psychedelica | tuesday evening?! yeah

[ i have lost track of what order my pcs take place so she, has somehow, ended up back in this room. her wounds are probably taken as care of as... well as possible, honestly it's still terrible. ]

It was a bad time before.

[ @ tiger and dragon why didn't you bring any actual doctors ]

It's fine. I get it. [ he doesn't sound disparaging at all when he says that, actually... he doesn't trust most of the people around here. ] But that must mean you learned something.

[ there's a long pause, before stephanie finally just sighs and shakes her head. ]

To be honest? No. I just didn't want to talk because I was bleeding out and my leg got crushed, and I mostly just wanted to sleep? If there's one thing we confirmed it's that escape through the woods is definitely out of the question.

[ oh, right. that too. that... human suffering thing. what's empathy again? Hikage blinks for a few seconds. ]

Oh. [ he may sound slightly disappointed... but only slightly. ] I was guessing that was what you did... I'd appreciate it if you'd at least tell me ahead of time before you try something stupid, you know.

[ a sigh; he crosses his arms over his chest. ]

So what? You tried going through the woods, and got attacked by wolves?

Yup, that's basically a summary of events.

[ she also folds her arms over her chest, leaning against the pillows. she seems to be pouting? it may be hard to tell since she doesn't look too happy to begin with considering what happened. ]

You know, it's not too out there to ask if I'm okay.

I already know that you're not.

[ he checked your leg earlier?? it was broken?? that's all she means, right.

still. he stares at her for a moment, seeming to think about something; then, awkwardly: ]

... Are you?

Why, thank you for asking, Hikage. I'm thoroughly touched by your concern for me.

[ she's a little petty.

but mostly she's just tired. ]

... yeah. I am.

Shut up. Of course I'm concerned.

[ he's just also Hikage, so. ]

... If you need help getting around, you can ask me. It's a pain, but I don't want you hurting yourself more than you already have. I'll do my best to protect you. [ he leans against a wall, looking off absently at the carpet. ] For now, the best thing you can do is get some rest.

[ she was mostly annoyed because steph hates getting lectures. she knows what she did wrong and now she is definitely paying for it, so she doesn't see the point of other people telling her what she already knows. her annoyance is shown through her tone and closed off body language.

still. when he keeps talking... she glances over at him, then back to the wall in front of her, and then at hikage again. ]

I'm pretty heavy. You'll regret offering that.

You already know I can carry you.

[ because that was a thing everyone had to prove earlier. what a world. Hikage pauses then, looking back over. ]

There was something else I wanted to ask you about. I had a dream about you. [ he continues before she can make any kind of lewd remark, because he knows she's thinking about it. ] There was a boy in a mask chasing you... He had the letter "R" on his chest. He caught up to you, tackled you... but you hit him in the face with a brick when he tried to take your mask off.

[ it was from her point of view, since it was her memory, so he remembers the boy's face pretty clearly, too - not to mention the way she was feeling at the time. However, Hikage is neutral about it. It isn't the first time he's "watched" someone else's memories play out before his eyes - just the first time it's happened here. Therefore, he's fairly confident that he knows what it was. ]

That wasn't a dream, was it? It was something that happened to you.

[ ... oh.

there are a lot of different thoughts in her head at the moment. the first is surprise at what he says. that memory is from a couple of years ago, but it's also one of the most important things to ever happen to her.

but also, that means that... this may have gotten a little complicated. ]

That's when I met Ti-- Robin. [ she frowns. there's no point in hiding his identity, no one here knows him or probably will ever know him. habit. ] That was my first ever mission.

I thought so.

[ not that it was her first mission or first meeting with that guy, but that it was something from her past. He nods. ]

I used to be able to see people's memories like that... This is the first time it's happened since I came here, though. [ it's a big secret to reveal, coming from Hikage, but he thinks he knows her well enough to tell her. ] Was that guy a criminal?

Even worse! He's my ex-boyfriend.

[ she doesn't sound mad or anything though; steph is still fond of tim drake. she wouldn't even mind dating him again if their breakup wasn't such a magnificent dumpster fire that the idea of starting over after that sounds like a miracle.

more importantly though, the dream. memory? it's interesting to find out that hikage had this power before, but steph is sure that no one has their powers here. and... she also had a dream she didn't understand. she just wrote it off, but now that he's mentioning this.

seriously how is she supposed to bring this up. hm. ]

Ex-boyfriend...?

[ huh. hm. interesting. fascinating. Hikage shakes his head slightly. Well, she hit him with a brick, so it must have been a pretty serious breakup. Not that it matters to him. ]

Remind me not to cross you, then.

[ the brick thing was how they met. the breakup was-- well. it coincides with part of steph's biggest mistake. it's easier to just joke about exes to bringing that up without someone prompting it. ]

... Hikage?

[ how does she tell him she??? thinks she saw one of his memories??? ]

Edited 2018-06-22 09:11 (UTC)

[ listen, you see a vision of a girl hitting a guy with a brick and she explains him away as her ex-boyfriend, you make some assumptions. He has to assume there's more to the story that he's not hearing - since she apparently fights crime, maybe he'd ended up being a criminal, but that's not the sense he got when he was in the memory proper. If she doesn't want to talk about it, though, he isn't going to pry. Everyone has their secrets to keep.

Her questioning tone draws his eyes back to hers; Hikage assumes she's worried about what he's thinking. ]

It's fine. To be honest, I'm impressed you had the guts for that. Maybe I underestimated you.

