2821/You Can Go Home Again

You Can Go Home Again
Date of Scene:	03 November 2025
Location:	Plot Room 1
Synopsis:	It's time to go home -- and Molly has the best help getting there in the world that she could ever ask for; her best friend Rashmi.
Cast of Characters:	Molly Skyline, Rashmi Terios

---

Molly Skyline has posed:
For Molly, it has been a restless night.

This has been her first night of sleep without the accompaniment of Seriss Nyx. She's woken up several times, many of those in a cold sweat, once crying, and every time she's been jolted sharply out of REM sleep. And every time, wether she's woken Rashmi up in the process or not, at the very least, the redhead was there.

And that has been invaluably comforting.

Now, it's mid morning of the following day. Is it a school day? Molly's not sure; she's lost track, and admitted as much, but it's... a day.

And it's sunny outside.

And she's ready to go, and waiting by the door to Mamoru's apartment for the moment when they'll set off, and her face is a soup of emotions.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
In the morning, as breakfast was being served, it occurred to Rashmi that Molly didn't have acceptable clothes for bombing around Tokyo in October.

One Device-assisted whirlwind through a secondhand clothes shop later, she'd presented Molly with clothes that... well, they were warm and clean, and the necessaries fit perfectly thanks to Nicomachea's scans. The rest is faintly threadbare and very much not in line with Molly's tastes, but Rashmi insisted it was a good idea.

Now they're at the door, and Rashmi's face softens upon seeing the uncertainty in her friend. "Hey," she says softly. "It's gonna be okay. They never gave up either."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Truthfully, it did not take a great deal of insisting to get Molly to wear what Rashmi came up with for her. if anything, Molly is just grateful to have normal clothes again. Sure, they might not have been to her tastes and on an ordinary day she might've passed them up with a loud 'pffft' of contempt, but today is not an ordinary day.

Today is a very important day.

"I know they didn't," she answers quietly. "It's just..." She trails off, taking a breath as she tries to figure out exactly how to finish that sentence.

"It's been almost a year and I've lost an arm and... and the only explanation I can give them is 'I don't remember'." The purplenette scrubs at her face with her right hand. "I would never be satisfied with that, how could I possibly expect them to be?"

Still; Molly is not stalling. She's by the door, ready to go as soon as Rashmi is.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"I wouldn't either," Rashmi answers with a hint of sadness in her voice. "But the Veil makes anything in shouting range of the truth impossible to remember, let alone understand."

With that she opens the door, and so begins the process of exiting the apartment building. "I just have to hope they'll take 'I don't know' from me too."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly lets Rashmi handle the door; though already there's a hint of deep frustration at what she once could accomplish with two arms being now diminished to what she can do with one. Thankfully, at the moment, it is just a hint.

"I know," she answers. "Look, I... I just... please get me home, I don't know if I'm up to going across that amount of Tokyo by myself, for the first time since I've got here I'm without Starcrash and I'm..." she glances down at her left side.

"I'm just... scared."

She swallows audibly. "But like, once we get there... I don't mind if you'd feel more comfortable leaving or just watching from a distance or something when my Moms come to the door, so you don't have to answer any tough questions."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"I just got you back, Molly-chan," Rashmi says as they take the stairs down into Juuban Station, where Rashmi buys a replacement metro card for Molly. "I'm not gonna leave you alone to face anything unless *you tell me you're okay,* okay? Promise."

And it's that bone deep certainty in her voice, that Rashmi has whenever she's stating a simple truth. Birds fly, fish swim, and Rashmi's gotchu.

Molly Skyline has posed:
It's about the point when Rashmi is buying Molly a metro pass, that she realizes she does, in fact, not have any money. At all period. Which presents yet another layer of vulnerability, which luckily, Rashmi is here to help her with.

"Thank you," she murmurs, upon receiving the card, which she tucks into a pocket. Y'know, where she'd normally have a cellphone or something.

"I guess I can just tell my Moms that you found me in the park last night... which... really, that's basically the truth, we can leave out the part where you had to battle an eldritch horror that was possessing my body and stop a plot to end the world. Y'know, the boring stuff."

As Molly walks alongside Rashmi towards the nearest busstop, she turns her head to look sideways at the redhead. "But, Rashmi-chan," she murmurs. "You never lost me. I was always there and I was always cheering for you, even if I couldn't say so most of the time."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"I know," Rashmi says around a sigh. "At least... When we knew you were alive, I never lost hope... But you were *so far away,* Molly-chan, and I don't want that to happen again if I can help it. So... you almost died on me, I almost died on you, let's call that even and try to keep it from *ever* happening again. Sound good?"

