IC Contact

[peacefulwinter]

Hi, this is Winter Tsukuyomi. I can't get to my phone now; I'm probably out working at the village, and I don't get great reception. If you need something, please leave a message or send me an e-mail, and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. If it's urgent, please use the network, which I CAN access, or find someone who can. Thanks! (beep)

[Contact modes: phone (voice), voicemail, SMS (text/image), e-mail, physical mail, Skype (text/voice/video), network (text/voice/video, typically via phone or Kindle)]
All non-network modes checked infrequently.

Comments

( text )

[argents]

Hey, Winter. Are you busy? I have something I want to ask you about.

[text]

[peacefulwinter]

No, I'm free. Is everything okay?

[argents]

Everything's fine! There was something that came up though. A chance to investigate the barrier around the city, the one that makes us forget.

[peacefulwinter]

Oh? That does sound important... Yes, I'd like to help with that. Do we have a plan?

( text )

[argents]

Hey! Do you have a minute?

[peacefulwinter]

Um, yes, I do. What's going on?

[argents]

Nothing too crazy. Thanksgiving break starts the day after tomorrow, right? Are you busy?

[peacefulwinter]

Not terribly. My mom's still got work, and I think my dad got asked to write an article on Black Friday shopping, so I'm open that day, or the day prior, or that weekend. I'm thinking about going shopping for Christmas presents sometime Friday, but not too early.

Why do you ask?

[text] 12/12, day after saving Bakura

[pianistofraielin]

I think if you hadn't come yesterday it would've been a lot harder for us to convince bakura to leave. Having you there was really important and I don't think you should've done anything differently.

[text]

[peacefulwinter]

I hit him. I HIT him, and you're telling me I shouldn't have done anything differently? I know you're trying to help, but that's kind of...

[text]

[pianistofraielin]

Well ok maybe you shouldn't have hit him

[text]

[pianistofraielin]

But still that got him to see what a jerk he was being about it so it may not have been the best way to handle it but it still accomplished something important [probably.]

[peacefulwinter]

I guess, but... it doesn't change what I did. And he's right. I need to not get in over my head without thinking.

It wouldn't be so bad if it were the first time I'd done something like this to him...

[voicemail]

[jasminebloominginshadow]

Hey, Winter. Um...

I figured you should know about this. If Lily seems down, on the 28th... it's because that's the anniversary of the day our mother died.

I dunno if this is proper or not, but... I didn't want anything bad to happen because you didn't know, okay?

Yeah.

Gimme a call back, alright?

Re: [voicemail]

[peacefulwinter]

[Winter wasn't with her phone when Jasmine called, so it's several minutes later when she gets the message. As she listens... her face falls, and her mind whirls as she puts everything together. Once the message ends, she taps on the call command as fast as she can without breaking her phone.]

Jasmine, I'm g-glad you told me, but... is it really going to be that bad, do you think?

[jasminebloominginshadow]

... I dunno. A lot of the time, we don't talk about it. We just keep to ourselves and let it pass. I had no idea how it'd go if you didn't know is all.

This is Lily we're talking about. She's more likely to be distant or something than blow up at you, but I don't like the idea of you two fighting for any reason, so...

( email, off-network )

[argents]

[ This, this is the one he feels more hesitation about than he rightly should. This was the letter he'd written to himself as a reminder, that was meant for someone else to read. Mostly because how he feels about Winter has sort of faded in and out over the last week, leaving him surprisingly empty, when the contents are anything but. All the details surrounding his reasoning are hazy, and difficult to pin down. It takes him a while to start, because his own wondering distracts him — had it always been this way?

Well, he guesses he wouldn't have to send this if it was. Another letter in a bundle of them, hidden away for himself to find, after everything was over. ]

I know you're still on your school trip, so you can wait until you get back to read this if you want. I would have just texted you, but it's long. And I figured you wouldn't want it as a welcome back, even if I don't understand it all the way. I think you will... or, I hope you will. Here:

"Winter,

You're probably going to be the most angry with me, out of everyone. Hear me out, just this once, and then if you never want to forgive me for breaking my promise to you, I'll understand. No matter what I remember, or what I don't, or what you or anyone else tells me.

