zerotohiro | Some Legends Are Told, Some Turn To Dust Or To Gold [CEREALIA INBOX]

I know he's dead, Hiro.

[She won't beat around the bush.]

[Silence. There's pure silence and he gives her a look that practically screams "deer in the headlights." He still doesn't say anything but soon the silence is cut by the scraping of his chair against the floor as he pushes himself from the table.

But he stops. His intent had been to walk away and pretend this never happened, but rationally...? Even if they don't talk, Weiss will know. And there's nothing he can do to change that. So he stops, staring at the table top and his coffee instead.]

Surprised he even told you that part.

[Weiss notices Hiro's attempt to leave, but is glad when he decides to stay. Running away from this would have been throwing away his last chance at her friendship.]

I guess he felt he needed to. Tadashi is a very open and honest person.

[There is the distinct possibility he just doesn't want to talk about this, much less with someone he's not entirely comfortable with. Maybe it would be worth throwing away that chance when he's very much not sure he wants to continue.

But Tadashi brought it up himself for one reason or another.]

He's always been that way. It's sort of a problem for him. [He's trying to sound annoyed, but he sounds more sad than anything. Goddamnit, Weiss. Do you really wanna do this?] I don't need you to feel sorry for me, Weiss. Is that why you brought me here? Are you trying to prove you're a bigger person by apologizing just because of our "situation" and it makes you look bad to dislike somebody who's lost his family? [The "our" of course is him and Tadashi. He doesn't mean most of what he's saying though. He just feels a little trapped suddenly. Please forgive him. He doesn't know what to say other than to lash out inappropriately.]

[Hiro's going to even get a nuzzle from Inugami, for his trouble, before the demon barks:] INUGAMI CAN TALK.

He's different from Pixie, but hey. [Much more animal, he would say, but he doesn't want to get Inugami aggravated. Even if he's harder to offend than other demons.] As for what he can do... most of my demons have a combination of elemental abilities and physical strength, so Inugami's like that.

He's got a couple of moves, though, that'll be good to learn how to deal with, just in case. [Ah, Naoki's being purposefully vague...]

[She shakes her head.]

It's nothing like that. I don't know what it's like to go through what you did with Tadashi. My older sister is one of the few people I really care about, and thinking about her dying would tear me up.

[Sigh.] But that's beside the point. Talking to Tadashi made me realize how dearly you hold onto the people you love, and I just wanted to say that... I respect that.

So I don't want us to keep fighting. I'm not going to get in the way of you and Ruby anymore. We don't have to be friends, but I think she'd appreciate it if we were at least civil.

[She nods somberly.] I think that the ghosts are an important piece of the puzzle. We can’t just ignore them or write them off as simple hostile spirits, not after learning what happened to England and after what they told me. To me, their presence and his story point to them being victims of CERES, the ghosts of the people sacrificed to appease the elemental spirits.

And if we can reach them, when they appear again, maybe we can turn their anger on their killers. Or remind them that we colonists are in the same situation they are. They could be a valuable source of information, and allies at that.

...Rapunzel, if this is about the mask that really wasn't your fault. Those things made a couple of people act really crazy. And one of the good things about you is that you are stubborn. You don't give up on stuff. Not everybody can say that.

Think about it. We didn't know about the spirits before they just happened to show up. Who says this isn't the same kinda thing?

[Great. That look. He looks at his lap instead, twining his fingers together to give himself something to do.]

There's...still a lot of stuff I'm trying to process. Is it bad if I don't know what to do with part of it?

As long as they can tell the difference between us and them this time. I don't know if I want to take my chances before another widespread breakout happens again. They really only seem to listen to you anyway which...I guess it makes sense. You're the one who released them.

[He frowns lightly.] Learning everything we've learned about England...there're still some things that bother me though. We still don't have enough information to really pinpoint to a "why." I don't want to settle on "because" as an answer.

[...surprisingly, Weiss has said just the right thing to get him to ease up. Just like that, all of the fight drains out of him and he slumps back in his chair, staring at her with an expression that can really only be described as "lost." Doesn't matter if he's wearing a superhero suit and protecting everyone he can, and it doesn't matter if he's mature for his age and smarter than most people he knows. The fact remains that at the end of the day he's still a fourteen year old boy who's loved and lost a lot of people and she's right. He holds on for dear life just to make sure they won't disappear on him again.

It's a problem he's aware of, but not one he can fix immediately. He's considering Weiss's words then. They should...really do this for Ruby. They can work toward being friends in their own right, but the common denominator here is someone so important to both of them.]

...I can do civil. [He sneaks a peek up at her.] I guess I just want to say that...I care about Ruby a lot. More than almost anyone else I've cared about in my life, but you've gotta remember that when we leave this place? I'm not going to be the one who gets to go with her. It's you. And...I've gotta remember that she needs both of us. So I won't get in the way of you two either. You're her partner, Weiss. I can't compare to that.

Guess this is a truce then?

[Aw, what a good--oh god. He can't help but jump at the sound, whipping his head back to look at Inugami before staring at Naoki in bewilderment. He knows that the older boy knew about this but whoa.]

Yeah, I can tell. Good boy. [Eh heh. Aggravating demons isn't on his list of "to dos" today, so he instead makes a face at Mr. Vague McVagueson over there.]

