video; un: 1000

[gekijou]

Name: Yuki
Date: 2/27
Format: Video
Warnings: Mentions of death, recent event

[Yuki's wearing a plain, off-white shirt that leaves his neck exposed, where the spots of color shift gradually throughout the video, like a tell of his moods. He tries a faint, idol-like smile at first, before he settles into playing the guitar he holds. The tune he plays is soft on solo guitar, but with a hopeful central rhythm that it keeps coming back to. He sings along with it, familiar words for some, but for others they'll likely be new.

When he finishes, he puts the guitar down and folds his hands between his knees.]

Greetings, everyone. This is Re:vale's Yuki.

It seems like a lot of things have happened lately, and a lot of them weren't... good. I hope everyone involved is recovering well, and that no one has been seriously hurt. Mm... Even if that's too much to hope, I want to say it anyway. [He flashes the smile again.] I had some small trouble of my own.

Because of that, I'm actually looking for some advice. Since I know there are some garden shops and horticulturalists around, does anyone have recommendations for easy-to-grow native plants that thrive indoors? I'm thinking about getting something new.

[There's a bit of shifting, and he takes a breath before launching into the second part.]

Not to alarm anyone, but my second request is a little sensitive. If you're easily upset, please end the video here. [A pause.] Can anyone tell me about people who have left? About their last days here. Was anything unusual? Was it sudden? I'm not... I'm sorry, before anyone asks, I'm not going to pretend to have answers and I won't figure anything useful for anyone else out from this. It's just... something I need to hear right now.

[He loathes being vulnerable, so just ignore the deep blue color on his spots and the way he avoids looking toward the camera.]

Certain reasons.

Ah, anyway. Thank you to anyone who made it this far. This is Yuki, signing off for now.

Comments

un: leslie / video

[foundfamilies]

What a pretty song....

[Ah, but there had been a greeting in his video and she feels obliged to return it.]

Greetings, Mr. Revales Yuki. This is Leslie. [Since she knows Momo, she probably should know “Re:vale’s” is not a part of his name, but she doesn’t realize it.] I don’t think I would have much advice to give about indoor plants. I learned a little about gardening before, but I’ve only tried to grow one kind of plant indoors before. But about people who have left....

[Her voice falters for a moment — probably “small child” was not one of the people he wanted to read past the warning for upsetting topics — but she pulls herself together quickly to continue.]

It’s always sudden. Or, at least, that’s what I’ve seen or heard. Maybe at first, someone might think there was some kind of sign that they missed, but that’s only because I — they feel guilty for not treasuring their time together more.

[gekijou]

Hi, Leslie. I'm glad you liked it. I thought it might make things easier on people if they could hear something nice... And that song always makes me feel better.

[Yikes indeed, though he did earnestly warn. Still, he nods in acceptance of the information, not missing the hesitation.]

That makes me wonder how many people want people to stay, or how many people want people they care about to leave. It's different for everyone, being from different places. Maybe for some people this place is a good thing, right?

[foundfamilies]

I think you’re right. At least, it made me happy to listen to it.

[In all but the most dire of circumstances, Leslie wears her heart on her sleeve, so it’s obvious from her expression and slightly furrowed brow that she gives his contemplations and question a lot of thought before she answers.]

There might be people who came from a place, or at least a time in that place, to where they don’t want to return. For people who care about someone like that, it would be an easy answer. But if their life outside of this city was good, I don’t know if anyone really feels all one way or another. I know it’s for the best that people like that return home, but I also know that I won’t ever see them again when they do go.

video; un: alice

[adventageous]

[As Alice's memory continues to recover, she has started keeping up with the network again. She doesn't know the man--honestly doesn't know, not a lapse in recollection--but she finds herself drawn in by the song and the following message. There's something comforting in this stranger's well-wishes and acknowledgement that nearly everyone has suffered as a result of the Circle's actions earlier in the month.

The first request more or less blows past her (she knows nothing about horticulture), but the second hits her square in the chest. Yuri's departure and the way it affected her is a memory she recalls clearly. She considers turning the network off and pushing the thought out of her mind, but something about Yuki's expression after he asks compels her to stay online and answer.]

