【 Thank you for choosing the Golden Peacock, 5-star resort and casino. You are currently registered as a WILDCARD in our system.
It has recently come to our attention that many of our guests have not been focusing on their health and wellness. In an effort to encourage healthy living and help our beloved guests get in shape, a grand sports festival will be held in the Golden Peacock. This sports festival will include many small games and four large games.
Prior to the festival, guests will have the opportunity to train and prepare for the games with our expert coaches.
We hope you are as excited as we are! And, as always, we hope you enjoy your stay. 】
BEAK
MEET THE TEAM
♦ DIAMONDS GAME ♦
OMEGADOME: HUNTING GAME
A cheerful pair of game managers stand outside the conservatory doors and block all guests that try to enter. They quickly explain that a special Diamonds game is taking place inside and only guests that agree to participate may enter. This game is a physical exercise that riffs on "Hunting", which is a popular sport in many different countries and civilizations. Of course, it is one hundred percent safe, and all guests that play are eligible to win massive chip prizes, store vouchers, fabulous prizes, and more.
Details about the game? Those can't be shared outside of the conservatory. Only the brave and those willing to risks will reap the benefits of this Diamonds game. So step right up, dear guests, and sign this waiver before stepping into the flourishing beauty of the conservatory for a brand new adventure.
♥ HEARTS GAME ♥
DOUBLES' THERMO: SURVIVAL GAME
Chickadees is sparing no expense on advertising their e-sport games over the course of the sports festival. Posters, notifications, stickers, fliers! Come one, come all. Sports don't need to be physical. Guests that duck into the arcade will find a variety of e-sport games to enjoy, but the real showstopper that every single employee is aggressively promoting is the new immersive VR game, DOUBLES' THERMO.
A large swath of egg-shaped pods have been installed in the back half of Chickadees. Any guest that shows an iota of interest will be assaulted by employees encouraging them to give it a try. They will offer vouchers for a free session, encourage with mentions of prizes that can be won from the arcade's coveted prize wall, and persuade by praising how high tech and immersive the experience is. Some employees are desperate enough to trick or push guests into the pods if they aren't willing to go in themselves.
However they've ended up inside the VR egg, guests will find themselves submerged in strange fluid as the lid closes. Everything fades away into darkness as the game loads...
♣ CLUBS GAME ♣
QUACK AND COVER: SHOOTING GAME
Cloaca & Dagger has temporarily outfitted itself as a neon-bright paintball course. Gone are the wild sex setups in exchange for series of obstacles and obstructions for guests to navigate while in pursuit of paintball championship. This high intensity game of strategy and physical fitness promises to exhilarate! Welcome to Quack and Cover, a game where your shooting skills and ingenuity will be put to the test.
So say the game managers at the door before following up with a few disclaimers. Cloaca & Dagger is not responsible for any physical or psychological trauma guests may incur while inside. Guests that join the game will then be outfitted in tight black underarmor and supplied with a paintball gun and protective mask before being let loose on the course.
♠ SPADES GAME ♠
PECKING ORDER: MMA GAME
During night hours, many long-standing guests make their way through Talon toward the gym’s creaky basement stairs. Three floors down and then through a desolate hallway with littered with abandoned equipment. Double doors wait at the end, unassuming until they’ve been opened…
Flashing lights, jeers, and the thick odor of sweat. You’ve found the Pecking Order, a late-night mixed martial arts event where guests show their prowess in the ring. Spectating guests shout and messily eat snacks on make-shift bleachers while fighters clash inches away, using only their bodies to fight for dominance and win. Pecking Order is very informal; guests only need to sign up in order to get added to the docket. Anyone can watch, though they will be vaguely warned at the door that even spectating comes with risks.
LOCKER ROOMS
YOU WASH MY BACK, I'LL WASH YOURS
Every training and game location has a door labeled LOCKER ROOM right outside the entrance. These doors all connect to the same massive locker room. The magic of these locker room doors goes one way. Trying to go back to the place you just were by backtracking will not work — you’ll just end up in Beak! All guests will be advised to finish their games before hitting the showers.
