[004: Audio]
[A long, long pause--long enough that it seems as though maybe this entry was just an accidental touch.
But then Asuka speaks.]
Hito's gone.
[He's not looking at his journal. He's looking at the empty room around him. When Hito hadn't responded to any amount of nagging or cajoling or pounding on his door, he'd set his expression and teleported ( Read more... )
But then Asuka speaks.]
Hito's gone.
[He's not looking at his journal. He's looking at the empty room around him. When Hito hadn't responded to any amount of nagging or cajoling or pounding on his door, he'd set his expression and teleported ( Read more... )
Comments 52
[Oh Asuka.]
Unfortunately, you will probably see it happen again. In places like these, people will come and go quickly and with no warning.
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[He doesn't like this, Jael. :C Make it all go away.]
Yeah, I know. It was the same thing everywhere else, too. I just didn't expect Hito to be one of them.
[It's always been -him- doing the taking off and swooping back in. And that was fine--he was cool with it. But Hito's more the type to want things to be safe and routine. He wouldn't have taken off of his own accord without telling him first. Which means something else spirited him away.
This -is- a different scenario than the rest of them have been. But he doesn't -want- it to be.]
This place is stupid.
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[Aww bb she would if she could. :C]
I know. I'm sorry your friend is gone.
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[He's quiet for a moment, but then he's forcing himself to snap out of it.]
It'll be all right. I just have to track him down again, that's all.
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*Well, it isn't for him.*
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[..."culls?"
For once, Asuka dismisses the unfamiliar word as unimportant.]
I'll just have to go after him, is all.
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If there's a way to find out what happened, then I'm gonna try.
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How can someone just fucking disappear from a place as small as this?
[She'd been pretty much convinced that the Core wasn't behind this, but sudden disappearances are things she'd heard about back in the facility, when people had been supposedly "rehabilitated."]
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Hell if I know. Maybe I'll have to track the lord of this place down and find out.
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I think you'll have better luck disappearing yourself than you will both finding him and managing to get some goddamn information out of him.
[And reaching for another explanation is a go.]
Was he here before the whole darkness crap? People were getting lost during that, but a lot of them are turning back up.
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[-He- doesn't plan on making that his -end-, though.]
Yeah, he was here. There's always the possibility he was down there.
[But he doesn't believe it, in spite of what he's saying to Sollux.]
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[Despite being smothered in the usual anger, there's curiosity in his tone.]
Was- Er... Is this Hito person important to you? Like a moirail, or something a bit more flushed? I have heard of others disappearing, but it could be that he is lost somewhere. Humans have less of a sense of direction, after all.
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A moirail? What's that? But yeah, you could say he's pretty important.
[Asuka's curious about the unfamiliar word, but he also sounds a lot more determined than he might have on previous occasions. He's on a -mission now.]
Maybe he's just lost. But I'm not so sure.
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[Curious. But he'll see what's up with that later.]
He could be lost. What does he look like, specifically. I will alert you if I see him, though most humans look somewhat the same to me.
[He's read Sollux's posts up there, and if this Hito is anything like a moirail to Asuka, he couldn't imagine how losing his would feel. STRONG-MILDSYMPATHY.]
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[Yup. He's done a great job of that!]
Kid's got green hair, brown eyes-- actually, wait--
[After a moment, the video function is activated. Asuka sets the journal up against something so that he can use his hands, and uses his magic to make a miniature Hito out of water. It's pretty small, maybe only six or seven inches, but it's detailed. He brings it closer to the journal, so that Equius can see.]
He looks like this.
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...
...Asuka?
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[Whoa. It's like he just ran into a wall of cushioning or something. The sound of her voice immediately brings him back from what's been mounting anger at the situation--it doesn't -fix- things, but the vague danger that's been coloring his voice while talking to Sollux, or Ryn, or Equius is missing here.
He sounds tired, albeit a touch more cheerful than in his original post.]
Aara.
Haven't seen you around in a little while. You been holding up all right through everything that's gone down?
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[Some part of her had worried Asuka had vanished. That he was gone forever. Or maybe--maybe even dead. And he hadn't come back. So hearing his voice fills her with so much relief she doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. She almost laughs--then almost cries. Well. This won't do her any good.
It takes her a moment before she is able to compose herself enough to respond.]
I... am well.
[There is a small bit of confusion at that, but she is healthy, and better than she had been in comparison to other moments here at the Keep.]
How are you? No, I imagine I must know, if Hito is--
Asuka, I am so sorry.
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[Why is it that hearing it from her is so much different than anybody else saying it?]
It's... all right.
[It's not all right.]
Before we came here, we... there were times we'd been separated before. But there was always something to prompt it.
[Like diving into a pillar of light with no idea where it went while chasing after a madman who'd just thrown a knife at him. A perfectly reasonable reason!]
But this is different. I don't know how, but it just feels different. You know what I mean?
Something happened.
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