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Who: Jasmine and Belle
When: March 4th [frontdate]
Where: Oakwood Medical Plaza
What: Meeting in person

Jasmine had just had another session with Doctor Willard, and before heading home had decided to take Belle Goldman up on her offer. After making an excuse with Dr. Willard, she'd been allowed to head to the other woman's office, upon which Jasmine found herself knocking on the doorframe of.

"Um... Mrs. Goldman? Hi... it's me, Jasmine Tsukuyomi..." she said, hoping the woman rememebered the name from their discussion a few short weeks before.

Who: Jasmine and Marina
When: March 3rd [frontdate]
Where: The Mall
What: Someone to talk to

Sometime in the afternoon, Marina would likely receive a text from Jasmine, who would ask the other girl to meet her at the mall after school. Not altogether out of the ordinary, as they'd been hanging out quite a bit, but... Jasmine's aims weren't simply hanging out this time.

She'd tried talking to Cherry recently, and... the girl simply didn't remember anything. Nothing about the Precure, nothing about the numbers. Jasmine had been very lucky not to spill anything important, but it had shaken her. This was a person she'd wanted to connect with despite the history their previous lives shared, and now... now it seemed like that she wouldn't have that chance...

For some reason, Jasmine didn't feel like she could bring this up to Lily. Not right now, at least. She just... she wanted to talk to someone outside of the whole Precure business first, and see what they thought. And that meant Marina.

In fact, it didn't seem like there was any other choice. Reaching out to Marina felt right.

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It's nothing unusual, and Marina's not busy - she's been spending less time with her old friends than before anyways - so she doesn't have a reason to turn Jasmine down, and she might even be able to keep working on her style.

Of course, the first time they met up like this was still a little awkward with the two of them feeling each other out in person as opposed to over the network, but it worked out well, and Marina's smiling while she waits for Jasmine to show up.

Jasmine caught sight of Marina, and ended up speeding up her pace. It was almost like she was eager.

"Hey Marina...!" she said. "I haven't kept you waiting long, have I?"

Marina waved, and shook her head. "No, not really, I've only been here a few minutes."

"Good..." she said.

Now... now it was time for Jasmine to look nervous, as she took a seat next to the other girl. "There's something I wanna talk to you about..."

Marina leaned back at that look and raised an eyebrow. So this wasn't just hang out times, and she knew Jasmine was having a tough time in a lot of ways, but she didn't expect to be a confidant either.

"...I'm listening."

Jasmine sat silently for a moment, before sighing and deciding to just come out with it fully.

"My friend, Cerise... she forgot everything about the numbers..."

"I haven't met her but..." Dang. No one Marina really gives two shits about has forgotten the network but it made sense that it would suck.

How do you work with a friendship built on something one of you just forgot? She put a hand on Jasmine's shoulder. "Sorry. That's... pretty rough." Comforting???

"... it's not just that," Jasmine replied, blushing a little at the physical contact. But just barely.

"... before... Before we had an echo of the same memory, and... well, I've talked enough about how I was apparently some evil psycho magical girl or whatever. It turns out... she happened to be Dark Precure's enemy. The echo scared her..."

Jasmine look a deep breath.

"And I never got a chance to clear the air about it..."

Marina's expression sank with understanding. "You aren't the scary one. That was... a different person, alright? I mean..."

It was hard to really understand though. "Maybe she'll come back and you can talk to her about it again? And... if not... mm." No she wasn't very good at comforting. Shoot.

"Mmm."

Jasmine continued. "I hope so. But it's not about being her... it's that I didn't get to fix it, you know? I mean... I still see her. At school. But... she doesn't remember the numbers. She's nervous, but not afraid of me. I should be happy, I guess, but..."

A sigh.

"I feel like I'm lying to her..."

"It's not like you can tell her now. She won't know what you're talking about, and that's not your fault, so worrying that way doesn't do anything but make you feel worse, right?" She pulled her hand away, leaning back again.

"But I can't say I have any idea what it's like either."

"... I... I guess..."

Jasmine put her head in her hands, and sighed. "I'm... I'm sorry I'm dumping all of this on you, Marina. It's not really fair, is it...?"

'No it's not' was her first honest impulse. 'I didn't start hanging out with you to let you dump your problems on me' was, more or less, something she'd actually thought about friends who came to her for help, to talk about their problems, and she just rolled her eyes and went on.