[ fighting crime is one thing - being able to fight and defend yourself in a pinch, to hurt another living person that you know, is another. ]

You definitely wouldn't be the first one.

[ people underestimating stephanie: the story of her life.

but god. if she doesn't touch the subject now then she won't ever get to. ]

Hikage. I... think you have a sister.

[ sorry, steph...

that comment seems to catch him off guard, though; he doesn't seem to exactly understand what she means, and he just squints at her. ]

What are you talking about? [ is that the vibe he's giving off... Hikage assumed his vision of her memories was a result of his clairvoyance, not the manor doing something weird. ]

I... had a dream. I didn't think anything of it, since I haven't heard anyone else talk about dreams like that.

[ you know, since sometimes you have dreams that make no sense and you just shrug it off. ]

There was a little girl. She was dressed really well, and you were... telling her a story.

[ Oh. Almost immediately, that weird feeling in his head returns, but much more stronger than before - it's a dull pain now, throbbing, and he knows it's about to get worse.

He's never remembered anything before, himself, but he knows what this pain means. A hand floats up to press to one of his temples. ]

What...?

[ was everyone seeing these memories? why did Steph get to see this, and not him? through the pain, he feels a sense of anger, too, that even this was stolen from him - but the desire to know more overcomes it, even if part of him is afraid to. ]

[ well this is going about as well as she thought it would.

she figures that he would probably want to know more, but there... isn't really much more she can actually say. the girl looked young. she seemed happy to be with him, and he seemed happy to be with her. ]

I think she looked... seven? Eight? Blonde.

That's...

[ not true - for some reason, that's the first thought that comes to mind, but it is true. As she speaks, an image begins to form, floating up from wherever it had been locked away in a sunken chest in his mind. He remembers her; he can see her round face and her big amber eyes in his head, and he wonders with excruciating pain how he'd ever forgotten her.

His little sister. She was really important. He doesn't remember why, but he knows, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she was more important than anything.

His whole face twists, and Hikage sort of... sinks to his knees, the ache in his head sharpening. For the first time, he's grateful Steph probably isn't going to be moving much - that will keep her from running over and trying to comfort him. ]

... That's right... How did I forget that? All this time, I've just been...

[ she definitely would have rushed to his side if she were able to, he's right about that.

from where she sits, she just watches him, leaning over towards him as far as she can without actually getting out of the bed. ]

You didn't forget her on purpose.

[ she doesn't know why everyone in that manor forgot everything, but... she can tell he might be blaming himself for getting his sister. ]

[ there's a lot to unpack here, for more reasons than he's told to Steph. He was dead, yes - but he'd been dead for a long, long time. Long enough to abandon any hope of finding out who he was before. Long enough to become someone else. He'd had to find new goals to drive him forward as years of nothingness dragged by in limbo.

And now he's remembering that he had other reasons to survive - reasons that were quite opposed to what he'd settled on in the afterlife. ]

... Ha ha... I'm an idiot. [ even if it wasn't on purpose, he's clearly blaming himself, anyway. ] ... She was my half-sister. She was... sick. When she was stuck in bed, I'd keep her company and read stories to her. I hated that house, but she made it bearable. Hah...

[ why he hated it is just out of reach, but he can remember now that her room was the only place he could feel comfortable. ]

I... loved her a lot. I wonder what her name was.

... you made her happy. I could tell, uh, from the memory.

[ she doesn't know what condolences saying that would make. stephanie doubts she'd be able to make him not think it's his fault. they've been together for a few weeks now, but there's still a lot about each other that they don't understand. there's a lot about hikage himself that he doesn't understand. ]

We can try to see if we can get you to remember it. Her name.

... Yeah. [ a pause. The sharp pain in his head from recovering the memory begins to ebb - and, despite it all, he manages a little smile, because the memories are pleasant. Pleasant. How long has it been since anything felt pleasant to him? Well, anything other than... ] It's a good thing she can't see me now.

[ the last part is dry and self-deprecating, and probably not something he should say out loud, but it slips out before he can stop himself. He gets to his feet, rubbing his forehead. ]

... What did you have in mind?

You remembered her only after I described her, right? So... it is definitely possible to jog your memory then. Maybe if we can try guessing her name, or at least get as close to it as possible, something might come up?

[ it's a long shot, but it's still better than what they had before. ]

[ he wonders if he should... at the same time, in the short-term, he wants to. Still, he shoots her a rather amused look. ]

How many Japanese girls' names do you know? From your point of view, it'd probably be an old-fashioned one, too.

[ the place she was in her dreams certainly looked different from the cities he knows... and it was also definitely not Japan, which obviously wasn't surprising, but. ]

I never said I would be any good at this.

[ she huffs. look... she realized after saying that that she may not actually be much help in the name department. but it's fine. she's committed. [

[ such a hero

hikage... rubs his forehead one last time with an amused huff, then, somewhat hesitantly, wanders over to sit on the side of the bed again, although he's careful to give her a wide berth. She's injured pretty badly this time. ]

You won't be. [ a pause. his head still hurts, a little, and the fact that he's remembering things - well, he doesn't know what that means for his future. But right now, the memory feels warm. Like a piece of himself that he never realized he missed until now. ] ... Thanks.

... it's no problem.

[ she'll reach over and place a hand on his arm, because he is treating her like a plague victim apparently with this distance. ]

We're friends, after all.

tuesday evening?! yeah

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