#030066

[passio]

It’s Dextera.

I hope everyone has recovered from the town’s most recent mystery. I had intended to make this post earlier, but I think all of us were distracted. It’s confusing, and I’m sorry if it’s hard to read as well.

My brother - Sinistra, #610B0B - and I went into the forest to try to recover the rest of the items I’d found with Guren. We were able to get the pocketwatch, but it’s broken. If anyone knows how to fix it, I would appreciate your instructions.

It does something as it is, though. It’s strange. When I hold it, it feels like nothing exists. It feels like none of us exist. It’s scary. I don’t know how else to describe it. The town feels like an illusion, and all of us even less than that. Those of you that have just arrived still feel “real,” but the people I’ve known for a long time are barely here. I'm barely here.

There are some other people who don’t feel as if they exist at all. We haven’t figured out that criteria yet. I don’t know why or how it’s like this. I’m sorry. I don’t know if the watch works for anyone but my brother and I, but I don’t want anyone else to touch it. I don’t think it’s a good idea. I’m sorry, again, but my brother or I will answer any questions you have.

Comments

[queenofminiskirts]

Who would I even practise with?

[passio]

Haha. Maybe you’ve been playing against Shiho… or one of the new people around. I can’t keep up with everyone.

[ dextera leads her upstairs, where his chess board is sitting, already prepared—leliel is pecking around the room, searching for food. ]

[queenofminiskirts]

With these kinds of game, I'd rather watch Shiho play against other people than play against her myself.

[It's her favourite thing: watching Shiho soundly trounce her opponents. She's following along and, of course, she's floating two feet off the ground. She brightens when she sees Leliel.]

Well, hello there, sweet girl~.

[passio]

[ leliel clucks in kaoru’s direction, pecking over curiously, and bobbing her head into the space between the floor and kaoru’s feet. dextera, ever the worried parent, panics that kaoru might step on her. ]

Ah, Leliel…

[ he scoops her up, quickly. ]

[queenofminiskirts]

[She only laughs a little.] You're like her mom.

[passio]

Aha… I wouldn’t know.

[ dextera doesn’t remember his mom, but more than that, he thinks he and his brother probably never had one. he says it with as lighthearted a tone as he’s been speaking so far, though, so it doesn’t seem like a painful point for him.

he places leliel down elsewhere, and tosses a few seeds on the ground for her to eat—he had them in his pocket, of course. ]

I just like her.

[queenofminiskirts]

[She's neither as smart as Aoi nor as perceptive as Shiho, but even she knows...'I wouldn't know' isn't the reply of someone who had a happy relationship with their parent...or maybe even didn't have one.

But their conversation is happy for now and she'd prefer to keep it that way.]

And you take care of her, worry about her and feed her...that totally makes you her mom.

[Pause.]

But I guess if we're going by that metric, Minamoto would be more my mom instead of my actual mom.

[passio]

Heh heh. Well, that’s not bad.

[ as he speaks, he retrieves the chess board to set it up—the pocketwatch is sitting nearby, on the shelf, shiny and polished but clearly aged nonetheless. there’s no way it works, in this condition. ]

What’s he like? Minamoto?

[queenofminiskirts]

[Oh, boy.

At the question, Kaoru's expression becomes all soft and fond. Very similar to how she looks when she talks about Shiho.]

He's fussy like a grandmother and his hobbies include housework and research. He's a genius, you know! And he's got the body of a swimsuit model! [She'll help set up the chessboard.] He's nice but not a pushover, and even though he'll got mad at us when he thought we were unreasonable he was also the first adult in our lives who never gave up on us...even when we were acting like huge brats to him.

[passio]

[ a grandmother… who’s a genius… and has the body of a swimsuit model. despite himself, dextera’s lips quirk up in an amused smile. he certainly sounds like a fascinating man. ]

You’re lucky to have him.

[ but at the same time… ]

…and I think he’s probably lucky to have you all, too.

[queenofminiskirts]

We're very lucky.

[As for if he was lucky to have met them...]

I think he'd agree but I know that, when we met, we needed him more than he needed us.

[passio]

It’s impressive to hear someone admit that.

[ dextera laughs softly, then, and the board is perfectly set up for a game of chess. to be kind, he lets kaoru take the first move. ]

Are you ready?

[queenofminiskirts]

I can admit to just about anything!

[Just don't ask about her about her ten year old self.]

Yeah! [She's less hesitant than the first time, but like...don't expect anything objectively amazing here. But she's at least more confident as she makes her first move!]