Valentine and Naminé had settled in to Jason's flat rather nicely -- it made a nice trade for the tower -- and were now plotting their next move
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Naminé pulled the phone away from her ear, and stared at it for a few seconds. These international calls were bizarre. There was some delay going and she would have sworn that was a thud.
Or she had possibly just shocked her little sibling. (Or woken her up in the middle of the night. How sure was she that she'd gotten the time zone right?)
"Dōjima?" she asked again, uncertainly. "Did I lose you?"
Yup, that sounded like the right voice, talking at her from her poor phone's spot on the floor. She was not hallucinating.
Dōjima picked up the phone slowly, bringing it back up to her ear. "N...Naminé? Or is it Kairi? If this is your idea of a joke, witchling, I will portal out there and shake you silly."
"It's me, Dōjima," Naminé insisted. "Witchling? I don't ..." She shook her head quickly. "It's all right. I'm myself again. I'm still not clear on how that happened, but I'm ... me."
Yurika squealed happily, practically bouncing off her bed. "But, what, I mean, how? Oh crap, your artist just left the other day to go find you, and I have no idea where he is!"
"Kairi did it," Naminé said, nearly vibrating with excitement herself. "I'm not sure how. And my artist is in the other room fussing about with something or other. You'd hardly recognize him, he's missing his proper face. I seem to be in Brighton and I've no idea where that is, except I'm several hours away from the rest of you. How are you? I'm so sorry, I had no idea that would happen when we left, or I wouldn't have let you all come."
"Missing his face?" she gasped, clutching the phone. "What did he do?"
Brighton. Brighton Brighton Brighton...that sounded vaguely Colonial. Dōjima reached for her laptop to look it up. "I'm doing better now that I know the witchling didn't eat you!"
Oh. Oh. Right, Dōjima hadn't ... heard Valentine rant about his mask, had she?
"It's all right," she said quickly. "Sorry, that's ... it's an old joke of sorts. His mask, he's missing. Or as he called it, his proper face, as the rest of us looked like maskless blobs for a very long time. He's got ..." She lowered her voice conspiratorially. "He's got beautiful eyes. I can't quite get used to it. What witchling?"
"The artist has a face under the mask? Fancy that," she mused, typing away.
"My world, we have Witches," Dōjima explained. "People with powers who do bad things. I know she didn't mean to make you go glowy, but, well, I was upset, and it's easier to call Kairi a witchling than to find her and shake her until you popped loose. Especially since I didn't really think it would work that well."
"Brighton!" There was a pause, and Dōjima eyed the internet warily. "Onee-san, how'd you end up in England?"
"It wouldn't have," Naminé said. "She was ... Kairi is who I used to be, at the beginning. We split, almost three years ago, in my timeline at least. I knew I had to either go back to her or to fade out entirely."
That small frown again. "And then I was telling her all of this and the pieces moved somehow and I was on a beach, and Valentine was here, with a maskless face. We've nothing to our name except his double's wallet but I think we could be starving in the streets and I wouldn't mind."
There was a small, somewhat embarrassed pause. "Where is England, exactly? I thought we were in some United Kingdom, possibly."
"At least you arrived on the beach, right? Is this his double's-phone, then? Wait, he doesn't have a double like you did, does he? No vanishing artists?" Yurika grinned and flopped down on her bed next to a lounging cat. "Alea, say hi to your mom! Can you purr, sweetie?"
Alea just looked at her blankly.
"Annnnd the cat doesn't care about the phone. Okay. England is part of the United Kingdom, which is part of Europe. So you're on an island called England, and Brighton is a city? That's what the internet says."
"All right, that helps, and I thank you," she laughed. "I'd also noticed everyone taaaaalks like this, they treat their voooowels differently." It was a fair attempt at a southern English accent, at that.
"Alea! Thank you so much for taking her, is she doing all right?" Like all cat owners, she actually convinced herself that she'd heard Alea purring in that silence. "And it's different, with him. He seems to have swapped places with someone. I'm not entirely clear on it, but it means we're here and I suppose that's all that matters."