The Golden Peacock is proud to present our upgraded and extended locker room. Please come in and enjoy the facilities, catch-up with your teammates, and enjoy some healthy drinks provided by our favorite resort convenience store, Cock-a-doodle-doo’s!
▶ All characters on the TDM are WILDCARDS, which means they have not yet been assigned a card value. Suits will not manifest until characters are accepted into the game.
▶ All TDMs are game canon. This TDM acts as the game's March event.
▶ Current characters may top level on the TDM. Any current characters posting to the TDM should note they are current in their subject header.
▶ The top level directory is for new characters only. We want to make sure new characters are prioritized and receive attention! If you would be interested in a game invitation, you can note that in your comment header.
▶ If you aren't satisfied with these prompts, please feel free to check out our LOCATIONS to explore more of the resort!
▶ Smut threads that take place on this TDM can be used for rewards. If both parties in the smut thread join the game, you may retroactively apply the character's initial card values to your 52 bank. If one character does not join the game the thread will not be applicable toward rewards (as that character would not have a card value). The character that does join would still receive a small payout for the encounter. Hopefully it was a fun thread regardless!
▶ We ask you to kindly add content warnings to your threads as appropriate.
▶ If you do not currently have permissions and kinks listed in your character’s journal we suggest leaving a note in your top level of any limits or boundaries for other players to reference.
Minato frowns at Kotone's declaration. She was going to ask him if he transferred in February?
But before he can pursue that line of questioning, he sees her shiver in spite of the warmer weather. The bewildered frown shifts into something more concerned. ]
...hey, are you okay?
[ And though it might be rude to reach out and grasp at a stranger's hand, something stirs in the back of his mind, subconsciously drawing him to this strange girl. So he does just that, taking her hand into his own. Immediately upon brushing his fingertips against her skin, he feels precisely why she must be shivering. ]
You shouldn't be this cold.
[ He closes his other hand on top of Kotone's. And though Minato ran cold on a regular basis, even he's warmer in comparison to her. ]
[Ah? She lets out a little noise of surprise when he takes her hand so boldly, cheeks flushing a light shade of pink. His hand feels so warm in hers, though, that she doesn't think of pulling back, just blinking down at their joined hands.]
Very charming! [she teases, though again, she doesn't try to draw away at all. Her fingers curl gently in his, almost as if to try to hold his back. It feels right, so maybe that's why she adds,] I've been cold since I woke up here. Well, it comes and goes.
[Also her short outfit probably doesn't help at all, but after opening all the drawers and checking the closets, nothing else had looked better so-! It's fine. Besides, the chill goes deeper than that, like she'd been caught in the rain and never fully dried, but on the inside.
[ He can only take her hand so boldly because he thinks nothing of it. In fact, it doesn't even register for Minato that such a gesture might be rather forward. ]
Mm.
[ Kotone's hand is icy even as she curls her fingers in his palm. Her lighthearted comment rolls off of him, far too focused on the unusual temperature of her hand. Finally, he lets go of it only to shrug his zip-up sweatshirt off his shoulders.
He holds it out to her, leaving him in his short-sleeved shirt. ]
Maybe this will help.
[ It's too bad his Evoker is nowhere to be seen. A little fire magic could probably help with warming her up, so long as there was something to burn. ]
[He feels like somebody she can trust. Even if she can't quite figure out how they could have been in the same class and never met, it's not like she doesn't believe him. He seems way too earnest for something like that. Her eyes meet his, and she tilts her head a little, trying her best to read his expression for any hint.
Then he offers his jacket, and she blinks with surprise.] Huh? Are you sure? Won't you be cold?
[And yet, she still takes it, hugging it close. It's not that she thinks the jacket will help that much, considering the chill feels like it's more inside than out, but it's a really kind gesture, warming her smile if not doing much for her hands.]
[ It's not too cool out here even though Minato generally ran cold. And given the rest of Kotone's getup, he thinks he'll fare much better than her either way. Handing off his jacket is a small sacrifice.
Now that she's hopefully a little more comfortable, his mind strays to Kotone's earlier comment. She'd wanted to ask if he'd transferred out of Class 2-F after February, hadn't she? ]
Did you move away from Port Island?
