MARCH UPDATE

POSTED ON Oct 27, 2022 16:17:34 GMT

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Nikita walked with Kosei through Slateport's Outskirts and Lower District into its Upper District. The impoverished neighborhoods of the city transformed during their stroll, first into bustling market streets with hole-in-the-wall restaurants and small local businesses, then into department stores and boutique shops. Nikita followed her companion past the chain cafés that drew larger crowds, though, and found herself ushered into a smaller coffee shop with a cozy atmosphere inside.[break][break]

She smiled when she saw the small tables and intimate seating, their placement meant to facilitate private conversation. A glass display case showed off an assortment of scrumptious-looking desserts, everything from tiny macarons to fruit tarts to uniquely flavored chocolate truffles.[break][break]

"What a cute little shop," Nikita mused aloud to Kosei as they made their way to the counter. Behind it on the wall, a large sign indicated the café's various offerings. To the lanky young cashier, she said, "I'll have a salted caramel macchiato, please. And a slice of strawberry cake."[break][break]

She paid, then stepped aside so Kosei could place his order, too.

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NOTES

♦ Mission: Sleepless in Slateport

BY GUNSMILE

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kosei

he/him

Sept 3

rustboro city, hoenn

pansexual

maker of many mistakes

associate

6'4" height

i used to dream in the dark of palisades park.

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TAG WITH @kosei

POSTED ON Oct 27, 2022 18:08:11 GMT

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The place he had in mind, had felt like a personal secret of his since moving to Slateport. Beyond the rows of commercial coffee shop, it was quiet and intimate. For the times he wasn't carrying Miu around with him, it was a place of relative relaxation and he didn't regret sharing it with Nikita upon seeing her reaction. "Yeah, you need to try their desserts, they're amazing." Admittedly, Kosei was a big fan of sweets, which was dangerous in a household with a six-year-old of boundless energy.
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He waited for her to order before following suit. "Cappuccino and one of the cinnamon almond pastries." Paying for his, he led her towards one of the backend tables. It was settled in a quieter corner but still had a nice view out the window. Considering the weight of their last conversation, it seemed better to make sure they weren't crowded. Though this particular shop didn't have the same traffic as the others.
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"Oh, it's ready. That was quick." The drinks and dishes were served by one of the baristas.

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POSTED ON Oct 27, 2022 20:08:47 GMT

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Nikita also had a sweet tooth, and when the barista brought their orders to their table, her eyes widened visibly with delight upon seeing the slice of strawberry cake on its dainty ceramic plate. The cake was a light, airy almond sponge with white buttercream and strawberry jam between the layers, then slices of fresh strawberries on top. The definition of heaven.[break][break]

Unable to wait until after she'd sipped her coffee, Nikita ate a small forkful of the cake. The sugary sweetness melted on her tongue. It was not overpowering at all, but just the right balance between the cake, the cream, and the fruit.[break][break]

"You were right," she said to Kosei, beaming. "This is amazing!"[break][break]

Finally, she took a drink of her macchiato, the salted caramel a perfect combination with the chocolate and coffee. She eyed her companion from over the rim of her cup, wondering how to approach small talk with him, before setting the vessel back down.[break][break]

"I talked an embarrassing amount about myself today," Nikita murmured, unable to contain a shy smile or the blush that colored her cheeks. "It's your turn. Tell me something about yourself. Something I don't already know."

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[break]

NOTES

♦ Mission: Sleepless in Slateport

BY GUNSMILE

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roux

kosei

he/him

Sept 3

rustboro city, hoenn

pansexual

maker of many mistakes

associate

6'4" height

i used to dream in the dark of palisades park.

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TAG WITH @kosei

POSTED ON Oct 31, 2022 16:19:18 GMT

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[attr="class","moontitle"]@@nikita

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“I don’t know much, but I know my sweets.” He said with a smile, before taking a bite of his own pastry. This one he’d tried before so it wasn’t a newfound addiction, but a longstanding one. Kosei was prone to addictive qualities though, which explained a lot of things in his life. “I’m a bit of a dessert snob, admittedly.” He didn’t settle for cheap sweets (most of the time).
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The sip of coffee was all that was needed to fill in the sweetness of the pastry with just the right touch of bitter. Kosei didn’t make a habit of hanging around the same people. There were colleagues and infrequent friends, but he didn’t make a habit of seeing anyone (save for a spare few he couldn’t shake free from, nor did he entirely wish to). However, his reasoning for doing so was the question that Nikita followed up with. She wanted to know more about him. Any reasonable or curious person would. Yet he never knew what to say that might not send them running from him in judgment.
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“Oh — guess that’s true, guilty as charged. I don’t usually talk about myself I guess.” He paused, “I just don’t want you thinking less of me for it.” As if that weren’t foreboding, he made it sound like he was a serial killer. No, he wasn’t a serial killer, more so just an opportunity-driven killer. "Not that I'm...." he sighed, "After leaving my family, there was just a long portion of my life that was... messy."

