reveilation | IC INBOX

[ She makes it to the kitchen without incident, taking the bowl off the tray so she can set it on the counter to eat, but doesn't start eating until Terry sits down too, swinging her feet a little under the chair so the kitten have something to bat at and paw around. Head bowed over the bowl, she tucks her hair behind her ears so they're not in any danger of falling into the soup, though it's too short for that anyways. ]

...What were we doing before this? What... do I need to be doing?

[ It's been ten years. Most of it she can't remember, bits and pieces of the most important memories from her time in the orphanage to living with the Tateyamas to moving out with just her siblings, and everything from Hirajiro had fallen to the side like a dream she's struggling to recall now. Even this house, while familiar, has that strange dreamlike quality of being more like a home from her childhood memories than one she'd recently moved into. ]

I can't remember a lot of things.

[ Even though it hasn't been ten years for Terry, he also feels like what happened felt like so long ago. He waits for his soup to cool down a little after mixing it with his spoon and considers what to say. ]

We were summoning Personas to fight Shadows in Dungeons. We mostly did that so we could take their loot to sell for money for the house and the stuff we need for it. Several days before it [ them dying ] happened--

[ ... ]

We gathered people in the house so that we could discuss what's going on in this place and stuff like that.

[ ...Yeah, with words like Personas and Dungeons and images of monsters, it's really no wonder Kido's subconscious mind chalked it all up to being a dream and didn't dwell any more on it, with more pressing matters for her to deal with at the time instead. ]

So? What's going on in this place?

[ As hard as she tries, all Kido can recall is a sense of being together with a bunch of people, like how it was the morning before she woke up in the hospital, surrounded by all these new friends, and old ones too. But really, did they actually figure anything out, besides naming the gang and having eating contests?? ]

I didn't catch everyone's discussions, but what I got out of the whole thing is that the crows in this town are weird, even though... they're normal crows. Kinda like... maybe they're physically just normal crows, but they were trained to not act like a normal crow.

[ Hm... ]

Now that I think about it, crows following one specific person for a week straight is pretty weird itself. One of them even dropped this on my head when I was cleaning outside.

[ He pulls out the shiny rock from his pocket. ]

I can't find out where the crow got it from, but I doubt crows can open the offering box on their own and I don't think they can coordinate something like that, but what I do know is that this isn't some copy, but it's definitely the stuff that Shadows sometimes drop when they die.

[ He got Kido's omamori too, but... that's for another time. He was also about to bring up how crows could cross worlds to bring items that belonged to them or acting as messengers, but Kido doesn't need to hear about more possibilities on going back either. ]

[ Crows are just weird animals, though. If Seto were here, he'd be able to speak with the crows directly and answer a lot of those questions, but he's not and he won't ever be around anymore to do that sort of stuff, and there's that pang again that closes up Kido's throat and makes it hard to swallow. ]

Crows are smart. Seto... he said that all the time. That if you're nice to them, they're nice back, and sometimes bring you gifts.

[ A small stone like that definitely looks like the sort of gift a bird would drop, anyways. Saying nothing about personalized omamoris or something ridiculous like motorcycles or beds. ]

I wonder if someone dropped theirs and the crow picked it up...

[ That could be a possibility. He was nice to crows before, but they stole his food. His outlook isn't very good on crows now... ]

I'll think about it later. Other than that, there wasn't much else except for foxes showing up at the school just because they can.

[ Yeah, maybe crows dropping things on people's heads is them being brats, not friends. ]

...Is it weird for foxes to show up at the school?

[ Kido doesn't know anything about foxes, and Seto hasn't imparted any particular fox knowledge as far as she can remember ]

Yeah. I went to check that out too, but it's a pretty normal fox, just like the crows. Maybe the animals in this place are just weird...

[ He grumbles. His strong dislike towards foxes hasn't changed, and it probably won't in the future. Terry finally begins eating his soup. ]

[ Kido could probably agree with that much, seeing as how all the cats at her feet are overly friendly, but they're domesticated animals, unlike crows and foxes. ]

Essentially, we didn't learn anything concrete, huh? Would it be too soon to call everybody back for a meeting?

[ She stirs her soup instead of eating, staring at the countertop and trying to figure out what the hell she's supposed to be doing right now. There are thoughts to sort out that she doesn't want to touch just yet, and it was always easier giving herself a "mission" to absorb herself in when she wants to ignore something else. ]

It's only been around two weeks. I don't think anybody found anything new in particular by now...

[ Maybe he can just make Kido do housework that only requires one hand while she recovers... She seemed to be interested in just staying indoors anyway. ]

It's been ten years for you, but you still look the same. Is there a reason for that?

