sounds quite different. Maybe I should…”

Lupin trailed off, his frown growing unsure for a moment as he and Kaiden entered the cafe. “...well, maybe I should start off with a more straight-forward story for my first interpreted experience.”

There were interpreters for official performances of…most everything, and it was pretty common to adapt characters if their actor was Deaf in ways that, in certain cases, even added to the story being told rather than just being a different version, but… Another thing to consider. 

Confirming that Usott had musicals, Lupin huffed a bashful little laugh as Kaiden asked over the other play. “Once officially, but it was one of the plays my middle school put on when I was attending. I played one of the side characters, one whose marriage served as a sort of ‘b-plot’ that the main characters would run into throughout their adventure. It’s a simpler story of heroes traversing a land in search of a magical macguffin, but it’s a fun time all the same.”

Kaiden chuckled a little, softly, barely a sound to it, before writing in I feel like this means you’d have a lot of Strong Feelings about how this play is performed. Sitting there watching them going ‘me and my friends did a better job and we were all Kaiden paused. How old were middle schoolers? 13. What’s their excuse??

Kaiden grinned proudly as he handed the notebook back, hoping the joke would land.

Lupin grinned, laughing softly. “Oh, absolutely. I’ve never seen another Bowser round-house kick a door open with as much gusto as Dex did it, and I doubt I ever will. Truly the peak of the character laid in the expression of teenage angst.”

Heading near to the front counter, by the pastry case, to choose what they wanted, Lupin offered, “Since I was the one to offer coming here, I’d like to treat you, if that’s alright. It’d feel a bit demanding, asking you to spend money out of the blue when there are other options to have a conversation.”

‘I have money,’ Kaiden immediately thought, a tad defensibly. Kaiden actually had a lot of money these days. More than he had ever imagined having, quietly letting the monthly payment Dicea gave grew into a tidy savings. A savings account something Kaiden hadn’t had access too, back in Danganronpa. He had money. He was a fully entwined, entirely self-dependent person, financially. Everyone could leave him now and he’d still be able to afford to live safely and comfortably. He could afford coffee. 

…that defensive feeling came and went, and Kaiden nodded, writing in If you insist. Though if you get the drinks, let me get the pastries. That way I can still feel like this is a ‘thank you’ trip.

Lupin looked over Kaiden’s writing and nodded with a smile. “I’ll agree to that.”

Once they decided what they wanted, Lupin went up to order their drinks first, since they’d take a little more time to come out than the pastries. Recognizing the blue-haired man at the counter, he said and signed, “Hello, Daniel, it’s been a while! How have you been?”

And while the raised eyebrows he got was more of a reaction than Lupin got from others, Daniel still signed back as he spoke. “Heeeeey, Lupin, you breaking a caffeine-free streak or something? The college student’s best friend can’t be so easily forgotten,” he chatted, grinning in amusement. “I’ve been good, been good, still devising my evil plan to get my sister to bring her girlfriend by so I can get paid for spying on one of their dates.”

Daniel raised an eyebrow again. “How…are you? I heard there was some big news on campus yesterday.”

“Ah, well, yes, I was around for the explosion. A frightening event, for sure, though thankfully we’ve all made it out the other side. I’m hoping the Guardforce finds this to be a singular event, conclusively,” Lupin said, careful in his wording. 

Kaiden picked a table for them to sit at, mostly picking just something that was nearby more than out of any particular preference. But his nearness made it easy to overhear what they were saying, as he watched, a little mesmerized, at the hand movements. Wow, really everyone here knew how to do the hand signals, huh?

…Maybe he could take a class or something? It hadn’t come up for three years, but now all of the sudden the hand signal stuff was everywhere, now that he knew someone who couldn’t hear. 

Kaiden was still always a little blown away by the ways a human body could just… stop. Doing stuff. If a Flora body got injured, they just grew a new body and shifted over. Seedlings could lose limbs and stuff, of course, but it was hard for that to happen, their bodies naturally fortified to handle all sorts of physical trauma and bounce back easily. And if something did manage to break in you, somehow?

Well, humans were discarded for all sorts of reasons. Maybe border Flora would be okay accommodation a permanently hurt human, but near the center? Humans didn’t have the sort of communities where you knew enough humans on a day to day basis to see far reaching examples of something happening. Kaiden had never met a broken human before, not actually in a way he recognized and could have a conversation with them. But he imagined broken humans back in Danganronpa just got discarded. 

…Kaiden would try to learn the hand signal stuff. 

Lupin and Daniel chatted a little more--the cafe wasn’t the busiest--and it ended up taking them up to the time Lupin and Kaiden’s drinks were ready. That…wasn’t something Lupin had done on purpose, really. He’d seen before how the people putting out the orders would flag down people hard of hearing, and he was with Kaiden of course so they’d know to get their drinks one way or another. It just…happened that Lupin wasn’t even in a position to have to figure out how he was going to approach having his order called now. 

Which was okay! But…

With a breath, Lupin left that circular consideration as he brought over the drinks, giving Kaiden a thankful smile for the pastry in front of the opposite chair. “Thanks for claiming a table! And for the pastry as well. Sorry if I got caught up too long,” Lupin chuckled softly, “I come here enough that I know a few of the baristas. The student stores on campus are perfectly serviceable, but I do like coming here when I get the chance.”

“That makes sense to me,” Kaiden said, before startling, looking a little guilty as he gestured for the notebook, That makes sense to me. This is a nice place, the fact I’ve only been once or twice is basically entirely because it’s not in my way. Hey, can I ask? Where does everyone learn the thing you guys do with your hands? The writing thing is okay, but the hand things makes talking look a lot easier. I could probably learn it.

Lupin hadn’t really dwelled on it before, but…Kaiden, Leanne, and Milo (and probably then Kaiden’s brother as well) really…hadn’t met any hard of hearing people before, had they. Which just seemed…baffling. Even if not for fully deaf people, or people losing their hearing in accidents like him, or anyone born Deaf…hearing loss was just part of aging. Lupin couldn’t really fathom being in a place where such a commonplace disability was so far removed from someone’s life. It’d be like never having seen someone use a mobility aid, or talk about medication. 

Bizarre. But not really any of his business. 

“Sign language?” Lupin confirmed. “Well, I know a lot of people learn it in school, at least the basics, but I’ve seen classes advertised right alongside other language classes on the community board in the castle. I think the classes themselves actually are held in the classes as well.”

Lupin tilted his head a little. “...I like to think I’m fairly fluent, but you make a good point… It would probably do me a world of good to brush up, or learn vocabulary I might’ve missed out on.” He nodded a little to Kaiden as he briefly demonstrated. “There is an alphabet, which works for words that don’t have a dedicated sign, but like writing it does take a bit longer. Of course you run into the issue of someone not knowing the dedicated sign, but it’s a fairly simple process to rectify.”

Smiling a little shyly, he offered, “Languages do tend to be easier to learn if you have someone to practice with. If you do end up taking classes, you should let me know, and I’d be delighted to hone both our skills together.”

Kaiden blinked at Lupin, startled by the offer… before writing plainly in the notebook, Are we going to do that, then? I’ve never signed up for classes before, but my partner Leanne has. She can help me figure it out, and I could sign us up? Though, sometimes its at different times, right? I really have a lot of time on my hands, and you seem really busy, maybe you should pick the class time we go to. Then I can just meet you at the same class. 

One aspect of not having a ton of experience learning social graces, was that it did not occur to Kaiden to talk around certain ideas. If Lupin was asking to be informed if Kaiden took a class, well, then Lupin wanted to take the class. So they should set it up. It was clearly what Lupin wanted, and Kaiden enjoyed the idea too. No doubt in his expression as he passed the notebook back to Lupin.

Ah, well, Lupin had been thinking of signing up for a more advanced level. Going over the basics was something no one was ever above, but…he did understand the sign alphabet and courtesy when signing and other truly beginner topics. Though…classes like these were usually linked, and there may even be classes in the montessori style, where multiple skill levels would be in the same space, which would be helpful for practicing in the way that Lupin had already suggested…

Lupin gave Kaiden a bright smile. “I’ll check out what classes are going on, then! You are right, though, my schedule does tend to be on the full side, and I wouldn’t want to limit you to the times that just work for me. Do evenings work for you? Trust me, I would be just as happy if you took on different or even extra classes at more convenient times for you.”

Kaiden nodded, something clearly brightening in his expression. He was not someone who made plans often, as he quickly wrote I’d have to let my partners know. But honestly I think they’d be thrilled that I’m going. Leanne’s done everything short of making me go to classes like she does, she’s been hoping I’d find something that would inspire me to go. I guess this is it! Oh! 

Kaito tilted his head, smiling lightly as he considered something, And, it seems like it’s pretty rare for an adult to learn this language here, right? Maybe observing me learning could be something for your Pedagogy studies? 

“I hope we can find something that works out, then,” Lupin said, sincere in his hope. He wasn’t exactly someone who took classes to socialize, but it was always nice when you got along with your classmates, and…well…

Lupin perked up a little. “Maybe uncommon, but I really doubt you’d be the only adult learning from scratch. Still…I think you’re right. And I hope what I’ve learned from my studies could help you get the most out of the classes as well. Oh, this is wonderful.”

Giving Kaiden a sheepish look, Lupin confided, “I was feeling a little lost earlier, if I’m being honest. I understand and appreciate their concern, but it wasn’t feeling great having all my usual volunteer spots just tell me to go home and rest. But having something new like this to look forward to has really made my day.”

Kaiden laughed–a soft, quiet thing–before he grinned at Lupin, I’m glad I could help, though that wasn’t really my intention. Sorry, that makes it sound worse then I mean, by that I mean that you didn’t really seem like you needed help. I think if I was in your shoes, I’d be… again he wrote in the ellipsis, trying to convey a sense of what he was feeling, scared? I’d be scared. But you seem really confident.

Scared?

Lupin tilted his head a little. 

Scared? No, he wasn’t scared, he was

(Buzzing with a constant anxious worry, terrified that not being able to hear would make perfection that much more unobtainable, would constantly trip him up and cause him to make dozens of embarrassing, public mistakes while he was learning, while at the same time being mortified to consider the disability something ‘less’, terrified of coming off like he was spitting in the face of every other Deaf or hard of hearing person out there if he even came off as disappointed with what happened…)

“I’ll thank you for taking that impression of me,” Lupin grinned wryly. “It’ll be an adjustment, but I’m not daunted by work, and…it’s really far from the worst outcome. Just a different way to be.”

Kaiden tilted his head a little, frowning and looking closely at Lupin… before he placed his finger on his neck and, like he was scratching, lowered his finger purposefully over his throat. 

Like how someone might wipe a spot on their face where someone they were facing had food on it. 

Lupin was puzzled for a moment over the gesture. It seemed too slow, too purposeful for a scratch, so…

Then his face turned pink, as he glanced around in embarrassment. Mumbling much more quietly, “Too loud again?”

Kaiden smiled sympathetically, before writing in Your voice got higher and more nervous. Again, I don’t mean to be rude. But it seemed like something you would want to know. Was that okay? I’m not always the best at people.

What?? No, Lupin never sounded nervous, it just wasn’t something he did. Just from sheer lack of practice, he didn’t think he’d do it even not being able to hear himself, but…

“No, I appreciate it. Just another piece of that work, right?” he half-joked. “Since I can’t hear myself, I do appreciate being told if I end up being too loud or inaudible or anything like that, thanks.”

Looking a bit more sheepish, Lupin quietly said, “I…am hoping that’s something that comes back, at least a little. It’s odd, knowing that I am talking, but not being able to hear it.”

Kaiden frowned, sympathy evident in his expression, before he wrote with a little frown what are the odds? Do you know? Before passing it back.

Lupin shook his head a little, frowning softly. “It really depends, person to person, apparently. It’s quite likely that something will improve when my eardrums heal, but the extent of that is just something we’ll have to see when it happens. I mean…I can probably guess that I’ll never have my full range of hearing again, but considering how deep within the ear the cochlea is, we don’t even really know the full extent of the damage.”

…but they could make some pretty good guesses.

Kaiden frowned, before his eyes darted down. His expression could be mistaken for pity, the way he averted his gaze, something sad obvious in the tension of the muscles around his neck and stomach. He lightly scratched at the rougher patches of his chin–already signs of a five-o’clock shadow, which showed small tells of how oddly patchy his hair grew in, a few small cuts that if they weren’t scars at least showed recent shaving accidents–before picking the pen back up.

You’re being really open with me, I just realized. You don’t have to be. I know this sort of thing is hard to talk about. Want to talk about something else?

Lupin observed Kaiden for a moment, his discomfort apparent, and made a small humming noise in his throat. “For all that I do have an injury, this isn’t a tragedy, and I don’t mind talking about it. Losing one’s hearing is incredibly common, and I think being open about what the process is like, even if my circumstances aren’t across the board, can only be a benefit to the overall conversation. Disabilities aren’t something to be ashamed of, or discomforted by. They’re just a part of life.”

“Still,” Lupin nodded to Kaiden, “We can move on if you’d like. I’m a bit remiss I haven’t asked yet--how is your brother doing? If I remember correctly, he was injured too.”

…were they?

Kaiden supposed he wouldn’t know. What he had wasn’t a ‘disability’. If anything, what he had made him too much. Of everything. If everything was, well, everything you needed to carry a flora child. Which Kaiden couldn’t help but still at least somewhat believe that really was everything to a human. They lived so little, and their lives were even shorter and more fragile without being made harvest ready… it was a clear incentive for humans to take their rightful place as flora breeders, that they could only be truly healthy and hearty with the spores.

……Kaiden knew that wasn’t true. Just annoying thoughts that sometimes entered his mind, from a lifetime of hearing people say it. He and his family didn’t believe in that sort of rhetoric. But even his family, who seemed so independent and strong willed, could sometimes talk like that. He remembered them all being astounded–and a little skeptical–that roughly only half the population for a human society was ever capable of bearing children. That seemed…unsustainable. Didn’t that mean the half that could should always be bearing children? Just in case? How did humans survive with such low birth rates?

But despite all of that, humans were literally the largest population among the species on the planet, according to, well… anyone Kaiden had ever talked to about it. People who Kaiden believed would know. Which just made Flora’s breeding program, when there were so many beings just already out here, all seem… really superfluous. 

So Kaiden didn’t have a disability, so much. In his mind, his body was disturbingly healthy, entirely what it was ‘supposed’ to be. And what it was ‘supposed’ to be was something that regularly made it impossible for him to move, and now only occasionally drove him actually insane. 

You know. Like humans were supposed to be.

Sorry. I wasn’t trying to shame you. Kaiden genuinely apologized, My brother’s alright. His leg is hurt, but they’re saying in a month he should be walking normally again. He’s just not going to be able to do his favorite part of his job for a while, but knowing him he’ll be back to running around the second he can. You know how I was thinking of taking ballet classes? Tangouai’s a fiend for dancing. If he’s not working, he’s dancing, he loves it. Kaiden grinned a little, passing the notebook back. He wasn’t a big fan of his brothers fighting, but he thought his brothers dancing was fantastic. Lots of fun.

“No harm done,” Lupin said lightly, offering Kaiden a smile. And there really wasn’t, and maybe he was reading too much into it, but…he just didn’t want to enable someone to internalize shame. Part of making the world accessible for all people was being willing to engage in conversation about the parts that weren’t, and keeping quiet, allowing discussions of disability to become ‘other’ or taboo subjects was…well, Lupin considered it him failing a duty. Perhaps not as an ally anymore, but the ‘lines’ between abled and disabled were fuzzy and mutable at best. As he had just intimately learned, the difference between the two was only determined by time. 

“That’s a shame, for his injury, but I’m glad to hear he’ll be alright soon,” Lupin condoled, before lighting up a bit. “Really? Oh, that’s wonderful. Have you two danced together casually before?”

Kaiden grinned a little sheepishly, shrugging and putting his palm flat down in the air, teetering it a bit one side, then to the other. So and so, before he wrote a few times in private. I get a bit self conscious. Tangouai’s really good at it, it can be a little embarrassing to be the clumsy twin. Though it’s nice to know what I’d look like if I was very good at dancing. Kaiden paused, before shrugging, another sheepish little grin, Well, close enough to what I’d look like, anyway. Plus a scar.

And different bone structure. And less freckles. And his twin was like an inch taller than him.

Some days Kaiden didn’t know if Madam Celeste Ludenberge had just been that oblivious, or if maybe their distant and showboating owner hadn’t particularly cared that one of her handsome, barren pets came with a spare. Kaiden supposed he’d never know. Was grateful for it, either way.

At the counter, a harried woman hurried in, grumbling in a way that was likely familiar Daniel, the women a nameless but recognizable regular. “Four coffees, just black, I don’t have time to wait for the fixings. My coworker called in sick again, this is the second time I’ve had to rush to cover a project meeting for her, and he’s just been so spacy when he does come in and–”

Kaiden raised an eyebrow as the woman continued to complain about her coworker for another few minutes without taking a breath to let Daniel so much as greet her, before writing in the notebook She’s complaining about her coworker who keeps calling in. She’s being a little rude about it too. Before Kaiden tilted his head, Should I bother adding in stuff like that? Stuff I notice people saying around us?

Lupin smiled kindly. “I wouldn’t want to take away any joy that idea brings you, but even if you are twins, no one is exactly the same as you, right? If you enjoy yourself while dancing, then you have your own charm. No one else can replicate it, regardless of technical skill.”

The arts weren’t exactly things he had been passionate about originally either, but that was the reason Lupin wasn’t as fussed not being a perfect painter or actor. He could learn a lot of technical skill, but the inner fire, as it were, was something individual that couldn’t be practiced. A person may find love through practice, and the form of that love may change over time, but it was the special oomph that each person specifically brought to their craft that made it truly something wonderful. So…if it was all different, then…it wasn’t something he needed to worry about. 

For a moment, Lupin looked a little confused, glancing over to follow Kaiden’s eyeline before being distracted with the notebook. Which seemed to be an explanation itself. And…a good question.

Lupin’s brows drew together ever so slightly as he thought. “...well, I wouldn’t want to encourage you to eavesdrop, but…” He glanced over towards the counter again, watching the woman for a moment. Her tapered words and haggard, annoyed expression, Daniel’s easy nods as he started pouring out house coffees, Lupin could easily imagine him just humming encouragingly along… Such a commonplace interaction, that…

Lupin’s expression softened, eyes downturning slightly. “If it’s something just publicly noticeable, then…yes. I appreciate you letting me know. Thanks, Kaiden.”

Kaiden nodded, writing in with a small, amused smile, I know it's rude, but I actually really enjoy eavesdropping. It’s nice to get little pieces of others peoples day. I like to take the clues and imagine how the rest of their day will go. 

Kaiden had spent a lot of time growing up with his ears next to vents. There weren’t always new books to read, and even if there were, sometimes that wasn’t enough. It was nice just to hear people talk.

But I’ll only share stuff that people are saying loudly then? Like people who don’t seem to care who’s listening.

Lupin shared the smile. “I can’t say I share the hobby, but I don’t take you as the type to really overstep boundaries. Still…yeah, I know it’s subjective, but if it’s something I’d pretend not to hear anyway, I don’t think I need to know.”

Taking another sip of his coffee, Lupin noted that he was nearly done, and took a subtle glance to see how quickly Kaiden was going through his.

Kaiden noticed Lupin’s eyeline and, in that same blunt, straight to the point way of his, he wrote in Are you ready to wrap up?

Lupin, master of subtlety and consideration as always, gave Kaiden a startled look for a moment before smiling softly. “Not as any comment on your company, but I am thinking of checking out the classes at the castle next. I’ve been accused once or twice about not smelling the roses.”

Kaiden grinned a bit, relaxing, pleased he had interpreted it right, That’s alright. For the sake of knowing what time I should tell my partners to expect me out, can I walk with you? After that I’ll head home, maybe clean the apartments for everyone before they get home. We tend to leave the place looking like a bit of a whirlwind, every now and again one of us just has to deep clean and today it can be me.

“Absolutely,” Lupin nodded, glancing behind him to make sure he wasn’t going to pull his chair out onto someone, and starting to pick up their cups and plates for the dish bin. “I’d feel better picking a time that works best for the both of us, honestly.”

“That’s quite kind of you,” Lupin laughed softly. “I initially proposed having a sort of cleaning rotation with my roommate, but she wasn’t exactly enthused. We’ve just agreed to take care of our own messes as they come up.”

…and that Lupin wasn’t allowed to deep clean any communal spaces when Zinnia wasn’t home. It was her house, and he’d certainly never break or get rid of her things, but…well, he was still untangling what she meant by ‘perfect, overzealous moron.’

Lupin would probably have a conniption, going into Kaiden’s home. He and his partners had never heard of minimalism and it showed. Mostly Leanne and Milo filling it with either passion projects or random decorations that Milo would find and buy with little to no concern how it matched anything else in the apartment. Kaiden liked it. It made the apartment feel warm.

Kaiden blinked as Lupin collected his dishes without so much a second of hesitation, sputtering and unsure how to politely take them back just to go to the same place Lupin was already going, so mostly just allowing it to happen while softly laughing sheepishly, giving him a thankful nod as the two headed out. 

-

Shuichi had middle that night, which was always a pleasure at the beginning of the night and absolutely tragic by the middle-end of it. At least for Kaito, since while Shuichi was willing to put up with being squeezed and hugged on both ends by his oftentimes overly clingy husbands, by the time he was well asleep and Kokichi was half crawled on top of him, Shuichi always started kicking Kaito off. Unconsciously, sure, and without enough pressure to hurt… physically. 

Emotionally it was devastating, Kaito occasionally blinking awake through the fog of the drug to find he had once again been banished to the far side of the bed. His only point of contact with his lovers being Shuichi’s feet, Shuichi apparently entirely content to keep warming his toes against Kaito’s back once the major source of heat had been literally pushed away.

His tallest husband could be very cruel sometimes, Kaito thought, before letting the drugs take him under again.

That night he had thought it was the kicking that had woken him up again. Kaito dully blinking, slightly groggy still, though by that time of night most of the drug had worn through his system. Staring dully through the haze of sleep at the two sets of eyes peering down at him–AH!?

It was only Kaito in a flashing second recognizing his son and Kimiko peering at him in the darkness that kept Kaito from literally screaming, though he did jerk backwards a bit, a small, urgent “HNN?” sound escaping him, a small showing of the sheer all encompassing shock that had just run through his system as he whisper-shouted, “Kids?! What the hell!?”

Shuichi grumbled something in his sleep and kicked Kaito’s back. Quiet.

“Hey dad.” Timothy whispered, “I didn’t want to wake the baby so I let myself in. Kimiko needs your help.”

“What, what, you didn’t want to wake the baby so you just decided you wanted to give your dad a heart attack, huh!? That’s what we’re doing? Oh god I almost punched your little children faces! …” Kaito blinked, squinting at Kimiko, who was fussing nervously with her palms, “Kim, what are you… what do you need help with?”

“Mommy’s acting weird.” Kimiko whispered, “Can you come look at her?”

“...what? Kimiko you live twenty minutes away, how many guardsmen did you pass to literally ask me to do that?” Kaito asked, even as he sat up, mildly relieved he was wearing boxers that night, “Tim, hand me my pants.”

Shuichi grumbled again, kicking more urgently. Quiet.

Mike glanced suspiciously down the hall, keeping watch as Tim and Kimiko woke up Tim’s dad. Things were…weird, with Doris around, but slipping out from under her nose was still as easy as ever. Especially this late, since it was way past ‘mommy’s favorite hour’. 

Tim probably had things covered, but…if Kimiko needed help with her mom, then it was the least he could do to watch their backs while they did what needed to be done.

“Kimiko wanted you.” Tim shrugged, handing his dad nearby pajama pants while Kimiko sniffled a little, “I offered mom, but she said her mom was acting too annoying for mom, you’d handle it better.”

“Annoying?” Kaito asked, scratching his temple, still trying to wake up as he looked at Kimiko like she was a puzzle, “Kim, what’s happening? Should I get a healer?”

