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[codeoracle]

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[codeoracle]

Mhm. Something to remember her by since I'm...here.

[She may have done things back home with Sojiro, but it didn't feel right to not do something special for her mother here too.]

She was really smart. She figured out the whole Psience thing, after all. And Mom...she was nice, she wanted to make sure we were able to be happy...

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[girlybruiser]

Maybe... do you want to put something up for her at the Ted Kord Memorial Centre?

[ It seems the most obvious choice, but perhaps at this point a bit of a cliche considering how many other imPorts use it? Although that is the intended purpose, maybe Futaba wants to deviate from the norm. ]

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[codeoracle]

It might help to have a place to visit...like the Memorial Centre.

But I want to do something special for her too. Sojiro and I...I guess we just did things to remember her. For awhile we spent the day trying to perfect her curry recipe. Or he'd take me to a restaurant Mom and I liked.

[Maybe part of the problem was her missing those aspects of home too. She couldn't just ask someone to replace Sojiro--no one really could.

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[girlybruiser]

It's up to you.

[ Haru beams at her, laying a hand gently on Futaba's shoulder. ]

But a place of your own to visit her... it may not be such a bad idea. Of course it doesn't have to be the only thing.

Hmm... did she have any hobbies? Or things she liked?

[codeoracle]

She loved her work...but we were going to take a trip when she was done.

[She shifts slightly, biting her lip as she thinks it over.]

Maybe we could take one...after we set up something at the memorial. Do you think...would it be okay to ask Goro to go?

[codeoracle]

I...was thinking about taking a trip--but that would be with more people than just us.

[That's another matter, entirely, however. It wasn't something that she wanted to bring into the conversation now, not when the two of them were trying to plan some time just for the two of them.]

Maybe a short jump to Maurtia though--you said there was a coffee shop, right? I'd really like that...

[girlybruiser]

If you are comfortable with him coming. I know with Goro-kun it's been...

[ Well, he had orphaned both her and Futaba. That kind of pain doesn't easily go away and one doesn't forgive as easily, even if she considers him a friend now and genuinely cares for him.

She can't blame Futaba for feeling strangely about it herself. ]

It's up to you. She was your mother, after all. But... you have new family now, so perhaps it isn't such a terrible idea to try and build on that relationship a little?

[andtherevolution]

[That just makes her think about the conversation she had with Haru, about how it's the little things that matter. It may not be like the coffee shop she had back home, but it's something, isn't it? Something to help with homesickness.]

It'll be great, I promise. I'll meet you at the door after we're done getting ready, okay?

[Just in case Futaba needs a couple minutes to get rid of the sadness funk. Trust her, she's been there before.]

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[lempereur]

[ So. He's been gone for nearly nine months. At first he hadn't really realized it, the whole process of porting in and out was so exhausting that he ignored the new folder and just went home. To his old house, where his things are gone, where his roommates are gone, where his next door neighbor/well-established boyfriend is gone.

What would a normal person do? Scroll through the network until they find a name they recognize, probably. But not Yusuke, he's looking from door to door, until he finds someone he knows, someone who can make this sudden whiplash make sense.

Sorry, door to door? More like window to window. No number of months lost in the ether can take the Phantom Thief out of him. Yusuke is scaling buildings and peeking into windows throughout the (much smaller) imPort housing neighborhood in Heropa until he finds what he's looking for. A dark bedroom with an elaborate computer setup, and a painting he recognizes as his own on the wall. It must be Futaba's.

Hopefully, at least. If a stranger were to walk in and find Yusuke laying on their bed, it would be weird. This isn't weird at all. ]

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[codeoracle]

[Futaba had no idea what awaited her at home. She came into her room as she would any other day. Her attention wasn't directed at the bed, not at first.

First, she flicks on the light, quietly trying to shoo one of the cats away from her feet so she wouldn't trip as she moves to her computer. She idly clicks her mouse, display coming to life to show very little of interest if her disappointed sigh was anything to go by.

But then she's turning around with the idea of flopping on her bed and maybe playing some games--except there's someone on her bed. So she shrieks, grabbing some spare part haphazardly from her desk, prepared to chuck it--]

Inari?!?

[What. The. Fuck.]

[lempereur]

[ He's been waiting for a while. It occurs to him to just send her a message, and he pulls out his phone to do so, but sets it back down with a sigh. He thinks...he might just want to sit alone with his thoughts for a while. It really is as they say, all this time away feels like nothing to him. It's as if he laid down for a midday nap, and when he awoke, everything had changed. It's all so sudden and overwhelming, maybe it's best that Futaba isn't here.

