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Entry tags:

[Closed]

Who: Kanji [

cuteshit] & Souji [

eatsyourscience]
Where: Souji's room (for once, not the diner)
When: June 30
Rating: PG? Because Kanji cusses sometimes
Summary: Souji needs some assistance with research
The Story:
Awhile back, Souji had talked to Princess Bubblegum about the memories Wonderland has stolen from him. There seem to be so many--and in most cases, he has no idea what he's lost. After thinking about what his events actually were, he knows he's going to need help figuring out which words he can't remember.

Luckily, there's a Kanji for that. It's not that Souji wasn't happy to have Kanji in Wonderland--he was pretty ecstatic, actually, though it would have been hard to tell. But this really makes him appreciate having someone from home, especially someone from the investigation team.

He'd asked Kanji to come by his room sometime soon to help him with a project. He hadn't been too specific about what the project would entail--it would be easier to explain when they actually met up--but did mention it was about the events from their world. Souji thought that, if they managed to get through what he was hoping to accomplish, they might brainstorm about what other events might come from their world. It would be helpful to have some ideas about what might be coming.

After figuring out when to meet up, Souji makes sure he's actually there when the time comes. The room is almost identical to his room at his uncle's house, with the exception of the small, but fat gray dragon that's napping on his couch. He's sitting on the floor in front of the couch, folding some paper into origami butterflies--he's trying to branch out from cranes--with his back against the front of the couch and the dragon's sleeping breath occasionally ruffling his hair. On the table in front of him is a notebook and pen, along with a few snacks, just in case.

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Having the notebook handed back without comment makes him from, makes him wonder what Souji must have seen on the page that didn't agree with him, but Kanji swallows it down and nods, grabbing the pen a second time.

"Alright," he says evenly, "So what was that event about?"

"It's a little hard to explain, since it was a mixture of my memories and someone else's."

Now that he thinks about it, there hasn't been an event like that in awhile. It makes him wonder if he should be expecting one soon.

"The part I know was from me was the rain and the fog. And the TV that would turn on when it got to a certain time of night and show someone..."

It's clear that he knows what he's talking about, and that he knows it's really, really important to him. A rare expression of frustration crosses his face and he rests his forehead against his palm, elbow on the surface of the table again.

"I couldn't remember it at the time, either. I didn't know what to call it when anyone asked."

That one clicks easily, even if the event itself sounds a little muddled. The words come to Kanji without his having to search for them, and he quickly scribbles it down beside the brief description of the event -- rain and fog -- pressing his lips together into a thin line.

"That's gotta be the Midnight Channel," he points out, looking up to see if it registers with Souji at all, curious. "Practically set our watches by that thing."

Like the word "yukata," the phrase slides right past Souji, and it's just as confusing and disturbing as the first time. But he knows what Kanji is talking about and he knows what it meant to them.

He nods, lifting his head from his hand. He really shouldn't act like this in front of Kanji. He's aware that, in a lot of situations, he's the barometer for the mood among his friends, and he's learned to regulate that fairly well. Though he's sure it's inevitable to some degree, it's his responsibility to keep things calm and and under control with Kanji.

"That must be it." He glances away for a moment, thinking, then looks back at the notebook in front of Kanji. "Hm...write down 'fog and TVs' I guess. I'll know what those refer to, at least."

He nods, a frown tugging at one corner of his mouth as he writes the words, pausing with his pen hovering above the paper for a moment afterwards. Should he include 'Midnight Channel' too, or will that just make Souji feel worse about what he's forgotten?

He decides against it, for now. Souji has always seemed so collected and in-control, a perfect candidate for a leader, but Kanji can tell how much this is bothering him. He can't blame him in the least, but he also doesn't want to make it any worse than it already is.

"Alright. Got it," he confirms, giving Souji a grim look afterwards. "You think that-- you think after Wonderland takes things away, we can ever get 'em back?"

Shaking his head, Souji looks at the origami butterflies he's piled to the side. Letting out a breath as he gathers himself.

"I don't know. I hope we can--it seems like we'd have to if we go back home."

Naoto had come from before Christmas the last time she was here, and if she'd forgotten anything while she was here, she'd have to have remembered it when she got home or he's sure he'd have noticed.

"Makes sense, right? That we only forget as long as we're here?"

He's hopeful, at least. Unlike Souji, he doesn't have any evidence to support that thought, but it feels right. He wants to believe that's the way things are. This place is only temporary, and whatever it takes from them is the same.

"Can't imagine walkin' around Inaba not knowing what some of these things are."

In the same way as Kanji, Souji's banking on being right about that because it seems like the way it should be in order to keep the integrity of their own world intact, if nothing else. But then there's the question of how memories provide any lasting sustenance to Wonderland if they go away when the person who lost them leaves. Then again, maybe that's why things like the Jabberwocky exist in the first place....

Okay, enough of that line of thought, it's depressing.

Instead, he nods, trying to imagine wandering around town like that and have it be humorous instead of alarming or depressing.

"Most of the words are less obvious than those two were. I still don't have a clue what they might have been."

He pauses, picking at the surface of the table with his fingernail.

"One of the events was about the school camping trip."

It was pretty much the most benign event that could have possibly occurred.

Kanji's nose wrinkles automatically at the mention of the camping trip; his experiences there had been less than pleasant, although he's sure nobody had a good time that weekend.

"Ugh," he mutters aloud, "Mystery Food X. Glad I missed out on that one. Trying their cooking later on was bad enough."

"The food this time wasn't that bad. I--"

He started to speak before realizing what had just happened in Kanji's response. He sits up straighter, looking at Kanji intently.

"Wait. What did you say?"

