synopsychic | [Jaunt] Not long after the beginning of Week Four

...that worked?

What exactly worked, darling?

[After a moment's hesitation, Naoki takes the conversation private.]

I couldn't sleep, and I was thinking that I really needed to be able to talk to you and not your overlay, and that I'd considered trying to snap Hanamura out of it when he accidentally infiltrated himself, and... I guess it just sort of happened?

Sorry about that, okaa-san.

No need to apologize, Naoki. Would you like to meet me in the parlor? I will make some tea and biscuits.

That sounds great, actually.

[action]

[She's probably not expecting to get to Liminal Space and find Naoki's beaten her into her own parlor, but there he is.]

"Well, this is interesting." Helena walks into the parlor, wrinkling her nose, and waving a hand, creating an elaborate porcelain bowl with sweet-smelling rose petals and other potpourri.

"I didn't know that my rooms had preceeded me." Without another word, she walks over to Naoki and hugs him tightly. "I'm here now, my darling. Tell me what's going on."

Edited 2017-03-12 23:22 (UTC)

"They were still here the first week of the jaunt. I guess you figured that trick out too, at some point."

Naoki's grateful for the hug. "It's... trying to figure out what to do, as much as anything. I think it'll be easier to figure out if I can talk it through."

"Absolutely. Tell me what is going on, and what you are thinking. We will work it out from there."

She pauses, thoughtfully, and then, with a grin, pulls back so she can walk over to the bookshelf.

"Although, I have a surprise for you first." She pulls down on a copy of War of the Worlds in Japanese, and a bit of the bookshelf opens to reveal a Japanese-esque sitting room, with a low table in the middle, and pillows around it. "I thought this could be a place just for our family."

He's not sure what Helena's getting at, at first, but when the panel opens up, Naoki grins. "This is great."

Mo-- [Chie catches herself.] Helena?

Holy crap, you're back.

Welcome back?

That I am!

It seems Naoki decided he wanted to speak to me. How are you doing, my dear?

"I am ever so glad you like it." She steps into the room, and the door closes behind them both.

Settling by the table, she waves a hand, and a Japanese tea set appears, steaming a light, flavorful green tea that she has come to love.

"Now, my darling, what is going on in your head?"

Thank you! It is distinctly odd at the moment, as I am both myself and my overlay.

... I also seem to have made friends with... well, shall we say a Hanging Pogcreature.

You'll continue pretending you're still your overlay? You could just probably make an excuse why she's away.

I think I... know who you mean. I tried talking to him, but it was pretty difficult.

Yes. At the very least, for my overlay's daughter's sake. I cannot leave a child without a parent.

[It is against her very nature.]

He has never been the most forthcoming of individuals, but I'm oddly fond of his cantankerousness.

Naoki sighs, even as he settles in and helps himself to some tea.

"I've been trying to figure out what I can do to help, and... it's looking more and more like the answer is 'leave it to other people.' I don't have a pog buddy. I think I got everything useful I can from the library, and in any case fighting with that stupid newsprint archive thing may not be worth the additional headache."

Perhaps more to the point, he's kind of dissatisfied with not being able to do more.

Ah... yeah. I wouldn't want to leave my overlay's children alone either.

[If something had happened that brought him back from being Orion or Jaiden, he would have likely pretended to be them, still.]

I can't form an opinion of him just based on that, really. Although, I suppose we should be making a decision on who wins this round...

"Do I even want to know what in the bloody hell a 'newsprint archive' is? Trying to look through all of the old records in the Warehouse is bad enough, and things rarely age there. I cannot imagine what it is outside of the Warehouse."

Helena leans back, thinking. "Sometimes, darling, the best thing to do to help is realize that what you're there to do is support others. In London, Josephine, our Caretaker, would say that people help the Warehouse just as much by staying home as by going out to collect Curiosities. Are your friends going to go fight? If so, stay here. Prepare something for them when they get back. Make certain that they are not hurt."

I have already lost a child. I do not have the heart to lose someone else's.

[She pauses, thoughtful.]

To be honest, I am not certain he even cares what the outcome is. He is here because it is required of him, but he is content to... hang around, pardon the pun.

"Micro...something. Some really stupid arrangement where you feed film into a machine and look at it. I'm pretty sure it was out of date when I was four." Why couldn't he just google it. Why.

"There is something to that. It's pretty well established I don't have a pog and I'm not sure faking it with a Persona is the best idea, so I wouldn't be a whole lot of good on the front line anyway. I just... want to help see this thing through, as long as I'm here."

Um, mostly okay. I got beat in the tournament by a stupid ninja mermaid cowboy who is terrible at Investigating, but I'm mostly okay. I'm just enjoying being me again.

Oh... I'm sorry to hear that.

[It's a heartbreaking though. He can't even imagine the pain of something like that, nor does he want to.]

... that is a rather terrible pun.

"That sounds utterly impractical and asinine. Mr. Edison could have come up with something better, and he was an egregious, thieving arse."

She pauses, however, shaking her head. "Seeing something through, darling, is just as much being there for people as being on the front lines. Not everyone has to be as... active as Kanji."

Well, that at least startles a laugh out of him. "No need to hold back, okaa-san, tell us how you really feel."

He's completely in agreement that microfiche is stupid, though.

"I know, and I don't know why it's bugging me so much this time. Probably because most other things that required a fight, it's been easier to find a place in the fight."

[If Helena could snicker through the network, she would be doing so now.]

My apologies, darling. It seems my wit escapes me sometimes.

I am certainly glad to be myself as well.

What in the world is a 'ninja mermaid cowboy'? I believe I know all of those words separately, but not together.

"Mr. Edison was the worst sort of so-called inventor. He did not have an original thought in his entire life." She laughs a bit, shaking her head. "Sorry, darling. This is not the time for a discussion of my original contemporaries."

There's a long pause before she shakes her head. "Sometimes the best way to support a fight is to stay out of it. In this case, your friends know you have their back, and there is nothing wrong with creating a new drink or two for them for when they get back. Too many cooks spoil the broth, after all. No one would ever accuse you at this particular moment, at least, of not caring."

"Kanji must be rubbing off on me. He's usually the one worried about being in the thick of things." Or maybe it's because the stakes are so much higher now.

"...I think you're right. I've done all I can for now, I'm just not used to running out of things I can do so quickly."

"It can't be all bad, darling. Sometimes you could use a bit of a jump start." She's teasing. Mostly.

"It happens that way. There were more than a few collections at home in which I was fairly unhelpful after a time." A pause. "Especially one particular one in Jerusalem after Wooley refused to allow me to pretend to be his wife."

I guess that's something I've got to get use to, when talking to you.

[It's an amused, positive emotion that gets carried over sensory livestreaming.]

"What's that supposed to mean?" There's no venom in the protest, though, since Naoki knows it's absolutely true.

"...Why would you have wanted to pretend to be his wife?"

"We were in a very traditionally Jewish part of Jerusalem, that did not appreciate unattended women walking about. No one would tell me anything as a woman of my age if I was unattached." She shrugs. "Wooley did well enough in the end, though."

You certainly will, darling.

Now. How are you doing? Do you need a break from this Jaunt? I can take you back to Liminal Space for some tea if you would like a more familiar surrounding for a while.

It hasn't been an awful Jaunt so far. [He hasn't gotten stuck in the Pogworld yet.] Though I certainly wouldn't mind the company.

"Ah. One of those situations. Did you manage to come up with anything to do, or were you stuck waiting it out?"

He's a big, dumb Texas guy named Kinji who lost big to that Nevermore jerk because he picked a fight way above his abilities.

[Jaunt] Not long after the beginning of Week Four

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