[PRP] A different sort of follow up [America/Shun]

[Blade Kuroda]

Shun drew in a deep breath, then fired off a text to America.

Lizbot

From Shun Kuroda:
Are you free after work I have questions

 

[lizbot]

She was indeed free and happy to meet up with him at a nearby park. Well, happy-ish. He was alive and the world was still intact and nobody else was dead, right? Probably. But if Shun had questions, they were probably important and likely not good news. But maybe they were simple, mundane questions. Maybe he needed to get someone a gift, or find out more about Florida, or ask about glyphs or updates on...well, whatever. It didn't have to be bad. It probably was but it didn't have to be.

So went the internal argument circling America's head as she approached the picnic table where he waited. Optimism was, in it's way, much the same as running for her. She tried to do it every day and even when when she was tired or hurt, it made her feel better, made the world easier to deal with and more approachable. It's something she'd worked at all her life, until it felt natural and looked even more so. But sometimes, despite all that, it was hard to keep up.

"Hey, Shun," she greeted him with a smile, adjusting the strap of her satchel. "How's the eye?"

blade kuroda

 

[Blade Kuroda]

Shun sat at the picnic table with his hands folded over its surface. He nodded once to her in greeting.

"Still missing. Not really sore anymore though," he replied, "And you? Have you been holding up alright?"

Lizbot

 

[lizbot]

"Been getting through it, can't tell if the everyday stuff makes the rest of it easier or gets in the way, sometimes. But I think I need it," she admitted with a chagrined look. "Keeps my feet on the ground."

blade kuroda

 

[Blade Kuroda]

"Well, there is that I suppose."

After waiting a moment, he went ahead to dive into business.

"We received a call earlier reporting that Liam Noor has gone missing."

Lizbot

 

[lizbot]

There's a thoughtful frown. "Is that why he's been missing classes? Is Sunny okay?"

blade kuroda

 

[Blade Kuroda]

"She is fine as far as I know. At least not in any danger. Right now we are trying to gather any information on where he might have gone and the like."

Lizbot

 

[lizbot]

"Maybe to see Renard? From what I heard he's like, too busy working and stuff to be home a lot." There's a brief, judgemental twist to her expression. He'd gone through the effort of helping them make the cage and save Sunny, but apparently visiting her was too much.

Then again, maybe he felt the failure in saving the Sunny they'd known all the more keenly.

blade kuroda

 

[Blade Kuroda]

Shun shook his head, "Renard was the one who called in the report."

After tapping his fingers on the table lightly, he said, "It was mentioned that Liam lent you something of great importance to him. A book?"

Lizbot

 

[lizbot]

She looked surprised, "Oh yeah, it's the one I brought with me, I was gonna ask you and Jer to look it over. It's about cages. But he lent that to me right before Christmas." America ended with a decidedly confused look.

blade kuroda

 

[Blade Kuroda]

Shun lifted his head a bit at that. It was an interesting book for Liam to have had to say in the least.

"Interesting. I may have been a bit earlier on but... was he acting weird at all during the exchange?"

Lizbot

 

[lizbot]

There's a long pause as America thought back to that dinner. She has a good memory for conversation, and the whole night stood out fairly clear to her.

"He was pretty relaxed and casual throughout. He usually is, though. His class was brought up and I was thinking about registering for it, asked what it was about. It touches on cages and I was interested, so he lent me the book. It was written by Vivien, the girl at the beach. She was his fiancee in the original timeline."

blade kuroda

 

[Blade Kuroda]

That didn't really give a whole lot of insight. The fact that the book was written by Vivien was interesting, but...

"I wonder if her ghost is still lingering around. She was at the Fairy ball, and Liam was able to contact her on Halloween," he murmured. But if he was trying to do something like reach out to her, he probably would have said something to Renard.

Lizbot

 

[lizbot]

America's eyebrows shot up, this was news to her. "You think he's maybe looking for her?" Her ghost or maybe even a living version. Since that was...that was a thing.

blade kuroda

 

[Blade Kuroda]

"Maybe. I feel like he would have told Renard, though," he pointed out, "Unless something came up really abruptly... but even then, phones are a thing."

Lizbot