( video. )

[insensate]

[ it starts.

and there is the flicker static. the jerk of sound. abruptly cut-in. cut-out. (and there are the huddled bodies of men in pressed suits. a sharp-looking woman. a man, perhaps familiar, in glasses. and in the background – a disgruntled looking man. pale hair stuck up (and yoite – to his side. face expressionless. eyes hidden beneath the brim of his hat.) another familiar face. dark hair and light eyes. tall. and – (miharu is there. miharu stands at his side. and even without sound, the path of all eyes is enough to indicate the tension in this room. the tension in the lines of bodies. the ferocious way the woman talks, the sharp clicking of her heels on the cement of this parking garage. underground. easily imagined. and perhaps, too, this is also familiar.)

and though it seems to settle, slightly – there is very little pause. there is very little time for the roll of some deeper realization among them all before yoite lifts a hand. points, silent. and – there is a sharp break. somehow. the camera shorts. the camera crackles. and – ]

[ bursts into life. with the exploding of a windshield. gunfire. and the man at yoite’s side has moved – as shifted to target the woman. and what is presumably miharu’s sensei and himself – have nudged back. have moved back. and yoite, like a sentry, seeming to aim with something invisible. at one man, hand torn, bleeding upon the concrete floor. and – the woman sets her sights upon him, quick. sets her sights upon him, quickly. and –

miharu’s shouting out, soundless. to him. to yoite. and yoite responds, without hesitation. turns upon her. as she rounds on him. as miharu’s sensei looks stunned as miharu raises a hand to his mouth. anxious. anxiously. perhaps --

something tears through the material of her skirt. near the hem. something makes yoite recoil. something makes the woman bleed – but, she’s still coming. regardless. she still closes the distance. regardless. and something like fear creeps into yoite’s expression. opens his expression. eyes wide and -- ]

[ -- on again, and all others have stilled. have quieted. have paused, almost rigid. almost horrified. on again – and the woman speaks to him. to yoite. with a sharper smile and sharper eyes. with some strain. (and there terror. and there is fear. and there is the trembling of a boy. the shakiness of breath. and there is sickness that rolls over yoite’s shoulders. there is the visible collapse of something. his eyes wide. his expression – and she keeps talking. she keeps talking. she keeps – and there is nothing coherent that rises to his expression. there are no words. there is nothing, as he distraught, comes to cover his eyes. comes to cover his eyes, like a child would. protecting himself. protecting – and suddenly, and without warning – he lifts his other hand. shaking, still. and suddenly, and without warning – he -- ]

[ chaos. the ground explodes around the woman’s feet. there is the visible movement of air as yoite seems to be firing something blindly. as he curls into himself. as he follows her footsteps. tearing indiscriminately through flesh and bone of all his aim encounters. through body and blood of all it can encounter. the men, once protecting two toward the middle – dropping. and there is blood. so much blood, as the blond man – yukimi - who was once at yoite’s side seems to scream to him to stop. as he hits another man, the one with glasses, toward the middle. arm jerking back painfully as he panics. and - hand mangling. instantaneous.

and all begins to move. all begins to crumble. all begins to scatter as yukimi again yells to yoite, panicked. as he watches him double-over. still firing. still blind. still staggering. and – miharu’s sensei is near the first man who was fired upon, in an instant. as he moves forward. as he tries to save the woman – as she falls – as -
and suddenly, miharu is moving. and suddenly, he is between the woman and yoite. still going. still going. still – and no one is able to stop him. no one is able to stop miharu. as he raises his hand too quickly, perhaps, to be noticed. to quickly to be caught. as his sensei rushes to his side. as he falls back into him. after a moment. after yoite peers through his fingers. meets miharu’s stiller expression. as he sees his hand, torn open – and yoite jerks back. falls back. back hitting a pillar behind him. hitting a pillar behind him. and -- ]

[ it starts. again. it comes back in. again. and yoite is curled into himself. fingers curled over the tops of his ears. face pressed into his knees. mouth tightly set. and – there is something close to tears as yukimi lingers by him. as miharu seems to have gotten his hand wrapped up by the man who was first fired at. as all other bodies, beside miharu’s sensei have stilled. as he seems to be going for one man – older – his hands raised in surrender –

it happens in an instant. it happens in a moment. and thobari’s hesitation allows the man to pull a gun upon him. allows him to almost pull the trigger – before another shot, off-screen, sends him down. sends him down, ungraceful and quick.

and the video, too, dies out. ]

Comments

( locked. )

[omniferous]

[ miharu gets the notification for a new post. he should have figured. ]

Yoite, it posted.

