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Gladion ([personal profile] lovelledup) wrote in [community profile] tornheart2017-08-07 08:52 pm

[CLOSED]

Who: Gladion and Chikusa
When: Backdated to 7/10
Where: The flower shop where Chikusa is working
What: Following up from here.

Not for the first time since he asked to talk, Gladion wonders what he's even doing. In all honesty, he's not sure what he wants out of this conversation, or why he wants to ask in the first place. It only feels that much odder when he walks into the flower shop that isn't the one his dad owns, knowing the person whose family does own it is the one who'd been most vocal about arguing with Chikusa on the network.

But he was the one who asked to talk, so he's here, and looking around slightly awkwardly at the flowers since he hasn't immediately spotted Chikusa.
kokuyoyo: (And the cops are back.)

[personal profile] kokuyoyo 2017-08-08 02:27 am (UTC)(link)
At least the good news is that, while he'd rather lay face down than work, Chikusa is committed. He was in the back putting something away, but he shuffles out when he hears the door cling. While he's expecting a customer... Gladion was invited today too, so he gives a nod to him.

"Hey." As if they still aren't at an awkward stage or anything. This is fine.
kokuyoyo: (Tell him next time I'm going to be)

[personal profile] kokuyoyo 2017-08-08 02:49 am (UTC)(link)
So they've both nailed it is what Chikusa is hearing.

Still, he understands what Gladion is saying. There's a time and place, and in the front area of a still open shop in the daytime when everyone tries to cram their business in because of the curfew.... Yeah. Not it. So he nods to the back, shuffling over and leading the way to a small storeroom. It's a bit cramped, brimming with the smell of earth, but it does well enough. Sagging onto a small stack of fertilizer, he inclines his head in Gladion's direction.

"What did you want to talk about...?"
kokuyoyo: (I don't do stupid things anymore.)

[personal profile] kokuyoyo 2017-08-08 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
There's really nothing that can make this situation less awkward- or at least none that Chikusa has thought of. So he's mostly surrendered himself to the silence that drags on between the two of them, fingers loosely linked together. Out of all the questions he could have expected.... The one that finally comes has him pause, blinking slowly.

Then again, it's not as if anyone has actually bothered to ask. It's only ever been "murder is bad" so far, a sentiment full of moral bullshit that grates at him.

...Well. Maybe there was a reason Ciro was friends with Asher.

"It's... a few reasons," he manages after a little bit, words slow and quiet, but just as calm as his words on the app had been. "I guess to start... I've had to do it for years now, so..." His shoulders rise up, barely recognizable as a shrug. "When something happens enough... You get used to it, don't you?"
kokuyoyo: (Can't believe I ate straight coffee)

[personal profile] kokuyoyo 2017-08-08 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
"I suppose." There's really no running from it. They hadn't been in the business- as much as murder could really be called that- long enough to to rack up the highest headcount... But they'd made a name for themselves fast enough.

That counts for something when they'd only started before becoming teenagers, and nothing but what they could take for themselves.

After a second, however, he follows up. "It'd been something we'd been born into... So it wasn't as if we had a choice from the start. The only thing that made it different... was deciding how we would do it for ourselves and no one else." A soft puff of a sigh escapes him. "If Ken was here, he'd blab about the whole thing easily..."
kokuyoyo: (Tell him next time I'm going to be)

[personal profile] kokuyoyo 2017-08-08 04:05 am (UTC)(link)
Chikusa lapses into silence again, quietly debating on how much he should say. Honestly, his first inclination about his past is to tell others that it's none of their business. It'd only draw pity, at best, after all... It really is Ken who is the type to spill everything. Chikusa had simply never stopped him.

But this... Maybe...

"...You know what the mafia is.... Right?" With Asher's memories, he would hope so.
kokuyoyo: (And the cops are back.)

[personal profile] kokuyoyo 2017-08-08 04:27 am (UTC)(link)
"That was what we were part of as far back as I can remember." Another sort-of shrug, this one even more half-assed considering he only uses one shoulder for it. "Born into a mafia Family...." A pause and he adds, "Probably."

