For whatever it's worth, I don't mind you showing up inside the house, but I suppose I have to take everyone else's privacy into consideration.
[ Eh......
And with that, they're out the front door! It's cute. Very traditional. There's a rock garden and some greenery that's managed to persist through the snow, with more to come once spring, well, springs.
The breezeway outside the front door extends all along one side of the home. Maruki leads him down, past endless windowed rooms with little signs of life inside, until they emerge at the back of the house. The walkway continues, stone steps creating a path into the woods, through the trees–
To a vast clearing, dotted with lantern light around the perimeter.
There are........................... more than a few large patches of old bloodstains dotted around ♥ ]
Ta-da! It's nothing fancy, but it provides Akechi and I with ample space to train.
[Kazuya is honestly pretty impressed by it, and he can't help his gaze flicking this way and that to take in the scope and... Well, feeling of home from it. It's not like his own home back in his own reality, but it's close enough that there's nostalgia and longing for it.
Either way, the clearing is impressive, as are the few patches of bloodstains around. Whoof, they must really go at it, don't they?
Kazuya would hate to end up on the wrong side of both of them, honestly. It'd undoubtedly be impressive, what the pair could accomplish together, and that's just from what little he knows about them.]
I can see that.
[His eyes glance to a patch of grass that's a little darker than the others from old, dried blood.
He's already digging into his pocket to pull out his 3DS COMP. It's blue ♥
He pushes some buttons, starting it up.]
I'm ready whenever you are... I can scan you both with and without Azathoth, I think.
[Really! All it takes is a few button presses, and with the COMP aimed at Maruki... It spits out a nice little data sheet at him.
But also now that it's on, there's something a little more concerning in his vision than the data sheet that it spits out, readily visible on the screen.
His gaze is firmly locked above Maruki's head at a rather ominous looking number 5.]
[It's something. But what is it? What could Maruki be getting into in five days that would potentially kill him...?
Kazuya doesn't want that. It's different if it's the goblins or the gelflings or the dragonkin that he occasionally sees with a number above their heads, he couldn't care less about them biting the bullet.
[... Whew. Well, that didn't... really change the number above his head, but at least that means he'll be present for... Whatever is going on.
It'd be easier if the Laplace mail still worked.]
Ah- hold that pose for a moment.
[He hits a few buttons, and there's the click of a camera shutter as Kazuya absolutely takes a picture of him and Azathoth. Yep. There's a camera function, and taking a picture of him means that he'll always have proof of his existence.
Anyway, once that's done, he'll quickly scan Azathoth, and when all of the data shows up, he'll move to show Maruki the exact details it shows as well.]
The question marks mean that the value can't be identified, either because it's changing or because it makes the system overflow.
[Still, it's kind of funny to see that each of the tentacles is a regarded as a unique entity unto itself, each with its own resistances and weaknesses.]
Azathoth is pretty uniquely powerful, it's impressive. I mean, we knew that I'm still pretty impressed all the same.
? list them all right now or i'll call the yaoi cops on you
[ Maruki looks over the data – for Azathoth, for each tentacle individually, brows furrowed. He even takes out his own phone to snap photos of the screens. It answers some questions he has, raises others. At times, he feels there's nothing he understands less than his own persona, innate as it is.
He nudges Kazuya in the ribs, smiling and bashful. ]
Well, thank you. That does mean a lot coming from you.
[ HE SAW THAT FIGHT WITH EREN, GIRL. ]
Did you take a photo just now...?
switches my baseball hat around. it reads YURI on the back.
[It was just a normal fight? Between two guys who aren't friends but enjoyed beating the shit out of each other?? It's normal guy things. You wouldn't understand, Maruki, you tentacled freak.]
Yeah! I just thought... It would be a nice picture to have, so I can remember you whenever it is we all leave here. I hope you don't mind... It was a cute pose.
I do! I have a bunch of ones that I took... Ah, but since this is a modified COMP, they're all from the lockdown... I can show you, if you don't mind seeing Tokyo in a pretty sorry state.
[He says, but he's pretty sure Maruki wouldn't mind that sort of thing. He's a tough guy, but not a Tough Guy.]
yak?????? go watch it??????? revoking your gay card
[Good to know! But he quickly moves through the menu screens, bringing up the photos he'd taken of his friends, mostly while they weren't paying attention.
The areas are easily familiar as being from all around Tokyo, but all within the Yamanote Line specifically, and there's twopeople who feature more prominently than anyone else, however.
