estoria | [OPEN] did you miss me?

Who: Tenka aka "Dad Extraordinaire" (

sunshrouded) & ALL OF Y'ALL TBH
When: Sliiiiightly forward-dated to 2/15, so right after the Nexus Code event!
Where: assorted... Kumounji House & entertainment district mostly!
What: Guess who's back (back again), Tenka's back. Tell a friend. -- also he fulfill his dream of becoming a Sidequest Dispenser.
Rating/Warning: just your usual brand of tenka idiocy, maybe some tears, probably some punching

[a. closed to kumounji house residents ; farts back into existence]

[Tenka doesn't have a calendar in his room.

Why would he?

But what he does have, when he materializes in his futon, wearing the same robe that he went to bed with, is a vague feeling of dread. He went through a weird sequence of dreams, he thinks. Sitting through that powerpoint again and then -- after that there was a weird space where he could walk through entire buildings. Where he started to feel... intangible again. It was remniscent enough of the time that he lost his body that he felt chills.

Yet his preoccupation with himself was short. After all, Shirasu was there.

Shirasu was there and wasn't there all at once -- he was in that space, unresponsive even as Tenka yelled at him and tried to punch him. But there was no returning punch, no weary purple eyes, not even a motion of acknowledgment. He was well and truly there and.... not.

So Tenka is tired as he walks out into the living room then, settling himself at their low table and slumping over it, just as he would've three weeks ago.

His first word upon his return:]

Teeeeaaaaaaaa.

[ . . . . . well?]

[b. semi-open to adoptees & others ; emerges from the void for noogies]

[Most people just knock or ring a doorbell. Maybe knock three times in small bursts if they're feeling antsy. But here's Tenka, banging on the door instead, complete with yelling:]

Heeeeyyyyy!! Is anyone in there?! Hellooooo?

[At least it's a voice you probably haven't heard in a while.

Someone clued him in that he's been gone for 3 weeks. So he's got about 3 weeks of visits to make up for, he thinks.

(Punch him.)]

[c. OPEN ; tell me what you see ]

[If nothing else, you might've seen this guy's face around. Yet he appears to no longer be Missing and is instead sitting on a bench somewhere. He seems to be puzzling over something very, very deeply. Feel free to bug him if you know him when he's still in the middle of his work of art (which consists of nothing more than a few brush strokes).

Because otherwise he's going to sit up suddenly and thrust out the page to you. It's definitely the kanji for 'lake'. But here's time for messing with the language mechanism and/or an impromptu Rorschach test:]

What does this look like to you?

[What a quack.]

[d. OPEN ; quest master tenka, disaster in the making]

Hey, you!!

[Doesn't that sound like a promising start to a conversation....

Alas, escape is futile as Tenka completely messes up the rhythm of the closest person's day as he steps in front of them and offers them the sunniest grin. (Don't trust it.)]

You look like you've got some free time. Think you can help a guy out with something?

[Sidequest: start!]

[e. choose your own adventure, hit me with anything, i can take it! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[WELL GOSH Kaoru had just been approaching to see if Tenka is really real, but suddenly there's a paper instead, and a kanji?! What is this... IS THIS A TEST. Did they get back some weird version of Tenka instead of the original one? Kaoru's brow furrows, greeting dying away into nothingness in the face of confusion.]

Ah... It's "lake", isn't it?

[More importantly, why is this what Tenka chooses to do with his time after being gone for like a thousand years??]

Right? Okay! So I got it right -- it just feels weird that they brainwashed us with words that I normally wouldn't understand....

[Tenka knows English but not to the extent that he's been speaking it to be honest. So he pulls back the paper to glance at the kanji once more and he nods more certainly. Yep. Okay. He's still a genius. Good to know.

And then he glances over to who he totally just rudely jumped in front of--]

[-- and it's like someone turned on all the lights]

Kaoru-chan!!

[nerd]

[WHAT IS TENKA EVEN TALKING ABOUT. The eternal mystery, really...

