[ but she'll come over, sure. there is not much here to take hold of. that just means that instead, her fingers twitch then splay themselves out a few times, as if an errant process is telling them to ball into fists.
eventually she settles for laying one of them across his knee, and that instead plunges akira into an icy, focused sort of anger. ]
[he is about to respond, mouth opening to do so, but then her hand touches his knee and--]
[it hits him like a truck, if only because she'll feel that anger mirrored tenfold on his end of the emotional tether. it's loud and thunderous, burning like a roaring flame, mitigated only by a deep sense of sorrow and grief, of injustice and unfairness]
[Akira lets out a startled gasp before he jerks his knee away. he usually doesn't mind the emotional contact, but wow, that was a lot???]
[ for all of the controlled, honed edge of 45's, akira might get the faintest sense that like with an iceberg, everything else rests below the surface. that much more, in fact, remains below the surface.
ice and fire meeting is violent, it turns out, so perhaps it's a very good thing that akira jerks away, 45 taking a moment to blink before her irises refocus, and her gaze flickers away in almost apology.
or maybe just backpedaling. ]
... Disregard that. I had to pet every animal in the zoo on the way here from the garden, and I had to check many of the flowers there, too.
Flattery won't get you any miracles this time, I'm afraid.
[ it's a joke, maybe, but it's wan.
he can reach for her hand again; she'll allow it. there's a lot, there's the fury again, icy and simmering at the same time, but if he sorts through that...
running through it is an undercurrent of helplessness and futile injustice from the grief? yes, grief of an old, old loss, the wound still open and raw and demanding reparations, running parallel to more recent ones. ]
I'm fresh out. You expect a lot from a defective doll, you know that?
[his fury remains as fiery as ever, coupled with that deep well of sorrow, with some dashes of guilt and pain, of helplessness and exhaustion and bitterness at the injustice of it all. their feelings echo each other well, but. . . now that he's prepared for hers, he handles it a little better]
I'm not asking you for any miracles.
[just. . . someone who can feel what he does. who understands. someone with whom to mourn]
[ she can't be exhausted, because that runs too close to giving up. she's been searching for years for those responsible for ░▓▒▓▓▒░ segmentation fault; error invalid memory address, and letting them go is an unacceptable result.
but there is resignation in there entwined with the bitter determination to continue, muted as it is. guilt and pain are familiar both, and it's almost hard to tell which are hers and which are akira's.
but. emotions are a byproduct of conflicts arising during the process of running the algorithms making up her thought processes.
they should not compromise or affect her decision making. ]
... there was blood in the garden, on the flowers.
[. . . he finds himself leaning against her, forehead resting against her shoulder. he's so so tired. it'd be so easy to give up. to give in to grief and exhaustion, to lie down and rest, to stop trying]
[but. . .]
[he won't. he can't. that fire still burns, as dim as it might be in this very moment]
[it won't go out]
[. . .]
There was shrapnel in the dirt near the bonfire, and a chemical smell coming from the flames.
[ things get compartmentalized away, neat and tidy; errant processes get trimmed, and stop burning resources. the ice builds itself back up higher.
she doesn't make a move to dislodge him, though. if he needs to rest, then fine. take the break. come back stronger. ]
Always with the verflucht bonfire. I take it people have disposed of evidence there again. How hot is it, anyway...?
[ how completely can it burn things up? there should at least be something left... ]
I have a hammer that can repair anything that's broken, if it becomes necessary. ... Minako had an item that could weigh someone or something down for half an hour. I don't know if she would have told people about that.
[ maybe not, if she'd intended to use it for self defense somehow. ]
A squad shrouded in mystery. ▓▓▓▓▒ has met them once, and others can only guess at the members' identities from rumors. Members of the squad all have advanced AI and high capacity for independent operation. Rumor has it that Squad 404 usually deals with ░▓▒▓▓▓▒▓▓▒▒▒░░
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2020-07-10 10:35 pm (UTC)[. . . quietly, he acknowledges what she says]
Ah. . .
. . . were you there, too?
no subject
Date: 2020-07-10 10:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-10 10:41 pm (UTC)You were friends, then.
[he finally lifts his head to look at 45, his expression blank]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-10 10:45 pm (UTC)[ but then again
considering her boarding pass, would she outright call anyone a friend? ]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-10 10:47 pm (UTC)She told me what happened in the arts and crafts cabin.
