Rune sits in the living room this evening, having come 'home' to the safehouse apartment a few days ago. Her visible injuries had faded quickly thanks to help from Valeria and others, and modern medicine couldn't pick up on the lingering dark energy from the demon's attack that had kept her vitals low until she finished shaking it off. Dealing with discharge paperwork had been interesting though, as it required a bit of faking and outright lying on who was handling it; the honest answer to 'where are your parents or legal guardian?' was not going to work.
With her health returned, she has asked to speak with Valeria, Gaofele, and Hinote. It didn't have to be all three of them at the same time, and as she sits upon one of the couches here it appears it won't be all at once.
She nonetheless waits to see who is immediately able to show up, gaze slightly low and hands clasped together; Rune appears to be deep in thought. The TV is off, though the lights are on... it's not that late that people would be sleeping, not just yet.
Hinote Kagari has arrived mostly without trouble. He seems better now. At least, he's not dead. He still hurts a little. He's been beating up derelict air conditioning units recently. They deserved it! Really! Truly!
Regardless, he arrives sits down on the couch and smiles pleasently. This is a lie. This is a lie and he feels bad because he's nervous to the bone. Acting for Runealy's benefit.
"I'm here." he says softly.
"I've done what I've needed to do. By the way. Parents think I'm gone on a trip for a week, now." he offers.
"I'm back!" calls Gao as he walks in the door, Mistpaw perched on his shoulder and his cloak's hood over both of them. "She liked the walk, although she did get tired about halfway back." As the forester removes his cloak, the young cat hops off of his shoulder and trots over to the water bowl to get a drink.
With his cloak put away, Gao heads over to the couch and takes a seat. "It was a nice walk, but I am certainly looking forward to being back in the woods again," he notes. "So -- you wished to speak with us?"
Rune looks up as Hinote arrives, and starts to speak... but stops as Gaofele arrives, allowing a tiny smile at cat-on-shoulder and watching Mistpaw pace off.
Then she gives a single, low nod to Gao's question. "That's right, and..." Another nod to Hinote. "Alright. You still have tomorrow if there's anything left to do, but I wanted to talk about something because we might not get another chance to do it. I might mess up, and the Barrier loses a little more energy each time you fail its Restoration Ritual. I don't need to tell you what it will mean if I slip and fall during one of the dance steps, or if I can't generate enough power."
"What I do need to tell you," Runealy quickly begins to change topics, "is something I think the 'second in centuries' and the 'first in centuries' should hear. No matter how the ritual goes... when you cross through the portal to go back home, you should both know you did what you were supposed to. There was no training available to you, no huge list of historical examples you could use to know how a Knight acts in this situation. But you did it anyway. So..."
She takes a deep breath and concludes: "Thank you. Thank you for sticking with this, for getting us this far, for making sure we have a real chance. You did right."
Hinote Kagari frowns, finally. "I belive in you, Runealy." that's really all he can say to the first point. He doesn't know what the ritual entails. But...
All he can do is shake his head. "I know." he says softly with a short smile. It's really all he can say. Hinote is being short and curt with his replies it seems before he finally closes his eyes and crosses his arms.
"I'm nervous. and scared. This is like the worst stage fright." he mutters finally.
Gaofele Doiru gives Rune a large, kind smile. "For Waldia," he says simply. And for Rune, as well, although he doesn't say it out loud.
He reaches over and claps Hinote on the shoulder. "You've adapted well to what has come your way," the forester points out. "I am sure that it will serve you well in Waldia."
"...You, too?" Rune blinks and stares at Hinote when he admits that. "Maybe we all are. We should be. It's easy to say 'everything will be fine', but we just won't know until we actually get there and do it. Until then... there is something I wanted to ask."
Her gaze sweeps from knight to knight. "When we go back, I want to be sure our historians know about all of this. It's okay if you don't have an answer right this second, but... can you think on an Earth... Tokyo, really... place, event, or person you really want to tell them about?"
Hinote Kagari looks down. "Yeah..." he just admits.
"Don't worry. I'm still going. I'm never backing out of this." he says confidently.
"Doesn't mean it's scary as shit." he straight up swears. He looks down and thinks about this. "Well. Mamoru. Is the major one, but--- something tells me you're already on that one." he says softly. "Anyone else I drained maybe-- Karin and--- I don't even know that other girl's name I fought." he mutters.
Gaofele Doiru is silent for a moment as he thinks about their time on Earth. "We shouldn't forget some of the small kindnesses, especially from early on," he finally remarks. "I know the home-cooked food that the Kinomoto family gave us during our first week here helped to bolster my spirits."
He leans back. "Beyond that, I think the two of you are better judges for who should be included in the list of notables," he admits.
"Scary... yeah... I don't think there's another word for it than that." Rune makes a few headshakes after that, but it's not over the topic of fear. "It doesn't matter what 'I'm already on.' I don't want to be the only one telling them about all of this. So if they get three different records of what Mamoru did, great. If you also talk about food from home, that's fine too. It's not just people, it's places and events. You're the 'first in centuries', and you've done something nobody else has."
She takes another deep breath. "The things you did, the way you share them with others, is going to shape how thousands and thousands of people," it sounds like a tiny number compared to the millions living in Tokyo alone, "think about the 'Unknown World' and the people there. That's huge."
Hinote Kagari smiles. "When this is over, Princess, I'll write about my experiences in a blank book. I've gotten very good at writing with a quill pen, you know." he asides. "Even if.. well. I'm not going to be stuck there." he says softly. "I'll write or...dictate or whatever it is you want me to do, everything. All the mistakes... all the not-mistakes. Pizza." he smiles a little coyly.
"All that." he says. "I'll make sure it gets recorded as it happened, regardless." he says softly.
Gaofele Doiru nods understandingly. "This is the type of lore that deserves to be preserved in history," he agrees. "Both as inspiration for generations to come, and as a trove of knowledge."
Come to think of it, having a personal journal of insights and observations might come in handy, he realizes silently. A way of remembering things that might not be relevant to history, but are of note to himself. "There's definitely quite a bit to write about," he notes.
"You can do some or all of those," Rune confirms to Hinote. "Whatever you like, and however you like. With normal writing," she considers the antiquated style 'normal', "or telling historians, or both. I'm just glad you're here to tell that story..."
Then her gaze returns to Gaofele, "And you too. I just really wanted to say that before we go back, that you've both been great friends, people, Knights. And that's..." She exhales sharply, "All I can think of right now. Thanks for being here!"
Hinote Kagari softly smiles. He takes Runealy's hand. "You have a lot on your mind. Thank you Princess." he says. Then he gives her a soft hug, before relenting. "I'm going to be needing to stay here until we go now though. Don't worry. I won't bother too much." he smiles. "I've been going out to practice at night." he says softly.
Gaofele Doiru smiles as well, then cracks into a small laugh as Mistpaw meows insistently from another part of the apartment. "Guess someone's hungry," he chuckles, standing up and heading for the catfood. "I'm coming, I'm coming," he replies to the second meow.