destinystrings | Best wishes in the coming year!

Who: SEES + Ryoji + Pharos + any guests they invited
Where: The cafe where the Arisato twins work. Seems they got permission from their boss to host a party there, provided they clean up afterwards.
When: Forward dated to December 31st into January 1st
Summary: Celebrating the coming of the New Year - and celebrating the fact that this world, at least, shows no signs of ending in a month.
Warnings: battle panties, some guy with a scarf flirting with all the ladies, oh and spoilers for Persona 3, in case you're worried about those at this point.

New Years eve was a time stamped firmly into the memories of most of SEES - the night when they had to make the choice between facing death and the end of the world head on or closing their eyes and ears and forgetting so that the end would take them blissfully unawares. But of course, none of them had opted for the latter, and now here they were on another New Year's Eve. But instead of sitting solemnly together, they had decided to celebrate - that they were here and alive and that the world had not ended.

And so the Arisato twins had gotten a space ready (the cafe where they worked was closed for the evening, and they'd somehow managed to arrange for its use all the same), and now it was time to party!

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[ Minato smiles. It was a little odd at first to have Pharos around and asking that so often, but now... now he doesn't think he minds. Besides, Pharos seems to have dropped the habit of always waking him up in the middle of the night to talk, which makes conversations with him ever so much nicer. ]

I've been all right. You needn't worry about me. ... I've a family here.

[He worries about you as your friend, it's hard to stop. ~~The questions are are him being sorta subconsciously clingy.~~ And he doesn't to adhere to that little habit of dropping by at midnight to chat because he can talk to both of the Arisatos anytime of the day he wants! Win-win situation, really.

Smiling;] That's good. I'm happy for you.

I'm glad you're happy. I hope you've been enjoying yourself here... It's... nice to see you at times other than midnight.

[... ?]

Thank you, Minato. [c: He had entertainment, he had his best friends and right now, he had cookies he barely tasted to eat. Pharos thinks its good enough to count.]

[He huffed;] It was very difficult to manifest at other times back then. But, I agree. I prefer this current arrangement more. [It had been similar to rolling a boulder up a mountain through a wall of cobwebs to project himself in the beginning so he had done it when he had found it easiest. Midnight.]

I prefer it, too.

[ He pauses, a question occurring to him. ]

How did you manifest, anyway? Were you... physically there or just... in my head?

[ He knows very well that Pharos was always with him, but... ]

[Pharos pauses as well, considering that question and how explain it in words. He hadn't thought about it in-depth much himself really.]

I existed only to you.

[Does that count as 'just in your head,' because it doesn't to Pharos. He had enough weight to made an impression on the bed when he sat on it, but he'd been practically a ghost in all other sense of the word.] My physical presence on that level of existence was very faint, if nonexistent.

[Yep, always with you. Always always.]

[ Minato nods and is quiet for a few moments, sipping at his drink. ]

... I almost wish you'd been able to appear a lot sooner.

[ It's an idle thought that he doesn't entirely mean to come out, but it does. And he finds himself thinking about how nice it would have been to know he had a friend with him always, even when he moved... instead of thinking maybe he had a curse... ]

[He's quiet too for a few moments.

It couldn't be helped. He could not materialize into reality without being in proximity with the other fragments of Death, or absorbing the loose parts of his body back into himself. Pharos took a drink from his cup.]

... I'm sorry. I did try to speak to you at first. [He... thinks so anyway. He had not been especially self-aware during the first few years. Or that considerate of what Minato would be able to bear.] You couldn't hear me.

[ Minato thinks about the things he used to see out of the corner of his eyes sometimes. And he thinks about what he thought about the Dark Hour when he was a little kid, and he thinks maybe it was for the best that he hadn't been able to hear Pharos, but even so...

He nods, smiling a bit wryly. ]

I don't know if I would have understood, anyway...

But don't be sorry. [ His smile becomes more genuine, and he closes his eyes and shakes his head. ]

[But he is sorry. Pharos doesn't exactly link feeling 'sorry' with feeling 'guilt', but there is regret in him. He is sorry that he couldn't comprehend that just because something hurt, didn't mean it should be erased. He is sorry that he unintentionally damaged both of them in his attempts to become entire. He is sorry they thought they were alone and friendless even as children.

Pharos didn't feel guilty about any of that. It wasn't an emotion that existed to him yet. But he did feel regretful over it.]

Alright. [It is an empty agreement on his part. He sighed a bit, and uh. Reaching over to touch his arm?] The human language is awfully limited...

[ Minato glances down at Pharos' hand before covering it with his own. He looks back up at his small friend, smiling again, though there's a rueful touch to it. ]

Unfortunately, yes, it is. But it's all most of us have to work with...

Best wishes in the coming year!

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