Sitting down on the bus, Rashmi leans against her friend, letting her head sink as she lets out another long breath. "It's the best story we'll have, I guess... but no embellishments from either of us."

Molly Skyline has posed:
"I hated it," she whispers, partly to avoid being heard by the other passengers though thankfully there's none sitting right beside them, as she leans against Rashmi in kind. "Every day. Watching her do the thins she was doing. Watching her torment you and everyone else. Watch her talk to Mistress 9 and Dr. Tomoe about literally ending the world. But... whenever she was talking to you, I wanted to scream, I wanted so badly to be heard."

The purplenette plucks her glasses off her face, and holds them up to inspect how badly broken the lenses are. Definitely need replacing.

"I don't want to be far away again either," she murmurs. "I used to think it'd be okay if I was like, in Italy or France or something for a race 'cause I'd come right home again after, but..." She sucks in a deep breath. "How can I possibly race with only one arm? Seriss is gone but she took my dream away."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Molly-chan do you *remember* your dreams, from when you were stuck?" Rashmi says gently. "You *were* a racer, and maybe people gave you a hard time for it, but you were *good enough to win.* Racing's almost as much about grit and heart, right? Well, you got a triple handful of both of that, and the rest is just learning how to move."

Rashmi just absolutely will not be swayed, that Molly's life has not at all been interrupted. Just hit a speed bump.

"We'll worry about you traveling for racing when we get there, Molly-chan. For now there's school, and your moms, and Starcrash's rebuild," she says, tapping Nicomachea's charm. "So do me a favor, and maybe over the next couple days think about what you wished he could do that he couldn't, and I'll make it happen."

Molly Skyline has posed:
"I don't remember it super much," Molly admits. "Bits and pieces. And... yeah I remember I was racing, it's just hard to believe it right now. I just... it's hard. Already. I never thought about how much I used a left hand for until suddenly I didn't have it anymore and like everything is hard now, like I literally can't do anything without getting reminded that Seriss took my arm. And for what? I wasn't doing anythign to her, it was just, like... spite or something."

Molly tilts her head to gaze out the window; not that the view is great when your glasses are broken, but she's still looking at a perfectly normal Tokyo that she hasn't seen for a while.

"...Yeah I guess I really don't know when to quit though. That's been amply demonstrated. I guess I just don't like losing when it matters."

She turns a grateful look back to Rashmi, and bobs her head. "And, yeah, I'll give it a good think You can fix him, right? What Seriss did to him was horrible."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"...I honestly don't know about fixing him," Rashmi says sadly. "But he made sure to send me a copy of his personality matrix right before Seriss woke up. So... at best he'll be back to where he was before that... but even at worst, and he has to start over from a factory reset, he'll never remember what was done to him. Small mercies..."

She listens to Molly's frustrations, and they are *so valid,* but she already knows her friend well enough to know that 'hard' won't be enough to stop her. "Spite," she sgrees. "Cruelty... that was pretty much it, yeah. That's all there was to her, in the end."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly shrugs her shoulders. "There were a lot of things to her, but cruelty featured the most prominently," Molly agrees. "She was never as happy as she was when she was causing someone pain. I'm just... glad she's gone. Really, really glad."

Molly looks up, and sucks in a breath. "You remember last night, you said you were sorry you didn't kill Viluy? I don't... want you to feel bad about that. You didn't kill her because that's not who you are. You're gentle and generous and you always try really hard to see the best in people, and honestly I still say you're the strongest mahou there could ever be 'casue we're all about friendship and that's literally your power."

Molly smiles; her first smile with genuine happiness behind it, as she looks sideways at her friend. "You've always done what was right. Mercy is always a good thing." She pauses. "And hey, this way maybe I'll get a chance to tell Viluy what I think in person."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Rashmi... looks away, as Molly asks her not to feel bad about not killing Viluy.On the one hand, everything her friend is saying makes absolute sense, and would even be her own argument to someone else. But, oh, there is *such a bright line* between 'If Viluy had died' and 'Never Seriss Nyx' that sometimes, at night, when trying to sleep, that line is enough to dazzle her back to wakefulness.

But she takes a peeks to her side, and the *honest, clear happiness* in Molly's smile is enough to break that recrimination... for now, at least.

