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[ It's not as bad as it once was, but a crowd still always makes her nervous, more than the fact that she never went to school nor had these sort of experiences. Festivals are fine, if she has to go, but she has no burning desire for that sort of thing... Still, if it's something Terry's looking forward to and might motivate him to get better quicker, there's no reason to say no. ]

Sure. If you're okay to leave the hospital by then, I'll come pick you up, and we can go together.

[ It really would motivate him to better quicker, as if he wasn't doing enough of that already-- ]

Really?! I thought you didn't like them. If you don't want to go, you don't have to...

[ Kido startles at the outburst; he's already so energetic already, maybe he will make it in time for the festival. ]

It's fine! It's not like I hate them-- and didn't you want to go? You can't ask that and then take it back!

Yeah, but...

[ He kinda half-expected Kido to say no, so having that overturned really surprises him. ]

When is it anyway? My healing rate kinda sucks, so...

[ Don't ask things you don't mean!!! Kido huffs and takes another bite of mochi instead of answering right away. Healing rate... like he's some sort of videogame character... ]

It's next weekend... That's probably too soon for a full recovery, isn't it?

[ we all vidyas kido ]

Yeah... but I've been good so far. I think I can keep doing it like this. I haven't left the bed unless I really needed to, so I've been here all day. Resting all day... I wish I could play games while I waited.

[ He laughs a little, but wow the pain goes through all the painkillers. He definitely feels that. ]

So I'm glad you're here, also that I can see that you're doing fine.

[ Kido doesn't laugh. It's kind of hard to, in the hospital, even if she knows she should at least smile or something to put Terry at ease. ]

I was fine because I wasn't a front line fighter like you were, and because I could heal myself when I get hurt. Maybe I should've been looking after you more closely instead...

[ Then maybe he wouldn't have "died." There's a lot of maybes that could have been, but she shakes her head so she doesn't go down that rabbit hole. Maybe later, when she's in her room and is alone. ]

But it looks like it's pretty boring here, between sleeping and sitting... I don't know if you're interested in this sort of stuff, but I have a music player you could borrow, and a dart board, if you know how to play.

[ Playing darts sounds like a fun thing to do, except... Terry would have to retrieve the darts every time, and that's not something he can do when he's pretty much confined to his bed. He'd feel bad about asking Kido to get them every time too. She's not his gopher or anything. ]

... I was with Rei.

[ Terry isn't sure if Kido knows that Rei's main role was to heal, and if the healer couldn't heal someone she was with, it would have been an irreversible scenario--a one hit kill. Though he's still reluctant on giving Kido the full gruesome details, he's hoping that she could fill in some parts herself. ]

I've had a lot of time to think by myself... I was usually alone back home, since my friend wasn't around a lot, but being by myself here feels... different.

[ She doesn't connect the dots at all, thinking that Terry simply means that Rei kept him company while he was at the hospital these past few days. Maybe she didn't stay all day, and Terry still felt lonely; time really does stretch when there's nothing going on, even if it's an hour at a time. ]

That's because it's not a home, is it? You're woken up every few hours, sometimes in the middle of the night. It's never quiet outside. Your door doesn't even have a lock on it. [ He probably needs a nurse's help getting to the bathroom? She doesn't voice this point out loud, but that sort of thing is an inconvenience too. ]

It's hard to be comfortable in a hospital.

Hm... I was frequently at a hospital back home because I used to help my friend with work sometimes, or I went around the hospital and talked to some patients. But I guess it's being a patient in there that makes all the difference. Or maybe it's because I'm by myself sometimes, which leads me to think... I... I don't like that.

[ Thinking makes his head hurt, but it also makes him think about other things he feels like he shouldn't be thinking about. ]

... Hey, Kido. Have you done something like this before? Staying in a hospital as a patient.

[ Terry being so familiar with hospitals and yet he can't take care of himself... mind-boggling. But what he says is right, about how it's very different being a patient versus just hanging around like she is now. ]

Not as a patient, no. But my mother was in the hospital for a while. I was young, so I more or less stayed with her the entire time.