[ That's usually why people left their classes in the middle of the year. It was typically associated with one's parents finding a new job that required them to relocate. Perfectly normal stuff. ]
[Well, if he says it's okay, she's going to shrug his jacket on, holding it close around her. Again, it doesn't help all that much, but it's just so thoughtful. Plus, it's slightly too big which means she can tuck her hands into the sleeves, and that's both cute and comfy. Small victories!
But then he asks if she'd moved away, and she freezes for a moment, trying to figure out how to answer that. That would be the easiest explanation, wouldn't it? If she'd moved away, and he'd transferred in February. But-]
Not exactly. I was... kind of sick in February, so I thought maybe that's why I didn't see you. [It's not a lie, but it's definitely not the truth, either, because as with all tragedies and struggles, she still had to go to school. Tucking her hands between her knees for that little bit of extra warmth, she tilts her head and looks at him more closely.] We definitely would have met if you were in class before then, though. Besides, my friends and I made a promise to meet up on the roof for graduation day, so there's no way I would miss it.
[Somehow, it feels like he'd understand the strength of a promise like that, a whisper in the corner of her mind that says he'd get it.]
[ The sudden tension in Kotone's shoulders doesn't go unnoticed, nor can the torn expression on her face go completely ignored by Minato.
...she'd been sick in February? ]
Oh. ...me too.
[ There'd been days when it was harder for him to pull his weary body out of bed during that month. Perhaps that's why his ultimate fate that early March felt inevitable. Deep down, in the back of his head, he'd known what awaited him. He'd understood the enormity of his sacrifice.
A promise to meet up on the roof for graduation day though? ...hm.
Minato exhales, gaze going a little intense as he studies Kotone. No, he's never seen her before. And yet -- something stirs in the back of his head and within his chest, heartbeat fluttering within his ribcage. ]
The smell of cherry blossom was in the air that day, wasn't it?
[ Somehow, inexplicably, he knows this to be true. ]
[Her eyes widen a little with surprise when he agrees. He hadn't been there when she was there, she's certain of that. And yet, somehow, she knows he's telling the truth. Gekkoukan only has one graduation day, and he already said he was in the same class as Yukari and Junpei and Aigis.
The intensity in his gaze makes her sit up a little straighter, meeting it without flinching. Something about his eyes reminds her of the Velvet Room, her heart thumping against her ribs almost painfully hard.
If she closes her eyes, she can smell the cherry blossoms even now. And,] The sun was warm, too.
[Something makes her reach out and take his hand, letting it come to rest gently on his knee. Yeah, his jacket sleeve covers all but her fingers, but it feels important as she keeps holding his gaze, a confused, tentative curiosity in her eyes.]
Minato's gaze lowers to his knee as Kotone rests their hands on it. Though her fingertips are still freezing, he senses a certain warmth from them, like the spring sunlight that once shone upon his face.
And as for Aigis -- perhaps one might presume her frame to be cold. But in his eyes, Aigis had never truly been built from metal. She'd been warm that day, her lap a more comfortable place to rest one's head than even the finest pillow. ]
...it's like you were there as well.
[ But that couldn't be true. Even with his senses fading, Minato thinks he would recall someone else's presence alongside Aigis. Perhaps she hadn't been there at all. Orpheus must be stirring within his heart for a reason though. He'd thought the resonance he sensed from Kotone resembled a perfect fourth, but upon second thought -- no, it's not a harmony composed of two separate notes, but a little closer to an octave. ]
[It's the simplest answer. She was on the rooftop with Aigis, keeping her promise to meet with all of her friends on that sunbathed rooftop. She'd been afraid it would feel lonely, but... it hadn't. Everyone had come to see her, right at the end, and isn't that all anyone could ask for? Even Shinjiro had been there, even if she hadn't had the strength to run to him like she might once have.
There's a smile on her lips, so small it could be missed, but it's there nonetheless, quirking the corner of her lips in a kind of fond wistfulness. It would be nice to see them all again, but at least she'd had that time. Anything that happens now is just an unexpected bonus!