But instead of carrying on along that bizarre train of conversation, Tenka will just get a smile in return, bright and a little sheepish. One hand rises in a flustered gesture, briefly covering Kaoru's mouth. With some measure of relief:]

Good afternoon, Tenka-san. [A beat, and then:] I wasn't certain that I would be able to greet you like that again... But it's good to be able to.

[And then he's so endeared, god somebody help him. True, he didn't go to check up on Kaoru like he did with the rest of his kids because he assumes that his friends can take care of themselves but.... it's still so, so nice to see a friendly face again.

So he just gives a calmer, more endeared smile. This is not a drill. Assistance is required.]

You're sweet as always, Kaoru-chan.... but I'm really glad to see you again too. Miss me much?

[WHY IS TENKA CONSTANTLY DROWNING IN HIS OWN BAD JUDGMENT CALLS.

What a ridiculous smile though, gosh. It's almost like Tenka is actually happy to see this little shit or something.]

Mm... It must be said that the city wasn't the same at all without you here. [Because it was much quieter, for one!!] It seems you gave quite a few people a fright, though. I hope that you've already found them.

[Ah.... Right. That much manages to get Tenka to scratch his cheek nervously.]

Yeah.... I guess I did, huh. Well, I've checked in with most of them by now, I think.

How about you? Have you been holding up okay? Three weeks is a long time to be gone in this place, if you ask me....! I'm still trying to catch up on everything.

[A nod! Good work, Tenka, scaring the piss out of everyone. At least he's already gone about fixing that... Not surprising, considering how much he Cares about people and all.]

I'm glad to hear that. I've been faring well enough; thank you for asking. [Accompanied by a little smile!]

Things here have been a little hectic, though. You narrowly missed more difficulties with these strange "glitches".

I heard that too..... Messing with people's hearing, others getting cold no matter what, stuff like that--

[is it any surprise that literally everyone in Tenka's house except for Sousei has Touch as a sense]

You dealt with it too, Kaoru-chan? These guys really don't know when to stop, do they?

[The Struggle... Kaoru, on the other hand, doesn't actually know many people who were affected by touch and just knows about the effects tangentially.]

Unfortunately. It seems they have a fondness for making hearing in particular difficult for me. [RUDE AS HELL, CERES. Kaoru needs to hear so that the appropriate amount of Judgment can ensue!!]

While it seems that this had nothing to do with anything strange in the system as before- [Back when there was talk of ghosts being on the loose and all] -the similarities are certainly undeniable.

[ ah..... Tenka frowns at that then, looking all the more disturbed ]

Is that an official statement from them? This is the third time Sousei's hearing was bugged too. [ he's sharing this information for important reasons!! ]

Seems like a lot of it has to do with CERES's blunders.

Ah? [SHARING PROBLEMS WITH SOUSEI truly, this is what will bring them together (no).] Thrice... How unfortunate for him. It does seem that CERES is beginning to set a pattern of sorts.

[But WHAT DOES IT MEAN, Kaoru is still stumped.]

That also appears to be true.

[ . . . . and Tenka is grumbling because HE'S SAYING A LOT OF TRUE THINGS but they still don't have any more answers. So he's just going to run a hand through his hair and grumble.]

.... Sorry, Kaoru-chan. Just thinking out loud, I guess. It's annoying to realize that after three weeks, the bad things about this place haven't budged much either....

[Their struggle is so real... Kaoru's brow furrows, conveying some measure of concern.]

There isn't any need to apologize for that, Tenka-san. Thinking aloud may help us see something that we've missed before, isn't that so? [Maybe in most cases, anyway. Sure doesn't seem to be working in Cerealia!!]

...But that's certainly true, as well. Nothing has shifted since that woman took over from Vincere-san.

I'm not really used to.... things staying the same like this, you know?

[His world is typically a lot more dynamic.]

Maybe something will shake it up soon.

[watch what you wish for, tenka]

[lord above tenka's going to get everyone killed]

As long as the changes aren't detrimental... Truly, in a place like this, I would be more surprised if something changed for the better.

[Which is dang depressing but also entirely true, honestly.]

At any rate, I would imagine that you have enough on your plate for now, yes?

[OPEN] did you miss me?

c!

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