I have a lot to thank you for. More than I can probably write down in a single place like this. Probably just as much as I have to apologize to you for now, when I'm being unfair. You always thought I was, I think. That's why I tried to keep what I was a secret from you for so long. It was dumb, right? Because out of everyone I know, you were the one who understood the most. I think I might have been scared of whatever I was turning into forever, if you hadn't told me that. "I understand." Not because of who I used to be, or whose power I was getting. Because of who you knew. It took me way too long to realize that, that my power was always mine. All it took was you proving it to me, after everything. If there are things only I can do, and only you can do, remember that. Remember that you really did save me, that day in the hospital. I wouldn't have been able to pilot the Unicorn if it hadn't been for you, or fight for Locke, and everyone in it. I wouldn't have known what my responsibility was, and I wouldn't have had the confidence or resolve to carry it out. You made the world seem bigger, but not as scary.

If I have to talk to you like this, here and now, I won't remember why any of this happened. But I want you to take everything you told me, everything that you already knew, and use it to help everyone, now that I can't. That's how we move forward, Winter. That's how you're going to continue on, no matter what. Right?

Just don't try to take all of that and walk it alone. No matter how much it might hurt, I want you to do that for me, with everyone you can. You're the only one who I know I can trust, asking something like that. Not only because you understand, but because... that's how we grow, and how the world grows, whether I'm a part of it or not.

Whatever light I was capable of, you should be capable of too. I believe in that. So, use it. Use it to tell Lily not to be sad, use it to prove that the love I felt that day is worth something. Maybe everything.

- Banagher"

[1/2; action]

[peacefulwinter]

[She wasn't expecting to be woken up so early in the morning. Or rather, she would be waking up soon anyway, but this is a touch early even for her. When her Kindle pings, though, it catches her attention - because it's set to only make noise if it's important. There aren't that many people that have her e-mail address, and all of them rate that high. So she stirs, rubs her eyes for a second, and turns it on.

And her heart stops for a second. Because that's an address that shouldn't be there-

Winter bolts upright from where she's been sleeping on the couch, letting Lily have the bed until she's feeling a little less torn up. Unlocking her Kindle, she spends a long moment just... reading the letter, face blank. How did she even react to this? She feels numb, and when she finishes it, she doesn't do anything for a long moment.

Then she reads it again, and a third time. These are the thoughts that were so important that he took the time to write them down and leave them for himself to pass on if... if the worst happened. She'd already known that he wasn't part of things anymore, but this tore everything open all over again, and she can't stop tears from coming. Banagher was someone she didn't think she'd have to part with, and definitely not like this. Not when it's already too late to do anything. Too late to even say goodbye before their days washed away in the tide of memories lost.

She stays like that for a long time. Crying, her head buried in her knees, trying not to be loud enough to wake the others, even as she hears Lily's phone buzz softly. It's not fair. It's not fair, and she knows that's not something she can even use as an argument. But... he believed in her, in a very real way. She can't hate him. She knows, in her heart, she'll forgive him. She has to. How could she not? There's so much riding on her... there's so much she wants to say, that she can't say anymore.

Or maybe... just maybe, she can. Even if he doesn't remember... Eugen had a point. It's still Banagher in there, just without that power to "understand" he'd grown to appreciate. Grown to accept, with her help. And he'd come to understand her will, and her "love" in the same way. He'd helped her understand herself, and take the first step. And the second, and the third, until she could walk forward on her own as her world changed around her. She'd walked together with him for the longest time, until she could stand alone. And even as she found new partners to share that love with, and to walk into the future with, she never forgot what he'd helped her to see.