There's some serious damage in the back ground of every picture, from overturned cars, to pavement being ripped up, Tokyo literally looks like a bomb was dropped on it.]
[ It's the strangest thing, seeing Tokyo from another reality's point of view. Even one that isn't so destructive would still be bizarre. A world unknown, yet not. When the veil that separates realities is as thin as the one between his and Kazuya's seems to be, it's particularly unsettling...
However, Maruki is himself, through and through. His eyes don't linger on the chaos, but on the people Kazuya cared enough about to capture, again and again. ]
My two best friends. The one in blue is Atsuro Kihara, we met while I was in highschool, and he'd come to my house to meet up with my cousin who was teaching him about computer programming stuff. We became really close friends from there on, and the other is Yuzu Tanikawa... We met when we were kids, and we've been really, really close ever since. I can't think of anyone I could possibly trust more than those two.
[Or anyone he could possibly like more, if the faint dusting of pink on his cheeks says anything about how he feels about them.]
I don't think I could have made it through the lockdown, if I didn't have them. They mean the world to me.
[ Oh, that little blush is noted, thanks so much. Maruki Will Remember That.
He remembers a lot of things, though. For example– ]
You know... You told me once, early on, that you normally prefer to let your friends speak for you. At the time, I thought that was a somewhat troubling statement, but now that I know you better, I think I understand. You really put your whole heart into the people you care about, don't you, Kazuya?
[He gives a small, sheepish laugh, rubbing the back of his head.]
I said before that it's because I trust them to know me even better than I might know myself.
[And he still believes that, even after everything. And he still strives to do what he thinks they'd want of him in turn. He relies on them, as they've relied on him.]
They're my most important people, and I'd never want to let them down.
[ Maruki can feel the sincerity of those words practically radiating from Kazuya. In his eyes, Kazuya has more heart and soul than most here.
He's quiet for a moment, thoughtful, hands tucked into his pockets and Azathoth's tentacles swaying in the spring breeze. A ways behind them is the machiya, Akira somewhere inside it. ]
You know... Even though I wanted Kurusu-kun here more than anything, the prospect also terrified me. I worried all the time that he would show up and be disappointed in the person I've become since we last saw one another.
[ There are no vines and flowers choking his throat to force these words out. Maruki simply trusts Kazuya enough to be honest and forthcoming. That says it all, really. ]
Sometimes I think I tempted fate with that, considering he appeared with no memories of me at all. Still, though– is that something that troubles you too?
[Because he knows the hurt that comes from someone you love so much being disappointed in you. For thinking that you've changed for the worst, even after doing everything that he possibly could have to make them see otherwise.
Yuzu had come around, in the end. When he hadn't hurt anyone more than strictly necessary, when it had been self defense. Atsuro had stuck with him through thick and thin of it all, never once faltering in his belief in him.
But Yuzu...
Well, that's a scar that wont heal, the look on her face when she'd left.]
I don't want either of them to be disappointed in me. But knowing what I know about Naoya, and the fact that we come from entirely divergent timelines... Well, I worry. What if I made bad choices somewhere else? I can't fathom having made any different choice from the one I did, but Naoya's existence here all but confirms that's a possibility. What else could be one? There's no use in thinking about it until that reality is staring me in the face, but I can't help but worry that if either of them did arrive, and I wasn't the person they thought I was... What would I do then? How could I make up for something that I don't even remember doing, or would have ever thought possible?
[ As Kazuya goes on pouring those worries that live deep in his heart, Maruki unpockets one of his hands to lay against his back, palm warm between his shoulder blades. It's a steadying gesture, a grounding one. He's seen by now how stressed out and anxious Kazuya can get...
It's not as if there's no good reason for it, though. He rubs back and forth a bit, sighs. ]
It's an impossible situation. I won't pretend it isn't. Before this, we'd never have to worry about things like our loved ones showing up with memories of an entirely different life that we lived.
[ Maruki has fragmented memories of some sort of future unlived, embedded into his mind like so many shards of a broken reality. One day, a Phantom Thief who lived through that may appear. If they hated him for it, he would be asking himself the same questions Kazuya is. How can you make up for choices you never made? ]
But Kihara-kun and Tanikawa-san... They care for you too, don't they? Even if it was difficult to deal with or took a while to fully understand, surely they wouldn't hold the choices made by a different version of you against you.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
[ Eh......