The song was beautiful. Thank you for sharing it.

...I had someone important to me leave not long ago. He was my bonded. The days leading up to it were the same as they had been, and then suddenly he was gone. He left in the middle of the night.

[Alice struggles to look at the camera, also unwilling to be so vulnerable. She stares at her hands instead.]

[gekijou]

...Thanks for listening.

[Somehow it still feels good when his songs are acknowledged, when people connect to them on more than a superficial level. He swears he can tell.]

In the middle of the night, suddenly. [Empathy, Yuki. What would he do if Momo disappeared suddenly? If he woke up alone?] I'm sorry to you had to go through that. You sound sad, but I don't blame you. If my bonded left and I was still here, I'd lose it.

[adventageous]

[Alice makes a small, self-deprecating noise akin to a laugh and looks back up at the camera.]

I did lose it. Spent much of the following days in tears, and recklessly cast magic to the point where I hurt myself with the backfire. The only reason I'm doing as well as I am now is that I'm blessed enough to have such good friends here to help me through.

[Karin especially--Alice shudders to think what shape she'd be in without the other woman's support.]

I know several Mirrorbound have been leaving lately. Is that why you're asking?

Text, un: Alex

[sing_for_me]

I can’t say I noticed anything different with those who left. They just were suddenly gone. I don’t know if that makes it better or not.

I might be overstepping but, are you alright?

[gekijou]

It's not better or worse. It's just how it is. I guess I was curious more than anything. Like if maybe I could see it coming.

Way to call me out when I was trying to make this about other people. I'm doing better now. Had a few bad days, though.

[sing_for_me]

Sorry about that. That wasn’t what I meant to do. I’m glad to hear you’re doing better. It’s not something that’s easy to get used to.

video; un: steak.

[battlebound]

There was nothing unusual about mine.

( have an answer from someone who really did leave, Yuki. )

[gekijou]

[Yuki's eyes widen slightly, then resolve to normal again. Still, the shifting color of his spots indicates he's surprised by the answer... Not embarrassed by asking, though. Empathy hard.]

First-hand experience... But you came back?

[battlebound]

( empathy is the worst. people dwell too much on things, in Steak's experience, and he can't figure out why. )

A few minutes after I left, by Tierran time. I hear I was gone for over a month here.

( which was... an awkward adjustment, as it really felt to Steak like he'd simply taken the most unnecessary detour for a piss, not months of going missing. )

text; un: reddeer

[rightfoot]

Both of my bonds disappeared at the same time. Just one day they were here, another they were gone.

There was nothing weird going on before that, though.

I guess the weird thing is that they vanished at the same time, though.

[gekijou]

I'd call that weird, yeah. Were they close?

[rightfoot]

They were in a relationship with each other, so yes, they were particularly close. We lived together and one day they were gone.

I've seen it happen a few times now, though.

[video]

[lamination]

I would imagine people leave the same way they arrive - suddenly and unpredictably.

[A tilt of his head, face blank as a mask.]

I am sorry if you’ve lost someone.

[He could probably stand to have more emotion?!]

[gekijou]

[Oh thank god someone who's probably not going to call him on being bad at emotions.]

I... I haven't, not really. Just thinking about things that happen around here. We all just come here and leave without a trace. My partner and I figured out he wasn't even gone back home when he came here.

[lamination]

[Croissant has no room to throw stones on appropriate displays of emotion!!]

Perhaps it's possible for us to exist in two places at once? It's hard to know what the soul or consciousness is capable of. We could be split in two, and be no less for it.

[Who knows, man, shit's weird.]

action

[yesdoubt]

[While Momo isn't at home when the post is made - he's at work, trying to get back to some degree of normalcy - it doesn't take him long to see it. It stands out all the more considering he knows how much Yuki hates showing vulnerability, and while he's not surprised he'd be driven to something like this after what happened, it still hurts to see.

