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[reparator]

Who: Cerealians from all over!
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GENERAL OVERFLOW
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Comments

[dontsaygou]

[ If Makoto and Haru were living in a makeshift shelter, Gou wouldn't want to inconvenience them. And there is the matter of Rin. Though they hadn't lived together in years and she had grown accustomed to only seeing him in brief snippets, there was something to be said for having family there, easily accessible for reassurance and confirmation. Maybe, once she adjusted and settled, they would discover living apart was easier, but for the moment -

Rin would insist, and Gou would not argue that request.

But she does squeeze Makoto's hand and smile at him in thanks for the offer. ]

When we get tired of each other, I will come find you and Haruka-senpai. [ And that sounds like she doesn't want to see them other times, which is far from true. She'll seek them out whenever she can, enjoy the comfort of her friends and the familiarity from home.

It's a selfish thought, but she's so thankful they are here and that Makoto found her, reassured her that this wasn't the horror she feared that morning and all through the games. And though it's a terrible situation, the presentation from earlier still painting a desolate and bleak view of the universe away from this place, and the games themselves leaving a bitter taste in her mouth, Gou believes in the power of people, in the ability to manifest happiness in the company of friends.

Nothing can be terrible when there are people who still care. Knowing that Makoto's there, Rin and Rei and Haru - and on the edges of her consciousness lingers the thought that perhaps others can join them - means that she can live in the moment and look to the future with an open heart.

It's not easy to read the silences from Makoto, but something heavy lingers in his face, the way his fingers lay still, and the brittleness of his voice, and Gou's heart aches for him.

They've not taken care of their hearts. Thrown into a different world, blocks encountered, hurdles suddenly impossible to overcome, and dreams dying out, even with gaining second-hand knowledge of dreams a different version of you had, awkward and foreign.

Gou can't fathom that. But she doesn't need to understand to offer comfort. ]

It's not silly, Makoto-senpai. Just weird, which seems to be common for this place. But it can't be all that bad! You can still swim.

[ Such a silly thing to say. But swimming's always been about so much more, even for Gou, who can't swim at all, probably couldn't stay afloat in the pool. It encompasses everything.

She's already got a job lined up, once the pool is fixed. But that news can wait, she doesn't want to give Makoto a heart attack at her career choice. A swim instructor who can't swim.

Makoto inspired that, in his way. ]

I'll wash your jacket for you, Makoto-senpai, and return it as soon as I can.

[ She doesn't even notice the smell anymore as it fades into the background with so many other scents. The artificial petrichor, the damp grass, foreign pollen in the air, the slight heaviness of ozone.

And there's Rin over the horizon, a slim figure with bright red hair. Gou untangles her hands from Makoto's with a pleased smile and rushes to meet her brother. ]

[cordated]

[ in these preternatural times, he's grateful for the distinguishing an apology from an expression of gratitude. for makoto, it's one and the same, his remorse feeding into appreciation ad infinitum, but she never ascribed to the same relative values.

instead: overwhelming confidence, sonorous and lilting past reassurance and plunging into conviction. even on her own, she'd be alright.

he curbs his usual tendencies for excessive speaking for quiet as she speaks without interruption, content with roving through his thoughts (he doesn't need to incite any more looming insecurities in her).

her critiques are more of tentative admonishments than rin's overwrought gusto, smile teetering too bright, too sharp. it's a dissimilarity, out of many, although they're both matsuokas through and through.

in the end, makoto is only ever as much worth as the effort he puts in. insecurity throws things out of proportion, but just the act of sitting with her consoles the manic unease, the kind of spasmodic energy likely to break bones if he'd flung himself against a wall if he'd kept thinking about it (because he always dwells upon it, now, his deficiencies brought into hyper-awareness by his profound failings).

for a while, he forgets, her hand squeezing his with soft focus, that there was ever an issue at all. but inaccuracies are just glorified mistakes, and it all comes down heavy, her hand unlacing, rin on the precipice of the open horizon.

his friend takes long, long strides, wakeless and even, composure elongated without an outlet like a slingshot without ammunition; rin must've missed her terribly.

mildly, makoto feigns his best impression of a smile, vague insecurity for what he can't help, for what assembles (and disassembles) him no less cured from encountering gou in tellus. there's no resistance, then, nothing he could say, even when all he has left are his words and the semblance of good intentions. ]

Yeah. I'll see you later, Gou.

[ but she's already gone, sprinting along the grass to meet her brother, and there's no place for him in that reunion, just like how he'd sought rin out on his own terms.

it's not lonely. not really, not in the colloquial meaning of the word.

there's rei to find, haru to confront.

so makoto goes. ]