I have called you preacher, I have called you son

[thefatherssins]

WHO: Tomomi Masaoka and Nobuchika Ginoza
WHERE: Maurtia Falls #7
WHEN: Following Gino's arrival.
WHAT: The worst family reunion.
WARNINGS: total dysfunction (real warnings to be added as appropriate)

[They still have newspapers here. The newspapers also have websites, of course, and Masaoka could just use those if he wanted to. But it's oddly satisfying to have to wrangle a physical object, and relaxing read something without the light of screens. There's a lot here to adjust to, and a lot that Masaoka's not honestly sure he can adjust to. But newspapers are something he's growing accustomed to quickly.

And so he's on the couch, reading, when the newest resident arrives.]

Comments

[hitsujikai]

[ He's used to living in an apartment with other people on either side of him, but this is a little more personal. He's been avoiding it - perhaps out of general apprehension to meet new people, people he hasn't met before, people he can't judge without coming to his own conclusion, or perhaps it's something else - but whatever the reason, it takes him some time to actually find his way here with intention to stay longer than five minutes. The first time he had been here it was more for someone else than himself, and upon discovering his bare room and empty wardrobe had made the appropriate excuses to find his way right back out again. There was no environment holo here, after all, to make it more comfortable. He'd have to take matters into his own hands.

With a suit cover looped over an arm and a few bags in his other hand he pushes open the door.

He's intending to walk straight through to his room, but when he notices another body in the room with him he pauses to introduce himself.. and then stops dead. ]

... Masaoka. [ In his shock he almost calls him Dad. Almost. For a moment he wonders if he's hallucinating - Kogami hadn't said anything about his father being here, after all, but then why would he? - he wonders if he's finally lost his mind to the various stresses of the day, but as the form of his father idly turns the page of his newspaper Gino realises that a hallucination would be the easy way out, and that life just isn't that kind to him. ] I didn't know you were here. [ A beat, a cold drop of realisation. ]

Do you.. live here? [ Well no shit, Mr Inspector. ]

[thefatherssins]

[Masaoka barely looks up from the paper at first. His housemates are in and out frequently, and there's little chance of anything more unusual happening at this time of day.

But the figure isn't that of any of any of his housemates. It's much more familiar]

Nobuchika! [He doesn't have any compunction over using his son's first name, and even if he had it would have been overwhelmed by the pure relief of seeing Nobuchika again, uninjured and (relatively, at least) safe. Masaoka's eyes dart to Nobuchika's arm, seeing that it appears completely normal, before returning to his face. He had probably been pulled from an earlier time, like Kogami and Tsunemori.

Masaoka realizes that he's smiling, but can't bring himself to control his expression.]

I do. [The obvious follow-up question is "have you been assigned here?" But the answer to that appears evident, and in any case it's not the question foremost on Masaoka's mind.] How are you?