Locked In The Mind-Scape

#42- third times a charm

~𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟖𝟒~

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐛𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡. 𝐈𝐭𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝, 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤. 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡, 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥; 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞, 𝐈 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐱 𝐢𝐭, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭, 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲; 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐇𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐬𝐡𝐢'𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐲𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲. 𝐇𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 '𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡 𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐧.' 𝐇𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐇𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧. 𝐇𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐬𝐡𝐢 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬. 𝐈 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦.
- 𝐊𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐚

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"Hey, kiddo. We're just stopping by to check on you. How are you doing?" Vee kneeled down by the young girl; Vee smiling gently as Kiara just bearly noticed them.

Kiara tilted her head as she watched Niana set up a humidifier. She wondered if the pro-hero knew they weren't 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 ill, or if she had misunderstood the matter.

The past few days had been busy for the system and they're main caretakers. Alot went into the bullying situation, as Zero had been frustrated with Hitoshi ever since. Not angry, but worried. Worried for Hitoshi, and worried for the body as a whole. If the matter had escalated to physical harassment, they'd all be dealing with the consequences of the teen's previous refusal to inform an adult. At the same time, they weren't angry. Just glad everything sorted out well. God forbid there be a next time to contemplate.

The room was a mess. Papers were scattered all over their desk from missing assignments; clothes tossed anywhere and everywhere, yet, mostly on the bed. A half drunken late was still melting ice on the night stand, practically hidden behind all of Melody's misplaced stuffed animals. There was practically no room to walk through the maze of children's books and dropped jewelry.

"This cannot be safe.. " Niana mumbled, falling gently to her knees to gather the surrendered earings and other dangerous items. "Some of these don't even have the backs connected to them. You could hurt yourself if you step on them."

"Or fall on them-.. Over the piles of clothes.." Vee added, abandoning his previously unanswered question to the settled air; who seemed to be the only one to actually hear it. He gently lifted Niana up onto the bed. "Alright, sweetheart. You just stay there unless you're going to help clean up. Wouldn't want you to just stand there while we clean around you." He chuckled softly, lifting up a few clothing items just to toss them off into the laundry hamper.

"Are these all dirty, or did you guys just toss them around?" Niana looked up to the tween, her eyelashes covering the majority of the red hue. "There's no way you went through fifty clothing items in the past five days."

Kiara shrugged, laying back on the bed, her legs dangling over the edge. She shut her eyes, thoughts quieting down. Or, maybe they were just too loud to understand what was being thought of. His breathe settled to a steady pace, one she often loved without. It was calm. So calm, that she might as well drift off. But she didn't.. Her head was buzzing. Crackling and popping like the hard rock candies Mina always walked around with. Her thoughts seemed to boil. Like water.

Always feelings that didn't make sense. Always feelings other people could never understand. Not because they didn't understand pain, but because 'cracking, popping, and boiling' weren't emotions. They weren't thoughts. They didn't make sense. How was she supposed to sleep when it felt so wrong? When it didn't make sense..

Minutes passed, maybe hours before Vee and Niana seemed to come back into view for Kiara. Her eyes set back on the two as if they had shifted places in an instant.

Niana sat herself criss-cross on the now cleared out floor; as Vee took it upon himself to feed the Kittens and return with Coco in tow. He placed the kitten on Kiara's chest; sitting down on the bed near her, fixing the young girl's hair. She wasn't using her shifter by any means. It wasn't in her current needs. She used the shifter more to help with dismorphia than anything else. She didn't have the groundings to think of her body. To look at it or claim it as real. As her own.

"Hey," He murmured quietly, laying her head in his own lap as his fingers combed through her messy lilac knotts. "Feeling pretty disoriented, huh?"

Vee kept his voice low and smooth as he allowed them to disconnect a bit; in order to not disturb the extremely obvious approaching switch. It felt calm, in a way. The noise was low, her breathing soft. It would speed up and hitch every so often before settling back down, as if trying to let someone else aproch the front-space.

If there was any point in time leading up to a turning point, it had to be today. Getting so low they could bearly walk. So completely gone, that they spent the past four days unsure who had been out for 95 percent of the time..