estoria | [OPEN] I'm in here

Entry tags:

[OPEN] I'm in here

Who: Mary Kozakura (

immobileyes) and YOU
When: IC 2/27-3/01
Where: Residential District, right by the not-so-standing apartments
What: Mary tries to dig up things from her fallen apartment over the course of a few days, success is varied
Rating/Warning: None!

[ It was hard enough, waiting for the water level to go down enough so that Mary could return to where her apartment was (had been) without risk of drowning. Seto's hoodie, the jacket Hiro had given her... they were the only things she'd been able to find at the time, but now she can search for anything remaining from their apartment.

So feel free to come across a tiny teenager over the afore-mentioned days, getting drizzled on and trying to pry up pieces of the smaller rubble - and HNNNNNGHing at the bigger pieces of debris that she can't budge at all - as she hunts about. The stuffed animal she'd received from Lily is gone, the headband from Kaoru and Shiho has been twisted and bent beyond repair when she miraculously finds that... the dried flowers, from the bouquet Elza had given her... no sign of them. All of her tea...

Mary almost wants to cry, but not yet. She just keeps looking.

And don't be alarmed if she seems worn-out when you see her. It's not some weird elemental effect, she's just terrible at stamina. ]

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Hey, it's cool, not scary! Maybe it's cool in a way that's a little scary . . . that's what punk's all about! I mean, I think. That makes sense, anyway.

[Probably. Who knows what punk's really all about?

His mind isn't on that right now, anyway, not that it ever really is; he stoops to pick up a fragment of saucer and hold it in his palm. That's the moment it occurs to him the sheer enormity of what's been lost here: it's one fragment of one saucer. How many saucers are in the set? How many cups go with them? How many other dishes does she own? Silverware? The table they go on? The chairs you sit in to drink tea? How many pieces is every one of those things smashed into, and that's just the kitchen?

He holds it out to her, rubbing the back of his neck. Shit, that's depressing to think about. He can't think on this too long . . . ]

This one probably ain't gonna do you much good, huh . . .

Ah...

[ It's easy enough to recognize what he's offering to her; Mary had spent a great deal of time carefully cleaning that set after each and every use, justifiably cautious with her track record of stumbling. Seeing that little bit of porcelain, she reaches out to cup it in her palms. ]

I didn't think they'd... be okay, anyway. I already knew...

[ But she says it in a morose little murmur. ]

Aw, man . . .

[There's nothing Leon hates quite like seeing girls sad. It's not like he can blame her; who wouldn't get like this, and worse, over their place getting trashed? But it's still the worst. He lifts his hand--the cleaner one, not the one he'd picked up the saucer with--to pet her on the top of the head. Gently, and carefully, since she's already come to the conclusion he's a little scary, and he's not aiming to make that any worse.]

You can get a new one, right? Hey, there's gotta be some stuff in here that didn't get totally wrecked.

[ To be fair, Mary gets frightened of adorable girl idols too. It's the world, really. But she only flinches slightly, and then she just... tolerates it. She's used to hair ruffles and patting. ]

Yeah... it won't be that hard. And there's still a lot to look for.

[ She acknowledges your efforts, Leon. ]

Yeah--yeah, c'mon, we got this!

[He should really be the one reassuring her . . . but he feels pretty reassured anyway. He does pull his hand back after giving her adorable head a good ruffle, and then down he goes again to drag aside another few planks of wood and see what there is to see underneath. It's exactly the kind of work he hates, but for a sad girl--and especially right now, when he's feeling full of positive energy--he's all about making the sacrifice.

Now, away with these planks.]

You've got a lot of stuff, huh? So you've been here for a while, probably! Am I right?

A few months.

[ Which is both a long time and not all that long in comparison to how long she'd lived in the forest by herself. Mary sucks in a quiet breath now, moving to help dislodge some planks. ]

But a lot's happened since then.

Yeah . . . tell me about it.

[Actually, he hasn't thought about it in those terms until just now, but he can't deny the truth of it--for himself, too. A lot sure has happened, and he hasn't even been here for two months yet.

