synopsychic | psychic/action

[Hope you're all enjoying your sudden, Liminal Space-filled existences, Travelers. Either way, there's suddenly going to be a very tentative, very timid psychic broadcast.]

Um... excuse me...

[For anyone who met Mai during the Jaunt, she's certainly entirely different now--but then again, that's why she's doing this in the first place, despite being terrified of bothering people in this way. So after a brief pause, she rallies her courage.]

...My name is Mai--um, for the people I didn't know, and I... I was really different in that Jaunt b-but... I just wanted to say that I'm really really sorry!

[There's no visual here--she doesn't have the capability--but even so, it's pretty obvious to anyone who knows her that she's bowing her head here in her shame and apology.]

I did some truly terrible things to everyone, and I...I was really-- [A pause.] Just... I'm very sorry. That's... that's all.

Oh-- um. Near-san... [...what does she even say to him? She's really not sure. After a moment, a really awkward pause, she manages a fumbled thought--] Can we...talk?

[For those who would rather go the action route, Mai is not hard to find; she's tucked against a penny slots machine, arms wrapped around her knees, chin resting on them and eyes downcast. Seems this Jaunt took quite a lot out of her as well, but then again, dying isn't fun for anyone.

There are people she knows she needs to find and check on, but... well, she needs just a moment longer.]

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Oh...

[Now that he's here (or, well, somewhere, but at the very least she can hear his voice), she finds that her own words die. She's not sure what to say, after all.

But in the end, after a somewhat long pause, she finally does--]

I'm...so sorry, Near-san. In the end, I left you all alone...

Given the circumstances, such was perhaps unavoidable.

[It should be easier to dismiss. Easier not to care. But there is some hold-over from the Jaunt. He does not like it. Still, none of it carries over in his tone.]

[Maybe it was unavoidable... either way, he sounds...fine? Is that enough for her to believe in--because he'd looked so sad, when he'd had to strike her down.]

... Near-san, I... even so, I... Are you okay?

I am fine. [He sounds the same as always. Does that make it truth or a lie? Who can tell? (He is . . . not quite fine. But showing any kind of concern is not something he cares to do. Even having the concern is foreign.)]

How quickly did you revive?

Oh... then--I'm glad.

[She's not sure if she believes it, but...if he says he's okay, she can't press him further on it right now.

But for now... she pauses, biting her lip, and then--]

Um... just now. Recently, I mean. Did... did I miss a lot? That...happened to you, I mean. [Of course, she's interested in the Jaunt at large as well, distantly, but...even more so, she wants to know what ended up happening to her partner--ah, but he isn't her partner. Never was.

(Still, in a way, feels like he is.)]

Two weeks. A break-in, a battle against an Automata horde.

[It isn't everything, and even what he does give her isn't detailed. That's just how he works when he is himself. They are not partners anymore, sharing every bit of information that they had. Even JORD1's death and Near's becoming the de-facto leader of the Defenders doesn't get a mention. It is, in the end, irrelevant.]

[... she absorbs that, but after a moment, she shakes it off. It's not like it doesn't have a lot of meaning to her--it does--but even so...]

But... what about you, Near-san?

[But even so, she can't help but be entirely focused on his well-being, and what happened to him.]

I did not die. [An obvious thing, perhaps, given she had not seen him when she'd woken. But it is what she gets. And an answer about his well-being.]

[... is that enough? She's really not sure. But... even so--]

I'm so glad... After all, you went through so much, Near-san...

[And a lot of it was...because of her.]

I was really worried.

[It had bothered his alter-ego. Bothered him very much. He'd been attached to her, been weak that way, even though he had still done his job in the end.

[The event still bothers him, but more nebulously, and for mostly a different reason. Before that false life, he had never killed anyone. (He'd considered using the book to ensure Mikami would do as he'd predicted, but in the end had deemed the act unnecessary. He could win without it. And he had.) It's an unpleasant thing, he has decided.]

It is behind me, and not worth concern from either of us.

[He will not apologize, even if some vague part of him is sorry. It will surely pass, as all feelings do. No apology, genuine or otherwise, is even required here; it's more than obvious that Mai considers him the wronged party in this. She has forgiven it without his having to do anything.]

[She doesn't entirely understand him, she thinks--and Mai is much worse at filtering through her Jaunt emotions versus her actual emotions. She still cares about him, still feels attached to him, even though she knows that they are different people now.

She still cares so much that her heart aches to think of him suffering, and yet... he sounds like he really is...just fine.

Maybe it's because she still cares so much that she says what comes next.]

Oh... I see... You're much stronger than me, Near-san...still.

[Isn't it funny? She's just...always been this weak, really.]

I can't...help it. I'm still--worried about you.

You worry over unnecessary things.

[He is still concerned for her, in his own way. Stunted, buried. He has no inclination to show it, not even to her.]

T-that's not...!

[She shows a bit more of her backbone then, tone growing somewhat more like when she was a Defender, if still not nearly as strong.]

Near-san, your well-being is very important and necessary!

But I am fine, therefore your worry is not needed.

I'm really glad that you're okay, but even so...! ..Even if it's not needed, I'll still worry...

[There's the barest mental impression of a sigh.] As you wish.

... So... it's okay, right...? I... I think I'll want to check in on you, if--if that's okay.

[as much as she can.]

It's fine. [He needs to be looked after when it comes to basic things, anyway. He knows and accepts this. And . . .

[And it will make Mai feel better. Damn it.]

[...He grants her that permission, and she really wasn't sure that he was going to. But somehow, it's such a huge relief that she brightens up a little despite herself, mental tone growing a little lighter as well.]

Oh...thank you very much, Near-san! That's--I really, really appreciate it!

[if they were face-to-face, she'd be bowing.]

psychic/action

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