thenearshore | [closed]

Who: Rita and Tsubasa
When: April 12th (morning)
Where: Hecate's temple
What: Rita wakes up in an unfamiliar place and promptly begins freaking out. It's not entirely her fault this time.

[Rita wakes up slowly. Despite not having done that much, she'd returned from the beach trip feeling exhausted, and didn't really even finish unpacking before flopping onto her bed and crashing. Now she feels... strange. She has a headache she's assigning to the trip and sleeping in what sure feels like an uncomfortable position. Sitting up, she shakes her head, sighing.]

Ugh... what happened? I haven't felt like this in a long time, and that's saying something when Yuri's stupid plans-

[She cuts off hard, almost biting her tongue. Yuri? She shouldn't know that name, she's a shinki. She definitely didn't know that name last week, and she feels herself starting to panic. She shouldn't know that this room feels a little like home despite not being messy enough, that she knows all her artes now but that without spirits on the Far Shore she'll never be able to cast them-

She can't help herself. She screams, realizing too late it's still early, then relaxing because it's not like she'll wake up her traveling companions or researchers, even if Yuri and maybe Karol and Raven would have deserved it. Then feeling dread in the pit of her stomach because it'll wake up Tsubasa who deserves it even less. That makes her wrap her arms around herself, realizing she's going to be making a huge problem for one of the people that's really been trying to help her since she wound up here. How is she supposed to explain this? How can she explain this?

Then she finally looks around, and realizes she's in an unfamiliar room. Where the hell...? Wait, Tsubasa's probably missing her right now, then - there'd be no reason for Rita to have left of her own accord. Without knowing where she is, she can't go back - so the next best thing would probably be to call her? Hands shaking, she looks for her phone, finding it sitting nearby, and reaches out to call the number she added to her favorites just in case. Of course, given the incoming contact will reflect as Hecate...]

Come on, pick up, pick up...!

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[Tsubasa notices it as she comes to in the morning. Yet another person being gone from the temple alone sticks out - but she feels it, too. Tension rises and she very keenly realizes just how empty her temple seems, only to find her phone ringing soon after.

She tilts her head to one side, not really recognizing this god's name, but picks it up regardless.]

Hello?

[Rita has never felt this simultaneous sense of relief and dread quite so strongly. But hey, Tsubasa picked up the phone, that's something? The fire in her tone is gone again as she struggles to find enough volume for the phone to pick her up.]

Hi, Tsubasa. It's Rita. Something... something is different. I don't know where I am and I'm freaking out just a little. And I...

[Even more quietly:] I remember.

Mordio! I was concerned, when I woke up--

[She pauses as she hears the rest though, and it sinks in after only a moment.]

You remember... how much...?

My friends. My research. My home, and fighting to save it. The stupid, overconfident mistake I made to get here in the first place. I...

I remember everything.

[So, it's like Ginia said. People can just change. Perhaps not for any real rhyme or reason, but...]

Mordio, can you give me directions to where you are right now? Or would you like to come back here, to talk? I am certain you remember the way.

I don't know where I am or how I got here, so no, that's not gonna work. It feels safe enough, but... dammit. I'll figure out how to get back to the temple. Once I get outside and figure out where this place is, I can find it.

[She's still a little too proud to tell Tsubasa exactly how bad her mental state is. But it's probably not hard to guess.]

[Not hard to guess at all.]

Then head here, I will wait. Be well.

I'll be there soon.

[Very pointedly not promising to be well - she's breaking that already as she spirals - she hangs up, getting dressed in a hurry and running out of what turns out to be another temple, in the vague suggestion of a mildly untidy library. Hecate, huh...? She'll come back and investigate later. No, right now, she needs to find Tsubasa.

That doesn't take long; the districts aren't that big in the grand scheme, and she gets her bearings quickly enough. It's not long before the familiar temple - home, as she'd known it for some weeks now - comes into view, and she lets out a sigh of relief, waving as she approaches. She doesn't say anything at first, just... collects herself, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.]

Hey. Uh... sorry if I worried you.

[Ordinarily she'd be too embarrassed to say that with a straight face, but it's a testament to the morning she's having that it comes out clearly.]

[Tsubasa had been waiting outside, quietly, leaning against a wall. She was fairly deep in thought. Her own dilemma in this is the least of her worries - no shinki meant she couldn't fend off against ayakashi on her own very well. But, that's a subject for a later time.

She greets Rita with a soft smile and nods, pushing off the wall.]

Do not be concerned about that. It's not anything you could control.

[Don't remind Rita about that, she's going to have that problem herself once she realizes what happened. Still, the smile's reassuring, and she calms down a little bit more.]

Yeah, well, I'm still working on the whole "people" thing, so it still feels like my fault. But enough about that - I can have a pity party later. I've... kinda got something more important to worry about, right?

[Her hand goes to the hollow of her throat; she's not passed a mirror this morning, so she doesn't know there isn't anything there anymore.]

[She gives a curt nod.] Well, I think we're both still working on that thing, if I am honest.

[She motions towards the temple.] Come in, sit. We can talk, if that's what you want.

[Rita snorts.] Then we can both be terrible at making friends together. But yeah, let's- let's talk.

[Without waiting for Tsubasa, she lets herself walk into the temple on autopilot; this was home for several weeks, she knows the way, and short of Tsubasa having somehow made a huge mess since last night, there won't be an issue of tripping on something. It's not long before she's settled in, tension again written into her posture and uncharacteristically still and quiet. Whatever happened, something's really off.]

[Lucky for Rita, Tsubasa was sleeping at the time, so it's not as if she could have made a bigger mess than one Rita would have been accustomed to.

It is very quiet, though. Losing multiple shinki one on top of the other will do that. She lets out a long sigh and finds a seat to settle into, motioning for Rita to do the same.]

So, then - where would you like to start?

[Sure, Tsubasa. Keep telling yourself that. At least now Rita won't be helping make someone else's place messy anymore.

All the same, sitting down, she doesn't really decompress any.]

I should... probably start by apologizing. Losing another shinki isn't going to do anything good to your ability to do your job. Which is... now also my job, I think. I, uh- if I remember everything, I can't be a shinki anymore, right? So there's only one other option.

Apologizing?

[She blinks hard, and shakes her head firmly.] Absolutely not. I will not accept an apology for something you cannot control. There are solutions to my dilemma there - it is one we now share, in fact.

It... yeah, I guess it is. Doesn't mean I haven't left you by yourself again. It still makes me feel like I did something wrong, even if I know I didn't.

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