prismatica | video

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[Good morning, Lunatia. The video starts with a view of hooves, a too close view of a face... and then finally... a centaur? Who keeps looking off screen while she talks and never seems to actually focus on the lens correctly.]

Hello? Can everyone see me? Connor, am I doing this right? Okay? ... Okay.

[She clears her throat and dips into a bow, the camera bobbing along with her.]

Hello! This is Konoha... some of you maybe think my name is Shizu, but- It's Konoha! I'm from Echigo province, in Japan, if you know it... and I'll be in your care.

If you don't know me, which, I figure is most of you, this city must be even bigger than the capital I'm the... well in my world we say jinba but I'm the "centaur". I haven't seen anyone else like me so I think I can say "the"...

Anyway... what I wanted to ask was... if anyone had an recommendations for... shops? I've never really shopped before, and I haven't seen any locals quite like me, so if you know somewhere that does... I don't know, tailoring? Or a restaurant with really big seats or tall tables? Anything like that!

I'd appreciate it, so... thank you very much!

[Another bow, another bob of the camera... and a blurry flash of android helping her turn the dang thing off. Thanks, Connor.]

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[Bumped, it's just a light jostle, enough for him to look over at his friend with the faint lifting of a brow, mildly amused.]

You didn't even need my help at this point.

[Referring to getting a network post up and running.]

You're getting better and better at adapting to strange and extenuating circumstances. I suppose our time in the Circle together wasn't for nothing.

Of course I did! What would I do without you to teach me all the metal things... and the emoji things?

[She never feels like she'll get as good at this is Connor is- and besides. It's the best excuse she has to get him over, since he... doesn't really eat.

So she bumps him again just a little.]

... But I do think I'm better at it now. If I'd come here first, I don't know what I would have done.

["The metal things"... well, he's certainly glad that he was here to aid in her strange technologies, though he's almost certain at this point that Konoha doesn't give herself enough credit.

This time, Connor very lightly returns the bump with a shoulder. Just a barely-there thing, and probably not enough to jostle Konoha even slightly. Little gestures of friendship and camaraderie are nice, since he had never been able to indulge himself in them before.]

You would've made friends very quickly, and they would've helped you just as eagerly as I have. There's no doubt about it.

Look at how well you're doing already.

Sure, but they wouldn't be Connor.

[And the way she beams affectionately at him makes it clear she really means it.]

I'm really glad, you know. That I got to see you again.

[The road to deviancy had been fraught with uncertainty and self-doubt, hitting those hurdles countless times. But Connor is past the point of regretting that decision now, and sentiment like this -- the sort that strengthens friendship, fondness, and simple happiness that he can be called anyone's friend -- makes him more sure of the route he's chosen for himself.

His own smiles never stretch wide, but this one does reach his eyes, utterly sincere.]

I am, too. When I first arrived in this place, it was difficult to... process the fact that I had lost so many who had been a constant presence in my life. The Circle had been more of a supportive group -- its own kind of community -- than anything CyberLife ever offered.

Our friendship was a large part of that experience, and I'm glad I didn't lose it.

[Oh... She loves that smile.]

I always thought... If I got to go home it would be so wonderful, but. The idea of leaving all of you...　Especially you and Arenvald...

[And it's not like she doesn't want to go home still, she has to go home, but...

She reaches down to pull up her device again, and a moment later, in Connor's inbox...

👩🐎❤👦🤖]

[The message pings, and Connor opens it immediately. The result makes him huff out in amused laughter, faint but audible. Strange, how that same humor is intermingled with something a little more melancholy.]

You're even proficient in the emojis now, too. It's almost as if there's nothing left for me to teach you.

[Returning home, though.]

It'll be... difficult. When that day comes. Detroit's my home, but it never truly felt like it.

[And it lacks the people that would make it feel like home now.]

[In the Temple, she didn't really know what to say to that sort of thing. THey could ask the Witch, she figured, but her motives were so unknown to them, and if they could even trust her...

So instead, she smiles in reassurance... and sends another "❤"]

Then, Connor... The people here said they're researching how to send us home, but once they figure it out... just don't go.

[... Could it be that easy? Please say yes.]

[The heart is received, and Connor is returning the message with a smiley face, just having sent it off when he registers what she tells him.

Looking up at her, he blinks, brows pinching.]

I-

[Was it that simple? Another choice to be made, one that took a certain amount of courage, much like his decision to accept his autonomy. But there were other factors in this particular scenario that made it far more complicated than how it sounds.]

If you and Arenvald return home one day, there would be no point in me staying here. As interesting as this world is, there'd be nothing left rooting me to it.

... One day, yeah.

[She can't help but put her device down now, didn't need to send him ten more hearts, instead just smiling down at him, clasping his hands in hers.]

But we don't know how long that's even going to take... and in that time... maybe you'll make even more friends. Even more roots.

[If he really wanted to go back to Detroit, she'd encourage him to do so, but after how he'd spoken about it...]

So when that day comes... you get to choose what you want to do. Just for you.

[Her hand clasping against his own, the moonlacing kicks up, a warmth that blossoms between them. It isn't unexpected at this point, and in fact, in this moment there's reassurance to be found in the gesture.]

...That is a possibility, yes.

[A light squeeze of her hand, oh-so-subtle.]

Being able to choose is almost frightening in its possibilities, but knowing that it's a decision that only I can make is empowering in its own way. Even so, I'll still miss you when you're gone. Nothing will halt that.

[It honestly still surprises her each time, because she enjoys easy affection between friends, but it's never been so obviously warm and nice like this before. But she certainly doesn't dislike it.

And she squeezes back, gentle.]

I bet it won't be easy... I've been making my own decisions most of my life, and it can still sometimes be hard... But when that day comes, we'd never leave without making sure you could make it. And that you were okay.

[Because as much as she misses her home, needs to see her parents again and make sure they're okay, wants to build a life there... She could never live with herself just abandoning all the friends she's made along the way.]

That's a promise. And I've never broken a promise.

[It’s a promise that almost has him speechless, that someone would go to that length for him. To delay their own return home for his sake — never would he had been treated this way back in Detroit. Even the Lieutenant, who he wanted to call his friend, would look at him with disdain when he didn’t match the expectations in the man’s mind, time and time again.

Not like Konoha, whose earnestness means that Connor can take it as nothing more than truth.]

...Thank you. That’s comforting to know, coming from you.

But we’re talking in hypotheticals, aren’t we? Best to adapt to the situation as it is now, and make use of the time we have. Who knows what our stay in this world might bring?

[Konoha can only smile, at a response that was both comforting in his acceptance of her earnest promise and yet so very him, to follow it up with something like that.]

Yeah, hypopheticals.

[... Points for trying.

But she squeezes his hand once more, just a little... and nods.]

We’ve been adapting in all sorts of worlds since we met, so- I know we can do it. Together.

Of course. I don't doubt that for a second.

[Whatever path their journey takes, that he can make it with those he cares about at his side is indescribable. Something he never thought he'd have for him, so foreign in his mind soon after his creation that he simply did not consider it.

Now? He supposes he really is a new person, his own person, the circumstances have changed so much.]

One step at a time. For now, hopefully someone here can give you useful advice in regards to clothes and shopping for them.

One step at a time.

[She echoes the sentiment with a smile, agreeing completely. It's the only way she, a simply country girl from medieval Japan, has been able to make it this far at all. One step at a time.

So Konoha waves her device around before plopping down into her peculiar, dog-like style of sitting, inviting Connor closer to show off the comments.]

Let's see what they have to say!

[... well, it's a wild post.]

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