It didn't come out, though, and this time the fact that it was her first impulsive thought was followed up with 'what the fuck is wrong with me?' "...hell, we're all in this together, so if you can't talk to me then you're stuck with like, one person the rest of your life, right? Don't sweat it."

Edited 2014-03-03 21:14 (UTC)

"..."

She nodded slowly. "I guess you're right... and... I did feel like I needed someone who was outside of this whole 'Precure' thing..."

She made a small smile and turned back to Marina.

"You know you can do the same for me though, right? Anything bothering you... you can tell me about it."

Edited 2014-03-04 15:59 (UTC)

"I gotcha... and you can keep talking to me about it any time too." Marina looked away for a moment, frowning, before deciding that maybe - at some point - she could bring things up to Jasmine.

"They'd all look at it that differently, though? The other Precures I mean."

"Yeah, it's just... they all had connections to Cherry too... I wasn't going to ignore talking to them, it's just... an additional thing..."

It made sense in her head.

"But um... thanks again, Marina... You know, I don't really know how to say it, but... you're a really good friend. In fact, I'd say you're my best friend..."

"Makes it more complicated for everyone, huh?" Why do people have to be so hard?

Marina turned to Jasmine, blinking, then blushed slightly, suddenly fidgety enough to start tapping her foot. "Best friend... huh. Well you sure move quick on that."

Jasmine ended up blushing too.

"W-well," she said. "We just sort of click, you know...? I mean... not even Lily jokes around with me like you do... you give as good as you get... and I feel like I can really be myself with you around..."

She looked to the side again. "B-But... yeah, if you think it's too fast to say something like that..."

Edited 2014-03-04 17:53 (UTC)

"No, I mean..." Yes, but. There's a but there. In her mind. "It's surprising? I'm honestly kinda flattered that I've, uh, left... a good impact like that?"

At least quickly - people don't usually take to her so easily, and it left her wondering if Jasmine was different from other people, or if she was the one changing. If it was the latter... was that her or Umi?

"So thanks."

"... You're welcome."

Jasmine actually smiled now, but she still looked somewhat embarrassed.

"... You know, maybe we should just stop trying to talk about how strange it is and acknowledge it as a good thing."

"Ah, right, right." Marina smiled as well. "It does feel nice."

A little warm and fuzzy and full of butterflies nice.

Jasmine nodded.

"... you wanna... go check out the mall now," she said, offering the other girl her hand. "I may actually let you pick something out for me again. And I may actually buy it, too!"

As if Jasmine hadn't bought the last one already...

"I think that would be a step in the right direction towards good feelings." Which she wanted Jasmine to have. Both of them, even; she took Jasmine's hand with a grin.

"Come in, Jasmine." she invited, looking up from the paperwork she'd been filling out. With her last appointment having called off and her three o-clock unwilling to come in early to fill the vacancy, she now had a little over an hour to fill until she would find herself busy again.

Jasmine smiled as she came in, offering the woman her hand to shake as soon as she was close enough.

"It's nice to finally meet you," she said. "Should I shut the door...?"

"You as well." she said, accepting the offered hand to give it a firm shake. "It would probably be better if you did. There's less chance of being interrupted that way."

An open door in any sort of work environment tended to be an invitation for any passing staff to poke their head in and make small talk, after all.

Jasmine nodded, and moved to close the door before sitting down.

"So..." she said. "Um... I guess... I should tell you about some of the stuff I've remembered, huh?"

"Whatever you feel comfortable discussing. Is the depression you're working through a result of what you've recalled?"

The paperwork was set aside as she got up from her desk to take a seat in one of the vacant chairs. The desk was not her preferred place to talk to others from.

"... No, not really," Jasmine replied. "I've always felt unhappy. Like I didn't fit in... I've felt that way since I was a little girl, to be honest. But... that's something I've been covering with Dr. Willard..."

She chewed on her lower lip for a bit. "... I dunno if you've seen my network posts, but my past life... she wasn't a very good person..."

Unfortunately, she hadn't, only having been on the network since December and only starting to actually feel comfortable enough to eavesdrop on the conversations and try to participate in them since just last month.

"Could you tell me a bit about her, Jasmine?" she asked.

Jasmine nodded slowly.

"She... nearly as I can tell, she wasn't born like we are. That's my first memory of her, actually... I was growing inside a tube of liquid..."

