hachitaro: (huh?)
Taro Watanabe ([personal profile] hachitaro) wrote in [community profile] tornheart2017-08-21 11:01 pm
Entry tags:

there's no way you can save it now

Who: Taro Watanabe and Jaune Arc
When: July 30 after this conversation
Where: Jaune's house
What: Taro made himself sad. Hopefully a friend will help cheer him up.


Taro... tends to keep up his happy mask. He tends to try to keep making sure that other people are okay, rather than take care of himself. And what does it matter anyway? He's dead now, so who cares? He tries to pull back from the the thought as much as he can, but it still pesters him, like a hangnail he can't quite clip.

Not that he usually has to deal with those, since his form is an illusion, but now it's not and it's very frustrating.

He heads over towards Jaune's place, trying to slip back into Kei's mindset - similar to his, but utterly human and utterly unworried about death other than it being the time he can't do cool stuff anymore. It sort of helps, so he keeps the smile on his face as he knocks on the door.

"Hey, John?" Not like 'Jaune' sounds much different, but he's not sure who's going to answer.
sociallyarcward: (Default)

[personal profile] sociallyarcward 2017-08-23 01:45 am (UTC)(link)
While Jaune has seen first hand the personality shifts that can occur after fully Awakening, he hasn't had to deal with it much himself. There are a few points of conflict with, what he likes to consider, the two sides of himself, but nothing so extreme as to cause him much worry. He understands that he might be a lucky exception, he certainly prefers to try and help others over having to think about his own potential issues. It's just easier.

After the exchange on the app, Jaune had started getting some snacks together. He had a hunch it was going to be one of those get togethers and he HAD just been talking about that being a skill he could use to contribute outside of combat. Thankfully, he didn't have to worry about anything accidentally burning when the knock came. His mother was still at the restaurant and his sister was either at school or pulling a shift--he wasn't entirely sure which, but she certainly wasn't home.

"Hi, come on in," he said after opening the door. He stepped aside to let Kei inside. It was time for another post-Awakening conversation he supposed.
sociallyarcward: (Default)

[personal profile] sociallyarcward 2017-08-28 02:07 am (UTC)(link)
Jaune noticed him looking around and added, "We're alone. My mom and sister are still at the cafe...and I don't think you're a bother." He was picking up on the fact that this was going to be a difficult conversation. Jaune thought back to previous post-Awakening conversations he'd had, but he felt like this might be a little different.

"Would I be correct in guessing this might require some snacks?"
sociallyarcward: (Default)

[personal profile] sociallyarcward 2017-08-29 01:55 am (UTC)(link)
If it played out like other conversations -- it would be a little awkward at first. But Jaune had found himself spilling his guts to virtual strangers a few times now, it was hard not to when this situation was just so stressful and foreign. It was hard not to fall on relationships John had established, especially since (so far) Jaune had none of his friends from home to help make sense of this. He had to start somewhere.

He led the way into the kitchen then. Figuring that would give them a place to snack and a room where they could get a warning if his mom or sister came in through the front door.

"Mom doesn't keep much alcohol around anyway," Jaune admitted. He was 18, so technically he probably could have gotten some for Taro -- who couldn't have been too far behind him -- but as he just said at this point it didn't really matter. Instead, he focuses on pulling over a plate of cookies he'd been working on and moving them onto the counter to rest in front of Taro. He hoped that would serve as enough of an ice breaker to get the real conversation going.
sociallyarcward: (Usually Oh Nevermind)

[personal profile] sociallyarcward 2017-09-04 07:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Jaune didn't really have a response for that. Aside from memory changes and having to build up his strength again, being here wasn't so different from what he dealt with back home. Of course, he knew he was probably in the minority there. He selected a cookie for himself, not expecting where the conversation to go.

When Taro asked his next question though, he nearly choked on the cookie. Not only was that a pretty good summary of his life to a degree...it was a particularly sore spot in terms of one of the memories that still made it hard to sleep sometimes. Jaune wiped away the crumbs he had spewed, looking a little sheepish and pale at the same time. "Uhm...yeah I guess you could say that," Jaune said.
sociallyarcward: (Usually Oh Nevermind)

[personal profile] sociallyarcward 2017-09-04 10:19 pm (UTC)(link)
No, no dying from Jaune just yet. He feels awkward, but that's nothing new for him really. He grabs a stool, sitting down to listen to his friend's explanation. At first he thinks it sounds a little like to relations between Faunus and Humans...except perhaps worse, but the longer he listens the more he realizes it is much worse.