“Mommy doesn’t like healers.” Kimiko whispered, clearly having considered it but too nervous to commit, “She says she doesn’t get sick.”

“Okay…how is she acting ‘annoying’?” Kaito asked, standing up and going to grab his coat, glancing at his husbands. They were both still asleep, and, well, Kaito could handle whatever this was. Especially if what it was was grabbing a healer for Kimiko’s mom. “Explain it to me.”

“She’s been acting funny for a few days now.” Kimiko admitted, eagerly following Kaito, Tim following at her heels as Kaito headed out into the hallway. Kaito raised an eyebrow, seeing Mike leaning against the wall down the hall, “And she’s been very sleepy? She’s been super sleepy before, but now she’s… putting on voices? And shaking a lot?”

“Voices?” Kaito echoed, frowning at Mike, “Does your mom know you’re up and out?” Kaito then paused, before clarifying, “Is she capable of waking up right now? Is she going to worry you’re missing, is what I mean.”

Mike rolled his eyes a little, falling in line with the others. “Doris is fucking out. She’s fine, Kimiko’s mom isn’t, let’s focus on that.” While his words were focused to the point of being a little standoffish, Mike fiddled with the strings of his hoodie anxiously. “...do you think there’s anything we should bring from here? I mean…”

Mike glanced to Kimiko for a moment before shrugging and looking away. “...everything that immediately comes to mind if your mom’s having, like, a panic attack or something I think you’d have at your house. Probably.”

Kaito sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. Doris was…well, she was kind of a piece of work, really. And this was her under supervision. Kaito had started a habit of checking in on Mike and Doris around 8-9 because that tended to be the time Doris was at her most wasted, without having actually fallen asleep yet. Apparently his check-ins were encouraging her to start the hard liquor later though, as she had seemed only a bit tipsy when he had checked on Mike earlier.

Doris was still adjusting to living in a communal livingspace and wasn’t a fan of putting out dirty dishes into the hallway for housekeeping pickup. Kaito wasn’t a fan of that either, admittedly, but he didn’t like how her answer to dealing with the living proof that she was a person who ate things was to let the dishes stack. He used the visits as a chance to collect the dishes and check to see if Mike needed a break and a walk around.

Kaito had no idea if Mike liked the visits or not. He just couldn’t bring himself not to. 

“We don’t have to bring anything, though good on you to think about it. If Miss. Shirogane is hurt, then even if she doesn’t like healers, I’ll take her to a clinic. She can be annoyed with me, Kimiko, don’t worry about that.” Kaito assured her, idly reaching out to pet Kimiko’s hair as he headed down the steps, “And if she needs other stuff, Tim, Mike, I’m assuming you two would still come even if I told you to just go back to sleep?”

Tim nodded, “Chase is still sleepy, but I’m awake. You want us to run for stuff if you need it?”

People kept talking about ‘group-living’ and having them have a fucking babysitter, essentially, all sorts of crap about ‘fixing’ Doris…and it made Mike want to tear his hair out. There was no ‘fixing’ his mom, she was choosing to be how she was. And having a change of setting wasn’t doing anything except making Doris even more of a sycophantic, anxious mess than she already was, trying to please people that she couldn’t even walk around in her own body with.

It was bullshit, and Mike…

…

Well. He was mostly sticking around for Tim, at this point. And…

Mike gave Kaito a stern nod. “You literally can’t stop me.”

“Mmhm, good lad. Bad listener, good lad.” Kaito nodded approvingly, “Alright, let’s go take care of this then. Everything is gonna be fine, Kimiko, I’m glad you came to get me, though after this we are having a conversation about taking advantage of the no doubt handful of guardsmen you had to pass to get to me.”

Kimiko had known it was silly when she had done it. But panicking had made her want the Local Dad. And so far she wasn’t regretting that decision as they hurried to her home.

-

Something was happening to the Flora.

The oldest ones–and do not let the propaganda fool you, there were not many flora left who remembered what the world looked like before Junko, despite her claims of an immortal species. Flora are just as susceptible to the madness of age as templars and gods, and those who were not burnt, or did not walk into their own fires, had twisted and grown silent in Danganronpa’s forests, all but the most durable of them enduring the trials of eons the same way all old plants do: being sill, and silent, digging their roots into the earth and twisting and morphing until passersby were not aware the gnarled trees with faces seemingly in the bark really had once stood up and walked about–would remember how it happened before, when the king fell.

Flora of a sizable influence on the hive? The truly powerful ones, who have had time to implant? Don’t disappear all at once. They can’t. 

The concept of hivemind, to varying extents, is the sharing of a mind. Whether they agreed with everything Junko did, whether they developed their own individual sense of identity or not, there was always a part of a flora’s mind that was her. A quarter of their own minds that was sustained and developed by her. And like the loss of the king, centuries ago, the sudden removal of that chunk of their mind was a restructure of a mind that, in many ways, was a battle of will. One the quarter, dying mind was destined to lose, yes… but one that didn’t occur without a battle, still.

Tsumugi, like every flora still connected, was fighting for her mind while her long-term, overpowering live-in host fought to survive its inevitable, steady fading. 

Tsumugi, like every flora, was struggling to not become Junko.

Most of her ‘sleeping’ was Tsumugi internally regressing into the hivemind, the flora all urgently discussing and trying to organize in a hivemind that was suddenly falling into chaos without the central mind the hive had come to depend on for direction and identity. While in the very beginning the discussion had been coherent enough for people to wonder where Junko was, to discuss and share knowledge of where she had last been seen, what she had last discussed, what she had been working on, all coherency had eventually dissolved into massive sections of the hivemind breaking off into individual identities that, with a lack of better metaphor to provide, were screaming into the void. Scrambling to maintain their sense of identity in a hivemind that was no longer defining them.

(In many ways, it was what newly minted seedlings dealt with constantly. Not strong enough to truly connect to their own hive in any way that mattered, beyond glimpses of each other defined by similar senses when they were already deeply asleep. Lost in a mush of US, US, US, without being able to explain who ‘we’ actually was. Not given the support or explanation to truly embrace their hive in a non-terrifying way.)

(That is to say, Flora had it coming.)

Flora were attempting to keep it together in the throes of their ever-increasing lack of grip on reality and themselves, but it was getting increasingly harder as the days went on and the screams became louder. Flora staring vacantly, lost in their minds while their body went through routine, forgetting things, losing track of time. Eventually shivering and developing fevers as the worst of the symptoms happened, which was (and had been for so long) Junko. Each little piece of Junko left behind trying to take over the bodies left behind, in a way she couldn’t with the empty vessels she left behind to rot.

This was particularly bad in flora cities, where the flora were struggling to maintain not just their own society, but the ones they had enslaved, humans–and other species the flora had deemed worthy to keep among them for spectacle–in a curious opportunity of being surrounded by masters who could not remember who they were minute from minute, let alone where they were supposed to be. Some humans were supporting their masters, ones who had lived more like true relationships and marriages. Most were running, taking their opportunity, if they were capable of movement.

There were many, many fires.

(One city, which hosted most of its death games, was entirely on fire. But could you blame the humans for the destruction? The Flora’s sickness being the only thing that had allowed them to escape their own imminent deaths to begin with.)

And all of this made the chaos worse. Made the battle within the hivemind, not just with the other hives and their physical body and the echoes of Junko, all the more difficult. So that even Flora in the best position, like Tsumugi, were struggling.

Kimiko, attuned to her mothers mood and personality shifts already as she was, had noticed Tsumugi’s attempts to keep it together already. But as Tsumugi shivered and whispered to herself, Flora in their final, all or nothing witching hour, she had run for help. Hoping that Kaito– who at least for Tim and the girls, had always seemed a steadfast, reassuring presence– could pull her mother back from whatever madness she was slipping into. 

Kaito had none of the benefit of any of that knowledge. All he was looking at was Tsumugi, shivering and giggling in her bed, as she poshly gushed, then sweetly coo’d, then punkly cursed in rapid secession, “Oh, look who it is. The other woman. Fucking homewrecker!”

Kaito blinked, hummed a curiously ‘huh’, before looking over his shoulder, “Hey, kids? I might end up taking Miss Shirogane to a clinic after all, I think she has a fever. But first lets see if we can’t soothe the symptoms ourselves. Kimiko, please make us some ginger-peppermint tea, Mike, check the bathroom for fever reducers and if Miss Shirogane doesn’t have any, I want you and Tim to make a run down to the corner store we passed for some, along with sandwiches. Kay?”

“Look at the whore, pretending at being a housewife? How avantgarde for the local himbo.” Tsumugi giggled, before blinking, saying loudly, “Kimiko, dear, use the kettle warmer, not the stovetop! There’s no adult watching, we don’t use the stove when no adults watching!”

“...huh.” Kaito hummed again, looking at her in concern.

Mike squinted at Kimiko’s mom in curious disconcertment before he left to go find the fever reducers. Okay, yeah, absolutely he got why Kimiko had come over to the castle in the middle of the night. He didn’t even know Miss Shirogane, but from how Kimiko talked about her, this was not the shrewd, elegant, loving woman she’d painted a picture of. And Kimiko was a good painter.

Some of it did seem like fever delirium, but…the personality shifts seemed drastic. 

Checking through the bathroom, Mike sighed, irritated, before coming back out and shaking his head at Tim. “Corner store time.”

Tim frowned, looking towards the kitchen, where Kimiko was rushing around, diligently starting to work on the tea. “Alright, but let’s hurry. I don’t wanna leave Kimiko alone too long, she’s really close with her mom. Dad!”

“Yeah?” Kaito called from Tsumugi’s room.

“What kind of sandwiches!?”

“Uh, anything works, but pick peanut butter or eggs if it's available. Hardy proteins, stomach-filling!”

“Mommy likes eggs!”

“Okay, eggs, peanut butter, or whatever they actually have, got it.” Tim muttered, heading out of the house. 

Mike joined him, casting a vigilant, suspicious gaze out on the dim street. Sure, sure, it was a nice neighborhood, and Usott was pretty safe in general, but Mike didn’t think he’d walk around in the dark without a care anywhere. 

…he glanced around more, scuffing his sneakers a little on the ground as they walked. “...weird fever, or just me?”

“I bet it's weird magic stuff.” Tim said plainly, “Danganronpa’s weird and steals people, and Miss Shirogane is from Danganronpa. She’s nice though, so I don’t know, maybe she doesn’t steal people. But since in Luminary stealing people was always weird and magic based, I bet Danganronpa’s the same.”

And Kimiko was adopted, so it wasn’t affecting her. Just through parent stuff.

Danganronpa…

…something missing. Purposefully missing. Like it was trying to hide…

Mike huffed, adjusting the red wristbands he’d recently gotten. “...I have a gross feeling I’ve already been told what might be going on, but it was dream stuff so I can’t remember it. So…” Mike’s expression grew even more frustrated. “...so this is probably happening to more than just Kimiko’s mom, too.”

“Maybe? You don’t meet a lot of people from Danganronpa, do you? Miss Shirogane is the first one I’ve ever met.” Tim shrugged, “So maybe it's happening in Danganronpa. Doesn’t really matter. So long as Kimiko’s mom is okay.”

Kaito, back in the room, reached out to put the back of his hand on Tsumugi’s head, “...you’re warm, but you’re not hallucinating hot.” Kaito muttered, shifting his hand to his palm against her skin, “Tsumugi, can you talk to me? Do you need a healer?”

“To think, to insult us with the presumption of feebleness! We are grand and all-powerful, you blithering peasant! Human worm.” Tsumugi snarled… before she whispered, “Prince Kaito, please don’t allow my daughter back in here.”

“...okay.” Kaito agreed, before leaning in and whispering, “Tsumugi… is this a ‘flora’ thing?”

“Awwww, the pretty pet is feeling brave enough to whisper gods name? KICKASS!” Tsumugi cackled… before she frowned a bit, her expression relaxing as she pulled her tongue back in, “...Kimiko doesn’t know.”

“Okay.” Kaito said, getting up and hurrying to the door as he heard little feet heading towards them, catching Kimiko at the door as he grinned down at her, “Thanks Kimiko! Hey, Kim, I’m gonna ask you to have some faith in me right now, okay?”

“O-okay,” Kimiko said, passing him the cup, looking around Kaito to peer worriedly at her mother, “H-how so, Mister Kaito?”

“I want you to make yourself another batch, something warm for the boys too, and then I want you to wait for them outside on your swingset. Send Mike in with the meds and sandwich and then you and the boys are gonna wait outside while I sort this out.”

“Why…is it because mommy keeps shouting?” Kimiko asked. 

“Exactly that, and its because your mom asked for some privacy too. Don’t worry, I’m here, I’ll take care of her, and if I need more help I’ll come out and collect you guys before heading to the clinic. Okay?”

“...” Kimiko shifted from foot to foot, clearly uncertain for a moment.

“Hey, you already did what you needed to do.” Kaito whispered to her, reaching down to squeeze her shoulder, “You got help, that’s already more than helpful, and once your moms fever clears up she’s going to be very proud of you. Now let me handle what you came to get me for.”

Kimiko hesitated for another moment… before she nodded, hurrying back to the kitchen to warm another batch to sit outside with.

“Brave girl, good,” Kaito muttered, closing the door and looking back to the bed, wincing a bit as he saw Tsumugi had sat up, her hair over her face and her nightgown dipping down her shoulders as she snickered at him, “Ooookay… back to weird possessed Tsumugi, then.”

But to Kaito’s surprise, when he went to her bedside again, while her shivering had gotten worse, her tone had become more even as she said between gritted teeth, “Kaito, it’s like I’m floating… and the only time I can tell which way is up is when I feel claws in the darkness… who am I?”

“Is that a riddle?” Kaito asked, sitting down at the edge of the bed, “Believe it or not, I’m actually pretty good at riddles. Can I get a few more clues?”

Tsumugi shivered, clutching her forehead… before she suddenly focused, smirking at him, “You want a riddle? Sure. You get three clues.”

Kaito grinned, reaching out to take Tsumugi’s hand, watching her shiver, “Okay, sure…probably better to keep you up and talking until we get the fever reducers. But for every clue, you have to drink some of this tea, okay? It’s going to be easier for you to feel better, Tsumugi, if your body’s taken care of. And I have to get you back in tip-top shape for Kimiko. Can’t leave her out in the cold all night.”

“Kimiko…” Tsumugi frowned, her eyes clearing, “Does she have her coat on?”

“Course she does. The cute fur-lined one, with the big buttons. Sip of tea, Tsumugi, Kimiko made it for you.”

Tsumugi pulled her hand from Kaito’s, taking the offered cup and sipping at it, sighing around it as she whispered, “My Kimiko… darling girl…she’s the only good thing I’ve ever done, Kaito. The only thing.”

“I bet you’re not giving yourself enough credit,” Kaito whispered, “But she’s definitely my favorite, of anything you’ve ever done. So good job. She’s a wonderful little girl.”

“My little girl… better than a pet. So much more.” Tsumugi sighed, taking another sip… before she suddenly sneered at Kaito, “Clue one: you stole my man, bitch.”

“Really doesn’t narrow it down. Wasn’t my responsibility to check if every guy who wanted to sleep with me was single,” Kaito grinned, “Sip.”

“Whore,” Tsumugi snickered, sipping again and sighing around the cup, “...clue number two: your daughter’s a thief, just like you. Little… bitch. Is going to take everything.”

Kaito’s grin tensed, his eyes searching Tsumugi’s more. “...okay, but Tsumugi, I know you’re not her. Because she’s gone and will be for a long, long time…”

“Don’t guess, I want to give you my third clue. I don’t care that you’ve guessed already, you human piece of disposable garbage.” Tsumugi snickered, sipping at her tea again, before suddenly reaching out, cupping the side of Kaito’s face. Kaito’s expression stilled, easily following into the guide of his focus, staring back at her warily as Tsumugi whispered, “ I want to watch your eyes…I was always disappointed, that I couldn’t watch your despair, when you found out… I bet it was pretty. Your horror always is.”

“...more tea, Tsumugi.” Kaito said. “That’s the deal.”

Tsumugi giggled, sipping more tea as she let go of his face… before sneering at him over the cup-line. “Clue number three: there were eleven of them. I picked them all out myself.”

Kaito’s eyes narrowed into pinpricks. Staring at her.

She giggled, “It was fun.”

Kaito stared at her a bit, heart thumping in his ears… and the ringing faded when he heard the front door open. “Mike?” Kaito called out.

“Yeah,” came the bored, drawling response. Quiet footsteps before Mike pushed the bedroom door open, casting a suspicious gaze between Kaito and Tsumugi. He walked over to hand off the fever reducer, the sandwiches in a bag, before his eyes narrowed a little. 

“...this more magic bullshit?”

Kaito put his hands together and, with swift, jerking movements, cracked every joint in his left hand, then his right, tilting his head all the way to the right and letting it crack a few times… before he grinned. “Yep! But, don’t worry, this is not my first magical bit of sudden illness I’ve soothed someone through. Old hat at this sort of thing, really. And fevers are easy. I’m just gonna see if regular medicine is enough to get her comfortable first, and if she’s not settled down in an hour then it's clinic time.”

“...who is this?” Tsumugi asked, looking at Mike.

“This is one of Kimiko’s little friends! He’s rude but very capable, you’ll like him,” Kaito assured her, dissolving the fever medicine into the last of the tea and handing it to her, “Alright, you and I both know I’m about to guess right, so you drink the rest of this, that was the deal. Then a sandwich! Oooh, egg, good on you guys for finding it!”

Mike was about to head right back out, intending to join Kimiko and Tim, but he hesitated a moment. Shifting his weight as he gave Tsumugi a sharp look. Kimiko…really loved her mom. It reminded him a little of some of the kids back home. But not in a…dick way. 

“...pull yourself together,” Mike demanded gruffly, irritation through his expression. “Kimiko talks all the time about how great you are--don’t let some loser steal that from you. It’d be pathetic.”

With that, he left the room, not really sure if he’d made his point well, but…he tried.

Kaito grinned, watching Mike warmly as he left, before looking back to Tsumugi. “Isn’t he sweet? Gotta get past a whole lotta fire and brimstone to see it, but Kimiko will be lucky if he imprints on her the way he has onto my boy.”

“He’s a potential breeder,” Tsumugi growled, glaring at the sandwich, “Nothing more.”

“He’s a lot more than that. More importantly, he’s right. Tsumugi, you wanna know why I’m not worried? Because I’m not,” Kaito said, taking the sandwich and unwrapping it, tearing it into smaller bits as Tsumugi warily watched him, “I’ve been talked to like this before. Both this cruelly, and also from the face of someone wearing a mask they didn’t want to put on before. I won’t pretend I know exactly what’s happening. But I know the woman you’re pretending to be is a monster that’s already been vanquished, and you are not that monster. Whatever this is?”

Kaito waved vaguely at Tsumugi’s face, as she scowled at him, though warily she grabbed one of the torn bits of the sandwich, Kimiko right in that she liked egg sandwiches. “This is temporary. This is just us waiting for Kimiko’s mother to come back, and waiting for whatever shitty mask whatever shitty magic thing is happening to you to wear off. Which it already is.”

“Hah! Like you would know anything. Little prince wannabee… dare to speak to a queen.” Tsumugi snarled… before munching a bit more on the sandwich. “...how do you figure?”

“Because I know what it looks like when someone who tortures for fun is bragging at you,” Kaito grinned thinly, lines under his eyes, “And you don’t look like someone who’s ‘having fun’. You look tired. And harassed. And your eyes widen with concern every time Kimiko comes up, because even now you can’t stop thinking about her. Because Kimiko is your daughter, regardless of her species…” Kaito reached out and suddenly grasped Tsumugi’s wrist, glaring at her. “And I know you as her mother. You always come back for Kimiko. She’s your family–”

“I AM HER QUEEN!” Tsumugi shouted, glaring at Kaito, “I am her queen and her life is MINE! We, we, WE are the Queen! No one has EVER done more for Flora than I have, I… I deserve to live! WE DESERVE TO LIVE!”

Kaito’s eyes searched Tsumugi’s, and for a moment, he knew, he was looking at her. The woman sleeping in the coma. The queen. The woman who had tried to murder his daughter. The woman who had, apparently, tortured and killed Kaito’s lovers, had turned Togami from him, had…had brutalized his home, had sent Luminary into a dark age, had a hand in the destruction of his family, ruined them, had sent the pollen that had changed Shuichi, changed Kaito, had taught Luminary how to condition, had infested them with an evil that Maki had to agonize fighting Kaito about, had to fight the Momotas for, Tengan and Chisa had run to Danganronpa for sanctuary…and grinned.

“I’m going to enjoy watching Tsumugi kill you,” Kaito admitted softly. Grinning wider. “I’m having a great time right now. Be sure to put on a show, kay? I want it to linger, my queen.”

Tsumugi screamed at him in rage, and Kaito thought nothing of covering her mouth. Watching as Tsumugi howled, in that moment Junko stronger than ever, making a bid for control in Tsumugi, and in several other points of the hive, which rippled backwards…

-

Togami was stronger than most Flora. There was a reason he and Junko had been friends, as he stood out on a balcony of the castle, screams suddenly erupting out from the feverish crowds of the city below. In the distance was a huge funnel of dark smoke, which had started two days ago and was still burning. 

He ran his hand through his hair–it was long and dark, hanging over his shoulders and blowing lightly against the occasional breeze–as he shivered lightly. His queen…his torturer…his oldest friend, screaming and clawing in the corner of his mind. Pleading with him. Demanding. His life for hers. We. Us. ME!

Togami closed his eyes. There was a terrible part of him that was tempted. To just hand himself to her. It wouldn’t matter. He had considered the same thing for the king, so long ago, and it hadn’t mattered then either. The part of him that was them was too small for them to truly be the life they begged for. Togami surrendering to them, to her, would only delay the fade. 

Junko died at the edge of his mind, and there was nothing Togami could do for her but listen to her screams for life. Still loud and awful among the screams of the Flora, all fighting their own Junkos, all scrambling and begging for stability and grounding among the ‘floating’ of the new, directionless hive.

No one was strong enough to be the new Junko. The only Flora living who could maybe handle the burden of all the hivemind together was still an infant, and cut off from them, under the threat of dragonfire. The Flora would fragment. Would devolve into separate hives, barely connected. They would all be separated. 

Even the Flora that survived were being fundamentally changed, in this moment. A vital piece of who they were dying a screaming, awful death. What was left over would never be what it was. 

What would become of them… Togami hadn’t agreed with the breeding program, by the end, but… Junko had unified them. Flora had been secret and safe under her rule, thriving. Most new Flora didn’t know of a world where their lives weren’t literal luxury, the secret rulers of the world. A world that Junko’s power and ruthlessness had allowed them to live.

The Flora were about to be thrust into a sudden, unexpected era of strife…the temptation to rely on Junko, this screaming, dying echo of her, was tempting. Hopeless and tempting. They were adrift.

…Togami wasn’t sure why Kaito came to mind, in that exact moment. But he smiled lightly. A memory of Kaito–just a boy back then, really–enchanted with old Luminary music. Singing those songs about the Molly Malone myth. Kaito didn’t know that style of music had been adopted from Danganronpa, back when Flora had been welcome travelers. Back in the king’s days. 

…..maybe a part of Togami, if he was being honest with himself, hadn’t loved Kaito for who he was. There was a type of Danganronpa human that just didn’t exist anymore, in Junko’s era, and gods, Togami had seen it in Kaito. Those days before Junko had come to power, where humans hadn’t been breeders but sheep herders, and farmers, and hah, gardeners. And Togami had seen Kaito playing those old hurdy-gurdies and singing the old songs and it was like Togami had seen the old ones just suddenly dropped into the desert. Togami had watched the desert prince and suddenly saw old friends, lovers, from field villages that didn’t exist anymore. And it was like suddenly Togami had been himself again. The version of himself he had been before a slice of his mind had been filled with Junko.

Togami hadn’t loved Kaito. Togami had loved the version of himself he was reminded of when he was with Kaito.

