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Aug. 29th, 2024 05:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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fatealterationHitomi was anxious.
This wasn't atypical for Hitomi; anxiety had become a close friend since she entered the world of Gaea. She found no comfort in the familiar, though, even as the scene in front of her became unfamiliar.
Freid was no longer how she remembered it a few hours before; the city itself was still (mostly) intact, save for the occasional building that looked as though it had been cleaved neatly in half; what was supposed to be on the other side wasn't there. Not just the building's other half, but the environment that was supposed to be there, too.
Paths to Godashim's market now lead to a lush forest that looked as out-of-place in Freid's desert climate as Hitomi did in uniform here on Gaea. A large swath of the city had been replaced by buildings that looked like they belonged in ancient China.
But worst of all was the missing. There were plenty of them. Even if you didn't personally know someone who was missing, you couldn't miss all the people shouting out names in the streets. All this only heightened Hitomi's anxiety. Especially because she was missing all of her friends, too.
Maybe if she could do something about it, she wouldn't feel so powerless. She could douse, yes, but she didn't have anything from Van or Millerna or Merle or even Allen to help her. It was lucky enough that she had her duffle.
She didn't know where to go, so she started looking for the palace; she wasn't as familiar with Godashim as she was Palas. Hitomi didn't know if she couldn't see the towering building from here because she was far from it, or because it had been spirited away with so much of the rest of the city.
It was only when she was walking that her foot knocked into something hard and metal; it bounced off the toe of her shoe with a clank so deep and hollow that if she hadn't felt it, she'd know by sound alone that it was something heavy. Even though the streets were littered with debris from the chaos, all that together was enough to lure Hitomi down the alleyway it had been knocked into.
It was there that she saw it. There was no mistaking it, either. Chid's golden crown. The plumage that had decorated its top was matted with the same sludge that covered much of the cap's precious metal. The feathers lay flat over the cap's curve, wet with something that made Hitomi's nose curl with disgust.
Still, Hitomi snatched it from the ground gratefully. As unlucky as things had become, if the crown had not become so muddied, it may have been recognized for what it was. And if it was recognized for what it was, she would never have found it. She might not be able to use it to find Van or Millerna or Merle or Allen, but she might be able to find Chid. And if she found him, maybe she could find everyone else.
There was no quiet place in the city, but this alleyway was the closest she could find to it. Though she hesitated to sit down, she did; it was far easier to douse that way. She placed the still-dirtied crown in front of her and wiped her hands clean with her handkerchief. She might not have a map like when she doused before, but even just having a direction to follow was more than what she had now.
Hitomi removed the pendant from around her neck, closed her eyes, then let it swing. Every part of her was focused on her memory of Chid. His bright blue eyes. His green tunic. The un-princely way he ran through the palace halls when he thought no one was looking. The earnestness. The scented oils. In Hitomi's mind, Chid was virtually there right in front of her.
At least, until she was interrupted, and that image of him evaporated in an instant.
This wasn't atypical for Hitomi; anxiety had become a close friend since she entered the world of Gaea. She found no comfort in the familiar, though, even as the scene in front of her became unfamiliar.
Freid was no longer how she remembered it a few hours before; the city itself was still (mostly) intact, save for the occasional building that looked as though it had been cleaved neatly in half; what was supposed to be on the other side wasn't there. Not just the building's other half, but the environment that was supposed to be there, too.
Paths to Godashim's market now lead to a lush forest that looked as out-of-place in Freid's desert climate as Hitomi did in uniform here on Gaea. A large swath of the city had been replaced by buildings that looked like they belonged in ancient China.
But worst of all was the missing. There were plenty of them. Even if you didn't personally know someone who was missing, you couldn't miss all the people shouting out names in the streets. All this only heightened Hitomi's anxiety. Especially because she was missing all of her friends, too.
Maybe if she could do something about it, she wouldn't feel so powerless. She could douse, yes, but she didn't have anything from Van or Millerna or Merle or even Allen to help her. It was lucky enough that she had her duffle.
