( 🕊 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐃𝐒 𝐅𝐋𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐃𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 // o&a )

[Ploegy]

⇀Ｃｈｉｙｏｋｏ Ｅｎｄｏ!!
xxxfemale • eighteen years old • the dove • tagged: yuuto
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The forest had always been so peaceful to Chiyoko. Over the years she had spent here, it never seemed to change and that put her at ease though she wished she could find her way out. All this time, she had found a way to survive, or that was what she had come to believe. It was beyond her that she was truly dead. Instead, she saw herself as a survivalist, believing that her natural instincts had kicked in to keep her going and it was all because she wanted to return to her beloved friends. How long had it been since she last saw them? She had lost track, but she still desired to be reunited with the group. Everyday she felt she was inching closer to that goal of seeing them once more.

"Today I'll find the edge of this forest! I swear!" Chiyoko stated, trying to build up her own confidence. It was the same thing everyday and she knew it, but she hated to admit it. It seemed no matter how hard she tried to reach the edge, she never could. Each day she had to restart her adventure, going in a different direction every time. Of course she had to repeat them eventually, but that was such a minor detail. Brushing those thoughts off, Chiyoko briefly spun in a circle, trying to decide which way she would wander off in today. Given how long she had been trapped, she had lost her sense of direction.

Which way had she gone yesterday? Furrowing her brows, she strained herself to remember, but no matter how hard she tried, it seemed she had already forgotten. "I think I went towards the river not too long ago...." she trailed off as she tapped her chin in thought. The river was a common place for her to go. She wasn't sure what always drove her to it, but it seemed many of her adventures took her there. She never dared enter it though given that she couldn't swim, something she rarely told anyone about. It was embarrassing. Anytime she was asked to swim, she'd always avert the conversation to something else or say she hadn't brought a swimsuit.

Again she found herself trailing off on useless thoughts and frustration began to take her over. It wasn't often that Chiyoko expressed such an emotion, but after being lost for so long, she simply desired to make some kind of progress on her goal. Letting a groan of annoyance escape her lips, the young girl did yet another turn with her eyes squinted. Before she could do anything further, a voice cut through her thoughts. Perking up at its sound, Chiyoko frantically began looking around for its source. "W-where did that come from?" she breathed out in a panic. Had someone finally come to rescue her? That was what she hoped.

Without second thought, Chiyoko stumbled forward, pushing her way through the underbrush of the forest floor. "Hello?! Hello?! I'm over here!" she began yelling, hoping that the other would hear her cries for help and find her. Continuing to stumble forward, she found herself nearly tripping over her own feet out of excitement. When was the last time she had heard another's voice? That was yet another thing she had lost track of. Not many seemed to venture out here like they had in the past. Nevertheless, she was determined to find the owner of the voice she had heard.

It was only a matter of seconds before she came stumbling out from the underbrush and finally found herself tripping. Letting out a soft cry, Chiyoko winced as she slowly pushed herself back to her knees. "It's no use...." she sighed, not yet noticing Yuuto in the near distance. Finding herself nearly in tears, she finally lifted her head high enough to see the legs of the male before her. Frozen in complete shock, no sounds could escape her throat. All she could do was stare in disbelief. Finally, she wasn't alone.

[whispersome]

◆ YUUTO HOSHINO
[ The Crow ] — [ He/they ] — [ 19 ]
tags. Chiyoko, Junpei

‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎Black feathers blurred at the corners of Yuuto’s vision as he pursued the crow that had gotten his attention. It wants me to follow so badly, he figured, I might as well play along. It wasn’t like any of this would mean anything in an hour or three, anyway—or at least he was telling himself, for his sanity’s sake if nothing else. He didn’t yet want to face what this was, if not some weird dream. The earth still felt unsteady and cottony as he walked, a slight wobble in his legs as he half-jogged to catch up with the crow, already somewhat winded. Had he really gotten that out of shape? (Not that, of course, he’d been particularly fit to begin with, but…)

‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ That feeling in his stomach only intensified the farther he went. Yuuto tugged at his hair, limp red strands in need of a cut or at least better styling (and definitely a touch-up of the dye he wore), though he hadn’t been able to scrounge up the motivation. That had been the case for almost everything in his life as of late, though. The past few years, really. With how used he was to deep-seated apathy and sometimes a slow burn of anger to fill its place, the sensation of something like anxiety was only more unsettling.

‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ He took a breath and turned. He listened close for the crow’s cawing—and heard something else. Voices were crying in the distance, vaguely familiar but too far for Yuuto to make out their exact tone, let alone the content of their speech, no matter how hard he strained his ears; the trees were too dense and his position was too out of the way. Not that anything around here seemed to be not out of the way. Yuuto could recall, on one late-night Wikipedia binge, reading about liminal spaces—this forest seemed to qualify as one, or at least one big middle of nowhere type place. He shifted his focus back to where he was walking before he could run into a tree or, worse, some hungry creature. Although it didn’t seem that anything was too active save for the birds.

‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ Speaking of which—Yuuto glanced around, trying to catch sight of that damn crow again. They were big birds, slick feathers as black as night hardly blending into the softer surroundings, and noisy besides; it shouldn’t have been that hard, but his tormentor seemed to have all but dissipated into mist. Yuuto’s resting scowl tightened. It had invited him to follow—the least it could do was make sure he really was keepng pace. Or maybe he was the fool for thinking a crow in maybe-a-dream meant anything.

‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ Unable to consider this at length, he snapped to attention at the sound of another voice, this one close enough for individual words to be discernible. A shouted greeting followed by a synchronized thud and cry of something between surprise and pain. Gray eyes shot across the clearing, narrowing as they searched for the source.

‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ It didn’t take too long—small as she was, especially hunched over where she’d fallen, a girl with hair as bright as Yuuto’s was hard to miss. Something pressed at the back of Yuuto’s mind, a trickling sensation that he knew her. Yet he stepped closer. If this was a dream after all—a theory that Yuuto was still clinging to despite its increasing improbability—then it was probably just that typical dream feeling of knowing something but being unable to access it, right? He’s heard only faces people have seen show up in dreams, anyway. Upon waking, he’d probably remember it for two hours, rack his brains, and then give up and forget all about it within the week.

‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ But as he got closer, hand half-extended to help the girl up (he didn’t go looking for fights to that extent), the distant familiarity clicked. She was older than she would have been, a bit taller, but that hair, and that face… The human memory was fallible, seeing what it wanted to see, but Yuuto’s had always been decent, and he didn’t think the faces of his childhood friends were any that were liable to fade or warp with time. “…No,” he heard himself say, distant, but he could barely feel his lips move. “You’re not—”

‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ His hand shot back as though burned, despite the lack of touch, and he stumbled backwards. This had to be a dream, then—and if not, it was one cruel prank. Another rustling sound had Yuuto jerking his head around, and as his eyes met a wide amber pair, his grimace only hardened.

‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ “All right, all right,” he said, surprisingly even, though in a low murmur that indicated he was speaking far more to himself than either Chiyoko or Junpei. “Any other figments of my past wanna show up to haunt me now? If I get to choose, I think I want to chat with that guy I lost a debate to in my first year of middle school.” He cracked his knuckles in emphasis.

[leaving…]

► ── ❝ M I K I ❞
( 20 yrs ) ( female ) ( the workaholic ) ( tags: hikori )


miki called out louder and louder but it seemed hopeless. she couldn’t see anyone or anything besides trees, and the brightness of the sun that poked its way in between the branches. she flopped down beside a tree and brought her knees to her head, wrapping her arms tightly around her legs. deep breaths, deep breaths. she said over and over in her head. somehow, she got her way into this and she will certainly find her way out. the woodpecker drummed into the tree and it seemed to grow louder by the second. "Don’t you have anything better to do than follow me?" she lifted her head towards the woodpecker and scoffed. her annoyed thoughts were interrupted by a quiet sound.

miki stood from the tree and looked around. it sounded like another voice. "H-H-Hello?" she said rather timidly. suddenly, the noise grew louder and she realized it was a person, calling back to her. usually, miki would turn and run. dealing with strangers was certainly not on the top of her to-do list every day. but today was different. today everything and everyone was strange and she needed to take a leap of faith and believe that there was someone else stuck out here with her.

"Hello?" she said much louder this time. "Can you hear me?" Miki started to run towards the voice. it began to grow louder and louder, so she must be close. her sneakers pounded on the ground beneath her, crunching the leaves with every step. she continued to call out as her eyes frantically scanned the area for any sign of another person. she became slightly distracted by the trees and didn’t turn her head quick enough to stop herself from running straight into the person who was calling back to her.

she fell to the ground and rubbed her head. "Ah, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t paying attention. I-" her sentence cut short when she lifted her head and saw the boy standing in front of her. her eyes widened and she crawled back a few steps to fully look at him. "H-Hikori?" she stuttered at the sight of him. she didn’t know what to say. all she could to was raise her hand to cover her mouth, which opened slightly in disbelief of the sight of her old friend.