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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

from the 17th on

[soundsurfing]

[When Chiaki finally revives, she will notice a bunch of text messages from Beat.]

1.
did you come back?
2.
im guess no?
3.
hey where you at??
4.
aw don tell me you gonna res wid the fog
5.
we stopped the monster yo josh told me
6.
lemme know when you back
7.
you really gonna rez wid the fog huh
8.
aight for real tell me when you get back we gotta have an us day after that

as soon as the fog rolls in on the 4th until whenever chiaki answers him

[soundsurfing]

yo squiddles

squiddles

you better be back

squiddles this aint funny yo where you at

ima punch the fog so hard

my messages aint bouncin so i know you here here

cmon yo

where my best girl at

come back soon aight we miss you

<galagamer> September 6th

[waitingforplayer2]

bac k sorrybeat

<soundsurfer>

[soundsurfing]

oh shit yo there you is christ dont say sorry its aight where you at

<galagamer>

[waitingforplayer2]

arcaed

diffe rent

<soundsurfer>

[soundsurfing]

im comin to visit

[He's not sure what different means, but he's about to find out, when he shows up at the arcade. For his part, Beat's different too. The Wasteland Fog seems to have brought with it a reminder of Beat's death. He's entirely human looking, though paler, and his hands are floating — disconnected from the rest of his arms. He's still wearing the collar he had been wearing while as a Werewolf, to hide the scar ringing his neck and to keep his damn head on.

One hand floats to open the Arcade door for him, before returning to his side once he's in.]

Squiddles! Where you at! Hollar!

[waitingforplayer2]

[ The arcade is quiet, but open. A couple of human workers on the floor, but no monster or human visitors yet. It's early still. The machines hum and play tinny music, sitting waiting for somebody to play.

The arcade itself is empty, but right outside, the willow tree rouses from her sleep, two dark eyes cracking open halfway through the trunk. She calls out to him in a whispery voice, unsure if he'll be able to hear at that distance.

The wind follows Beat into the arcade as the door shuts behind him. ] Beat-kun...

[ But there's no immediately visible source of it - at least not indoors. ]

[soundsurfing]

[Hoo-haw! The whispering is spooky and makes Beat raise his detached fists up as if he's going to punch the wind. Where you at, spooks, he's dead too, he'll fucking throw down! When there's no immediate threat, he lowers his arms (but his fists stay floating in the air) and turns to look around.

One hand comes over to scratch his head for him.]

Uh... Squiddles?

[He makes a slow turn, his hand resting on his head while the other floats in it's fisty punch shape, before he spots the tree outside. That wasn't there before, was it? Fist hand floats over to open the door so he can peek out.]

... Squiddles?

[waitingforplayer2]

[ The tree rustles, and turns in his direction. With the branches hiding the trunk where her eyes are, it looks like just an ordinary tree.

But she knows it's him. She knows the voice. ]

I'm here. [ When the whispery voice speaks, the branches rustle. ]

[soundsurfing]

[Okay. Okay he hears her. But he's not yet connected new Tree to Chiaki. He does move over to it, his hands resting on his hips as he studies the tree.]

Uh....

[The new Lich tilts his head, squinting gently. Then, rather than think his friend has a just Tree Fog Form he goes for the second obvious.]

... You possessin' the tree? You a shade now?

[waitingforplayer2]

It's me. The tree is me.

[ She looks at him from the hollow eyes midway up her trunk, lit from within by the embers of a dying flame. ]

[soundsurfing]

Oooooooooooooh! YO that makes way more sense, yeah.

[He smiles at the tree before approaching and wrapping his arms around her trunk. His hands pat somewhere around the 'back' as he hugs her. Tries to hug her as tightly as possible.]

I'm glad yer back, Squiddles...

[waitingforplayer2]

[ The trees branches shudder. She can't really hug back.

... but she'll try, for him. A few of the willow's branches wrap around the lich's back. ]

I'm glad you're okay.

[soundsurfing]

[Beat's not expecting the tree to hug back but it makes him smile when she does. He squeezes tightly and pulls back after a moment, smiling... uh... where is her face. This is awkward.]

Di'nt 'xpect you to go all tree...y. Even more so. You able to move?

