21st Memory [Future-dated to Saturday Morning][Voice/Possible Action]

[whats_a_sneeze]

[It was the usual day-forgetting something, needing an ear on the matter, and then calling someone. It was when she would typically call someone like Raine, or Ginko. And when she called the Mushi-shi, it fell through.

...

It fell through?

No, that's not right. That wouldn't happen. She must've just... done something wrong.

But then it continues to not

Comments

[wise_maiden]

[ ...

She's just not going to bother with the journal response and head over to Sayo's house.]

[whats_a_sneeze]

[Sayo will be there, with the door cracked-she didn't bother with it after coming back from Ginko's apartment. She'll have herself seated on the couch, holding the things written out for her in her arms still.

Hot, dizzy, confused. She's never had to suffer this feeling of loss before, not like this. And she seems so consumed in her thoughts that she hears nothing of Raine's arrival.]

[wise_maiden]

[Raine hadn't gone to his apartment yet -- she knew she'd be there for a while if she did. All of those plants would need tending, and surely other people would be dropping in to check. And she didn't want to be there when they did.

And she knew, too, that Sayo would have others. Others better able to help her cope with this. But that didn't stop her from coming by, anyway. To make sure that she was all right -- that she would be all right, with something like this. She could deal with her own emotions about this later. Because there was always something in putting someone else first.

And Ginko wouldn't have wanted Sayo to be to her own devices, anyway, and she had long since promised herself to keep checking in on the woman, mostly out of habit and -- other things. She's quiet as she enters, looking around at the apartment before finding her on the couch.

... and there's nothing she can say, really, seeing her like that.]

... Sayo ...

[whats_a_sneeze]

... He's gone.

[There's a lot of weight, in words like that. She knows Raine knows. She knows there's understanding in just how much it hurts to say two words.]

[mikangirl]

[She's halfway to Sayo's when she sees this announcement, and Nami breaks into a run. She won't even bother to knock-- the door is already ajar, so she pushes it right open and comes in.]

Sayo?

[whats_a_sneeze]

[There's no reply. The shaking woman can't speak without some semblance of pain burrowing into her voice, so she doesn't. She curls up further on the couch-if you come here, she has to face the truth, and that is so unbelievably hard to do right now.

You can't be here, because that means it wasn't just her imagination or some dream she couldn't have ever dreamed in the first place.]

[mikangirl]

[She doesn't need to speak, then. How hard this has to be for her-- does she know Sanji's gone, too? She can't be sure-- but either way, she sits down on the couch next to her and pulls Sayo into a tight hug.]

[whats_a_sneeze]

[It takes Sayo a moment to register Nami's presence, shell-shocked as she is, but when she finally does there's a slow motion to return the embrace. She's hugged very few times in Luceti. The other... the other time-it was here in this apartment, holding Ginko for dear life.

Had she not held on tightly enough...]

They're both gone... Nami-san... They've left...

I shouldn't-be so upset-

[choked]

It's good to go home, isn't it??

[How could she work at the restaurant, when all of her days had Sanji in them? That careful balancing act brought such a sense of normalcy, and now... Now she's missing something she couldn't have kept in her world.

They were like her memories. But instead of never knowing they'd left her, Ginko and Sanji have left only those images, imprinted well into her mind. She would have begged to lose them like before, as long as she'd got to keep them...]

[voice]

[forestpride]

Left?

[That implies something different than 'taken by the Malnosso.']

Re: [voice]

[whats_a_sneeze]

He's no longer in Luceti. He's-gone home.

[her words should have been fiction, but they're real and very pained]

[voice]

[forestpride]

[Well.

San growls. Also pained.]

How do you know?

Re: [voice]

[whats_a_sneeze]

His journal... I can't send him anything.

....

A-and his apartment... It's empty...

[Just that room. Those plants. All these things that made up Ginko...]

[voice]

[chikaidestroyer]

[He's somewhat surprised that Ginko's disappearance would be noticed, if simply because Ginko spent so much time wandering. But he supposes that even he would have someone who would keep contact with him.]

Thank you for letting us know.

Re: [voice]

[whats_a_sneeze]

... You're welcome.

[She can manage that much, stranger or not.]

[Voice]

[semper_cogitans]

[He doesn't filter this. It's too... shocking.

... He knew Ginko was... close, to Sayo. Was a powerful presence in her life, here in Luceti. Maybe he didn't understand the entirety of what that meant, but...]

... M-Ms... Ms. Sayo...?

...

Do you... need someone to talk to...?

[... He understands if she doesn't want to, but it's the only thing he can really offer.]

Re: [Voice]

[whats_a_sneeze]

I'm sorry, Robert-san-I... I need some time.

[She's not even sure how much time that would be, with the way her chest feels.]

[Voice]

[semper_cogitans]

... It... i-it is not a problem, Ms. Sayo...

... Please, please d-do not let yourself be alone. We... [- he chokes a little -] ... understand.

... If... if I can d-do anything for you... ... l-let me know.

Re: [Voice]

[whats_a_sneeze]

...

[She doesn't allow her voice to go hollow. She can't bring herself to let it.]

Thank you. I-I'll let you know.