naturalcure | (no subject)

Yeah. They're nuts for the stuff. [She gives the Blackwing a little pet on the head and gives it the rest of the popcorn. It flies away.]

....so, did Haita tell you anything about a possession incident a few weeks back?

He mentioned something about a Psychic Duelist that had been possessed, a 'Yamada, Mamoru', I think it was?

Just 'psychic' is fine, not all of us are duelists.

Anyway, that's the one. I looked into it for him. Dunno if he told you, but that girl, Alexandra Grant was involved.

Alex was involved?! How?

I don't fully understand. It's pretty complicated.

I'm not a telepath, I can't read minds. But my dad did pass down some empathic ability to me, and with my training in the forest, I have this technique I can use... ...basically. I can read the mental imprints left by certain emotional markers on a person or in a place and, sometimes, I can piece together what happened, the mental states of the people involved and things like that.

I went and saw the Mamoru guy and went to the scene of the incident too after I got back from the Mental Sphere. I was able to...sorta piece together some stuff.

I think Grant dueled Mamoru while he was possessed. I've only been able to piece together a couple things besides that.

She dueled him?
What else did you piece together?

Not much. Like I said, this isn't my area of expertise. I just managed to pick up the marker that told me Grant was involved 'cause I...sorta recognized her? We've dueled a couple times, including once in the WRGP. And Haita had already told me Mamoru was possessed, so the rest was just logic.

The rest of it was really hard to read and there was so much energy flying around, it was almost all totally muddled anyway. I couldn't even really figure out the arc of the duel.

...one emotional marker, though. I was able to read pretty clearly. 'Cause I've felt it before myself.

It was the feeling of knowing your own death is coming.

*Juudai seems to go quiet at that, before he speaks.*

And I guess there would be no way to know who left that marker.

*He lets out an uncomfortable sigh, rubbing the back of his neck.*

No. Like I said, since I dueled her before, I can tell this one...that was definitely Grant.

She thought she was gonna die during that duel.

Not even "thought". She was...resigned to it.

Alex... *He puts a hand to his head, rubbing it slightly.*

....y'remember what I told you the last time I was here? How I felt after I was beaten by Z-ONE?

*He frowns a little.*

Yeah, I remember.

You told me about how much pain and discomfort you were in afterwards, how you suffered flashbacks and nightmares... how you kept wishing Z-ONE had killed you so you didn't have to go through that at the time...

....the marker I read...it was really close to that, that's how I was able to read it. It wasn't exactly like that. But a lot of the same points where there. The pain and sadness and just....wanting it to stop, no matter what.

To be honest, it hit pretty close to home. I needed a couple days to get myself right after I read it.

She's your friend, right? Normally I wouldn't go around broadcasting other people's emotions, but if I read the marker right, it seems like she's in a really bad place...I feel like I should tell somebody close to her.

Edited 2016-02-06 22:36 (UTC)

*Juudai sits down on a nearby rock and with a sigh, he buries his face in his hands for a moment. After a minute or so, he finally removes them to speak.*

She's my friend, yeah, but... the feeling isn't mutual on her side at the moment. She's been pretty angry at both me and Onni lately, blaming us for not doing things that she thinks we should be doing. She seems to expect us to just blindly run into dangerous situations, like we used to when we were at the Academy, and to flawlessly save the day.
She doesn't understand that we've both grown up and we approach things more cautiously now, but I think she just ... had us both up on a pedestal, y'know?

Maybe it's partly my fault for creating that pedestal, I don't know. I was the 'hero' everyone turned to. The one who threw himself into dangerous situations to save the day.
She probably saw a hero, but in reality, I was nothing but an emotional and mental wreck back then.

She wanted us both to stay away from her and for the most part, I've been doing that, only intervening when I felt I had to. I'd hoped giving her some space would help. She's also close to Yuma at the moment and I'd hoped being around him and his friends would also help her.
But that doesn't seem to be the case.

Back when Yuma lost his home, she was all ready to just fly over there with Galaxy-Eyes and take on whoever attacked it by herself. It took me bringing Yuya along with me to convince her not to. I don't think she would of listened to me at all. All she did was blame me for not going to Heartland myself.

*He sighs again, placing his head in his hands once more.*

I know at some point, I'm going to have to step in again, but right now I have no idea how to help her if she keeps being angry at me for not living up to how she sees me.

*He seems pretty upset about all of this.*

[Isabel listens to Juudai silently, her face falling slightly as she realizes the situation's a lot different and a lot worse than what she might've initially assumed. She grimaces, quietly, as she sees his head go into his hands for the second time.]

