holding my pride tight until your tears dry;

[recrypt]

Comments

[swordflash]

[ same old 45. ]

Why didn't you just say that it was you?

[recrypt]

Maybe I wanted you to decide how you felt about them without any preconceived notions involved.

[swordflash]

It feels kind of different, coming from another point of view . . .

[recrypt]

... It would feel different coming from my point of view, too.

[swordflash]

[ he nods. ]

It was more sobering this time.

[recrypt]

Heehee. Are you surprised, though? You must know by now.

Despite appearances, I'm really quite a sober doll.

[swordflash]

[ whatever his thoughts on that are, he takes a moment to consider his answer in regards to the story. ]

I liked this side more. Your side.

[recrypt]

Did you now. Did we see the same memory?

[ she's out here berating and mocking reina for being an idiot, after all. ]

[swordflash]

Yeah. I think so.

[ he sounds pensive. ]

It reminds me of something that someone told me a while back.

[recrypt]

You can't just say something like that and not elaborate, you realize?

[swordflash]

[ there's a brief lull as he considers his answer. ]

It was about compassion.

You did what you did, because you saw something familiar in her, right? It was about that.

[recrypt]

[ ... hm. ]

Ah, ah. Don't go attributing things to me that I'm not, Zenitsu. I'm hardly that kind or charitable.

Getting rid of an irritating reminder of the past doesn't necessitate compassion. She's just lucky to have benefited from it. She was stupid, and desperate, and in a bad situation that probably, unfortunately, isn't as uncommon as you'd think. If I'd left her alone she probably would have gotten herself killed eventually, either by trying the same thing she did on me against someone who wasn't as forgiving, or eventually outliving any use she had.

[swordflash]

[ he watches her the whole time she speaks, and through it all his expression doesn't change. ]

You knew what it meant to be her, so you freed her. You understood her plight and made a choice not to abandon her. You even stayed until she regained consciousness. I think that makes you compassionate.

[recrypt]

You are all entirely too eager to project those sorts of traits onto me.

[ him and other people both. ]

Suppose I left her unconscious, and something happened in my absence. What an utter waste of time that would have been. I did what was logical, that's all.

[swordflash]

[ that sounds more like her conscience speaking, but he supposes that she would know herself best. so he doesn't contest her words, merely voicing his opinion instead. ]

If something were a waste of time, I wouldn't have bothered at all.

[ going back and then staying—he would have done neither of those things. ]

[recrypt]

Perhaps that's what some would have done, then. I likely would have, if it weren't for the fact that it irritates me to be reminded of humans like that existing.

[ simply. the truth? who knows. ]

[swordflash]

[ there's another word for that. it's called righteousness.

rather than argue semantics, he gives her a long look. ]

You're really incredible, 45.

[recrypt]

[ she just fixes him with her own long, measured look in return, weighted and appraising.

after a moment: ]

You think ... far too much of me, I believe.

[swordflash]

[ he looks down, then aside at the horse in front of him. ]

You had the power to help someone else. Even though you say it wasn't your intention, you still helped her.

[ that's the mark of a strong person, he thinks. ]

[recrypt]

... Well. Believe what you like, then. It's not my place to stop you from thinking what you will.

[ though she'll settle back against a wall, contemplative. ]

Is that what you admire in others?

[swordflash]

[ there's a short delay before he nods. ]

Gramps is like that. He helped countless people before an injury forced his retirement. But, instead of stopping, he became a cultivator to cultivate more swordsmen for the Corps.

[recrypt]

A cultivator? Like what Yin Yu is?

[ or at least what yin yu knew a lot about, considering... ]

Or do you simply mean it in the way that he cultivated students like farmers would crops?

[swordflash]

It's probably different.

Ling also thought I was talking about something else, but what you're saying is right. Since he can't fight anymore, he's been cultivating disciples.

[recrypt]

The way Yin Yu spoke about it made it seem a lot like it was something spiritual.

[ which is so far out of her wheelhouse she doesn't even have an opinion to offer on it. ]

This sounds more mundane, if a bit poetically metaphorical.

[swordflash]

Well, Gramps can't fly on a sword.

[ given their names and backgrounds, he assumes jin ling and yin yu speak of a similar kind of cultivation. ]

And neither can I. Demon slayers use breathing styles, not spiritual techniques.