And as Junko screamed and clawed and begged in his mind, Togami said into the wind, low and calm, “Down along the creek… I remember something.”

-

Tsumugi stopped screaming, suddenly staring in the middle distance. Kaito raised an eyebrow, carefully pulling his hand back as she whispered, “Her, the heron hurried away, when I first breached the wall…”

Kaito’s eyebrows shot up a little… before he grinned slightly, leaning back. He knew this song. He had learned it on a particularly nice night next to a firepit in the desert. Togami had taught it to him, and asked him to sing it, over and over that night…

“Low moon dawned the yellow road,” he sang low with her, eyes crinkling up a bit as she shot him a surprised look. 

What? Everyone always underestimated him… His husbands had long desensitized him to going with the flow for the latest Random Magic Bullshit. And Kaito didn’t really believe in coincidences anymore, not for stuff like this. If Tsumugi, after all of this, was now singing a song Kaito knew. From the other…yeah. From the other Flora in his life? After unwillingly wearing a shitty Junko mask? Yeah… Kaito knew a good sign when he saw it. “I remember something~”

Tsumugi, hesitantly, smiled back. Her tone harmonizing with him as she sang more fully, “That leaving wasn’t easing–”

-

“--all that heaving in my vines.”

Manor Norhan was rarely a quiet place, but with dozens of voices replacing the weeps and groans and huffs, it felt…full. Flora already made microcommunities, not just separate, balanced rings around their queen, and the community Izais had made with the people in her duchy was tight knit and strong. Junko had always been there, yes, but with Izais being not just a small part of that big thing, but another still, and being able to retain her own identity…some concepts of independence were not as foreign. 

And with their mental closeness crumbling around them, freefalling in the deaththroes of a whalefall, the concept of banding together physically had been quick to implement. 

“And as certain is it evening at is now is not the time~”

And so Manor Norhan was full. In people, in community, in sound. 

The Flora’s songs had always been something Suzu had found the most beautiful. Izais closed her eyes, clasping the hand of the Flora next to her, and them the Flora next to them, and so on, and imagined his voice joining theirs.

-

“Toiling with your blood!”

Danny cheekily called out, slicing through the falling debris, barely flinching at the embers he reduced it to. Human and Flora alike behind him looking at him like he was a monster, though the Flora had murmured the words along. Taking the chance at his wink to run towards the exit he’d made, running for safer territory. 

He couldn’t hear the Flora’s response, but he almost felt the one deeper in the inferno. Twin telepathy, you could call it.

Vergil almost tonelessly muttering the words like a condemnation as he skewered the crazed Flora begging the queen to take their body, pinning them to the burning floor. His eyes a cold contrast to the flames before he left to find the next. 

“I remember something.”

-

Gundham was fighting a fire, because it was spreading to the breeding home that two of his devas were currently laid out in, swollen and pregnant. His hands shaking as Junko–now able to see the most secret part of him–raged and clawed against him as a traitor, trying to sabotage his attempts to save his humans. 

But Gundham took his position as a breeder seriously. He always had. If humans were being put under his care, he was going to care for them. If they couldn’t survive in Danganronpa, not without being miserable the whole time, then he was going to make sure his humans were relocated somewhere they could thrive. If Souda wasn’t going to survive being his? Then dammit, Gundham didn’t regret joining the group that would take Souda away.

Even if Gundham missed him. Even if he still thought about the curious, intelligent human, who let genius fall from his fingers like it was nothing. Smarter than any Flora Gundham had ever had the displeasure of getting to know– YES IT WAS TRUE, YOUR HIGHNESS, YOU MADE A KINGDOM OF IDIOTS.

“AND BE IRRATIONAL, KISSING ON THE SECOND NIGHT TO LAST!” Gundham more wailed than sang, trying to drown out the powerful Flora that would turn his hands away from his duty, Souda’s infuriatingly miserable, intelligent eyes flashing through his mind, turning away from him when Gundham gave him the opportunity to leave, an offer Gundham had half hoped he wouldn’t take, “FINDING BOTH YOUR HANDS AS SECOND SUN COME PAST THE GLASS–”

-

“Oooooh-ooohoo~” Monokuma hummed, laid out against the mountainside, watching the stars more than his burning countryside, listening to the border villages in the distance grow louder with their own hums and cries and whistles of harmony. 

Monokuma feeling Dicea at his back as he hung where he always did, at the edge of every country, unattached and amused at the efforts of all of them, human, Flora: all of them. Amused even at the sobbing of his queen, who had realized making a foothold in his melty, unconcerned mind was impossible. “And oh, I know it felt right, and I had you in my,” Monokuma laughed, tickled pink to have been alive to see a goddess fall. Who’d have thunk it? “Grasp.”

He paused a second, listening to the distant wails, before genuinely asking, “Oh then, how we gonna cry?”

-

“...Cause it once might not mean something?” Togami agreed. More and more Flora harmonizing in that maybe this was good. What right did they have to weep, after the abuses they had heaped onto the world? Abuses done under her influence, sure, but… who could not see the evil of what they had done? Now that she was fading?

They had been healers once.

-

And that thought rippled through the hive, as some of the circles insisted they were allowed, and others wondered, were they…?

-

Love, a second glance, is not something that we’ll need! 

Wailed some of the Flora, insisting this changed nothing, NOTHING, they were still rulers of the world, they were FLORA, they had a RIGHT to the world!

Honey, understand, that I’ve been left here in the reeds! 

They had been abandoned, wept others. Who were they without Her!? They had never been anything before Her! They had never planned to be more! What were they meant to do!?

But all I’m trying to do is get my feet out from the crease…

Flora, already, pulling away from the main hive. Flora who had always wanted to, and now had the chance, turning away from the wailing, lost brethren. They’d figure something out. They had to. 

It was the start of a new era.

-

Tsumugi wept into her hands, each chorus a cracked, aching sound. She didn’t know when Kaito had grabbed her hand again. When he had crawled into the bed with her, pulling her close. 

“And I see you…” Kaito murmured, rubbing her shoulder a bit, trying to think of the last bit. The last bit was hard to harmonize, because, Togami had taught him, by the nature of the song, the last part was meant to change to reflect who you were talking to. That the song wasn’t a love song, but a song of Importance. To be sung to someone who, by their influence in your life, was important to you. 

And Kaito had always turned it into a love song, when he sang it to Togami. Of course he had. He had been in love. Togami had made him feel understood. Loved. Like Kaito mattered…

He didn’t know who Tsumugi was. She wasn’t Junko, but she was Flora. And Flora… had done terrible things. To the world. To him.

But Kaito had done terrible things himself. And Tsumugi had seemed more and more herself as she sang. Full of doubt, full of regret, full of fear, sure. And still talking like maybe she was speaking to people Kaito couldn’t see. Her eyes out and searching in places Kaito couldn’t see.

And Kaito remembered voices he had thought was god, guiding him through his childhood.

They hadn’t always been unwanted. Like Togami, there had been moments where Kaito had felt equally loved. Moments he had reveled in the company. It hadn’t all been miserable, and misery, and hatred.

“...go, and come back when you are ready,” Kaito said, his low murmur matching Tsumugi’s sudden high melody, “Go, and tell me what you see.”

-

“Go, and tell me if the world includes me,” Togami whispered.

-

And in one last bid for control, a voice screamed through the hivemind

GOD DAMN, TURN AROUND NOW!!

…but only some screamed it, a last, dying bid… and when their voices fell to silence, the screaming in their mind faded with them. And in the softness of the silence, other voices rose up, uncertain and testingly, like they were afraid their voices wouldn’t work anymore, the silence in their minds consuming the physical air around them.

Go…find what the world will have us be…

-

And maybe it doesn’t bare saying. But Miyako and Addason both slept soundly through all of this. The infants warm and cozy, unaware of history being made around them. Unaware of what it meant for their futures. For their people.

They wouldn’t have cared if they had known anyway. 

Infants were self-absorbed that way.

-

The kids had been outside on Kimiko’s swingset for about forty minutes so far. After a bit of needling, Kimiko had finally convinced Mike to at least try to sit on the swingset, and was now cheerfully insisting, okay, now you should let us swing you! “It’s fun! You feel like you’re flying~”

Mike grasped the chains of the swing tightly, still giving it a skeptical look. It was just so…narrow. And it felt like he was getting into it backwards or something, so it felt like he was just going to tumble backwards off it and--

…Mike did want to fly. 

He gave Kimiko and Tim a tense look. “...you’re not just gonna shove me out.”

“I’d joke ‘yes’, but I feel like you’d immediately try to leave the swing, and then fall, and then die,” Tim said.

“Timmy, noooo~ it’d take a much bigger height to kill Mikey!” Kimiko giggled, before saying with a glasgow smile, “I bet we could get him that high though…”

Tim raised an eyebrow, before patting Mike’s back. “You’ll be fine. We’ll push, and when you’re ready to stop I’ll slow down the chain, kay? Until you learn to swing yourself.”

Mike had snorted softly, but then twitched a little, snapping at Kimiko, “Don’t call me that.”

(...but he wasn’t back in Edahu, and Kimiko wasn’t Frey or any of those other idiots. And Tim wasn’t Nox, or any of those boring extras. Kimiko’s teasing was just teasing, and Tim’s reassurance…wouldn’t have happened anywhere else.)

So Mike just huffed, looking away. “...it’s just Mike. And I think if you guys managed to get me as high as possible, I could probably end up on your roof if I let go at the top.”

Tim glared at Mike… but relaxed when Kimiko stuck her tongue out at him. “Mike-arooni~”

“No, that’s too long,” Tim shook his head, going to Mike’s side, grabbing the chain as Kimiko hurried behind Mike, placing her hands on his back, “And annoying. I’m not listening to ‘Mike-arooni’ for however long.”

“It’s not longer than Timothy!” Kimiko insisted, starting to gently push Mike.

“It is, it’s like one syllable longer,” Tim said, keeping his hand steady on the chain for a second, waiting to see if Mike was gonna panic. After a moment, he let go, standing by to catch the chain again when the swing slowed down, Kimiko valiantly pushing more and more, Mike getting more and more air. “Four syllables is too long.”

“Your dad is too long~” Kimiko giggled.

“Your mom,” Tim answered without missing a beat.

“Your sister!”

“Your friend Cali.”

“Your friend Mike!” Kimiko giggled, “Mikearooni!”

“I think a nickname stops being that when it’s longer than the full name,” Mike griped, though it was telling how less vitriolic his comment was this time. ‘Mikearooni’ did sound ridiculous, but…at least it wasn’t Mikey. And whatever Kimiko would come up with after it would probably be purposefully even worse.

He did tense a little as Kimiko started pushing his back but…he was staying in the swing. Weirdly trying to adjust his balance to do so, but…it was kind of like when he started to figure out how to walk on two legs. They had swings back in Edahu too, so it wasn’t like the whole concept was foreign, just…how it worked for a different body type. And Mike liked to think he picked up on things quickly. 

And as he started to get more air? …yeah, okay. This was pretty cool. 

He snorted a little. “I don’t think anyone’s accused me of being ‘long’.”

“To be fair, you are currently competing against my dad, Kimiko’s mom, and my baby sister, which I think makes you and Cali the average?”

“Of being too long,” Kimiko agreed with a nod.

“Of being too long.” Tim nodded, stepping back to put his hands in his pockets, leaning his weight back on his hind leg. “You’re getting some air. Gonna try to make it to the roof?”

“I think we have a ladder, we can get you down again!” Kimiko said cheerfully, before glancing over her shoulder at the house, “...do you think everything’s okay? Mister Kaito said he’d come get us if he was going to bring Mommy to a clinic…”

That…wasn’t how averages worked, but Mike wasn’t going to start a whole argument over pedantry over a nonsense metric in the first place. He didn’t totally lack a sense of humor, even if the things he tended to find funny were pretty singular.

“We’ll see,” Mike said lightly, whooshing through the air. They had a way to go before he wouldn’t just face-plant in the dirt, but they were definitely getting there. “It’d be cool if I could do a flip or something.”

…Mike had no idea how human ladders worked. 

Or how things were going inside. 

“He seemed like he had an idea of what to do, if nothing else,” Mike called down as he swung high. “I think your mom’s doing battle or something, so…between her own power and having Tim’s dad as support, I think she’ll be okay. I left a force sensor in your dad’s pocket too and that hasn’t gone off either, so we’re really just in the ‘waiting’ part.”

“...you left a what?” Tim asked, tilting his head up at Mike, genuinely confused, “What’s a ‘force sensor’?”

“Oh, oh! It’s a sensor that communes you with the force of nature,” Kimiko guessed, “Big push coming up Mike! You ready?”

“Bring it on!” Mike grinned, starting to get the hang of adjusting his balance in the swing. “And, nah, it’s basically an accelerometer that has a separate output and a threshold cap so that if something suddenly accelerates then it sends a notice to the output which I h--OOOUP - OUGH!”

It looked reasonable. The arc of the swing and the force of Kimiko’s push. So Mike had let go, trying to push himself to the roof…and found that gravity was much more considered than he thought, as he free-fell through the air, tumbling into the bushes around Kimiko’s house.

“Mike!” Both Tim and Kimiko gasped, hurrying over to the bush, the two looking him over as Tim offered Mike a hand up, “Are you okay?”

“Are you dead!?” Kimiko gasped.

“Send us a sign from the other side,” Tim said sternly.

“That was awesome,” Mike declared, a little unsteady as he let Tim help pull him up, but his eyes gleaming with excitement. Straightening his glasses and getting his hat from the bush, he was a little scuffed but pleased-looking. “Man, I wonder what it’d be like to be flung from a trebuchet, if just a swing is that cool.”

“But, yeah. Basically, your dad starts moving around really fast, I get a beep,” he belatedly finished explaining, brushing off his pants.

“...wait, do I have a tracker on me?” Kaito asked, holding the door open for Tsumugi, holding her hand as she gingerly stepped out onto the porch, “Like, something you’d see in a science fiction story? Mike, I’m going to tell you that’s cool, but I need to stress the ‘inventing a tracker’ part is cool, not the ‘planting it on me’ part.”

“No, Dad, he didn’t make a tracker, he made a…geeeettting attacked…alert…inator,” Tim finished lamely.

Kimiko squealed, immediately running for her mother, “Mommy!! Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!! Are you okay now!?”

Tsumugi smiled tiredly, wrapping her arms around Kimiko as she tackled herself into a hug around her waist. “Yes, baby… I’m sorry. Mommy wasn’t feeling well. The fever was making it hard for me to think. I’m sorry I scared you…”

The singing hadn’t actually lasted that long. Most of the last half hour had been Kaito basically making sure that, one, the episode was really done, and two, the shitty Junko mask wasn’t playing games. Once he had determined Tsumugi had really calmed down, and it was really Tsumugi? Kaito had okayed getting up to check on the kids. 

…later he’d probably ask Kokichi to check in. Just in case.

“Not a tracker,” Mike backed Tim up. “It’s an accelerometer. And, what, would you rather I put it on her??” He nodded a little to Tsumugi, but…after that?

Mike went a little more subdued, stepping back slightly as Kimiko embraced her mom. Looked like Kaito really did know what to do, among the rapid empty information he’d given earlier, so that was good. It’d be disappointing if Kimiko’s mom lost to the weird magical…maybe possession thing that was happening. The secret thing. No one should lose their parent to bullshit magic, especially since Tsumugi seemed to be half-decent.

Mostly looking away, pulling forward the collar of his hoodie, Mike only watched Kimiko’s reconciliation with her mom, and Tsumugi’s reassurances, out of the corner of his eyes. Imagine that, apologizing for being sick.

Kaito took Kimiko and Tsumugi aside, affirming the two were going to be alright for the rest of the night and having a talk with Kimiko that, while Kaito was super down to be called on again, if Mommy started acting weird again, Kimiko had full permission to get a guardsman if she found one first. Then Kaito pressured Tsumugi to repeat that, ensuring Kimiko heard it from both of them. Anything weird happening? Run for the closest help first, then Kaito. It was safer that way.

When the girls headed back inside, Kaito grinned for a bit… before he huffed. Running his hand over his face for a moment, taking another deep breath… before looking over to the boys, grinning lightly. “Okay, you two done playing on the swingset? Geez, guess I know which park to coax you to next, Mike. There’s a lot of cool-ass play sets around the parks around the castle, I think you’d have a blast with any of them.”

Tim cocked his head to the side. “What was wrong with Miss Shirogane, Dad?”

“Um…I’m not entirely sure,” Kaito admitted, walking out the front gate, heading down the sidewalk, “I’m gonna ask around for some people to double check her in the morning, confirm what I… think was happening. But I don’t really know.”

“Then how do you know she’s better?” Tim asked, following behind him.

“You don’t always have to know what’s wrong to recognize what someone needs,” Kaito said, shrugging, “She was handling it on her own, she just needed someone to sit with her and handle the kids. Like… a lot of the time the only thing you can do for someone being sick is get them comfortable, fill them full of food and water, and just be comforting through the worst of it. At least for the immediate, anyway. Like I said, I’ll be asking around for someone to look at the source of what happened, get to the root of the problem. But for now? She just needed a stable presence. She’s past the worst of it.”

Mike rolled his eyes a little. He could find his own fun just fine, thanks. And now that he’d gotten the initial hang of it, he could figure out swings on his own. 

(...though he couldn’t really imagine going to a playground by himself. It seemed…really lame. And he liked chatting with Tim and Kimiko.)

“...I think the entire field of medicine might have more to add to that point,” Mike grumbled, before he sighed a little. Thinking. “Is she past the worst of it, like…should she get an anti-possession charm or something? Or…”

Mike’s expression twisted more. “...there’s a lot of debate around how conscious people are in comas.”

Kaito rolled his eyes, though not in the direction the boys could see it. He had some self respect. “Look, I will take your word for it on any attack-alert-inators, can you please give me some credit that I know something about being a first-response caretaker? Like, how have I not earned that?”

“Mike probably doesn’t know about Uncle Kokichi’s illness stuff. Or Mom’s injuries. Or Uncle Shuichi’s…weird thing that happened that one time.” Tim shrugged.

“Oh, yeah, that’s fair… and the pregnancy! That was a long pregnancy, I want credit for learning how to navigate that too!” Kaito huffed, smacking his fists together, “Plus a bunch more stuff! I have so much experience with this stuff! I’m overflowing in it!”

“But Mike's right, isn’t whatever’s wrong with Miss Shirogane magic-based?” Tim guessed, “Doesn’t normal illness stuff not count? Should we get her some sort of… magic charm thingy?”

“That’s the ‘bunch more stuff’ I was referencing earlier, and I am begging you kids to give me the benefit of the doubt on. And that’s what I’m having people look in on tomorrow morning. She’s just getting some rest tonight, we’ll know what was actually wrong tomorrow. Or, someone will.” Probably Kokichi. Maybe Kaito? Maybe he could ask Thalia? Oooooh, he should ask Thalia. “So it's taken care of.”

“As for the coma comment…look, what sent us all to sleep that night? I’ve been assured she is still deep in that, however it works. And unlike us, she doesn’t have a boy genius to needle her way out of it. She’s out…also, where is that attack-alert-inator you put on me anyway?” Kaito asked, patting his pockets.

“...and if she’s not out?” Tim asked. “If she wakes back up?”

“You let me worry about that,” Kaito muttered, still patting his pockets.

Mike still gave Kaito an unimpressed look. Okay, sure, maybe he had just a ridiculous-sounding amount of experience, but he still wasn’t explaining it well. Mike may not always choose to argue for pedantics’ sake, but damn did he still choose it sometimes. 

“So you just don’t want us to do anything, even if our ideas could have merit,” Mike summed up concisely, cutting through Kaito’s franticness. And it was something that he probably would be just fine with…had Kimiko not come over for help before. She asked for help, so it wasn’t like Mike was going to totally drop the issue now.

Mike sighed a little, fiddling with the golden clasp in his pocket. “...so it’s not really a matter of consciousness at all. The way that dream worked, I think, is like a completely separate dimension that just…happens to have, like, portals through people’s brains. So it’s not like she’d ever wake up naturally. Whatever’s making that dimension, or holding it together, would have to let her out, or…something would have to enter that dimension and do their own magic fuckery to get her out.”

He frowned, lost in thought. “...but that doesn’t really make sense why she’d be able to possess Kimiko’s mom. Unless it was like… I don’t know, psychic-bleedover, which is insane, or…vestiges? Sorta…?”

“Which idea? The possession charm idea? Now? Mike, it’s 2 in the morning, where am I getting a possession charm!? I mean…I guess there is that night market I hear about all the time…” Kaito pouted, before shaking his head, “It’s not needed, she just needs some rest! And Miss Shirogane wasn’t possessed.”

“...then what was she?” Tim asked.

“...” Kaito pouted harder, glaring at the darkness, “...wearingashittymaskthing.”

“What?”

“She wasn’t possessed, she was wearing a shitty mask thing!” Kaito insisted, already knowing that wasn’t going to make any sense.

“...like a…” Tim paused, really trying his best, “Like an invisible mask?”

“No, like a mental mask!”

“...which is?”

“It’s when, like… like…” Kaito floundered a bit, “Like you’re pretending really hard, involuntarily.”

“Oh… how do you know–”

“Because the mask slipped anytime you mentioned something she actually cared about, and she wasn’t very good at pretending to be the thing, there were flaws all over the mask which showed how shallow and underwhelming the mask was in the first place! Like 80% of the time her heart wasn’t in it, and the other 20% she got the beats and expressions all wrong! Shitty mental mask! Always temporary! Just gotta let them play it out!”

“...Dad, Mike’s explanation makes more sense–”

“Yes, I know! Where the heck is this attack-alert-inator I can’t find it!”

“Not now, especially since it isn’t urgent,” Mike griped. “But literally acknowledging that we have anything worthwhile or even potentially worthwhile to say at all? Instead of just telling us to fuckin’ forget it. You are awful at explaining things and it makes you sound so dismissive.”

Like a lot of adults, really. They assumed you wouldn’t understand, or figured that you didn’t need to understand, so they explained things dumbed down or so vaguely that it lost all meaning at all and became worthless, and then when you called it out or tried to get extra information, they just used your lack of information as confirmation that you didn’t know what was going on and thus didn’t need to know. A cycle of bullshit ignorance. 

Though some of the poor explanations may just be Tim’s dad, as Mike raised an eyebrow, trying to parse just about…anything, from his rant about masks. 

A…shitty, involuntary mask. Which slipped when you brought up things the person cared about and… If that lady was in another dimension but something was…bleedout, or…in pieces…from a…

“...what a weird way to describe multiple consciousnesses fighting for control,” Mike muttered, before sighing and quickly slipping his hand into Kaito’s pocket. He considered it for a moment, before taking a little hopping step, reeling back to whip the small device into the air as hard as he could. 

After a moment, there was a beep from Mike’s own pocket. A small, satisfied smirk nestled onto his face. Nice, it did work.

Kaito groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. Ugh, do not get into an argument with the 11-year-old, don’t do it. Be the adult! Adult Kaito guy… go–oh! 

Kaito jumped when he felt a hand more blatantly in his coat pocket, watching in confusion as Mike hefted whatever he found there away… before peering curiously at the beeping device. “Oh… huh. How does…no, I can’t even guess, how does that work?”

Tim tried to recall what Mike had said, and could really only remember ‘impact’ as he explained, “It notices when the other thing is moving fast.”

“No, I mean, how?” Kaito asked, peering into the darkness where the thing was sent flying, “...also, don’t you need that?”

For the third time, Mike started to explain, “The other piece is basically an accelerometer, so it measures differences in speed. I set it so that if it registers above a certain threshold--faster than someone just casually walking around, basically--it trips an indicator that’s--”

“Oh, um…” A large shadow suddenly came out of the dark, moving oddly, “Is…this yours?”

“Oh…like what they’d use to measure rocket altitude–oh!” Kaito lost his train of thought, staring wide eyed as a person uncurled out of the darkness, Kaito looking up to follow the eyeline of the person as he lumbered forward…and quickly reached to his side to put his hand on Tim’s arm. “No, no, no.”

