[Mafdet Khepri]

"Knock knock," Khepri said loudly from the other side of the door as they stood outside of the room they were supposed to meet Counselor Sadako in. They wondered what this was about. Had they done something that someone else might have taken offense to? The only things that came to mind were that thing they did yesterday, the jar of beetles they accidentally dropped in the dorms last week, the blackboard incident, someone noticing the cutlery had been changed out, that book they borrowed seven months back without asking and forgot to return or maybe…

"I found my lost secret stash of Tilapia in the support labs before it began to smell this time. I didn’t even have to air them out, promise!" Khepri happily explained while finding a wide variety of objects, walls and decorations in the vicinity extremely interesting. "Is that why I was called here?"

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Tag: Sadako Gotoh

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[Sadako Gotoh]

''Come in.'' She answered with a friendly smile, amused by Khepri's way of entering a room. She chuckled when they started talking about their Tilapia. ''Not quite, please have a seat. I will explain to you why you were called in here today.'' She set a warm cup of tea down in front of Khepri. ''I want to begin by reiterating, you're not in trouble. People don't get send to my office when they are in trouble.'' At least not first, anyway. If a troublemaker did get sent her way, they had most likely already been talking to a teacher or principal.

''The reason you were called into this meeting today is because someone is worried about you.'' She made sure to have a calm tone, thinking back to how her mother used to talk to her when she was younger and unsure of everything that was happening around her. ''I'm going to ask you some questions. You can take as long as you need to answer them, and only answer what you're comfortable with answering.'' If it came down to it, she could easily host more sessions with Khepri. She wasn't the most knowledgeable about the bugcat student, but she had a feeling that they weren't known to be very honest with their feelings, on account of the clear signs of delusion they were displaying both in class and outside. ''I'm going to start Mafdet-san, with this question. How have you been feeling lately?''

Mafdet Khepri

[Mafdet Khepri]

Worried? That was odd. Khepri had always been smiling so no one would be worried just as they’d been taught. Had they been doing it wrong somehow? Perhaps Japanese people smiled in a slightly different way that Khepri hadn’t quite caught on to yet. They’d have to look up smiling compilations later.

"Okay," Khepri answered eagerly. They loved questions. They were like riddles but with no one correct answer. That made them both a lot easier and a lot harder but with enough persistence Khepri usually managed to find the answer the questioner was looking for.

"Oh, not much," Khepri replied both honestly and in the correct way they’d heard others answer that question before, "what about you?" They asked back out of politeness. That was the right thing to do after all. "In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever felt as little as I have recently!" A happy nod of confirmation followed their statement. It was only the first question so they may yet be taken for a loop but for this one they were more ready to answer than ever. This was going great!

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Tag: Sadako Gotoh

[Sadako Gotoh]

''I have been doing quite all right.'' Sadako offered a kind smile, indicating back at Khepri. ''Thank you for asking, but we're here to talk about you today.'' They were smiling and nodding with plenty of energy, but their words betrayed their actions. ''Mafdet-san, to tell you the truth, it was your friend Yanai Yoko who reached out to me... She's clearly worried about you. She said that at times you have extreme reactions to what is going on around you.'' She talked with the kindness and gentleness of a parent, doing her best not to upset Khepri. ''Mafdet-san, feeling little, or nothing at all, is not a good thing.''

Maybe this all explained how they had managed to slip under the radar of the faculty here. Khepri was eccentric in their own way, but also incredibly independent. Students like Jun, she wore her emotions on her sleeves more or less so it was a lot more noticeable when something is wrong. The same goes for a student like Yoko. Khepri could stick to themselves, put on a brave smile and the whole world would be none the wiser. ''Mafdet-san, can you tell me how long you have felt like this? Did something happen that made you feel so little?'' She knew that the answer most likely was connected to the Dream World incident. A lot of students had come out of that tragedy scarred by what they had seen and experienced, but she wanted to lead them towards that conclusion rather than just asking it outright.

Mafdet Khepri

[Mafdet Khepri]

Where are we?

"About me?" Khepri tilted their head. They had lots and lots to say about themself but usually people lost track before they were even a fortieth through the list so they'd stopped saying the entire list in one go. Khepri wondered whether there was something in specific that Counselor Gotoh wanted to talk about or whether they should just begin at the start.

"Hmm, Yoko did?" That was... bad? For some reason Khepri didn't want Yoko to be worried about them. Well, they didn't want anyone to be worried about them. Their ears drooped a little. Not enough that Khepri themself noticed but a dead giveaway that they didn't like the thought of that at all. Yoko didn't seem like someone that would speak to a teacher for no reason. If she'd complained about them then they were doing something really, really wrong. There was a tingling sensation in the back of Khepri's throat, one that seemed to climb up until they swallowed. They should go apologize after this.