It's not like he can remember, after all. Maybe it was trauma, maybe he never really knew his parents at all, but the only thing Chikusa can remember is white. White labs, white labcoats, the white of the bandages wrapped around his head and the sheets they occasionally tossed over corpses to lazily keep them out of sight... He has to admit that there's a good possibility that he was never actually of Estraneo blood. He might not even be truly Italian.

Well. It's not like it matters now.

"So, even ignoring anything else... That kind of setting... It's not one that lets people be soft."
kokuyoyo: (Tell him next time I'm going to be)

[personal profile] kokuyoyo 2017-08-08 05:24 am (UTC)(link)
That's where he has to pause again, because... "I wouldn't do it if I thought it would make things worse," he admits, slowly but not exactly shamefully. After all-

"This kind of thing.... I don't want it to ever happen again." Slowly, almost so much so as to not be noticed until he's all the way there, he lets his head loll to the side. "Others who argued against it say that there's ways other than killing the source... Other solutions. But there's never something they can answer, and it's this: how can you be certain that they won't go after you again?"

And it's because that's not possible. At least, not without being just about as bad as death. People, whether a regular teenage murderer or a ghost from centuries past or someone who can see into multiple worlds, are all the same in that manner. You can't guarantee some one else's actions or feelings.

"Even if someone says to put them into prison, well... People can break out of those." Another shrug. They are steadily declining in effort and visibility. "I did."
kokuyoyo: (And the cops are back.)

[personal profile] kokuyoyo 2017-08-08 06:40 am (UTC)(link)
That much, he'll admit to, and Chikusa breathes out slowly as he leans against whatever is nearest to him. At least the storage room is crowded enough for that.

"In that case, if it can't be contained and it can't be killed... That's where it gets more complicated, annoyingly enough... But that's something we can't tell right now. It may be a question to ask Luci, or the ones in the Velvet Room. They're our only sources if we can't go with a simple action. Still..." Reaching up, he adjusts his glasses.

"We had to be given the.... resources we have been for a reason... The answer might be with those if it comes to that point."
kokuyoyo: (Woke up with a squirrel in my bed.)

[personal profile] kokuyoyo 2017-08-08 07:00 am (UTC)(link)
"If we don't get anything from them, that means having to try and investigate on our own.... But we'd be half blind from the get-go." Exactly what they all want, he's sure. "We can't even summon those creatures on our own yet... So that's the first step if nothing else."
kokuyoyo: (I don't even know how to be here.)

[personal profile] kokuyoyo 2017-08-09 04:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Despite the fact that it's a perfectly normal thing to do, Chikusa seems to grow almost awkward as he's thanked. His fingers fiddle slowly with each other, twisting and curling. "It's fine," he says, a little stiff.

Getting up slowly, he takes the time to compose some of his other thoughts. "That's.... mostly all I can ask for. It became kind of obvious after a while that the things we did wouldn't be looked on favorably by most people..." You don't end up staying out of prison by being oblivious to common laws, after all. A sigh slips out of him. "But it does get tiring arguing with people..."

Thus why he gave up on one argument and asked to be paid for a longer explanation with another.

Upright now, he seems to hesitate a moment. "...Were you going to do anything else today?"
kokuyoyo: (And the cops are back.)

[personal profile] kokuyoyo 2017-08-11 09:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Another beat of silence, and Chikusa seems to gaze elsewhere. Honestly, he has no idea how to approach this: either the question he wants to ask or the strange mix of feelings and memories that connect and separate two different identities.

"....I have lunch break in a little over an hour..."
kokuyoyo: (Woke up with a squirrel in my bed.)

[personal profile] kokuyoyo 2017-08-12 03:49 am (UTC)(link)
Aw, look. Now he's started to actually emote, because that's the closest thing to a sulk that will ever show up on his face.

"I'm not the type to do that.... and the movies were good anyway..."
kokuyoyo: (I don't even know how to be here.)

[personal profile] kokuyoyo 2017-08-26 05:58 am (UTC)(link)
As he steps back out into the main shop area again, Chikusa gives a quiet huff. "They were a little more than that..." At least, even with his proper memories in place, there's still those fond memories that come from such movies.

He settles at the counter, easing up a bit and nodding. "Then... I'll see you later?" A part of him feels just a little... anxious, perhaps, at the idea. Is he excited? Unsure? Well, it's too late now. He supposes he's committed.