Like how he'd taken her hand without thinking anything of it, she brings their joined hands up to press against his chest, as if she could somehow reach inside and confirm this feeling tugging at her heart, connecting them together. A fused Persona is never truly gone, and the Orpheus she'd awakened lives on in Orpheus Telos, the Persona she'd only been able to form from the strength of her bonds and the journey she'd gone on with all of her friends. It feels like as much his hand as Kotone's own on Minato's heart as she asks quietly,] You've got Orpheus too, right?
[ Minato's gaze drops to their intertwined hands, watching as Kotone slowly presses them against his chest. There, he can feel Orpheus' energy thrumming beneath his palm, reaching out to grasp at the Persona she harbored within her own heart.
He hums in thought. Something like alternate realities wasn't necessarily out of the question. After all, hadn't the Kirijo Group been conducting experiments on space and time? If that's the case, then why shouldn't there be a reality where a girl named Kotone Shiomi existed instead of a boy named Minato Arisato? ]
Yeah. I do.
[ And even if it sounds like some nonsense that Mr. Edogawa might have spouted during a class, it wouldn't hurt for him to bring up what was weighing on his mind, would it? ]
...hey, Kotone? Do you believe in parallel universes?
[ Now that he's said it aloud, it... sounds kinda farfetched, huh. ]
[She closes her eyes, focusing on the feeling rather than what she can see. He feels like a friend, in the same way she'd known that Pharos, Theo, and Igor hadn't been bad people. Like how she'd known Ryoji was somebody important to her. With her eyes closed, she could imagine she could feel the beat of Minato's heart beneath her fingers, the connection of Orpheus and, she has to wonder, Thanatos, too.
Under any other circumstances, she might have laughed at his question, assuming him to be playing a prank or her, or being the same kind of weirdo as Mr. Edogawa. But right now, with their hands joined together physically and a feeling that if they could, their Personas would touch, too, it doesn't feel strange at all.]
Not until right now, [she confesses quietly, and only then huffs a little self-deprecating laugh at how absurd it really does sound. Like, it sounds like the kind of cheesy line somebody would use in a drama. And yet, as she opens her eyes and gazes into his, she can't quite shake the feeling.] You did it too, right? The Seal?
[ It sounds crazy, doesn't it? And yet, both of them seem to know it must be true, especially considering Kotone's question. ...it's something that no one else would know other than himself. ]
Yeah. I did.
[ He remembers it even now, desperately pushing himself to his feet each time Nyx unleashed its insurmountable power. He remembers it even now, releasing the power imbued within him from the memories he'd forged with those he loved. That, alone, had been enough to stave off Death. ]
...it's the only thing I could do.
[ There'd been no other choice. Yet, it had been a willing one, a choice that Kotone must understand too.
Minato exhales, his fingers grasping a little tighter onto Kotone's hand. ]
[If she closes her eyes, she can see it again, that vast span of empty space where she'd been at once all alone, and yet surrounded by the feelings of all of her friends. Everyone's voices had given her strength, all of the warmth of their bonds suffusing her heart and giving her the strength to keep standing up, again and again.
Minato's taken the words right from her mouth. It's not only what they could do, or what they had to do. She'd wanted to do it. For them, for everyone.
Impulsively, she lets go of their joined hands, but only so she can sit up on her knees and wrap her arms around him in a gentle embrace. It's what Aigis had done when she'd first seen her on Yakushima, after all, and right now, it just feels right. It's what she would want, if she were him. And isn't she, in some way?]
I'm glad to meet you, [she murmurs, tucking her chin against his shoulder and closing her eyes. It should be impossible, and there are still so many questions about how this is even possible -- how many worlds are out there threatened by Nyx? -- but for the moment, they can just be two people. That's enough.]
[ Minato releases Kotone's hand as he feels her fingers slipping away. She's done, he thinks -- but she returns and leans in close to pull him into an embrace. He blinks as he's tugged forward and leans back against Kotone's body.
Though her hands had been cold, she seems to radiate a gentle warmth akin to rays of spring sunlight. She tucks her chin against his shoulder and he mimics that gesture, resting his own against her shoulder as though their bodies were slotting together as one.
