(Untitled)

[ironcladcherry]

A scene like this seems almost painfully ordinary, at first glance, even in a place as strange as Keepsake; after all, what's so uncommon about a man and his dog on a walk in the park? Upon closer inspection, however, even the casual observer might find that sense of familiarity coming apart at the seams. It isn't so natural, after all, to

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[control_alter]

Teru had thought things would be better today. After leaving Haku he'd spent most of yesterday sleeping, and woken this morning feeling - not better, exactly, but more stable. More certain that he could make everything make sense again, given time. And then he'd gone downstairs to deal with the paperwork for his new apartment, and discovered he didn't know how to sign his name.

The worst thing was that the woman at the desk was so casual about it. This happens sometimes, Mr Mikami. Just make an X, and I'll fill in the rest for you. As though it didn't matter. As though his career, his place in society, wasn't lost twice over now. And that was when he'd thrown down the pen and fled the building.

He dashes into the park, a look of panic on his face, and doesn't notice the man and the dog until he's almost on top of them. He stops abruptly, backing away again. "Ah - sorry. I apologise. I didn't see you there." Wonderful. Yet another person to see him acting like a hysterical lunatic. He may as well go and live under a bridge.

[ironcladcherry]

He had never been exceptionally perceptive for what he was, in his past life (not that he knew it), and he didn't notice the stranger, either, until he was almost running over them. Sacra, of course, has been paying attention- But the dog's continually nonchalant demeanor seems to suggest that neither he nor his master would have gotten out of the way, even if they'd both been in their right minds

[control_alter]

"...nothing," Teru says, automatically, and then he could kick himself for it. People whose only problem is amnesia don't run away from nothing. "That is, I, ah - I remembered something, I think, and I must have panicked. But it's gone again now."

He pauses, catching his breath, trying to compose himself a little. Trying, mainly, to think of a change of subject, so he won't have to lie again. It worries him how easily that came to him. More easily than it should to any righteous person, surely.

That's when he really looks at the other man, and the dog. "You're -" he begins, and then stops himself again, because socially competent people don't blurt out things like 'you're a cyborg' either. Luckily, there's something else he can mention. "You're new here?"

[ironcladcherry]

Remembered - that had probably never been such a poignant word, before, but in this case, Charley can only sympathize. If this man's sudden recollection was anything like what had happened to him earlier, when he'd first recognized Sacra, there's no way he can blame this guy for freaking out a little. ...Or a lot, as it were.

Nodding (at the statement or the question or both), Charley reaches out to pat Sacra on the head. The dog's reaction is perfectly natural, a brief tail wag before those unnerving, round eyes focus again on the stranger.

"Seems that way." For all he knew, now, he might have spent his whole life in this place - although it certainly didn't feel that way, when he tried to remember. "The newspaper's filled me in on the basics, I think, but I'm still not sure that I believe it."