She'll keep walking. Even if it gets hard, even if it hurts. Because... that's what he'd taught her.

Slipping out of the room in bare feet, calmer now than before even if her face is still wet, remembering her key and phone at the last minute, she scrolls through her contacts, skipping past the first number for the person she wants. It's past daybreak there, so she's sure she's not going to wake him up. She lets it ring... and she hopes it's going to go to voicemail, because even if she's resolved herself, she's still not ready to talk to him yet. But... she will be. She listens to the greeting, and she almost hangs up, but... this is something she wants to do. Has to do. And when it beeps, she takes a deep breath.]

[voicemail]

[peacefulwinter]

I refuse... to stop moving forward. You taught me that, both that "other you" and the you that's left now. I wanted to say so much to him... to you... and I won't have the chance to talk to him anymore. I don't think things will be the same between us for a while.

But... that d-doesn't mean I don't want to try. Even if things have changed, you're still my important friend. I want us to... stay that way, if it's fine with you. And even if I'm angry at him for leaving so suddenly, you're still here.

After all, you're... you're a part of my world now. Even if it's still small, it will only grow. I want you to... be a part of it, for a long time to come. So, um... thank you, Banagher. For everything. If you don't mind putting up with me for a little while longer, I'd like to hear from you again. [Silence for a second or two, before she laughs lightly, even if it's only for a moment.] Sorry, I know this is a little creepy so early in the morning, but I just had to say it. I hope you have a good day.

[She won't say goodbye. She can't handle that. But with this... she can keep moving forward once again. Whatever the path ahead brings.]

( action → text )

[argents]

[ He doesn't get the voicemail until his first morning class is over. Needless to say, the night had been a sleepless one. All those things he'd felt compelled to send out into the world kept circling in his mind, despite the fact that there was so much about it that he didn't understand. Banagher had written it to himself in no uncertain terms — it didn't matter what he understood. Trust these people, and do it for them. Or he'd regret it, and let every last one of them down. As he laid awake, trying to grasp that piece of him where those feelings and thoughts and wishes had come from, all he'd come up with was hazy recollections. The next morning, when he'd dragged himself awake, part of him doesn't believe it's not just a dream. There's nothing on his phone to contradict it, but as he glances over at his desk, and the pile of papers there, things he'd spent hours writing down, following, sharing... no, it was real.

What part of it, he doesn't know. But it's real, plain as the ordinary daybreak gleaming outside his window, indistinguishable from any other.

So when he gets out of classes that morning and goes to check his voicemail as he descends the steps to LCU's courtyard, Winter being on the other end stops him cold. No matter what he expected from that reality, this wasn't it. She understood what he'd meant. Whoever that other one was, now slumbering inside of him. There was something that she recognized when he couldn't, and immediately, he's both stunned and horribly curious. But he can't ask, because she's not really there. His fingers tighten around his phone on reflex, and the noise of the world drains out. People around him dim, along with the dry summer breeze, hot with early morning sunshine.

He does the next best thing he can, and he listens. Even without his gifts, he hears the thickness in her voice that betrays the strength of her words. Banagher will never know what lead up to that phonecall. Why she'd cried at all, or tried to hide it, and what kind of strength it took to simply pick up and talk to him. Everything that he'd shared with her, and everything that connected him to this girl on that level that so clearly hurt her... was gone.

Briefly, he's frustrated at the goodbye he'd written himself. Briefly, hypocritically, he's almost not ready to accept it. Instead, she laughs, making him feel light and ache all over at the same time. There was a world outside of his reach, and if not for Winter, he'd probably lose it forever. He owes her twice over, now. Keep laughing, keep walking, keep reaching...

As the message ends and he lowers his phone to send a text, he wonders what it is that he did to earn a friend like her. ]

I'll be right here, whenever you get back.

suddenly action because they're in the same place half the time, at least; June 27th, evening;

[alilyinthemoonslight]

[ Lily is damned thankful to be able to use both hands. Even if it was for only a couple of weeks, and it's been several since, she's been sort of taking whatever opportunity she can find to just... do things, constructive things, with the both of them.