How curious; it's as if he'd known Kotone for his entire life. ]
...yeah.
[ Minato exhales, his own arms reaching up to return the embrace and wrap them around her too. ]
I'm glad I --
[ "met you too," are the words on the tip of his tongue. But for some reason it doesn't feel right though to use the past tense. ]
[It's not the same as hugging Aigis, nor is it even the same as hugging Ryoji. And yet, it feels like he's a matching part of her, a piece she hadn't realized was missing until she met him. "Soulmates" is pretty silly for something like this, but maybe... counterpart? Other half, but in a very real sense instead of the metaphorically romantic one?
Maybe he's just Minato. Maybe she's just Kotone. Do they have to be anything more than that?]
I hope you can rely on me, [she murmurs quietly, neither opening her eyes or drawing back from the hug. If anything, she lightly bumps the side of her head against his as if making sure she has his attention.] 'Cause I'm gonna be relying on you, Leader.
[It's a little bit of a tease, calling somebody else by her own title, but she means it, too. If they've both gone through so much, faced the same trials and overcame them thanks to the strength of their friends... hopefully he'll understand that he doesn't have to be alone.]
[ In spite of his general reluctance to do so, it feels... right to split any burdens with Kotone, as if it'd be pointless to try and hide anything from her. How could he, when she might very well know him just as well (or maybe even better) as himself?
That year had fundamentally shaped their hearts, their souls, molding them into the people who stood before each other today. Perhaps their lives had taken different winding paths to get to that year, but it was the time spent at Port Island that made them who they were today.
With his chin still perched on Kotone's shoulder and arms wrapped around her, he poses her a question: ]
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peacockstop2025-03-15 09:00 pm
no subject
Minato frowns at Kotone's declaration. She was going to ask him if he transferred in February?
But before he can pursue that line of questioning, he sees her shiver in spite of the warmer weather. The bewildered frown shifts into something more concerned. ]
...hey, are you okay?
[ And though it might be rude to reach out and grasp at a stranger's hand, something stirs in the back of his mind, subconsciously drawing him to this strange girl. So he does just that, taking her hand into his own. Immediately upon brushing his fingertips against her skin, he feels precisely why she must be shivering. ]
You shouldn't be this cold.
[ He closes his other hand on top of Kotone's. And though Minato ran cold on a regular basis, even he's warmer in comparison to her. ]
no subject
[Ah? She lets out a little noise of surprise when he takes her hand so boldly, cheeks flushing a light shade of pink. His hand feels so warm in hers, though, that she doesn't think of pulling back, just blinking down at their joined hands.]
Very charming! [she teases, though again, she doesn't try to draw away at all. Her fingers curl gently in his, almost as if to try to hold his back. It feels right, so maybe that's why she adds,] I've been cold since I woke up here. Well, it comes and goes.
[Also her short outfit probably doesn't help at all, but after opening all the drawers and checking the closets, nothing else had looked better so-! It's fine. Besides, the chill goes deeper than that, like she'd been caught in the rain and never fully dried, but on the inside.
...It's probably nothing!]
no subject
Mm.
[ Kotone's hand is icy even as she curls her fingers in his palm. Her lighthearted comment rolls off of him, far too focused on the unusual temperature of her hand. Finally, he lets go of it only to shrug his zip-up sweatshirt off his shoulders.
He holds it out to her, leaving him in his short-sleeved shirt. ]
Maybe this will help.
[ It's too bad his Evoker is nowhere to be seen. A little fire magic could probably help with warming her up, so long as there was something to burn. ]
no subject
Then he offers his jacket, and she blinks with surprise.] Huh? Are you sure? Won't you be cold?
[And yet, she still takes it, hugging it close. It's not that she thinks the jacket will help that much, considering the chill feels like it's more inside than out, but it's a really kind gesture, warming her smile if not doing much for her hands.]
no subject
[ It's not too cool out here even though Minato generally ran cold. And given the rest of Kotone's getup, he thinks he'll fare much better than her either way. Handing off his jacket is a small sacrifice.
