Messenger Box

[eyeswideopen]

If you need to get a hold of Komaeda, here's where you do it.

Messenger birds, action, what have you.

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[gottacatch]

[ It's in their shared look that Red barely blinks. He's not locked into a single extreme expression, nor is the look he gives cold; it's listening, refusing to affect the story that's being shared, in some control of emotion for once than the usual instant reactions he's one to give. Red gaze tries to follow after Komaeda's when it leaves, but the thick pieces block him. He bites in his bottom lip.

He knows this part of the tale. The part that had confused him in the timeline of their despair from the pieces he had accumulated over knowing classmates of that world. It twisted in him still, his skin drying off moisture, off tears. Another disgusting piece of their history.

Their life was so screwed up. Komaeda was too. He always suspected it, but still--

Red moves his hand in his, to make sure it properly moulds into the space of his palm, while he takes his other from Charizard to the back of Komaeda's neck, to bring his head to just barely meet that of his forehead. Or maybe it's just resting in that bed of hair. His head certainly wasn't bowed for it, the older guy far taller than him.

But whatever it is, it's enough, where Red doesn't even say anything for a quiet moment. He lets out a breathe that can be heard, and Charizard's head under them goes to rest on Red's lap. And there, the air warms. The day that actually exists is allowed to be remembered, the heat more of a tender comfort than anything suffocating. A homely, safe feeling.

A reminder of being close to someone loved and their security. One with a soul of fire. ]

...I don't think what you did was right. Everything that happened wasn't right. [ Once again, Red's voice is soft, but this time because any higher is unnecessary. It's clear, and honest. ] ...but I really care about the Komaeda here today. You gave me someone to trust, when I wasn't sure if I could trust myself.

You reminded me how to do that too. Just now. You reminded me.

[ Just by being with him. There's nothing he can see but strands of white, but his eyes keep barely opened. ]

...we're more scared of ourselves than each other.

[ He was sure it was true, but it was his own way of saying as well, with another squeeze of his hand brought up to his chest--

I'm not scared of you. You mean a lot to me. ]

[eyeswideopen]

[He had turned when Red touched him with one hand. At his bidding, he bent down low not unlike Charizard's own actions. He says nothing as the words remind him all too well of one simple truth.]

Yes. I do hope one day that won't be the case. For now, this is enough.

[To be trusted, and looked to as a source of reassurance and protection...these are part of the wish he always had. In time he had come to add, to be worthy of the offered friendship. He squeezes Red's hand in his and gives him a rueful smile.]

Thank you for reminding me of how far I've come from those days. Still have far to go but, [He laughs, small white star-shaped flowers blooming about them. They glow and sway to a breeze only they are subject to.] Isn't that what life is? A journey of discovery. Feels like the future whatever it is, will have the most hope if I accept that.

[gottacatch]

[ He can't see the flowers, but Red's sure he knows something is there by feeling alone. It stirs his anxiety a little, but he reassures it, tempers it with a breath and the trust in those with him. It's a comfort worth more than words, one he didn't know he needed reminded of before he had it. Had been reaching out in his attempt to scare and push Komaeda away.

But the words too, and the touch, still give him plenty as well. ]

I never used to doubt myself this way before. Everything I thought's been challenged, and it gets tiring. [ ... ] Sometimes, I miss...being able to travel, to pack my things and go, like I did. Being able to move on to somewhere else. Living my old life...

[ He can imagine it now, easily. The scent of grass and dirt of a foreign land picks on the breeze. Really, it does more to make his heart drop than comfort him as his present company does, and it fades away. ]

...I know I wouldn't go away. [ To leave, at least, permanently. ] I can't. There's too much I want to see done. I want to do more. To do good...

That's my hope.

[eyeswideopen]

It's a beautiful kind of hope, Red. ...I never thought of being able to travel where I wanted to as freedom but, I can see it now. When this is over, let's go explore Shaarnath and maybe assist in an exploration team, hm?