"It isn't?" Khepri asked almost to themself while tilting their head. Their brow furrowed in thought. It didn't seem all too bad. Their grades were still up whenever they remembered to come to class. Which was most days. Hebi wasn't a truant and Khepri themself sleepwalked. Even without being awake they tended to get from their dorm to the classroom because of that. Maybe that wasn't what Sadako meant.

Extreme wasn't good but too little wasn't good too? Did that mean a middle was needed? But to find a middle one had to know where the edges of the line were, otherwise it was impossible to figure out what the middle was. For some reason Khepri didn't like the idea of looking for them. That was weird. They knew themself, they loved riddles and finding things like that. So why was it that-

''Mafdet-san, can you tell me how long you have felt like this? Did something happen that made you feel so little?''

Oh.

"No. That wasn't me. It wasn't. I- I didn't. I don't rememb- W- what?" They looked back up from their hands to see a hazy figure in front of them. Their hair was black. That- that was Counselor Gotoh. Khepri's breath cut off halfway and picked back up a half second later with a sharper inhale.

"I- No. There were ten fingers. That wasn't me. I don't know who saw all that."

tagged: Sadako Gotoh || word count: 416 || notes: x

xxx

[Sadako Gotoh]

She gave Khepri a sympathetic look and reached out to put a gentle hand over theirs. Something was clearly troubling them, otherwise they wouldn't be reacting like this. ''Mafdet-san, it's okay. You can talk to me about anything. Everything you say in here is confidential, it will be our secret and no one else has to know.'' She looked down at Khepri's hand, then back up at them. ''Yanai-san said you reacted very strongly when you saw her hurting from her quirk drawbacks. Do you care about Yoko?''

She was trying to connect the dots, but it was tricky with someone like Khepri who wasn't always keen on speaking honestly about how they felt. She had seen Yoko's quirk drawbacks herself before, and while they weren't exactly pleasant, they were far from graphic or shocking. Khepri's mood and lack of feelings had to be connected to something deeper. ''Ten fingers?'' She did her best to come across as Khepri's friend, as someone who was trying to help and comfort. ''Mafdet-san, did you experience, or see something bad during the Dream World incident? Take a deep breath, with me.'' She demonstrated by taking a deep breath herself, hoping they would follow along. ''You're safe here, you don't have to say anything if you aren't comfortable doing so, but anything you say I will keep a secret between us. I want to help you.''

Mafdet Khepri

[Mafdet Khepri]

Half empty or full... "O-okay." That was good. Secrets were important for riddles and Khepri liked those. If no one kept secrets then riddles wouldn't exist anymore so it was good that this would stay a secret or there would be no Khepri riddles anymore. Their hand faintly trembled beneath Sadako's. That wouldn't be good. How could they figure anything out if the riddles were gone? "Of course I do. That's normal, right?" Caring about people was what they were meant to do wasn't it? They were here to study to be heroes after all, that was what they should do, right? "She suddenly got so cold and then she fell and shook and- and- what if she stopped shaking? What if she stopped moving?" A shaky breath that was half inhale and half sob followed while they listened to the rest of Sadako's words.  "No. It wasn't me who saw that." Khepri shook their head. "They had ten fingers and could see behind them and remember everything and they kept walking and they knew everything for four days and their mind didn't stop it just kept thinking and thinking and thinking an-" They choked up and took a stuttered breath that wasn't anything remotely similar to the one Sadako took before they continued. "An- and they carried the body out of there after she got shot in the head it wasn't me it was them but why was the blood on my clothes her body swayed so much it was so heavy when that person carried it but that wasn't me so why was the blood on-" They were fully shaking now, their eyes seeing something that wasn't there as they rambled on and on until something would snap them out of it. ...Is all perspective Sadako Gotoh

made by eden @ gs and thq

[Sadako Gotoh]

''It is. Caring is one of our greatest strengths as heroes, and human beings.'' It pained her to see Khepri like this, someone who normally did nothing but joke around and spread smiles and cheer being so clearly upset felt wrong. However, she didn't let it show on her face. Instead she continued to act professionally, with sympathy in her eyes and a smile and tone of voice that was meant to be soothing and friendly. ''Hey, it's okay...'' She reached out to take Khepri's hand gently, to remind them that they weren't alone, that they were in a safe space, that whatever had transpired was something that had happened in the past. Something they were going to overcome, however impossible and difficult it all seemed.

