003 - Gathering

[kokuyoyo]

Who: Any and all Awakened characters
What: An invitation for a meeting of the Awakened in anticipation of the newest countdown.
When: June 23/24, especially during the latest applenet post
Where: Chikusa's school apartment at Green Valley
Other: Consider this a mingle log for all Awakened characters to talk freely about the newest batch on the app, the new countdown, and when they get their sweet new duds again!


Ciro Bonavida's apartment is rather easy to find. Not only are the instructions left at the pawnshop written in a neat and clear hand, but the school apartments have a directory of their own, of course. While some of the older members of the group might normally draw a raised eyebrow, well... It's Solstice. The apartments aren't as filled as they normally might be in some areas with their occupants out partying, and the parties that are happening inside draw all sorts. No one, in this particular instance, will look twice.

As a bonus to make sure there's no doubt at all, the door on Ciro's apartment has a small paper sign taped to the front. My roommate is OUT! Around it, small happy sheep are drawn. Apparently he's taken inspiration from someone...

Any one of the Awakened who come over can do so as early as they like and stay to the following morning, if they want- Chikusa is fairly certain that Ciro's roommate is going to stay out for a good long while and isn't worried. Still, for anyone staying overnight (a necessity if they want to stay up for the app post to come up), he'd rather it if you went to crash at one of the many parties going on in the apartment buildings... He doesn't have room for everyone, you know, especially since none of you jerks are coming into his bedroom if he has any say about it.

As a bonus, every Awakened is treated to hot chocolate, tea, coffee, or iced tea in one of Ciro's many... many... mugs. Enjoy.

Comments

[kokuyoyo]

So the same thing as Jaune, then... He focuses his gaze on nothing in particular, staring into the water as if some sort of answer will arise from there. He'd told the other boy about his skills as an assassin, and they'd been taken well. Even after all the revelations, there's still moments like this.

Just to survive, him and the others had stolen all sorts of things: food, weapons, clothing, lives. They'd even stolen a man's Family, Mukuro forcing him to annihilate everything and then entrapping his mind. Was he able to do it so easily because he could still remember what the mafia had done to them all, no fake life to distort and deceive his sense of self?

Because... it feels strange, for Chikusa to live like this, reaping the benefits of someone's life and good fortune. Still, he can't really figure out what to do about it. All he can do is nod slightly.

"...The emotions belong even if not the memories... Is that what you're saying?"

[transient_specter]

"... Yes. Something like that."

He leans against the younger boy slightly, letting his breath flow out slowly. "I know someone at home... he didn't know how humans worked, even though he's sort of a human by birth if not culture. ... He didn't know what to do once he had a physical body. He didn't know how to deal with emotions. He saw... horrible things. But as his father died, he gave that person one last bit of advice. 'Listen to your heart.' ... So what does your heart tell you?"

[kokuyoyo]

What does his heart tell him?

Quietly, Chikusa goes tense, something Makoto should be able to feel with their positioning as it is. Since long ago, his heart has never mattered, and he's always done his best to keep it locked away. Emotions, showing emotions, that could get him hurt when he was a child, and then when he'd become older they would simply have made him a less effective tool.

And.... They were frightening. Emotions were frightening, something he no longer truly knew how to deal with, save for occasionally lashing out in annoyance.

After a second, he comes back to himself. "....I don't know..." Or, rather, he doesn't want to know, doesn't want to look. Seeing Mukuro's name had given him some stability, but now he feels off-balance all over again. Can he have loyalty to anyone else but Mukuro? Is he allowed?

[transient_specter]

... Makoto slides an arm around Chikusa's shoulders, trying to help keep him steady. "It's okay not to know. Sometimes it's hard to hear, and sometimes it contradicts itself. But it's still there, waiting for you to listen. And I know you'll hear it if you try." He lets out a long breath. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed the others...

"I'll support you, wherever it leads. You may not actually be my brother... but I'd like to consider you a friend, at least."

[kokuyoyo]

For reasons he can't really articulate, something about not actually having a brother- hurts. It makes him thin his lips slightly, wishing Ciro was a real person separate of himself so that he could wrap his fingers around his throat and make him properly disappear. All of the problems he has, he's sure are Ciro's fault.

He's the one who grew up with such stability, after all. Not Chikusa.

After a second, he folds his arms across his middle. "...You still don't know who I actually am... Only Ciro."

[transient_specter]

"... And you don't know about me, either. But... it doesn't matter, does it? We're connected now, whether we want to be or not." Damn, now he sounds like Takeru. "I'm still here." It's not like running away here will do much use. He'll still be stuck here, with none of his abilities and no way to fight properly.

