INBOX

[overstrain]

TERRENCE NOWELL

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» Yo, it's Terry! Leave a message. «

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TEXT / VIDEO / VOICE / ACTION

© EFRYNDIEL

(Note: Terry gave Kido his phone. Bought his own flipphone on 8/26!)

He has a stall set up in the market street for locating things. Feel free to thread it out with an inbox action thread or handwave it!

Comments

9/14, Action

[not_that_sasuke]

[He notices when he can't find Terry in any of his usual spots.

Whatever he felt like talking to Terry about takes a back seat in his concern at the unusual behavior, instructing Kurou to go take a look around to help him cover ground even faster. Meanwhile, Sasuke himself goes to check the house to see if anyone's there...]

[overstrain]

[ The house is pretty quiet, but it looks like it hasn't had a day when it hasn't been maintained. There are clear signs of someone living here, though it's really been 1-2 days. Rimi, the otamatone is performing perimeter guard by walking around the house repeatedly while soaking up the sunlight so that it charges itself. It spots Sasuke and gives off a sound of short successive three beeps.

That's what makes Terry open the front door. ]

Mm... Sasuke?

[ His eyes look tired. ]

[not_that_sasuke]

[Weird... Aren't the others usually around?]

Did something happen? You aren't usually home at this time of day, right?

[To say nothing of how tired he looks.]

[overstrain]

... Yeah. I should have put up a sign or something at the stall. I took some several days off...

[ He looks at Sasuke and then at Rimi, who's passing Sasuke and resuming perimeter guard again. He looks back up at Sasuke's face. ]

You need something? Wanna come in?

[not_that_sasuke]

[He hesitates a moment, because he hadn't really intended to be invited in, but... Maybe he can get a better idea of what's going on if he does?]

Sure... but just for a little bit.

[So no need to waste hospitality on him.]

[overstrain]

[ Terry steps aside to let Sasuke in and closes the door once he's inside. The house is barely furnished as usual. The difference is that there seems to be a floating bed in Terry's room because the door is wide open and you can see inside. Kido and Rei are not inside and the cats are sleeping... except for Ami, the mom cat. She hobbles over to where Terry is with three legs and sits next to where he stands. Terry reaches down and pets her. ]

So, what do you need? You want some water too?

[not_that_sasuke]

[He shakes his head, looking around. Seeing just how empty the place is.]

I don't need anything like that. Where are the others?

[overstrain]

[ Terry pauses in petting Ami and stands back up straight when he hears that question from Sasuke. He's quiet for a moment, but eventually speaks up: ]

They're... [ dead.

...

No, he needs to have hope. There must have been a reason as to why the hospital took them in instead of immediately dropping them into the morgue when they came in as corpses. ]

... at the hospital. Yeah. [ As if to reassure himself, he repeats. ]

They're at the hospital. Getting... treated.

[not_that_sasuke]

[...What?]

What happened? What are they getting treated for?

[overstrain]

Getting the coins were a little hard, so...

[ Though Terry's the only one that looks fine, physically speaking, aside from the obvious tiredness. ]

They should be fine... probably...

[ He's not sure whether he should have hopes or not. ]

[not_that_sasuke]

[Still...]

I'll go visit them... You just need to talk to the staff at the reception desk, right?

[overstrain]

Yeah. Just ask for Rei and you'll be sent to a room with all three of them there.

[ Because Rei's name is the shortest, easiest to remember, and no mixups with given and family names. ]

... They're not awake yet though.

[ He mutters under his breath, though Sasuke can probably still catch it. ]

[not_that_sasuke]

[-?!]

They're unconscious?

[overstrain]

... Yeah.

[ Terry doesn't do a good job at lying, and Sasuke could probably find out even if he did lie better anyway. It's technically not a lie, but the truth is worse. ]

[not_that_sasuke]

What happened to them?

[Terry's not explaining enough, not by far.]

[overstrain]

[ Terry stays quiet, hesitance straining the atmosphere in the house that even the cats notice it, and they're far off in a corner.

... ]

They got hurt a lot.

[ He quietly breathes out. ]

I thought... they were dead.

[ That's all he can say about it for now. He knew they died. Someone else checked their status too. It's just him being in denial right now. Terry's hands are clasped together with each other behind his back, and his nails dig into his skin a little. He wants to believe that they could still live... somehow. ]

[not_that_sasuke]

Wh...at...?

[His own voice is quiet. Of course it was a threat, it's not like the dungeons were ever safe to explore, but it's a very different story when people you know are hospitalized and unconscious because of it.

Terry thought they were dead. That's how bad it had gotten.]

Did they... get attacked, or...? [A coin was involved, and that meant having to complete dangerous tasks, too. But...]

[overstrain]

Kido and Rei were in the storehouse with the Eldritch in that really hot floor. Mondo took too much poison from the first and third floors.

[ Yeah, Mondo is involved too. Surprise, Sasuke. ]

[not_that_sasuke]

[Cool cool cool cool.]

...Mondo's in the same room with Rei, too?

[He really needs to go check on them...]

So you were you with them...? [Since he knows all this.]

[overstrain]

... Kinda. I was with Mondo and we eventually found Rei and Kido later after we got our coin.

[ There's so much regret seeping out of his voice, but you know what. It'll be fine. he has hope. He wants them to be alive. The hospital can do miracle work. Probably. ]

Anyway, the hospital took them in. It looks like they'll take just about anyone inside, regardless of how dead they look. I was admitted once with a crushed heart and they didn't immediately throw me into the morgue. Maybe they can do something.

[ Like raising the dead?? ]

[not_that_sasuke]

[-UM?]

A crushed heart-?!

[overstrain]

... Right. Um.

[ He doesn't quite remember if he told Sasuke already. All the stress has been making him forget more easily and he looks a bit frustrated at that. ]

I, uh... don't die, so.

[ ... ]

Ta-da...?

[ ??? ]

[not_that_sasuke]

[He definitely didn't! It takes Sasuke a moment to wrestle his surprise down from that new piece of information.

It... It does make sense, now that he thinks about it, but...]

They... definitely couldn't have known about that though, right? The workers at the hospital, I mean.

[overstrain]

I don't really make it a habit of telling people that I don't die, so... they shouldn't have known. I'm pretty sure I didn't tell them anything about it. That makes it even weirder, doesn't it?

[ Seriously, who'd want to taste their valuable hospital supplies trying to revive a person whose heart was crushed?? ]

[not_that_sasuke]

...So if they thought they could heal you from that, then...

[It's not so surprising they'd take in three people who by all rights should have died.

Still.]

Are the townspeople here really just normal people?