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[dawnsprincess]

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YONA

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text

[abhors]

[ This is definitely something outside of his required duty, but he had been wondering if that kid he met on his first day made it out of that hellish excursion. He remembers that she knew archery, but let's hope she learned how to use her device by now! ]

Yona, this is Shinya Kogami.
I assume your skills came in handy over the course of the last few weeks.

[ He means he hopes she's okay?? ]

text

[dawnsprincess]

[She has! Mostly! Though it takes her a little bit to remember who Shinya is — that entire first day is largely a blur in her mind. But when she remembers, she's delighted, and she immediately begins "penning" her response ... which is as formal as her upbringing.]

Dear Shinya,
Thank you for your kind note. I was very happy to hear from you. Unfortunately, I did not have my bow with me when we were taken by Ardeo, but I met many kind people who were able to help me. I hope I will be able to repay them one day.

How did you fare during that period of turbulence? I hope you managed to stay safe.

With warmest regards,
Yona

[Clearly not a child of the digital era.]

text

[abhors]

[ For someone with great foresight, he sure didn't see this coming. Congrats Yona?? Well... at least she's alive and well. ]

Dear Yona,
I am glad to hear you had assistance from the others. When I said that you could call on me or my colleague if you're ever in trouble, I did not anticipate us to wake up in a strange new land with no form of communication. Furthermore, I was reminded that you have a skill in archery once I ran out of bullets out there. I had wondered how you were faring, but thankfully you came out unscathed even without your weapon.

As I understand it, we were all separated into elemental groups after the events in the jungle - can you tell me more about where you ended up?

Kind regards,
Shinya Kogami

[ Wait, why is he writing in letter form, too? ]

text

[dawnsprincess]

[When in Rome?]

Dear Shinya,
I was put into the "fire" group. We were taken deep into a cave by a fox named "Ardeo". [She doesn't like to think about some of the things that happened in those early days ... the will-o-wisps that set people on fire, the geysers that scalded the unwary.] There were people already living there, although they stayed hidden from us. We were then led to a shrine where I thought we were going to stay. But we weren't able to breathe.

Did anything like that happen to you?

Best regards,
Yona

text

[abhors]

[ This time, he decides to text her like a normal person. Her question, however... he's not sure how much she needs to know about what they found at the summit, about the abandoned research facility and bloodstains all over the walls. ]

No, I spent time up in the mountains. It was breezy and the air was surprisingly normal. I had heard about the breathing difficulty in other places, however. I'm sorry.

Did you make contact with any of the natives? Seen what they looked like, even if they tried to stay out of your way?

voice;

[psycholawgy]

Hey, Yona? This is Athena, by the way.

Do you have time to talk?

voice;

[dawnsprincess]

[Yona has been going out of her mind with worry for Hak, whom she hasn't seen. She's not really in the mood for making conversation, but innate politeness compels her to respond.]

Of course! What do you want to talk about?

[She's trying valiantly to sound calm and collected.]

voice;

[psycholawgy]

It's about Hak...

[ she barely knows yona, but one thing she does know is that the two of them seem inseparable. athena just wants to make sure yona is okay by trying to give her something to hold onto. ]

He'll be back, alright? He's just code right now, but he'll be back.

[ a beat. ]

I swear it.

voice;

[dawnsprincess]

[Yona's voice chokes.]

Are you sure? Has this happened before?

voice;

[psycholawgy]

I'm sure of it! [ she absolutely, positively sounds sure. ]

It's happened before, so trust me. Or at least, trust Hak that he'll come back. Don't be sad, okay?

voice

[fortheprincess]

[ There's a voice, tired but frantic all at once. The first thing he does once he 'wakes up' is call her--he needs a moment to figure out what's happening, and then the memories all come at him at once, and he realizes where he is. Hak is walking through the streets as fast as he can, device held closely to his ear. ]

Princess? It's Hak. I'm here.

voice

[dawnsprincess]

[Yona's been putting in long hours at the archery range since Hak disappeared, both teaching others and training herself. She's at the point where she can shoot 300 arrows a day, though she's not sure whether it shows an increase in her skill, or her desire to channel her fears into something constructive. (She ignores the voice in her head saying What's the point? Arrows wouldn't have stopped him from being taken away. Doing something, no matter how futile, is better than nothing.

The unfortunate side effect of all this training is that she doesn't see his message until 45 minutes later. The expression on her face when she saw his name on her device would be comical to anyone unaware how frightened she had been for him.]