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POSTED ON Oct 31, 2022 17:14:12 GMT

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Nikita chuckled softly at Kosei's admission to being a dessert snob, but her laughter soon faded as he fumbled with the answer to her question. Her expression carefully neutral, she rolled the word 'messy' around in her mind. It masked myriad potential truths behind its vagueness.[break][break]

Messy could mean a drug addiction, like the ones that occasionally claimed her brother before his passing. It could mean alcohol abuse, falling into the wrong crowd, or even a rocky relationship that had become disastrous. Nikita's thoughts turned to Kosei's daughter, Miu, and the unknown factor of her mother.[break][break]

Whatever the answer, Nikita decided not to judge Kosei for it. She'd witnessed enough of people's vices and flaws to understand that circumstances were never simple. Assigning blame and worsening guilt were pointless.[break][break]

"Mess happens to the best of us," she murmured, trying to convey reassurance in her tone, painfully aware she was not practiced at comforting others. Nevertheless, she attempted a smile to match her tone. "I see it all the time in the medical community. I have a feeling that whatever you say will not phase me."

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[break]

NOTES

♦ Mission: Sleepless in Slateport

BY GUNSMILE

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played by

roux

kosei

he/him

Sept 3

rustboro city, hoenn

pansexual

maker of many mistakes

associate

6'4" height

i used to dream in the dark of palisades park.

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TAG WITH @kosei

POSTED ON Nov 4, 2022 15:26:50 GMT

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Nikita could be hard to read. It reminded him of himself, which now made him realize how other people might feel in hindsight. He smirked, looking down at the distorted swirl of foam on the top of the cappuccino. Her stoicism wasn't quite as cold as others might believe, maybe because he had a decent enough comparison in his own repertoire of iced responses.
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"We're alike in that our families had a certain level of... expectation. My own were cold, dismissive, and unforgiving to mistakes. So, as it often goes with strict parents, eventually I'd had enough and left." He shrugged at that, of course there had been far more nuance than that. Leaving hadn't necessarily been so simple as he had clung to that same unrelenting mentality. He didn't forgive his own mistakes for a long time. Hell, he still didn't offer himself mercy on many of those same mistakes. "Gambling, gangs, violence, theft... that kind of stuff. Probably would still be there if not for Miu." A small voice in the back of his head said plainly: You still are, you imbecile.
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"Now, I'm relegated to desk work and disturbance calls, but hey it pays the bills and I'm content with it. Though, guess I still ended up sorta where my family wanted, even if its less glamorous than being a lieutenant or whatever. So... yeah?"

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POSTED ON Nov 4, 2022 17:10:59 GMT

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A part of Nikita found herself envious of Kosei. To simply leave behind overwhelming expectations and emotionally draining family dynamics for a different life, for better or worse, was something she always wished she'd had the courage to enact. And perhaps, if she had been able-bodied, she might have done that. But the accident took away much more than two limbs.[break][break]

"You were a braver person than me," she said anyway, practicing this newfangled concept of expressing one's thoughts and feelings.[break][break]

The confession of gang violence and crime did not surprise Nikita as much as it should have, either. It explained his reticence and tendency to speak about himself in vague terms. And, strangely, she found that her respect for him grew with the revelation. After all, he had turned his life around for his daughter.[break][break]

Nikita wondered at the irony of their exchange. Kosei was a former gang member who sought a normal life, while she had a normal life, yet risked it all by doing business with crime syndicates.[break][break]

Compelled to reassure him — or perhaps reassure herself — she reached out and covered Kosei's hand with her real one, giving it a gentle squeeze. "At least you're free from the mess now, both your family's and your past's," she said, not knowing how utterly wrong she was.

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[break]

NOTES

♦ Mission: Sleepless in Slateport

BY GUNSMILE

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played by

roux

kosei

he/him

Sept 3

rustboro city, hoenn

pansexual

maker of many mistakes

associate

6'4" height

i used to dream in the dark of palisades park.