[ A mother in a hospital... Terry wonders how that would feel, an important loved one in a medical facility like this, perhaps waiting for death to come or having a lingering uncertainty for the future of their recovery. ]

That's nice... I'm sure she didn't feel lonely with you being there for her all the time.

[ Which makes him think again, from all the patients that he'd seen in the hospital back home, trembling and crying, saying that they didn't want to die alone. Terry, for one, thought if he ever died, he would have been alone and found nothing wrong with it. He feels like he can understand the sentimentality of it now, even if just a little. ]

You're so strong, Kido.

[ She can only hope that her mother wasn't lonely when Kido was there, though she thinks it was more out of necessity for not having anybody else to look after her- no father, no other relative she was aware of, until her mother passed away and she was taken in by them. Not things she likes to think about very much, and hasn't had to for a while, so she's silent for a bit before leaning back in her seat. ]

...I can't go around crying and relying on people all the time. So I had to learn to become strong, to be able to do things on my own... [ Even if she says that, she's been supported all this time, so it can't even be said that she's done anything on her own. ]

Whereas you're always getting hurt. I can't tell if you're strong or weak, sometimes.

Well, for what I'm weak in, you can cover for me when you can, right?

[ He grins at that. ]

Sometimes I wish my creation process wasn't as messed up. I could have had regeneration and everything. That's why I can't take hits well, because my body can't heal itself that fast either... but there were lots of times when I had to do what I had to do, so I couldn't avoid that.

Huh... You're a jellyfish.

[ Haha.

Anyways, she supposes it's true, that the reason why people tend to band together is to cover for their weaknesses, and in a place like this where they're all so uncertain about everything, that's even more important. ]

... Why am I a jellyfish? Do I shock you?

[ ha.

Ha.

Ah.......... ]

[ Closes her eyes

counts down from five ]

...Yes. Constantly.

Do I really?

[ He can't help but to grin even wider, because of Kido's reaction. ]

Tell me more.

[ Kido breathes a laugh, because ]

Case in point: this right here.

[ It's not something to smile about, but Terry's always been weird. ]

But I meant that some jellyfish are supposed to immortal. ...I think. They're mysterious and deadly but [ She reaches over and pokes Terry in the cheek ] They're still squishy.

[ With that, Terry laughs. Just ignore the pain. It's fine. It's fine... ]

A squishy immortal that's also mysterious and deadly! That actually sounds cute, but I don't know how I'm supposed to feel since that's directed to me.

If you think it's cute, you can keep assuming it's a compliment.

[ Instead of all the negative things she could say about jellyfish, them being brainless and aimless and whatever. She can't say much about animals, just what Seto tells her. ]

It... It wasn't?

[ Terry doesn't know much about jellyfish either, so he's completely lost on how it's not a compliment, but maybe it's better that way. ]

But since we're comparing to animals, you remind me of an owl. Maybe a leopard...?

It might be a compliment.

[ Maybe. But owls are cool? Leopards are cool... ]

Predators, huh? Must be something on your mind a lot, if you're not getting along with these cats. What's up with them, anyways?

[ Why are cats allowed in the hospital... not that she's complaining, but still. ]

Because owls are wise! And leopards are cool.

[ He's simple, really. ]

The cats just started following me a while ago and the nurses tried to get rid of them because having animals in the hospital isn't usually allowed, right? But the cats kept sneaking their way into the hospital... I thought it was kinda funny to see the nurses like that. It reminded me of a time when a cat tried to keep getting into an art museum back home. But they gave up, moved my bed to a corner and I started taking care of them. I even got pet grooming gloves from home--a crow dropped it off.

But...

[ His smile gradually falls off his face. ]

They started hating me all of a sudden. I'm not sure what happened... I didn't do anything that would make them mad. They usually sleep on my bed or under it. They're all the way in the other corner now.

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