INBOX;

[toybombs]

CHARACTER

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This is Rio. Leave a message and I'll get back to you later.

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TEXT / VIDEO / VOICE / ACTION

© EFRYNDIEL

Comments

10/26, action

[overstrain]

[ Terry the pom is a rare breed for many reasons, but it's mostly because it's extremely difficult to find a dog in Hirajiro, if impossible in the first place. He's just trotting in the school hallway, but he has a white sheet over him. He has an omamori on him like a nametag collar, but that's all he has. Not like anyone can see his name on that thing anyway.

Anyway, for a dog so small, he sure is loud. He yaps because because he can't get out of this blasted white sheet and tumbles under it. ]

[toybombs]

[Happy birthday Rio, have a pom.

She hasn't done much since dealing with Terry's Shadow; as far as she's concerned, she did more than her fair share of the work. If others want to fight the Daitengu, they're free to it. But it is admittedly pretty boring around the school these days, particularly with less and less people around to pester. And to top it off, today being... well, today especially stinks, because birthdays aren't great when each one is another tick closer to the deadline, even if technically speaking a whole year hasn't actually passed since she turned seventeen.

What a mess.

But anyway, there being a dog gives her something to do at least, even if she reacts as her timid girl persona:]

E-ehh, is that a ghost?!

[overstrain]

[ Terry yaps as he tumbles over. It's just a white casserole now, rolling on the floor...

Big cloths are tiny pom's biggest weakness. Help him, Rio. ]

[toybombs]

[But it's so fun to watch him roll instead...

She does walk over, peering at the rolling fabric.]

Why does the ghost sound like a doggy?

[If she tugs at a corner of the cloth, will that help at all?]

[overstrain]

[ Ah, yes. That helps him out a whole lot. Once Terry sees an opening, he waddles out of the cloth. Finally!! He looks up and--oh! It's Rio!! He looks happy to see her too and his tail wags happily and yaps.

Rio!! It's been 40k years, but not here, so you're not insane! That's great!! ]

[toybombs]

[Waaaah. She looks nervous about this development!]

Ah... g-good doggie, please don't bite me, I don't even have food!

[Who hurt you, Rio.]

[overstrain]

[ Rio... please... Terry does that thing where he stands on his hind legs and puts his front paws together and moves them up and down. Rio!! It's meeee!!! Also, he didn't think she'd be scared of dogs... he thinks he looks pretty harmless too. ]

12/1 - text

[defragment]

[ Hello, Rio. Maybe it's still taking you some time to remember everything after your two year update, but 45 sends her a bunch of video attachments (starting from 11/28, under defragment) after her open house thing. The seven videos are exactly what the memories show, because 45 transcribed them all into digital files. The only thing Rio won't know are the sensations, since you can't get that from a video file.

Anyway, these are the other memories Rio wanted to extract out of the dungeon. Here they are. ]

[toybombs]

[It takes her a while to get through them all, especially since her phone doesn't have the greatest memory and she has to delete the videos after watching. But that's fine, a single viewing is enough for her to retain the information.]

Is this because I asked about the memories before I left?

Thank you.

[defragment]

The memory with the POV person screaming has seen someone enter ego death personally. The one with the bleeding ear had his psyche eaten, presumably by the Shadows, going off of what the Migrants had been spouting. Got anything?

[toybombs]

They should be from Souji and Minato, correct?

Though that kind of reaction makes me think of Souji before Minato if I'm being honest.

It's hard to imagine Minato reacting so much... unless something really big changed.

[defragment]

If it helps your analysis, I can confirm it's Minato's memory. Spoken from the man himself.

[toybombs]

[It sure does.]

I genuinely wouldn't have expected that.

So before we met him, he was interested enough in people to become this distressed over losing a friend...

I wonder if his current closed off personality is in some way a defense mechanism against that?

12/08, text

[overstrain]

It may have been a long time for you, but I never really got the chance to tell you about what happened when I was a dog. Did you still want to hear it?

[toybombs]

Oh. You still want to tell me?

Okay.

[overstrain]

i dont mind telling you...

im not sure where to start though. the shadow or stuff back home...

[toybombs]

Do you need the Shadow to explain what happened at home, or vice versa?

[overstrain]

oh
okay then i'll start off with the back home stuff
i went back home, fought a war that i was trying to avoid, saved the people in my city while everything else died. the war was so bad that the planet started dying because of it. i got forced into a contract with someone who was the aspect of "death". i had to keep the population under control by killing people every thousand years. it sucked.

eventually, after a long, long time, i got fed up with it because everyone wanted me dead. i just had to live with it for tens of thousands of years. i killed the one i made the contract with and the planet was being supported by no one. it died. and i came here.

i thought i could have a better life here, but all that stuff happened--kido's shadow, the shrine dungeon's bullshit, and... a bunch of stuff. i ruined a lot of relationships. my shadow said that i was running away again and ditching hope. i eventually accepted my shadow again and now i'm living with a lot of stuff.

that's why when you told me about what you did for the past two years back where you came from... it was really cool. compared to what i did anyway.

[toybombs]

[She reads through text after text, a small frown forming.]

Terry...

Do you know why it's possible for me to stay strong, no matter what happens?

action, pre dungeon 1/12 something

[tesa]

I've seen you around before but I didn't quite catch your name. What was it again?

I'm Iris! [She waves and smiles like it's completely normal. Honestly, so many things are happening at once it's easy to forget something like a Simple Greeting. This is the least that Iris can do for a teammate.]


Nice to meet you!

[toybombs]

Ah... hello, Iris. I'm Rio.

[She smiles back pleasantly enough.]

You're one of the newer ones, right?

[tesa]

Yep yup! I came here a few weeks ago. It hasn't been all that bad and I'm still trying to get used to everything.

[She does a little dance to show that she's still managing.]

This might be rude of me to ask but how old are you? I think you might be around my age. I'm 18.

[toybombs]

You're closer than most people guess. I'm nineteen.

[Turning twenty in about six months, unfortunately for everyone.]

[tesa]

You're not that much older than me. I'm happy to hear it!

[Iris is that kind of person who finds it easier to talk with people her age.]

I've met Rei and some of the others. Have you known them for a while?

[toybombs]

"A while..." Only since around October, and there was a two year gap for me.

[If anyone's explained that to Iris yet.]