And with that, they're out the front door! It's cute. Very traditional. There's a rock garden and some greenery that's managed to persist through the snow, with more to come once spring, well, springs.
The breezeway outside the front door extends all along one side of the home. Maruki leads him down, past endless windowed rooms with little signs of life inside, until they emerge at the back of the house. The walkway continues, stone steps creating a path into the woods, through the trees–
To a vast clearing, dotted with lantern light around the perimeter.
There are........................... more than a few large patches of old bloodstains dotted around ♥ ]
Ta-da! It's nothing fancy, but it provides Akechi and I with ample space to train.
no subject
Either way, the clearing is impressive, as are the few patches of bloodstains around. Whoof, they must really go at it, don't they?
Kazuya would hate to end up on the wrong side of both of them, honestly. It'd undoubtedly be impressive, what the pair could accomplish together, and that's just from what little he knows about them.]
I can see that.
[His eyes glance to a patch of grass that's a little darker than the others from old, dried blood.
He's already digging into his pocket to pull out his
3DSCOMP. It's blue ♥He pushes some buttons, starting it up.]
I'm ready whenever you are... I can scan you both with and without Azathoth, I think.
no subject
Maruki sticks close by his side for a moment to inspect it, openly fascinated, before he nods and takes a few steps away.
If he knew about T-posing, he would be T-posing. ]
Hit me. Ah, not literally!
no subject
[Really! All it takes is a few button presses, and with the COMP aimed at Maruki... It spits out a nice little data sheet at him.
But also now that it's on, there's something a little more concerning in his vision than the data sheet that it spits out, readily visible on the screen.
His gaze is firmly locked above Maruki's head at a rather ominous looking number 5.]
no subject
Well? What does it say?
no subject
[Like, he has no problem turning the screen to face Maruki, letting him see it as it lists out his general vitality as numerical data!
Level: ???
HP: 150 / 150 | MP: 645 / 645
STR: 8
MA: 37
VI: 18
AG: 22]
Weird, considering that it doesn't list you as having any specific abilities, though.
[Which is to say, Maruki is a BIG FUCKING WEIRDO.
Also Kazuya can't help but glance up. Above Maruki's head every now and again, with a look of increasing concern.]
no subject
[ Hummed casually as he looks over the stats, but then–
He notices Kazuya's gaze snapping up. Again and again.
Maruki tips his head to look up too. Nothing by trees, and crystal beyond them rising high into the sky. ]
What?
no subject
[It's something. But what is it? What could Maruki be getting into in five days that would potentially kill him...?
Kazuya doesn't want that. It's different if it's the goblins or the gelflings or the dragonkin that he occasionally sees with a number above their heads, he couldn't care less about them biting the bullet.
Maruki is different.]
... Do you have any plans in a few days...?
no subject
[ ????????????? ]
Why, did you want to do something?
no subject
[ODDLY SPECIFIC.
Don't worry about it. Kazuya laughs nervously, finally dropping his gaze to Maruki's face... And not at the number above his head.]
A... Anyway, how about you show me Azathoth too? I can scan it as well.
no subject
Sure... I'll clear my schedule for you, Kazuya.
[ Weird...
Well. Maruki's just. Going to shake that off. It's time to summon Azathoth, who appears not far away, massive and towering in the clearing.
After a beat, Maruki strikes a stupid pose next to it, smiling for the COMP as if it were a camera. ]
im not listing the stats u already know them ive decided
It'd be easier if the Laplace mail still worked.]
Ah- hold that pose for a moment.
[He hits a few buttons, and there's the click of a camera shutter as Kazuya absolutely takes a picture of him and Azathoth. Yep. There's a camera function, and taking a picture of him means that he'll always have proof of his existence.
Anyway, once that's done, he'll quickly scan Azathoth, and when all of the data shows up, he'll move to show Maruki the exact details it shows as well.]
The question marks mean that the value can't be identified, either because it's changing or because it makes the system overflow.
[Still, it's kind of funny to see that each of the tentacles is a regarded as a unique entity unto itself, each with its own resistances and weaknesses.]
Azathoth is pretty uniquely powerful, it's impressive. I mean, we knew that I'm still pretty impressed all the same.
? list them all right now or i'll call the yaoi cops on you
He nudges Kazuya in the ribs, smiling and bashful. ]
Well, thank you. That does mean a lot coming from you.
[ HE SAW THAT FIGHT WITH EREN, GIRL. ]
Did you take a photo just now...?
switches my baseball hat around. it reads YURI on the back.