"She's decided that right next to my pillow is the best napping spot ever!" Not that Yurika minded, it meant there was something nice and warm next to her. "She's been very good!"
"Great! He's there, and you're there, and you're back, which is fantastic!" she enthused. "Don't tell me you two are just camping out on the beach? That's very romantic, but trust me, you'll need at least a blanket to keep the sand out of uncomfortable spots."
"She's a wonderful kitty," Naminé said. "She likes to track paint across whatever I'm working on and she enjoys sleeping curled up next to my stomach. Cats are amazing creatures, aren't they?"
She looked around the flat, still amazed that they'd found it, just from the address in Jason's wallet. "No, we seem to have inherited an apartment?" she said, somewhat dazed. "I suppose it's only fair. If he's really traded places, then his double now owns a quite lovely tower. It has two sculleries."
Tōko was probably on vacation somewhere for Golden Week, and drunk-dialing her from someone else's phone. Again.
"Moshi moshi!" she sing-songed. "Hey, Tōko, how hungover are you?"
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"Dōjima?" Naminé said.
She'd nearly greeted the other girl as onee-san, but wasn't sure if that could be used by either sister.
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Or she had possibly just shocked her little sibling. (Or woken her up in the middle of the night. How sure was she that she'd gotten the time zone right?)
"Dōjima?" she asked again, uncertainly. "Did I lose you?"
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Dōjima picked up the phone slowly, bringing it back up to her ear. "N...Naminé? Or is it Kairi? If this is your idea of a joke, witchling, I will portal out there and shake you silly."
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Brighton. Brighton Brighton Brighton...that sounded vaguely Colonial. Dōjima reached for her laptop to look it up. "I'm doing better now that I know the witchling didn't eat you!"
Issues? With Kairi? Nah.
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"It's all right," she said quickly. "Sorry, that's ... it's an old joke of sorts. His mask, he's missing. Or as he called it, his proper face, as the rest of us looked like maskless blobs for a very long time. He's got ..." She lowered her voice conspiratorially. "He's got beautiful eyes. I can't quite get used to it. What witchling?"
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"My world, we have Witches," Dōjima explained. "People with powers who do bad things. I know she didn't mean to make you go glowy, but, well, I was upset, and it's easier to call Kairi a witchling than to find her and shake her until you popped loose. Especially since I didn't really think it would work that well."
"Brighton!" There was a pause, and Dōjima eyed the internet warily. "Onee-san, how'd you end up in England?"
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That small frown again. "And then I was telling her all of this and the pieces moved somehow and I was on a beach, and Valentine was here, with a maskless face. We've nothing to our name except his double's wallet but I think we could be starving in the streets and I wouldn't mind."
There was a small, somewhat embarrassed pause. "Where is England, exactly? I thought we were in some United Kingdom, possibly."
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Alea just looked at her blankly.
"Annnnd the cat doesn't care about the phone. Okay. England is part of the United Kingdom, which is part of Europe. So you're on an island called England, and Brighton is a city? That's what the internet says."
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"Alea! Thank you so much for taking her, is she doing all right?" Like all cat owners, she actually convinced herself that she'd heard Alea purring in that silence. "And it's different, with him. He seems to have swapped places with someone. I'm not entirely clear on it, but it means we're here and I suppose that's all that matters."
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"Great! He's there, and you're there, and you're back, which is fantastic!" she enthused. "Don't tell me you two are just camping out on the beach? That's very romantic, but trust me, you'll need at least a blanket to keep the sand out of uncomfortable spots."
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She looked around the flat, still amazed that they'd found it, just from the address in Jason's wallet. "No, we seem to have inherited an apartment?" she said, somewhat dazed. "I suppose it's only fair. If he's really traded places, then his double now owns a quite lovely tower. It has two sculleries."
She'd taken a rather personal tour.
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