She thought she left this all behind.

It's the type of sunny day just made for a sports meet. There are races, hurdles, jumps, throwing events, everything imaginable and everyone is qualified. The crowds cheering them on are equalled by the crowd participating. The track is smooth and the fields are perfectly trimmed, with the smell of fresh grass.

Homura should be completely in her element here, but instead she looks horribly out of place. Her glasses are broken (she'd fallen earlier), there are cuts and scrapes along her knee, and the prim braids she's suddenly wearing her hair in have started to unravel. Worse, she barely runs a few steps without obvious pain.

She tries anyway, a valiant effort competing in one of the later races. When she falls to her knees, exhausted already, a few classmates give less than sympathetic looks, and make comments about her weak body and medicine she takes all the time. Homura just concentrates on breathing.

[ Kaito hasn't been around much lately, mostly because he's an insomniac and can only sleep when he's thoroughly exhausted his brain. However, in this case he's been absent because he's been active phantom thief and lately he's felt farther away his goal than usual. He can't explain it but somehow he can feel the gem slipping away. ]

[ These feelings probably explain why today, in his dream, Kaito is small boy no more than nine dressed in an adult sized white tuxedo with the top hat falling down over his face. ]

[ Somewhere there's a man talking in the distance ]

'I know you'll make me proud, Kaito.'

[ Kaito looks widely around but he can't see through the hat and the voice is so distant that he doesn't really think to push the hat up. ]

Dad? What did you say? Dad? Dad!?

[ He's walking blindly-bumping into walls and trying to follow the distant voice. ]

Don't worry Kaito, follow my voice and I won't-

[ -But his voice is cut off by a sudden explosion. ]

...Dad?

[ Silence. ]

DAD!?

[ Kaito takes off running blindly, still running into walls but that doesn't matter to him. He's running right towards the burning fire caused by the explosion. ]



((ooc: I have no icons to properly convey his feelings. I apologize in advance. ))

The desert is hot, a dry heat begging for relief, at least a drink. The world is turned to sand and dust, broken only by the dim, hazy horizon. Dust even coats the objects carefully uncovered and laid out, almost as quickly as they're brushed off. Even this deep pit, dug too well to be natural, provides scant shelter.

Lethe's scarves and veils keep her from breathing dust, even if they result in the eerie impression of a shroud. She works carefully at one corner of the dig, where she's patiently unearthing a small object. When it's free, she meticulously brushes away the dust and dirt.

"Come closer," she invites, "And see something from a place that was lost."

(ooc: not quite evented, though bad luck may show as things go wrong at the dig. feel free to find artifacts not just from her world, but from the other character's world as well.)