Yeah! I just thought... It would be a nice picture to have, so I can remember you whenever it is we all leave here. I hope you don't mind... It was a cute pose.
this is the plot of a league of their own i fear
I don't mind at all! Do you have any other photos on it?
[ He knows sometimes when people get their phones from home, they have access to their old photos, so... ]
ive never consumed that movie
[He says, but he's pretty sure Maruki wouldn't mind that sort of thing. He's a tough guy, but not a Tough Guy.]
yak?????? go watch it??????? revoking your gay card
I'd love to see that! Ah, I mean– not because I want to see the city in such a harrowing time, just...
[ He gestures vaguely with both hands. ]
What other opportunity would I get to see your reality, as it happened?
no subject
The areas are easily familiar as being from all around Tokyo, but all within the Yamanote Line specifically, and there's two people who feature more prominently than anyone else, however.
There's some serious damage in the back ground of every picture, from overturned cars, to pavement being ripped up, Tokyo literally looks like a bomb was dropped on it.]
no subject
However, Maruki is himself, through and through. His eyes don't linger on the chaos, but on the people Kazuya cared enough about to capture, again and again. ]
Who are they?
no subject
[Or anyone he could possibly like more, if the faint dusting of pink on his cheeks says anything about how he feels about them.]
I don't think I could have made it through the lockdown, if I didn't have them. They mean the world to me.
no subject
He remembers a lot of things, though. For example– ]
You know... You told me once, early on, that you normally prefer to let your friends speak for you. At the time, I thought that was a somewhat troubling statement, but now that I know you better, I think I understand. You really put your whole heart into the people you care about, don't you, Kazuya?
no subject
[He gives a small, sheepish laugh, rubbing the back of his head.]
I said before that it's because I trust them to know me even better than I might know myself.
[And he still believes that, even after everything. And he still strives to do what he thinks they'd want of him in turn. He relies on them, as they've relied on him.]
They're my most important people, and I'd never want to let them down.
[Even if he has. He knows he has.]
no subject
He's quiet for a moment, thoughtful, hands tucked into his pockets and Azathoth's tentacles swaying in the spring breeze. A ways behind them is the machiya, Akira somewhere inside it. ]
You know... Even though I wanted Kurusu-kun here more than anything, the prospect also terrified me. I worried all the time that he would show up and be disappointed in the person I've become since we last saw one another.
[ There are no vines and flowers choking his throat to force these words out. Maruki simply trusts Kazuya enough to be honest and forthcoming. That says it all, really. ]
Sometimes I think I tempted fate with that, considering he appeared with no memories of me at all. Still, though– is that something that troubles you too?
no subject
[Because he knows the hurt that comes from someone you love so much being disappointed in you. For thinking that you've changed for the worst, even after doing everything that he possibly could have to make them see otherwise.
Yuzu had come around, in the end. When he hadn't hurt anyone more than strictly necessary, when it had been self defense. Atsuro had stuck with him through thick and thin of it all, never once faltering in his belief in him.
But Yuzu...
Well, that's a scar that wont heal, the look on her face when she'd left.]
I don't want either of them to be disappointed in me. But knowing what I know about Naoya, and the fact that we come from entirely divergent timelines... Well, I worry. What if I made bad choices somewhere else? I can't fathom having made any different choice from the one I did, but Naoya's existence here all but confirms that's a possibility. What else could be one? There's no use in thinking about it until that reality is staring me in the face, but I can't help but worry that if either of them did arrive, and I wasn't the person they thought I was... What would I do then? How could I make up for something that I don't even remember doing, or would have ever thought possible?
no subject
It's not as if there's no good reason for it, though. He rubs back and forth a bit, sighs. ]
It's an impossible situation. I won't pretend it isn't. Before this, we'd never have to worry about things like our loved ones showing up with memories of an entirely different life that we lived.
[ Maruki has fragmented memories of some sort of future unlived, embedded into his mind like so many shards of a broken reality. One day, a Phantom Thief who lived through that may appear. If they hated him for it, he would be asking himself the same questions Kazuya is. How can you make up for choices you never made? ]
But Kihara-kun and Tanikawa-san... They care for you too, don't they? Even if it was difficult to deal with or took a while to fully understand, surely they wouldn't hold the choices made by a different version of you against you.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
hehe we can wrap this one.... if u wanna do something else before sleepr i'm down :3c