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Post by etoiles on Mar 19, 2020 23:27:19 GMT
( after this thread ) When she pushed her comforter from over her head, the light hit her face like a knife on a chopping block. She could've swore she told Leon she was sober when walked her home... But maybe that was a lie. Crawling back under the pastel comforter, she pawed for her cellphone to check for any damage from last night. She sent Leon a long text about how much she loves and appreciate him and a second, longer text about how she doesn't actually want Suki to stop existing...she just doesn't want history to repeat itself now that they all have more to lose. It was a surprisingly eloquent text by Suzume's drunk standards -- although she did cringe over how many misplaced emojis she used. For example: I don't want Suki to stop existing -- she's my second favorite cousin-in-law?? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) I just don't want bad stuff to happen again and people, like, die and stuff. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ we have a lot more to protect now and a lot more to lose idk!!!!Mumbling to herself, she typed a quick apology with a few heart emojis and sent it to her youngest cousin. Then she opened her next conversation where she - apparently - already frantically texted Raiden last night, too. Rai we gotta talk nowJk it's like 4am maybe tomrrow morning???No lets talk NOW i need to talk now I'mworriedaboutleon and the world?? mostly leon lolno lols i'm serious why arent you texting back?? - read at 7:06am. The magic knight laughed wryly into her pillow and she pushed herself to sit upright and eventually roll out of bed. Everything felt heavy and she wanted to know when she became such a lightweight. After her shower and usual morning things, dug her phone out of her unmade bed and dialed the first number on her speed dial. When it stopped ringing and she heard the familiar voice, she smiled. "Hey I hope you didn't call the police or anything 'cause of what I texted you last night," she said casually. "What are you doing for breakfast?? Can I come over???" From the hall, Ryuusei poked his head in his mother's open doorway. "Breakfast? It's almost 11." The long-haired teenager frowned. "Why do you look so bad?" Suzume shot him a look and dramatically pointed to the phone as if to say I'm-on-the-phone-you-inconsiderate-punk but he pursued, acting like he didn't get the hint. "Is that uncle Rai? You know he has, like, a wife and a family and stuff." The woman rolled her eyes and turned her back to him. "Lunch would be cool too. You haven't called to check on Leon...right?" |
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Post by misha on Aug 18, 2021 16:29:19 GMT
Raiden was thankful - so, so thankful he left his text message alerts on vibrate when he woke up that morning.
With bleary eyes, he read the many messages that Suzume left for him. Cryptic from her, but the mention of their youngest cousin wasn't a good thought. He groaned and slowly got up. Mitsuki was still deep asleep; another one who just slept and slept for hours, but she still shifted when he got up. Cute. He smiled at his wife and got himself ready as he thought on the messages. It sounded like Suzume got drunk last night (very, very likely), but Leon...
He thought about calling her, but then he thought about who Suzume was and sighed. He didn't want to wake her up too early from a night of drinking. She was probably hungover as was; best for some more sleep.
After getting Kagami ready for school and telling Mitsuki to have a good day at work, Raiden went to tend to his plants as waited for a call from Suzume (if it reached noon and she didn't call, though, he told himself he'd call her until she woke up). Finally, though, she called.
He breathed out a small chuckle when she replied.
"Uh... it's close to noon," he said, but he overheard someone on the other side who probably said something similar. Might've been one of the twins.
"But lunch would be good. You can head over here, I can make us something or we can order in?" Raiden spoke as he headed back inside to see what he had and what he could make; though, maybe ordering something would be better for Suzume's maybe lingering hangover. "I didn't call him, though uh... what's going on?" He thought about calling him, but then he thought against it. Leon was very sensitive and gentle; he'd probably pretend nothing was wrong or give him a non answer and having Raiden worry over him would probably make him feel worse.
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Post by etoiles on Aug 27, 2021 13:24:16 GMT
"As much as I love your cooking, Rai-kun, I can pick up lunch for us on my way there," she offered, trying to sound casual but her worry was clear. "Are you home alone?" she asked, and Ryuusei cleared his throat and piped up: "It's a weekday, Ma." His eyebrows knitted together while he watched his mother pace around her room. He could count on one hand the times it was this obvious something was bothering her and it was starting to bother him.
"Are you okay?" he asked, losing the edge in his voice from before. Suzume quietly nodded, but her son wasn't convinced. "Hm. Alright." He'd investigate later. She was bad at keeping secrets - maybe she just needed to talk to Raiden first. Turning away from the doorway to walk back to his room, he continued to listen to the quick cadence of his mother's voice --
"Ah, uh, I'll talk to you about it when I get there -- just don't get ahold of Leon yet alright?" She was more telling herself that than Raiden - he was always arguably the most level-headed of the group of cousins - and she knew she desperately wanted to call Leon and apologize more. She continued to pace, searching her closet for comfortable clothes and pulling an old, pink Sailor Moon sweatshirt over her head and struggling to keep her phone by her ear. "It's.........okay. It's okay. Everything's fine," she lied. She had a hunch Ryuusei was still in earshot. She combed her short hair with her fingers and headed out looking as hungover as she felt -- in an ancient sweatshirt and leggings.
