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WHO: Fuu Hououji...? and YOU
WHERE: Heropa and Around
WHEN: Feburary 12th to probably the end of the Heartless event
WHAT: Nobody's in here, nobody's tricked me!
WARNINGS: None.

Fuu was on her way home through the park when she heard a rustling and felt Windam. He had been restive ever since they had been separated by the City, and now he didn't wait for her opinion before he emerged in a gout of brilliant green light--but lightspeed wasn't quite fast enough to avoid the claws of darkness. They pierced his heart and Fuu's at the same time. Fuu tried to gasp through the ice that seemed to pierce her chest straight through, but she had no breath to gasp with, no pulse to quicken, no--

--she blinked up at the sky. There was something soft at her back; tilting her head up, she saw the downy breast and distant beak of an enormous white bird, sitting on the soccer field, while two dark shapes scurried away. The girl watched them go without emotion. It was warm and sunny, but then the phone in her pocket buzzed. A reminder to buy flowers for Valentine's? With a heart emoji. The girl touched her fingers to her neck. No pulse.

Fuu's Phone. She wasn't Fuu. Fuu... Wind. Air. Invisible though it was, it had substance. She had none. Nor did the bleached version of Windam that shut its eyes in the sunshine. A strange glove lay on the ground beside her; she slipped it on and stood. The dark creatures were dangerous, and she saw no reason to confront them. She didn't know what was important or what she ought to do, but she decided to try retracing her steps. Maybe she would figure out what was important that way.

[ooc: Will match brackets or prose!

Feel free to run into ~~Fuu~~ anywhere around the Porter cities / her house / etcetera. Or you can try to talk to Nobody!Windam in Heropa, not that he wants to do anything but bask.]

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[ Fuu gets a phone call first, of course. Jaime has no reason to think he has to do anything beyond call her as he's out running errands.

Ring, ring! ]

[ring ring--ring ring--oh. Jaime. She recognizes the name and the picture she's set as his in her contacts. It's kind of a silly facial expression, one of those weird ones that happen between words. It's not provoking any feeling now.

Well, there's one thing to do with a ringing phone.]

Hello, Jaime.

[she wonders if she should have tried to sound pleased or friendly, but it's too late now.]

Hey, Fuu.

[ She sounds different though, doesn't she? Something's subtly off, even if he can't see her face. She sounds forced. His brows furrow. ]

I was just picking up some takeout for dinner and wanted to know if you wanted me to drop some off for you. Is this a bad time or something? What're you up to?

No, it's not a bad time. [...] I don't think it is. I can't tell if it's a bad time or a good time.

[...]

What kind of takeout?

Um... tell you what, I'll surprise you. Better yet, let's do delivery! I'll be there in, like, two minutes. Hang tight, okay?

[ No way is he even going to keep up the pretense of normacly when she's speaking like that. Jaime knows that Fuu is overly formal at times, polite to the extent that people may think she feels less deeply than she truly does, but Jaime knows her better than that. He knows her odd quirk of humour, the friendliness in the politeness, the gentle teasing.

So he's going to get there as soon as possible to see where exactly it went.

Knock knock, Fuu! ]

Oh. All right.

[She just sits and waits at the table, trying to parse he response. He definitely seemed distressed by her answer. She's experienced Jaime being distressed multiple times. But as with everyone else who's had an emotional reaction to this, she just can't seem to manage having one herself.

She feels so... blank. Empty.

When the knock comes, she opens the door and looks at Jaime without expression.]

Hello.

I would smile, but you know me well enough that there's no need to try.

Edited 2020-03-26 04:26 (UTC)

What happened, Fuu? Are you -- I mean, obviously something's wrong, but -- what happened?

[ Jaime reaches out immediately, gripping her by the shoulders as though that's going to do him any good. ]

Khaji, you getting anything?

[She looks at Jaime's hands on her shoulders. Physically, they feel warm. There ought to be something else, though. Jaime is a significant part of her life here. She thinks about him and his well-being a lot. And he's clearly distressed.

...At least his question has a fairly simple answer.]

A shadowy creature attacked Windam and myself. Now we don't have any feelings.

[Khaji will probably notice that she lacks a heartbeat or pulse.]

Oh. [ A beat. ] Okay. So there's a reason for this. There was a creature, and he -- she -- it did something to you, made you into...