He gets that it is serious on some level, but Jaune doesn't quite understand how serious until it actually causes the other to sob. Oh...jeeze this is not what he thought they'd be talking about at all. Jaune gets back up from his seat and crosses over to Taro, resting a hand on his shoulder, "Hey...it's...," he catches himself before he can say 'okay' because it might not be. That was probably the biggest lesson he learned out of the fall of Beacon, that sometimes things just weren't going to be okay. What should he say? "It...sounds like you made some bad choices, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to come back from that."
sociallyarcward: (Usually Lost)

[personal profile] sociallyarcward 2017-09-05 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
Right. It's hard to remember that detail when you're sitting together at a kitchen table eating cookies. Jaune immediately feels pretty idiotic, but he hopes it's at least a little understandable. "Sorry. I'm---I'm sure she'll do what she can," he says, thinking of how his own group picked up after their losses. Because while Pyrrha was the one that hurt the most, they had certainly lost more than just her in the past few months he can remember.

Jaune considers it, leaning back to the counter and offering him some napkins. It isn't as nice as tissue -- which would probably be elsewhere in the house -- but it's better than nothing. "I think everyone wants that if you really get down to it, safety that is. That's what spurred a lot of the conflict and negotiations for peace where I'm from...though it always seems to be a pretty delicate balance because there's usually something else at stake that people want to defend," Jaune says. "I think," he hesitates, "I think as much as we may want it...one person can't keep the world safe like that...or even a small group for that matter."

"Besides...it sounds like a lot to be holding in. I know the memories can be rough...but yours sound like they might be a lot more than anyone else I've talked to," Jaune admits, thinking about the fact that if he's at least a century old then that's a lot to process...on top of apparently being dead. "I...can probably only just listen, but I hope that helps in some way," Jaune adds.
sociallyarcward: (Default)

[personal profile] sociallyarcward 2017-09-05 01:54 am (UTC)(link)
"Well...on that we can agree at least," Jaune said, also wanting to err on the side of hope and optimism. Wasn't that his whole reason for continuing on anyway? Whether it was here or back home -- he hadn't given up yet that he and his friends could do something about the terrible things about to happen. He may not have always been the strongest, but he could be pretty stubborn when it was called for.

Jaune has to think for a minute. So much had happened since the survey part of the app had been used. "Oh...you mean the whole soul eating thing?" Again, tact Jaune, you should really work on that. To his credit, he doesn't seem scared so much as confused and perhaps a little worried or curious. "Sorry...that probably wasn't the best way to phrase that...I mean the app always brings up stuff we wouldn't necessarily want to go around sharing," he's babbling, which he does a lot these days, especially when he's put his foot in his mouth.

Jaune stops, takes a breath, and tries again, "Look. I don't want you to feel obligated to share everything with me. It...it feels unbalanced, since I was already Awakened before you and so you weren't there for when I was a mess. You don't have to explain yourself or share these things your uncomfortable with if you don't want to. You aren't obligated to..."

He wants to believe that the person he has memories of here isn't completely gone, but he also knows that might be something he'll have to accept. That's probably been the hardest part in dealing with all of this: consolidating memories of two different lives and trying to come to terms with that.

But...the guy was openly sobbing in his kitchen a few seconds ago. Surely he can't be a complete monster. As he insisted before on the network...there has to be some kind of story, right? And while Jaune just said that he isn't obligated to share, there's a part of him that really wants to know.
sociallyarcward: (Default)

[personal profile] sociallyarcward 2017-09-10 01:31 am (UTC)(link)
Jaune stares at the counter for a moment, considering his options. He really doesn't have anything to really hide, and honestly a lot of it seems minor compared to what he's heard others openly discuss. That doesn't necessarily make it easier to talk about though.

"One time, a few nights after my team had been put together, we swapped stories about ourselves so we could try and bond a little I guess...it was Pyrrha's idea," he hesitated, he knew this wouldn't really mean anything to Taro, "Maybe we could do something like that. Just take turns talking about what we need to get off our chests."