She closed her eyes now.

"She's a member of a group called the Desert Apostles... they fight a group called the Precure. All girls. They... they try to stop them from turning the world into a desert. I don't know why they do that."

She sucked in a deep breath. "Dark Precure is always... angry. Like... everyone has something she doesn't. My sister, I know she was one of the Precure, and Dark Precure hates her most of all... My own sister, and I have memories of someone who hated her..."

A tear rolled down Jasmine's cheek now.

As Jasmine spoke, Belle leaned forward a bit in her chair, so as not to miss any of it. It was her first time speaking to someone in-depth about their pulses and their preincarnated life and it was just as fascinating as it was tragic.

How awful, to know you were becoming someone destined to hate someone that you loved dearly...

Belle's brow knit as Jasmine began to cry, reaching for a box of tissues that sat on the corner of her desk to place them on the small coffee table that sat between the two armchairs, within easy reach.

"It's very upsetting...the idea that anything we wanted for ourselves or who we were becoming on our own should need to be set aside to be a vessel for someone else. ...but you DO know that it isn't your fault, don't you? It isn't as if you chose to echo those memories."

Jasmine looked up with a start. "Become a vessel for...?!" she cried. "Are you... are you sayin I'm going to become just like her...?!"

Oh, dear...

"Jasmine, listen..." she said, her voice becoming a bit firmer to try and stop any hysteria before it started. "Nothing can force you to be just like anyone else. Even if you're inheriting someone else's memories, traits and abilities, you are still yourself. Another person's prejudices and opinions absolutely do not have to be your own, and the fact you are aware that they are someone else's is all the more in your favor."

"... I know," Jasmine replied, shrinking back. "It's just... the way you said it... it made it sound like you thought it was inevitable, and... I've been doing everything I can to avoid thinking like that..."

"I'm sorry...it was a poor choice of words. Forgive me."

She sat back a bit, giving the other girl space. " 'Host' is a better term, I think. These preincarnations and the way they're seeping into the lives of others is almost parasitic. But, even if we can't stop the pulses from happening, we do not have to embrace them, or even agree with them."

Edited 2014-03-09 07:24 (UTC)

"... It's fine," Jasmine said, doing her best to smile. It was... awkward.

"... I just... even as much as I hate what she was, I... I still feel like we're similar in some ways. And that... that makes me feel crawly, you know?"

It was awkward. This was not a topic Belle had ever envisioned herself trying to cover with someone. Especially when she was sharing in the same experience and still knew so little about it.

Though, at least the conversation was taking on a somewhat familiar turn toward something she had prepared for.

"You aren't wrong at all for feeling that way...no one likes sharing anything with someone they see as a threat. It's as you said, it makes it seem as if it's all the easier to become them. But identifying their behavior as something you don't want to repeat is an important step.

Do you and your sister talk often about your respective pulses?"

Jasmine actually seemed to brighten at that.

"Oh, definitely!" Jasmine cried. "She's... she's the one I rely upon the most! Definitely...! She and I... we talk all the time. She doesn't really let me keep secrets from her at all...!"

Belle gave her a small, approving smile.

"That's good to hear." she said. "I think the best thing the two of you can do throughout all of this is keep your line of communication to one another very open."

"I totally agree there," Jasmine said with a nod. "Though... to be honest, I'm the one who needs to work on that most. Sometimes I keep things bottled up..."

"It might help to designate a day that the two of you sit down, once every couple of weeks, and air everything out between one another to make sure there are no secrets and no hidden resentments regarding the people you're echoing." she suggested.

"That doesn't mean you can't have any secrets...you absolutely should maintain some privacy. But having a no-penalty time period to open up with a mutual agreement to talk things through and not hold things that come up against one another could be a good way to make sure the door stays open between you two."

"... I'm not sure how that'll go over," Jasmine replied. "But... I won't say no to it. I... I need to think about it, alright?"

"Take as much time as you like, Jasmine. These are only suggestions. How do you and the rest of your family get along?"

"..."

Jasmine looked down. "Dad's not a bad guy, but... he's always been distant from us since mom died. He throws himself into his work."

"I understand...it's difficult when a parent pulls away when the rest of the family needs them most."

She might have had more experience with that subject than she cared to let on...

"But it's very fortunate that you and your sister have one another."

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