....we did all kinds of stuff that probably seems totally absurd to people who were only a little bit weaker than us at the time, honestly.

You and me and Jeanette and Jinn and Yusei and Jack and Aki. So many times, we just had to pull the moon and the stars out of our ass just to stop the entire world from going up in smoke.

[She lets out a sigh and sits down next to him.]

I guess if you looked at that from the outside, I can see how you'd pick up that kind of idea. That we're like, invincible, or something. [She sighs.] And miss the part where our heads and minds and bodies are all blown to hell because of all of that stuff.

[She puts an arm around Juudai's shoulder.]

I sorta did that too. Honestly. More than a couple times, I thought "He can do anything. He's the strongest. He's my brother, after all." But I could also see how much all of that stuff weighed on you.

....s'probably pretty painful, huh. Having to think about all that stuff we went through again, because of this.

*He removes his hands from his head as he feels her arm around his shoulder and looks over to her.

Yeah, it is, but I always try my best to keep the past in the past. You can never move on if you hold onto it.

Instead I use those experiences to help those who come to seek help here. So I can guide them or give them advice to the best of my knowledge.
*He gives out a sigh*
But Alex thinks I've not been doing enough, for Yuma, or his friends. I think she expects me to somehow be there to rescue them all the time and wrap them up in cotton wool so they never get hurt.
Of course, I'd never wish for any of them to be hurt, but having a power brings a lot of unwanted attention and situations that they have to experience, in order to become stronger people and allow their abilities to develop. Protecting them all the time wouldn't be beneficial for them... and I think they'd find it too suffocating.

But what we can do is make sure they have the support and advice we never had. To give them people to turn to talk to with confidence and let them know that no one should ever expect them to solve everything. That it's okay to back down and take a breather. And that it's okay to ask for our help, if and when they feel they need it.

I guess the biggest thing that hurt was hearing Alex call me lazy for doing things this way through SAI... when in reality, I put my heart and soul into this place everyday to make sure we can do the best we can for spirits and anyone with powers or abilities.

Edited 2016-02-07 21:30 (UTC)

....I never told you how much I appreciated what you did for the Arcadia Movement.

You really saved it, by stepping in when you did and bringing it into the Spirit Foundation. And you helped a lot of people when you did that.

...

[Despite the serious manner of the conversation, a little smile comes to Isabel.]

It took a lot of work, but, you eventually did it. Divine believed that humans and psychics were different species and couldn't coexist peacefully. But every day that SAI still stands, you're proving him wrong.

I think that's something to be pretty proud of.

*A grateful smile appears on Juudai's face as she compliments his work. It seems her words have cheered him up a little.*

Thank you, Isabel.
I'll admit that at one point, I started wondering if I was really doing enough. I found myself second guessing a little on what I was doing, but, your words just now, they mean a whole lot to me and have reassured me that this is, and always has been, the right path to take.

*With that, he pulls her into a gentle hug.*

Thank you.

[She hugs him back.]

...any time.

[She lets go and pats him on the chest with the back of her hand.]

I can't tell you how to deal with this situation. But I can tell you...you're a pretty smart guy. You know what you're capable of and you've always had good instincts for this kinda thing.

Trust those instincts. I don't think they'll steer you wrong.

*Still smiling, he gives her a nod.*

Yeah. I definitely will! I'll make sure of it.

Yeah. I know you will.

[...she lets out a breath.]

...so besides that, how're things?

Things have been okay.
Other than the stuff with Heartland. A lot of social media and news outlets picked up on that and used it to spread false accusations that the city was attacked by Duel Spirits, so negativity towards spirits outside of Domino City increased quite a bit with that.

Heartland...

[Sigh.]

I really gotta look into that. Whatever type of force can attack a city that size and then just disappear without a trace... ...is incredibly dangerous.

I may go there myself, soon to get a closer look.

Yeah. From what I heard, Yuma's family only just made it out of the city by the skin of their teeth. They said an army of people just appeared from nowhere, summoned some 'mechanical' monsters and started attacking, un-provoked.

It bothers me that we don't know who they were, why they attacked or even HOW they were able to do damage like that.

And if it happened to Heartland, it can happen anywhere, even here.

Maybe getting a closer look would give us some clues.

Mmn.

...

I'm gonna head there soon and look into what I can. After I get back, I'll see if I can help you guys with the Numbers.

Re: Event

i_like_red - 2016-02-10 00:17 (UTC) - Expand