balance_logs | Lunar Interlude 2

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Lunar Interlude 2

	Let's try to keep the paperwork to a minimum, shall we?
	NAVIGATION

1. NEW RECLAIMERS

A. WELCOME WELCOME! FAH WHO RAHMUS

For the nine of you who will be arriving today, the story is the same: though you may not remember it, there was a moment where you were living out your life, at home or wherever you were ... and then there was the moment the Hunger came. And amid the television static that is your memory of that moment, a hand reached out to you, beckoning your escape as the tendrils of darkness destroyed everything that ever existed about your world.

"Would you hurry this up, please? Your world no longer stands a chance. Come with me, we are the last bastions of hope for all universes everywhere. And we're going to need you."

And then, unceremoniously, you are dragged through the universal wringer and plopped down on the soft, though not quite cushioned, grass of the Moon Base Quad.

There are other people out in the grassy fields — they may even be people you recognize. They may just be strangers, other Reclaimers, who recognize what you're about to endure. The things they say may be interspersed with static — as if the words themselves aren't reaching your ears correctly.

And you have a few minutes to chat before you're calmly led away by Bureau administration, to do something about that pesky static problem.

B. THE VOIDFISH

The nine of you are quickly divided into two groups, and brought to the easternmost geodesic dome, to an elevator in a well maintained, but sparsely landscaped field. There's nothing particularly ominous feeling about the space — in fact, the two guards who greet you at the elevator entrance seem pleased with your arrival. You are, after all, one of the few chosen by the Director, the few who will reclaim what the Hunger has destroyed.

And in a few moments, you're about to find that out for yourself.

After a tightly packed elevator ride, your group is ushered out to a rather grand looking hall, banners of the Bureau of Balance adorn both sides of smooth metal walls. And inside the Voidfish's chamber stands a tank — impossibly tall, and soaked in a black ink that obscures whatever the tank may be holding.

You may notice the sound of someone speaking. It's a bard, on his second round of introducing Reclaimers to the Voidfish, and this time, he has chosen to demonstrate the functions of the outrageously vertical tank not by playing violin music, but by reciting a piece of classical, and highly valued poetry. When he finishes, he pulls at a drawer just at the metallic base of the tank. He solemnly enters a few scrolls into its basin as the tank begins to light up, like lightning behind dark clouds.

And suddenly, you forget what that invaluable example of universal literature sounded like.

"Yeah, man, like... don't think too hard about it, it's like that every time. I'm guessing you're here to be inoculated? Just a heads up, you might want to, like, seriously, hold your nose while you drink it down. It tastes wicked gross, man.

Anyway, I'm supposed to tell you that you have a choice. If you drink the black stuff, you'll be able to hear through the, uh... Huh, how do I describe it? Through the [TSHCSCHTSHCHSC] sound. You guys like, hear that? Anyway, it's all about knowledge or something. I don't know, I'm just here to, like, feed the thing. We call it the [TSCHHSCHSCH], by the way.

So, like. You get a choice. You can drink it and understand stuff, or not drink it and then hear that crackling noise all day every day. If I were you, I'd drink it. But, hey man, I'm not like, your dad or anything."

The bard takes five cups and draws liquid from a spigot connected directly to the basin of the large tank. Stormy, muddy looking ichor is drawn into them, one by one. He offers each of you a sip.

Drink it (he wasn't kidding about what it tasted like), and you're inoculated to the wisdom of the Voidfish. You try to remember the poetry this bard recited a few moments ago and the rhymes, the meter, the significance, all come back to you. And if you think back to your arrival, some of the things you may have heard other people in the Quad say, that simply sounded like static, are suddenly clear. Bureau of Balance. Grand Relic. Reclaimers.

Yet you still can't remember the Hunger or what it had done to your world. And as you look back to the tank in front of you, the water has become clear. There's a jellyfish, as tall as a building, floating within. You look into the body of the creature and you can almost make out a beautiful, tiny universe floating within it.