Now that she's hopefully a little more comfortable, his mind strays to Kotone's earlier comment. She'd wanted to ask if he'd transferred out of Class 2-F after February, hadn't she? ]
Did you move away from Port Island?
[ That's usually why people left their classes in the middle of the year. It was typically associated with one's parents finding a new job that required them to relocate. Perfectly normal stuff. ]
You mentioned February, so...
no subject
But then he asks if she'd moved away, and she freezes for a moment, trying to figure out how to answer that. That would be the easiest explanation, wouldn't it? If she'd moved away, and he'd transferred in February. But-]
Not exactly. I was... kind of sick in February, so I thought maybe that's why I didn't see you. [It's not a lie, but it's definitely not the truth, either, because as with all tragedies and struggles, she still had to go to school. Tucking her hands between her knees for that little bit of extra warmth, she tilts her head and looks at him more closely.] We definitely would have met if you were in class before then, though. Besides, my friends and I made a promise to meet up on the roof for graduation day, so there's no way I would miss it.
[Somehow, it feels like he'd understand the strength of a promise like that, a whisper in the corner of her mind that says he'd get it.]
no subject
...she'd been sick in February? ]
Oh. ...me too.
[ There'd been days when it was harder for him to pull his weary body out of bed during that month. Perhaps that's why his ultimate fate that early March felt inevitable. Deep down, in the back of his head, he'd known what awaited him. He'd understood the enormity of his sacrifice.
A promise to meet up on the roof for graduation day though? ...hm.
Minato exhales, gaze going a little intense as he studies Kotone. No, he's never seen her before. And yet -- something stirs in the back of his head and within his chest, heartbeat fluttering within his ribcage. ]
The smell of cherry blossom was in the air that day, wasn't it?
[ Somehow, inexplicably, he knows this to be true. ]
no subject
The intensity in his gaze makes her sit up a little straighter, meeting it without flinching. Something about his eyes reminds her of the Velvet Room, her heart thumping against her ribs almost painfully hard.
If she closes her eyes, she can smell the cherry blossoms even now. And,] The sun was warm, too.
[Something makes her reach out and take his hand, letting it come to rest gently on his knee. Yeah, his jacket sleeve covers all but her fingers, but it feels important as she keeps holding his gaze, a confused, tentative curiosity in her eyes.]
Even Aigis felt warm, somehow. Didn't she?
no subject
[ The sort that felt akin to being embraced.
Minato's gaze lowers to his knee as Kotone rests their hands on it. Though her fingertips are still freezing, he senses a certain warmth from them, like the spring sunlight that once shone upon his face.
And as for Aigis -- perhaps one might presume her frame to be cold. But in his eyes, Aigis had never truly been built from metal. She'd been warm that day, her lap a more comfortable place to rest one's head than even the finest pillow. ]
...it's like you were there as well.
[ But that couldn't be true. Even with his senses fading, Minato thinks he would recall someone else's presence alongside Aigis. Perhaps she hadn't been there at all. Orpheus must be stirring within his heart for a reason though. He'd thought the resonance he sensed from Kotone resembled a perfect fourth, but upon second thought -- no, it's not a harmony composed of two separate notes, but a little closer to an octave. ]
no subject
[It's the simplest answer. She was on the rooftop with Aigis, keeping her promise to meet with all of her friends on that sunbathed rooftop. She'd been afraid it would feel lonely, but... it hadn't. Everyone had come to see her, right at the end, and isn't that all anyone could ask for? Even Shinjiro had been there, even if she hadn't had the strength to run to him like she might once have.
There's a smile on her lips, so small it could be missed, but it's there nonetheless, quirking the corner of her lips in a kind of fond wistfulness. It would be nice to see them all again, but at least she'd had that time. Anything that happens now is just an unexpected bonus!
