bravenewworld | third song | video/action/??

[Unionomura, Honoka's cart shop of Calderan snacks, has been closed since the event, with a variance of signs hung from it apologizing for the prolonged absence. Some days, there was a basket of sweets with a note of "Take one!", other days there was no sign at all. Really, the Calderan girl had been abnormally scarce.]

[Today, she makes her reappearance, though not at her cart. She's sitting with her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hand when the feed pops on, though at first all anyone will see is a startled Pumpkaboo.]

Ah-- Kabocha no!

[She realizes the feed is on and looks. Well, startled. Caught. Uneasy.]

[Her hands immediately come to cover her cheeks, just under her eyes. It really only makes the slight differences to her more obvious. Her face, just under her eyes and down most of her cheeks, as well as her hands from about halfway between her wrist and elbows to her fingertips are smattered with pale, shimmering orange-and-pink scales. As she leans away from her Warp Band's feed, her fingernails turn slightly more opaquely white and elongate.]

Ahhh. Oh. Oh no. Well. I guess maybe I should probably say something since I guess some of you might be worried. Shoot.

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[Right has been checking nearly every day. At first, he had thought that she had gone on some kind of trip, or some family emergency came up. Either of those made sense, and he simply decided to wait until she comes back.

Only...she hasn't, even though sweets tend to pop up every few days. Right was starting to wonder why she's not open for business. But more importantly, he began to grow truly worried about her. Is she okay? Did something really bad happen to her? Has she fallen on financial hardships?

So, when she first appears on the feed, he almost drops the huge box of supplies onto his own foot. Barely missing said foot by a couple of inches, Right immediately presses the feed close to his face, relieved to see her again.] Honoka! Oh, man, I'm so glad you're...okay...

[He then blinks a few times before staring at those scales...and her fingernails changing into...claws?] H-Honoka...what happened?!

[LORD HAVE MERCY Right is about the last person she wanted to see right off the bat here. She's flustered and embarrassed and she doesn't quite know how to handle having cute little scales all over her and now the boy she likes has seen her when she wasn't at all prepared. Wheeze.]

[But... There it is, he's seen, there's no point in trying to hide anymore. She rubs her hands over her face for a minute, startles herself with the sensation of scales against scales, and then sets her hands in her lap.]

I, um. Think I'm a Dragon type.

Wait - you've Awakened as well? That's...

[He face lights up.] That's amazing!

[She looks a little sheepish.]

In a way, yeah. It's also really weird and confusing and my parents are gonna be really alarmed, probably.

I don't think they're gonna be alarmed, per se. Surprised, yeah - I know my parents were surprised when I came home from Sanctuary with wings.

But still! You look amazing and pretty!

[Her cheeks turn a darker shade of pink than her scales.]

...Ah. Th-thanks.

[He just grins for a moment.]

So how did it happen? The Awakening, I mean

[She looks... bothered, for a moment, pursing her lips.]

...I punched a figment of Hayato's imagination in the nose.

Really? That must've been a helluva figment...

Wait - was this down in those caves?

[She looks down, nodding.]

[Right adjusted the settings on his end so that no one else could see or hear the next part.]

So you encounter it, then? That horrible doctor shadow...and what it meant?

[She sits back, not looking at the Warp Band for a long minute.]

I should have figured it out before, from how funny he was about contact.

Same here, though not about touch.

[He sits down on a nearby box, making sure that no one else was around to hear the following:] While we were going over the missions for Sanctuary, he told me that he was a prisoner of war. I honestly should've put two and two together then, myself...

But that doesn't mean that we can't be there for him when he needs a friend.

[She frowns, shaking her head.]

He may have said the same thing to me, but it just didn't make sense. I don't know anything about war, or fighting, I shouldn't have even gone on that mission with the Gods. I don't regret having gone, really, but... I wasn't ready.

[She draws her knees to her chest.]

I think he's sort of okay, now. He got really, really upset. I guess he thinks people are gonna think of him differently, knowing he's Enhanced.

Honoka... [Deep sympathy wells in both his voice and his eyes. Part of him yearns to go hunt her down and hug her and just be around her again. In fact, he's standing before he even realizes what his body's doing.]

...I don't get much about war, either. And as much as I've fought against bullies, it's nothing compared to facing actual soldiers...or Gods. And not even I can really Imagine the horrors that Hayato must've been through when they messed with him like that.

[His spare hand forms a fist at his side.] But...I think Hayato was just scared. From what I've heard on the streets about what happened with the Enhanced that went crazy and wrecked some of the areas this past winter...it was terrible. And people were scared of dealing with people they think were crazy and dangerous. And I think Hayato's just been scared to be seen like that by everyone - even us, his friends.

Maybe even scared of hurting us...though that may be just me, considering our typing.

Edited 2015-08-09 00:13 (UTC)

[She balls one of her own hands into a fist.]

That's wrong, though! Even like that-- even controlled, Hayato never wants to hurt anyone. He's such a sweet person, even if he's kind of a busybody. I meant what I said, in the caves-- the Enhanced aren't abominations, or monsters. They're just victims of circumstance, victims of Gigas. And Hayato Ichimonji is my dear friend and I won't let them hurt him again.

[The scales on her skin almost look like they're glowing, despite the black and white of the feed.]

My feelings exactly! No way I'd ever let any of those jerks even get near Hayato ever again. That's why I wanna help him as much as possible. Because we're friends - all of us. And friends stick together, no matter what happens.

[She deflates, sitting back.]

...Guess I better come on back, then, huh.

Where are you, anyway? I've been wondering where you've been the past couple of weeks.

Well I camp out over my cart most of the time anyway so I figured actual camping can't be that different, so I've been staying just outside of Union since the caves.

Well, it is fun to do actual camping...but why so long?

third song | video/action/??

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