let's backdate this to Monday, whoops. Precisely 72 hours after her last post, in fact.

[payback]

[people who care]

[Dictated levelly.]

Um. I'm back, you know, in the sense that I remember anything again. I'm... sorry if there was any confusion caused. I was under a loss, I hadn't gone home.

[Yamada]

[Ah yeah, she remembers her conversation with you, and... well, even if it was just one of those things people say just to say! She'll check in anyway.]

Hey?

[Abel]

[No hesitation here, but quietly - restrainedly - hopeful.] You're back?

[Duty done by the journal... Rin is not much of one for brooding on the roof. But somehow she felt like going up top on the castle and spending some time looking quietly out into the distance. She's just sitting right in a wall-nitch, with her feet dangling over the side, hundreds of feet above the grounds and one wrong move from falling off.

Is she worried? No. She has the Justice League ring Brainy gave her, of course, and though the air is chilly she alternates between looking quietly off into the distance and looking at her hands, turning the ring around on her fingers, which are reddening in the cold.

Open post eh.]

Comments

[bloodsugar]

A little bit nice? [he chuckles a bit, but it's quiet.]

...I think it's very nice to have kept it all. Come back to the castle and remembered everything. Remembered you.

[payback]

Surprisingly kind, considering the place. [Just for clarification.]

It would be a terrible waste to lose everything from being here for years, and start all over, wouldn't it?

[bloodsugar]

Much more than that. [his hand strays from her hair to her chin to tilt it up a bit so their eyes met.]

What would I do with myself if I forgot my family?

[payback]

[... she smiles a little bit. It's small and rather tired but genuinely warm, too.]

Well, if they remembered you, I guess you'd all rebuild things together.

[bloodsugar]

Maybe I could rebuild... but the memories of the times we spent together will always be precious. Irreplaceable, really. I never want to lose them.

[Or you, kiddo.]

[payback]

[It's such a relief to have him back - why, the last time she saw him, it was... before Riful.

The sensation of being so relieved to see him again (and with memories! Such an unexpected stroke of luck, such a gift) - it's so strong, it's even hitting her on a physical level.]

... Yeah. Well, you don't have to worry about that.

[bloodsugar]

I better not...! You know I can be terribly dramatic when the situation calls for it. I might cry for days, Rin...

[heh. babby ;;]

[payback]

You'd die of dehydration. [She pulls back from him a little, looking up.] Should we go in...?

[bloodsugar]

[he gives a nod.]

How about some tea to warm you up...? [and, of course, over which you'll tell him everything he's missed.]

[payback]

That sounds nice. [Her hands are chilly. Abel gets to find that out when she reaches out to grasp one of his hands.]

[bloodsugar]

[--ooh. he squeezes it, before he's quickly shrugging out of his coat and putting it over her shoulders -- and playfully over her head. it's big... haha. she's dwarfed by it -- comically so.]

I think you're turning into an ice cube! We better hurry with that tea, before you're beyond the point of no return...!

[payback]

Umf. [She uses her free hand to push the coat off her head and smiles up at him.] Yeah, let's go... are you still in the same room? I guess you're taking over the church again?

[bloodsugar]

[he holds the door open for her. occasionally, he can be a gentleman.]

Ah-- no... no, not this time. --With the room, I mean! Lilith and I are on the sixth floor, now. 604! But you're right, we'll be taking up looking after the church again. Elektra's been watching after it for us.

[payback]

Who's Elektra? [She goes right on through... shivering when she enters the castle and comes into the warm.]

[bloodsugar]

Elektra? She's a good friend of mine... Ah. I guess you could say she's become one of my best friends, actually! She and I run the Bonsai together since Jyuushiro's left... [sldkjf tucking his coat tighter around her!! warm up!]

[payback]

[She averts her eyes a little. Thinking of Ukitake... She's not shivering now, anyhow. That last one was just the contrast.]

I wonder if I've run into her... I don't know if I have anyone new to tell you about that you haven't already met.

[bloodsugar]

Really? I hear that things have been quiet, since... [...August. Riful... things came to a head.]

[payback]

[... She goes a little silent. That's right, isn't it? He wouldn't know... the hostages... she slips her hand into his and squeezes.]

... Where should we go?

[bloodsugar]

[...he notices that, Rin. ;/]

...Rin?

[? ;(]

[payback]

Can we go someplace? Let's have tea...

[bloodsugar]

...Right.

Right... [he lays his hand on her shoulder, starting for his room.] Come on.

[payback]

[She reaches up and puts her hand over his, walking close.]

Joshua went home.

[bloodsugar]

[...]

Joshua... [Joshua. -that- Joshua? it must be, since Christopher was decidedly still in the castle.]

[payback]

Kiryu. [This pause is insignificant, really.] It's probably for the best.

[bloodsugar]

...

[he stops in the hall, that hand at her shoulder tugging her to a gentle halt beside him.]

Rin. ...I'm sorry.