"Uh," Kanji stalls out for a moment, frowning as he mentally backtracks. "Mystery Food X?"

Well that clears that up.

"Write that one down."

It was obviously something he'd never even thought of--it wasn't like it was a phrase he said all that often, and since he'd gotten to cook during that event, he hadn't remembered that there was anything specific associated with that event.

He hadn't even been trying that time, and he feels his stomach drop as he realizes he'd hit on another one. Oh.

"Yeah, o-okay," Kanji confirms, scribbling it down in the notebook beside the word campout. "Crap. These are really startin' to add up. I mean, that ain't too big a thing to miss. Actually, you're probably better off not remembering..."

Souji grimaces. "I can still remember the food." Just not the nickname they'd come up with for it.

He's quiet for a moment, thinking as he taps at the table surface now with one fingernail.

"There are three others."

He's starting to think they should just stop, though. This is getting depressing.

"Three, huh."

He frowns as he tries to get a good read on Souji's face, wondering if he's really feeling up to finding exactly what's been taken. It's hard to say what's better. Pacing yourself, or getting it all over with at once?

"I can stay to help as long as you want," Kanji goes on to offer, brows knitting together briefly. "You wanna keep going?"

Souji has to think about that for a moment. Really, honestly think about it. He hadn't anticipated how difficult this would be for him, and he's tempted to quit now.

Quitting isn't a habit of Souji's though, and the idea isn't appealing. It's especially unappealing when it's in front of one of his friends from home. He'd lose face if he quit now, or he feels like he would. Objectively, it's unlikely Kanji would think any differently of him. But Souji can't bring himself to do it.

Nodding, he orders his thoughts, and speaks calmly, his voice bordering on casual.

"We're halfway done. We might as well finish."

"Right. Okay." Kanji won't second-guess him, just shifts his weight to make himself more comfortable as he prepares to tackle the next three events that Souji lists. "So what's the next event you remember?"

Souji gets up for a minute, crossing to the closet. He needs something to drink, just to give him something to do other than pick at the table. He brings something back for both of them--he'd picked up on Kanji's preferences back home--and sits down again. The delay gives him a moment to think, too.

"There was one based on when we did the speed dating cafe at school. And the beauty contests..." He remembers the details perfectly--all of the weird, awkward details--be he noticeably leaves out the actual name of the event. This time, though, it doesn't occur to him that he's omitting it.

"Hey, thanks."

Talk about handy. Kanji's still getting used to the closets and all they have to offer, in some ways, but the ease of reaching in and pulling out a cold drink without having to actually go somewhere and pay for it is a nice perk. He looks thoughtful as he pops the tab, pursing his lips a little bit as he thinks it over-- the word comes to mind almost immediately, but he doesn't seem to notice that Souji's been leaving it out, either.

"Right, the culture festival," he says darkly. The date cafe had been more awkward than not. "Kind of a fun event, compared to some of the others you could've had."

Souji hesitates as he recognizes that blank in Kanji's speech again. Man, Kanji is good at this. Souji's grateful for that--it makes this whole project easier--but it's also a blow each time they find another word or phrase.

He steps over the blank space for the moment like he would a gap in a sidewalk. He'll put it off a moment so they can just talk first.

"Yeah. It was pretty fun. The school was a boarding school, and all of us were students."

Maybe "fun" isn't quite the right word, but it was nice in a lot of ways. It was only an imitation of home, but he hadn't known that until the event was over.

Like most things Kanji is good at, he doesn't really think much of the fact that he seems to have effortlessly hit the nail square on the head the last couple of times-- the words are coming to him naturally, the memories they belong to still vivid. Souji's been here a long time, but all of the memories these events are linked to are still pretty recent for him.

"It's like Wonderland gave you the good parts of school without you havin' to worry about grades, or staying awake in class." Or, in Kanji's case, attending class in the first place. That had been a problem, for awhile, although his senpai had all been positive influences on him in that respect. "Kinda sorry I missed that one."

Edited 2016-08-12 18:24 (UTC)

"We didn't have to worry about some of the more...interesting instructors." Kashiwagi-sensei, you are a strange and somewhat terrifying woman.

"Write down the name of the event we were doing at school. That was the word I lost."

Okay, that came out more bluntly than he'd intended it to, but at this point, he wants to finish this whole thing. Then he can play with Tefra or make a model of...something or really do anything to clear his mind a bit.

"There are just two more after that."

Though he doesn't know it, Kanji's unexpected forgotten-word-finding skill probably won't work quite as well with these two.

Kanji frowns again before nodding in confirmation, the mention of interesting instructors immediately bringing Kashiwagi and King Moron to mind as he writes culture festival beneath the other events listed, grateful he'd never had to deal with them quite as intimately as senpai and some of the others. Beside the word, he writes out a brief description-- 'karaoke, speed dating, beauty pageant.'

"Okay," he agrees, grimacing, "Two more. Hit me."

Souji nods. He's got the next one locked and loaded. These last two were the least benign of all of them.

"One of them started with fog. The kind of fog we had at the end of everything that wouldn't go away."

It was the same fog from the TV world, the fog that had made Nanako so sick. He didn't have fond memories of it.

"After awhile, a lot people were either paranoid or didn't care at all about it. Those people turned into Shadows. Not the kind that came from them, but the kind we always ran into in the TV world."

His frown pulls even deeper as he scribbles down a description of the event, trying to think of what word might have been pulled from it. He can just imagine Wonderland covered in fog, the same way Inaba had been blanketed with it, the memory of people talking each other into worrying about extremes still fresh. His mother had been forced to ask a patron or two to leave over that crap.

"They turned into Shadows?" he echoes, his eyebrows shooting upwards. "Did they start attackin' people?"

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