welgaia | (no subject)

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ch: dehipster

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[Generic Info]

[No more Wankerville, this time! Nope, this time our resident nexus place is known as Japanifornia. Some odd mishmash of Los Angeles and Tokyo, Japanifornia is in fact a huge city with skycrapers and lots of roads with hills. A tram moves through the city but people can also take a car or their bike. There's parks, a lake, sushi places, burger places, noodle places, gashapon machines and a Starbills on every corner. Most homes are equipped with a traditional Japanifornian kotatsu. It's a paradise for weebs and hipsters alike. Also, a themepark because why the heck not.

Truly, the greatest city in these United States of Nexusica.]

[De Killer bit]

[Still, a nexus is a nexus, which means it draws in people from all sorts of places. There's only so much order to be found. Turns out, some rich asshole is trying to run for 'president'. One would think it'd be mayor, but considering a nexus is basically a world of its own, he might as well be attempting to crown himself King of the World. Outrageous remarks of building a wall to keep out more 'foreigners' aren't gaining him much popularity either. He's lucky that there's a couple of rednecks on his side who feel that the city might be getting a bit too crowded.

Even so, many residents of Japanifornia are in agreement; this powerhungry douche by the name of Ronald Chump needs to go.

As luck would have it, Shelly de Killer has already set up office in Japanifornia and has now been approached to eliminate the problem. He's not going to do it alone, either. Benny (who's been around for an equally long time) will be joining him on this venture.]

[Other]

[Who else is in Japanifornia? Do a thing!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[What better place to explain it?]

An alternate future. Fortunately, at least one of the events that happen in her timeline was avoided where I've been living.

[Simon isn't dead. That means other tragedies can be avoided, right?]

[He'd be the last person to deny that 'alternate futures' can be a thing. Just look at him and this other version of Shelly.]

Ahh, I see. That's interesting.

[IF ONLY SHE KNEW ABOUT THAT...]

Yeah. She's really a smart girl with a good head on her shoulders. ...if either of us had been around, I'm sure her sense of loyalty would have come from both of her parents.

[But neither of them were around, and now that sense of loyalty has become a desire to bring down the one person Tori can't allow to be brought down.]

You weren't around...? [That sounds awfully foreboding.]

In that universe, her father died before she was even born... without even knowing I was pregnant. And after she was born, I decided to take revenge on someone who betrayed both of us. So stupid... I didn't even survive the encounter.

[As far as anyone knows. Tori still isn't sure she's sold on the idea. Either way...]

I must have been under a lot of grief to just put myself in a situation where I'd possibly abandon my daughter, you know? The more I think about it, the more I despise the other me's actions.

[...... Well then.]

Mmmh, you're correct. Grief can be a powerful motivator, as can the notion of revenge. It clouds a person's judgment. That sort of thing can happen to the best of us -[He would know.]- so don't think too harshly of your other self.

...I'll try not to. It's just hard. [She's always wanted to prove she could be a better parent than her father. Could grief really trump that feeling?] I guess all I can do is be grateful that her godfather was able to raise her.

[A godfather, huh? That does sound like something to be grateful for.]

Ah, is that so? A stroke of fortune, indeed. Though, I suppose he was named godfather for a reason.

...that's another complicated story on its own.

Oh, is it really...? [Tell him tell him tell him-]

The person I thought I'd made my daughter's godfather... wasn't actually that person. He was disguising himself as that person, and he was the person I died trying to get revenge on. ...he was my best friend. I don't...

[She still doesn't understand how things could go so wrong in that world.]

Whatever, it doesn't matter. Anyway, the person he was pretending to be was still alive, and when he was told that I had made him my daughter's godfather, he took up the task. ...I'm grateful for it.

[Wow that sure was a lot of information for Benny to try and grasp at the same time. Some guy disguising himself as another person? Tori trying to get her revenge on the disguiser and being killed by him? The real deal still being alive?

And this is Tori he's talking to.

It takes him a moment to figure out whether or not he should make that guess in front of her. Then again, he has already told her that he's Bobby's therapist, so it wouldn't be odd for him to know.]

... The godfather... Would that be someone I know, perhaps? [He can't outright say the name because of patient-doctor confidentiality, but if Tori confirms that it's Bobby, he's more at liberty to talk about what he knows.]

...yes. The person who raised my daughter was Bobby Fulbright.

[A Bobby Fulbright that she can barely recognize as Bobby Fulbright.]

[Hm. He's not entirely sure if Bobby Fulbright (as he knows him) would be a good father. There's the possibility things would be better with Simon's help, but then again, Simon is a bit of a wreck on his own sometimes. That much became perfectly clear to Benny after that little test with couples counseling.

There's one thing that he can't ever deny, though.]

If that's the case, I'm sure Bobby raised her with all the love and dedication he could muster.

[He's trying very hard not to think about the fact that this implies the Phantom killed Tori.]

[Tori tries her very hardest to not think about the Phantom killing her most of the time. They're friends. Maybe he doesn't understand his own emotions, but she knows he has them. She doesn't understand what led up to everything in that world. She can't understand.]

...yes. I know he did. He's... he's been a good father. [A brief pause.] He shouldn't have had to pick up the slack for the mistakes me and her biological father made, though.

I don't think that can be helped in a direct sense. Some people get the opportunity to be good parents, others don't. [Besides, it's already happened in that world.]

If you really feel that strongly about it, the only thing you can do is to raise to daughter you have now with all the passion in the world.

[She smiles.]

Yeah... that's right. I'll have to do my best for Raven.

Raven... That's a nice name.

It is, isn't it? Apparently, I'm the one who came up with it in that other world, too. I'd expect a name like that to come from him, but... [She sighs, but it's happy.] Oh well.

[Benny doesn't know Tori well enough to make any guesses about the father's identity, sadly.]

It is brought to us by the same young woman who gave us Nilla.

[The only time she's mentioned Simon around Benny was in a negative sense, too.]

Heh. [She grins widely.] That's true enough, isn't it? I guess I just never thought I'd name a kid of mine after a bird.

[Then again, there are very few alternate kids of hers that she's met who have names she'd expect to either give to them or agree to give to them.]

One has to name a child after something. [Except for Benny, who won't be having any kids ever. Lex and him adopted cats instead, which were all named after... footwear.]

Well, yeah... [She laughs a little.] To tell you the truth, this isn't how I expected things to go. If you told me a year ago that I'd be pregnant right now, I wouldn't have believed it. I've had regrets, but... for the most part, I'm really happy.

Edited 2016-07-12 17:45 (UTC)

Ultimately, happiness is what's most important. Happiness for you and for your child. That's a notion most parents would agree with.

That's right. Besides, it won't just be me and her father. Raven will be born in a world where so many people care about her. She'll never have a shortage of love, I'm sure of it.

[She wants to believe that, and she's certain it's true.]