[Video public]

[helenchanted]

Ahh...uh...

[Miki is trying to keep a straight face but this is harder than she thought.]

...umm I think that Minami is gone. W-well no. Not 'I think'. I know she's gone since her room is occupied by someone else, so I guess she returned to our world...

[Her best friend is gone but she...she doesn't think she could leave herself just yet. Not with what she's gained here.]

I kinda need to clear my mind a bit...

Anyone want to do something?

Comments

[video - private]

[fools_journey]

[ This surprises Minato, all the more so because he, Minako and Minami were just starting to really --

Well, he guesses that doesn't matter now, and he swallows down his own feelings before sending a message to Miki. ]

... I'm sure she'll be all right.

[ pause... ]

I don't have work today, if you want some company.

[video - private 1/2]

[helenchanted]

[This is a trap, isn't it.]

[video - private]

[helenchanted]

[Oh who is she kidding, of course it's not. She's just too still wrapped out on the fact he looks like the other Minato and that one would never offer something like this...]

S-sure. I think I'd like that.

[video - private] 1/2

[fools_journey]

[ No, Miki...

]

[video - private] 2/2

[fools_journey]

[ Er that is to say...

The slight awkwardness doesn't escape his attention, nor does the 'I think', but he ignores them because really... it's okay. He doesn't mind. ]

... is there someplace in particular you'd like to go?

LMAO THAT FIRST ONE

[helenchanted]

[Mother of hell, SHE KNEW SOMETHING WAS UP (ﾉಥ益ಥ）ﾉ ┻━┻]

I haven't been around in the city enough to know good places to go. I'm open to suggestions...[She stops, thinking as she she goes on.] ...or we could just sit around and watch TV.

[There's a small smile?]

I know I heard a joke somewhere about eating ice cream while your feeling sad...

[fools_journey]

I know a place that sells good ice cream. We could go there, get some ice cream and then go from there? Or I could go pick some up and bring it over.

[ Either way. ]

[helenchanted]

That might be a good idea.

I hope you don't mind, but Akihiko wanted to come too...we can watch movies all three of us.

[Yes Miki. Make it looks like he insisted...well to be fair he probably would have, but SHIFTING THE BLAME ON SOMEONE ELSE AWW YEAH responsible teenagers.]

[fools_journey]

That's fine. ... does he want ice cream too?

[ He doesn't mind Akihiko being present, though... he really just wanted to talk to Miki a bit about Minami and then... not think about these things at all. He's not entirely sure -- well... Minato's just not great with talking about personal stuff with a lot of people around is all. But he honestly wouldn't begrudge Akihiko wanting to comfort his sister or spend time with her or anything. ]

[helenchanted]

[WHAT DID YOU--oh wait that part disappeared.]

I'm asking him right now. We can go pick up something while he looks around for some of his action movies.

[Hey! It seems fate isn't that cruel and on the bright side, you get a cool fifteen or so minutes of alone time. Please be gentle.]

[fools_journey]

Okay. ... do you want to meet somewhere, or should I come pick you up?

[helenchanted]

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

You know where to go, and I don't. I'll wait for you to come get me.

[helenchanted]

[BUT IT'S NOT A DATE.]

[fools_journey]

[ Well he meant someplace like the teleport pad or the front door or something, but in any event he nods and says 'see you in a bit' and signs off only to show up at her door a short while later.

Knock knock.

Your date is here. ]

[helenchanted]

[But you wouldn't get to hear the shuffling going on before she opens the door.]

Hi.

[fools_journey]

Hey.

[ Insert pause for awkwardness here. ]

Ready?

[ He'd hold out a hand or something, but this is not a date, so he keeps his hands in his pockets. Despite what the icon may lead you to believe, he does smile a little bit. ]

[helenchanted]

[Awkward pauses, she was used to with Shinjiro. She doesn't even blink from it, and closes her door.]

Yeah. Lead the way.

[fools_journey]

[ So he does, waiting a moment for her and then heading on downstairs and out the door. He holds it for her, though, because he is polite or something. Not because he likes her or anything. ]

It's a couple blocks this way.

... [ But now that they're alone together, he's not quite sure... how to ask what he wants to know. It seems kind of.. rude or something to just ask about Minami, and he's also sure that if Miki wants to talk about how she's feeling, then she'll say something. ]

[helenchanted]

[Considering a double of you was attacking her with his Persona a few months ago, the door opening is really something different. Miki does freeze for a second before giving thanks, albeit in a subdued manner. She nods at his words and walks quietly besides him for a minute or two.

...so. How to break the ice...usually she has no problems with this. Hell she's good at getting Shinjiro to talk once in a while. Maybe if she goes for the 'tell me about yourself'. Actually...she is a bit curious about that, compared the quieter Minato is a stark contrast to the one she knows, and she has told him already a bunch of things from her own world a while ago.]

Sooo uh...how was SEES in your world like with you leading it? [Pause.] I mean in the things you did differently way.

[Why is she so bad at this? Usually she's not bad at this.]

[fools_journey]

[ He blinks at the question and is quiet for a moment, thinking about how to answer. ]

We had a different arrangement of people, but you already know that...

In the end, SEES was my family... [ It's the most he can think to say that isn't just listing off differences they've already established. The different line-ups of SEES and Strega, the different people alive and dead between their worlds... And they all know how it ended, so things can't have been all that different... right? He's just unsure. ]

[helenchanted]

[Huh. Somehow she hadn't quiet expected that answer...and yet..the other him had said something similar.

"It's my family..." Miki could understand that.

Something worth fighting for...

And something with sacrificing yourself for...

Would have she done the same in the shoes of the two Arisato's? She would have given her life as well back them to stop Nyx, but in the end it was just due to one person. Not just for the world...

...But for family.]

We kinda are, aren't we?

[...Granted a very dysfunctional family for the most part. But there's no other people she'd rather be with.]

[fools_journey]

Mm. [ He smiles a bit at this thought. ] We fill in the missing pieces for each other... Give each other people to rely on and trust. ... maybe that's a difference, though. How the trust manifests between people.

[ How Minako and Shinjiro have come to trust each other, and how she interacts with other people she trusts is different from how he interacts with people he trusts which is again different, he's sure, from how Minami interacts with people she trusts. And the same goes for Miki and Akihiko, as well. ]

[helenchanted]

They who does not trust enough, will not be trusted.

[Something Miki herself needs to put into practice more often, she realizes.]

...that was from Lao Tzu. [She grins a little more.] Force of habit. [And she knows, Family isn't just flesh and blood relatives.]

That's why we miss them even more when they're gone. [And the void they leave.]

[fools_journey]

... [ He sighs and is quiet for a moment at that thought, thinking not just of his own SEES but also Minami. ] Yeah. Exactly.

And remember them fondly. [ But he goes ahead and smiles, because they're mostly happy memories. Or at least he'd prefer to focus on the happier memories.