coexistent | ic contact;

Maybe next time we should just talk on a bed, so you won't be as sore if it happens again....

[ She's too drowsy to be alarmed at her own sentence, even though she would have caught herself any other time. ]

[any implications that could come with that fly right over his head anyway.]

I guess that would be more comfortable. But the TV's out here... [should they get TVs for the bedrooms so they can watch movies and talk without falling asleep on the couch all the time?]

Maybe we could watch something on the Cerevice? Moving the TV would be really hard.

[ These children. ]

That's kind of small though, right? Maybe we can just get another TV?

I guess we could, but wouldn't-- ah, hold on, you shouldn't--!

[ ... to the bird, who is bravely trying to fly even though it really can't, so instead of an impressive feat of flight, it's plowing into Roxas' knee.

At which point he'll find himself inside what looks to be a department of a shopping center. Speaking of TVs, there's a wall stacked with brand-new ones and several shelves sporting different types of hardware.

There are also a lot of people huddled together on the floor and guarded by a group of men in black, all heavily armed. Apparently unseen by these men, Mary and two other girls - a blonde girl in a pink shirt and a green-haired girl in a purple jacket- slowly make their way towards them. Mary, inexplicably, is holding a handheld massager.

Or she was, until she trips, and it goes flying out of her hand to hit one of the men in the back of the head. The other two girls let out horrified squawks, and the green-haired girl grabs Mary and the massager as they bolt behind a shelf. The men can be heard yelling at each other, playing the Blame Game, as the green-haired girl rounds on Mary.

"Are you an idiot!? Do you want to die!?"

Mary, alarmed, yelps out an apology, and the blonde girl groans softly.

"I thought for sure we were gonna die... will we really be okay?"

And then it ends. The bird flutters back to the ground, and Mary winces as her vision swims-- just a bit. Thanks, bird. ]

[things roxas does not expect: that.

things that are happening right now: that.

mary is currently free from seeing one of roxas' memories, but for a moment, he's definitely just sitting there in some sort of dazed, confused sense of disbelief.

he recognizes mary, of course—but the other people are completely unfamiliar to him in every way. not the people mary is with, or the people who are clearly making trouble for them all. is this—is this one of her memories?

he isn't sure, but it's definitely not something he can recall or place in the least, and after it ends, he'll clutch his own head out of baffled discomfort.]

What... was that?

[ What a pair, these wincing kids. Mary blinks slowly, peering at him with an air of confusion. She's dealt with this before, but she's never sure what they see. ]

I don't know... but you saw something, right?

Ye... yeah. It was you and... some other people I didn't recognize.

[he'll spit the rest of it out in a minute, he's still trying to get his bearings here.]

Other... my friends?

[ Like he's going to know that, Mary. And she'd offer some details, to see if he could grasp what the heck he'd seen of her and so she'd know as well, but as she opens her mouth, her stomach lurches unpleasantly and she promptly closes her mouth with a soft groan.

Okay, no, nausea first. ]

Your friends? Yeah, I guess—

[okay, he's not the one feeling terribly queasy, so that groan is something roxas is more concerned about.]

...Mary?

... Mm? [ She's not sure if she wants to try talking yet. She sure is pale, though. ]

...Are you okay?

[does he need to get a bucket or guide her to a toilet?]

I-I, um... [ oh, there's her voice, tiny and trembling. Way to ring in your birthday you no longer remember, Mary. ]

I think I'm gonna throw up.

Huh? Hey, wait—!

[please don't puke on him or the floor, mary. he'll at least try to guide her to the kitchen to use the sink if she thinks she can make it.]

[ She doesn't think she'll make it at all, but she'll somehow manage it if he guides her to the sink-- where she promptly coughs up... thankfully not a whole lot, because there's nothing in her stomach right now.

SHE'S NOT VERY HAPPY, THOUGH. ]

[well, nobody would be happy with this situation.

but roxas will at least hold her hair back away from her face and stand there, supportive. he doesn't really know what else to do, but at least he's not shying away or disgusted by it, either.]

[ What a good roommate... she'd be grateful if she wasn't blinking back instinctive tears. She'll grip the counter for a few minutes, and finally speak up shakily. ]

Sorry...

I don't think you have to be sorry for that...

[he shakes his head, shifting to clutch her arm.]

Come on, sit down. I'll bring you some water. [the least he can do is try to help her out here.]

[ What can she say here? "I'm sorry for throwing up and having my crush see the whole thing and hold my hair up because he's great even though the sickness in shoujo manga is always just a fever or a cold and not anything this gross I kind of want to die now"?

... No, that wouldn't help. So Mary nods, very slowly, and sort of shuffles along with him to go plop down again. ]

[it'll take him a minute to bring back the glass of water, but he hands to to her as he sits down, musing:]

I guess this probably isn't the best time to say happy birthday, huh... [obviously, he's saying it to try and make her feel better and let her know he hasn't forgotten, even if it's a rough start to the day.]

Ha-- [ A ray of confusion shines through the cloud of general misery, and Mary... blinks several times.

Birthday? ]

... It's my birthday?

[ But if it was, wouldn't she have remembered that? Had she been looking forward to today in particular-- she thinks she might have been, but birthday doesn't ring a bell. So, now disconcerted, she stares down into the contents of the glass, as though the memory of when her birthday is will come floating up through the depths.

No go, though. ]

It's... July 21st, right?

[oh no. did... he get it wrong? that's his first thought. he doesn't realize her memories are being tampered with, so of course, his initial reaction is to make sure he didn't get the date wrong.

that would be... embarrassing...]

My birthday is...

[ Wait. Wait. Mary might not remember her actual age, but she'd never forgotten her birthday. That she can't even offer up a date to prove him right or wrong strikes her as... extremely concerning.

So, bewildered, she clutches her glass a little tighter. ]

I don't remember.

Huh?

[what? mary... what?]

You don't remember?

N-no... I should know, but--

[ There's nothing. No flicker of a date in her memory. ]

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