crashout | HIGEKIRI;

Your friend?

[for one of those who vanished - higekiri remembers junpei mentioning someone he knew here, and it sounded like when two of the people who were hard to find were named, junpei was pretty upset to hear it....

he will still insist, so they don't linger on the topic if junpei doesn't want to:]

We'll keep looking.

...yeah. We have nothing else to do until tomorrow, so if we can find anything that might point us in the right direction then I'll take it. [He's pretty much going to wander until he's satisfied, but with a missing Carlos that's never.]

Beck said that Carlos and Polly were in the room she was staying in and she saw them before we were put to sleep. Have you tried your key on anyone else's door?

Then I will search with you.

[just

a simple and neat reassurance that junpei isn't alone in this, and higekiri will simply continue walking with him, eyes looking over everything even if we're not allowed to find anything new]

Mm... No. I haven't found my room yet. [hm] But I must always wait for my brother or our friend to allow me into theirs.

[Why are the swords good...there's a slow nod but he doesn't verbally reply to that yet. They'll keep looking.]

--I'm going to come back to the second part in a second, but what do you mean you haven't found your room yet? It's been a week.

I was looking for a room that would allow me in as Wei Wuxian... The red-haired one actually was helping me.

[HOPE THAT EXPLAINS WHY HE NEVER GOT IN AND UHHH GAVE UP

but also,]

And until we discover the enemy, I prefer to know where my brother is during nightfall.

[he

he hasn't told hiza this

hiza thinks hige just doesn't want to be in his room]

Chuuya. [Just a name on the reflex. But also what the hell.] I'm pretty sure the shells are keyed to certain doors, so even if you've taken on a new name it wouldn't work. [...but...]

You're actually a really good brother. It's probably a good idea to check on him. I think he's a little worried about what's happening, too.

[there's just a little laugh at that because - ]

'Actually'...

[though he doesn't seem offended]

Mm, he has a strong sense of duty. I can be a relaxed older brother because my younger brother works so hard.

[He shrugs. Sometimes he just says things.]

He sometimes works a little too hard. Every time I talk to him it's "elder brother" this and "elder brother" that...it's kinda cute. [Hiza is a good puppysword.]

It's endearing, isn't it? His worried face and crying face are cute, too.

[HIGE'S SO MEAN]

Though I like it best when he's smiling.

[The problem is that Junpei laughs? He's never had siblings, but...it seems like a thing that would make sense.]

Have you told him that? Any of that, I guess.

[a blank stare]

Should I....?

Most people like compliments or knowing they matter to people, don't they?

They do...

Hm... I suppose I can play with him a little bit more.

[please know what you're condemning anna to]

Keep him on his toes a little more. It'll be good for him. [Anna can suffer.

...plus, as far as Junpei's concerned everybody needs to be a little more engaged with what's happening, so this will surely be fine. He got 100% distracted about what he was talking about so that's fine, too.]

Who else have you been staying with anyway?

Hm.... Our other brother [who?] and our friend. [whomst??]

[ . . . ]

Um... Our other brother also has a poor memory at times, and our friend is a prince?

[DOES

THAT HELP CLARIFY?????]

[...yeah he's pulling out the clamshell and flipping to Grune's profile first, and then Dimitri.]

These two? [Hilariously that does clarify for him since he's met and learned about both.]

[oh!

hige nods]

Mm, that's correct.

They seem okay. I haven't spoken to them very much, but...you trust them, then?

I don't know if our brother possesses the ability to betray anyone - though I worry at times that her memory may occasionally have more holes than my own. Regardless, she will remember what is important, I think.

As for the prince...

[he hums softly]

He is a man who thinks himself a beast, weighed down by the burden of his own imagined sins. Regardless... I believe his 'heart is in the right place' as they say.

[He's not going to ask why Grune is a brother instead of a sister, he's just accepted swords are like this.] You really think so?

[...from one troubled memory to another. He's about to ask something else but then Higekiri's actually talking about Dimitri and he can't quite think of how to react.]

Not that I really know one way or another, but are you sure they're imagined?

Mm, I do. I think everything will work out with her.

[who can say where that certainty comes from though??

but at the mention of dimitri, higekiri hums softly]

I think... that young man confuses himself about what is or isn't his fault.

[Sounds like a problem. He leaves the Grune subject alone, likely to loop back. By now they're on their second or third loop of the hallway as they walk and Junpei searches for something he knows won't be found.]

So how do you help someone like that?

[higekiri hums thoughtfully at that]

... Love them despite their faults, imagined or otherwise, I suppose.

Maybe if they learn enough forgiveness from someone else, they can apply it to themselves.

[...a wise answer, but not one he's entirely sure he can follow. There's a pause because he knows he has to answer, but none of his answers sound right. In the end, he settles on a nod.]

Then maybe they'll be fortunate enough to find people to help them. This is a place where people are going to start to see the ugly sides of each other. Can loving someone really save them?

[Don't like that he keeps having philosophical conversations with a sword, but here we are. He has his own answers to those questions, but they're out in the universe now anyway.] ...anyway, I don't expect a real answer. I'm just thinking about what's coming next.

I don't know if love can save someone on its own - but I've seen the way that it can heal old wounds. How a human being's wish to be cared for can overcome their other obstacles.

[but that's also just higekiri's opinion and he just laughs softly]

Mm. I want to help everyone here as much as I can too.

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crashout - 2019-10-17 05:31 (UTC) - Expand