IC Inbox - Recolle

[totallynotanoni]

Kasen Ibaraki

Hello, this is Katherine Takada. Unfortunately I cannot reach you at the moment, so please leave a message after the beep, and I'll be sure to get back to you as quickly as I can. Thank you.

VOICE | TEXT | VIDEO | ACTION

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[thisloveisjustice]

[It's a few moments before Tatsuo answers, because he's not sure he wants to share what the inside of his head is like right now. But at the same time... someone from his group outside of reality were probably the only ones who would really understand.]

It starts off normal enough. Yosuke and I go off to the right to explore. There's a staircase that leads down and to a sort of outdoor courtyard. There's not much there, just a well, and a set of old shackles. I go to look at the shackles. They're heavy and rusted and there are deep gouges in the metal as if the last person who'd been restrained with them tried to claw them off.

Meanwhile, Yosuke has gone over to the well. But when he looks in, there is this almighty shriek, and she comes flying out. The witch. The next thing I know, Yosuke is on the ground with the witch sitting on his chest. I start toward them, but the shackles have twisted around my ankles and I almost fall on my face.

She starts ranting about the princess and the kingdom, and how people are always looking for the princess, rather than someone else. And then she asks us the question, about if we had one wish to change who we were, would we take it? We both tell her no, but I guess she didn't believe Yosuke? Because the next thing I know, she's got her hands around his neck.

I yell at her to get off of him, but she just looks at my with those pale blue eyes and I get slammed against the wall by nothing. And when I try to move, to get her off Yosuke, I can't. Something is pinning me to the wall, but there's nothing there.

And she just... keeps squeezing his neck. Saying it's too late for us, too late for all of us, and he's struggling, clawing at the ground as he tries to breathe. I'm screaming at her, begging her to let him go, but she just laughs and says it was never a choice.

And then... then he goes limp.

[Tatsuo's voice cracks.]

[totallynotanoni]

[ Moving to sit on the edge of her bed, Katherine listens in apt silence, letting Tatsuo talk for as long as he needs to. ]

Breath, Tatsuo. You and Yosuke and the rest of us are safe now.

[ She tries to say this as assuringly as possible. ]

[thisloveisjustice]

[She does sound reassuring. But Tatsuo is only about half-way to where he can be reassured about anything.]

We shouldn't have been there. None of us should have been there. But especially Yosuke and Anya. They're not even out of high school yet! They're still kids. They shouldn't have to go through all this!

[He forces himself to take a breath.]

Someone died. In one of the other groups that got chucked out like we did. Something happened... and someone died. And all I can think about it how it could have been Yosuke too.

[And there it is. The fear that is keeping all of this going around and around in his head. The fear that something will happen to someone under his care and he'll be powerless to stop it.]

[totallynotanoni]

[ To hold yourself to the expectations of a guardian, a protector, and the resulting fear of failing those standards. Katherine has had a feeling that was his fear since he described his nightmare in the text. Its something she's definitely heard of and, in a way, a feeling she is all too familiar with. ]

From what it sounds like, your afraid of failing those you care about. [ "Your a good man with a good heart,", she thinks, "And thats what hurts you the most.". ] You expect yourself to be the one to protect those you care for. And it scares you, the idea that there are things that you can't always protect them from. That there's always the possibility that you'll be powerless to stop something.

[thisloveisjustice]

[Somehow Katherine manages to put into words all of the worried feelings tumbling about in Tatsuo's mind.]

Yeah... that's pretty accurate.

[Something inside of Tatsuo starts to loosen, a part of him he hadn't even realized was so tightly wound until now.]

I just... I know I can't protect them from everything. And I shouldn't try. But that's why I help Dante with the weapons training and why I teach karate. I can't always be there. So when I am there and something goes wrong...