[ He frowns down at the ground, still clutching onto Fuu's shoulders. ]

I can work with that. Okay. Yeah, yeah, I can work with that, all I have to do is -- find this thing, and beat the crap out of it, probably. No reason to panic. No reason at all. Okay.

[ Okay, he's panicking a little. ]

Fuu, I need you to tell me everything you remember. Everything you know. And then I'll fix this.

[He's speaking rather rapidly, Shinkuu notes. Not calm, not casual, not at ease as he usually is. Not very good at convincing himself not to panic.

She doesn't know how to make him not panic. There are words she could try. For instance, she could take his instruction tell me everything you know literally and begin by reciting what she learned in first grade. But right now, they are going to be only that words. She can't bring any warmth or sincerity or humor to them.]

All right. I was in the park, and I was ambushed by those shadowy creatures with glowing eyes that have been sighted lately... although, I didn't see it at the time. Windam emerged to protect me.

I think it took both our hearts. He is like me, now.

[ALSO STILL AT THE PARK.]

Do you know how to fix it?

That... that really shouldn't be possible. God, I hate magic. Yes, it's magic. Yes, it's got to be, what else could it be? I -- no, we're not gonna do that, not until we know --

[ He shakes his head. He tries to avoid arguing with Khaji in front of most people, even those who have known about him for a long time, but it's an especially bad idea now. Fuu might not be feeling much of anything at the moment, but he certainly doesn't need to make things worse. ]

I'm gonna go find it, and I'm gonna make it give them back to you. That's how I'm gonna fix it.

[He's not talking to himself, she knows that. It makes her wonder just what Khaji is suggesting. Probably something dangerous and potentially surgical for Jaime to shut it down like that.]

I guess that might work, if our hearts are still intact enough to retrieve. [that's not reassuring but well... she's not sure if the monster exactly stole them, or if it consumed them somehow.] But it might do the same thing to you that it did to us.

[...]

That would not be good.

They are. And will be, [ Jaime says firmly, because quite frankly, he doesn't intend to entertain any other possibility. ]

Don't worry about me, Fuu. I'll be fine. Let's worry about getting those back and getting to the bottom of this. Wait here, okay? I'll be back soon.

[ He doesn't trust Fuu without a heart to possess anything in the way of survival skills or instincts, from the way she's talking.

No, better to do this himself. ]

[...]

[wait, no, she shouldn't just sit here. she stands up.]

If you restore my feelings, but get hurt in the process, I would be very distressed. [...] I'll probably be very distressed anyway. So I should help you.

[she's not so sure where his confidence comes from, but she does recognize his patterns of behavior. maybe he's trying to convince himself more than her. maybe he'll take unnecessary risks. the emotional fallout of that afterward would probably be... a lot.]

Can't be distressed without feelings. So if I get hurt and don't succeed, you'll still be operating on an even playing field.

[ She shouldn't come with him. Not like this, when he can't see her as having anything in the way of self-preservation. ]

I'm good for it. I've taken on bigger and badder.

But if you get hurt and don't succeed, then you'll likely be like me.

[However, she does know Jaime's personality. He may be easygoing about most things, but the safety of people he cares about has never fallen into that category. Even when he was locked in a cage as a prisoner on the moon, he had told her to get away from there, to keep from danger.

...And she remembers, also, that she had agreed. That she'd left him there. Because, rationally, there was nothing at that time she could do that could help him. She can't connect to what she felt then, but that doesn't matter. The fact of the matter was: she had agreed, and left to seek another method.]

You need to know exactly what it is you'll be fighting. At least don't leave until I explain.

I will be. But I've got someone else backpacking, and he doesn't have to worry about something taking away his emotions. He doesn't work the same way as us.

[ Some would argue Khaji doesn't have a soul. Jaime would obviously contest that point, but perhaps his soul is simply made up of something different, untouchable to those who would normally prey on emotions. Maybe it's because Khaji started off life without them.

Even without them, he'd know what to do to bring them back. ]

But... okay. You can tell me. And then I'll get going.

[Ah, he's agreed. She's not relieved, being incapable of such a feeling. But there is something of... satisfaction, perhaps, that she's succeeded in her goal.]

All right.

They are small creatures about a meter high. They are... somewhat humanoid, all black, except for yellow eyes. Some of them have horns. And they attack directly for the heart. [She lays her fingers lightly on her sternum to emphasize.] You should probably don your armor before engaging them. I believe they succeeded in rendering myself and Windam heartless because he was in the midst of calling me to safety when they struck.

There are many of them. So take care not be swarmed.

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