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[waitingforplayer2]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, CHIAKI NANAMI.

FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX

*** galagamer has joined XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
<galagamer> This is Chiaki Nanami.
<galagamer> I'll get back to you as soon as I can!

Comments

[waitingforplayer2]

Yeah...

[ There's only so much safe they can be.

She's scared they're destined to die, again and again, losing themselves - or maybe dying a different way, returning to the Sea of Stars to drift, like she has for the last two weeks without knowing about the time spent there.

Are there ways out of this that aren't just delaying the inevitable? ]

What did I miss? The last two weeks?

[heyunderoos]

Well, like I said earlier, everyone who didn't die in that wasteland got brought back. [He takes a step back or so as he gazes up at her. Trying to maintain some eye contact with a tree is not the easiest thing in the world.] A lot of recovery mostly, people waiting for the fog to roll in. All the new people were a little spooked after everything that happened.

[waitingforplayer2]

I don't blame them.

[ The wasteland feels incredibly recent to her, and she's still a bit haunted by it.

Though maybe not as much as she could be. She's not sure if that's scarier. She shudders a bit. ]

Have you... been recovering, too?

[heyunderoos]

I've been trying. It's always a process. [Peter says simply back, his whiskers flicking uncertainly. For once he has been trying to take it easy as he can.]

It just feels very... bizarre. We went from a really harsh survival situation back to what we call civilization and the fog followed us home.

[waitingforplayer2]

... It's the same fog, huh?

[ Nanami could kind of tell that something was strange about this fog. Especially since it had been hard for her to tell that she really was back home, on the peninsula, when she first woke up. ]

But fog is part of us, now, so I guess it makes sense for it to follow us.

[heyunderoos]

It definitely feels like it. [Peter says with a slow exhale.] Everything just feels... wrong.

[He rubs at his arms a little.] That's incredibly ominous, Chiaki. It feels like you're gonna like foretell my doom next.

[He pauses before adding.] Don't foretell my doom, please.

[waitingforplayer2]

I won't. [ He gets a light chuckle on the breeze, at that. ]

I didn't mean to. Sorry, Peter-kun.

[heyunderoos]

I know you didn't, but I was also like expecting I dunno a crack of thunder from the sky after that? [He does smile a little at Chiaki's low chuckle.]

[waitingforplayer2]

Thunder's probably dangerous for a tree...

[ Idly musing. Things she has to think about now, while she's like this. Oh... ]

Hey... I'll probably be this way all week... will you come visit me, sometimes?

[heyunderoos]

Are you going to be... well, a tree for the rest of the week? [He has to ask given her own question.] And yeah, of course, I'm just- kinda shocked you're like literally a giant tree right now.

[waitingforplayer2]

...Sometimes the fog makes you bigger or scarier. It's called a fog form.

I guess... that's what I am right now.

[heyunderoos]

This place just likes getting weirder I guess. [He is baffled by the idea of a fog form. He has a rough idea of it, but it doesn't make it any less weird.]

Are you going to just be okay here?

[waitingforplayer2]

Yeah. I'll be okay.

[ She has to be. Where else is she supposed to go? What else is she supposed to do? She's massive. ]

[heyunderoos]

Do you want me to like... do anything? [Does a tree need a sweater? Some kind of shelter? Peter has no idea what to do.]

I know this is gonna be weird.

[waitingforplayer2]

[ She doesn't really know either. She hesitates for a long time.

She doesn't want to be a burden. ]

... Keep me company this week?

[heyunderoos]

Yeah, of course. You're kinda stuck with me.

[He releases a soft laugh as a thought hits him.] I mean, if Beat and I both show up at the same time, people would think you had a rodent problem.

[waitingforplayer2]

I wouldn't mind that.

[ They're her friends, and she loves them dearly. Why would she mind? ]

I probably won't go anywhere, so... you can come by whenever.

[heyunderoos]

I mean, there is a higher chance of Beat and I probably causing problems because we can. [Sure as far as Peter knows now, Beat is a werewolf. He has no idea the other teen is going to turn into a lich soon enough. In Peter's minds eye Beat is always just a squirrel. A very feral squirrel.]

Are you gonna be okay food wise..?

[waitingforplayer2]

[ If Nanami had a stomach right now, she'd feel a nasty pit in it. Instead there's just an uneasiness, and a cool breeze from nowhere that wafts through the trees. ]

I ate. I'm all right.

[heyunderoos]

Okay. [The pause there makes Peter wonder what exactly happened, but he doesn't push on the issue.]

When I come by, just tell me if you do need anything though. [Its an offer he leaves between them, letting Chiaki define things.]