Tim put the knife back in his pocket. 

Kaito grinned at the figure, stepping out in front of the kids as he said, “Hey! Sorry, man, did that hit you!? I didn’t see you out there, that’s my bad!”

As the figure entered the light of the nearest street lamp it became…well, more apparent that it was a teen, somehow wearing a cold-weather appropriate version of a hoodie and sweatpants and rubbing his head a bit. He stood with a bit of an awkward hunch, holding the half of Mike’s device gingerly between a few fingers. 

“Um, that’s okay…” the teen said softly before, after a beat, holding out the device. “Thought some part of a building had come loose or something.”

Mike peeked around Kaito, trying to both be invisible to the guy he’d accidentally hit, but also…whoa. The streaked hair was pretty cool, but…what was up with this guy’s eyes? Very metal.

After another beat, the teen asked unsurely, “Hey, uh, if you’ve been out here…have you seen a guy my age around? Uh…short? With a briefcase?”

“No, sorry…” Kaito stopped a beat, really looking the guy over. Take away the height for a second, then with the slouch, the puffy cheeks, the body that was way too lean for its size and shape suggesting a recent growth spurt… but mostly it was just the kid’s voice, as Kaito suddenly demanded, “Wait, what the heck are you doing out here? It’s like 2 in the morning! Do your parents know where you are!?”

The teen balked a little, voice unsurely pitching, “...yyyyyyes?”

Mike peeked out a little more, frowning slightly. Oh come on, this guy looked cool… “If you’re sneaking out or something, you’re really not selling it well.”

“No, I-I mean, I, well, yeah, my parents know where I am, but…okay, maybe not now-now, they know I’m in Usott for the weekend, but…” the teen rambled a bit, fumbling over himself before he took a good look at Kaito. Squinting a little, before he cut himself off with a little sigh. “...are…you my dad?”

Mike was learning a very valuable lesson about how deceiving looks could be.

“...what?” Kaito asked, looking a bit bewildered at the question, before huffing, thumbing his nose a bit as he said, “Ya know what, for tonight? Sure! Because what I’m hearing is you’re out here alone, and you’re missing someone? Another kid? When did you lose your friend? We’re collecting him, and I am walking you back to wherever you’re staying tonight! There’s only two reasons to be wandering around this time of night, and you’re too young for both of them!”

“What are the reasons, Dad?” Tim asked goodnaturedly. 

“Drinking and…overly dramatic melancholic mood lighting! What are you, 16? You don’t get overly dramatic melancholic mood lighting until 18! I’ve decided!” Kaito frowned, looking around in the dark, “Seriously, we should find your friend, it's dark out.”

…so he wasn’t hearing a straight-out no, so…it was still possible. 

“Oh, um, you don’t have to, uh…” the teen sighed, awkwardly pulling down the sleeves of his hoodie. “Riz said to meet him by this soda fountain place, but I think I found the wrong one since it was closed… I-I’m 15, actually.”

A blink, before he belatedly said, “Gorgug.”

“You’re not getting out of this,” Mike warned, taking the half of his device back from the teen as it became more apparent Kaito wasn’t going to try and keep him and Tim behind him, before he gave the teen a bewildered look. “What.”

The teen looked more unsure. “...Gorgug?” 

“Bless you. Bless you again,” Kaito said, scratching the back of his neck as he looked around, muttering, “15… okay. Ugh, and we have no idea where the other kid is then. You said he was short? Carrying a briefcase? What’s his name? What’s your name, actually, sorry, I lost introductions. I’m Kaito Momota! Luminary Prince of the Stars! Ex-second son! Prince-consort of the Cacti Fields! Um…shoot, I’m more tired than I thought, I can’t remember the rest.” Kaito pouted. “It’ll come back to me. Along with young Mike of the– oh! Of the Saihara household, shoot, Shuichi will kill me if I forget that bit, and there's one more, I’m sure of it… anyway! Young Mike of the Teavee family and young Timothy of the Harukawa family!”

“Dad?” Tim said, “Missing kid?”

“Introductions literally only took a minute Tim, let me have this.”

“I don’t think Riz is missing, he’s usually around somewhere,” the teen mused, looking around like his friend would just appear. And, honestly, knowing Riz, that really could just happen. The guy had a knack for stealth. 

“Um, nice to meet you all,” the teen nodded to the others, before unsurely saying, “I’m Gorgug of the…Thistlespring family? Is that just a way of saying last names?”

“What kind of name is ‘Gorgug’?” Mike asked, more genuinely wondrous than deriding. Sure, it was looking like Gorgug was kind of a dweeb, but his aesthetics were too cool.

“Mine,” Gorgug responded, not sounding offended in the slightest.

“Don’t be rude, Mike,” Kaito said, like he hadn’t literally thought Gorgug’s name was him clearing his throat after a sneeze twice, “And, yeah, essentially that’s what that is? I mean… there’s nuances. Like, for instance, I don’t share a last name with the family that I’m claimed by, but to ensure people know I’m claimed by a Saihara as the head of my household, I let people know by saying ‘of the Saihara family’. And Tim here, for instance, does share a last name with the head of his household, it’s just not a household head that we share even though technically we’re still an immediate family unit, but he could have just as easily had me claim him as the head of the family, except I’m not the head of my family so I can’t–”

“Missing kid, Dad,” Tim said again.

“Right! Missing kid!” Kaito said, looking around again before asking Gorgug, “Okay, when were you supposed to meet Riz?”

Gorgug stared at Kaito, nodding at him with a slightly vacant, but thoughtful expression. …okay, yeah, no, he wasn’t really getting any of that. Mostly, he didn’t really know what a head of household was, but by the expressions on the younger kids’ faces, it…probably wasn’t that important. 

“Um…” Gorgug looked up, like the stars were some celestial timepiece. “Well, we split up around midnight, and it was supposed to be quick…ish. Like, travel time aside, I guess. Um…” 

Something seemed to occur to Gorgug. “Did…you hear about the explosion at the university yesterday?”

“Oh yeah, apparently like a whole building collapsed. I only found out ages after, though.” Mike pouted a bit. “And it’s not like they really let people go check out the rubble or anything.”

Ugh, yeah, Kaito had heard. Kokichi was still overworking, assisting in all of that. There was a reason Kaito hadn’t wanted to wake his husband for all of this--the Ouma needed the rest. Kaito was just relieved no one had died, if only because he knew how it affected his smallest husband. 

(He did not yet know that someone he considered a friend had been caught in the blast.)

“Mike, don’t go exploring rubbled buildings. It’s dangerous, and your burns have only just healed. No more injuries,” Kaito scolded, though he crossed his arms, frowning at Gorgug, “Wait, what does that have to do with you though?”

“You can’t tell me what to do,” Mike said matter-of-fact, rolling his eyes a bit. And the only reason why he would want to go see the collapsed building was if it wouldn’t be any hassle at all; really, he wished he’d gotten to see the explosion itself. He bet it was really cool…

Gorgug shrugged a little, somehow making his tall frame even scrunglier. “Riz ran into a few people who were in the blast, so he was looking into it a little. That’s what he’s doing tonight, following up on a lead. I was just wondering if you’d heard anything, since I don’t know a ton. And, uh…” Gorgug gave Kaito a sheepish look. “As a prince? You’re usually involved in emergency stuff so…I-I dunno. Thought I’d ask.”

“...he’s…looking ‘into’ it?” Kaito frowned, turning that thought around in his mind… before shouting, “WHAT?! He does know there’s a real possibility that that blast was intentional, right?! What do you mean he’s ‘looking into it’!? What if he confronts the wrong person!? He could get hurt! Briefcases are not shields!”

Kaito scratched his hands roughly through his hair, his waved hair entirely falling over in all the wrong directions, before he pointed at Gorgug. “Okay! You are going to tell me where your friend was investigating! Then, you and these two are going to the castle, where you’re going to ask for a room for the night! Cause guess what! I’m kidnapping you! It’s a kidnapping–”

“Dad, Uncle Kokichi said you’re not supposed to call it kidnappings,” Tim reminded him.

“I am strongly suggesting that you three go to the castle, where this fine young man will request a room for the night, and get some rest, so that I know where to take his friend when I find him, and can make sure you both get to where you’re supposed to be in the morning!”

Gorgug’s face settled into a wince, a few teeth poking out of his lips even more than they were. Sorry Riz… “Not like…that kind of looking into it, like…” He sighed a little as he caught Mike’s eye, the kid shaking his head a bit at him. Too late, then. 

He mumbled around already staying at the castle--apparently they were putting up the Corbran force during their investigations, so that’s where Riz was staying with his mom, and Gorgug was staying while he visited--before sheepishly starting to explain. “Well, uh, apparently there’s this artist collective that does stuff with, like…fire art. Burning things and explosions and stuff. And Riz talked to a few of them that are college students, and apparently there was a meeting scheduled tonight so he went to go check that out.” Gorgug shrugged a little, trailing off. 

Mike’s eyes widened in interest. “Where’s that happening?”

“...” Kaito squinted at Mike, “...I really shouldn’t take you, specifically, to an arsonist club…”

“I wanna go see the arsonists too, Dad,” Tim decided, not adding anything after that. The four of them just sitting in the silence.

“...so?” Kaito asked.

“So we’re gonna go.”

“I told you to go to the castle!”

Tim didn’t even look unimpressed with Kaito’s glare. He looked like a kid who just already knew how this was going to go and was just waiting for Kaito to catch up. Which was an infuriating way for the kid who should be listening to you!! To look– “Fine. But only because I don’t feel like yelling at you two every half a mile just because you’re still following us! Atua spare me, one day I am going to convince people to just listen–”

Kaito continued to grumble a little, pushing his palms into his eyes as Tim came over to pat his father’s arm in sympathy, when Kaito suddenly looked up in surprise. “Wait! I may know where arsonist artists would go do that! Gorgug, did your friend mention a warehouse?”

Gorgug, too, wasn’t…thaaaaat sure little kids should be going to an arsonists’ club either, but, well… He squinted at Kaito. Total dad-type. 

As Mike smirked in victory (and excitement), Gorgug blinked in surprise. “Uh, yeah, actually… Riz said that the people he talked to mentioned they had to keep things even more subdued tonight, considering the explosion, so it’s not like they could do things in a field or anything…”

Mike tilted his head a little, raising an eyebrow as he put things together. “...that drug den that artists took over after being a cult hotbed?”

Gorgug just looked at him for a moment before softly saying, “Huh.”

“Yeah, no, that’s basically it, yeah. All the more reason to stress the warehouse district isn’t somewhere any of you have any reason to be! …except for right now. Under my supervision. That includes you, kid,” Kaito said, pointing up at Gorgug, “You don’t get a pass being a giant! Kids don’t need to be at the warehouse district! …alright, let’s go.”

It was a pretty long walk to the warehouse district, and Kaito found himself thinking of the Rage Room while he was in that area. He and Maki had spent a lot of time making fun of it while they were there, but sometimes Kaito felt like going back and giving it another try. It was nice having a designated spot to work through some of his more angry and intense emotions outside of therapy, and he felt like he hadn’t given the dump a fair chance at being that source of outlet.

He thought about Mike saying that Kaito talked to people like they had nothing to add to a conversation. He considered it a bit before dismissing it. Maybe it was true, but Kaito wasn’t going to get anywhere that night reflecting on it. He had done a lot of reflecting, constantly, lately, and to be honest he was a little fed up with it. Just worn down on the art of self improvement. If he was dense? Fine, let him be.

As they got closer to the warehouse, Kaito glanced over his shoulder, checking in on the kids. “Everyone alright back there?”

Tim had been showing off his obsidian knife to Gorgug and had been testing the water with Mike to see if Mike wanted to show off Tim’s brain flashlight, or if lacking context wouldn’t make it as impressive as it was. He glanced at his dad and said, “Yeah, we’re just looking at stuff.”

Gorgug, in turn, had awkwardly shown off his drumsticks, Mike having noticed them clicking together in his back pocket. It felt a little less impressive than a really cool knife or…an anti-brain control light? And Gorgug wasn’t really sure if the younger kids were interested, like…at all. 

Mike thought his device was cool enough even without a demonstration. …which meant he didn’t want to make Tim get magical medical help while they were walking random streets in the middle of the night, and was instead just bragging about the technical notes he could explain. 

It was like that, Mike hautility explaining things over Tim and Gorgug’s heads, and Gorgug holding out one of his sticks that they looked over to Kaito, Gorgug nodding slightly. “Uh, yeah. All good.”

-

Deidara and Riz sat on a set of stairs, catching their breath. Riz had clumps of fire extinguisher goo starting to cake into his clothes, and Deidara was still dripping a little, even if he’d taken off his outer layers to dry near the re-kindled indoor bonfire. 

“...little man, I’m going to get the driest fucking chewing out of my life when I get home,” Deidara sighed, the two of them staring at the wall, just…processing.

Riz winced in commiseration. “My mom’s not going to be happy about this either… I think she was hoping I’d be a little older before my first homicide case.”

“...fuck, un.” Deidara flopped back on the stairs, covering his face.

“I mean…” Shigeru chewed on a stick a bit, chomping down on it. It had chipped off from the wall when he had been thrown onto it, he had watched it fling over his shoulder and onto the floor. He didn’t consider himself with an oral fixation, but once everything was done and he was taking inventory he had seen it again and had just… picked it up. And started chewing on it. “...homicide is a strong word. Is it homicide when all of us were screaming ‘oh gods no what are you doing’?”

“...” Riz half-shrugged. “Nah? I mean…though we’re involved, no one here is really implicated in murder. It…” He glanced over towards the body for a second. “It’s a pretty clear suicide, even if we were fighting in self-defense. Dead-body-involved case, I guess is what I mean more.”

“Bystander negligence is a thing,” Deidara suggested. “We could be implicated in that. Along with escalation, though I dunno, hm, what anyone’d expect attacking a buncha people who specialize in demolition and arson.”

“Mom’s gonna be so mad,” Riz whispered.

“Who was negligent? I screamed ‘have you gone mad’ at least five times,” Shigeru said, chewing on the stick some more, “...I may vomit. I can’t decide if it was being in the first serious fight of my life, watching someone burn to death, or chewing on this wood. Wood’s probably safe to chew, right?”

All three jumped when there was a banging on the warehouse door. “Hey! Art folks, you still in there!? I can smell the smoke, this is Kaito Momota, Luminary Prince of the Stars, Prince-Consort of the Cacti fields, uh…shoot, I’m tired. Is there a kid in there?! Shigeru, I know you’re in there! Why is the door locked!?”

The door was not locked, in fact. There was just a massive tool shelf that the crazy broad had shoved in front of it. Something about taking them all with her. 

“That’s Kaito, I know him. What’s he doing here? Looking for a kid?” Shigeru asked, confused who Kaito could mean… before he suddenly squinted at Riz. Who was… very small…

“Most are, unless they’ve been treated.” Riz looked at the stick for a moment. “...you’ll probably be fine.”

Deidara put a hand on his heart after the bang, melting more onto the stairs with a groan. “Shig, since when do you know a prince?” He opened an eye to stare down Riz next. “Am I the only one here without royal connections?!”

Riz…wasn’t sure why one of the princes would be looking for him either, so while Deidara groaned about getting back up, he got up to trot over to the door. “The door isn’t locked, er…someone pushed a shelf in front of it so…hold on…”

-

Gorgug perked up a little, hearing Riz’s voice on the other side of the door, though at what he said…

“Riz, you and anyone else stand back, okay?” he called, before giving Kaito, Tim, and Mike a little nod and polite shooing motion. With a breath, Gorgug rolled his shoulders and closed his eyes. When you’re feeling angry and can’t decide, if you should huff and pout or run and hide~

With an aggressive grunt, Gorgug full on tackled the door, his breaths huffing and puffing as…slowly, he started to push it open.

Kaito stepped back, curious to see what the kid would do… and whistled low when the kid pushed the door open, a scraping sound on the other side showing off it was no mean feat. “Wow! Strong, nice!” Kaito said enthusiastically.

Tim pouted, before darting around and beneath Gorgug, shoving up his sleeves a bit before pushing on the door beneath Gorgug, blowing out his cheeks a bit as he went “Hnnnn,” trying to push. 

Kaito snorted, raising an eyebrow, before clapping. “Good effort, Tim! Helping out!”

Mike watched on, both impressed and a little…confused-amused. Looking between Kaito and Tim for a moment. He…wasn’t really sure if he should be offended on Tim’s behalf at Kaito patronizing him, but…Tim was obviously ‘helping’ for Kaito’s praise, so… It was just weird. 

Inside, Deidara’s eyes widened in amazement before he sat himself up, idly adjusting his fishnet gloves as he hummed and joined Riz. Giving the kid another side-long look. “You really weren’t kidding about having connections, huh?”

“Networking is all part of the job,” Riz rescinded blithely, before adjusting his hat and grinning sheepishly once Gorgug pushed the door mostly open. “Hey, Gorgug. Got a little caught up here, sorry for being late.”

“Yeah…” Gorgug sighed, catching his breath lightly from the door. “It - it’s okay.”

“...is it not okay!? What the hell is all of this!?” Kaito shouted, looking around, taking in all the lumps of white foam that was still hanging around the room, bordered by darkened wood, half turned to soot by long-exposure to fire. His eyes scanning around upturned furniture, empty bottle rockets, ripped apart fire blankets and– “Timothy, Mike! Close your e-eyes! Gorgug, you too, uh… you three… Everyone close your eyes!”

“Oh!” Tim said, looking a little surprised, but not overly distraught, as he spotted what his dad was freaking out for. “They’re dead, huh? …sucks.”

While Gorgug put a hand over his eyes, Mike just balked for a second, words failing before he peered a little closer with curious eyes. “Whoa. You guys kill them?”

“O-kaaaay, let’s get ahead of the story, hm?” Deidara piped up, giving the hoard of kids a look before…eh, well, he’d absolutely have been the kid to go look at dead bodies out of curiosity too. Go nuts, little guys. “They were trying to kill us, and killed themself. Only thing we did was defend ourselves, yeah?”

For a moment, Deidara looked over Kaito, his gaze calculating. “You the prince? Gonna call the guards?”

“Of course I’m going to call the guards!” Kaito insisted, before hesitating, “...why? Is there a reason not to–Tim, Mike, if either of you get ANY closer to that body you are grounded! The castle has a dungeon, I WILL use it!”

“Dad, the dungeon is a library,” Tim reminded him, though he stopped scooting closer to the body.

“Nah, can’t a guy just ask a friendly question?” Deidara drawled, still looking Kaito over. 

Riz sighed a bit, and blindly Gorgug reached out to pat his shoulder. He missed a few times and brushed the side of Riz’s head in the attempts. “Considering that we have the full story, I don’t think there’s a lot of investigation about the body to be done, but you probably shouldn’t tamper with it before the guards get here anyway.”

Mike frowned a bit, peeking around Tim’s shoulder. “...they killed themself by burning to death? That’s…pretty intense.”

“No shit,” Deidara tiredly sighed, running fingers through his wet bangs. He may believe that the nature of things being fleeting is what made them worthwhile, but…burning to death took a lot longer than he’d thought. It had been…pretty horrifying, honestly. Like slow decay, but still fast and strong enough that none of them had been able to stop it.

Kaito glared at the…maybe woman? He really couldn’t tell, the person laid out on the floor, their body charred. Awful…Kaito felt his stomach squeeze in revulsion. Ugh. He had never seen anyone burn before. Or the aftereffects of anyone being burnt. He hoped Tim’s ease was typical ‘Tim Ease’ and not ‘Tim’s Totally Seen This Before’. 

“...Okay,” Kaito groaned, rubbing his face, “I am…I am going to go find a guardsman. I wonder if Lake is on duty…I’m going to run, so, Mike, Tim, if I leave you guys here, will you not touch…” Kaito looked around warily, “...anything?”

Mike gave Kaito a dry look. “I can’t exactly float, can I?”

“Oh…” Quickly flipping open his briefcase, Riz scampered over to Kaito and handed over a business card. “I’ll make sure the crime scene stays untampered with, Prince Kaito. Uh…thanks.”

Deidara was no babysitter, thank you very much, but he sighed and gave the kids a grin. “We always bring marshmallows to art night. You guys wanna roast some?”

Mike pulled a face, though Gorgug turned towards Deidara’s voice, evidently interested.

Kaito pulled a likely identical face, giving the blond a ‘wtf’ look…and sighed when he saw Tim enthusiastically nod. “Alright, I’ll be back… Gorgug, kid, you can look, just stay with the others, you don’t need a burnt body seared into your brain.”

With that, Kaito was off. Jogging out towards the central city. 

Tim hurried over to the little bonfire, sitting down and saying, “Marshmallows?” 

Shigeru smirked at the boy, having met him before when Kaito was showing Tim how to blacksmith once. “Hey, little man, nice to see you again! Yeah, hold on, it’s around here somewhere… What are you all doing out here so late anyway? Everyone having a weird day?”

Mike didn’t care about marshmallows, but he followed Tim over to the fire, figuring he could just enjoy burning one. Considering the rest of the mess around them, burnt marshmallow goop would be the least of their worries. 

Uncovering his eyes, Gorgug followed the younger boys over, Riz soon following and sitting next to him. Deidara gave the two of them an amused look as he searched out their stash of marshmallows. The size difference was very dynamic. 

Nodding, Gorgug pointed to Riz, mumbling about how he was there for him, while Mike just shrugged flippantly. “It’s not that late, really.”

“I’m kinda tired,” Tim admitted, thanking them as he was handed a metal stick and passed around some marshmallow bags, looking genuinely delighted as he put his stick over the fire. Nice… “My friend’s mom was acting weird, and she asked my dad to come help. She was acting possessed.”

“...huh,” Shigeru said, frowning as he added three marshmallows to his own, “How do you mean?”

“She was talking like she was someone else. Someone who was kind of a dick, really,” Tim explained. He hadn’t cooked marshmallows since the trip to the beach. He was glad to be doing it again.

“Mm,” Mike nodded, taking a marshmallow and plunging it into the fire for a moment, watching with fascination as he pulled it out to watch the flames. “She was sick, I guess, so it was, like, fever hallucinations. Or at least that’s the thing that makes the most sense.”

Smiling, a few of his teeth poking out, Gorgug, seeing Shigeru take three marshmallows, took two and carefully hovered his stick above the fire. It wasn’t like roasting marshmallows was something he could never do, but it was fun all the same and…something a little cooler for this trip than trying to make sure Riz didn’t get himself into too much trouble. 

Because some was inevitable. 

Taking a marshmallow for himself, Riz barely put it to the fire at all, his brow furrowing a little. Glancing warily at Shigeru and Deidara, before slowly asking, “Like, the stuff she was saying… It didn’t happen to be supremist stuff, did it? Like…calling people worms or anything?”

Tim’s eyes widened a bit, nodding. “She was mostly being really shitty to my dad, but he wasn’t really reacting so I guessed she wasn’t really saying anything all that relevant. He’s got anger issues, so I figured if she was actually bothering him it’d be obvious. But, thinking about it… yeah, I would call it supremacist stuff. She talked like he was lesser.”

Shigeru chewed on his wooden stick some more. “Ours was saying we were all dirt and worms and that she deserved to live. Which is what I still can’t wrap my mind around… why keep screaming that you deserve to live, and then throw yourself into the fire?”

Riz’s eyes widened as he stared at his marshmallow, unseeing. Gorgug gently put his hand under Riz’s, making sure he wasn’t about to drop his stick into the fire. Very deliberately the shorter teen said, “Psychosis can make you do some weird things…”

Mike looked up and just stared at Riz for a moment. Then he looked at Gorgug. Taking in the black sclera, his…well, both teens’ teeth, the way in certain light Gorgug’s skin looked a little green… “Hey, you gave Kaito a business card, right? Can I have one?”

Snapping out of it, Riz looked surprised for a moment before nodding, handing his stick to Gorgug while he opened his briefcase and got a card out to hand over.