Hence, why she's busy finishing up the dishes from dinner for the evening. Just because. Left to her own devices, she's a bit lost in thought, caught somewhere between anger and sadness over things that had occurred this week far out of their reach. Between that, what happened the night of the blackouts, still knowing there are threats out there, there was a lot to think about...

A lot to talk about that she HADN'T been talking about.

Sighing, she shuts the water off as she loads the last plate into the washer, and turns to wander off. Lily's honestly sort of afraid of how she herself will act in response to some of this stuff, less than Winter, but... it's been put off too long. Everything on the news in Vegas made that all too clear. ]

Winter? You there?

[peacefulwinter]

[Ever since the incident in Las Vegas, Winter had spent a lot of time just... staring into space. Looking at her hands. At Raquel. At her Loveads. At herself. Trying to see if there's something there worth fighting for. She's been quiet, though she's still responsive to Lily, and to Jasmine - they're too close for her to shut them out willingly. And maybe some little part of her is hoping one of them will drag her out of her funk. Get her moving again.

Neil... she'd said some things, yesterday. She'd felt the fire rekindle, just a little. It wasn't like she ever stopped wanting to do the things that she'd set out to do. She'd just... been discouraged. Badly, certainly. But it'd happened before. When she'd been fired. When she'd gotten Lily hurt. And now this, when she still hadn't really gotten over the last one. But could she really just... stop? Could she do that and not feel like she was abandoning everything that drove her?

She'd said she was a vessel for happiness. That she was happy when she could protect people. That she had things she couldn't sacrifice. Were those... things she could give up without becoming someone she wasn't?

Lily's voice draws her out of her thoughts, and she shakes herself lightly.]

I'm here... is everything okay?

[alilyinthemoonslight]

Everything's fine, Winter, it -

[ A frown, and she drifts across the room, drawing closer. An adjust of her glasses and a shake of her head later, and she continues. ]

Okay, I guess that'd be a lie. Winter... we need to figure what we're going to do about things.

[ What "things," she's pretty sure Winter can guess. ]

[Text]

[guitar_case_vagabond]

Hello. I know that it is unusual for me to communicate directly in this way, but I felt that in this instance I felt that it was needed.

I have existed in this life a little over a year now. Raye recently told me that this essentially means my "birthday" has passed. I don't fully understand the signifigance myself but I've seen its importance to humans often enough that I felt I should speak.

When I first awoke in this world, it was in the middle of battle. Despite not knowing anything about myself, I knew what my purpose was through sheer instinct. To grant my wearer power, and aid her in defeating her enemies. After the fighting was done, I had thought that I was meant only to wait until next I was needed. I was an outsider, I could only be heard by my wearer. I did not belong.

I was... wrong. All of you, in some way have shown me that over this year. Despite being unable to hear my voice, you accepted me. Even spoke to me at times, whether I could answer or not.

I've watched all of you. I've watched you laugh and cry together. I've watched you help one another and stand at each other's side at the darkest of times. It is thanks to you that I have come to understand the strength and importance of the bonds between people, and it is thanks to you that I have come to choose my purpose.

I was created for battle, yes, but I am not only a weapon. I will fight as I was meant to but my battle will be to protect this world and the people who live on it, so that they may live peacefully. I will fight for you and beside you for as long as I am able. This is the purpose I have chosen for myself.

For this, I wanted to say something to all of you. My friends.

Thank you.


- Senketsu

Network, voice (Backdated to Sept. 17)

[sparklingscarlet]

Hey, Winter!

I've missed you, how have you been? It feels like it's been forever! Hey, do you want to hang out sometime? Our last meetup didn't really let us have a chance to just be friends for a change. [He laughs a bit] Do you have any place you want to go? I can treat you to cake or something.