driftfleet | and in the blink of an eye...

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and in the blink of an eye...

Who: Yosuke and Wanda
Broadcast: private!
Action: on the SS Starstruck !
When: now!

[ It's not something he's expecting to happen.

Yosuke's getting ready to head out to the station, and on a whim, he figures he'll ask Souji if he'd want to come with him. He grabs his comm, starts flipping through his contacts and... weird. He's not there. It's enough to make him uneasy, and a bad feeling begins tugging at the corners of his mind as he backs out his personal contacts, opens up the registry for the whole fleet, starts looking for names...

Nothing. No Souji Seta.

He's quiet for a long moment, just staring down at his communicator. He's gone. Here one moment but not the next, leaving behind--... Crap. Nanako-chan. Yosuke immediately makes a note to reach out to her, to let her know what's happened (if she doesn't know already) and then to go over there make sure she's okay. Somehow. She has friends here on the fleet, but still, that's her "big bro"...

But there's also someone on this ship that he needs to see about this, so that's gonna happen first.

He opens up a channel to Wanda, turns on the audio only. He plans to just go find her if she's still on the ship, anyway. ]

Hey... Wanda? Got a minute?

[ He winces a little at just how tired and worried he sounds, but... too late to try and cover it up now. ]

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[Wanda doesn't miss that ominous tone in Yosuke's voice. Only a few seconds pass before her own audio feed clicks on and her voice responds. She sounds worried, but in a more serious tone. She's not sure what is happening, but, if her friend is in trouble, she is ready to come to his defense.]

Yosuke? What? What is it?

[ And he doesn't miss her her tone, either - the one that says she's ready to spring into action if needed. It's comforting. Always will be. But it's not about him right now. ]

Uhhh. [ Sigh! ] It's... Are you on the ship? I think I should come find you.

[ "There's something I need to tell you," is just way too cryptic, okay? ]

[Something was clearly wrong. Wanda feels a chill run up her spine.]

No, I- I am out running a courier job right now. It should not take much longer. I will head back to the Starstruck as soon as I am done.

Edited 2016-02-17 21:42 (UTC)

Hey, no problem. It's definitely nothing to rush. [ For obvious reasons. fjdskal ] I'll be on the bridge when you get back, okay? Be careful out there.

[ And he absolutely will wait for her, just like he said. It'd take nothing short of a ship fire to make him budge right now. ]

Okay, I will speak with you soon.

[As Wanda turns her attention away from her communicator and back to her job at hand, she cannot shake a feeling of dread. She tries to shake it off, but it lingers about, not letting go of her even as she tries to get through this job as expediently as possible.]

[Roughly half an hour later, Wanda has returned to the Starstruck. Not wasting any time, she makes her way to the bridge, knowing that she has kept Yosuke waiting on her behalf. Seeing him seated in the captain's chair, she approaches. The feeling of dread from before still ever present, perhaps even moreso now.]

Sorry to keep you waiting. You wanted to speak with me?

[ He stands up when she comes in, and he tries to smile, though that falls a little bit short. ]

Yeah, uh, well. [ He takes a deep breath, and that forced little smile is gone. ] It's... It's Souji. I tried to contact him earlier, but... I don't know if you've looked at the ship rosters lately, but he's not in there. At all.

[ He rubs at the back of his neck - an unconscious thing, mostly stemming from the way he's fighting off the reflex to look at the floor. He keeps his gaze on her - because this is important, and he cares about her. ]

Wanda... I think he's gone. I think the fleet let him go. Hopefully back to his version of home, but... A-Anyway, I thought you should know. Since I know you two were pretty close. [ A beat, then a little quieter: ] I'm sorry.

[She doesn't say anything. She doesn't know what to say. She tries to process this, but it's just not registering. Souji's gone? How can he be gone? She had just seen him yesterday. They'd gone on a date. It didn't make sense.]

[He was lying. He had to be lying. Yosuke was lying to her!]