Deidara, watching all of this, snorted. “Alrighty then, let’s just keep talking around each other until the guards get here, I guess.”

Both Riz and Mike sent him a pointed, yet enlightened look.

“What do you mean?” Tim asked, gently turning the stick over the fire, before with a loud ‘womph’ noise, sticking the whole marshmallow into his mouth, “L’urgh ‘aschig ‘rmph?”

Shigeru scratched his arm uncomfortably. “What’d you say little man? Swallow first.”

Tim swallowed. Then swallowed again. Tried to speak… before shrugging. Reaching for another marshmallow as he waited for the marshmallow in his mouth to dissolve. 

“Nothing, nothing~” Deidara said, lounging out a little as he poked at his drying clothes with a sigh. The water they had on standby was such a formality most of the time…

Getting his marshmallow back, Riz dug into it without abandon while Gorgug more thoughtfully bit into his perfect golden brown ‘mallows. “You’re making a point about how most of us have information the others don’t, and so we’re talking around giving that away, right?”

“Could be,” Deidara shrugged.

Mike just squinted at all of them, plunging his sugar goo back into the fire.

Shigeru huffed, leaning back as he crossed his legs. “I don’t have shit. But considering everything that just happened, I’m not against hearing what you guys have–no, little man, you and angry eyes over there are the youngest here, don’t just volunteer whatever you have unless the others agree first. It’s not fair to you.”

“...okay but I just wanted to ask you to pass the marshmallow bag,” Tim said, his mouth clear. “I wanna try the three marshmallows per stick trick.”

“...yep. Here you go,” Shigeru said, only a little embarrassed as he passed it over.

Riz looked a little uneasy. He took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair, the fluff springing back almost immediately. “...look, someone just died tonight, this isn’t something without stakes. I…think it’d be best if we just gave whatever information we do have to the Guardforce and not entrench each other more than we are, just for our own safety.”

Mike wrinkled his nose. “You think the Guardforce is going to do anything? They haven’t even caught you burning this damn place down.”

“Hey, hey, we got permits this time,” Deidara defended. “Though I agree with Specs. Not like I’d do anything either, but I think placing all your hopes in the Guardforce to handle everything is a bad bet, hm.”

Gorgug was quiet for a few moments, before slowly working out, “I think there are probably more people freaking out tonight, but if they calm down like your friend’s mom, then…stuff like the college explosion won’t happen anymore.”

Deidara looked over sharply, that getting his full attention. “You think they’re related?” Looking between Riz and Shigeru, he frowned. “Look, Riz, I know you came here to ask about the explosion, and I get how it looks with what happened, but…that really wasn’t us. What, you think a bunch of folks just got, like, CO2 poisoning and lost their minds all at the same time?”

Mike sneered at Deidara a little. “Could be,” he mimicked.

“Uncle Shuichi thinks it’s the death cult acting up again,” Timothy said, more or less unconcerned with all of it, “Uncle Kokichi worried it might be the LRG, but he talked like it was just a worry rather than a real theory. You think it’s what happened to my friend’s mom?”

“I don’t see what the issue is, leaving this sort of thing to the guardforce. And I mean that in a ‘I can’t see what anyone’s supposed to do about it, might as well let the people whose job it is run around trying things that won’t work.” Shigeru said, “She came out of nowhere. None of us knew her. She can’t have lived around here, there’s no resident buildings here. Maybe she worked nearby, but it’s too late for her to be working, which just makes all of this… more random. A random act of bullshit. How do you deal with that at all?”

“Well, they seemed to have worked something out,” Tim reminded him, pointing to Gorgug and Riz, “If someone says they have figured something out, it's probably smart to just hear them out. Nothing gets done if you just decide something’s impossible and won’t listen to anything else.”

“Look, I am all about trying things people say won’t work. That’s my whole life. I just… that felt random and impossible to stop,” Shigeru muttered.

“W-well I wouldn’t say we have something worked out…” Gorgug muttered.

Riz sighed a little, looking at the fire. “Some things really are random…but there’s not a lot that’s completely random. There’s usually some aspect that has reason behind it.”

“Even if it’s a shitty reason,” Mike griped.

Riz glanced at him and nodded a little before looking back at the fire. “...what we have worked out really is just telling the Guardforce. My mom’s on a special unit investigation from Corbra, it’s why we’re in town. She got called in because of that communication blackout in Usott about a week ago, but between that, the explosion, and now…these incidents… It might be looking for something that isn’t there, but I think they’re connected.”

Riz’s brow drew in, worried but determined. “I think it’d be wise to get any news from Danganronpa we can, going forward. To make sense of the randomness.”

“We were all asleep,” Tim explained, chewing on some more marshmallows, “Though I’m sure someone’s already told you that. It’s not a secret. The entire city passed out.”

“...yeah,” Shigeru frowned, “And we all had strange dreams…I was riding a lot of fire ponies? I think I had a whole ranch of them… or something. It’s hard to remember.”

“I was having an adventure with my friends,” Tim agreed, “My mom says it’s like when people in Luminary all have similar dreams during ritual holidays. The dreams all start to sound the same cause we’re reminded of the similar stuff we dreamed when we all talk about it afterwards. Finding patterns.”

At least, that’s what she said people would eventually explain it away as.

Deidara gave Tim a considering look for a moment before sighing at what Shigeru said, leaning back a bit. “Not a secret, but a lot of people are trying to deny it, and the castle hasn’t given a solid answer either. Because how could a whole city of people all fall asleep at once, hm?” He said it sardonically, but…that really was the question people were asking. 

“Yeah, still haven’t really found a good answer for that,” Riz muttered. 

Mike thought it’d be alarming if he did. Even he didn’t really get the how of how everyone had fallen asleep into the same dream dimension. 

“I wonder what I would’ve dreamed about,” Gorgug said softly, his voice a little wistful. “A lot of my dreams are weird and kind of creepy; hanging out with fire ponies or having an adventure sounds nice.”

Glancing over, Riz offered a comradely half-smile. “This adventure not doing it for you?”

Gorgug laughed quietly. “You know, roasting marshmallows in a half-destroyed warehouse at 3 in the morning is pretty cool.”

Tim glanced over at Mike, before purposefully catching his marshmallow on fire and pointing it like a sword at Mike. “En guard.” 

Mike grinned like a shark, burning the gooey prongs of his stick even more before brandishing it back at Tim. “Bring it on!”

As the boys began to fight, Deidara just snickered, waiting to see who’d get more of a reaction from his jeers and commentary. And seeing that the adults weren’t doing anything (honestly Gorgug was just assuming, and it wasn’t like Deidara would lump himself in with the kiddies) he tentatively called out, “Uh, I…don’t? Think you should be swinging around things on fire?”

The boys weren’t really jabbing at each other. They were strategically just banging the sticks together, more than anything, flourishing in elaborate moves. Tim rolled his eyes a bit, as he said, “It’s fine, what’s the worst that can–oops.”

Tim watched the burning marshmallow fling off his stick after a particularly elaborate flourish. And because the universe WAS biased, towards anything funny and especially against Kaito, his father squawked as a burning marshmallow bounced sloppily against his neck, and then down his shirt, causing him to jump backwards into the guards he had brought, “AH!”

“Sorry Dad,” Tim said, not loud enough to possibly be heard over the increasingly alarmed, “HOT HOT HOT” before he looked at Mike, “Wanna sneak upstairs before they make us leave the cool warehouse place?”

Mike scrambled up--Riz catching his abandoned marshmallow poker--and took Tim’s hand, racing up the stairs.

As one of the guards helped Kaito with burning hot, sticky sugar on his skin, Lake walked forward, crossing her arms with a sigh as she spotted the body. Looking to Shigeru and Deidara, she asked, “Why is it always you?”

“Not our fault this time!” Deidara protested. “We can’t help that our artistic vision is riveting even for people with death wishes!”

Lake just shook her head a little, running a hand through her hair. “I will be escorting you back home after your statement, and letting Sasori know.”

Deidara immediately deflated. “Whaaaaat?! Lake, c’mon, hm! Danna doesn’t - come ooooon!”

As Lake started to remind Deidara that he was a minor, and thus they needed a guardian to check in with, Katsuki glanced up towards the second level before leveling her gaze on the teens. “...you’re Detective Gukgak’s son, correct?”

Getting the confirmation, she turned toward Kaito. “Would you be willing to take these two and Michael and your son home after we take initial statements, Kaito?”

Kaito had taken off his coat and his shirt, pouting as he peeled dried sugar off his skin, before glancing up at Katsuki. “Yeah, of course. Wait, is this an officially sanctioned Kaito kidnapping, or are their parents at the castle?”

A little sheepishly, Riz and Gorgug handed their pokers back to Shigeru and got up, approaching the door and Kaito and Katsuki, the other guards taking stock of the situation inside the warehouse. “My mom, Detective Gukgak, is on special investigation from Corbra, so we were invited to stay at the castle, arranged by the Usott Guardforce,” Riz explained, shifting his weight a little (swinging his tail nervously, though his illusion charm was putting in work). “And, uh, Gorgug’s visiting for the weekend while we’re here so…he’s staying with us.”

Gorgug looked down, tapping his fingers nervously. “Are you gonna tell my parents too?”

“Uuuuuh yeah? Wait,” Kaito narrowed his eyes, “Are your folks one of those parents that’s going to do terrible things to you for disobeying? Ooooor, conversely, one of those parents that is going to react to the news with so much apathy that it’ll both emotionally devastate your young egos and drive you towards even more risky behavior because their lack of attention has both motivated you to greater feats for their attention and also devalued how much respect you should have for your own well being?”

Gorgug blinked. Thinking about his parents. About the hugs and check-ins if he was alright, and if he needed time and help processing, and suggestions for a counselor, and…all the songs that would probably spawn about it being okay to feel unsettled or scared and that they’d always be there for him…

“Uh, no, the Thistlesprings are really nice,” Riz answered, “But Gorgug wasn’t involved in this, he came with you.”

Taking that in, Katsuki considered it for a moment. “...your parents will still have to be notified, as notice for your mental well-being, but you don’t have to make a statement, and wouldn’t be considered a witness to the events this night. Considering the line of guardianship, Detective Gukgak can be the one to tell your parents, if it would be easier to come from a trusted source.”

Speaking of… There was the sound of quick running on pavement from outside the door, Riz glancing over curiously…until he winced at the call that came along with it. 

“RIZ!”

Kaito nodded. Alright, he’d accept that Gorgug’s parents weren’t physically or emotionally abusive… for now. 

Upstairs, Tim peered down at the scene unfolding, a woman storming in. “I think that’s his mom,” Tim guessed, before looking around the warehouse upper deck. Taking it all in.

…there wasn’t much to see. 

There were large metal cylinders, all covered in graffiti and singe marks. Down one of the walkways, Tim spotted an office looking room, heading over to it. 

Inside, there was an overturned desk, paperwork strewn on the floor, and a shit-ton of art supplies shoved inside, pushed into every corner. It was half a storage room for the warehouse days and half a storage room for the current art folks, as Tim reached down to pick up a random piece of paper. 

“This place used to make booze,” Tim realized, glancing over the paper, before tossing it onto the floor, “...you think you could use a place like this for experiments? I don’t see why the art people should get to have all the fun.”

“...hey, how much of the dream do you remember?” Tim asked, kicking around the papers.

Mike was amused to see that the art losers didn’t even bother to right the desk. Though he supposed it could’ve been toppled over recently…though how the supplies were stored, that didn’t seem to be right. He nosily sorted through some of the papers, nothing particularly catching his eye…

Though Tim caught his ear. “Oh totally. This place is already wrecked to shit, it could take a little more abuse. Though I’d either need to be sneaky about it, or ask that guy how they got their permit. Seems like this place is really on the guards’ attention.”

Lightly kicking an empty paint can, Mike sighed and adjusted his wristbands. “...not enough. Just…bits and pieces coming back, which only give me more questions about what happened.”

He frowned, glaring at the floor. “...I feel like I was there with someone, but…I don’t remember enough about them to find them out here.”

-

Almost skidding into the warehouse, Sklonda Gukgak could barely even be disappointed with the mess she saw inside before she honed in on her son, pulling him into a hug before looking over him. Soon checking over Gorgug too. “You boys okay? I heard about this deployment at the castle--Riz, what are you even doing up, it’s after 3? Gorgug, I’m sorry, I--”

She took a breath, pulling herself together. “We’re going back to the castle, and you’re going to sleep, then we’re talking about this in the morning, okay?”

“Yeah, Mom,” Riz said quietly, starting to actually look a little ashamed now.

“Awww.” Kaito grinned, watching a mom doing mom things. He was into it, it was hot. He missed his husbands. Where were his kids?

Riz’s mom sending Kaito through a whirlwind of emotions, Kaito looked around, frowning. “Where the heck did those boys–”

“They ran upstairs,” Shigeru said, looking over from where he was giving Lake his statement. “There’s nothing up there other than art supplies, they should be fine.”

“Yeah, one of them weaponized marshmallows and I’m pretty sure it was the reasonable one, so I don’t trust that,” Kaito said, heading up the stairs, calling over his shoulder, “Miss Riz’s mom, give me a moment, I’ll be right back if you’d like some company walking back to the castle!”

Deidara was pouting, starting to gather his now-dry clothes from the fire and getting supplies ready to douse it. They’d probably be encouraged to leave before the guards finished investigating the warehouse…and taking the body to the morgue, but he could at least prep them for not burning down the warehouse.

As Sklonda looked over the teens more, ending up taking Riz’s statement anyway, Mike glanced over from within the office, sticking his tongue out a little. “Your dad’s coming up, I think.”

“Yeah, I figured he would eventually. I just wanted to look around,” Tim said, placing his hands behind his neck and leaning back into it, staring at the ceiling for a moment, “...red ribbons?”

Mike looked up at Tim for a moment, surprise on his face, before looking down at his wristbands. Red. Snug around his wrists. Not something he would’ve considered wearing, really, but not outside of his style. 

…and yet, something about the style…

“...ribbons,” he muttered, turning that over in his head. 

Tim shrugged. “That’s all I can remember, when I think about who you were with. I remember a little bit getting excited to battle you? It's all really jumbled and distorted, but that’s the majority of it with you. Battles and red ribbons.”

“Boys!? Boys–oh, there you are. Sheesh, it’s been a long time since I’ve been up here.” Kaito murmured, looking around, frowning, “Wait, was I ever…?”

Kaito paused, looking over at the area around the safety rail, near the stairs, staring at it… before he shook his head, looking back to them. “Eh, getting myself mixed up. Kids, come on, we’re going back to the castle. There’s still enough morning left to get some sleep.”

“Okay Dad,” Tim said, more pleased that Kaito wasn’t about to scold them for running off as he headed over, “It’s been a weird night.”

“Tell me about it. Now let’s get back before either of your uncles notice I snuck off. Come on, Mike!” Kaito called, “Wrapping up!”

“Uuuuuugh, it’s barely even laaaaate,” Mike griped, dragging his feet but still coming along. Well, at least he wouldn’t have to contend with Doris coming back. No way she’d woken up. 

-

Josie had gone through with it, ultimately. That whole process included sitting down to have a serious talk with his moms…and his therapist. And his former case workers. And while it was his decision, the case workers really had pushed for him just waiting for his birthday, but…well, Josie never considered himself the most patient person. 

And while he wouldn’t scoff at the descriptor of a silver tongue, he didn’t consider himself a wordsmith either, but…he really tried to write a good letter. The first thing Josie would say to his brother in nearly a decade. 

Dear Mick, a lot of the letters had started, but Josie began to rethink it. It…wasn’t exactly that the nickname was a term of endearment when they had been kids, but it was a type of familiarity that Josie just…thought might not fit well with what he was trying to do. 

…and that pattern of writing a few words, then scrapping them all continued through the whole process. But eventually, Josie did send off a letter in the mail that made its way to an address he’d gotten from his case workers. 

-

Micklaighn,

Bet you never thought you’d hear from me, huh? Sorry if this surprise is more of an unpleasant one. Promise I won’t be offended if I just sent you some kindling.

To be honest, this is draft number way-too-high-that-I’m-embarrassed-to-even-say. People might question why I’m writing to you at all if I don’t know what to say--people’ve called me crazy for bringing the subject up even when I pretended I did. But the reason I don’t know what to say is because…I have no idea who you are, and that’s part of the reason I’m writing. 

What happened to us was fucked up, and it’s been years of just processing that, at least on my end. Processing, changing, growing…it’s what we hope for at least, right? And I’m at a point now where I’m curious about how it’s gone for you. I want to know the person you are now, and I can only hope that that person is a little curious about me, too. At least to the point this letter isn’t just an insult. 

I’d like to hear from you, but if I don’t, then I’ll take that as a sign that you don’t, and I won’t bother you again. But…I would like it if I got to the point of knowing who you are that I know what to say.

Your brother Cheers,

Josie Sylga

Micklaighn sighed, putting down the letter. Soot dirtying the edges, which he regretted a little now. He had seen the name on the envelope and hadn’t waited to wipe off his hands before heading into the break lounge and looking over it. 

He wasn’t sure what he had been waiting to read. In truth, he hadn’t had any expectations. Josie getting in contact had been a non-possibility, twenty minutes ago, Mick had never seriously considered it. And when he had seen it, he had just known he needed to… see it. He hadn’t so much as hesitated.

Now that it was open? He felt a lot more reserved. He had a lot to think about…

“Micklaighn! We’re about to drop #43! Come give us a hand?” called one of his coworkers, the scent of tree shards hovering thick in the air, “It’s a lot of ropework, it's the big one.”

“Yeah, I’m coming,” Micklaighn called, sighing as he folded the letter up, putting it in his pocket and grabbing his ax. Back to work.

-

Kaito hadn’t meant for this trip to turn into a Miyako/Addason playdate. But once he had learned Thalia was hanging out at Temp’s, like… of course it was gonna double as a Miyako/Addason playdate, Kaito watching with open joy as the two babies both individually played with blocks… but near each other. And sometimes looking at each other! Curious about each other!! Ahhh!!!!

“If I could take photos? I’d have a thousand pictures of this, right now,” Kaito told Thalia seriously, staring at the babies, “And I’d show them all to everyone.” 

“I bet,” Thalia drawled, curled up in a large black sweater on Temp’s couch, watching the infants play. There was a certain amount of fondness in her, pride whenever one of the kids managed to actually stack a block and make it stay, but…there was a thrum of tension through her. A fear and wariness that, as far more relaxed she was here, still never let her completely put her guard down. “You’d make your own column in the paper about your kids’ antics if they let you.”

Thalia sighed softly, playing with the end of her hair, just pulled into a loose side braid today rather than her usual style. “...Miyako’s been sleeping alright lately?”

“Through the night! She’s my little saint~” Kaito cooed, giving Addason a little gasp of encouragement when he got a second block on, Addason giving Kaito a baffled look at his joy, “Good job, Addie! You’re so smart! Are you gonna be the smart kid? I bet you are! Don’t worry, Miyako, exploring the block’s shape just means you’re curious! Maybe you’ll be artistic?”

Glancing up at Thalia, Kaito winced, his grin a bit apologetic. “You have not been sleeping through the night. Look, I’m about to take a massive guess here, but… does it have something to do with the thing I asked to talk to you about? Flora stuff?”

That was good. Miyako and Addason were blocked off from the hive, like Thalia, so they really shouldn’t be affected at all. They had never known a life with the queen, so everything was as it had always been. That was good.

Look, Thalia didn’t have a lot of lost love for other Flora. She loved her mom, she loved her brothers, but she had always been a loner and the politics people took up because of Junko had made her sick. But still…

“...Danganronpa’s on fire, Kaito,” Thalia said softly, her face…haunted.

Kaito’s eyes strained a bit. Not for Danganronpa, not really. Kaito’s compassion didn’t work that way. But for the pain in Thalia’s face, which… yeah. “I’m sorry, Thalia. How bad has it gotten?”

“I don’t know,” she muttered, leaning against the back of the couch. “My mom’s tried to keep me updated, but she doesn’t know what’s going on in the whole country. No one could do that.” Left unsaid was the ‘except Junko’. 

Thalia closed her eyes, huddling into the sweater more. “...entire cities are literally burning. With how things are going, I wouldn’t be surprised if half the capital is rubble. People are panicking, losing themselves… My mom’s a noble, and she’s always looked after her people, so they’re doing alright, everything considered, but…there are so many people that relied on Junko for nearly everything.”

Rubbing under her eyes, she shook her head a little. “...my brothers are helping people escape. Non-Flora. And…my brother a little older than me, not the twins… He has an orphanage, slash, like…community housing, I guess, and people have always been welcome to seek shelter there. There are people taking charge, offering help…but it’s like an apocalypse. The Flora are falling apart.”

Thalia laughed softly, her voice shaking. “And that’s good? It’s what my brothers have been working for and what anyone who realized how monstrous Queen Junkpile really is…was, have been hoping for…” 

“...I guess I just never considered how scary it’d be,” she murmured.

“...” Kaito looked down at his knees a moment, trying to think of the right thing to say, “...it gets better quicker than you’d think it does. The big, awful breaking point doesn’t… it doesn’t linger. Maybe a few months. And most of that won’t be, like… actively destructive.”

Kaito sighed, rolling his eyes. “Nevermind, that’s so dismissive. What I’m trying to say is that this part is awful, and I’m sorry it's happening, even if it leads to good things. It’s terrifying. I wish it wasn’t happening and I’m hoping it ends soon, for you.”

“Honestly, I’m relieved, like, almost every Flora I know is disconnected right now. Tsumugi managed to get through her night alright, and I did think it was the queen doing something. I don’t really know how I made that connection, it just…I saw the way she was talking and it was just like I knew,” Kaito frowned, staring at the babies, before sighing, “But even then, I sort of thought it was because she was the ambassador here? Or was nearby? I thought it was just her, basically. Realizing all of you guys are struggling through that? And seeing what happened to the lady in the warehouse…I think Tsumugi would have gotten through it without help, but I’m glad Kimiko didn’t see the worst of it. That queen is a piece of work.”

“Thank you, Kaito,” Thalia whispered, pressing her fists to her eyes for a moment. She felt so…silly. She had separated herself from other Flora so much, held so many in disregard, and yet…hearing what was going on in Danganronpa was terrifying. She knew all the people she could possibly care about, her family, anyone she could’ve possibly had a nice interaction with in Nohran, she knew for a fact they were alright. And yet…

It was nice for someone to agree it was awful too. 

“Eugh,” Thalia shivered, shaking her head a little. “Seconded. No one should have to talk to that wretch, let alone a little girl through her mom.” Thalia sighed, before nodding. “Being a hivemind means our minds are connected. And Junko being the queen, the biggest mind, the one that could feel everyone at the same time, constantly...that meant that she’s in every mind that’s connected to the hivemind.”

“What you described from Tsumugi, and what happened to that other Flora…that was the piece of Junko in their minds…the death throe, essentially. That piece vying for dominance, trying to have them be a new body.” Thalia wrinkled her nose in disgust. “But for how powerful she was, a piece of her isn’t enough to erase a Flora, and even if someone gave themselves over willingly, that piece of her would still wither without the rest of her…being, I guess. Too small to subsist. An echo.”

She sighed. “An echo too small to live on its own, but…still powerful enough to make a Flora lose their mind. And their life. So…that’s what’s happening all over Danganronpa.”

“Fuck,” Kaito whispered, eyes reddening… before he sighed, wiping his palm over his eyes as he whispered, “Sorry babies, no hard language for little ears… fudge.”

“Sorry, I have no right to get emotional at what’s happening to you guys. It was for a selfish reason to, I just had this moment of imagining what it might have been like, if my parents had… echoed. Cause I can imagine it, yeah. They’d have fought. They’d have destroyed us, for a chance at another life. That would have been… a nightmare. I don’t think a song would have helped,” Kaito chuckled warily, wiping his eyes again… before he looked to Thalia, “Did you hear the song? That was a nice moment…or maybe that was just Tsumugi? How she got through it.”

