Promise me that you'll be standing up straight//Chasing rivers, and shadows, and time

[weaver_girl]

Characters: Inoue Orihime (k0koro_kara, Adstringéndum) and Kagerou (weaver_girl, Edensphere)
Date/Time: June 8, afternoon
Location: Southeast Quarter in the Safezone in Adstringéndum, near the clinic
Rating: Most likely G for DOUBLE HIME ACTION. Come on, they're both Orihime.
Summary: Kagerou has a day off and a bad case of restless feet. Surely a fairy counts as the

Comments

[weaver_girl]

Was that a cat at her feet?

Incongruously, Kagerou found herself staring at the little animal so she wouldn't stare quite so rudely at her own face. She'd understood, yes, that there could be doubles of people she knew down there, but this was the moment in a book where the alien impostor bubbled greenly under the human skin of its clever disguise, or where the old mentor appeared to explain that the heroine had an identical twin...

She pointed with the staff, then swiftly drew it into the crook of her arm so as not to seem threatening. Youth had shown her a kata or two with it, but it wasn't as if she were going to bean herself over the head, with a stick or otherwise!

"Oh," she said, her voice a little thin. "Hello! I, um, I didn't mean to spook you! This is just for walking. Your city is sort of tricky in places, but... I'm sure you know that."

She canted her head, caught between courtesy and curiosity now. "Um, sorry. I'm Kagerou. And this is very strange."

[k0koro_kara]

Only a soft, disgruntled meow stopped Orihime from backing up right into Kakei-chan, and even then, it was hard not to gawp at... Herself. This version of her certainly looked more rugged, compared to her own now off-white skirt and too-big sweater, but the face staring back at her was definitely her own. If this was a trick the Animus-things were playing, they'd slipped up on her name- a Kagerou and an Orihime were two different things, even though their looks said otherwise. Aizen wouldn't forget something like that, no matter how little he cared about her, so that meant that this other her was really real... Or that she was an alien of some sort. It was a really good disguise if she was an alien, though.

Clearing her throat, Orihime made her own pass at trying to figure things out.

"Strange seems like the right way to put it to me, too. We look just alike, but my name is Orihime..."

[weaver_girl]

The word blurred again. The other her had said her name--quite possibly, her real name, but it was as if a cloud of invisible bees had enveloped her head for the second it took for the sound to form.

"I'm sorry, I can't hear that." Kagerou gave a wry little smile, now unable to keep herself from tracking and lingering on the little details of the other girl's face. Did her brow scrunch like that when she tried to think, too? "Um, you've come to our Wilderness. It's a part of Edensphere that... changes every now and then. Or maybe we came to you, I'm not sure. But, my point is, you're probably telling me something important, but... it's too important for me to hear.

"Is there something I could call you? A nickname or..."

hurr filler references

[k0koro_kara]

"Too important for you to hear?"

What did that mean? If they were the same person, shouldn't her name be easy for Kagerou-her to hear? It was so strange to see her own face shocked like that- the type of expression you'd never make in a mirror for yourself, so you never quite knew what it would look like.

"A nickname... How about... Kyouko?"

She wasn't exactly sure where the name came from- maybe it was somebody who'd been in her class? If Kagerou-her couldn't hear her own name, she probably wouldn't recognize anyone close to her (them?) either, so a vague nickname seemed like the best way to go.

all good!

[weaver_girl]

Kagerou took a step closer, leaning the makeshift walking stick against a convenient doorjamb. "Kyouko? I like the sound of that, if you don't mind my calling you that." She kept the smile, and maybe it would become easier if she held it for a moment.

"Yes, too important." Her voice fell a notch. "You see, I don't remember me. Everyone here in Edensphere is like that--they've lost their pasts, their names, everything. We take new names for ourselves, and... it takes time to find our real ones."

I couldn't think of another name not belonging to someone close to her. xD

[k0koro_kara]

A tiny gasp escaped Orihime's lips before she could stop it, their perfectly matched appearances but different names suddenly making sense. It seemed downright impossible at first, even to Orihime, but her time in Adstring had proven beyond even her wild imagination that just about anything was bound to happen. There wasn't any other explanation- she and Kagerou were the exact same person.

"So I can't tell you about me... About us?"

[weaver_girl]

"Um... could we sit down somewhere?" Kagerou looked around. "I have something in my bag we could share, if you like--where do you get food around here?" Her mind was leaping again, from one subject to the next, trying to cover all bases and still stay focused on the perplexing miracle of talking to herself.

"Oh, goodness, you have no idea how much I want to ask. But it could be dangerous, if you tell me too much."

[k0koro_kara]

Glancing around for a seat, Orihime realized that all the benches in this area had been taken apart- probably for firewood. She hadn't really thought about it before, but the wood Hiiro-kun and Duo-kun brought home did usually look very bench-like...

"If you want to come back to my home with me, it isn't far! Kakei-chan and I were just coming back from our walk."

Her own mind was abuzz as well, wondering how there could be two of her, what an Edensphere was, how she'd lost all her memories- but first, the average Adstring diet! That seemed like a safe thing to talk about, and the last thing she wanted was to hurt her strange other self.

"We get it from plants, mostly- a lot of people have gardens- and the fruit cows give really good milk if you can catch them. I've even heard of people eating the Wasteland worms, but I've never tried one myself, so I can't say if they're any good or not."

