acatalepsy_rpg

Soooo how's everyone feeling?

[THIS MESSAGE HAS A PURPOSE HE SWEARS]

Serious question, by the way. I talked to Astoria as soon as we got back, and she was pretty worried about the way I. . . felt to her?

[GOD PUTTING IT THAT WAY SOUND WEIRD]

She said that I brought something back with me from Struxta. Something dark, evil, heavy. . . wrong? I don't know about you guys but absolutely none of that is confidence inspiring. Wonder why.

[AHA]

She also told me that the wilting plants around the temple aren't normal. "Everything here seems to be just here. Present, alive, blooming," is what she said, word for word. She's never seen anything here die before.

[. . .]

I don't really know what she's talking about, especially because I feel just fine. I don't think she does yet either, though I imagine she's going to investigate. Just be careful, all right? And if you notice anything off about yourself, let me or someone else know.

Because if we all came back possessed by space demons or infected by robot tuberculosis I'm gonna be pretty pissed.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Akira has definitely listened to Ryuji talk about his mother before, but never in this much detail. it gets a smile out of him, something fond and soft and endeared at how clear it is that Ryuji loves her. and maybe just a little touched to know that to Ryuji, he's worth talking about]

She sounds pretty cool.

[vaguely, Akira thinks he doesn't really know what it feels like to have a mom as attentive and interested as that. but it's a thought he brushes aside immediately, because this conversation is about Ryuji. not himself]

I'd like to meet her one day, when we get back.

[It doesn't really take a genius to figure out that Akira's situation with his parents wasn't great. Or at least that they weren't tight. One instance of trying to help someone out from a really, really bad fucking situation and the next thing he knows... getting shoved off to some place in Tokyo, to a stranger that had no real connection to him to begin with. Yeah, Ryuji's screwed up a lot in his life and his dad might not be in the picture anymore, but when everything went down with Kamoshida, his mom was still there for him.

Everyone deserves that.

Akira especially deserves that.]

Yeah? I'll make sure it happens. Super promise.

[But they can't go back, not yet. Ryuji picks at the fabric of his pants idly for something to do with his hands.]

What was it like? When you went back home? I know you probably didn't get like... a hero's welcome or anything. Even though that's definitely what we were.

[Akira has that, now. he might not have had it before being shipped off to Tokyo (and he hadn't realized he didn't have it until that empty space in his life was occupied by so much warmth), but. . . that wasn't the important part. at least, not in his mind]

[Akira gaze grows kind of distant when Ryuji asks that question, flickering away to focus on a random point on the wall opposite. he shrugs]

I was only there for a day before I got dragged here.

[noooot too long to really soak in the fact that he had been shoved back somewhere he didn't belong]

My parents welcomed me home, but they both had a business event to attend. So dinner on my first night back was kind of on my own.

[. . .]

[in the past, he might not have thought much about it, because wasn't that how all parents were? focused on their careers, driven and ready to succeed? it was an attitude they had tried to foster in their son, and he had been fairly understanding of their casual neglect. they gave him food and shelter, and the things he needed to survive, and wasn't that supposed to be enough?]

[but it's only now, as he says that aloud and contrasts it to the time he spent living at Sojiro's, that he realizes that it's perhaps. . . wasn't]

-- anyway, it wasn't so bad. I've gotten way better at cooking.

[If Akira won't be offended by the thing he just said, or take it just as a fact of life, then Ryuji will gladly say exactly what's on his mind when it comes down to it. It pisses him off that anyone would treat him that way, exacerbated only by the fact that it's his parents, and he doesn't have nearly enough tact to skirt around the fact that---]

Dude, your parents effin' suck.

[Not that Ryuji isn't halfway there himself, what with his own dad having left their family behind, but. Still. They're probably both on the same wavelength in thinking that he had better care provided to him by Boss. Which says a lot, considering Akira had went around the corner to get experimented on by a doctor from time to time.]

It just. It makes me so goddamn angry. We went through all that shit just for everything to return to normal. Like, shit! The praise or anything like that--- that even ain't what I'm talkin' about. When we get home, you definitely ain't going back there. I don't give a fuck.

[there's no an ounce of offense to be found in Akira's reaction. he laughs, actually. . . wry and kind of humorless, but a laugh nonetheless]

I sure wish it was that easy, Ryuji. But it's not like I can stay in Tokyo without a place to live, and I don't think Boss's attic is open indefinitely.

[well. truthfully? he's never asked. that's just an assumption]

[but the fact that that's his reason for not being able to stay in Tokyo, and the fact that he says nothing about wanting to have returned home to the countryside, sure says a lot]

Edited 2018-09-17 00:49 (UTC)

[You just can't tell Ryuji no when he sets his mind to something. That's just how he is, and at the core of his being, he's wired to work toward things he wants to do with his own will and determination, even if there's nothing else out there to give him a leg up.

It sounds like an excuse to him. He can't shake that feeling.]

So? You really think he'd turn you out into the rain if you showed up one day with just a backpack? You... 'n him and Futaba, too. You had like. A thing going on there. A real thing? A definitely real thing.

[. . . .]

[a definitely real thing. Sojiro had said as much himself. and as Akira was walking out the cafe door for the very last time. . . he could have sworn he heard a muffled sniffle from his guardian]

[but nevertheless, Akira isn't used to asking people for favors when he isn't actively providing them something in return. that's just the way he was-- the kind of guy who didn't expect too much from others, because expecting things always meant disappointment]

Pretty sure it was a real thing. He didn't rat me out when he found out I was a Phantom Thief, after all.

[his response is deceptively light]

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