He set his cookie down, getting up to go get a drink from the fridge, but stopped and turned back to look at Taro, "I'm...glad to hear you didn't kill anyone though. I really didn't think you had, but it's still a relief."
sociallyarcward: (Default)

[personal profile] sociallyarcward 2017-09-10 11:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Jaune rummages in the fridge, pulling out two sodas. It wasn't alcohol, but at least it was better than just water. Right? Unless Taro wanted something different. He turns back, setting one within reach of Taro and opening his own. "JNPR," he says, a name he hadn't really said aloud since coming here, although when he says it it sounds like the flower 'Juniper' instead of the initials it is actually spelled as.

"That was the name of our team. Pyrhha, me, and two others, Nora and Ren. We were attending a school that trains us to fight monsters known as Grimm and keep the kingdoms of Remnant safe -- they're a lot like the Shadows are here. It's insane to try and fight Grimm by yourself, so from the beginning they like to put huntsman and huntresses in teams so that we can learn to fight as a unit and watch each other's backs."

He took a drink from the soda, looking away from Taro because he felt strange talking about this all of a sudden. Even though he had suggested it, he was starting to realize that he actually hadn't vocalized much about his memories since they'd first started coming to him all those months ago. "I somehow got made the team leader -- despite every one else being so much better at combat than I was at the time."
sociallyarcward: (Usually Wait What)

[personal profile] sociallyarcward 2017-09-18 01:13 am (UTC)(link)
Jaune considers it, shrugging slightly, "Not exactly...but close enough that fighting the Shadows tends to remind me of Grimm every time we do it." He knows his world isn't perfect, but it's also the only world he's ever known until now. Of course, this one seems to have a plethora of problems on its own, so he's not sure if there really is a world that's much better.

Taro's words do make him feel a little better -- his teammates and friends had often said similar things -- but there's something about Taro saying it that makes it stick in a different way. True, he still doubted himself sometimes, but even he had to admit he'd come a long way from the kid who got himself stuck in trees and thrown around by monsters on a regular basis. He smiles, "Thanks...and while I believe you when you say you're that much older -- sometimes it's really hard to take that part seriously." He knew the humanoid form before him was more or less an illusion or...something, but that didn't make it any less of a truth to some degree.
sociallyarcward: (Default)

[personal profile] sociallyarcward 2017-09-25 02:12 am (UTC)(link)
Jaune nods. He doesn't completely understand, but he imagines that false memories are weird enough without adding on top of it a false body or form. "That must be a lot of information to process if you have that many memories...do you have nightmares too?"

As soon as he asked the question he felt like it was a bad move, like maybe that was going a step too far.

"Sorry...I was just thinking of something else. You don't have to answer that."
sociallyarcward: (Default)

[personal profile] sociallyarcward 2017-10-02 02:41 am (UTC)(link)
It's still hard to believe that someone or maybe several someones could be back from the dead here. He supposes it isn't completely crazy, as evidence is right here, but it mostly just raises questions about the nature of this place all over again. Jaune takes a deep breath. He knows his life isn't as chaotic as all of that -- but he can relate to some of it. Loss of life, refusing to abandon someone in need...it's not quite the same, but it has some similarities enough.

"I know," he hesitates, but decides that if his friend can share this information, his own life story won't hurt, "...before all of this I lost someone dear to me. My friends were always trying to get me to talk about it, but it just didn't feel right. Now...now I feel like it would help if I did, but I don't even know if it matters any more. I think that's why I have been having nightmares about her...I'm the only one here that knows anything about where I'm from and what happened. I had to live through it all again..." As he talked, he couldn't help but think of Pyrrha--the girl he'd loved and lost. Jaune felt tears on his face again, he didn't have the experience to keep his emotions in check.
sociallyarcward: (Default)

[personal profile] sociallyarcward 2017-10-08 02:15 am (UTC)(link)
He accepts the napkin, using it briefly, but even Taro's reassurances help a little as he manages a slight smile. "Listening and distractions would probably both be helpful," he admits, thinking that both would be tactics his friends would have implemented if they were here. He crumples the napkin in his hand, thinking if he should share or not.

"One of the last memories I have from my other life is going on a quest with some friends to find answers for the murder of a friend of mine...but now I may never get those answers."
sociallyarcward: (Default)

[personal profile] sociallyarcward 2017-10-10 01:48 am (UTC)(link)
Jaune's never had to face this sort of action before either, so to be honest he's not entirely sure of what he will do either. He knows he needs information, and now it is for something more than just Pyrrha's death. Still, he knows that Taro is just being supportive and won't have an easy answer for him.

"I hope so...I really do," he takes another breath, "But...I guess we have this place to figure out first."