“You of all people should know better than to think empathizing with someone’s pain is selfish, Kaito,” Thalia said, finding herself…smiling slightly. It was a foreign feeling, for a Flora to feel alone, unless they had taken great pains to do so, as Thalia had. But without connecting to someone the natural way…she still felt close to Kaito in this moment. Seen, and felt, in a way that didn’t make her skin crawl like the hivemind did. It was…nice. 

Thalia’s eyes widened for a moment, before they reddened a little. “...no, I doubt that was… What song was it, if you know?”

“I’m not sure if it’s called the same thing everywhere, but I learned it as ‘Creeks’. Is it… A Danganronpan song?” Kaito guessed, his expression softening at the change in Thalia’s expression, passing her a sympathetic smile, “I used to think it was a Luminary song that most Luminaries had never heard of. Only occurred to me last night that the guy who taught it to me was from your neck of the woods.”

Thalia nodded silently for a moment. All said and done, she was glad she wasn’t connected to the hive right now, but…just that. Just the song… It was a shame she missed it. 

“Yeah, I know that one…” She took a breath, before offering Kaito a small smile. “In a cultural sense…Flora love to sing, did you know? Stories and plays can get boring when you know exactly what someone performing is thinking, but…being perfectly in sync with someone else is actually a boon when it comes to singing. Sometimes someone would start singing, and you could hear an impossibly layered harmony rise out of a whole town…”

She rubbed an eye a little. “...my dad was a musician. An incredible one. Before he met my mom, he traveled all over the world, learning songs and performing them for people… I used to theorize that’s why my mom fell for him.”

“...it’s just a hunch, but… I’d guess that a bigger Flora might’ve started singing, hoping to make last night a little…more bearable. And if Tsumugi started singing too, then…I think a lot of people joined.”

“A bigger one, huh…” Kaito murmured, looking back down at the babies. Someone who liked a pretty, sad, earnest song, calling out to someone important to you…

“...Thalia,” Kaito said, staring at his daughter, “What happens next? Will some new big Flora become the next Junko?”

“There is no next Junko,” Thalia responded. In personality and policy, absolutely, but… “There’s no Flora in the hive alive that even came close to how influential she was. People will try to fill the spot she left, but…it just won’t work.”

Tipping her head back against the couch, Thalia watched for a moment when Addason hiccuped, but seeing nothing come from it she relaxed. “Likely…people will gather in smaller communities. Rallying around the biggest Flora around, but there’s only so many people that kind of community would be able to support. I…would say there could be in-fighting, with Flora less connected to each other, but…anyone loyal to Junko?”

“It isn’t like other countries, there is no search for the next monarch, people already know that. So…the loyalists will wait, the centrists will gather around the biggest Flora they can, and…” Something tired came over Thalia’s eyes. “...the progressives will figure out other ways to live, without a monolith monitoring all their thoughts.”

“I see…” Kaito said, reaching forward to run his hands gently over the babies’ heads. The two infants had started babbling at each other, mimicking his and Thalia’s conversation, g’waing and doing their little baby cries. Miyako had started hitting the other blocks with her block, and Addason was now ambitiously trying to shove his block in his mouth, murmuring around it. “Well, that gives you two some exciting options in the future, huh? A whole world full of interesting ideas and paths and choices. Lucky you~”

The babies seemed unconcerned with the vast options of their future. Self-centered babies~

“So! Creeks is a Danganronpa song! Well, I actually really liked that song, so!” Kaito grinned at Thalia, half sincere and half mischievous, “You should teach me another one!”

The hivemind that Miyako and Addason would be considering would be wholly different from the one Thalia left. …actually…that was a point too. Without Junko…would she want to rejoin? If nothing else, then just an easier way to talk to her family… Ha, looked like she had options too. 

“Oi,” Thalia said warily, frowning at Kaito, “I said my dad was a musician, not that I am.”

“Booooo, that’s the lame answer, teach me a song!” Kaito needled, reaching over to take Addason’s free hand and lifting it like the baby was raising his hand in class, Addason looking bemused at the sudden arm movement. “You gotta teach my god-daddy Flora songs so that he can teach me, Thalieeee!” Before reaching for Miyako’s hand and grinning at his daughter’s giggling as he waved her arm, “Oh, yes, Auntie Thalia, you have to! More Flora songs pweeaaase!”

“Thalia, you can turn me down, but the babies?” Kaito said, giving her a hurt look, “They need soooongs.”

Thalia pouted, giving Kaito a dirty look. Addie and Miya didn’t actually know what was going on…

…but she knew that Kokichi sang for Miyako a lot, and…even if they weren’t connected to the hivemind, songs were still part of their heritage. Which was stupid and she shouldn’t even consider…

“Ugh, fine, fine,” Thalia relented, sighing. “Just…give me a sec, I haven’t sung in a while…”

Her voice starting off soft, and a little creaky, Thalia sang:

“I haven’t got a clue. All these codenames make it hard to play ‘Guess Who?’

Do you remember who’s been sleeping on the couch?

I’m not about to move, I think I outgrew you~”

Kaito listened for a bit, humming along with Thalia as she went through the song, and when she trailed off in a way that suggested the song was done, Kaito determinedly said, “Okay, again!”

“I’ve got growing pains…

No more fun and games

Got my conscience in my conference…

Confessions done me in”

This time, when Thalia started, Kaito softly echoed what she was saying, looking for little rhyming patterns or repetitions that would make it easier to learn the song. 

When it ended, Kaito insisted again, and this time his contribution was more enthusiastic and loud, feeling confident he was getting the hang of this as he grinned, harmonizing with her,

“Can’t complain!

I’m here to entertain,

It’s no coincidence I’m

Confidently showing off my skin~” Kaito grinned, leaning back to puff his chest out and wink.

Thalia had no idea how to teach someone a song, so initially she had just started to sing it. And when she finished and Kaito had cheerily insisted on going through again, she had just stared at him for a moment before sighing and starting up once more. By the third time, she just cleared her throat and started on Kaito’s cue, managing to smile a bit with his harmonies. Just like the songs from Danganronpa she could remember.

“Conductor says I need a ticket to ride, but my pockets are dry

He said, ‘If you could pay with all the tears in your eyes you’d be a rich little guy

You’d have no reason to cry, you’d be cruising on by’~”

She’d rolled her eyes a little as Kaito started pantomiming parts of the song, but her peace only grew as their voices weaved together. Not particularly gracefully or professionally, but a kind of jank that was comfortably familiar.

“Cards out, hands down, recount

Rush hour, homebound

Small town, big mouth, too proud~”

Kaito picked up the babies, who had stopped what they were doing to watch the Big Ones sing, holding them in his lap as they stared at him curiously, singing cheerfully, 

“Tied you to the waste! 

And I’m thinking it's time to start giving you space,

Don’t have the time to waste,

On watching myself age~”

Thalia smiled softly at the kids, watching their fascination. 

“Watching myself a~ge~” she trailed off as the song ended, feeling more final with this rendition. 

Just in case, she waited a beat to see if Kaito would insist on another round, but when he didn’t she took a breath that turned into a yawn. “...so, yeah. That’s a song from Danganronpa.”

“It was pretty, thank you,” Kaito grinned… before looking down at the babies, saying softly to them as they blinked sleepily at him, “See? Isn’t that beautiful? You two come from musical ancestors. Harmonizers. That’s something to be very proud of, music is one of the great gifts of the world. Flora make beautiful music.”

“And your people are one of the most connected communities in the world~” Kaito told the babies fondly, voice gushing with admiration as he said, “Whatever anyone wants to say about that? That’s a unique and amazing thing, my little flora. You’re forests manifested and given song, with roots that go all around the world, and a history that goes back eons. Ups and down, sure, but what people don’t? Nature given voice…that’s a wonderful thing to be.” Kaito assured the infants, glancing up at Thalia, “The world is a more beautiful place with you in it.”

-

It didn’t mean a thing that the day after the weird stuff with Kimiko’s mom and the warehouse Mike had woken up at noon the next day. Those were perfectly normal hours for him to go to sleep and wake up, and waking up at 11 the day after was normal too. Though, it did mean that Tim was already at school by the time Mike woke up, and would still be for a few hours. 

Normally that didn’t mean much, since Mike was happy to work on his projects otherwise, but Doris was being insufferable, and Mike couldn’t stand sitting in on another dour meeting of what his future was going to look like according to adults, so he left the castle of his own accord and decided to take a walk. 

Not back to the warehouse, since the body would’ve been taken away and…while pondering over permits was something to roll around in his head, Mike didn’t want to crash stoned artists’ talking about art. And…he didn’t have anything he needed to get for projects right now, so…

He was just wandering. Seeing parts of town he didn’t usually go to, thinking about ribbons.

Dr. Mariah was always available for emergency sessions, but after a difficult morning, she was glad that she wasn’t scheduled for any afternoon sessions officially. It had been a long night of people knocking on her door, begging her to hurry, this and that person was fighting for their minds. People who weren’t and had never been her patients sending friends to her, just looking for help from anyone who could give it. Especially a psychologist who had lived as long as they had.

What was happening to the Flora was history changing, and ultimately good…but Dr. Mariah wasn’t in a position to think about the broad aspects of it right now. Too bogged down by the small, personal details of the people it was affecting. Too busy arguing past a queen snarling at her from behind too many desperate faces.

She hadn’t really meant to wear this outfit. It was a bit… uncouth, for her. Especially in public. But she had been tired, and the desire for something more comfortable than her elaborate dresses had called, and, well… she had spent the time sewing it anyway.

The material she had used was more ‘cardigan’ than hoody, soft fabrics that stretched and breathed. But it was black, with a hood, and she had sewn into the black bright, silk ribbons, tying each one into a little red bow at the edges hanging over her waist and, almost like a dress, that flowed and blew behind her as criss-cross red ribbons climbed up her back and decorated the edge of her hood line. All reconnecting to her neck, which had been tied into a layered, pretty bow.

She had also added a large front pocket for her hands. Because it was chilly. Putting her hair up to show off her earrings. 

She knew the piercings didn’t really make her look older. Nothing did, beyond a constant professional air to remind people she was an adult. But it pulled her from 12 to maybe 15. Small for a 15 year old, sure, but maybe. And after spending, ever so briefly, a moment in her ‘youth’, Dr. Mariah was both more willing to be mistaken for the child she looked, caring less, while also resenting her need to constantly be professional to be treated like the adult she had always been.

All that to say, she had gotten a bunch of ear piercings in a bit of a childish rebellion phase, and she didn’t care who noticed.

‘Paradise’ had been fascinating. She was quietly writing a paper on the experience. Not one anyone in the main institutions would read, but she was writing it anyway. It was a unique experience, for everyone, especially her.

Besides, she liked to think about–oh.

Dr. Mariah almost froze, but caught herself in time. Trying to even out her expression. Having spotted down the road the moment she… wasn’t entirely ready for.

Mike was there. 

…he likely wasn’t going to remember her at all. And he wasn’t always the most sociable, without the history of their pokemon adventure for him, he likely wasn’t going to care to know her. She wasn’t… who she had been, in the dream. Not a child in need of his help. A pretty, mysterious girl he could crush on. Someone he had a lot in common with.

She was a woman, and to an 11 year old, an old one at that. Dr. Mariah… wasn’t going to force a connection that likely wasn’t there. It’d be cruel and presumptuous. Maybe even a tad creepy.

…she had to fight the urge to hide in a bush or something. Just keep calm and don’t stare. Walk past him. Give him a friendly nod and move on.

Smiling lightly, she nodded at him, before focusing ahead.

Mike wasn’t paying that much attention to the other people out and about, admittedly, but bright colors did tend to pull his attention whether he meant to or not. And seeing a bright red in the corner of his vision, he did glance over and…

Mike did freeze. 

His eyes widening…before glancing down at his wrists for a moment. An odd sort of…squeezing lurch in his chest, but weirdly not one that made him want to set something on fire. Just…one that made him want to walk forward. One that…

(Do you think they make hoodies with lots of ribbons? I’m asking for a friend. An extra friend.)

A friend. Friendship, but different, because…

“...Ava?”

Dr. Mariah startled, and briefly considered keeping moving. Perhaps it'd be a kindness. In truth what could she offer him? What child really wanted to chat over tea in a shop…

…she couldn’t help herself. She looked back, and Ava smiled, “Oh, Mike! …I didn’t think you’d know me.”

She turned around more, interlocking her hands within her hoody pocket, smiling a bit sheepishly, “...do you? Remember me?”

A sort of disgruntled look came over Mike’s face. …it was…difficult. Part of her behavior seemed to him like she was trying to brush him off, but other parts rang genuine, and the former could be explained by her not thinking he’d remember her, but it could also just be…

He let out a harsh breath, trying to cut off his overthinking. “I told you I was gonna remember whether you wanted it or not.” And saying that…felt true. Though Mike’s expression only grew more disappointed. “...but not as much as I should.”

His eyes were drawn to her…hoodie pocket. Wondering if she was tapping there. Wondering what that meant she was thinking about. His expression softened a little. “...you got a fancy hoodie. I really didn’t think they made ones like that, but it’s not like I’ve seen every store here.”

Ava smiled lightly, watching Mike start to work himself up as he decided if he was outraged or not. He was so expressive. Even if she couldn’t taste his emotions, she’d have probably always recognized when he was overthinking in there. 

It brought back fond memories. 

“Do you like it?” She asked, pulling her hands out of her pocket and showing off the hoody, spinning in place to show how it lifted with momentum. “I sewed it myself. You always looked so comfy in yours, I thought I should have at least one or two nice ones for comfy-cozy days.”

She smiled, looking at Mike… before she sighed a bit, letting her hands fall. Tasting the tense confusion running through him. Mike likely trying to make sense of memories coming back faded or disjointed. 

“...do you want to get some tea with me?” She asked, “I could use a small dose of caffeine, really. It was a long night last night. It’d be nice to sit with a friend and chat about it.”

“It’s cool,” Mike nodded, finding that to be the truth too. Even if it wasn’t his own aesthetic…it suited Ava, and that was cool. And oddly flattering that she had been inspired to make it because of him. He still hadn’t gotten another jacket, still just wearing his singed orange one. “And you made it too? It looks really professional.”

Again there was…maybe that crossroads of emotions through Ava that Mike couldn’t really place, but he found himself relieved when she offered an invitation. A small, true smile coming to him as she called him a friend. Not just…being like, welp, nice to see you, crazy what happened huh, bye. 

“Sure, I’ve just been walking around. You know a good place?” Letting go of a harsh breath as he walked up to her, intending to keep pace as they walked, Mike rolled his eyes a little. “Lemme guess, you get mucked up in people going nuts two nights ago too?”

“Usually I try to guide people away from terms like ‘nuts’, as there’s some negative connotations with the idea… but honestly, this experience is the closest you’ll likely get in the mental field to a number of people, indeed, ‘going nuts’.” Dr. Mariah said dryly, before Ava gave Mike a curious look, “‘Too’? Mike, if you are also super secretly a child-looking psychotherapy doctor…? Well, I know you’re not, so how on earth were you caught up in this?”

Mike waved it off, unbothered. “Mass hysteria or mania, whatever you want to officially call it. A bunch of people simultaneously acting violently not like themselves, or without much regard for the people around them.”

He snorted a little, giving Ava a smirk. “Don’t have to be a therapist to be around people.” The smirk faded as he gave a small shrug. “Kimiko’s mom was…sick, I guess, and it freaked her out enough to come to the castle to get Tim and his dad, and I came along too. Then we ran into this guy who was looking for his friend, who was at that doped up warehouse that artists took over, and they’d just had to defend themselves from someone who was trying to kill them and ended up throwing themselves into a fire. So…that was enough to put together that something bigger was going on.”

Dr. Mariah sighed, tapping lightly against her hip as she murmured, “Why is it always Kaito? I should inform Miss Crystal he’s going to need to see her, if he hasn’t reached out to her yet.”

Ava then turned to Mike, frowning a bit, “...are you okay? Even seeing the aftermath of something that dramatic can be a bit harrowing. Did you actually see anything?”

“I mean, he is a prince, and Kimiko is, like, mentored or something by him, not to mention friends with his son. Makes sense he’d get involved with stuff. And Gorgug barely insinuated ‘missing kid’ before Kaito went sicko mode.” If there was anyone who’d oddly get involved with a bunch of nonsense? It made the most sense to Mike that it’d be the royal family. Dealing with stuff was their thing.

He shrugged a little at Ava’s concern. “I’ve never seen a dead body before, like not in books or movies ‘n stuff. So that was pretty wild. And I think Kaito shooed us away from the crazier stuff Kimiko’s mom said. I’m fine.” Mike sighed. “Just…annoyed, because I think I figured out more of what’s going on within the dream, but I’m missing enough of it now that it’s just annoying.”

Dr. Mariah considered the ramifications of Mike becoming overly concerned with the dream, obsessive… and Ava decided he’d probably be fine, as she said, “Well, I actually remember all of it, if you had questions? I don’t mind filling you in.”

Momentarily, Mike gave Ava a startled look, before his eyes gleamed with curiosity. “Sick. Okay, so, I remember that there was something that the dream was hiding, and I think it’s connected to that lady that broke into Tim’s dad’s room, and, like, connected to all this too? And that’s the throughline, like, last puzzle piece I think I’m missing from the whole picture, or at least what I would’ve figured out on my own anyway. Do you know what that was?”

Pausing briefly from his chatterbox explanation, Mike looked up for a moment and pushed his glasses up. “One of the guys I met the other night thinks that the explosion at the university is connected to it all too, but I’m just taking his word for that.”

“How do you mean? Do you mean you’re trying to work out who the woman is? Or what was keeping us all asleep?” She asked, looking around before pointing to the Pegasus cafe, “How about here?”

“I mean…” Mike paused, trying to work out exactly what questions he was trying to answer. Following Ava’s indication, he looked up at the cafe sign…and its logo…before snorting a bit. “Sure, looks good. Smart ass.”

“I mean…I want to understand the connection between everything that’s happening. And I think I had that worked out before.” Lowering his voice quite a bit as they walked into the cafe--very…green. Mike figured Tim would like it--he muttered, “It stinks of, like…something psychic, sort of, to me, but I don’t understand that stuff very well.”

Ava covered her mouth with her index finger, before pointing to the patio tables outside. Orders their drinks–Ava’s treat–they headed outside and sat down, bundled up near a firepit. Sitting down, Ava snuggled into her hoody a bit, sighing contently as she sipped her drink… before saying, “Okay. So, it sounds like you’ve worked out a lot of it already. I’m curious, you do remember you’re the one that saved us, yes?”

Flipping his chair around, Mike maneuvered his legs through the armrest holes, resting his chin on his arm draped over the backrest. Looking like the peak of casual as he sipped his unsweetened raspberry tea. He was getting so good at human chairs. 

Though that picture of ease was broken as Mike gave Ava a startled look before looking both smug and sheepish. “It was the code-disruptor I made for Tim, I remember that. But I also remember it was because of more than just me. Like…we got a big group together that was doing a bunch of stuff.”

Ava laughed lightly at Mike’s both seating and total confident and pride in his sitting, before she sipped at her tea, shugging a bit, “Sure, yes, everyone helped. But, how might Kaito put it… every hero needs a robust supporting cast.” She smirked at Mike, before placing her cup down, “Okay…”

Breathing in, tasting the air–she was reasonably certain no one was listening, she couldn’t taste the guilty curiosity of evesdropping–she explained, “So, I’m assuming they’re keeping it under wraps at the castle then that the assassin they found in the princes’ room was, and is, literally the queen of Danganronpa then? Junko Enoshima?”

“She recruited a remme, or, essentially a dream weaver. A very old one too,” Ava explained, “Named Deco. Apparently, as far as we could tell, Junko fed it a line suggesting that the royal family was unhappy and that they needed a dream to fix poor family dynamics…hmph.” Dr. Mariah’s nose wrinkled in distaste a little, sipping at her tea, “Like a ‘nice dream’ would be enough to fix poor family dynamics. Honestly, you work for a year on something the slow, hard way, and some dipshit shows up assuming he can ‘magic’ all the problems away. Like that’s how people work.”

“But yes, Queen Junko tricked a fae spirit, essentially, into putting the royal family into a magical slumber… I expect she was not planning to get caught up in the dream herself. I can’t even imagine why the remme thought to put the entire city to sleep either. Guess he was feeling ambitious.”

Mike snorted, grinning as he sipped his tea. He’d never really call himself a hero, but…yeah, sure. If people wanted to give him credit for all that, he’d take it. 

He quieted down to listen to Ava fill him in on the things he’d forgotten and… A Nightmare Queen. War on the horizon. Mike had never heard of a Remme before…but he had heard of a Sandmin. Creatures in fairytales and cautionary rhymes for kids that would put you to sleep and give you dreams…seemed to fit. And just as presumptuous as Mike had always thought the fairytales were. 

But…

Mike frowned a little, his gaze unfocusing as he thought. “...no, he didn’t…mean to, I think. He talked about how things went weird, right? The…the combination of four things…” Mike trailed off for a moment, tapping four fingers on the table before he shook his head a little. That wasn’t as important to him to muddle over, since it had really only been important in the dream, and for getting out of it. 

Sighing a little, he confirmed, “Yeah, it’s a secret. And the princes didn’t even frame it as an assassination. I overheard some people at the castle wanting to give her the benefit of the doubt or something, talking about how maybe she felt like she was going to have a seizure and tried to get help,” Mike rolled his eyes, “Though that still doesn’t explain what she was doing by their room in the middle of the night. But, yeah. She’s just some lady named June that a few people knew.”

Tilting his head and resting his cheek in his palm, Mike frowned as he thought. “...the Danganronpan queen has…a mindmeld with…the people of Danganronpa?”

“Ah, right. Believe it or not, this can be a tongue revelation for some people. Especially those in the magic community, who are convinced they must have heard about it all by now. Unfortunately, Danganronpa is a people who have mastered the art of secrets. There are many things about the country even I don’t know about, as someone Flora have confided in.”

“So, to put it in its most simple terms, Danganronpa is primarily ruled by a species called Flora, in the same sense that Dicea is primarily occupied by humans. There are other species in Danganronpa, maybe even some in communities flora haven’t found. But mostly, it’s Flora there, making the decisions for the country.”

“Flora are a plant-based people. Surface level, they look the same as anyone else in their secondary species, whether that’s Taur or human or anything else you care to mention. They can cross breed with almost anything, but by policy they prefer humans…or, they did. Who knows what the policy will be now,” Ava said, sipping her tea, “But, you know the concept of a ‘hivemind’? Flora have the most literal version of that idea. They all share a single mind, though each flora splinters off into an individual identity. Like a forest of trees that all share one root…or, again, up until that night we all fell asleep, they did. Their queen was essentially the connecting root to all of their minds. Now that she’s gone? They’re breaking down. Smaller batches of trees sharing smaller roots, even if it still looks like a unified forest from a distance.”

Mike nodded slowly, this revelation…well, not a revelation, in the truest sense. It was information that was new to him, and started to fill the gaps of the connecting web he had been building in his mind, but…none of it felt particularly shocking. Probably because he’d heard it before, even if he couldn’t remember. 

But like with Kaito the other night, Mike had to disagree on one point. “Not gone. Her consciousness is in a different dimension. Which, functionally here means gone, but it does mean she isn’t dead…for however what happened the other night certainly seemed like life or death desperation. But it does mean that…” Mike’s eyes jittered around, piecing things together. “That if that Remme lets her out of that dimension, or someone is able to go through dimensions to get her out then…she’s still an issue.”

Mike’s brow furrowed more as he was quiet for a moment. “...but I don’t get why Flora would bomb a school, though. It’s not like those medical students have anything to do with Junko, and…I kinda remember us talking about how if she was stuck in that dimension, it’d mean that other Flora wouldn’t know where she was so that’d ensure that we wouldn’t get sucked into another war. So…why…”

Ava sipped her tea… before shrugging, “I have no idea.”