Edited 2016-02-21 23:10 (UTC)

[But she knows that's not true. He has no reason to. And somewhere, in the back of her mind, she knew this was always a possibility. She had ignored it, choosing to focus on the happiness that came from spending time with Souji. And now... she seemed to be paying the price for it. It was like feeling her heart being ripped out all over again. She feels hollow. It's not unfamiliar. And that makes it all the worse. She doesn't tear up though. She doesn't break down or get enraged. Instead, she respawns rather curtly, despite the rather obvious dead tone to her voice.]

I had not checked. Thank you for letting me know.

[ He can feel her retreating. He can't blame her. At all. She'd been happy spending her time with Souji, and then leave it to Atroma to tear that away. Damn them...! He's angry that they'd screw around with all of them like this, but he's livid that they'd make one of his closest friends feel like this.

Not that he can do a damn thing about it. And he hates that the most. ]

I didn't want you to have to find out some other way. [ He hesitates, just a second. ] Wanda... can I do anything for you?

[ Because "are you okay" is a stupid question, with an obvious answer. ]

N- No, I'm fine. Thank you.

[There is a clear break in her voice. She's trying to keep herself together, but it's becoming more and more obvious that she's breaking. She pulls out her communicator and begins to scroll through it, clearly looking for something. Her hand is shaking as she operates the device.]

[ Yeah, no, she's not fine. He can definitely see that.

He doesn't say anything, doesn't try to take the communicator or do anything too drastic - he simply reaches to place his hand on her shoulder, to try and ease the shaking. ]

[When his hand touches her shoulder, her whole body shudders at first, but she doesn't move away or pull back. Instead, she remains relatively transfixed on her communicator, seemingly combing through it over and over, looking for something. Something that is no longer there, no matter how hard she looks.]

[Eventually, Yosuke will start to feel her whole body start to shake, just small tremors, even still her expression attempts to hold onto its mask of no emotion.]

[ He still has no idea what to say - probably because there's nothing to say. Even if he'd gotten to know Souji any better at all - hadn't been distrustful of him for so long just because he wasn't Yu - there probably still wouldn't be anything he could possibly say. At all. But... dammit, just seeing her like this hurts.

He doesn't take the communicator away, but he does move closer, arms slinging around her shoulders - loosely, for now, in case this isn't okay after all. But sorry, Wanda, You're getting a hug. ]

[As Yosuke wraps her into a hug, her arms finally drop, the communicator slipping out of her hand and falling to the floor. The screen shows the fleet's crew member list, specifically the "S" section. What Wanda was searching for, now completely apparent.]

[Her whole body slumps. She sinks to her knees, as the weight of it all finally overcomes her. She closes her eyes and starts to cry. She doesn't wail, her body just silently shakes as the tears fall.]

[ He glances at the communicator after it drops, and, yeah, that's exactly what he thought she might be looking for. Oh, Wanda...

He slumps with her, more than fine with staying on the floor with her until she's cried this all out, still protectively holding her in that hug - as long as that's what she wants or needs. After all, he knows exactly what it's like to lose someone so close, in this exact same way. ]

[She's content to just let herself be held at the moment. It just feels like it would take too much energy to even move back right now. As she cries into his shoulder, she mutters a few words, barely audible yet still loud enough for Yosuke to hear.]

Why... why... it's not fair...

I know. I know it's not. It never is. ... I'm really sorry. I wish I could do something. Anything.

[ Yelling at Atroma would be a lovely start, wishful thinking that it is...

He relaxes his hold on her a little, but doesn't move away. ]

[Wanda doesn't say anything further. She just shakes her head in response to Yosuke's question. She wants to sit in silence for a moment.]

[After a few moments, she does finally separate herself from Yosuke, wiping her eyes.]

I... I want to be alone...

[She slowly picks herself up, turning to leave.]

[ He lets the silence be, and when she pulls away, so does he. ]

Yeah, 'course. [ He nods, standing as well, watching her with concern. ] And hey, if you do need anything, you know where to find me.

[Wanda turns her head slightly, but not enough for Yosuke to fully see her face or her expression. She nods her head, acknowledging his offer. For now, she just needs to be by herself though. And it's nothing against Yosuke personally... but anything connected to Souji is not what Wanda wants to be around right now.]

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