Sighing, she leans over mid-stride and throws an arm around Molly's shoulders, sqeezing. "I'll try," she says. "I'll try my hardest. Cos you asked."

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Hey, come on. I literally had a dream that warned me Seriss was gonna happen and that she was gonna happen to me as much as everyone else put together. And I still decided it would be a good idea to sacrifice myself in another dimension."

Okay so that's a gross over-simplification and it definitely wasn't Molly's plan A. (Or B, or C for that matter.)

"Okay so..." She begins, and pauses, biting her bottom lip as she thinks. "Look, I... I need to ask something else. 'Cause I've never lost an arm before but I feel like... I'm already thinking about all the things that I used to do with two hands which was literally everything and I feel like... like I'm going to get frustrated. Maybe a lot. And I'm probably going to get upset and have some really bitchy moments and... just... please tell me when I reach the point of being unreasonable, okay?"

Molly pauses, and pushes her broken spectacles up her nose. "And like... hold my hand when I'm bawling my eyes out? 'Cause I'm pretty sure that's coming too. Probably more than once."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Hey, Molly-chan," Rashmi whispers, squeezing the Brit's shoulder again. "No... You don't even have to ask. That's what best friends *do,* isn't it?"

And Rashmi is absolutely sincere, once again; it would be a silly question if it weren't so serious, but the answer is as obvious as snow.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly squeezes her eyes shut, and leans her head backwards against the seat.

"I don't know what tomorrow is going to be like, but there's one thing I really want it to be, which is easy," she declares, "No... No Seriss, no Obsidian, no world-ending threats, no... I don't know, no homework or bullies or... Honestly if my Switch doesn't work right I might cry, even if I have no idea how I'm going to actually play with it as long as it turns on I think I'll be okay."

And then the bus reaches the right stop; the one that's just a block away from the building that has both of her Moms' businesses, and the apartment they live in. It's so close. It's right there.

And yet, after disembarking, Molly can't manage to get her legs to move.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"I don't know about your Switch," Rashmi says with a quiet smile. "But the rest... I can safely say it's in the bag."

And when the bus stops, and Rashmi follows Molly off... She can tell, as the bus pulls away behind them, that her friend is rooted to the spot. "Hey," she says softly. "Almost there... just a few more steps and you're home, Molly-chan..."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly blinks rapidly, and shakes her head.

"Yeah," she mumbles, "I, uhm, it's just, yeah, I.. I know. Just like, this way. You know that. You've been there before." She swallows audibly, and manages, somehow, to put one step in front of the other. Just a little further.

It's remarkable how walking a single block can take an eternity to traverse inside of five minutes.

But then, they're there. It's early enough in the morning that the auto shop isn't open yet; but there's the little buzzer that's set to call Samantha Skyline's phone. Molly, of course, doesn't have her keycard to the apartment building on her -- Obsidian disposed of that before creating Seriss -- so the purplenette reaches out to press the buzzer, and waits, nervously taking hold of Rashmi's hand and waiting.

"Hello?" comes an answer, almost a minute later. "This is Samantha Skyline."

By this time Molly's grip has tightened, almost as much as her throat.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
And Rashmi is there every step of the way, because of course; no good friend would abandon another at the very last mile of the road.

Her heart swells with pride as Molly takes it upon herself to press the button... But it's almost inevitable when Molly's voice fails her.

"Skyline-san," she says, taking the initiative, "It's Rashmi. You'e gonna want to come out here... And so's Misako-san."

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Rashmi-chan? What..." There's a pause. A very short pause. "Stay there, we'll be right down."

And then, the wait.

It's not a long wait; it's a newer building, the elevators are fast, and even with usage starting to pick up there's four of them, so you never really have to wait long. Maybe sixty seconds pass. Around the thirty second mark, Molly is visibly getting weak in the knees, and her grip on Rashmi's hand tightens even more. And of course, she tries to put her left hand out to steady herself, except that doesn't work because of course it doesn't.

Finally there's a rattle from the other side of the door, and Molly sucks in a deep breath as it swings outwards and Samantha Skyline steps through, followed closely by Kaneko Misako, and breath collectively catches.

"Mom," is the word that breaks the short silence, a desperate wail from Molly, from a teenager who desperately needs an adult to please, please take over the emotional and psychological heavy lifting of dealing with the aftermath of something terrible.

The loving, protective hug that follows is as immediate as it is all enveloping, surrounding not just Molly but Rashmi as well. No words are spoken; the tears collectively shed say everything.