He lets out a long breath. "This situation... is throwing a lot of us together in ways I'm guessing we didn't expect."

[kokuyoyo]

"....We don't have to be." Chikusa frowns slightly, gaze burning holes in the wall where he's staring. "There are other people in this.... Others to work with. So...."

[transient_specter]

"... I'm not going to force you to." But he can still feel that connection, and he's willing to bet that Chikusa can, too.

[kokuyoyo]

Nothing seems to be going how Chikusa faintly thinks it should, and the result is that he looks lost and uncertain in his own quiet way. "....I'm not a good person." That much was said on one of the past questionnaires of the app, but he feels it bears repeating. There's no self-hate or guilt in the words, only fact. "So... If you stay... That's what to expect."

[transient_specter]

"... I haven't turned away even though you told me you're an assassin. And... I've tried to kill my best friends before. I'm not... exactly a shining example of humanity." Sure, he helped save the world... but that doesn't erase what he did. "I wouldn't call myself a good person, either."

[kokuyoyo]

"...You seem too caring to be like me." This whole- moment that they're having just proves it. Still, he nods slowly, almost once, as if in defeat. "...I can't stop you from doing whatever it is you want to do."

[transient_specter]

"Because you're family." He stops, and frowns deeply. "... Or you were, until we remembered ourselves. But it's... easier to not care too much about other people outside of your group." Even if he knows that's wrong... he cares in an abstract sense. He's too far removed from them to care too deeply.

[kokuyoyo]

"...You've had family before, haven't you?" His gaze finally shifts back to Makoto, although only from the corner of his eyes. Direct contact is still a bit too much.

[transient_specter]

"Yes. ... I don't know anything about our mother, but our father left me and Kanon with a friend's father. So it's been the two of us trying to survive together." It's not much family, but it's his.

[kokuyoyo]

"..What is that like, then?" Besides Ciro's false memories, which he isn't sure how much stock to put into, Chikusa can't say he really knows. It's something everyone else seems to put so much value into, even though he knows the truth... but he's never really asked about it.

[transient_specter]

... He lets out a long breath. "It's... good and bad. I worry about her, I'd do anything for her. I want to protect her, but I also want to let her live her own life. I very nearly killed for her... because I love her so much that it hurts. But she's always been by my side, always been willing to call me out when I need to be called out. I know some people don't get along with their family, but she's... like a best friend to me. But even more than that... she's the person I care about the most in the world."

[kokuyoyo]

Now doesn't this sound familiar. His eyes flick away again, and his fingers thumb at his phone. "....Then... Mukuro fits that well enough as well, I guess..." And Ken, but 'Ken Joshima' is not a name that has appeared on the app. Not yet.

[transient_specter]

"... If he's close enough to be family... then I'll protect him, too. ... But you come first." He doesn't know this person, doesn't have memories of this person. He's pretty sure, at least. So he'll listen to his heart on this one.

[kokuyoyo]

There's a slow nod. This entire thing is still strange to him, a situation he has no reference for... But, in a way, he's too greedy to want to let go of this chance Ciro has given him.

So he nods. "...If he's near the same age as me, then he's probably attending this school." Other schools, what other schools, no, Mukuro is definitely here and nowhere else.

[transient_specter]

"It's possible." He doesn't want to get Chikusa's hopes up too high, but... "Which means we'll see him eventually." We, not just Chikusa. They'll have to fight again, he knows it.

[kokuyoyo]

A slow nod. "He'll be better when he wakes up.... Not many people can defeat him, and he's smart too..." Well, he has plenty of flaws as well, from his temper to his melodrama, but Chikusa doesn't mention that. They're all things for him and Ken to deal with on their own, and other people can butt out.

"He's the reason I'm alive. So... He'll do well with all of this."

[transient_specter]

He reaches up and gently ruffles Chikusa's hair through his hat.

"Then I'm glad he's here. Because I'm glad you're here."

[kokuyoyo]

Out of anything he could have expected, a hair ruffle wasn't even on the list, and Chikusa goes still. For a second, there's only a couple of bemused blinks from wide and confused eyes. Ciro's memories say this isn't unusual or strange, but... Ciro's memories seem so distantly foggy now, overlapped by Chikusa's stronger ones.

Eventually, all he can muster up is a confused nod as he lightly touches his hat. Sorry, Makoto, you've gone and broken him.

[transient_specter]

"... Sorry. I used to do that to Kanon when we were younger..." He shouldn't have done that. He doesn't really know Chikusa. But he can't help but feel similarly...

[kokuyoyo]

"It's.... fine?"

Chikusa doesn't sound fine. He sounds very and incredibly lost, fingers still curled up near his hat.