dear_mun | looking maybe

[Elk? No, it's too lightly colored to be Elk... but somehow he feels familiar...]

It's been a while since I've seen a Wavemaster. It was starting to get pretty lonely.

[ Upon seeing Mia, Tsukasa's mood visibly lightened up. Unlike being taken somewhere against his will, he much preferred talking to old friends. Even if said friend didn't remember him. ]

Mm, there doesn't seem to be much of us around anymore... But I'm happy to see you again!

[Hmm...]

...Right! You were at the party, weren't you? The one in Net Slum. Thank you for the gift.

[She was very flattered! Even if she doesn't get why she got so emotional.]

[ He shakes his head. ] It's fine. It belongs to you anyway.

[ Merely remembering their reunion was enough for him to be happy. Maybe being dragged around by a mun wasn't so bad, after all. ]

But you said you were lonely... What about your friend?

Elk's gone, as well. I was with him for a short time, when I was in a game, but he logged out and never returned. I also decided to leave.

[She's bummed, but perhaps not as sad as she could be.]

I may just end up following you.

[She says it jokingly, but. It's Mia. And Macha. So it could just as easily be something she actually does.]

...It'd be nice if he could log back in soon. I'd like to talk with him more too.

[ The two seemed rather close, so in a way, Tsukasa was grateful towards Elk. He made Mia happy and it was relieving to know. ]

And [ "I'd like that too!" Is what he wanted to say but- ] that might not be a good idea. A lot of these games aren't fun...

[ The past him would have carried that with a cynical undertone. But right now it was different. What he meant was it was dangerous. ]

If there's people, it's pretty easy to find some fun.

[Mia grins quite slyly. She's a rather notorious troll, actually... ~~poor Piros...~~]

[ He has a feeling he knows what she's thinking about... ]

...You should be careful. The whole player base could come after you.

[ Again. ]

That's how it's always been. It wouldn't be much different.

[She always had pursuers wanting to know if she was a hacker or otherwise how she got herself to look like a cat. Since she never had an answer, it was always more fun to mess with them.]

Besides. There's always something interesting to look into, right? Things like Kite's Bracelet.

Typical...

[ Personally, he find that kind of lifestyle tiresome, but he smiled nevertheless - as if he found it amusing. How nostalgic. ]

But I guess. That's the one Aura gave him, right? [ ... ] I guess it is normal you'd find it interesting. Maybe it's in your nature...

Aura? Hmm, that also sounds familiar.

[So many disjointed memories! She winces, like she's got a pang of a headache.]

I've been getting that feeling a lot, these days.

[ He flashes her a worried look. Having altered/forgotten memories was something he was all too familiar with. ]

She is. We were together a lot - just the three of us.

[ And her but whatever, screw her. ]

But don't worry about it. It's not that important.

If you say so.

[There's not many people whose words she'll take to heart, but for some reason, Tsukasa is one of those people. It's oddly reassuring.]

I'll probably run into her again, then. I've been meeting a lot of old friends.

[ As Macha had reincarnated, Tsukasa wanted her to be unconcerned with things of the past. Maybe if she pestered for answers it'd be a different story, but she was now living a new life and he wanted to respect that. ]

I'm sure you will. But another Net Slum party... we should do that again.

I agree! That would be a lot of fun. I'll be there for sure.

[i am so sorry]

Oh, c'mon, kid. You've gotta learn to embrace your inner bloodthirst sometime, right?

[ ... ]

[ ... ]

[ ... ]

I don't have anything like that.

Oh, that's what they all say at first. See, that "innocent fledgling" act might have served you well ten years ago, but these days, people want a protagonist with spice! Flair! An undying inner darkness!

[claps one hand on tsukasa's shoulders, smiling like some long-forgotten and slightly insane uncle] Just look me in the eyes and try to tell me you've never thought about what it would be like to kill.

H-hey, that's terrible advice...

[Who's this jerk???]