"What do you want me to pick up?"
--
Haphazardly carrying the take-out bag, Suzume entered Raiden's home as if she lived there herself. Kicking off her slide sandals at the entryway, she rushed inside looking for her cousin.
"Rai Rai Rai Rai - " she called, the plastic bag swinging by her legs. "Raaaaaai --" she continued, only to stop abruptly when she found him. "I got your weird and specific order," she said, holding up the bag as if that proved something - "And Leon is getting blackmailed? Sort of? By Suki-chan's..............Grandma?" Hearing it come out of her mouth, she had to wrack her brain to remember the conversation and determine it was real and not a dream. Because it sounded nuts. "The one from when we were kids?" It was so long ago the memory was faint - but Saaya had a certain presence that Suzume recognized even when she was young. The old hag was scary. Dangerous. "I guess she used a spell to time travel - which I guess isn't totally unheard of right? Some of our family members can do that. Right? And Saaya was, like, a big deal in their family. Right? Suki doesn't talk about her family a lot anymore --" She was freaking out. The more she thought about it, the more her thoughts spilled out like word vomit. "Yeah! She was a big deal for killing people!" she blurted out - answering her own question and almost dropping their food. She handed the bag to her cousin and took a breath. It didn't make her feel better. "And I said something stupid to him and I think it might've hurt his feelings and I feel terrible and I'm worried about him and Himi and --" she cut herself off and held her head with her hands. She was desperate to help but she didn't know how. She could only imagine how Leon felt.
"Sorry," she sighed, "Can we sit down?"
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Post by misha on Sept 5, 2021 16:03:15 GMT
Suzume entering his home loudly was typical of her; he'd given her a key so he didn't need to leave the door unlocked or answer it for her and so he'd gotten use to her sudden entrances. When she called out for him he got up from his desk, left his study, and went to find where she was. When she found him and promptly insulted his order he huffed.
"It is not weird --" he started to protest, but then she dropped the first bombshell. And the second. And more, in quick succession, before he could really process any of it.
"Suzu, slow down, breathe," Raiden said during Suzume's stream of conscious monologue. He gingerly took the food from her and motioned for her to follow him into the dining room so they could sit, eat, and talk a bit slower - and with room for him to ask for some clarification.
"Yeah, of course."
While they went to the dining room Raiden tried to sort out what Suzume told him. The thought of Saaya being here was disconcerting to say the least; time travel sounded very possible but why would she be here? What was she doing here? From what he remembered, she was an exceedingly powerful spellcaster and domineering. It wasn't hard to think she'd be blackmailing their youngest cousin but...
Why would she do that?
"So... Saaya Mitsubara is here? You're sure? Why?" He asked once they were seated and their food was in front of them. "How did Leon seem last night?"
He thought about Leon's career. Since he was involved with the law, it was likely Saaya was using that to her advantage, but beyond that he couldn't understand any of it. Why time travel to the future?
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Post by etoiles on Sept 8, 2021 11:13:23 GMT
Once they were seated, Suzume played with her take-away box as if she were still deciding to open it. Her eyes were fixed on her cousin's with the most focus a hungover woman in her 40s could muster.
"Yeah! I don't really know why, though...," her voice trailed off while she thought -- "But she was the one who framed Suki during the whole Resistance thing, I guess." That meant there were others out there with powers like her own and like Mika's -- but elemental magic like that wasn't totally unheard of. She remembered how mad she immediately got at Leon when he told her and felt sick to her stomach. "He, uh...seems about as good as you'd expect." Still without touching her food, she pulled her phone out of her pocket to see if Leon texted her back. She wanted to apologize again.
"She's using him as her get out of jail free card --" Literally? "--if she gets in trouble with the police. 'Cause if something happens where she can't go back to her time..." She didn't need to explain the consequences to Raiden and she didn't really want to think about it. "He's scared, and I was a complete asshole about it." She buried her face in her hands. "I told him it'd be fine!" Suzume's voice cracked. So thoughtless. "I told him it'd be fine if Suki and Himiko stopped existing or whatever because he wouldn't know any differently -- what's wrong with me?" She hoped he wouldn't answer that. "I'd hate whoever told me that about the boys or Mitsuki or Kagami." Hot tears welled in her eyes, but her palms pushed them back into her face. Suzume sniffed hard and started to rub her eyes dry. She couldn't cry at brunch.
Finally peeling the lid off of her breakfast, she stared at her tamagoyaki because she didn't want Raiden to see her now-probably-red eyes. Her appetite was gone.
"What do we do?" she asked almost pitifully. "I can't -- we can't -- protect him from this." She knew he wasn't a little kid anymore. She knew. But memories of the day her aunt, uncle, and Aimi died -- no, got murdered -- re-emerged to her like it happened yesterday. The moment she found out what happened to their family, teenage Suzume said "why aren't we with Leon right now?" and not much has changed since.
He's gone through so much and she desperately wanted him to have a good life. Her definition of that and his were just different.
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