''You're okay, here... Take another slow, deep breath with me, let's just focus on breathing, together. Okay? You don't have to tell me anymore just breathe with me, Mafdet-san.'' She demonstrated again by taking a deep, slow breath, keeping eye contact with Khepri as they tried to get them to follow her. She was ready to sit there for hours if it came down to it, she just needed to help Khepri relax again. Clearly something horrifically traumatizing had taken place and they weren't about to fix all of that here today. Assuming she would be able to help Khepri calm down a bit Sadako gave her a reassuring smile. ''Telling me all of this takes a lot of courage, you are strong, Mafdet-san. Not because you walk around bearing all this pain in isolation, no, you're strong because you care, because you have a big heart.''

Mafdet Khepri

[Mafdet Khepri]

That was a statement that gave Khepri something to think about. They'd always thought that strength was strength and caring was caring but was it really possible to get stronger just by caring more? As the catbug thought about it more the revelation truly set in. It really was! To care was to observe and learn so that one could better help the ones they cared about. Learning to do that would not only help develop the skills needed to get allies through hard spots but also the ones to find soft spots in enemies. It was like in detective series where the detective managed to string seemingly unrelated clues together to figure our who the real bad guy was. If Khepri could just figure out the links between their actions, words and the way they were they might just be able to find the right solution. But was it truly possible that everything was connected like that? They'd need to find out one attempt at a time. They had to. Even if the world turned upside down that method would still give them something to go off.  As more and more of the past continued to spill out of their mouth Khepri latched onto Sadako's words like a lifeline. Breathing made sense. You had to breathe to move except for when shocks of electricity ran through you and you just stood up even when your head had a- A coughing fit racked their frame and interrupted their attempts to breathe right. Sucking in far too much air to compensate they began to hyperventilate in full. It took more than ten minutes before their breathing finally began to calm again, the occasional hitched breath sending them spiraling again several times before they at last managed to regain control over their lungs. The entire time scenes played back in their head, out of order and at times out of focus. Only at times though, sometimes certain frames were far, far clearer than Khepri could handle. The clarity luckily didn't stay for long, scenes growing vaguer and vaguer again until they couldn't remember them even if they tried. Only vague memories of the past ten minutes remained. Not of the scenes they'd recalled during it but of their own thoughts as they flooded their mind. Khepri had to do something. The other, they, they... Frustration surged through Khepri, a rare emotion for the catbug. They couldn't remember what the other needed. They blanked on who that person that the other was carrying was. Khepri got the feeling that the other was lost but they didn't know where. How could they help the other if they didn't know who or where the other was? If they couldn't observe and learn then they couldn't care and if they couldn't care then... were they doomed to be weak? "Sensei..." Khepri said hoarsely after Sadako's words of encouragement. How could they explain that they didn't care? That they couldn't? Their chest hurt again. Was that what it was then? If caring made your heart big had the recurring pain been a sign that their heart was shrinking ever since... Since when? Khepri couldn't remember. A shudder ran through them. What... what had they been talking about? For some reason a pit formed in their stomach and they felt like they had to get the words out before they were forgotten again. "The other they... I don't know. They were lost. They kept walking and walking and they remembered everything but now they're forgotten. They, they need help but I can't remember. The other was so much smarter, they could pull up any of my memories but now I can't and- and-" They took a deep breath, one only partially interrupted by a sniffle, to make sure they kept control of their lungs this time. "Sensei, what do I do?" WORDS 654 TAGS Sadako Gotoh NOTES ---

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS & THQ

[Sadako Gotoh]

''There, there...'' She tried her best to calm Khepri down with some gentle pats on the back to help with their cough. She smiled patiently at them as they started speaking again. It was just about as cryptic as she had expected, but she was actually able to glean some kind of meaning from it. ''The other they could remember all that, huh?'' She asked for confirmation, Khepri's words leading her thoughts somewhere along the lines of figuring out not just what happened during Dream World, but who they had swapped quirks with.

Smart, perfect memory, maybe they had found the recipient of Recall's quirk.

''I'll tell you what we're going to do.'' She took Khepri's hands. ''We're going to take a moment and just relax, do you like tea? I'll make you a cup.'' She stood up and walked over to the electric kettle she kept in her office. ''It sounds like what you went through was complicated and scary. It was during the biggest quirk incident of recent times, and when it comes to quirks we have a certified expert right here at the school.'' She turned to smile back at Khepri. ''Mafdet-san, I'm going to book an appointment with Recall-sensei for you. She knows all about quirks and the study of quirks, and I'm sure she knows a thing or two about what you've been through. We will continue our talks here, but Recall can help you in ways that I can't.''

Mafdet Khepri

[Sol]

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[attr="class","likedotitle2"]Approved

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Poor Khepri's been through so much, it's a good thing Sadako's there to support them.
Mission approved, nicely done you two!

Sadako Gotoh - 2,250 EXP + 5,000 = 7,250 EXP
Mafdet Khepri - 6,000 EXP + 5,000 = 11,000 EXP

PHARAOH LEAP.

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