“I know why it happened last time,” Ava said, tilting her head with a sigh, “Danganronpa’s been trying to take over Dicea since the mountains on the borders rose. It’s not a ludicrous goal, they have, or… honestly, very potentially ‘had’ before this Luminary and Novaselic wrapped around their fingers. But Dicea is made of different stuff, and has actually been very carefully protected specifically from Flora. Not a perfect system, sure, Flora can still get in. But I think that was a conscious decision, at some point. Completely isolating us from another country, even a hostile one, comes with its own issues.”

“So Flora, historically, have tried to expand native born Flora in Dicea… or, that’s how its been explained to me. The issue they’d discover being that native born Flora, Diceans, essentially, don’t automatically grow up loving Danganronpa or the hivemind. Most of them disconnect themselves.” Ava said, “But the reason clinics were being destroyed last year was because Flora were trying to disrupt the dispersion of medicine to deal with Poppy addiction. Since that was how they were breeding here. Perhaps it's possible that Junko’s followers thought ensuring a new batch of Flora could be born here might give their queen more opportunities to jump to someone? Or, perhaps they’re hoping for a new monarch, or…”

Ava sighed, “Maybe they’re just bitter and lashing out while they can. While they’re still organized enough to do so? I couldn’t guess.”

“Huh…” Mike mused. Wondering just what sort of defense Dicea had against Flora…and how it worked if most people didn’t know about Flora at all. He didn’t exactly trust a system he had no details about, but it had apparently been working this far, so he could lower the urgency in figuring it out. 

“Even if it was Flora who aren’t from around here, it was still a college medical building--they aren’t the people doing the kind of research developing the anti-poppy meds were created from. Sure, maybe they’d have some on hand, but I’d think every moderately substantial medical facility in the country does by now, and even if you got rid of the physical ones, there’s still the patents explaining how to make it.”

Mike shook his head a little, wrinkling his nose. “Lashing out seems the most reasonable, but not exactly a reason that leads to anything. But…whatever. Riz can do whatever the hells he’s doing, I guess.”

“Riz? Don’t tell me you’ve gotten caught up in someone else's adventure now? Not sick of it yet?” Ava smirked, sipping her tea…before she suddenly frowned, looking at Mike, “...you confided if me, within the dream. About difficulties at home. Are you okay now? I know you didn’t grow up in this area, did trouble follow you?”

Mike smirked back. “Hey, I chilled out for a few days, I needed something new. And I’m not really involved--just found out he’s been investigating all this stuff too.” With a little shrug Mike reached into his pocket and pulled out Riz’s business card, showing it to Ava.

Though his face soured into something displeased then dismissive at her next questions. “I’m fine. Tim’s uncle got fuckin’ hired to investigate me and he tattled to his husband so…my mom’s here now. And they’re all debating all the time about what to do--I got sick of it by, like, the third meeting so I don’t go anymore.”

Dr. Mariah took the card, looking it over, “...unlicensed detective? Well, at least he’s honest about his qualifications.” She said, passing it back.

“What sort of meetings?” Ava asked, frowning…before saying, “I ask not just to be nosy, though I am nosy. If you’re feeling overwhelmed and struggling to be a part of what happens to you, I can coach you into what you’d need to know to advocate for yourself.”

Mike looked at Ava for a moment, before smirking as something chimed in the back of his mind. “I thought you advised against making your friends your therapist.”

“I did. I don’t mean me being your therapist,” Ava said, squinting, “Though you do still need one, let’s be clear. Get your head straight, as it were. No, I just mean advice on how to speak in those situations. We do try not to do it, as an institution, but its an understood thing that to best navigate therapy, especially group therapy, especially mandated family therapy, you have to learn the language. Most of my early therapy sessions with my clients? Are long, subtle vocabulary lessons. So that from now on, psychology wise, they have the words they need to convey any issues or barriers they have in the process. If you want to get things a certain way? Your best bet in navigating that is learning the language the counselors are speaking.”

Groaning, Mike stuck his tongue out a little, lolling his head along his arm. “Uuughh… Look, it’s not even really about me right now, which is why I stopped going. It’s just endless housing talks. Like, we’re welcome to stay at the castle forever, and I think that’s what Tim assumed before they brought Doris into this, but…” With a pointed look, Mike glanced down, kicking out one of his legs a little. 

“I already made my case on what sort of space I’d want, but Doris is being all wishy-washy since she’d just want our house in Edahu, and the counselors just talk in circles about the ‘accountable party’ that we’d need to be paired up with, and they just spend so much time sharing glances whenever Doris says something dumb or shows up to a meeting sloshed,” Mike huffed.

It wasn’t like she was banned from purchasing alcohol, but considering the nature of abuse that had been the basis of their relocation from Edahu, a lot of eyes were on Doris for how she treated Mike. It was kind of funny, in a way. All the things Mike prided in himself for being sneaky, it never occurred to him that that might’ve been something he got from his mom.

“Ah,” Ava stopped, considering Mike’s situation, “...you should make an official request for a third counselor.”

“You see, if the counselors are struggling to pin down what Doris needs, and are showing too much restraint in being straightforward with her? It’s likely they need help, but professionally, they’re trying to show capability by giving themselves more chances to make the situation work. Counselors are people too, and most people struggle to admit they’re not making progression a job they’ve been assigned,” Dr. Mariah explained, her face going into her stern professionalism mode, her tone becoming more neutral, “They likely will ask for help eventually, if they don’t succeed, but. On your end, you can speed up the process not by asking for a replacement, but for an addition.”

“You see, requesting the counselors be supervised by one of their own?” Dr. Mariah explained, “Will put up a warning flag in their department. So to ensure nothing is going actually wrong, they’ll send one of their best or most experienced to supervise. And under that ones supervision? Things will actually get done, both because a more experienced party is now there, and the other two suddenly have to actively prove themselves.”

“Requesting a third is how you gain the quickest results, without sacrificing quality of care,” Ava said, “What else do you want from them? What are you hoping for? I can walk you through it.”

Mike looked up, frowning a bit but listening to Ava’s advice. And…it seemed pretty good, her reasoning making perfect sense to him. There was a growing fatigue in him that bemoaned adding yet another person into the whole mess…but given a few years down the line, they’d barely consider the Teavees, if they ever remembered this one job. So if adding another person into the mix would get things solved more quickly…

Sighing, Mike nodded. “Alright, I’ll put in a word,” he narrowed his eyes at her, “But you’re doing the whole professionalism thing again. You have good advice, but…seriously. I’m just annoyed, I don’t need you scouring the whole mind palace just for minor efficacy.”

Frowning with some embarrassment, Mike looked to the side, taking a sip and adjusting his glasses. “You said you had a long night. I don’t want to just brush past that if you’re gonna put ‘you’ to the side.”

Ava paused at that, tilting her head a bit… before she pinked lightly, sipping the last of her tea before placing it down, smiling lightly, “Well, I’ll remember that when you inevitably make me some neat little gizmo or another, and then use your ‘scientist’ voice on me. I like talking about my work, let me live.”

She laughed lightly, mostly amused with herself, before nodding, something briefly tired on her expression, “I did. I was essentially doing what your friend Kimiko asked Kaito to do for her mother. Being a grounding and rational presence for Flora in the mists of panic. I have a bit of a reputation for being reliable in crisis among the magical community, so quite a few people thought to seek me out. I had to…” Ava frowned, “I had to turn people away, just because I was already rushing to the next person. I don’t enjoy turning people away. For all I know, the flora at the warehouse could have been someone who sent for my help. There’s just…only so much of me. And most of these Flora just needed long, consistent support.”

“In some ways, Flora have had an upheaval like this coming. They’ve become a cruel species, especially in the last few centuries. But watching people fight for their minds, for their very identities…it was disturbing. I wouldn’t like another night like that again.” Ava admitted.

Mike flushed a bit, a little surprised by that turnabout, before he snorted, just shaking his head a little. He…did want to make something for Ava, he found. Which was a little weird, but he’d been making a lot of stuff for people lately. And for the most part, it wasn’t going horribly wrong so…maybe things were changing up. 

Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything he could make that’d help with seeing a genuine horror. Mike’s face scrunched a bit, sympathetic to the night Ava described. He could remember how scared Kimiko had looked when she came to the castle, and the weird tension that had been in the air while they just…had to wait. Waiting for Kaito’s verdict on whether to take her to a clinic, or for Tsumugi to come back to herself. 

It had sucked, and that was with one person. It had been a constant stream of Ava’s entire night. 

Circling the bottom ring of his cup on the table, Mike scowled thoughtfully. “...you said a lot of Flora in Dicea have nothing to do with nightmares, that they took active steps to distance themself. And…even within a hivemind, it feels shitty to me to…blame a whole species for essentially the acts of their government. So…you just saw a lot of people scared and in trouble. No duh that’s horrible.”

Mike did one more circle before looking up, his gaze over Ava analytical. “...are you okay?”

“I am, though it’s the kind of ‘okay’ that feels like a lie, in the moment,” Ava admitted, shrugging lightly, a tired smile on her face, “Sometimes ‘okay’ really is just feeling sad. It’s a normal response for a sad thing happening. Or a scary thing. You just…process and keep going. Talking about it does help though. Shares the burden a bit, as it were.”

“...” Ava dipped her finger in the last of her tea and flicked it at Mike, “Don’t be traumatized by my trauma though. Stop it. Stooop… I can see those little nerve endings in your brain considering it. No trauma transfers.”

Mike nodded, accepting that. She had led off saying that she just wanted to talk to a friend about a bad night, so if that was the extent of it? Then, good, they were doing that. And getting tea too. 

Snorting a bit at the flick of tea, Mike snickered softly. “Got it, got it. Look, I’ve been told enough I have no imagination, consider me untraumatizable from your trauma. I can agree that it sucks without getting melodramatic about it.”

“It does make you very entertaining to talk to.” Ava complimented, reaching for her cup, before frowning in disappointment, “My tea cups at home and work are so big that tea tends to last me at least an hour. I’m always taken off guard at how quickly I get through cafe teas. Would you like a second cup, or you ready to get out of here?”

“And, oh!” Ava smirked, “It’s nice to hear you and Tim are still hanging out. He still your rival?”

“You would have big-ass teacups,” Mike snorted. “I’m imagining multiple full sets and a lot of fluting. Maybe a set where the handle isn’t just a handle, but an incorporated design that just happens to be 3-D. And I’ll take another cup if you’re down, I’m not exactly on a tight schedule.”

Shrugging a little, Mike tried not to look pleased. “I mean, we were friends before all that. I wouldn’t really call us rivals, but we hang out, yeah. I think I’d have to vie for his dad’s praise way more for rivalry to be a thing.” Rolling his eyes, Mike recounted, “That guy who led us to the warehouse, Gorgug, the door to the warehouse had some shelf in front of it, and he just shoved the damn thing open. Kaito got all impressed, so Tim immediately started pushing against the door too to get his dad to be all ‘wooow’ to him too. I don’t do that kind of stuff, so Tim doesn’t really see me as a rival, I think.”

“Awww, oh no,” Ava giggled, genuinely amused by the story, “That’s actually nice. Maybe a bit silly.” She admitted, shrugging, “But it’s nice to hear they’ve been bonding more. From the little stories I’ve heard? Tim’s got a bit of a ‘thing’ about wanting to be Kaito’s size someday. Do with that what you will, just try not to be cruel. He’ll probably punch you otherwise, I don’t think he holds back for kids with glasses.”

“He’s size-ist,” Mike sneered, chuckling quietly. “He keeps making smart-ass comments about my height, like ‘Taurs don’t tend to be taller than humans overall. We’ll see just how things shake out in the end. And if nothing else, I’ll always have a taller reach since he’s a weirdo with too few legs, no offense.”

“Aaaaand he doesn’t,” Mike rolled his eyes with a smirk, “Considering he decked me so hard when we met I was bleeding for like ten minutes. If not for your personality, I’d say you’re lucky he knows you as old as you are here.”

“Two few legs, hm? Well, all of you have roughly 300 too few taste sensors. You all are really missing out, your cringe tastes fantastic,” Ava laughed, as they headed back inside, going to the counter.

Getting some more drinks, they headed back, settling in again, Ava tasted her tea before nodding approvingly, “Tim’s also probably going to need some therapy. Though I can’t armchair psychology him and guess which one. From afar, by all accounts, he’s incredibly well adjusted. But there’s no way. He’s going to need help with something.”

“...I say that off the books, and not as a therapist.” She added in as an afterthought, “Just to be clear. What on earth got you punched by the inexplicably well adjusted child soldier?”

Mike had snickered along with Ava, though she got some of that delicious cringe almost immediately, as Mike struggled to get his legs back out of the chair. Sitting, he was getting down. Getting up was another beast.

“I mean, you probably do have the perspective to be one of those people who say everyone should at least try out therapy, and actually have a point about it,” Mike shrugged, “But I dunno. I’d guess that’s something he’d be talking about with his parents.”

With a shitty look, Mike explained, “I told him and Bianka to fuck off when they ran into me in the library. Like, almost literally in Bianka’s case. She’s so fucking nosy so she kept asking me shit, and then Tim’s got his whole ‘I’m a stalwart defender of my friends’ thing so he got pissed that I was being rude to her, so then he punched me and, like,” Mike rolled his eyes, “Course I fought back. Then his dad separated us.”

“Sounds like quite a first impression,” Ava said, tilting her head slightly as she tried to recall, searching through her notes as she lightly tapped against her teacup, her little black book growing warm in her pocket, “I don’t recall meeting Bianka in the dream, but Kokichi and Kaito have mentioned her to me. She’s the little investigative journalist, yes? You keep running into investigators. You should be careful, as someone worth investigating.”

“By the way: you mentioned you already know what you want out of your living arrangement. Purely to be nosy, can I ask what you’re imagining?” Ava asked, “What’s the ideal?”

Mike shrugged with a sort of ‘I guess’ vibe. It had seemed pretty standard to him to get into a fight with someone off the rip, though Tim deciding to stick around him afterward was pretty novel. And, well, with what they did after that, Mike figured that would be pretty hard to forget. 

Sticking his tongue out a little, Mike scoffed, “Bianka’s fine, she just gets ticked I have less ethical integrity than she adheres to when I’m looking for stuff. And Shuuichi already found out everything, which is why I’m here, and Riz…” Mike trailed off for a second before shrugging. “Think we might be in a ‘mutual self-destruction’ sort of set-up on the iffy stuff.”

Nodding, Mike stretched his legs a little from the chair, just touching his heels to the ground. “My own room, with a door I can lock, and, like, it’d be great if there was some noise canceling inherent in the walls, but I can set up foam myself. I need a window too for ventilation, since even the best vent system won’t be enough for everything. Don’t wanna do the apartment thing either, since some of the whole issue is finding a place where I don’t have to lop off half my body 24/7.” Mike tilted his head a little. “Tim brought up me using the warehouse we were at for experiments, which…is kind of tempting. I don’t think there are residences that close to that district, but closer would be better since I’d rather not walk across the whole damn city to work on things.”

“That’s hardly outrageous. And having a warehouse space for your inventions is probably better than strictly your bedroom. I recall you mentioning something about them exploding a lot.” Ava smirked lightly, “I think Usott’s had its fill of buildings exploding, Mike. So maybe hold back ever so slightly for all of our sakes? At least until we clear the rubble from the last one…two.” Ava corrected herself, sighing, “Well, they do say third times the charm. Maybe an explosion from you would lead to a good thing.”

Mike smirked back, waving lazily at the notion. “Hey, it’s all in the iterative process. And it’s not like most of the stuff I make is particularly big. A pop and fizz barely takes a spritz from a fire extinguisher.”

“Like, hey,” he said, pulling out two thread spool-sized objects, holding them out to Ava. “Think these could level a building?”

Ava’s delicate eyebrows shot up ever so slightly, looking back and forth between the small objects… before leaning forward curiously, “Oooh, are these the latest breakthroughs? Ragale me, what have you made this time?”

Mike’s smirk got even shittier. “Want me to just tell you, or would it be more fun to take a guess? You can handle them, nothing too delicate.”

Ava raised an eyebrow, before reaching out to them, taking them both. Leaning back, she peered at the two, holding on in each hand. “Hmmm…well, those little dots are speakers, yes? So that will make a sound…other than that…”

Ava looked back and forth between the two, increasingly confused… before she gave Mike a hapless shrug, “I’m old and not hip with the new technology. What am I looking at?”

While Mike wasn’t the utter picture of superiority in the face of Ava’s confusion, there was still a certain smugness to him. However, it was flavored more by excitement than exclusion as he gestured to her. “I’m not sure if it’ll be enough like this, but the non-speaker part; hold it in your hand and move your arm in a circle really quickly.”

“If you’re trying to make me look silly, be warned, I am not above pranks, and you will find a frog in your pocket at some point.” Ava warned, smiling lightly, putting her arm over her head and spinning it hard and fast…before jumping slightly when the other one started to beep at her, “Oh! Mike, your device is mad at me for messing with its sibling.” Ava said, warily staring at the one in her other hand. “Please advise.” 

“Only sounds like you’re trying to entice me,” Mike snickered, before grinning widely as Ava activated the threshold. Much easier than chucking it into the night. Did he only think about that way after he’d hit Gorgug? Yeah, but that had led them into some neat stuff, so Mike wasn’t mad about it. 

“I basically made a doorbell that works when something moves really fast,” Mike started to explain, laughing a little at Ava’s interpretation. “The side with the sensor accelerates over a certain amount? You get an indication on the other piece. I planted it on Tim’s dad that other night to give us a heads up if he was gonna suddenly run out and tell us we needed to go to a hospital, or if Kimiko’s mom threw him through a wall or something.”

A little more tempered, Mike shrugged. “They only work in relative proximity. I haven’t figured out how to increase the workable range yet, but I’m pretty happy with getting it to work without connecting wires at all.”

“Oh…that’s incredible.” Ava said, looking with new interest at the two devises, a curious wonder on her face, “...why? And I mean that in the sense of what made you come up with it? Was there some specific purpose? Or did you just want to see if you could?”

Mike’s gaze drifted towards his wrists, a lightly frustrated tension going through him as he considered the red wristbands. “Partly to see if I could. I’ve been toying with the idea of transmission without wires and…this just seemed like a way to play around with the concept. I had an accelerometer lying around, and…” Mike glanced away, looking a little embarrassed. “It doesn’t seem like a totally useless project. I already had a use-case for it, with Kaito. And…I don’t know. It could be used as a warning system for smooth acceleration for…something.”

Ava followed Mike’s eyeline, looking at his red wrist bands. She stared as he fidgeted with one, it reminding her of something, but she wasn’t sure what…

…oh! “Oh!” She said, lighting up as she beamed at Mike, some of the youthful wonder she had experienced in the dream lighting up her features as she asked excitedly, “Is this a step towards the phones? Is that why it had to be wireless??”

Mike looked up, startled. Something…almost clicking in his mind, but…

“H-huh?”

Ava looked at him, a little confused–ah, right, he doesn’t remember–before putting down the devises onto the table, and reaching across take his wrist in her hands. Stretching out his red wrist band, she twisted it, wrapping it tighter around his wrist, before twisting it again, wrapping it around his wrist for a third time.

And she glanced up. Curious if the sensation would bring anything back.

Mike only looked increasingly confused as Ava took his wrist and…honestly, twisting his band that much was kind of uncomfortable, but more than the constant light pressure they’d given him since he got them…

Blue eyes suddenly widened. “O-oh! Radio waves!”

Ava smiled wide, “See? Now we’re both geniuses. You’re welcome.” 

Laughing, she gently undid the winds, patting Mike affectionately on the arm before leaning back, giving the devises a newly appreciative look, “It is, though, isn’t it? This? This is the first step into you looking into it. I really wasn’t expecting you to start thinking about it so soon. I thought it might occur to you decades from now.”

Oh…oh. Mike had remembered…something. Grand technology, but…only the concept of that. His dreams come true, literally, but the details had escaped him. But remembering even the basics of a whole new field of tech…oh man. This…was a lot. 

Even as he reeled, though, Mike made a sort of =3= look as he said, “Was that ever in question?”

Looking over his…speed tracker? Again, Mike let out a huff of air that had been bundled up in his chest, before snorting. “A week after I met Tim I apparently invented something that his whole family thought was impossible. My long games are filled with checkpoints.”

=v= “No, of course not.”

“Well, don’t make yourself sick pursuing it,” Ava advised, passing Mike his invention back, “The world will be better off without one of its resident inventors working himself into a frenzy. Though, again, if you hadn’t last time, we would have all been in quite some trouble. I like to think we would have found a way out of the dream somehow, but I honestly can’t imagine how, without you. We’re all fortunate you like to make things for your friends.”

Mike had been all ready to soak in that praise--he had no clue how they would’ve gotten out of it either--until Ava’s last comment, which just made him flush and look down. He just…made stuff! And it was more frustrating to make things that had no purpose so…he looked for purposes! And it made sense he’d see them in the people who could actually tolerate him…

After a moment, though, Mike looked down with a frown. “Did…I tell you about how I got the clasp?”

Ava frowned, “I’m not sure. I think you mentioned it in passing, but by the time we knew what the device was, everything became very hectic. We were too busy explaining reality to everyone we came across to go into it in depth. I believe you mentioned something about a fae?”

Mike nodded slowly. “Yeah, some clowny fairy found me in the library the afternoon before everything and said it was really important that I take the clasp and put it on the code-disruptor. Because the clasp can bring things into other dimensions, and it was a matter of, like, world importance that I’d be able to use the disruptor in the dream.”

Mike frowned a little more, his eyebrows drawing together with some worry. “...I think we weren’t the only ones who couldn’t imagine how we’d get out without it.”

“Hmmm…well, that could be any number of things, couldn’t it?” Ava mused, “A clairvoyant, seeing into the future. Perhaps a traitor in Junko’s inner circle, giving us a heads up. Maybe even some divine intervention. As a demon, I can say it does happen that way sometimes. Oh…” 

Ava frowned, “You might not have remembered that.”

Mike shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable. “I dunno. They said it was ‘courtesy of John and James’, and when I said I didn’t know anyone with those names, they said not many people do.” Mike paused, looking…more uncomfortable. “...they knew about the disruptor in the first place. …and stuff about my mom.”

In some ways, it was a little funny how Mike looked more comfortable shrugging off Ava’s hesitance informing him she was a demon. “I remembered that you were like me, like that. And really old. Putting a name to it doesn’t change a lot, at least in terms of you letting something dangerous slip.”

Sighing, Mike slouched, letting the back of the chair tip his chin up more. “...Tim remembers about me. I don’t think Cali and Kimiko do.”

“Tim likely has more active reminders than either of his friends do.” Ava said, relaxing slightly, “Tim’s family likely felt obligated to explain in detail what happened to him, which would remind him of more things in the dream. Cali and Kimiko might have let the entire dream slip away by this point.”

“John and James… John and James…” Ava frowned, thinking about it, “...oh. Hm…I’m not certain and I can’t be. But there are two deities who are famous for changing their names to short, easy to remember names for whichever area and era they're in. Adopting names young ones wouldn’t struggle with, essentially. Shaunia-sit’um and Jhash-’Amos.” 

Ava breathed the names more than said them, each one pronounced like the hiss of a snake, before she went on, “They’re both by nature deities of fools and petty-vengeance, essentially mischief gods. But by choice they adopted an ideal over children. Both blessed by the goddess of fertilization and menstruation to try to help those in the next step of her process.”

“It’s really just a guess. The gods are notoriously vague about these sorts of things,” Ava shrugged, before giving Mike a searching look, “...are you worried? That Tim knows? That so many people know now? The royal family? I know that can be intimidating.”

It was…crazy if Mike had gotten a literal gift and message from the gods. Even ones he’d never heard of before. But he already knew what a boon the clasp was, even aside from the fact it had likely saved a lot of their lives. Mike didn’t have any way of going through dimensions himself, but knowing that if some hotshot was throwing their weight around, he could bring along a secret weapon? It was invaluable.

