[ Closed ]

[gentilitea]

Who: Add & Jakob
Where: An orphanage in the Near Shore
When: July 2
What: Prayer #30
Warnings: Violence, hallucinations, abandonment issues, Add…

Though their latest mission seems a grim one—especially in light of Jakob’s more recently recovered memories—he nevertheless steels himself for the task ahead, this time confident that nothing can go wrong. Ever since he and Add had established some sort of rapport together he’d felt much more relaxed, as if he’d become that much more in tune with his master’s intentions.

And it is freeing to know that, if you’re not expecting the worst of your master at every single moment, then even jobs like this become that much more…pleasant.

“The orphanage should be close by,” he remarks, taking note of their more peaceful, suburban surroundings. Soon, a nondescript building looms ahead, and though there are no signs declaring that it is, in fact, an orphanage, it matches the description Jakob had found online. Despite its best efforts to look like anything but what it is—a shameful aberration of society nestled within the upright middle-class suburbs—the orphanage still looks a good deal more cheerful than the doorstep of that great, imposing castle from his memories.

It’s hard not to wonder at what any child must have felt at coming to this place, knowing they’ll never see their parents again.

He pauses before they reach the threshold, fighting back that horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach at the memory, before pressing a hand to his temples and taking a deep breath.

“My apologies. Please follow me.”

Comments

[subtract]

Add doesn't look like he's injured, but that's only because he still has his gloves on. He's trying not to move his hands too much (or touch anything, for that matter). Maybe if he's lucky he can get away with purifying the blight before Jakob notices...

When Jakob stays still he sighs, pausing first to jump off of Dynamo. "You weren't in your right mind, so don't even start with me. Anyway, it turned out fine." Or as close to fine as any of their prayers have gone.

"Do you want to get arrested, or do I have to carry you back to the temple?" he asks again, this time in a more warning tone.

[gentilitea]

Jakob can only manage a quick and cursory survey of his god anyway, which betrays none of Add’s more pertinent injuries to him. He takes another glance up at that window and decides that, after all, there’s nothing he can do here to fix whatever it is they broke this time around.

“Very well. We will deal with this later.”

[subtract]

At least they can be thankful there weren't any casualties. Add almost reaches out to touch Jakob for teleportation, hesitates, then opens one of his own portals instead. He'll just have to deal with the weird swirling timespace tunnel back to their temple. Add steps aside so his shinki can enter, giving him plenty of space.

"You remembered something. How long ago did that happen? You should've told me." He doesn't sound angry or upset, just curious. He does want to know more about shinki memories and how they could be recovered, but it was obviously something personal, so he can't blame Jakob for keeping it to himself. Still, "You don't have to give me all the details, but you should at least let me know if something like this happens again."

[gentilitea]

“About a month ago,” he replies, stepping into the portal and not really meeting Add’s eyes. He wonders how much of this he should talk about, really, before he blights himself somehow. He doesn’t really know what to make of having something like that shoved into his already messed up psyche to begin with.

“I simply woke up remembering, one day. I don’t know how it happened.” Let alone why. This is pretty much the last thing he ever wants to remember about his old life.

[subtract]

The answer is unhelpful, but not unexpected. The other shinki he's aware of that recovered memories had similar things to say... whatever the cause might be, it's going to be difficult to figure out just from observation. Add pauses, looking back at the orphanage one last time before following Jakob into the portal. The crack seals shut behind them.

There's some time before they reach the other end of the tunnel. The void surrounding them is dark and endless, broken up by distant black spheres and glittering fragments that look like crystals. They drift in silence for awhile, guided by the faint tug of reality drawing them back in.

"... Some people shouldn't be allowed to have children," Add mutters, staring blankly at a random space in the distance. "But... there are also good parents in the world. Whatever happened to them in the past, they deserve to find a place to belong."

He's referring to the orphans, of course.

[gentilitea]

The tunnel almost feels like home, if he’d remembered more of it, but the darkness, at least, doesn’t bother him. He stares ahead of them, trying to summon up some other part of his remembering that memory, but finding little else to tell his god.

When Add breaks the silence Jakob turns to him, his own eyes glimmering with some emotion he can’t quite identify himself—agreement? sadness? wistfulness??—but then he turns away.

“I will keep tabs on them, of course.” He can’t really stand it when orphans or, indeed, any child has been mistreated. Besides, this is the only way he can assuage his own guilt of somehow having made those poor children cry.

[subtract]

Add nods in quiet agreement... although, neither of them should probably be going back to that orphanage any time soon. He'll consider it an extension of the prayer to make sure the kids find good homes. The ayakashi was getting in the way of that, after all.

He can't think of anything else to say, so he leaves it at that. They eventually reach the end of the portal, falling out into... well, a very similar space, really, except more blue and full of the usual giant cubes. Now there's just one last thing to take care of...

"You go on ahead. I need to check on something." As if that isn't the laziest lie in the world, but he needs to find an illusion with water he can clean off his blight with. Better not to bring Jakob with him in case he notices and starts fussing.

[gentilitea]

The silence is fine with him. He’s already resigned to the fact that clearly he and his god don’t have much to talk about, since they have so very little in common. So he only stares at Add with his usual stern look before doing a mental shrug.

“Very well.” He’s probably off to build more of his strange doohickeys for all he knows. “I have other duties to attend to. Summon me if you need anything.”

And with that, he’ll proceed to a nearby illusion.