So he makes some stops on the way home - thankfully it's not a late shift he has today, but one that ends in the afternoon instead, near to dinner. He comes through the door with a box in his hands that looks like it might've come from a bakery or something similar, and a much smaller box and a little bag sitting on top. As he closes the door behind and slips his shoes off, he calls into the house.]

Yuki, are you home? I brought some stuff for us. [Technically it's mostly for Yuki, but the bakery stuff includes enough dinner food for both of them.]

[gekijou]

[The sound of Momo's voice stirs Yuki from yet another depression nap, though this time he fell asleep in the living room with his guitar on his lap and a notebook full of lyrics in front of him, so he looks a little silly as he starts awake.]

Oh. Hey.

[A smile, small but sincere, finds its way onto his sleepy face as he pushes his too-long hair out of the way.]

I didn't mean to fall asleep. What time is it?

[yesdoubt]

[Not the best sign, though Momo keeps a grin on his face as he sets down his spoils on an unoccupied part of the coffee table and joins Yuki on the couch, giving him a gentle kiss on the forehead.]

Almost half past five. So just in time for some dinner! I bought us some savoury and sweet stuff from one of the bakeries I like near work...and I found these cute little things to get you on the way!

[He moves the smaller box and the bag closer to Yuki - the box is a variety taster set of high-quality herbal teas, and the bag contains several fresh strawberries dipped in chocolate. Despite Momo's choice of phrasing, they're fancy-looking enough that he probably didn't get them in passing as much as he claims, though he likely already knew the shops to go to.]

Since I know sometimes you find cakes and stuff a bit too heavy, so I thought I'd get something else sweet but a little lighter just in case.

[As he says that, he offers his hands out in case Yuki needs him to help put his guitar somewhere a bit safer so they can eat.]

text;

[unsundered]

[Dying had numerous disadvantages, and amongst them was the recovery period. When he wasn't asleep or trying to, Emet-Selch was ruminating, and that was something best, if insufficiently avoided. So there was reading the network, listening to the network, perhaps even replying to the network. Anything to pass the time.

--It was a nice song though, even if the Ascian wasn't inclined towards bothering to actually compliment it. But it had offered a brief distraction, and something that means he's inclined to at least listen to the rest of the post, and even respond to it.]

As you've no doubt surmised from previous replies, no: the days prior to a loss are no more remarkable than any other. I've experienced it twice over now with Bonds, with no suggestion of anything unusual from them in either case.

Well, I was dead during my most recent loss, so I can't say that for certain. Resurrecting took the majority of my attention, as you might imagine. But I suspect there were no hints given that I might have missed.

The only thing I've noticed is that some depart in familiar pairs, or small clusters, as though one soul called to the others, with none able to resist.

[He nearly leaves it at that, hesitating at the last, before deciding to include it.]

Ah. I've also witnessed someone returning to their mirror, yet who did not depart from it. I've also experienced the process, but in reverse... and in neither case, were our preceding days anything other than usual. There were no hints, no recourse.

[gekijou]

I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around people dying and just showing back up. Or however that works. I don't really want to personally experience it, but it's kind of comforting to know it's possible. Weirdly.

[The comment on leaving in clusters hits Yuki. He's been dwelling on possibly himself or Momo leaving without the other since Momo brought it up coincidentally during their little... discussion. That part gives him a twisted kind of hope.]

This place really does whatever the hell it wants, doesn't it? You'd think there'd be some kind of reason. Or sign. Or something. Something that makes sense.

video; un: redwine

[judgementor]

[He leaves the first part of the message alone - Red Wine is no gardener and dislikes getting his hands dirty unnecessarily too much to be one - but the second part, the so-called 'sensitive' request is one that catches his attention enough for him to reply.

Something he has experience in, at least.]

I've never noticed anything strange about people before they disappear. [It's something he'd considered himself - is it something he could have noticed, so he could have made those last few days more important?]

I expect we leave here with the same abruptness and lack of reason as we arrive.

[gekijou]

[No one knows plants and Yuki is disappointed. But the rest of the information has been good, so he's not actually going to complain.

Still, it's getting frustrating that this place is so... whimsical. So capricious, in Yuki's opinion.]

I wish it made more sense. Just... even just a little.