He drags a board aside and then wipes some mud off on his knee, which is totally pointless when he just goes to grab another board again two seconds later, but it's an automatic reaction. Gross.]

I guess if I think about it, seven weeks or however long it's been for me is a long time to get stuck in a totally crazy-ass place like this . . . but with everything that's happened, it feels more like a year's gone by! This is like a lifetime of messed up all compacted into barely any time at all!

[ ... You tried, Leon. You tried most admirably. ]

I know... I wish it would slow down sometimes. But then this happened, and there were people who were falling asleep standing up, and before that, there was the place where most of my friends disappeared to, and--

[ IT'S VAGUELY UPSETTING. ]

Whoa, wait, all that happened?!

[It just so happens she went and described things Leon never experienced himself. Well, he'd been there in the Nexus Code, but he hadn't recognized a single person in it, and still hasn't picked up on the fact that they were previous residents . . . so all of this is new to him, and more than a little disturbing.]

What place your friends disappeared to? You mean here, right?

Yeah. A lot of the people who lived here were there. I thought... when they disappeared, maybe they'd found a safer place to be. But to find them, all strung up and not even moving...

[ She's just unintentionally bound and determined to rain on his parade, oops. ]

Shit, that's who those people were?!

[Whoops, swearing in front of the cute little girl. But when he places what she's talking about, there it is, out of his mouth without a second thought. Of course he knows where she means, with people strung up and not moving . . . he hadn't known what the hell that entire experience had been about, but he'd hated it, and now he feels even worse about it.]

People you knew?! I didn't recognize anyone . . . I didn't even know!

If you weren't here long enough, you wouldn't... but if any of your friends disappear, then maybe that's where they'll go, too.

[ Which is entirely not a comforting thought, she knows, but she'd rather be honest here. ]

That's . . .

[Mary you are really putting this "unable to hold onto negative emotions" thing to the test giirrrrrlll

He doesn't dwell on it for long, for that reason, and also because why would he want to? It's a terrible thought. But he thinks about it for a few moments and that's enough for anyone. Shudder.

But on the bright side, because he can't help that right now, anyway:]

Hhhhey, but like, at least that means you know where they are, right? Heh . . . so, we can totally help 'em! Maybe CERES has 'em captive or whatever that was, but that just means we can definitely get 'em all back!

... Do you know how? [ Do you have some secret answer that will make it easy to release all of the people dangling lifelessly in... the Nexus whatsit? Because Mary could probably storm in on CERES but it would end horribly. ]

Uh, nooo . . .

[Man, he wishes. Or more accurately, he wishes he knew how to do anything at all to get back at CERES. Knowing how to get into and mess with that Nexus place is even more outside of his knowledge than most things regarding the city, though, and that's saying a lot. He rubs the back of his neck.]

--But people're workin' on it! I've got some friends who're totally looking into it!

Friends? From your world?

[ Man, everyone's got friends from their world, it seems. Or most everyone. But then again, maybe he's talking about people he's met here, and she wonders if she knows them. ]

Yeah, some of 'em. You ever met Kirigiri or Naegi?

[He's at least fairly confident in calling those two friends. Naegi had never said it explicitly . . . but Leon appreciates him. And he'd sent him a present, and who buys presents for someone they don't even wanna be friends with?]

Or Hinata! Actually, there's a whole lot of people here from my school.

[It's a little awkward in some ways.

He lifts aside another plank, taking a peek under it.]

[ He may find some dirty blankets or sheets, nothing too terribly exciting under there. ]

Naegi... san... um, I think I remember him. I don't know him that well, though.

[Bleh. Well, he tried. He lifts those aside and tosses them out of the way, and moves on to what appears to be a broken table of some sort, splintered everywhere.]

He was in my class back home.

[Awkward.]

He's pretty cool . . . y'know, he's that really plain ordinary kinda guy you don't think about a lot, but then he's totally there for you when you don't expect it.

Oh! So he's [ Shintaro ] reliable. He did seem really nice.

[ And Leon's also been really nice, and being friends with a really nice person does help her relax a bit. ]

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[OPEN] I'm in here

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