( locked: text )

[insensate]

[ he already knows there's no method or manner to rid of it. he already knows there is no point in attempting. he already knows, all of this. he is already aware, of all of this. and yet --

he's tired. ]

that person has likely already seen it.

[ there's no point in specifying. it means they'll have to gauge his reactions now. even if he is ahead of them, there is no proof one way or the other that he knows the whole of it. even so - he's likely to know miharu speaks to him. talks to him. that miharu --

acting too closely would still be inadvisable, but not as unexpected. ]

( locked: text )

[omniferous]

You don't have to talk to anyone. I can deal with it.

[ neither of them want to, he knows that. he's beginning to understand that now; he and yoite are similar, in some ways. they think it's better if people don't care about this, don't get involved. but miharu is better at maintaining a stable front than yoite, so he'll take care of it. he'll drive everyone off if he has to. ]

Kouichi would already know these things, right? I think it's better just to act without considering him from now on. It becomes too complicated.

( locked: text )

[insensate]

[ he already knows miharu doesn't wish to. just as much as he doesn't. he already knows all of that, even as he keeps quiet. even as his mind turns toward what is already occurred. what will occur. and - he knows miharu will be better for this. he knows that. even if, upon the surface, he casts no shadow of thoughts of others. even if, upon the surface, he -- there's a pause. there's a silence. there's -- ]

yeah.

[ he's rebuilding what he can. little by little. words still shorter than usual. fingers pulling for what remains of himself. what little there is to identify him. to shape him. back into some semblance of stability. some semblance of a shield. a shell. (close off or close away. close off or chase away. kindness isn't something he wants. kindness complicates. kindness -- )

he doesn't need anymore useless feelings. useless memories. the undeserved concerns of others. ]

( locked: text )

[omniferous]

[ he wants to ask. he wants to say are you okay? or to offer some words of comfort - his heart had been invaded too, and his reaction had been no more kind. but he can't. they aren't allowed to be close, whether it's by their allies' will or by their own. others can't care about them, and they can't care about each other. it's easier, and miharu can think that it won't hurt.

he plucks at the bandage on his hand for a while before he finally responds. ]

What are we going to do now?

( locked: text )

[insensate]

[ it will be easier. like this. it will continue to be easier. like this. no connection. no bond. no means of care. (no means of compromise.) it will be easier like this, even if there are words that sit in the grasp of some current. in the depth of some current. that will never rise to meet him, but wonder of injury and wonder of thoughts. that wonder of state. feel frozen, in response. (and they sink. further and further. down. they sink. deeper and deeper. down. and he looks, for a long time, into the cup he holds in his hands. feels almost no warmth.)

he knows it will be easier. he knows he cannot feel a thing. years and years ago. sworn to himself. each inkling of emotion -- ]

probably, yukimi will begin investigating kouga soon. if that's so, we can plan around it accordingly.

[ video ]

[second_star]

[ Yuri silently watched the video. To be honest whole thing was brutally chaotic. He couldn't really follow it. But...he saw Yoite. And there was only one thing he had to know, right now.

The community didn't like to cut off if it was important. He was going to take his chances with this assumption. ]

...Yoite. Can you hear me?

[ video ]

[omniferous]

He's okay. Everyone went home.

[ yoite doesn't like to talk. even if all miharu can do is deflect the caring of others for yoite's sake, he'll do it. he understands. he feels the same way. ]

[second_star]

[ ...That was better than nothing. ]

...Thanks...you were caught up in all of that too, weren't you?

