[ he'll be at his apartment! here's the quick description i threw together while lucas happens jesus fucking christ. it has a cozy, traditional japanese style to it: tatami flooring, what looks to be shoji screens for walls with intricate paintings, a shelf of books and scrolls, a folded futon in one corner, even a bonsai plants on a small table. in the center of the space is the kotatsu, with cushions to sit around. a teapot and a few cups sit unused on the tabletop next to a small, broken blade. there's a stand for his naginata, where it currently rests, unbroken, like it wasn't supposedly just with him for half the day. the only things that don't fit the aesthetic is a pin board on on the wall, displaying a variety of keychains, specifically the cabin family, minus iwatooshi himself, and the cait keychain on the kotatsu's tabletop.
anyway he'll gladly let her in! he's just vibing here in a loose yukata that, naturally, lets the titties be as free as ever so aerith can see some fresh, newly healed wounds there. his eyes are also green? and his hands are covered in something dark that kind of speckles its way up his forearms. ]
Hello, Aerith-dono! Come in, come in.
[ well. he seems fine? he's just moving a little less gracefully than usual as she comes in, keeping a close eye on whatever he's doing. he maybe shuts the door a little too hard... it slams and he looks surprised but it's fine it's just a door it isn't broken. ]
[oh his apartment is so cute. she's happily and politely stepping in, looking around before looking him over. he's...standing? he's standing which is a good sign, and she jumps a little as he slams the door a little too hard but it's okay.]
Heya. I heard you guys came back earlier. [peering at his eyes...] Did you get to the spring okay?
Fairly certain is better than nothing, but if things still feel a little uncomfortable a second dip isn't bad. [a questioning look back.] You checked on me, so of course I'd check on you. But...what are you even saying right now?
Sefural different trials. Solo ones, at furst, then Nyasa-dono and I went furward together.
[ ...frowns. ]
Much of the furst trial is foggy to me. I remember... Yoshitsuneko, and being handed the oppurrtunity to change history so he could live, just in a dream. All I can reclawll is refusing to take it.
[it takes her a few moments to really sort through what the hell he's trying to say, but it makes sense. she doesn't like hearing it, but what he's saying makes sense.]
These things always feel like it's all about the choices we make. What happened after you refused? Did you get to see him at all?
Mm. He was behind me on the bridge, so I did see him commit ritual suicide, just as he did in history. Although... I didn't recognize the sword he did it with, which felt a bit strange.
Not immediately. I had to wait for the others to come out from their trials, we had to light a torch to heal our injuries, and then split into pairs for the remaining trials.
I'm not sure what the others went through, on theirs. Ours required us to sacrifice things on each floor. [ frowns down at a blackened hand, flexing it. ] I still can't feel anything, after that first floor. The second... I'm not sure what I gave up. I only know it was something to do with memories.
Makes sense. Some trials you can only face alone. [sounds similar to the trials at the temple of the ancients, but she doesn't say that. she's just registering it, listening to iwatooshi explain.]
...but what did you gain by giving that sacrifice? Was it just for the right of passage?
Not with us, nya. [ pauses, considers something. ] Not for most of it. We were told that we were meant to fix his meowmories, and a lot of what we saw are things I reclawgnized from him.
He might've been totally unaware even if it seemed like he should have known or like you were dealing with him directly. When I spoke with Mathis, he had no idea when Anisphia first told him about what happened to us. It's strange...it's so accurate, but the people these are tied to are left oblivious.
That's possible, too. [ shakes his head. ] Admittedly, I'm not sure how these things work, exactly. I knew it could borrow from our experiences, but... I'm familiar with history being changed, not memories.
It's like it draws the memories out of them and manipulates it, just as it draws out who we care most for to use them against us.
What is history if not a collection of people's memories though, you know? [...] Sorry if that's an offensive thing to say. But you get it, right? It's...history is history because you hear about the accounts of what other people remember and have witnessed themselves. I can't say I get how any of this works either, but you're right. It draws the memories out, rearranges them, and puts them back into us to make them our own history instead.
Like we're now dealing with two timelines. Our own memories and history, and the history where we were involved with someone else.
It isn't offensive. In a way, you're right about that, although... sometimes history, as it's written, is what those recording it want to be remembered. Nothing more, nothing less.
[ history is written by the victors, etc etc.
comparing it to two timelines seems to resonate with him, though. not necessarily in a good way, but it's something iwatooshi can understand. ]
As if history has branched again... [ he nods slowly. ] Yes, it is a bit like that. But those timelines are always cut off, eventually, and here, they stick with us.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
anyway he'll gladly let her in! he's just vibing here in a loose yukata that, naturally, lets the titties be as free as ever so aerith can see some fresh, newly healed wounds there. his eyes are also green? and his hands are covered in something dark that kind of speckles its way up his forearms. ]
Hello, Aerith-dono! Come in, come in.
[ well. he seems fine? he's just moving a little less gracefully than usual as she comes in, keeping a close eye on whatever he's doing. he maybe shuts the door a little too hard... it slams and he looks surprised but it's fine it's just a door it isn't broken. ]
no subject
Heya. I heard you guys came back earlier. [peering at his eyes...] Did you get to the spring okay?
no subject
Yes, Rondo dragged me-owver there as soon as we returned. I'm fairly certain everything's healed now.
[ a questioning look as she peers at his eyes...? ]
Thank mew fur checking up on me.
no subject
Fairly certain is better than nothing, but if things still feel a little uncomfortable a second dip isn't bad. [a questioning look back.] You checked on me, so of course I'd check on you. But...what are you even saying right now?
no subject
...What do you mean?
no subject
[iwa is treated to a quick memshare vision of a little guy.]
no subject
no subject
Oh? And who's Isla?
no subject
no subject
[she will continue to just ask because iwa seems to be in a good place to talk for now.]
no subject
[ ...frowns. ]
Much of the furst trial is foggy to me. I remember... Yoshitsuneko, and being handed the oppurrtunity to change history so he could live, just in a dream. All I can reclawll is refusing to take it.
no subject
These things always feel like it's all about the choices we make. What happened after you refused? Did you get to see him at all?
no subject
[ shaking his head. ]
Regardless, it ended there.
no subject
That trial ended there. Did the next start right away?
no subject
I'm not sure what the others went through, on theirs. Ours required us to sacrifice things on each floor. [ frowns down at a blackened hand, flexing it. ] I still can't feel anything, after that first floor. The second... I'm not sure what I gave up. I only know it was something to do with memories.
no subject
...but what did you gain by giving that sacrifice? Was it just for the right of passage?
no subject
[ ... ]
At least, we thought so. We meowght have been wrong, but there's no way to know now.
no subject
...was Rondo with you guys? [she recalls seeing a few people when she was gone, so she's wondering.]
no subject
no subject
no subject
When I spoke to him earlier, nothing seemed to be wrong.
no subject
no subject
It's like it draws the memories out of them and manipulates it, just as it draws out who we care most for to use them against us.
no subject
Like we're now dealing with two timelines. Our own memories and history, and the history where we were involved with someone else.
no subject
[ history is written by the victors, etc etc.
comparing it to two timelines seems to resonate with him, though. not necessarily in a good way, but it's something iwatooshi can understand. ]
As if history has branched again... [ he nods slowly. ] Yes, it is a bit like that. But those timelines are always cut off, eventually, and here, they stick with us.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)