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[isawallflower]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, CHEERYCHERRY. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 019.46.820.17 *** CHEERYCHERRY has joined 019.46.820.17 <CHEERYCHERRY> It's Riley! <CHEERYCHERRY> Please leave a message! <CHEERYCHERRY> Please be someone with their priorities sorted out properly!

main: CheeryCherry
anonymous: panthera, aed
retired: gflynn (anon)

Comments

action, 10/8, hewwo fwend

[ikutachi]

[ Today is a day of easy assignments. It's kind of them, honestly. It took the better part of the morning to heal her injuries - implants and reinforcements and skin grafts that she'll never know the amount of, but being able to walk without her bones hurting as much is wonderful. She's a person again. Even so, the order was to take it easy.

So today's assignments are all house inspections. The influx of travellers from other worlds has made Felfri's situation worse. Those plague rats in the caves are the biggest problems, obviously, but who's to say there aren't lesser evils? Enemies wearing the masks of friends? Knowing where they are would be helpful. And if someone's a friend, they couldn't turn away a simple inspection, right?

The face that greets her when she shuts the GPS off almost doesn't feel like her own. Composed, but too pale; the circles under her eyes don't match, one just a few shades darker than the other. Poke? Ow. Bruise forming. Yamada left a mark. Unfortunate. Mmm... Can't have one of the E+L peacekeepers looking injured. It lets community members ask questions, and we can't be encouraging that sort of thing.

- Wait, no, that sounds weird. Does it? -Think about it later. Her feet have brought her to the address to inspect. It should be easy. Just make sure there's nothing strange inside. No fog apologists or attempted subterfuge. The knock is polite and unthreatening. ]

Wil- [ No, the other honorifics, please. :) ] ...Miss Williams? Are you in?

[isawallflower]

[ It's a day of exhaustion. Riley went later into last night than she'd intended checking with some of the neutral encampments, dipping out after work to talk with Giorno, slip him some extra money for the refugees and scoot out of there. It's actually surprisingly easy to figure out how to speak in code, or...little bits of code, you know?

Riley wonders if this is why Giorno was so vague and ominous when she first met him. Her life of slipping from one mask to another was born of a pretty typical life—or, at least a life that any teenager could have, with the right circumstances and poor upbringing. Giorno's was...downright scary. Downright horrible. Downright impossible to replicate, from his childhood to his superpowers to the mob.

She's getting a little better at it the more she goes...but it's still only been a few days. A few days, and she works nights, and sometimes afternoons, and it's really tiring keeping up an appearance like this. It's not like she's forgotten it's just...been awhile. She's able to be more open. More herself. She's forgotten some of her vital coping mechanisms.

That's the state Riley finds herself in, having slept in late and just dragged herself to life minutes before a light knock sounds through the entrance to her government-assigned living quarters.

It's not Giorno, it's not Steve, or Cairo, or Trish, or anyone else who she could comfortably receive a visit from. No, it's a voice she sort of recognizes—but mostly it's a set of alarm bells ringing in her ears. ]

One- one moment, please!

[ She can lock her door. It's fine. Quietly, she does so, with the deadbolt, before opening the door just a crack. Just a small, small crack. ]

Hello?

[ikutachi]

[ One moment.

One moment is fine. She lets her gaze wander in the meantime, staring down a hallway that one pristine moment feels like it goes on forever. Endless doors to check, endless problems to fix. Endless eyes watching. Even now, one suddenly feels viscerally close, breathing down her neck in a way she can almost glimpse-

A click.

What Riley gets through her crack is that same blue uniform, but the expression that snaps to meet hers looks thoroughly rattled over... something. There is nothing else outside aside from Normal Person Hallway. On sheer instinct, the hand goes back to rest at her side instead of gripping her own arms. No reason to be paranoid. It's just another girl, barely older than herself.

Remain composed in all things, unbothered, and Riley gets a small smile. ]

Ah-Hello. I'm sorry for bothering you, Miss Williams. I was sent to conduct a wellness check.

[isawallflower]

[ Have I seen that eye before?

That's the first thought in Riley's head, distracting her from the statement. Riley's observant. In fact, so much of her mental processing power goes to observing everyone around her, so she can know if she's safe. Safe to talk, to listen, to express, to exist. So recognition flickers through Riley's mind, but she can't quite place it. The apartments, 38-8, was it- the museum, she—

Riley blinks, as words ricochet through her head like ping pong balls. Words that this girl, this E+L conscript she may know said. They— ]

A...wellness check?

[ Blinks again. Again. ]

Um. I'm sorry, I don't think I understand?

[ What did I do wrong? ]

[ikutachi]

[ Suspicion rises, a static sea, wrapping up around her throat at the question. Riley's first question meets silence as her eyes close. Hold your breath; don't speak. Run every single thought you can. Stop jumping at shadows, the girl is her own age, her anxiety is nearly visible in the air, let me make my own decisions when serving, don't you trust me?, she doesn't know anything, hiding behind a door when a stranger knocks is normal, this is NORMAL.

The tide recedes, settling back around her shoulders, and only when she's sure her voice is Hers do the eyes open once more. ]

I don't know any details, miss. One of your neighbors must have found you... [ Suspicious? No. No. ] Haah... Well, everyone's paranoid these days. Even so, I am obligated to answer all calls I am given.

[ I don't know. ]

May I take a look inside?

cw: trauma response, parental abuse

[isawallflower]

[ What Wakaba doesn’t know is this sets off something…buried. A faceless woman, features lost to previous deaths, sharply reminds Riley to be on her best behavior, for what will the neighbors think? What will they say, how will she reflect poorly, on them?

Riley doesn’t realize she’s opening the door, to try and rush out, to clear this up in the open. Which is foolish, because she doesn’t want anyone to see her being crazy, that defeats the point, but it’s what her mother did—

Anyway, while Riley’s no pushover, she doesn’t have the abilities or enhancements Wakaba does, and though she try and stand in front of it, it’s easy to move past her, should Wakaba wish. ]

Well- hol- [ Stop that. Don’t— ] Hold on, I’m not- I haven’t- I’ve been- doing everything I’ve supposed to.

[ What a silly, stupid statement from a silly, stupid little girl. In a few months, Riley will be twenty, but right now she feels like seven and struggling to articulate herself. ]