Comms and Other Long FE Oneshots

Quiet Afternoon

*Part of something I call the Takumi Timeline. Conquest up until Izumo, and then stuff happens. All royal siblings survive.*

"Lord Takumi."

The prince sighed lightly, opening his eyes and meeting Oboro's gaze. "Oboro," he greeted her in kind, not moving from the corner of his room. He'd managed to uncurl in however much time had passed since the initial door collapsing- he still hadn't gotten a satisfactory explanation for how exactly that had happened, though he hadn't really been trying his hardest. His tired brown gaze landed on the tray in her hands. Hunger, hunger, hate, the swirling voices in his head whispered, and he shook his head slightly, wincing.

"It's been a couple of hours since Nyx came in with that tea," Oboro told him, coming closer and kneeling next to him since he wasn't telling her not to. "Are you feeling any better from it?"

"A bit." He didn't really remember Nyx and her tea. Just flashes, feeling better after the voices and images from a timeline that could have been if there hadn't been interference had subsided somewhat. They were still there, but not as insistent. "Enough to be hungry at least." It was something they all seemed to agree on, everything subsiding for a bit as he recognized the bowl as miso soup. She handed him the tray and he carefully adjusted his position so that nothing would spill. The odd-smelling tea on the tray... "Did she make me another cup?"

"Yes. She said that she had never seen anything quite like what you have... this is supposed to soothe the effects of possession, but she insists that you aren't possessed even though you seem to be suffering from all the effects of it."

Gods but that woman was smart. "That's the simplest explanation for my... issues, actually," he murmured, picking up the tea and sipping at it. It tasted odd too... not bad but not something he would drink for the sake of drinking it. Better than most medicine at least. "Possessed yet not." He looked at her. "I've probably made a right spectacle of myself in front of our guests."

"They don't seem to mind that much," Oboro assured him, moving a swath of her dark blue hair out of her face. "Lord Leo and his retainers have agreed to let the issue sit until you recover but the prince himself and Lady Azura have insisted that if you need someone to talk to, they're open." Azura was probably the reason that Prince Leo had been convinced to back off, in all honesty. "It's been explained to Lady Elise that this is incurable and it would seem that Lady Camilla is warming to you a bit because of it."

He noted her finger tapping on her thigh- an action he knew she only did when irritated over something and there was likely only one thing that would have her irritated. "There's someone here from the four, isn't there?"

"Lord Soren," she confirmed, ducking her head somewhat shamefacedly. "He said that what Nyx was doing was enough to help you through this."

"That's his way of saying that he can't do anything. Lord Morgan is a different story." He sipped at his tea again. "What is he doing?"

"He's... keeping Lord Corrin company in the library." Traitor, traitor! Kill! Oboro placed a hand on his shoulder, he must have stiffened, or winced, or something. He took a gulp of tea this time, shaking off the voices and images with a slight grimace. "...He's worried, but seemed to realize that being around you would only make things worse."

"That's surprisingly perceptive of him," Takumi muttered, setting the cup down. "Soren is likely in there to make sure he stays as such."

Oboro asked no questions as to how Soren would know that Corrin was restless and about as likely to harm as to help even though his heart was generally in the right place. Sakura traumatized, you and your retainers dead. Thousands of Hosidans given to the Grim Yato. His heart was most certainly NOT in the right place. Pacifist. Corrin was a pacifist. He blinked when Oboro pulled out a small card, blue designs hand-painted onto it. "This is from Shigure," she explained, showing it to him. "He thought it might cheer you up a bit."