[Cause it would suck if she was stuck to just one spot. How is she going to eat? Beat begins to fret.]

[waitingforplayer2]

[ Under the branches, he's able to see her trunk, where two small hollow spots are - light like a flickering flame coming from inside the trunk somewhere. Her eyes. (That's all the face she gets.) ]

Me either. I can still walk like before. [ A couple of her roots, a small distance away from him, raise out of the ground to show him.

And now that he's this close, and the emotions are dying down a little bit, she can really... take him in. He's not a dog anymore, nor is he a pooka. ] You changed again... what are you?

[soundsurfing]

[Oh! There's her eyes! It's good enough and means it has something to look at while talking to her, cause it's rude otherwise. He watches as she demonstrates her roots are still able to move, nodding gently. Good. He steps back a little to take her all in, sighing.

He's so incredibly glad she finally came back. It wasn't just Peter being eaten up inside about it.

Her question makes him smile a little and look at himself.]

A Lich. I gambled wid Mana an' lost. I'm tryina get a feel fer different forms, yo, an' asked her to take animal off the list cuz I was gettin' a lot of it. She really said die then. But look!

[He pops his hands off from where they had been resting on his arms. Not attached but looking like it. He doesn't take his head off. She didn't see it but he's not going to upset her like that. Instead he floats his hands around to pay her on her leafy "head".]

[waitingforplayer2]

[ She really needs to add Beat and Josh to her internal list of people who change their form frequently. There's like a whole group of them now. ]

That doesn't hurt, does it? [ She hasn't actually met very many liches. Her gaze follows his hand, and then jolts a little in surprise when she's patted. ]

[soundsurfing]

[The jolt makes him hehe gently, but he wont bug her for long, bringing his hands back around.]

Nah, it was odd at first cuzza how far they can go, but it really jus' like I'm super stretchy. An' uh. I can do this.

[He reaches up and takes his head to lift it straight up and off his neck.]

Shoulda asked fer this fer Halloween.

[waitingforplayer2]

[ The tree shakes a little: startled. But then a soft laughter whispers on the breeze. ]

That's really cool...! It doesn't seem like a bad type of monster to be.

[soundsurfing]

[It might have only been temporary but wow, Beat can't believe how much he missed her. Her death felt like he watched his sister die.]

Yeah it's kinda weird but also not bad. No really weird animal urges or anythin'!

[Moving himself over, he sits down beside her to lean against her trunk.]

Missed you, Squiddles.

[waitingforplayer2]

[ She settles in with him. The contact is nice, actually. As connected as she feels to nature, she feels a bit isolated from her fellow monsters in this strange and larger form. Beat leaning against her helps her to feel useful, yes, but also less alone. ]

I missed you too... I think? [ It's hard to tell. She doesn't remember her time in the Sea of Stars. She only halfway remembers her time while frenzying, when her focus was completely on killing and eating. ]

Peter-kun told me... what happened after. I'm sorry...

[soundsurfing]

... Don't be sorry.

[That's the last thing he ever wants her to feel. He's kind of upset Peter told her, but she also has the right to know. Sighing, he tilts his head in to just rest it against her, frowning off into the garden.]

We got it, in the end. Tha's what matters, right? The camp was saved. The peeps in it. Ain't no one else had to get hurt... An' I'm sorry. I'm sorry we wasn't fast enough.

[Listen, he can be hypocritical, he doesn't know the word, it left when his brain died.]

[waitingforplayer2]

[ It's not all that matters, she thinks. The others should have been saved, too. She's upset that they all had to die to stop that thing.

(And the way she's come back has been - disorienting, and scary, but that's another story.) ]

It's not your fault. [ One of her willow branches drapes over Beat's shoulder, the closest she can get to a comforting gesture. ] We all tried hard.

[soundsurfing]

[The branch on his shoulder makes him smile and he raises a hand to gently pat at it.]

We did, yo. Which makes the fact we all feelin' like shit really stupid. We gotta not blame ourselves.

[Though he knows Nanami is doing it. Just as he knew Peter was doing it.]

You know, we all make a pretty good team though. We jus' gotta work at it more.

[waitingforplayer2]

...Even though you're the bad guy?

[ Ribbing him about W.E.B. But it's not like she can throw stones.

She helped blow up that building, too. ]