[ Lots of things can happen in two weeks!! But maybe life gave them all a break, considering there was a handful of dead people.

At Terry's question, Kido sort of frowns to herself and shakes her head, because that's such a weird discrepancy that she can't make sense of either, yet another reason why this place has to be a dream. ]

Did I look just like this...? Are you sure? I remember... dying, with my sister. Being swallowed up into darkness, and then this place. [ The dream. ] After that, I woke up surrounded by a bunch of rubble, and ten or so years passed. I should have been around six years old, the last time I was here.

[ .......................

Is she saying that he loved a six year old. Terry nearly drops his spoon in disbelief. chotto matte ]

You did not look six. You didn't act like six either.

[ ???? WHAT IS GOING ON ]

[ Yeah, that's it. Sorry you're a pedo. ]

Seven?

[ Since she's seventeen right now and will be seventeen forever. It's like a different sort of immortality to Terry's. ]

[ espurr.gif ]

No! There's barely any difference to that! You looked the same! Did you go back in time or something?!

[ ... ]

No, I'm telling you, all that happened when I was a kid.

[ She looks uncertain, not because she doesn't trust her own memories, but because there's no proof of anything she says. Terry has physical proof on his side, though, if he calms down and remembers about it. ]

I died in a fire when I was little and woke up in the ruins of that castle, then died in a fire here and woke up in the ruins of my house.

[ Perhaps it's a miracle that Terry managed to think through all the muddled thoughts the past week gave him and for remembering through all those head injuries. ]

--Wait, that's not right. When I saw you for the first time, you were bleeding from your stomach. You didn't have burns or anything. You also told me that you died twice before.

[ Kido leans back and glances down at her stomach like she expects to see herself bleeding out at this exact moment, but of course there's nothing except the bandages underneath her black t-shirt.

Also, however tragic a childhood she had, dying twice by the age if six or seven is pretty horrific. ]

It shouldn't have been... I'm the one who killed dad, not the other way around. Maybe the roof had fallen in, and that's why...?

[ It would have crushed her entire body, though, not just her stomach. She was hugging Rin as hard as she could the entire time, desperate not to lose her sister, so even if something small had fallen and pieced her, it would have been in the back and not the stomach. She should have been burned all over.

It doesn't make sense, and she's still inclined to trust her own memories over Terry's claims. ]

You also said it was 2012... because I remember you looked at me like I was crazy when I said I was from 2029.

[ He rules out the fact that perhaps this isn't the Kido he knows, because she seemed to remember him at least.

But other than that, he doesn't remember any other evidence. ]

Besides, even if the roof fell in, it wouldn't just target your stomach and avoid everything else.

[ Kido gives him the same look right now, the one where she thinks he's crazy. ]

I don't know why I would have said that. When I— ...when everybody died...

[ She bites back whatever emotions are threatening to well up, and clears her throat, speaking up a little. ]

It was August 15, 2012. So that date can't be right. If all of this happened just this year, I wouldn't have forgotten any of it.

[ ... Maybe he needs to visit Minato again. Maybe he'd be worried about showing up all of a sudden as if he looks fine because compared to last time, that would be a 180 difference, but. Terry's own tact is a slow climb. ]

I mean, I believe you when you said it lasted ten years, so it must have happened in some way or another.

[ He's going back to his alternate worlds theory. ]

He did say that time doesn't move here on a linear path...

[ Never mind, he looks defeated already. ]

Edited 2019-09-14 22:16 (UTC)

[ Maybe Minato will give him the "I don't know, I'm not God" spiel, but it's worth a visit anyways. Kido's not the only one with screwy memories and multiple AUs, after all. ]

Who's "he"?

[ Saying that to a demigod clone is something else, Minato... ]

Sasuke. We were trading info of what we learned beforehand, and it's what Souji told him... want me to refresh your memories on who they are?

[ He gets a sudden epiphany. ]

--Ah! Right! Rei called you "neechan"! And Rei is definitely older than 7!

[ Terry: "so uh what happened?"
Minato: "idk you tell me"
also LMFAO WHY IS THAT THE INDISPUTABLE PROOF TERRY COMES UP WITH, I was waiting for Terry to whip out his phone and show Kido pictures or something ]

Uh. I remember Rei.

[ She can't recall Sasuke as well, and all she gets from Souji's name is a vague sense of annoyance, but she can't forget Rei. ]

How is she?

[ I wish he wasn't so stupid sometimes. I have to flip a coin to see if a remotely smart statement even goes through his head. If it lands on tails, I just delete it. Goodbye, smart thoughts. ]

She's still recovering.

[ ...

She was right next to you, Kido? Hello?? ]

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