Perennial Blossom 2.2 [video]

[usaginouke]

[The camera takes a moment to focus, but once it clears a soaked Misaki can be seen huddled on one of the couches at the Cherrygrove City Pokemon Center. He's surrounded by Pokemon--Sunkern and a freshly caught Krabby, but also a Xatu and Absol. Sunkern and the Absol seem to be vying over the perfect spot in Misaki's lap, but the other two seem

Comments

[miniworth]

I'm glad you got to Cherrygrove before this rain, Misaki.

[usaginouke]

...

[Misaki's a bit surprised. Miles was so down the last time they had talked before Misaki's big disappearance. And now he was... trying in a way he hadn't been then. Misaki smiles a little.]

Your heart and your head are both in the right place. I'm proud of you, Miles-kun.

[miniworth]

[ He blinks, not sure what he said to make Misaki say that. His own changes had been so subconscious... ]

I-- it's nothing that great. [ He fidgets. ] I don't want to see anybody cry anymore. [ Franziska or Kisa or Ken or anybody. ]

[usaginouke]

Hmm... Well, if you say so. [Misaki's smile grows slightly.]

I think it's a nice goal, even if it's small. It really helps to keep your head cool. And makes it easy on everyone.

[miniworth]

I hope so.

[ He's sitting down as he talks to Misaki, legs swinging idly like it does whenever he is in thought. ] I.. used to really blame myself for not being able to help my father.

[usaginouke]

[Misaki nods. That was one thing he and Miles shared from both their childhood nightmares.]

I remember.

[miniworth]

To be honest, I still do. I couldn't help him, but I hurt someone else. But..

Even if it's not easy, I think that there are people I can help.

[usaginouke]

I think... that's something you can't ever completely get over. Or at least, you shouldn't push yourself to. But changing yourself...

That's something you decide for yourself. And you seem to have gotten there.

locked.

[miniworth]

[ ... And he looks away, and with a very tiny beep the conversation is locked, and a pause as Miles looks around. He doesn't want any random passerby to overhear--

He has a hard time looking at Misaki when he says this. He hasn't ever directly spoken about this before... ]

I think my friend and I almost died, back in January. We almost froze to death..

locked.

[usaginouke]

[Misaki has only ever shared locked conversations with Miles or Kanji before, so it's not something he found completely unexpected, but the content was. Misaki can't hide the horrified shock that spreads across his face at that confession.]

Wh-wha-- You mean you-- [Misaki stops, putting a hand over his mouth, and just breathes for a moment. When he speaks again, it's also in a whisper so even the others in the Pokemon Center won't be hearing unless they happened to really try listening in.]

But you and your friend both made it out fine, right? I mean you're here, I know....

[It just hit too close to home again. Misaki has been wondering lately if that's what happened to him, but then he randomly got shipped back home before he 'died' here. He wasn't sure. But all he could remember was ice and snow and then nothing.]

locked.

[miniworth]

He fell asleep for a few days. When people fall asleep like that, they go home and come back with new memories. [ He'll explain the comas to Misaki in more depth later. ] What he saw then...

He tried to drown himself.

locked.

[usaginouke]

Like what you did before... [He remembered that time. It had been upsetting for Misaki, but at least he'd been forewarned by Miles so he knew better than to fret about the coma the whole time.]

And he--! ...... He must've seen something... that completely devastated him. [wow, this was not the kind of talk Misaki expected so early in the morning, but at the same time he remembered Miles also having some destructive thoughts. These kids went through too much...]

locked.

[miniworth]

[ Miles shakes his head. ] It's still hurting him.

locked.

[usaginouke]

[Misaki could understand that. He was in a pretty bad way back when the accident first happened, but he had been lucky. He had a big brother to fall back on. He didn't know this other kid's story, but he knew Miles' story. If it was anything nearly as cruel then he couldn't very much blame the kid.]

... Is he doing any better at all?

locked.

[miniworth]

[ O-oh I retconned that fiasco about Miles' mother, so Miles' story now is DL6 >> orphanage >> von Karma /)__(\

Miles is silent for a few long seconds. There had been times when Ken did better, and times when Ken seemed to be getting worse. Ken smiled when he was with Kisa, laughed that one time they played soccer, and they laughed like never before when they finally finally escaped the Ilex Forest. But other times - like the time when everybody from Iwatodai (sans Mitsuru and Koromaru) disappeared, the second time Shinjiro appeared, then disappeared again, when Ken fell into another coma and woke up saying that he might have died - life for Ken seemed to look like a bleak stretch of despair...

Miles shrugs a little. ]

It's never easy. But he's still here..

locked.

[usaginouke]

[Misaki can just have returned with that same retconned info. ^_^b

Misaki tries to give Miles an easy smile.]

You can just try to cheer him up when you can. And when things start to get tough again, that's when you have to try even harder. Remind him that you're always there for him.