Like how he'd taken her hand without thinking anything of it, she brings their joined hands up to press against his chest, as if she could somehow reach inside and confirm this feeling tugging at her heart, connecting them together. A fused Persona is never truly gone, and the Orpheus she'd awakened lives on in Orpheus Telos, the Persona she'd only been able to form from the strength of her bonds and the journey she'd gone on with all of her friends. It feels like as much his hand as Kotone's own on Minato's heart as she asks quietly,] You've got Orpheus too, right?
no subject
He hums in thought. Something like alternate realities wasn't necessarily out of the question. After all, hadn't the Kirijo Group been conducting experiments on space and time? If that's the case, then why shouldn't there be a reality where a girl named Kotone Shiomi existed instead of a boy named Minato Arisato? ]
Yeah. I do.
[ And even if it sounds like some nonsense that Mr. Edogawa might have spouted during a class, it wouldn't hurt for him to bring up what was weighing on his mind, would it? ]
...hey, Kotone? Do you believe in parallel universes?
[ Now that he's said it aloud, it... sounds kinda farfetched, huh. ]
no subject
Under any other circumstances, she might have laughed at his question, assuming him to be playing a prank or her, or being the same kind of weirdo as Mr. Edogawa. But right now, with their hands joined together physically and a feeling that if they could, their Personas would touch, too, it doesn't feel strange at all.]
Not until right now, [she confesses quietly, and only then huffs a little self-deprecating laugh at how absurd it really does sound. Like, it sounds like the kind of cheesy line somebody would use in a drama. And yet, as she opens her eyes and gazes into his, she can't quite shake the feeling.] You did it too, right? The Seal?
no subject
Yeah. I did.
[ He remembers it even now, desperately pushing himself to his feet each time Nyx unleashed its insurmountable power. He remembers it even now, releasing the power imbued within him from the memories he'd forged with those he loved. That, alone, had been enough to stave off Death. ]
...it's the only thing I could do.
[ There'd been no other choice. Yet, it had been a willing one, a choice that Kotone must understand too.
Minato exhales, his fingers grasping a little tighter onto Kotone's hand. ]
...it's the only thing I wanted to do.
no subject
Minato's taken the words right from her mouth. It's not only what they could do, or what they had to do. She'd wanted to do it. For them, for everyone.
Impulsively, she lets go of their joined hands, but only so she can sit up on her knees and wrap her arms around him in a gentle embrace. It's what Aigis had done when she'd first seen her on Yakushima, after all, and right now, it just feels right. It's what she would want, if she were him. And isn't she, in some way?]
I'm glad to meet you, [she murmurs, tucking her chin against his shoulder and closing her eyes. It should be impossible, and there are still so many questions about how this is even possible -- how many worlds are out there threatened by Nyx? -- but for the moment, they can just be two people. That's enough.]
no subject
Though her hands had been cold, she seems to radiate a gentle warmth akin to rays of spring sunlight. She tucks her chin against his shoulder and he mimics that gesture, resting his own against her shoulder as though their bodies were slotting together as one.
How curious; it's as if he'd known Kotone for his entire life. ]
...yeah.
[ Minato exhales, his own arms reaching up to return the embrace and wrap them around her too. ]
I'm glad I --
[ "met you too," are the words on the tip of his tongue. But for some reason it doesn't feel right though to use the past tense. ]
...I'm glad to meet you too.
no subject
Maybe he's just Minato. Maybe she's just Kotone. Do they have to be anything more than that?]
I hope you can rely on me, [she murmurs quietly, neither opening her eyes or drawing back from the hug. If anything, she lightly bumps the side of her head against his as if making sure she has his attention.] 'Cause I'm gonna be relying on you, Leader.
[It's a little bit of a tease, calling somebody else by her own title, but she means it, too. If they've both gone through so much, faced the same trials and overcame them thanks to the strength of their friends... hopefully he'll understand that he doesn't have to be alone.]
no subject
...mm. I will.
[ In spite of his general reluctance to do so, it feels... right to split any burdens with Kotone, as if it'd be pointless to try and hide anything from her. How could he, when she might very well know him just as well (or maybe even better) as himself?
That year had fundamentally shaped their hearts, their souls, molding them into the people who stood before each other today. Perhaps their lives had taken different winding paths to get to that year, but it was the time spent at Port Island that made them who they were today.
With his chin still perched on Kotone's shoulder and arms wrapped around her, he poses her a question: ]
...are you still cold?
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