Tsukasa is a person, there's no need for him to be a character or be pandering...

— another me?!

Oh, I get it. Is this one of those moments where I'm going to struggle with my morality and come out a better person for it?

[strokes his chin thoughtfully] I mean, I'm not that interested, frankly... between BlackRose and Aura, that's enough morality for like, six of us.

I was going to ask about that, too, actually...

[Gosh, you're so surprised! Kite here is surprised, too, but it's much more mellow. Dull surprise!]

You're really strange. I haven't thought a thing like that - how do you know Aura?

Well, it all started when my friend Yasuhiko and I got into an argument over which of us she was checkin' out... you know, discreetly. Such a lady.

But he wound up in a coma...

That's why you don't argue with me. ★

That's not even remotely what happened! And I don't talk like that!

[He's got the "good guy" type in his field, the "bad boy" type is just so weird!]

That's totally what happened! And as long as he's in the hospital, no one can contradict me for it!

[shrugs his shoulders dramatically] Oh well, it's alright. Even if we don't agree on the details, you look like me, so I'm sure you have a pure heart just like mine. Let's be friends! [kite no. kite you don't have a pure heart at all]

I don't think that you could give yourself your own Member Address...

[That and he really doesn't trust you, you're like a character out of a comedy skit...!]

And "pure heart"? You were talking about killing earlier.

Well, the two aren't mutually exclusive, right?

Like, if a little baby bunny steps on an ant, that bunny is still totally pure! To me, anyway.

That's a really strange way of phrasing it. I don't know, other-Kite...

Hmm, you think? Well, no need to worry your pretty little head about it.

I've got some stuff to do, so...

I leave the corruption of this brat to you.

[Corruption??? But, uh, okay. Gosh, you almost remind him of Marlo.]

I'll take care of him, don't worry about it.

[ He did have some dark times, but he's not telling you that, weird clone of Kite. ]

...A bug. I killed a bug before.

[ He really regrets it. ]

Wait, you mean like in the real world, or a Data Bug?

I mean, either way, I do that like every day, and I'm still a hero. Nothing to worry about.

Data...

[ He wasn't proud. It wasn't his very best moment. ]

But is that how it is? You seem... different from when I last saw you at the party... [ SQUINTS ]

Truth be told, I kinda don't remember you. My bad. Too many Wavemasters in The World, you know?

But I'm sure that no matter what party it was, I was the life of it! [depending on your definition of "life of the party"...]

[Albireo recognised the Wavemaster immediately. The one who could summon that strange monster.

He certainly hadn't been expecting to run into him here like this. As if nothing had happened.]

...You're Tsukasa, aren't you?

[His tone was reserved, cautious. For now he kept his distance, looking out for any trace of the monster…

…or that cat.]

That's me...

[ Was this guy one of the players who only knew him by the rumors on the BBS? It'd be nice if that wasn't the case, but he wasn't going to count on it. ]

Who are you?

My name's Albireo.

[It struck him at that point that he wasn't sure how to confront Tsukasa.

What was there to say? 'Hi, how did you summon that monster? How have you remained logged in all this time? Who was the cat you were with? How did the cat destroy the Divine Spear of Wotan?' were not exactly appropriate conversation starters.]

Albireo? It's nice to meet you.

[ Considering how uninvolved Tsukasa was with The World, he had no clue of who Albireo was or of the role he played. So while the other was biding his time thinking of how to confront Tsukasa, the person in question merely stood about in silence.

What did this person want...? ]

Likewise.

…I wanted to ask you a few questions, if you didn't mind.

[Standing there in silence, he decided, was worse than just bringing up the issue.

He kept his tone as unconfrontational as possible, not wishing to provoke a hostile reaction after last time.]

looking maybe

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Oh man, Tsukasa <3 Please excuse lack of icons but couldn't resist poking

ITS ALRIGHT im excited to get tags from other hacks

There seems to be a few of us in the woodwork :)

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