[Amon takes the delicate blossom from Rosen's fingers and watches colors move through its petals. Slowly they darken to a dull, lightless gray in his grasp.]
We call them Elpis. Named for this place where they first grew.
[Why does he know this?
Behind the mask he stares transfixed at the flower, feeling curls of confusion and hate in his chest.]
Huh! Curious, no?
[He hands the flower back.]
You shall find no end of curiosities here...
[As his mind settles into his worn skin, anchors itself in a more solid reality, the presence of this stranger finally becomes unusual.]
Not that least of which is yourself, my diminutive friend. Who are you?
[Czeslaw's apology draws Scott out of thoughts, that troubling look disappearing and replaced by an apologetic smile of his own. Look, he doesn't need a kid to worry about it, especially if he's still trying to get used to everything.]
It's cool man. Besides, I can protect the people important to me this way. It's how I'll protect you.
[...Who is he protecting them from--] And yeah, that's why I'm always wearing these glasses. Have a hard time controlling them otherwise.
[Is that okay to admit? Probably. It's not like that's really a secret around here.]
He thinks he made his point well, it's just Hiei is still too stubborn or thickheaded to see it. He wants to argue more, but the demon's waving his hand in dismissal, a gesture that makes him huff. Well, there's other things he can still argue about, honestly, the mutant's eyes narrowing behind his glasses.
Allies, right. Still a different term than 'partner.' It's not like he's heard anyone call their boyfriend or whatever an 'ally.']
I bumped into him a couple of months ago, but that's not the point. [Now it's his turn to be dismissive. He doesn't care too much to get into the specifics of that meeting.]
Will you at least admit that he's important to you?
[Is self-growing bread really the weirdest thing Charles has ever explained to him? Like, really? Junpei has been through the literal mirror passageway thing, so no, absolutely not.
But it is pretty strange, so excuse him if he stands there and stares at the baguette for a bit, as if it will grow into a fun shape and do a little dance or something. This is objectively not what it does, and yet! And yet.]
Huh. Well, okay, I guess. As long as I never have to eat any of it, it's neat.
[There's got to be, like, magical ghost mold in there, right? He'll pass on that one.]
[It's a purely curious question, like she just plain doesn't understand. Though, if her question about love wasn't a tipoff, she genuinely didn't learn a lot of things.]
Hm. In what manner would we have been able to enter your memory?
[ The auto-translate helps her here, though the words are closer to her natural language than what people are usually speaking, so it comes through more smoothly. ]
What rank are you, exactly? Aren't you this super special lightning-throwing prince of ninja?
[ She's teasing him, mostly -- she remembers their conversation about lightning. ]
[ All of this happens in the matter of seconds at most, but time stretches into what feels like hours as Ragna watches the scene unfold in suspense, mentally berating himself for not doing more to help. When it becomes clear A2 is... well, not entirely safe but managing, he allows himself the smallest sigh of relief before turning around and rushing forward, swinging his sword down at Nu. She blocks the attack with little to no effort, but the action takes enough of her attention that the sword threatening to crash down on the android disappears, like it was never there in the first place. The girl giggles as she jumps back to make some space between them, summoning a barrage of dark blades that he tries his damnedest to deflect.
He knows that without his right arm and an injury he's suffered already he's no match for the girl, but at the very least he should be able to buy some time. He's the cause of all this mess, so if nothing else he should make sure no one else has to suffer the consequences. ]
[Wow, and Octavian thought Vash had a word vomit motormouth problem, this is next level— He can only stare down at Shigeru through this whole thing, like it isn't safe to look back at his machine and mess with it until he's sure there's no more.
So, after waiting a few extra seconds,] Why do you not use your abilities to their fullest extent?
[Forget all of that other stuff about lasers and whatever, he's lost interest; tell him why you're not out there mending things as well as people, kiddo.]
[ That's actually creepier. Like, way creepier. Toph was preparing to comfort her friend through the shock, but instead she can tell that she's going to have to rein her in from doing anything crazy and reckless. ]
Okay. [ She takes a breath; Toph's not going to challenge that, not at all. ] But can we stop for a second and you tell me what you know? I'll be a lot more help if I know what's going on.
And tell me not in here, [ she requests. ] It's freaking me out thinking that's your dead family right there. [ Blunt as ever, but completely honest. She's gone through some harsh things, but a lot of it was fairly abstract; Toph is still a kid who's been relatively sheltered, and she's not immune to the cold posed figures across the room prodding her senses like a loose tooth she can't ignore. ]
[Ah, and he can crawl away hastily enough, but the feeling— the feeling, that is a bit much. Octavian has been without so many feelings for so long, and he enjoys a sort of immunity to the worst ones while in his spectral state, so to feel pain here and now is more terrifying than he'd like to admit.
Still, he crawls a little faster now, and actually manages to raise his voice above its usual low and even cadence:]
Imbecile! Use your own eyes and not the madness of this creature!
Hard? There's nothing complicated about wanting to change yourself.
[ Gilgamesh spoke the truth. However, Tsuna should know one important detail if he ever figured it out. Gilgamesh has not once changed his core as a person! He was ever so confident of himself! When he gets older, Gilgamesh mellows down and becomes a Wise King, but that's a tale for a different day. ]
You simply lack "resolve" and "perspective."
[ Hence, why Tsuna needs those Dying Will bullets ever so often, but it doesn't help with the main issues. ]
[ Listen here, sir!!! Shigeru has been mute most of his life so talking is still something new for him, leave him alone! ] Oh! Well...it's a lot of things.
[ Shigeru looks awkwardly down at Cheddar who will just give a soft squeak at that. ] I-I don't want to step on people's toes with this kind of stuff, you know? F-Fixing things and-and people...I usually offer but only if the person really wants me to help them.
[ Shigeru looks back up at Octavian. ] I don't want people to think that they're...something that needs to be fixed or cured. [ He doesn't know, it feels weird, almost wrong to make people think that they need to be fixed because of their disabilities or ailments. ]
But I know some people can be stubborn about things. So, I just use my powers when people let me know or it's a really serious situation.
[Oh, he was thinking about, like, shirts with tears in them, but he supposes this is a logical response.]
You have a sense of respect for others. That is admirable.
[No one likes a pushy miracle worker, after all. Octavian has a rather large complex, call it, about bodily autonomy, and so he doesn't dislike this answer-- but also he was thinking about shirts with tears in them, so it throws him off for a moment.
He considers it a bit longer. Hmm.]
I thought it would pertain to knowledge of the composition of a thing. Take my machine for example. You do not know how it works. Could you fix it anyway, were it to break?
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expiationlogs2025-01-13 12:39 pm
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