[He doesn't lift his head. In a way this setting. Even the way their breathing is the loudest sound in the area aside from the fire on Charizard's tail. All of it spins a tale of peace. He could sleep, he's so relaxed.]

...I'll help you as much as I can in what you want to see and do. I understand how you feel about being challenged and doubting yourself. Ever since I came to this world, I've been challenged at every turn. It's like...it chips away at everything and the results can be far from what you expected to be.

[gottacatch]

[ The words are perhaps a little too beautiful for Red, but he can't disagree that helping in an exploration task would be beneficial, and hadn't he spotted such tasks already available in the desert city?

His mind doesn't linger so much on it. There's another offer he remembers, prompted by the help put forward. He lets the hand at the nape of Komaeda's neck gradually, and then all at once leave, hovering for a moment without a purpose, indecision of where to go, before settling on his free knee. ]

I'd...like to take you up on practising some dunamis together. I need to learn how to accept energy like that without making any mistakes. [ Or, something like that. He can just see his free hand in sight, which he lifts again, turning over. ]

I have an idea how to do it. Imagining the energy going to my hands, making it happen... [ There's a light blue shield that circles around it, icy cold, formed by the essence of a stern strength that isn't entirely his own. It bursts without sending the shards that it could possible send flying, dissolving into nothing. ]

I can do it. I just need someone I trust to give me the energy to practice with.

[eyeswideopen]

I'd be honored to help you with that. [It would help him a great deal as well. Boosting his own abilities is easy. Sharing energy with others outside of rituals and to use it specifically for healing...that's still so new.]

I've done it before with Hajime but, I need to get used to sharing with everyone. That is if this is to be a method of healing or assisting others in healing.

[His smile is light and full of life. He feels rather good right now.]

[gottacatch]

[ He can't help but smile, just a little. If it was a way they could help each other, then that would make it better, in a way - more fulfilling anyway, to bring more good out of it. Red hums along with it, and he's silent a moment before finally pulling away, if just his head, to take in that hand that had been covered the pokéball in his lap. ]

Lapras received the energy before... it was more than she needed [ unsurprisingly, the way he had been boosting it ], but she told me to thank you just now. For helping me, too.

... I can hear the rest too.

[ Electricity, sparking and travelling the tracks of his veins along his hand and leaving the skin glowing white once it reaches to the tips of his nails, the smell of salty sea air raising in a small dusty misty from the ball, pushed down by an intrusive purple wisp that makes the cold snap into ice in its ire, shattering away as the ice had left before as it all calms.

All but the cold, the small glitters of it falling like snow towards a snout raised, meeting a hot breath that leaves the activity to just their memories-- all, but the smell that lingers for longer. That makes the smile Red wears grow, such a brief thing it was, but nothing peculiar to Red to be surprising, or to not just tuck the ball closer to himself. They had all been close enough. All connected to him to feel everything, to know.

How funny this had turned out. ]

I wanted to ask you before how your classmates were-- Sonia, Gundam, Hinata, and Nanami. And about Piphron too. [ The ball clinks lightly as it shifts in his hold. ] I didn't expect we'd be talking about the past...

[eyeswideopen]

[It's a wonderous sight. His heart warms in his chest as it feels like light is flowing up through it and out his body. Pale gold light swirls like water currents, shaping into dragons and melting back into threads of light.]

Hajime and Chiaki are both doing alright. ...Gundam seems to be settling in fine! I've been a little busy with work so I haven't been able to check...ah but Sonia is alright. ...Piphron...strangely enough he reminds me of myself.

[His laugh this time is a little strained.] That was a little uncomfortable! But in the end, he did listen to us. Just a little. It's a side project of mine trying to see if we can implant memories into memory trees.

[gottacatch]

...Implant memories? [ Red eyes Komaeda with that, his mind not sure of how to take that. ] Do you mean...new memories into the pods already on the tree?

[eyeswideopen]

Yes. If we could share with the tree the memories of what has happened here on this island...to this world even. It could endure! The memories could let others ahead of us know what occured.