[weaver_girl]

"Kakei? That's your kitty, right?" Kagerou retrieved her staff. "I'd like that. I do need to find the elevator at some point, to go back to Edensphere, but... well, I've never met myself--you before!"

It made sense the people here would have to grow their own food--surely the derelict city didn't offer many shopping opportunities! She wondered if she still had that wasabi chocolate bar in the side pocket... Her fumbling fingers caught the bar of white chocolate and produced it from the pocket. She snapped it in half and offered the other to... Kyouko, that would work. "Chocolate? I like this one best, it's interesting.

"And I have a thousand questions, but one of us in the Sphere died from--learning too much." A shadow passed across her face, then she smiled again. "So I need to ask slowly, and pay very close attention. A few things might be safe enough."

[k0koro_kara]

"Ooh, it's really hard to find sweets around here! Thank you!"

Orihime took a bite and smiled widely- it figured she herself would know what kind of food combinations she'd like! Her smile faded as she heard about the death, and she chewed slower, trying to figure out what would be safe to tell.

"I guess names are off-limits... What about school? Do you remember anything we learned there?"

School wasn't the most incredibly exciting thing ever, but it was a good place both tothink back on and to start with for Kagerou. Kakei-chan rubbed up against her other self's leg curiously, and Orihime hoped he wouldn't prick her- that fur was really sharp when he wanted it to be.

[weaver_girl]

Kagerou glanced down at the cat--oh, but was he covered in bristles? None of the cats she'd seen around the Sphere certainly had fur texture like that.

"Mm, I have to say I was hoping you could at least tell me a name or two. It seems I'm not allowed to hear ours, but maybe someone else's?" She canted her head, snapping off a bit of the chocolate bar and popping it in her mouth. "School? We went to school? I mean, of course, I think I'm about that age... And I can read and write, and do the book-keeping at the bar, and some of my roommate's science sort of makes sense." She gave a sheepish laugh. "I do remember the skills, but not actually going to school, I guess!

"Um, I do have a question. Do you know someone named Ishida, or Sado? Could you tell me about them, at least a bit?"

[k0koro_kara]

Ah! Here was something she could definitely do.

"Let's see... Ishida-kun's full name is Ishida Uryuu, and he's a little bit taller than me- us- with rectangle-shaped glasses and dark hair. He's in the Handicrafts Club with us, and even though he tries really hard to act cool, he's really very sweet. Sado-kun is from Mexico- do you still remember places like that? He's really tall with dark skin and hair all in his eyes. He looks scary, but he's actually very gentle. His full name is Sado Yasutora, but Ku- someone else calls him 'Chad'."

She paused, waiting to see if the basics were OK before accidentally telling Kagerou any more.

[weaver_girl]

Kagerou tensed, poised to soak up every word she said. Suddenly, the phantom names acquired at least shadowy impressions of people, people she had known in her other life.

She pressed her eyes shut, anticipating a jolt of static or a twinge of a headache, then breathed out deeply as Kyouko came to a stop. "Oh! Thank you. I don't think that was too much, yet. I'm sure I've heard of Mexico, somehow. It sounds a little familiar.

"This might be a little out of the blue, but... is Ishida-kun or Sado-kun the one who taught us self-defence? I know someone did, since I know some, and I..." Well, explaining the birth dreams everyone in Edensphere had would add another layer of complication, so she revised her explanation on the fly. "I... have a hunch it was someone important."

[k0koro_kara]

Orihime took another bite of the chocolate bar, relieved to see she hadn't accidentally caused Kagerou any harm. She'd almost said Kurosaki-kun's name, too, but stopped, figuring it'd be best to do things one or two people at a time.

"Not really... We trained with Sado-kun a little, but Tatsuki-chan is the one who taught us karate! She's our best friend."

It seemed a little strange to talk about Tatsuki-chan like that, but even as the words left her mouth, Orihime felt a sudden surge of loneliness, like a punch in the heart. She missed Tatsuki-chan more than she'd realized, but at the same time, she didn't want to selfishly hope to drag her friend away from home and into Adstring.

[weaver_girl]

There was a sudden warm pressure in her throat, like a sob welling up and then gentling into gladness before it could form. Then her temples throbbed, and she pressed her hands to them and held still. All right, that had been a little more dangerous, but she seemed to still be here

[k0koro_kara]

Orihime leaned forward in concern, ready to catch Kagerou or hold her up f he information was too much. She wasn't quite sure what would happen, but if somebody could die from learning too much about themselves, it probably wasn't pretty. At the sight of her other self's face- her own face- smiling like that, though, it was hard not to do the same herself.

"She really is amazing! I've... I've never told anybody this before, but since you're me, it seems OK- the reason our hair is long is because Tatsuki-chan protected us from the bullies who made fun of it for being a weird colour."

It didn't come out sounding quite as fulfilling as she'd thought it would, and a little flicker of doubt arose as she realized that wasn't the way she wanted things to be with Tatsuki-chan if- when they saw each other again. She wanted to protect her, too. Right on the heels of that, though, was an even deeper question, and even though she knew Kagerou had forgotten everything, a life without remembering Sora seemed impossible.

"We... We did."