HAK! HAK, WHERE ARE YOU?!

voice

[fortheprincess]

[ He's only been gone for a short while but it must have scared her. He won't forgive himself for leaving her here, even if it was only for a few days; she can't be alone here, she can't be without him because he needs to protect her and if he doesn't--

The thought vanishes as soon as she calls back. He's already close to home, but he halts as soon as he picks up the device and hears her voice. Frantic. Frightened. ]

I'll come to you--tell me where you are and I'll be there.

voice

[dawnsprincess]

[She can be alone here; she was never scared for herself. She was always scared for him, worried that he was hurt or worse.

She wipes the tears from her cheeks, even though he can't see.]

I'm at the archery range. Where are you?

action

[fortheprincess]

[ She says the archery range and he's already running there, moving past anyone even if they're staring because he'd be damned if he left her alone again for a second time. She can't be alone here, not in this hell that she has yet to face.

He's there sooner than she'd expect, hardly breaking a sweat; but he stands still before her for a moment before moving in and pulling her in to an embrace. It's not as desperate as the one when she'd arrived, but it's still tight. He can tell she'd been crying. ]

I'm sorry, Princess.

actiooooon

[fortheprincess]

[ So...it's the day after the library event's over, and Hak's back to his usual self. That being said, the idea of having to face Yona today makes him extremely uncomfortable; but they live together, he's given his life to her, and there's no going back. They've been through worse (he thinks??) and he's just going to play it cool as usual.

He's polishing his spear in the living room, waiting for her to awaken. Hopefully she isn't too upset...? ]

[dawnsprincess]

[Upset? Why would she be upset? There's no reason for her to be upset. Everything yesterday was just a joke. A big, terrible, awful joke that went too far, but because Yona is Hak's friend, she is going to pretend like it never happened. Because that's what friends do.

She sleeps late into the morning, just in case she caught whatever sickness she thought Hak had the day before. But there is only so long she can lie in bed, hoping Hak would leave resting, and eventually hunger drives her out into the common area.

At least his shirt is on now.]

Good morning, Hak!

[Beeline to the kitchen]

[fortheprincess]

[ ...Right. This is what they usually do, isn't it. Whenever he messes up, whenever he loses self-control, they act like nothing ever happened. He's okay with it, for now. He reminds himself of where he stands, to keep himself in his place, and he sets his Hsu Quandao aside to lean back into the couch. ]

'Morning.

[dawnsprincess]

[It's better that way — you know it is. What they have right now is as good as things can be. She could love him the way he wants someday, maybe ... she might even love him already ... but to bring those emotions out into the open would trigger an explosion that would destroy everything.]

How are you feeling this morning? Have you had breakfast?

[fortheprincess]

[ As far as he's concerned? It's best like this. He knows what she's been through. He understands how Soo-woon hurt her, hurt them both, but the difference is that she was in love with him and Hak isn't about to cross that territory with her. they'll get there but y'know ]

No. [ He sighs and throws his arms over his head. ] I was gonna head out to the market, if you wanted anything.

voice; but very backdated

[good_ideas]

[This is one of those calls that goes through in the middle of the night because Shiho wants it to go straight to Yona's messages.]

...Hey. I'm sorry it took so long to get in contact. I just....about what happened at the library....

I'm really sorry. For everything I did while I didn't have my memories.

That's...that's all I wanted to say. Yeah. Anyway. Bye.

action

[dawnsprincess]

[Yona is sleeping lightly enough that the call wakes her up, although she still doesn't catch it before it goes to voicemail. She almost calls Shiho back right away, but stops. Shiho sounds so uncomfortable, and honestly, Yona is as well. She doesn't want to be, but she does still feel hurt by the invasion into her memories.

But she can't avoid it forever; it's not really in Yona's nature. With the exception of a few Major Issues, Yona prefers to confront things head on. So the next day, she finds out Shiho's address and goes to knock on her door. Hopefully the other girl is home ...]

action

[good_ideas]

[Shiho's home today, spending time with Wallace the Wombat CYBuddy so she's the one who goes to answer the door.

Thanks to the psychometry, she doesn't even need to open the door to see who it is. She almost hesitates before reminding herself that if Yona really was going to hate her for her powers that it was always best just to get that out of the way instead of letting herself cling to some kind of false hope.]

...Hey.

action

[dawnsprincess]

[Yona's smile is shaky. Now that she's confronted with Shiho head-on, her courage is starting to falter.]

H-hi. Do you have any time to speak?

action

[good_ideas]

[Shiho's expression tries for calm, even on seeing the way Yona's smile starts to falter, as she tells herself that it's fine. She doesn't care. Everything's fine. She's older now and nothing can hurt her ever again if she doesn't let it.]

Yeah. Do you...do you want to come in, or...?