Camp: private conversations

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Respond here for a private conversation with Red! All comment threads are screened.

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[Red seems to be in a better mood today, though she still keeps her emotions locked down and subdued.]

Hello Mitsuru. Did you need something?

[fallbymyhands]

[Mitsuru relates]

I have a few questions for you, as always.

[. . .]

[abruptly, she thinks back to Stan, and how he had slammed the door in her face for being too forceful]

But perhaps we could take a walk around the camp, first. I realize I haven't been the friendliest person here.

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Certainly, if you would like. The camp is quite nice, all things considered.

[If it weren't a place for murder and all.]

[fallbymyhands]

. . . yes. I do find that point difficult to argue with. I've never been camping, but nature is exquisite.

[IF ONLY IT WEREN'T FOR THE MURDER]

[anyway, Mitsuru leads Red out towards the lake, because it's the nicest over that way]

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[Red seems a little on-guard as they get closer to the lake, and she keeps glancing out over the water. Mitsuru can probably guess what she's keeping an eye out for.]

[fallbymyhands]

[yeeeeah, Mitsuru knows. it's fine. she gets it]

. . . what are those creatures, anyway? Do they have a name?

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Gichi-anami'e-bizhiw.

[She smiles wryly.]

Usually we just call them 'lake cats'. Or 'Big Blue' for the parent one.

[fallbymyhands]

Cichi-anami'e-gizhiw.

[surprisingly, Mitsuru repeats the word with almost on-point pronunciation]

"Big Blue" is far easier to say, it's true. I've noticed this camp has an interesting selection of fauna. The moose, the "lake cats."

[hm]

It's certainly nothing like what we'd see on Earth.

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It certainly is very different, I agree. This planet can be amazing at times.

[fallbymyhands]

This planet. . . [hm!] What is the planet named, Red?

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Earth.

That seems to be a popular name for planets, just going by what I have heard from the campers. Just from this group, there's at least eight different versions of 'Earth' represented here.

[fallbymyhands]

. . . it's curious, that you call it Earth, when the fauna doesn't resemble any Earth animals with which I'm familiar.

But I suppose many Earths are different from each other.

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So you don't have squirrels and crows and frogs on your Earth? How strange.

[fallbymyhands]

[. . . red!! Mitsuru flusters, cheeks pink]

You're teasing me.

[huffs!]

I was speaking of the peculiar moose, and the lake cats. We do have squirrels and crows and frogs.

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[She is so teasing her.]

Yes, those are not standard for Earth, I don't think. Cloudbank certainly didn't have anything like that.

[Ayyy there's the name for Red's world!]

[fallbymyhands]

[it's good for her to be teased every so often!! and she'll accept it from cool ladies much more than she would dumb boys]

Cloudbank? Is that where you're from?

May I ask what it was like?

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[She nods.]

It's a large city, settled on the coastline of my world. Millions and millions of people live there, and it's quite the sight to behold.

We have some leaders, but most decisions are made by a popular vote among everyone in the city. The idea being that if everyone gets a say, then everyone will be more invested in the world around them.

[fallbymyhands]

Such is the ideal behind democracy.

[nodnod, she's following along]

Did you like it there?

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I did, very much. It was my home, what else could I say about it? But...

[She looks a little sad now.]

That world is gone now. There's no use reminiscing on the past, I suppose.

[fallbymyhands]

[. . . it feels a bit awkward to say this, since Mitsuru didn't get the information from Red herself. but. . .]

Ashikawa told me.

[ah]

That you were the only living person left on your world. I can't imagine how painfully lonely that was for you.

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[The corner of her mouth twitches up slightly.]

Twelve hours. One night. That's how long it took for my world to end.

[fallbymyhands]

[her brows shoot up in surprise]

How--?

[she shouldn't be shocked. Nyx was supposed to end the world in that little of a time period, too. it's just. . . her ground had managed to stop it]

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Four people in my world thought they had invented something that would help our world. In reality, it took it apart. And when I finally found a way to stop it all, I was the only one left. Everyone else had died or had faced something worse than death.

[fallbymyhands]

Red. . .

[:(]

I'm so sorry.

[. . .]

To say that I empathize is. . . perhaps a bit cheap sounding, seeing as my world did not fall into destruction as it was supposed to. But. . . you knew Mochizuki.

[she knew what was supposed to happen to Mitsuru's world. and so, she must understand that Mitsuru gets how terrifying it is to face down what is essentially the apocalypse]

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I did know him, yes.

[She looks off in the distance across the lake for a moment, focused on something that might not be there anymore.]

Before my world ended, there was a man there. My bodyguard, Blue. The original Blue.

Ryoji reminded me of him. The similarities were uncanny.