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[standalonehuman]

Togusa

This is Togusa. Feel free to message me at any time.

VOICE | TEXT | VIDEO | ACTION

Comments

[standalonehuman]

James?
Won't waste time with asking if you're okay.
Just because he was capable of something doesn't mean you are. He had to do what he could to survive a war, even with Retrospec, I don't think you're going to get pushed to that point.

[frostythehitman]

[ Sending this message was a mistake in the first place, but the response stings worse than he could've imagined. He knows Togusa didn't mean it, but now he feels like he's failed somehow. ]

you don't know that

[standalonehuman]

I don't. And I've said it before that it's a good thing most people don't know what they're capable of.

What happened out in the forest?

[Because of course he thinks that's where this is coming from. He knew the other missions turned out more dangerous than his own.]

[frostythehitman]

nothing
just forget i said anything

[ He's neither in the mood to lie nor tell the truth. ]

[standalonehuman]

Uh. No. James.

You wanted to talk, I'm here to listen. I'm not just going to let this drop. You keep bottling this up, it's only going to get worse.

[frostythehitman]

[ the text message regret grows stronger with every passing message ]

i messed up okay
i shouldn't have said anything

[standalonehuman]

[A long pause. That specific sentence could mean a lot of things. Or it's the exact sentence some kids use when they just don't want to explain themselves.]

You don't want me to ask specifics.

Okay.

But something terrible has still happened, or you wouldn't have messaged me in the first place.

[frostythehitman]

why does something have to have happened
i'm a teenager, aren't we supposed to constantly be texting anyway
i don't need a reason for it

[standalonehuman]

You don't need a reason to text me. But you need a reason to text me with something like that.

But then you changed your mind about talking it out. So, what do I do, pick another topic? You were stuck with Dante all month, you have my sympathies.

[frostythehitman]

[ oh thank god, talking about LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE ]

hey now he's not so bad
we had a grand old time out in the woods together
i also like
barely had to do anything with him directly at all all month
we mostly just ate dinner around the same campfire

[ and, y'know. did a bunch of underage drinking. BUT HE'S NOT GOING TO MENTION THAT PART. ]

[standalonehuman]

I kid, he really is a good friend.
But does that mean you didn't get to see the key-sword in action?

[While Togusa is far from 'at peace with' the fact that Dante drinks underage, he also knows there is little he can do about it.]

[frostythehitman]

the WHAT?

[standalonehuman]

Oh my god. Okay. So.
He can summon this sword out of nowhere, it's kind of made out of shadows and very neat. And that was great.

And then it turned into a giant key.

And he's still swinging it around like a sword.

[frostythehitman]

oh my god
is it actually sharp like a sword
or is it just literally a giant key
do you think he could use it as a baseball bat

[standalonehuman]

It's still sharp, that's the really insane part!
You have to ask him about it, it's the strangest weapon out there right now.

[frostythehitman]

please tell me you've seen him swinging this thing around
please tell me you took video
WAIT
PLEASE tell me you have computerbrain memory footage of this you can share

[standalonehuman]

[It's somehow appropriate that James is the first person to figure out that Togusa is now a walking-blackmail-machine. Ask and ye shall receive. It takes a few minutes, but then, he gets some wonderful action footage of Dante swinging around a giant key to take out a group of attacking vines from the subway. It would be ridiculous if it wasn't so effective.

Never mind, it's still ridiculous.]

[frostythehitman]

hang on

[ The next response comes in half an hour later. It's the same video, but this time James has added a bunch of whooshy lightsword noises from Space Battles. ]

[standalonehuman]

[That is Togusa laughing so hard he starts coughing. Holy shit, James.]

PERFECTION.

When I die laughing at the next training meeting, because he's practicing with that thing, it'll be your fault.

[frostythehitman]

i hope your brain has a real time video editor or something because you could just slap this audio file onto any time you see him using it again