[omniferous]

Uh-huh. [ he holds up his left hand, which is wrapped in bloodied gauze. ] Yoite and I are enemies. But our teams were after the same thing, so we ended up in that place together.

[second_star]

Hmm. [ He figured as much, from what he saw in the video. He wasn't here to say anything about that, though. He wasn't going to get involved in this either. This wasn't his business. ]

I guess that makes sense. You both made it out, though.

[omniferous]

Yeah. We're pretty resilient. Or we didn't die, at least.

( video. )

[insensate]

[ for a long time, there is nothing.

for a long time, there is no response. there is no means of response. for a long while - nothing will greet him. nothing will come. nothing will answer.

(but, there is something that kicks up in time. there is the flickering span of a room. lived in. papers scattered and furniture covered in miscellany. spacious and crowded. still.)

and in the middle of it, yoite sits. quiet. blanket draped up and over him. like a heavy mantle. (and his shoulders are slack. are lowered. but are not -) and in the middle of it, he clasps a cup in his gloved hands. loosely. and there is a soft warmth to it. evident. even upon video. steam rising, slow.

even if he notices the camera, he doesn't regard it. he doesn't look at it. eyes covered by a veil of material. the only parts of him visible: his nose and mouth. down-turned. looking inward. watching nothing. ]

[second_star]

[ ...That was better than no answer, at least. Yuri didn't speak for a few moments either. He just watched Yoite's figure, sitting in the middle of the scatter brained room. Silence, between them, lasting almost a minute, before he spoke. ]

Pretty shaken up, huh?

( video. )

[insensate]

[ he notices.

and it comes in a controlled movement. it comes in the muffled clack of the mug. his hands moving, threateningly. and the blanket shifts, just enough. shifts, just enough to allow him to peer out. slides back, just enough, to reveal one blue eye. dark hair, askew.

(and there is a set to his jaw. a harder line to his body. there is the pressing of lips, into a tight line. a coolness that radiates. and there is nothing that welcomes conversation in the steeled way he regards the camera. the way he regards him. in the way he forbids. wards.)

don't. ]

permaviiiid

[second_star]

[ Well, he didn't really expect an answer to that, considering who he was talking to. Still, that look, as unwelcoming as it was, served as the answer to his question. Yuri crossed his arms, leaning back ]

Well, as long as you're breathing, then that's fine.

[ He let out a deep breath, before continuing. ] Glad your okay, at least.

everything is horrible forever. /sadcat

[insensate]

[ silence.

and there is the shift of his jaw. the setting of teeth. the inclination of his head. and it almost seems like anger. it almost seems like fury. and he repels, again. he holds back and away. again. his voice, almost unmatched to his behavior. too boyish. too - and it comes out, harshly. it comes out, with grounded syllables. a sharp punctuation. (and his hands are knotting. fingers curling.)

warning: ]

-- Don't.

[ I don't want to hear it. ]

[movinghair]

All those people.... And Yoite-kun--I hope he'll be alright. Being a part of something like that is something you never get over.

[omniferous]

Actually, I'm already over it. I think everyone is.

[ this girl is kind. it's obvious, even just from the way she says yoite-kun. and he doesn't want to be cruel, but he needs to deflect her. he knows that yoite won't want this, either. this caring. so he'll just be unlikeable. brash and blunt. indifferent. ]

[movinghair]

...if you're sure. [you can't tell people how they're meant to feel.]

How's your hand?

[omniferous]

[ he holds it up. it's a while later, but the new bandages are bloodied too. ]

Not bad. It hurts, but more than that, it's annoying to have to change the bandages so often.

[movinghair]

[sympathy cringe. yikes.]

It did look like a deep cut on the video. Hopefully, it'll stop bleeding in a while.

[locked to Yoite's account]

[shadow_spread]

Are you recovering?

[ not here ]

[omniferous]

[ WOW RUDE MASAMORI. R U D E. ]

( text: locked. )

[insensate]

Why?

If it's because of private curiosity, it can't be helped.