lempereur | IC Contact; MoM

[There is a significant delay, both between video files and text messages, before another reply comes through.]

We don't have to worry about it. He's gone.

[And that's an overly simple response.]

Are you home?

They all are. We went over this.

I'm home.

Not what I meant...

I'm coming over.

[That's all the warning he's going to get. It's a good thing they live close because she's going to be in panic mode. Realistically, she knows the video she saw was of his clone and not of the real Yusuke--but it was visceral and terrifying even from a distant, grainy security feed. One does not plan to see an identical copy of a close friend get eaten.

It's only a matter of minutes before there's frantic knocks on his door. She probably should have gone for the window--less chance of someone else answering--but she wasn't exactly thinking things through to that degree right now.]

[ It's enough warning for him to make sure he's downstairs, waiting for her. Yusuke gets up from the couch when he hears the knocking (can't she just knock like a normal person instead of being loud enough to alert the entire block?) and opens the door in a hurry.

She seems...disturbed. ]

Good afternoon, Futaba. Are you alright?

[Of course, he answers like nothing is extremely out of the ordinary--outside of her behavior he wouldn't really have a reason to think anything was wrong. She doesn't answer immediately, taking a moment to take in the fact that yes, he was fine, unharmed, and alive.

Still, the visuals in the feed are fresh in her mind--she's just thankful there wasn't sound, though she could imagine those screams perfectly well without it. She shakes a little. Surely, given the state she's in, Yusuke would forgive her for a sudden move forward. She's normally not a touchy person, preferring to keep her distance more often than not, but in this case...in this case, she's affording herself the opportunity to embrace the boy in front of her. It only serves as further proof that he's perfectly fine, after all.]

...I'm sorry. [It's a bit of a choked mumble, muffled and barely audible from where she had buried her face against the fabric of his shirt.]

[ Yusuke is surprised by the sudden contact, but not bothered. He doesn't even have a guess as to why she's so upset, but it isn't hard to tell that something happened. His arms wrap around her in turn, giving her a minute to breathe before doing or saying anything else.

She feels so small. And she is, of course, objectively, but she is normally so full of energy that her presence outsizes her. Her buoyancy demands attention, even when she's curled up by herself or behind a computer screen. Futaba is flying over his head more often than not, with Necronomicon, with unexpected confessions, with an endless stream of ideas that even he has trouble matching. For her to be so still, so quiet, even though it's just the two of them, is not normal.

Yusuke, on the other hand, is just like he always is. Skinny enough to have no problem getting her arms around, even if his ribs don't stick out so much anymore. Gingerly, he presses a hand to the back of her head, holding her to his chest until she's ready, but the longer it takes the faster his heart will beat.

She's scaring him. ]

Why are you sorry? Come inside, tell me what's going on.

[Her first reaction is to shake her head defiantly, clinging a little tighter. It's mostly in response to his question--she's not quite sure why she apologized in the first place, just that it seemed like the thing to say. But part of it is a denial to having to let go and explain.

It takes another long moment before she slowly pulls her arms from around him and takes a step back. Her eyes are a bit red, smudges of tears on her glasses--which she quickly scrubs at with the edge of her sleeve, trying to get rid of the evidence. She's still quiet, the vibrancy of hers stifled as she slips past him into the house. She looks around the common area before turning back to Yusuke.]

Not here...Your room would be better. [She's still not sure if his housemates are home, but if she's going to explain, she'd rather avoid the chance of having an unwitting audience. She doesn't wait for him to agree before she takes the familiar path up to his room.]

[ He agrees immediately, nodding his head and letting his hands fall to his side. Yusuke follows behind her, watching her carefully until they make it inside his room. Sighing, Yusuke shuts the door behind him and locks it.

There is nothing in the easel today, but at least the window is made of glass now. ]

What's happening? You're worrying me.

[She had nestled into a corner of the bed, easily claiming the small space as her own like normal--except it was just the corner, knees drawn to her chest, and not at all the comfortable sprawl she usually found herself in.

She sighs, glancing in his direction. She hadn't meant to worry him, but she knew the way she was acting was far outside of her norm when it came to their day to day interaction. But how does she even explain? Perhaps it was easiest just to come out with it.]

I kept following the video feed until the path ended...I--I watched you die...["Die" is putting it too easily. It does nothing to suggest the level of carnage, the blood--the screams she couldn't hear but could imagine all too easily.] Not...Not you, not really. Bu-But a clone is a clone, and it was your face...

[ Yusuke crawls onto the bed next to her, cautiously, keeping his eyes locked onto with such focus he barely blinks. She watched him die? His mouth parts open in disbelief, before clenching shut. He has so many questions, but he doesn't want to scare her any further, so he starts with just a gentle hand on her shoulder.