...and the consequences of abusing the world they live in. [He reaches into his coat and produces his battered journal.] Plants and life endure when books and technology don't. That's the only thing I could think of to ensure this cycle doesn't repeat.

[gottacatch]

[ His head tips in thought. ] I remember I spoke about it with Dr. Jude when he brought up Piphron's request to everyone.. Sosyne and me tried to influence one of the pods to show a memory related to crystal in the city once. But, it didn't work...

[ So, what putting a whole new memory inside? ...His mind is going here and there in thoughts, lips pinching lightly. ] What did Piphron think about the idea?

[eyeswideopen]

He didn't say anything about it. He was more focused on the idea that we would repeat the same cycle ages and ages into the future.

I want to find some way for the memories to endure. If technology and books, and even songs won't work. ...what will?

[gottacatch]

[ What had he even said to Doctor Jude about it? Something about technology, he thinks, but he lets himself go over the question.

What will keep? ]

The problem with the pods is that they don't stay open, and the memory that drops falls at random. ...But, they preserve. The pods are tough and hard to destroy. You can do all kinds with crystals too...

[ He gestures out a hand, just doing so as the thinks. ] The trees should be an option...but you need more too. You need people to experiment with every option that's possible. Crystals that contain thoughts, technology that can be copied easily and shared. There's the room in the mountains that won't let any of the crystals be taken out... you can keep things safe. You record everything you can the way that's available now, and keep upgrading.

And always let the people and the Arehtei be involved. We all have to keep the history alive. You don't let the bond between humans and Arehtei be broken again.

[eyeswideopen]

I wonder. Maybe we could put tasks on the task board about it. Like you said we have to try every option and what a better way to get the word out? [Red has made a very important suggestion...well not just suggestion, it's advice. He's never one to turn that down.]

Maybe stir up some talks so everyone is thinking about it too! Piphron is counting on us to find the solution and the only way to do that is to search for it.

...

I want to write something about the Arehtei that will help people not think of them as gods. [Komaeda folds his arms over his chest.] Because they're not. After seeing those people during the talk with them yelling as if they're gods....I don't ever want to see that again.

[gottacatch]

...You mean the guy who threw the street party who kept shouting about taking the Arehtei to court?

[ It's so long ago, he can't remember if it was court or jail, but he sure does remember a lot of shouting and a waving of a small notepad at the time. Meanwhile, all of the mood that had been surrounding them not long before might as well be a memory. Red's brow is creased, pinched with a youthful look he might have any other day, while Charizard looks content below to just listen to the words of the two humans. ]

All the material on the Arehtei says they don't like to be called gods. At least, all the stuff I've looked up, but not everyone reads it. [ Which is a bummer. Even he read it!! ]

I guess it's easy to see them something like that, though. To me, they're a lot like legendary pokémon -- pokémon more powerful and older than ordinary pokémon, but still pokémon. They live and die, and they come back again a new person. So... they need to remembered, because they're a part of the world. This world belongs to everyone who lives in it. Everyone has their place in it. A role. It makes everyone equal.

[ ... ] Just get rid of the word god altogether!

[ Red, the boy who doesn't know the big deal with the word anyway. ]

[eyeswideopen]

Hm, if not everyone reads...what could we do to make something accessible to all but still gets our message across?

[A flipbook? That feels a little insulting.] Maybe a poster?

...or a pamphlet? You're right they need to be remembered as part of this world! But right now, if we can spread the word they're not gods. That's a step in the right direction!

[gottacatch]

[ Ah, a pamphlet? ... ]

Doesn't the pamphlets made by Shun talk about the Arehtei? I don't know what it says off the top of my head... but I think now that we have contact with all the Arehtei, maybe things will keep changing in the right direction. The Arehtei won't be pushed out of the picture, but they won't be put on a mantle, either. I want to know what we can learn from Piphron, but...

[ Hmrh. Red's eyes close as he frowns, a hand going down onto Charizard's neck as his gaze lowers. ]

As long as we don't have people telling him it's his responsibility to educate us the same time they use Simpathis's sacrifice as a reason for him to stop licking his wounds and stop being distrustful, he'll be in a better mood to share anything useful with us.