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TAG WITH @kosei

POSTED ON Nov 10, 2022 19:15:27 GMT

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Kosei felt embarrassed, like he was airing out all his dirty laundry on this poor unsuspecting woman who had likely just thought she was going to get coffee with a would-be friend. Yet he definitely didn't expect for her to call him brave. It caught him off guard, clearly so. He'd been called a lot of things in his life, but brave wasn't one of them. Usually it was the opposite, that he was a coward or a failure. Admittedly, it felt nice to be considered the other, even if mistakenly so. He could never claim to be braver than her.
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"Not sure that's true. You don't seem the type to run from your problems." He meant it too, she seemed strong to him, regardless of her constricted relationship with her family. She couldn't be blamed for being the person they told her to be. Blood was stronger in that regard. He'd only resisted because he'd come to realize he would never be good enough. He simply did the easy thing.
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He sipped at his coffee, smiling at that. "Yeah, suppose that's true. And maybe even for yourself, if an old dog like me can change, I'm sure you can do all the things you wish you had then." He wished her more luck than he'd had.

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POSTED ON Nov 10, 2022 19:48:24 GMT

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Nikita withdrew her hand, growing pensive again. She took another bite of cake, another sip of coffee. "Maybe I didn't run, but I didn't do anything about my problems, either," she said with a sigh. "I just put my head down and endured them as best I could."[break][break]

But Kosei was right. They were both free of the turmoil of their pasts, at least in some ways. Nikita had chosen to continue the legacy of her parents by becoming their company's new CEO, but that didn't mean she had to live by their rules or adhere to their expectations anymore. She could reinvent the parts of herself they had dictated.[break][break]

"What would you do if life gave you a blank slate? Maybe it's not completely blank, but… if you were given the opportunity to act differently? Be someone else?" she asked her companion, gracing him with a curious gaze.

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[break]

NOTES

♦ Mission: Sleepless in Slateport

BY GUNSMILE

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played by

roux

kosei

he/him

Sept 3

rustboro city, hoenn

pansexual

maker of many mistakes

associate

6'4" height

i used to dream in the dark of palisades park.

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191 posts

DOLLARS

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TAG WITH @kosei

POSTED ON Nov 14, 2022 18:17:24 GMT

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[attr="class","moontitle"]@@nikita

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"Enduring something, can be its own strength. I wouldn't be too hard on yourself." He smiled, it felt like the first genuine smile in a long time. Not simply to seem like a better person than he was, because he wasn't better. Any attempt to feel that way made him feel like a fraud, but it was nice right then, not to feel alone. It was nice to be reminded that he didn't have to be perfect. "I think it's time we start measuring things by our own expectations, not someone else's, huh? It's a nice sentiment at least." They were alike in that.
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The next question caught him off-guard, forcing him to think. "Oh huh... that's a good question." It was hard to think for himself like that. What would make him happy? What was the life he'd wanted to have? Well it was hard to imagine that life when his own had been either tailored by another or stained by his own mistakes.
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"Part of me hates the idea of change because... if my life went different, I wouldn't have the things I love. I wouldn't have Miu. I mean I'm sure maybe I'd have other kids, more kids, a normal life. Though now, in reality, I'm kind of already at that point. I can do the things I wish to do, but it's just figuring out what that is. So, for now, I just want to make her happy. Sorry, that was roundabout way of saying I don't know, but I'm figuring it out. What about you?"

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POSTED ON Nov 15, 2022 11:27:47 GMT

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Kosei was not alone in his appreciation of the reminder that he didn't have to be perfect. For Nikita's entire life, her parents and society at large had pushed her to be perfect in every aspect, from her appearance to her mannerisms. When she lost her limbs, she was no longer capable of perfection in other people's eyes; after all, her body was no longer whole. Yet somehow, that only caused others to demand it even more from her, expecting her to make up for her physical lack in other areas.[break][break]

But no more. The nearly blank slate she mentioned was the one the world had set in front of her. What would she do with it? Kosei wanted to make his daughter happy, but otherwise, he had no idea what to do with his blank slate, either.[break][break]

"I guess I don't know either, but I'm figuring it out, too," Nikita replied with a gentle laugh. She sipped her coffee and let her gaze wander over the café's interior. "I suppose I'd like to discover what makes me happy."[break][break]

A part of her mourned that it had taken thirty years to reach that point, but it was better than a lifetime of discontent. She would rather embrace the opportunity than wallow in regrets and what-ifs.