A reminder that he is still here, flesh and blood, and he is very much not dead. ]

Dead, as in...killed?

[The hand on her shoulder is a welcome reassurance, even if the weight of it almost made her jump at first. She focuses on that, letting his presence ground her in the here and now rather than focusing on the memories of that video feed.

She nods, letting herself relax slightly.]

It was...brutal. The feed was grainy but I think--[A pause. A breath.] I watched your clone being eaten.

Eaten. What do you mean, eaten? By what?

[ Yusuke speaks without thinking, the shock of the information ripping away any filter he might have had. His hand on her shoulder tightens without him meaning it to. If his clone had been killed, he would want to know who did it, but eaten?

...and Futaba had to see it happen?

So much for staying out of trouble. ]

Eaten. It ripped out his throat. I couldn't see their face really, there was a lot of blood...but they--it was a monster. Worse than Shadows.

[The Shadows never ate them. Threatened it during a hold-up maybe, but never seemed to actively try. She shudders just thinking about the beast covered in blood.]

Worse than Shadows.

[ He takes a deep breath, rubbing his hand gently against her. His other hand rubs at his forehead, just trying to help himself make sense of it.

He's still processing. ]

What if it's still out there?

Still out there?

[The thought hadn't crossed her mind. She assumed that it was some mutation--a clone gone mad like all the rest but...

But what if it wasn't? What if it was an imPort like them? The possibility that something like that could be lurking out there, somewhere in the shadows, waiting...hunting--without knowing who had that ability, what could they do against it?]

I don't know if it is or not. I really...don't want to go back to that video to follow it.

What if I did, and you instructed me?

[ The prospect was anything but appealing, but they didn't know what the thing was. Clone, imPort, actual monster, no clue. If it was still out there, its next meal wouldn't be a clone. ]

...Are you sure you'd be okay with that?

[She asks, even as she's pulling up a set browser on her communicator. She hesitates a moment longer before handing it over.]

There's an open field--type in this access point IP: 192.168.1.96 That should pull you into their feed control panel. I was on camera 18-CTA.

Someone has to, and I won't put you through it again.

[ He takes the communicator from her, inputting everything per her directions. ]

This is the one where it happened?

That's the one I was on when I saw it happen. You should be able to put in a time and date...

[She pauses in her directions to move around, making sure she can't see her screen. He'd have to start playing through the feed soon.]

I can't remember the time stamp from when...everything happened, I wasn't paying attention to it. [Obviously. She could be forgiven for missing the small details this once.] Just play through it. Let me know if you get a clear look or if you need to move feeds...

[ He has a date he can punch in, but a time...? Who knows? He heard about the break-in in the late afternoon, so he sets it to start at 2 pm. ]

The only view is of the sidewalk.

[ He'll just fast forward until something other than stray cats show up. ]

[She nods, sinking further into the corner she claimed for herself.]

That's the one...but you can try another channel. 19-CTA or 20-CTA should be on the same street. You might catch more...The approach or something.

Edited (That was not the icon I wanted...) 2017-08-04 02:26 (UTC)

[ Yusuke hums, flipping through the channels until a bloodied Kaneki appears on the feed and topples over in the middle of the street. From this angle, and this amount of carnage he's covered in before his clone shows up, he's unrecognizable. ]

This might be it.

[ He moves around so his back is against the other wall, and Futaba couldn't watch if she changed her mind. He tries to seem casual, stretching his legs out to nudge gently at her side, but any second now, the alarm will show in his eyes when his clone enters the frame. ]

Edited (I forgot words) 2017-08-04 02:43 (UTC)

[She can't see the screen, but she can definitely still read Yusuke's expressions. She knows exactly when the clone comes onto the screen. She places her had on his arm, squeezing slightly. It isn't just to reassure him, but to ground herself again.]

He's there...isn't he?

Edited 2017-08-04 03:21 (UTC)

[ The squeeze diverts his eyes from the screen long enough to nod towards Futaba in response, but they're glued back on pretty quickly. ]

They are just talking, right now.

[ The talking continues for a couple minutes, before the clone starts kicking whoever, or whatever, was laying on the ground soaked in blood, and it reacts by biting him, and bursting in sharp, mouthed tentacles. Yusuke jumps, dropping the communicator on the bed and raising a hand to his mouth, scrambling with the other hand to pick it back up. ]

[Her eyes dart to the communicator as it falls to the bed, eyes going wide and her hand tightening on Yusuke's arm. She knows what's coming next and she turns into him, hiding her face against the arm she's holding onto as she squeezes her eyes shut.

This was a bad idea. She should never have let him see this, even if they did have to find what happened to this monster. That was his likeness on the screen--it was hard enough for her to watch it and it wasn't as if she was watching her own death. This must be so much worse for him.]

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