[ That uncomfortable, painful heat lightly coming off Red leaks like a fresh wound, reeled in as he tries to keep it. He bitter. ]

[eyeswideopen]

[Komaeda goes very still, his head coming up and his hands clenching.] Someone did what?

[Compared to before the air around him is utterly still and despite his startled exclamation, his expression is calm. Very calm. It's his representative face.]

[gottacatch]

[ There was a reason for every part of his mood today. Why he couldn't concentrate, why he wanted to be out here to find something to concentrate on in the first place and found himself so unsure of his own judgment.

Charizard knows to move his head away before Red shifts, between them body over to where his bag is and those forgotten petals, their surfaces hazy already with memories caught but yet seen. With the touch, it locks into one without fuss, and relaxing into what's become an uncomfortable spot he's in. Komaeda wasn't the only one causing the air to still, with the petal presented to him. ]

This happened.

[ He doesn't need more than those two words to express his disgust, his anger, his hurt, the bitterness as clear as day about him, while on the petal, the event plays either in his hands of Komaeda, while Red's head is kept turned away from it all. ]

[eyeswideopen]

[He puts a hand over his face. Komaeda's shoulders shake with silent laughter and before anything can be said he lifts his head.]

Don't ever show this to Sonia. She might rage.

[They'd hear the Royal Yell or something like that.]

I can't even begin to go into what's wrong with that man's approach. There's too much and I'm embarrassed for him.

[gottacatch]

[ That particular petal isn't going to get shown to anyone: Red tears it up, as if it holds some answer to relieving some of his frustrations in the actions. The sections do begin to wither and get eaten away at into nothing, anyway, around his lap. ]

He should've known better. [ It wasn't anything Red could find in him to laugh about, quiet or otherwise, but Komaeda's reaction didn't irk him either. ]

He knew he was angering Piphron... but he kept pushing anyway. He acted like he knew better than both of us. [ ... ] I helped him get there.

[ But they might as well have been strangers, in that time. ]

dr2 spoilers

[eyeswideopen]

...it's never your fault when someone decides to make choices you don't agree with. [He can think rather easily of people he's known and those he's seen that made actions he just did things that- Komaeda scrubs at his face.]

And adults won't always be wise. Even if they think they are. Sometimes especially because of that! [Lets all look at the broad of trustees that made Kamukura.]

...his voice sounds familiar. Do you know what other Arehtei business they've been part of?

[gottacatch]

[ It's not satisfying to hear, but there would be nothing that could satisfy him: the damage done is still raw in him, and he has plenty of emotional harrumphing he wants to give left in him, even though he knows better to go on and on, and not just because of Komaeda's question. ]

Business? ...Mmm. [ Did he know anything? He made that monument for Simpathis, but...

... --Ah. ]

He was there when the Arehtei told everyone about Simpathis, with Kylo Ren. He was talking with Sosyne. [ ... ] He asked her who Simpathis at that time.

He then made a monument for Simpathis in the mountains, and invited Sosyne to see it.

[ That was about all of Obi-Wan's business with the Arehtei he knew of. ]

[eyeswideopen]

And yet he used family against Piphron. [He replies thoughtfully while places his hands together. He taps his bottom lip as his eyes drift skyward.]

Don't shame your elders. Do honor to your family. Do not abandon your community...it sounds a lot like that at first.

Those same double standards that can be so easily abused.

[He muses, a thoughtful sound made as he looks to Red.] 'I am an adult therefore I know best', attitude. Right?

[gottacatch]

[ It takes a moment, but that gets a scoff behind his mouth. Right--he knew that attitude. ]

You know, it's always been strange how much I've been able to do here despite my age. ...I guess I forgot that it's going to be something against me, to some people. Even when we've worked together.

[ Maybe he's not so much in the mood to rant and rave. He shrugs his shoulders heavily, taking a moment to speak again. ]

I'll get over it. Next time it happens, I won't let it get to me.