Unfliltered

[nicotinized]

[Toshi's mental voice sounds a little anxious - he's trying to hide it, but he has no idea when he is, just that finally there are other people around and some of them look familiar]

Hey, what did I miss? Is Souji still here?

[there's a pause, and then he sounds a little calmer, and a little embarrassed]

I got stuck in some weird patch of liminal space where time was all fucked up - watch didn't work right or anything.

Comments

[hakodate]

I'd appreciate it.

[Who or how isn't really the important thing, he just wants to know where the hell his bratty little brother is.]

[neverfeltthatway]

[There's a couple minutes of silence as Armin makes sure he gets the entirety of liminal space in his range, but before too long there's no denying it.]

I... I'm sorry. He's not here.

[hakodate]

[Goddamn.

That hits hard, because Souji's been here for as long as he can remember since becoming a Traveler - been part of his life for longer than anyone else left has been, since Kondou is dead.

Since Souji's dead, and if they ever do find their way home, he's never going to see him again, and no matter how big of a pain in the ass the kid is...he's family.

But he doesn't say any of that.]

Thanks.

[neverfeltthatway]

Of course...

[Armin feels like there should be something he can do, but he knows better than most that you can't fix loss. Still...]

Would... would you like some company?

[hakodate]

Not sure I'm much company right now, but I won't stop you.

[...look, he's got too much manly ego to say anything but "I won't stop you," he can't help it.]

[neverfeltthatway]

[It's okay, Armin's learned to understand man talk (though he's not a native speaker).]

All right. I'll find you.

[And thanks to his psychic abilities, it only takes about three minutes.]

[hakodate]

[It's somewhere off the beaten path enough that it's clear he's probably intentionally avoiding interruptions.

Most interruptions, anyway.]

How're you holding up?

[neverfeltthatway]

[That's about what Armin would have expected anyway, even if he hadn't had his psychic skills to find him.]

...I'm doing all right. I was pretty lost last jaunt, but I wasn't hurt or anything.

[He knows better than to ask Hijikata the same - making the man lie to him about it wouldn't help anyone.]

[hakodate]

Sometimes "lost" is a good day, for us.

[Sometimes, of course, it very much isn't.

He's hoping that for Souji, it's more of the former.]