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[pancakeboy]

[Text him! Or do whatever, I'm not the police, and neither is he, thank God. Just specify if you want the more-fun-but-less-stable pre-11/20 guy or the grumpy third semester/postcanon guy. Pancake only for VRDR guys please, he's not third semester yet]

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[pancakeboy]

That's not stepping back. You're still on his leash.

[Is that coffee cool enough to sip yet? Clearly not. He sips it anyway.]

[fogbornphantom]

And what would you consider to be stepping back?

[Do tell. Enlighten him.]

[pancakeboy]

[There is a brutal pause as he sets his coffee cup down again.]

Leave him to rot.

[Because he doesn't deserve Crow. And Crow doesn't deserve this. And it burns like acid that Magpie will never make him see it.]

[fogbornphantom]

[...Yeah, that's about what he expected.

Crow sighs, nudging his now empty mug aside in favor of the new one.]

I'd sooner stand my ground, but I'm simply not in the right mindset to do so. I doubt he's in the proper mindset to take it, either.

[pancakeboy]

[Very carefully, he boxes up some of the shit inside him, shifting it around like some bizarre cognitive Quadris.]

What will help your mindset?

[fogbornphantom]

Literally anything else.

[Different topics. Different activities. Different company. Just something to ground him...]

[pancakeboy]

[Anything else, is it?]

So... do you want to kill some shit in Mementos after this? To be honest, I'm surprised you didn't try that before it all reached this point.

[fogbornphantom]

...Sure. That is one way to blow off steam.

[It's been a while since he sat down and did that, but... hm.]

Oh, I should probably mention that Yoshizawa-san ran into that particular Shadow. Seems she's trying to plan a way to get into Tartarus and rescue Sparrow.

[pancakeboy]

You dissuaded her, I hope. The last thing you need is him walking around again.

[How's his coffee looking? Not that empty, all things considered. He knows rescuing Sparrow is likely inevitable, but he's not sure Yoshizawa-san, much less Crow's questionable Yoshizawa-san, is the best candidate.]

[fogbornphantom]

Nothing would dissuade her. All we can do is assert that she not do it alone and get herself stuck for over a month again.

[Because that happened. Crow doesn't know how, but it did.

So he's just going to take another sip as he lets that sink in.]

[pancakeboy]

[Yeah, that... that takes some sinking in.]

And nobody noticed?

[Surely Crow was keeping tabs on the probably-nefarious Yoshizawa from his world? Then again, it says a lot about the amount on his other-self's plate if he didn't. As for Sparrow... Magpie noticed he was gone, for sure, but he was more grateful than anything else.]

[fogbornphantom]

I certainly didn't, but in my defense, I was prioritizing your comfort over any loose ends with her.

[It was, after all, around the time that Magpie was small. Being a good guardian was a far more pressing matter.]

[pancakeboy]

[Ah. His glance skitters away.]

On this note, are we certain Moth is safe?

[fogbornphantom]

I asked Igor, and he confirmed that Moth returned home.

[So there's that. He isn't trapped in Tartarus or otherwise lost.

Crow takes another sip of coffee.]

[pancakeboy]

We're putting a lot of trust in what Igor says. Though, from what I hear, it's panning out with my younger self, who still exists.

[But fair enough, for the time being. He sips his own coffee.]

[fogbornphantom]

Raven seems quite pleased that they can still communicate. I'm glad that he still has people he can confide in, despite his circumstances.

[It's a rather promising prospect for all of them, if anything.]

Just think of the shenanigans we could enact if we were to call one another across worlds...

[pancakeboy]

He's hardly going to form bonds—[rather dented but still audible distaste]—if he spends all his time talking to you, is he.

[But he's... ugh. It's one thing to have to go back and dance with Ren. It's quite another to deal with whatever comes after Maruki with Crow and Raven on his heels.]

[fogbornphantom]

He's already made some plans. I think he'll be all right.

[That distaste does earn a little laugh, though.]

Actually, I've noticed that our bond has jumped quite a bit. Rank 8, by the looks of it. That's almost to the highest level.

[pancakeboy]

[What? His cup visibly tilts in his hand, as he stares.]

You can't just say things like that. It's an invasion of privacy.

[Yeah. One of those. He shoves some coffee into his face.]

[fogbornphantom]

The links go both ways. And just look at how far we've come...

[Is he teasing? A little, but isn't that better than mopey Crow?]

[pancakeboy]

[It is better. But still.]

Yes, on a road full of pitfalls and unexpected dead ends. And elephant traps.

[fogbornphantom]

I've faced gods. Our time together was considerably more pleasant even on the worst of occasions.

[You hear that, Magpie? It was pleasant. Mostly. Persistence pays off in the end!]

[pancakeboy]

Only "more" pleasant, is it? Admittedly, if it wasn't at least partly unpleasant, I wasn't doing my job.

[One might validly wonder what Magpie considers his job to be. He sips his coffee again.]

[fogbornphantom]

You could be frustrating at points, but I'd still take you over Yosuke at his worst, and Yosuke is a longtime friend of mine.

[Heh. He chuckles a little.]

And I know I'm quite a pain in the ass myself.

[pancakeboy]

Don't get ahead of yourself. You aspire to be a pain in the ass. You're a mother hen.

[Perhaps a bit near the knuckle considering what they've been discussing, but also not as cruel as it could be.]

Yosuke is one of your Inaba friends, as I recall? Not another of your cognitive murderers. [Just a bit too musical.]