[with the glue. and the string]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-10 10:57 pm (UTC)[ but she'll come over, sure. there is not much here to take hold of. that just means that instead, her fingers twitch then splay themselves out a few times, as if an errant process is telling them to ball into fists.
eventually she settles for laying one of them across his knee, and that instead plunges akira into an icy, focused sort of anger. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-10 11:14 pm (UTC)[it hits him like a truck, if only because she'll feel that anger mirrored tenfold on his end of the emotional tether. it's loud and thunderous, burning like a roaring flame, mitigated only by a deep sense of sorrow and grief, of injustice and unfairness]
[Akira lets out a startled gasp before he jerks his knee away. he usually doesn't mind the emotional contact, but wow, that was a lot???]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-10 11:34 pm (UTC)ice and fire meeting is violent, it turns out, so perhaps it's a very good thing that akira jerks away, 45 taking a moment to blink before her irises refocus, and her gaze flickers away in almost apology.
or maybe just backpedaling. ]
... Disregard that. I had to pet every animal in the zoo on the way here from the garden, and I had to check many of the flowers there, too.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-10 11:41 pm (UTC)[. . . and then he lets it out slowly, composing his own emotions, gathering himself together enough to speak]
No, it's okay. It's okay. . . it just took me by surprise.
[. . .]
. . . I'm glad it isn't just. . . me.
[his own hand twitches as well, an aborted movement of his own]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-10 11:55 pm (UTC)[ Gott, have they been here that long already. what a ridiculous notion. what a ridiculous conversation. ]
It was a stupid, hasty decision with little basis. But. If that's what she wanted to believe ...
[ then what. ... then what. ]
Well. Who am I to disappoint.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 12:03 am (UTC). . . you're never one to disappoint.
[he says, but his tone is light. teasing. a little fond]
[he reaches for her hand again]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 12:41 am (UTC)[ it's a joke, maybe, but it's wan.
he can reach for her hand again; she'll allow it. there's a lot, there's the fury again, icy and simmering at the same time, but if he sorts through that...
running through it is an undercurrent of helplessness and futile injustice from the grief? yes, grief of an old, old loss, the wound still open and raw and demanding reparations, running parallel to more recent ones. ]
I'm fresh out. You expect a lot from a defective doll, you know that?
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 12:43 am (UTC)I'm not asking you for any miracles.
[just. . . someone who can feel what he does. who understands. someone with whom to mourn]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 01:31 am (UTC)but there is resignation in there entwined with the bitter determination to continue, muted as it is. guilt and pain are familiar both, and it's almost hard to tell which are hers and which are akira's.
but. emotions are a byproduct of conflicts arising during the process of running the algorithms making up her thought processes.
they should not compromise or affect her decision making. ]
... there was blood in the garden, on the flowers.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 01:35 am (UTC)[but. . .]
[he won't. he can't. that fire still burns, as dim as it might be in this very moment]
[it won't go out]
[. . .]
There was shrapnel in the dirt near the bonfire, and a chemical smell coming from the flames.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 02:01 am (UTC)she doesn't make a move to dislodge him, though. if he needs to rest, then fine. take the break. come back stronger. ]
Always with the verflucht bonfire. I take it people have disposed of evidence there again. How hot is it, anyway...?
[ how completely can it burn things up? there should at least be something left... ]
I have a hammer that can repair anything that's broken, if it becomes necessary. ... Minako had an item that could weigh someone or something down for half an hour. I don't know if she would have told people about that.
[ maybe not, if she'd intended to use it for self defense somehow. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 02:10 am (UTC)[JUST. . . VERY WRY]
She didn't tell me, but that's the kind of thing you'd want to keep a secret, if you'd use it for self-defense.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 02:23 am (UTC)[ and they know that these places don't exactly make any distinction for self-defense. ]
Surely not everything here can be flammable or combustible. Shame that apparently much of it is.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 03:12 am (UTC)Maybe we'll find something useful when we check the bonfire tomorrow.
[it's all they can hope for at this point. evidence that isn't tampered with or destroyed that they can put together again]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 05:02 am (UTC)[ ... a chemical smell, along with shrapnel... ]
Did you know. The flamethrower disappeared from the shop very early this week.
One of the bottles of hair spray did too, over the course of it.
[ how's that for improvised explosives. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 03:42 pm (UTC)[PRESSES A HAND AGAINST HIS FACE]
People are really thrifty when they want to be. . .
no subject
Date: 2020-07-11 08:20 pm (UTC)[ looks at bonfire group in trial and laughs ]