dreamcrystals | journal ⚔️ a warning

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journal ⚔️ a warning

Sender: Barok van Zieks

[The writing is hurried, a cursive that just manages to be legible. In his rush, his usual formalities are cut short. The message is more important than the form it takes.]

There is a demon in the wilderness — a bestial man. Powerful and violent, able to heal itself in an instant. Anyone unable to defend themselves should avoid the woods until [until what? It's killed? If there's any shred of the man still in there, he can't condone that.] further notice.

[Is that a drop of blood on the page? Eh, it's fine.]

It was Kazuma Asogi. I don't understand it, but I wasn't able to reason with him and he became this thing before my eyes.

[After a moment, he adds:]

He cannot be left like this.

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[Complicated... is a good way of putting it.]

I have no quarrel with him, but he's under the assumption that I'm an enemy to be pursued, apparently.

[The blood that dripped onto the page earlier was probably enough of an indication of the latter.]

It is a misunderstanding I hope to clear soon.

[ Perspective is everything, as they say. Frowning, Naminé tilts her head, still on the fence about what she ought to think. On the one hand, some villain coming to town and setting themselves up as a victim isn't out of the question. On the other, the guy's been pretty straightforward so far. ]

How can you be sure of that?

[ It might be that they're bold words; Naminé doesn't really consider that when she's trying to get to the bottom of the situation. ]

Did he accuse you of something?

[Hm... he supposes it's only to be expected that someone would question his motives. He has, after all, sent others to hopefully solve a problem that should ultimately have been his to deal with. He has nothing to hide in this case, but there are still... details involved that he'd simply rather not spread if it's not necessary.]

I'm aware of why he'd target me.

[He's really not a fan of this whole different time points thing, he's gotta say.]

He has yet to learn the truth of an extremely personal matter. Others have informed me he arrived in this world not having experienced the same events I have.

[ Her brow scrunches slightly at the 'extremely personal', only to relax with understanding when her reading catches up with the rest. Funny enough, that last part makes the rest of it sound more plausible; perhaps it shouldn't, since it could just as easily be an excuse, but given her own experiences... ]

If that's the case, I won't ask what it is that he doesn't remember.
But whatever is, it must have been very serious.

[ For someone who otherwise seemed so considerate to fly off the handle like that, there really doesn't seem to be any other way to explain it. ]

Many of us have had the same problem.
Not attacking each other, that is, but coming from different points in time.
What's worse, memories can be lost sometimes, too.
Some people can't recall entire worlds that they've visited in the past.

[ It's all a big mess, honestly - but perhaps he's already heard the spiel from someone else. Sober, the girl frowns at the page. With some of this cleared up, she does feel she has a better grasp on the situation, but... that still leaves one question, and it's one that she doesn't really want to ask. So she skirts that one and heads instead toward, ]

What are you going to do if you can't make him believe you?

A matter of life and death, I will say.

[More death than life, but... you know. He has by this point come to understand that the strange circumstances of displacement in time aren't uncommon, and Naminé's remarks only solidify the idea. For a moment, he wonders... if one might be from a week ago, why not a decade? What if—

But no. The last thing he needs is to get sucked back into the past. He needs to focus on the present... they all do.]

There are others here in agreement with me whom he's far more inclined to listen to. Like family, as I understand.

[Which is nice! Imagine if it was just the two of them. What a mess that would be, with no one to reinforce van Zieks' account as true. He would like to think he'd manage somehow, but he is grateful he doesn't have to... or so he hopes.]

[ Oh, dear. Dire situations are all too common these days, it seems to her. How many times has she witnessed threats to entire worlds? To the lives of countless innocents? Part of her wonders how it is that the supposed majority of people so rarely have to deal with this sort of tragedy when it's nearly an everyday occurrence amongst the individuals places like this collect.

In any case, she's never short of sympathy. For Kazuma, for this fellow with the loopy handwriting - more for the former than the latter, but not by much. Naminé's quietly relieved by the notion of some hope for the situation, although not enough so to ask without apprehension, ]

Have any of them tried to reason with him?

[ 'Or is it too dangerous?' she begins to write, thinks better of, and scratches back out, probably too far into the sentence for her intent to actually be hidden by the gesture. ]

[It's a reasonable question to ask, and he likely would have responded the same way even without seeing the scratched out half-question.]

I don't believe so. However, I've been informed he's been [un-demoned] brought to his senses a short while ago, by another from some other world whom I assume is familiar with him.

[He doesn't want to think about either of the Mikotobas attempting to go out and deal with that mess on their own; they'd be even less prepared than van Zieks had been, he feels.]

[ Blinking as she straightens in her seat, Naminé's a touch taken aback by this development. Here she'd been expecting much worse news to come out of it all, and her response is delayed because of that, but-- this is the best-case scenario, isn't it? ]

I'm relieved.

[ If she were the type for an exclamation point, there'd probably be one applied here. (Perhaps it would better describe her actual sentiment.) But before she lets herself get too comfortable with the idea of this whole business being settled, there's the inevitable, ]

Is anyone hurt?

[ Kazuma himself, for instance - though she's not specific on account of the fact it, you know, still makes a difference to her how everyone else is faring even if they weren't the ones having a crisis. ]

[Relief is putting it lightly for Barok, as well, but he's attempting to remain informative rather than write anything unnecessary.]

To my knowledge, there is nothing that cannot be recovered from.

[He can't confirm Kazuma's status himself, but he simply has to trust that the one who's informed him of that latest development would have mentioned something about the young man's injuries if they were worth concern.

All of this trusting strangers thing has him feeling itchy, though.]

[ If nothing else, Naminé can at least respect honesty even in small, practical pieces - and she hasn't been inclined to think Barok a liar as of yet, regardless of the fact that the possibility crossed her mind earlier. ]

That's good.
In a place like this people seem to be able to recover from a lot, but sometimes the memories of what happened are the real problem.

[ She saw the dead come back to life in her previous world; there's less of that here, yet the possibility still appears to remain. Cautiously, ]

Will you go and see him?
Once he's had time to rest, that is.

[ And maybe talk to some of those purported friends of his so as not to have a repeat incident. ]

In a place where dreams and emotions can take form, such memories could be a danger by themselves, I'm sure.

[... reassuring. But then, he's never been one to ignore possible threats. In the past fifteen or so years he's hardly had the the opportunity to try.

He can confirm this, at least:]

I will. I plan to see this through, whatever it may require.

Memories can be dangerous in any world.
But you're right. Here, they're even more important.
Instead of only affecting people, they're more able to change the world directly.

[ Although Naminé's always been an exception to that rule, given her ability to change things even in non dream-based worlds, but that's neither here nor there and she's not about to mention it to an almost-stranger.

So no, definitely not reassuring. Still, the girl takes some comfort in Barok's following words; strife has never suited her, and she'd prefer to think the two men will put their issues to rest. (For everyone's sake.) ]

In that case, I hope that you're able to speak with each other calmly.
Even if it didn't work out at first, I'll wish you luck for next time.

[Barok may not be optimistic, but he is determined. Hoping alone only gets you so far, anyway.]

As do I. I thank you for the sentiment.

[ He does seem sincere - or as much so as can be determined from writing. So out of politeness she'll offer a, ]

You're welcome.
I'd rather not see any of us fight amongst ourselves.

[ They'll all be better off if everyone can get along. ]

Since everything has calmed down, I should probably let you get back to recovering.

[ A beat, then, ]

It was nice to meet you.

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journal ⚔️ a warning

are gaa spoilers okay?

By all means! Never played a one of the games so I don't expect that'll change any time soon.

gotcha!

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