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NOTES

♦ Mission: Sleepless in Slateport

BY GUNSMILE

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played by

roux

kosei

he/him

Sept 3

rustboro city, hoenn

pansexual

maker of many mistakes

associate

6'4" height

i used to dream in the dark of palisades park.

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TAG WITH @kosei

POSTED ON Nov 18, 2022 16:08:31 GMT

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Kosei had always been particularly hard on himself, a by-product of his parent’s teachings. He’d never wanted to be like that for his own kid and thus had done anything to prevent her from becoming as he was. Yet, the same could be said for how he treated himself still. Nothing was ever good enough and he was always a failure regardless of his actions or attempts to change. So, maybe what he truly wanted was to forgive himself a little.
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He smiled at that response, finding themselves once again at the same cross-roads. Maybe they were destined to meet there from time to time. That was a nice thought, it made him feel less lonely about the journey. “You know I find that, sometimes, Miu has helped me with that. It’s easy for kids, you know, just to... exist perfectly happy, I guess. SHe’s definitely taught me a thing or two about it.”
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He paused at that for a brief second, correcting himself hastily, “Not that I’m throwing my kid at you… just figured you two seemed to get along so… should you ever need the distraction.” He bumbled a little at that, feel a little awkward at the suggestion.

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POSTED ON Nov 18, 2022 20:41:30 GMT

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The thought of spending time with a child had never occurred to Nikita. Though she knew quite a few employees of WPT had children, she was not close with any of those families. Her own brother had never married, so she had no nieces or nephews, either.[break][break]

As Nikita ate another few bites of her cake, she imagined what a day with Miu might be like. Would the girl enjoy a park? A playground? Would she like to go shopping for clothes and toys with someone who possessed a more feminine eye than Kosei?[break][break]

A smile slowly spread across her face. "A playdate with Miu? I'd love that. I think we'd have a lot of fun." She paused to finish her coffee, and when she looked back up at Kosei, there was the slightest sparkle of mischief in her eye. "I bet I could spoil her with some ice cream and new toys."[break][break]

Taking out her phone, Nikita pulled up the 'new contact' screen, then handed the device to him.[break][break]

"We might as well exchange numbers."

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NOTES

♦ Mission: Sleepless in Slateport

BY GUNSMILE

close tab

played by

roux

kosei

he/him

Sept 3

rustboro city, hoenn

pansexual

maker of many mistakes

associate

6'4" height

i used to dream in the dark of palisades park.

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DOLLARS

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TAG WITH @kosei

POSTED ON Nov 29, 2022 15:59:12 GMT

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Kosei would be lying to say there weren't things in life that he couldn't give Miu. It made him somewhat guilty that he was her only option and was often somewhat oblivious to her needs. He was raised strictly. There was no time for "Fun" in the Kiryu family. It was clear to him from an early state, that Miu was nothing like him, in that regard. She wouldn't have done well in his childhood household and the last thing he'd ever wanted to do was diminish her fire. He was reticent and controlled where she was excitable and opinionated.
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Most of the time, fathering Miu felt more like racing to keep up with her and being left in the dust every time. There was space he'd likely never be able to fill. Though it was somewhat humorous to think that before her, he'd never imagined himself having kids. He had been too intolerant to nonsense and, admittedly, way too lazy to deal with it.
[break][break]
His eyebrows lifted in pleased surprise, "Yeah? Great, I think... I think she'd like that a lot." He smiled down, sipping at his cappuccino once more. "Oh no, maybe this was a bad idea." He laughed at that, not about to change his mind though. He took her offered phone and put in his phone number. "I'm glad you ran into me."

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POSTED ON Nov 29, 2022 16:22:15 GMT

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The smile on Kosei's face seemed different somehow. Nikita had no reason to believe he hadn't been genuine before, but there had always been a sense of restraint about him, from his words to his expressions. Now, however, as he joked over his coffee, the reserve seemed to lessen.[break][break]

She took her phone back and texted his number. "There, now you have my number, too."[break][break]

At that moment, her phone pinged with a text from her assistant. A quick scan of the message informed Nikita that a business partner wished to meet with her that evening over dinner. The woman sighed. So much for a relaxing afternoon with a new friend.[break][break]

"I hate to cut this outing short, but I have to go. Work calls, unfortunately." She gave Kosei a smile that mixed apology with gratitude. "I'm really glad I ran into you, too. Let's keep in touch."[break][break]

Gathering her things, Nikita stood and uttered a final farewell before departing.

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