So…thanks, he guessed. 

Nodding slowly, taking in Ava’s background information, handy even if she was guessing how they were applicable to their own lives, Mike paused before shrugging. “Not really? It feels weird keeping it a secret anyway. Like…I wasn’t so airheaded to think I’d be able to walk out of Edahu no problem, so I did take precautions, but it didn’t really feel real until I made it to the first human town. Even now it just kind of feels like…a costume party, or a game of Werewolves.”

Tilting his head to the side, Mike looked up. “...Tim was talking to me about how it’s kind of dumb how people who look different have to hide. And that how no one cared in the dream and that just seems like how it should be. It’s kind of idealistic but…not really in a bad way. Just not something I’m gonna spearhead, you know?”

Mike suddenly gave Ava a curious look. “Is there stuff you have to hide?” And he let that sit for a second before his eyes widened and he stammered, “Uh, not that you have to tell me, since ‘hiding’, uh…yeah.”

Ava smiled lightly at the question, before leaning against her arm, placing her chin against her fist as she smiled lightly. 

Then, the air seeming to darken around her, a buzzing in the distance that, if it got louder, might have sounded like screams, buzzing like wailing flies, as her bright red eyes darkened to blood red, then darker maroon, expanding and darkening until her entire eyes were ink-black, the light sucking into them as the buzzing wailed louder.

“I might.” She said… before blinking, and all of that disappearing. Ava reaching over to pick up her cup and sip at her cup as she said, “Thankfully, that’s an easy one to hide. Yours is much more difficult. And Timothy is right, and so are you, but unfortunately the world hasn’t caught up to you both yet. Though, considering everything that’s happened recently? Who knows, maybe we’re on the right track.”

It was…weird. Ava was Mike’s friend, but all of a sudden as she showed off her ‘hidden thing’ he felt…he didn’t know. Like his spine had turned to foam and a wire was being poked through it, his limbs stiff on an aperture. Like…Like…

(Prey. That’s what being a demon really meant, he supposed.)

It took Mike a moment to reorient himself in his body, having to literally look down as he tested his ankles, before he breathed out an impressed, “Metal.”

Shaking his head a little, he picked up his tea and took a sip, needing to quench his suddenly dry mouth. “Things are always changing. At least if we have an idea of what we want, we can nudge things in our favor. So…we’ll see, I guess.”

Mike suddenly stuck his tongue out, resting on the back of his chair again. “...I’m on Metamor Potions now. Deal the rep made with some witch around here.”

“That makes sense,” Ava said, nodding with the authority of someone who had known plenty of people who needed to hide their bodies, “Why, what were you on before? It didn’t come up in the dream.”

“I had a modified Beaststone,” Mike said simply, as if it weren’t mindblowing to anyone who had passing knowledge about Beaststones. “It’s kinda what let me leave in the first place. We had a lesson on ‘em at school, and one of them was ‘broken’, but I did some reading up on it and figured out how to tweak the work whoever’d started on it had done.”

“...what.” Ava said deadpan, waiting a moment for Mike to say ‘gotchya’... and when he didn’t giving him a genuinely frustrated look, “Mike. You’re lucky your bones didn’t snap! It’d have been very difficult to run into you today if in the real world your back legs were shattered. Don’t take risks like that.”

“...but how did you get it to work?” She asked, annoyed with her own curiosity, pouting as she sipped again.

Mike just huffed, pouting a bit. “It never broke anything! It worked fine! And it wasn’t just cursory research, I wasn’t gonna land myself in the hospital just for a test run!”

This was a lie, though not a self-aware one. Michael Teavee was very correct in being worried about his little brother, as given the chance to prove something, Mike would endanger his life without more of a thought than ‘oh, cool’. 

“So, I assume this is more common knowledge in Morphic communities? But the shape and facets, like, how the stone is cut, aren’t just for aesthetics, it turns out. The whole stone has properties to ‘change things’,” Mike explained, doing some air quotes, “But the shape and cut of the stone is like…putting lenses over a laser. It focuses and shapes the power into…well, a lot of things, but the one that everyone writes about is specifically for free metamorphic transition. Changing the lenses changes the focus, and considering the one I got was a stone in a ‘Taur community, it made sense that someone was already trying to get it to work for ‘Taurs. I just finished the job.”

“Fascinating,” Ava said honestly. As someone who could hide her ‘otherworldly’ features as a default, beyond recommending the right supplier to the right person in need, she didn’t know much about transformation magic outside of warning of risks. “Still more reckless than I’d like. But, fascinating.”

“Do you still have the beastone? Or did someone confiscate it from you?” Ava asked, “I’m a little curious what it might taste like. Raw magic tends to have its own unique taste, even if it's not particularly nourishing.”

Mike huffed a little, before giving Ava a curious look, his eyes gleaming with a deep interest. “...damn, I would’ve let you lick it. But, no, Cor took it back to Edahu after I got set up with the potions. Which is pretty bullshit, I was actually using it, and it’s not like they were gonna use a ‘broken’ one for basic lessons.”

He sighed, rolling his eyes. “I guess it could be used for, like, an emergency morph if someone couldn’t get another method.”

“Mmm…can I say, it’s incredibly odd to not see you with the right ears,” Ava admitted, glancing up above Mike’s hairline, where fuzzy ears should have been twitching and moving around, “You make a perfectly fine human, I suppose, but I do miss the ‘faun’ aesthetic a bit. You don’t even have your spots. It’s tragic.”

Mike rolled his eyes and slouched, though it was mostly to cover up a blush that was starting up. “Yeah, well. Go convince the country not to flip their shit at the sight of perfection, then I’ll walk around normally all damn day.”

He wrinkled his nose a bit. “It’s weird. Feels like I had a shaving accident or something.”

Ava’s eyebrows raised a bit…before she smirked, “Does it? Does it feel like you’ve had a ‘shaving accident’? I’m very curious, Mike, what does that feel like? And why~” Ava smirked harder, so curious the story behind this, “Do you know that?”

Mike made a disgruntled, weirded out face as he touched down his forehead to his nose. “Humans have, like…nothing going on here. It’s cold. And in such a weird place, like…hats can’t cover it all, and pulling up a scarf fucking smothers you so…it’s weird?? It’s being naked in the weirdest fuckin’ place.”

“Aw, and here I thought I was about to hear about a wildly misguided Taur, shaving his fur.” Ava sighed, sipping at her tea, “And in our defense, we have very flickable noses. If you flick your index finger against the tip of your nose, it’ll jiggle.”

“Eugh.” Mike shuddered. Sure, some ‘Taurs did shave stuff other than facial hair, but not Equidae ‘Taurs. Just the thought of trying to shave some of his fur…eugh. 

Sticking his tongue out a little, Mike grunted, “I noticed. I can’t move my nose as much like this either, and I’m not even a Leporidae ‘Taur. Your noses just exist to get cold.”

Ava laughed lightly at that, giving Mike an amused look, “Hoody’s must feel cozier without the fur though, I imagine. How were you not overheating all of the time?”

Mike considered that before giving a begrudging shrug. “I guess you can bundle up more, yeah, but it’s not like I have fur on my arms ‘n stuff. And, you saw, I usually wear them open. Just not in weather like this.” Mike nodded upward, the grey day sending the occasional threat of icy glimmers, though it was nowhere near snow or hail. 

“...you know, because of my aesthetic, people always assume I’d prefer this sort of weather,” Ava said, looking around at the grim, heavy clouds, a chilly wind blowing through the trees, cold enough to taste, “...but I don’t. I miss spring. It’s too cold for my favorite styles, same as summer’s too hot for them. Spring is my time to shine.”

Sipping her tea, Ava nodded, “Mike, your next task: build a weather machine.”

“Just skipping over Autumn?” Mike smirked, snickering a bit. “Yeah, I’ll get right on it. Perfect temperature and precipitation control at the press of a button. Just give me…oh, I don’t know, six to eight years. If you can wait that long.”

“Tsk. If I must,” Ava sighed, smiling at him from above her teacup, “I will consider it done.”

-

Siffrin–no middle name, no last name–was staring at a hoard of brown, flatheaded mushrooms, asking themselves a very important question.

Was this mushroom going to kill them?

He frowned slightly, squinting at the mushroom. He had known once, he was certain. He had found out the hard way. He had eaten something that had made him shit his guts out for days, a few miles from here, about a week or so back. Maybe. Time was hard to keep track of, and mostly Siffrin didn’t bother, as a principle. But when it came to stumbling upon a plethora of mushrooms, enough to gorge himself fat on it today, it became very relevant.

What had that mushroom that had nearly turned him inside out a few miles back, a few weeks ago… looked like? Again?

Had it been brown? And flat headed? 

…would eating his weight worth of these things cause him to explode from the inside out?

Siffrin blinked, shivering as a bit of wind managed to dodge and weave through the heavy foliage around him, tickling his neck a bit. He ducked his head down, burrowing into his high collar and warm coat, letting his hat protect him as the pitter-patter of rain grew louder. Siffrin warily looking at the mushrooms.

Well, certainly he had time to try to remember what the mushroom had looked like. It wasn’t like these mushrooms were going anywhere. Some light rain through the forest wasn’t going to send Siffrin running for shelter, not when rain so rarely could get through the heavy hanging tropical trees anyway. He had time to look. To think about it. 

He was really hungry though…

No, don’t. Control yourself, Siffrin. They had time. They had all the time in the world. The mushrooms weren’t going anywhere.

In the distance, thunder roared. The wind getting faster…

It had been five years, but Ingo still didn’t think he’d really get used to…all this. This, of course, being trees as far as the eye could see, hiding sudden dips into ravines with wide, rushing rivers and fertile mouth mudlands bigger than whole cities. Rain all year round, the thought of snow almost laughable, though he’d seen people lose their minds at the once-a-year tiny flurries that hailed in the new year. 

It had all been an exotic new world to explore when they had left the Fennoxi mountains, and…it still was, but… Ingo found that the ancient, moss-covered trees were more and more becoming an escape than a destination. 

He! He wasn’t…mad about it! It was a good thing that Eslley was gaining recognition from other countries again, that they were starting to establish relationships and new trading agreements. It was the sort of stuff that’d really ensure that Eslley was a country to stay, and Ingo wanted that. It was what so many of them wanted, after risking their lives to grasp it back from Mypros. 

And…Ingo was sure there were incredibly nice princesses around the world. He could hardly think of a woman extant he wouldn’t find himself falling in love with. And…considering he’d only ever become Exalt in the face of grand, tragic disaster, it…made sense that it’d be him that could really…solidify certain alliances. 

…but it wasn’t like he was sending those letters, so no one needed ol’ Ingo! And to make sure he wouldn’t be seen just standing around and thus would be pulled into work, he’d slinked off into those glorious, wet trees.

…which were…getting quite a bit wetter. And, hm, the wind was starting to really go. Back in Fennox Wry, Ingo would worry about dust storms, but that wasn’t really a thing in Eslley, so that was probably fine! Even the…thunder! And the…softening ground, but there were plenty of roots underneath that Ingo could navigate over so--

“Uuuuwaaaaaaa!” 

Smarter animals were all nestled in their homes, so they didn’t startle at the shriek that echoed through the forest. Eslley’s prince’s legs skidding right through the mud, going far too quickly for not actually falling down. 

The wind howled, catching the princeling and pushing him further, literally only how heavy the rain was slowing down his skid, which was sending him hurtling closer and closer to what only a few hours ago had been just a stream and now was large enough and fast enough that if it caught his legs and knocked him down, woosh, there would go little princes’, miles and miles in a matter of minutes–

Hands darted down a tree Ingo was passing under and, half from strength and half from the momentum of the spin of wrapping his legs around the branch, Siffrin caught the man and hefted him up towards it, letting him grab it… and giving a small little hapless, ‘oops’ sound as his cloak fell over his head. Large enough that it made it very difficult for him to reach back up to the branch and correct himself, Siffrin just hanging from his knees, blind and smothered.

“...help?” he tried to the man he just rescued.

“--AAAAAAA - u-uoh?!” Ingo grunted as he was suddenly pulled up from the mudslide, just…entirely manhandled, before his brain caught up and Ingo reached for the branch he was being pulled towards, pulling himself up. 

Oh shit…oh shit. Abatea help him…fuck… He could’ve… “Oh fuck,” Ingo panted, half plastered to the branch, and plastered was right from the amount of mud coating him. For a moment, Ingo just reeled from what just happened, before he was pulled back into the world by a simple request. 

“A-ah! Oh, I’m sorry, uh…” Quickly Ingo leaned forward, reaching for…what he assumed was an arm to pull the person back up, looking over them worriedly and wanting to make sure they were alright. “Are you okay? I have to admire it, that was quite the daring rescue…thank you.”

Smiling--no, too sheepish, c’mon Ingo--with dashing charm, he said, “I’m Ingo--if you’d like to know the name of the person incredibly in your debt.”

Siffrin sighed in relief as they felt their hand get grasped, pressing his lips together as his world spun, being right onto the branch as his coat flushed back down over him, his hat flopping back over his face. 

His hat hadn’t so much as budged from his head. 

Still, he readjusted it to sit easier against his head, allowing him to more easily see, and be seen, as he looked over to… Ingo. Siffrin looking the stranger over a bit.

…colorful. He was one of those multi-colored hair types, though a natural kind, not the dark dye job that Siffrin was reasonably certain the back of his lower hair was. He had pretty eyes and a charming grin. Taller than Siffrin themselves, but that was so typical that Siffrin didn’t even register it. Earrings. (Bonding earrings?)

He seemed nice.

0u0

…0u0;;;;;

’’’0w0;;;;;

Ingo kept up his smile as the stranger just…looked at him. Fighting the urge to turn away and find some place to hide, to request to not be looked at. To sweat and cry and…well, he was fairly certain there was no escaping a nervous flush, even as the wet mud plastered over him was starting to soak a chill in. 

“...ah,” Ingo said unsurely. “Um…”

He pointed to his hero, before unsurely giving a thumbs up, tilting his head a little to make it seem more like a question.

Siffrin’s eye followed the point, a small, polite smile on his face as he tried to interpret it, “...?”

(…OH!)

(SIFFRIN, YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO ANSWER!)

“HI HELLO YES I’M SIFFRIN!” Siffrin said far too loudly, smiling brightly at the stranger–Ingo–like he hadn’t just spaced out on him, before smirking as he answered, “It’s so slide to meet you.”

…this was a terrible pun to introduce themselves on. It wasn’t even a pun. He should just throw himself into the mud slide and let the world take him away from this interaction, he had already failed it. Maybe he could pretend he hadn’t said it. “Crazy weather, huh?”

Ingo startled from the volume, his body clenching around the tree branch for a moment, and… Confusion only built. …slide to meet you? Look, maybe…maybe his accent was a little too thick amid the rain and wind, so…so he could understand Siffrin taking a moment to process that, o-or be willing to answer at all, but… Was…that a greeting Ingo had just never heard before, or?

“Enchanted, Siffrin,” Ingo greeted, before chuckling a bit as he nodded to the canopy above them, just barely keeping a flood from dumping down on them by his best guess, “It sure is. I don’t know about you, but it’s definitely mud-ified my plans for today.”

A little softer, Ingo looked over Siffrin again. Between the large cloak and hat it was a little hard to tell…just about anything from them. Other than height--not much--and what Siffrin’s face was like. Other than the eyepatch. Which was telling in its own right, Ingo supposed. “Are? You alright? That was pretty incredible, how you just pulled me up here.”

“Heheh,” Siffrin smiled brightly, tickled pink, “Nice.”

Giving Ingo a curious look, he glanced down before realizing, oh, yeah, “Yeah that was crazy.” Siffrin admitted, wincing as he rubbed his thighs, “I don’t think that’s a trick I could pull off twice. We’re lucky I didn’t just fall with you, really.”

Siffrin winced as the world lit up, blinding them for a moment, as thunder cackled, like standing near an exploding firework. When it all cleared, Siffrin warily looked around, glancing down at the mudslide, which was…still sliding. Pushed by the ever pouring rain. “We might want to get to higher branches.”

“Abatea’s graces,” Ingo sighed gratefully, before chuckling. “And yours as well. I’m not a poor swimmer, but I don’t think I’d fare well today.”

Again Ingo startled, clutching the branch as the thrums of thunder felt like outward echoes of how hard his heart was beating. He definitely wouldn’t fare well in the stream, but…the situation now wasn’t looking particularly optimistic either. 

Glancing up warily, Ingo attempted a grin. “I think you may be right. Though that’s unsurprising considering you had the good sense to get up a tree before the ground started moving.” Carefully getting up on the branch, Ingo looked around for a good place to start climbing…and a path that’d work for Siffrin too. “If you don’t mind me asking, what brought you to the forest today originally?”

Siffrin chuckled warily, pulling out a few mushroom heads from a hidden pocket and showing Ingo, one of them with a notable bite mark in it, “It was kind of a near thing. You wouldn’t believe how many of these there were maybe 20 minutes ago. Hey, random question, do you know if these are poisonous mushrooms?”

Though, to answer Ingo’s question, Siffrin smiled thinly, looking away as he considered an answer, “I was just…hiking? Why, what are you doing here?”

Ah, foraging. Ingo…hadn’t done a lot of that in Eslley. Between his propensity for getting poisoned and his carefree attitude, he hadn’t been on provision duty during the revolution and now…well…

Princes didn’t go foraging, unless it was an ecological hobby. Apparently. 

“Er…” Ingo peered at the mushrooms, wracking his brain. “I…think the poisonous brown ones have white stocks, so if they were brown, I think you’re alright? Maybe don’t eat more of them until you’re by a cleric, though.”

Finding some suitable branches to climb, Ingo started heading up, keeping an eye out for if Siffrin needed a hand. “There are some lovely paths for hiking through here, isn’t there? And there may be some new ones after this.”

Chuckling a little, Ingo let one branch go, as it felt a little too weak for his liking, and searched for another. Glancing over, though, his eyes glimmered with mischief as he gave Siffrin a wink. “Slacking off.”

The disappointment on Siffrin’s face was palpable. He looked regretfully down at the mushrooms, his stomach growling a little, before putting them away. Well, it was nice to just have the option of them, anyway. 

Though, he stood up, his light weight barely causing the branch to shift beneath him as he watched Ingo, an incredibly patient look on him that might have been funny in its stark contrast with the increasingly rising water beneath him. He glanced down and recalled there was definitely a word for this sort of thing. A lot of water, all at once… what was that called… “Ah, flash flood.” he murmured, looking back up and smiling lazily, “You picked an interesting day to play hooky.”

“...oh, that doesn’t make sense unless you can see it.” Siffrin murmured, pulling out his knife hook and passing it to Ingo, “Here, you can get to a taller branch if you use this on the bark.”

Flash flood? By context of the words alone, that didn’t sound…fantastic. 

However, Ingo just blinked at Siffrin for a moment, confused once again, before, “Oh! …I’ve never seen something like this before--particularly helpful for this very situation.” Taking Siffrin’s instruction, Ingo tried to pull them higher, more quickly, though he had to huff a soft laugh at what Siffrin had actually made the pun about.

“Well I didn’t think there was going to be a full storm today!” he whined in his defense. “I thought I’d just take a nice walk in the woods before traipsing back home, not suddenly end up in the ocean. Not looking forward to explaining this later, I’ll tell you.”

“I guess someone’s going to come looking for you then? That might be helpful later.” Siffrin mused.

Siffrin climbed behind him, pushing his cloak back to free his arms and legs to reach up for the branches, able to use some of the branches Ingo had had to navigate around, the branches holding steady beneath his lithe frame. He moved quietly, his heeled boots–giving him the illusion of an extra inch he didn’t really have–worn and cracked as he used them mindlessly as holdings against the branches curves. 

He climbed trees like someone who had spent a long time learning to climb trees, basically. Climbing up to the branch next to Ingo without much hesitation or effort, before he looked curiously at him, eye suddenly wide. “Wait, how close does that make us to…people? Then?? Are we near a town?”

Ingo winced a little. “Ah…yes. That will…probably happen.” Which was a good thing! Getting stranded out in the elements was not ideal, and already Ingo was craving a bath in the back of his mind. It was just… Well… People wouldn’t be…particularly pleased to have to come out looking for him. Again. When he was supposed to be…doing something. Prince things. 

The things that just…seemed to come so naturally to the rest of his family. So that it left Ingo feeling confused and out of place just made him feel like…

Ingo watched, impressed, how Siffrin climbed up the tree without a moment’s hesitance. Though he tilted his head a little. “Yes? We’re…well, I’m not sure how deep we are right now, but from where I was before, it’s maybe an hour’s walk to Esllesium?” After a moment, Ingo clarified, “The capitol?”

“...so a lot of people?” Siffrin clarified, looking absolutely dazzled. 

He had done it! He had found people!! It had only taken, um…a while! Since he had left, uh…somewhere. The last place. The last ‘lots of people’ place. Hah! HA HA! He had done it!! 

Siffrin grinned proudly, eye sparkling with accomplishment…before he glanced down at the water again. Shame they were gonna die at the finish line, huh?

Well, no, they were just being pessimistic. Maybe it’d be fine. Usually it was kinda fine. Siffrin had a way of sort of clinging on. Especially against highly improbable odds. Like being lost in a forest for (maybe?) months. That was the main example to occur to him. He was pretty sure there were others.

…wow. That look was…something. Despite imminent death at their feet, Ingo couldn’t help but pause, feeling his breath stolen at the pleased, proud…exalted look on Siffrin’s face. Their pale features lighting up like a ray of holy fire, a symbol of hope in endless darkness…

Ingo swallowed and quietly cleared his throat, continuing to climb. Imminent death, right. “Yes, a lot of people live there. I…don’t think we’re quite at ‘thousands’, after reconstruction, but ‘hundreds’ certainly.”

Offering a smile, Ingo asked, “Looking forward to some city life?”

“Mmhm~” Siffrin said, licking his lips slightly, already feeling himself start to drool. “I’m gonna… I’m gonna visit a shop.”

The people themselves were, of course, a serious draw for Siffrin. He was pretty sure he liked being around people. There had been plenty of days where, after some mild self-reflection, he deemed the deep, aching feeling inside of himself as ‘loneliness’. Which was a bummer way to feel, sure.

But in this moment, all he could think about was THERE WAS GOING TO BE SO MUCH FOOD THERE! 

And all kinds! Hot food! With spices!! And no dirt to clean off! And almost definitely not poisoned! Like, most certainly! Or if it was poisoned, it’d come with a label saying so! Very helpful, labels! 

Siffrin swayed lightly on his branch, looking incredibly happy, before pouting down at the water. Darn…flood. Come on, pass. Siffrin had shops to visit! 

Realizing he couldn’t glare the storm away, Siffrin looked back to Ingo, resigning himself to passing the time, “May I have my knife back? And what were you playing hooky from?” Siffrin looked Ingo up and down, and not sounding at all convinced by his own guess, tried, “School?”

“Plenty of shops, even,” Ingo warmly agreed. He might’ve grown up away from the worst of Mypros’ devastation, but that didn’t mean that Ingo hadn’t seen it. Gathering the courage to leave Fennox Wry, agreeing to leave with his family to see their home free once more, it had meant leaving more than familiarity. Every now and then the revolution had found a still-intact town or village that welcomed them, but…the revolution was happening because Eslley was under threat. Ingo couldn’t blame anyone who had managed to survive under the regime for not wanting to jeopardize it. 

For most of Eslley, being able to just…go to a shop? And buy things as they pleased? It was still a luxury that people weren’t taking for granted. 

…maybe there was something Ingo was taking for granted, though. He sent a wary look down at the rushing water below. 

“O-oh, yes, sorry,” Ingo jumped, hastily handing Siffrin their knife back, before easily shooting them a grin and a wink. “Glad to know my looks are staying strong.”

“But, nah. Just,” Ingo shrugged. Duty. “Responsibilities. Everyone’s busy off doing their own things, so I thought I’d keep out of the way. And from anyone looking for people to do things too.”