That the roundabout way of saying start warming up? [He's moving to begin stretching out, still keeping an eye on Inugami. He's absolutely excited to finally try something like this, and while he liked Pixie quite a bit, Inugami's too fascinating not to want to spar with.] Yang's been training me for a while, but it's not like I've never sparred before I met her either.

[He'd been so absorbed in her story that he nearly forgot why they were there. Don't worry, he would have gotten there eventually. Probably. He shakes his head, flashing another sheepish smile her direction.]

Right, sorry. Enough about that...you wanted to know about things here. Let me ask you something, Adelina. What do you already know about what we found at that terminal in the labyrinth or whatever the locals are calling it? Anything?

[ Some inaudible yelling can be heard in the background... ]

Agh! Can't talk! I'm supposed to be in detention.

[ what ]

I'll text you all my deets, okay?! Keep me posted! Hiro, I'm so freaking exci-- okay, okay, SIR, I'm hanging up!

Bye!

Hiro, Yang and Ruby are gone.

[Normally-- Normally, Naoki would be more tactful. Normally.

He's the older one, he should be more composed, he needs to be better than this. However, right now? His mind isn't in a good place. And that mind of his barely musters up this as it is, when he doesn't want to think about anything, much less tell anyone this.

Text is kinda impersonal for this as well, but he doesn't trust his voice at the moment.]

[Naoki's just snickering a little, don't mind him. He beckons to Inugami, who comes back to him, his tail whirling happily back and forth. Naoki scratches his ears and grins mischievously at Hiro.]

I hope this'll be a whole new experience for you anyway.

[He pauses.] Have you had someone train you in things like battle strategies? More than just how to dodge and counter, mind you.

[He knows.

He's known from the moment the notification went off on his phone thanks to the app Tadashi created, known from the moment he actually looked and saw the names of some of the most important people in his life on that list.

He hadn't wanted to believe it at first. It was a matter of doubting Tadashi's work but also of trying to accept these things as fact. Those were two things he didn't want to do.

So...receiving Naoki's text is a little like the final nail in the coffin, so to speak, and for that reason alone he keeps this as text.]

When did you find out? [Text makes it much easier to hide what he's really thinking about all of this.]

When I woke up.

[When he woke up and there was no-one in the apartment that they all share but him. Not that that was unusual, but things were missing, things usually left, dishes, signs that they'd had breakfast before going out. And he'd followed his gut instinct.

When he looked for them, when he tried calling them, when he tried anything--

Though he'd known, right from the start.]

I will do what I can. I might…attempt…to summon one of them, sometime. I’m not sure, and I’d definitely want a lot of time to prepare a place away from the main colony. But I’m not sure.

[As for the rest…]

We don’t have a concrete reason for that, no. Other than to appease the elementals. That’s generally enough of a reason, and it is the foundation of most religion. To appease and curry favor with beings like those five. Why they want blood sacrifices I don’t know, but we do know that is what they desire now.

[He doesn't respond for a moment while he processes that. It's hard to imagine what that would be like, just waking up one day with everyone you know and love vanishing into thin air. That doesn't stop him from continuing though.]

According to the app, Weiss is gone, too. [Along with another name Hiro's all too familiar with, someone else he cares far too deeply about.]

I'm tired of letting this happen. I'm going to find a way to get to them this time.

[Wow don't laugh at him that's rude. But it's kind of cute watching the demon respond to Naoki just like a pleased animal. He's still stretching his back even while he pauses to think on that.]

Nah. All of my battle strategies come from just acting on instinct. Tadashi and I always just went through martial arts tactics.

As always, you know you can always reach me if there's anything I can do to help even if it's just scouting out places for you. We should go back to the basics anyway with stuff like this.

[That's still a stupid reason and all the more reason Hiro's not entirely into the idea of religion.] Athena and I are going to talk to Ardeo soon. Maybe I can work out a way to flat-out ask him. I'd ask Caeli but...not exactly the most helpful for answers.

[That is more-or-less what it was like. 0/10, wouldn't recommend. That's what it felt like. What it still feels like, right now, being in here alone is strange and almost suffocating.]

What are you going to do?

Then today's gonna be a little intro to battle strategies with me.

[Naoki grins. Does he not seem like the strategizing type? He might not, but it was completely necessary back in the Vortex World. He skritches under Inugami's chin.]

It'll work especially well with demons, since you'll be training with those, but you can also apply it to anything or anyone else you might fight.

Edited 2016-03-22 18:30 (UTC)

Hunt for the Nexus, go yell at Mosley, I'm not sure yet. But I can't just sit here and do nothing. Whatever will get me to them the fastest, that's what I'll do.

[He never handles loss well. Usually his response is to keep working and doing things. Though, on the other hand, being here and being with people, dealing with things like loss has taught him a few people skills he's sorely needed.]

I'm not going to ask if you're okay because that's probably the dumbest question in the world right now. But...what can I do? ["For you" goes unsaid. He might not know Naoki as well as he knows the girls but he's fairly certain the two of them have very, very similar feelings on this whole scenario.]

Some Legends Are Told, Some Turn To Dust Or To Gold [CEREALIA INBOX]

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just leaves this... depressing canon update thread here i guess...

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you beat me to it but oh good, what a happy conversation :')

:'''''')

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