She didn't know where to go, so she started looking for the palace; she wasn't as familiar with Godashim as she was Palas. Hitomi didn't know if she couldn't see the towering building from here because she was far from it, or because it had been spirited away with so much of the rest of the city.
It was only when she was walking that her foot knocked into something hard and metal; it bounced off the toe of her shoe with a clank so deep and hollow that if she hadn't felt it, she'd know by sound alone that it was something heavy. Even though the streets were littered with debris from the chaos, all that together was enough to lure Hitomi down the alleyway it had been knocked into.
It was there that she saw it. There was no mistaking it, either. Chid's golden crown. The plumage that had decorated its top was matted with the same sludge that covered much of the cap's precious metal. The feathers lay flat over the cap's curve, wet with something that made Hitomi's nose curl with disgust.
Still, Hitomi snatched it from the ground gratefully. As unlucky as things had become, if the crown had not become so muddied, it may have been recognized for what it was. And if it was recognized for what it was, she would never have found it. She might not be able to use it to find Van or Millerna or Merle or Allen, but she might be able to find Chid. And if she found him, maybe she could find everyone else.
There was no quiet place in the city, but this alleyway was the closest she could find to it. Though she hesitated to sit down, she did; it was far easier to douse that way. She placed the still-dirtied crown in front of her and wiped her hands clean with her handkerchief. She might not have a map like when she doused before, but even just having a direction to follow was more than what she had now.
Hitomi removed the pendant from around her neck, closed her eyes, then let it swing. Every part of her was focused on her memory of Chid. His bright blue eyes. His green tunic. The un-princely way he ran through the palace halls when he thought no one was looking. The earnestness. The scented oils. In Hitomi's mind, Chid was virtually there right in front of her.
At least, until she was interrupted, and that image of him evaporated in an instant.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-03 08:05 pm (UTC)Still, it wasn't like Hitomi hadn't experienced this before herself.
"Before I came here, I ran into someone from this world." Literally, in fact. "I understood everything he said, but my friend Yukari and my upperclassmen Amano couldn't understand him at all. Maybe that's what's going on now."
no subject
Date: 2024-09-03 08:28 pm (UTC)As they all took turns explaining, Reigen kept mental notes on the common facts:
1. Nobody knew where they were.
2. Everyone was from somewhere different.
3. Wherever they were now was not where they were from--not even close.
He and Hitomi could at least describe in plain words what they had been up to before being whisked away...Doppio, on the other hand, remembered almost nothing. And, unlike he and Hitomi, had nothing on him. For that reason, Reigen scrutinized him harder...but he was unable to detect any falsehoods in anything he was saying. He was about as guarded as a baby.
Then there was Hitomi...she was a trusting young lady who had her world upheaved multiple times from the sounds of it.
'Right.' It was going to be impossible for Reigen to leave either of these two on their own.
"Okay," Reigen began after he slurped up the last of his noodles. "I propose we stick together for the time being."
no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 12:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 12:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 01:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 01:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 01:39 am (UTC)Hitomi pointed to the area she and Reigen had emerged from not long before.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 03:48 am (UTC)Hitomi hadn’t mentioned such a thing, not to mention she was dressed pretty plainly…but she did have a sense of gravitas about her.
And she was pretty.
…Not that that last bit was a prerequisite, Doppio was well aware, but it helped the image.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 03:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 04:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 04:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 04:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 04:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 04:20 am (UTC)He barely knew anything about himself. There were distant echoes--just barely there.
"I don't have any money or even anything valuable, either. I would probably just slow the both of you down. You both sound like you have something important to do so...is that really okay?"
no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 11:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 03:45 pm (UTC)“As they say - ’a journey is more pleasant with companions, and life is enriched with kindness.’ We’ll worry about things as they come, right?”
Because they all sure as hell had plenty to worry about already without wringing their hands over the future.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 03:51 pm (UTC)Doppio touched his temple. Something Hitomi said felt truer than anything else—he didn’t know how he knew, but he was sure he had someone he was looking for. Someone he needed to survive for.
“Alright. I understand.” He managed a smile back. “Thank you.”