With his device--or his new one, he'll need to get a case for it--laying down beside him, he rests his eyes, his face burying into a pillow he hopes is Futaba's. Just for a moment. Several moments. However many moments it takes for him to drift off enough not to notice when his favorite redhead enters the room. ]

Augh--!

[ Her shrieking jolts him back up, spindly limbs knocking the device onto the floor with a thunk as he hurries to straighten himself. ]

Honestly, Futaba, there is no need to scream.

[codeoracle]

It is when you're just laying about my room after--[After nine months. She starts to grumble, setting the computer part turned weapon back down.]

When did you get back? Do the others know--Who did you know where to find me? [Panic is momentarily tossed aside, filled instead with curiosity and questions. His rather casual attitude and the fact that he likely had come looking for her meant that he had to remember being here before. Logically. She hoped.]

[lempereur]

Today, I suppose. Although I don't remember being gone.

[ He just woke up and nine months had passed, with some soldier in his face telling him he had to live in De Chima now. Which he ignored, of course, and came straight to Heropa to see who was left. Not enough of them.

He relaxes again, slumping back against the wall. Yusuke is casual, yes, but tired. This is not how he expected his day was going to go, obviously. While he is glad to see that Futaba's still here, he can't even summon a half-smile to show it. ]

I went to my house [ old house ] first, but it is now occupied by someone else. So I went looking for you.

[ He tried to find Yuri first, but...the thought makes his teeth clench. He isn't quite ready to speak it. ]

[codeoracle]

It's been...over half a year.

[She wasn't sure it would be best to let him know just how long it's been. He likely has some idea already, anyway.]

They shuffled us all around. We got lucky that we ended up here--that I got to stay here. But...a lot of people are gone too.

[If he remembers this place, she can only guess who else he had looked for. He had to know--and she wasn't the type to rub salt in that kind of wound. She knew how hard something like that stung.]

[lempereur]

[ He remembers what the date was yesterday, and he knows what it is today. She doesn't need to tell him, but maybe it would help it seem more real if she did.

Yusuke's hands clench and unclench in his lap, uncomfortable with the topic of people being gone. She could have let him ease into it, but Futaba just had to bring it up... ]

I know. I looked.

[ He lets the words sit for a moment, while a lump grows in his throat. He wants to coil in on himself and handle his grief in solitude, the way he used to before this world, before the Phantom Thieves. But letting his emotions overcome him in an unfamiliar room, around a bunch of strangers, sounds even worse than having to share them. ]

Come sit with me.

[ Please. ]

[codeoracle]

I'm sorry.

[She says it quietly as she moves to join him, sinking into spot on the mattress beside him. She could have had more tact, bringing that up, but her own loss was still a little raw. Her emotions frayed at the edges--what a pair they made.

She leans against his side, reaching for one of his hands.]

I knew you would have looked...I would have too.

[lempereur]

[ He takes her hand at once, squeezing tight and swallowing hard, even though the gesture threatens to unravel him. Looking for him is the first thing he did, and it's a comfort that Futaba knows that, but just a drop in the bucket compared to not finding him. After everything they'd been through together, all the love they'd shared, for him to wake up nine months later and have him be gone...

It's numbing. ]

What am I supposed to do now?

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[maskormods]

1st letter

V

s-e•-:-g-r
o-g•-s•
w-f•-h-a
o•-h-o
t-a-’-t-e
g-c-o-s-r•-r-a
c-h-h-h-m
c-o

text; whenever

[lempereur]

I remember something about the time I was gone.

A dream. You and I, dancing at an intersection in Shibuya.

I had the same dream again.

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[codeoracle]

1. Weird dream.
2. Why were we dancing?
3. You had that dream here too??

I have more questions, but let's start there.

[lempereur]

I don't remember why. I guess it was simply for the joy of it, though I've never known you to be a dancer.

Yes. I had it again last night.

[codeoracle]

Dancing seems like fun. I know some parapara?

...Wonder why. Oh oh! Did we have cool costumes?

[lempereur]

One moment.






you were wearing something like this.

[ It's not as polished as most of his sketches, but just to get his point across, he sends Futaba an uncolored version of this. ]

[1/?]

[codeoracle]

INARI!

[You're lucky you two aren't practically neighbors any more, Yusuke. You'd be able to hear her screeching for sure.]

[2/3]

[codeoracle]

What is that even?! I mean obviously cosplay but...SERIOUSLY?

Ugh. Female armor is so bad. Talk about weak points. [Priorities.]