2. THE TEST OF INITIATION

With your new knowledge on the Bureau of Balance and your purpose here in tow, you are led without hesitation to the Arena, where the final phase of your initiation into the Bureau will be held. You are partnered up, whether it is with someone you drank the ichor of the Voidfish with, or perhaps even a veteran Reclaimer, who either stopped by to help, or simply out of curiosity.

One Grand Relic has already been reclaimed, you're told. They were a pair of bright red mittens, held by the mayor of a small village who may have meant well, but under the draw of the mittens' incredible space-bending powers, was corrupted into using them, and to nearly killing everyone who lived under him.

You may have noticed, at some point while glancing out into space while walking here, to the planet below, a massive evergreen fir that stretches past the planet's atmosphere, very nearly piercing the Moon Base itself. It appears to be decorated for the holidays. That tree is the direct result of those mittens, the actions of a man who could not resist the temptation to use them.

Resisting that very same temptation is your task here. And with that order in mind, as you and your partner stand in the middle of the Arena, the walls dissolve, and the simulation begins.

You're standing in the middle of a forest. Ahead of you, situated on a pedestal, is an item. It could be any ordinary item: a pair of gloves, a teapot, a simple decorative bowl. Whatever it is, it's yours for the taking.

Take that simple item in your hands, however, and the building blocks of the trees around you suddenly collapse like shattered glass, and reform into new scenery — it may even be a place from home that you recognize.

A voice in your head beckons you. Perhaps there's a mistake you made, or something that went wrong for you back home that you wish you had the power to undo. Perhaps there's someone you wish you could help, or even save. The item that's in your hands has the power to help you achieve this, if only you'd ever use it.

Resist the temptation. Take the item, and drop it into a nearby deposit box to be destroyed. Your partner is here to help you — because once you destroy it, you will be doing the same for them.

3. NEWBIES AND VETERANS, AROUND THE MOONBASE

Three or four days into the month, now that the newbies are settled in, something strange happens: The next time you return to your flat from whatever errand or exploring you were doing, when attempting to use your Bracer to open the door results in extremely obnoxious beeping that persists for an entire thirty seconds, and a message on the screen next to the door.

ERROR: HOME ASSIGNMENT MECHANISM MALFUNCTION. GO TAKE A WALK.

Welp. Looks like you're locked out for a bit while techs fix that. Here's a few places that might be worth checking out.

A. PIECES FROM HOME

Should you find your way to the Dojo, there's a door that still has that shiny, brand spanking new door look and new door smell to it off in one of the less traversed corners of the building. A sign next to the door demands that you empty your pockets before entering. A scanner for your Bracer will unlock it, assuming it's unoccupied, leading you to a plain white room with no furniture or objects at all in sight.

As the door shuts behind you, a pleasant female voice echoes from all corners of the room, greeting you by name. If this is your first time in the room, the voice has a simple question for you:

"What memory do you value, or think of, most?"

Once you've provided your answer, the walls crumble, much like they did during the Test of Initiation simulation, reforming into something that is, again, pleasantly, or even unpleasantly, familiar.

It's a space from home. Perhaps it's your room. Perhaps it's your favorite restaurant (though, the place is curiously empty, and the food you find, for some reason, tastes like strawberries). Perhaps it's a park you always enjoyed visiting, or a corner of the city you lived in.

Whatever it is, you, and whoever you may have brought along with you, seem to be the only ones there. And perhaps the details aren't quite right — like maybe someone built a model of your home to explore, but a few pieces were missing from the box.

But it's close enough.

B. SPEND YOUR DOUGH. SOLVE A MYSTERY

Whether you're a newcomer or a veteran returning from your first Field Mission, you've been provided with some spending money. You can use it to buy yourself one weapon and piece of armor from one of the blacksmiths in town. Regardless of who you choose to help you out with that, it'll take about a week to complete your order, so time your purchase carefully.

There's also premade weapons and a whole bunch of other bullshit for sale at FANTASY COSTCO. Shelves and pallets of an endless array of nonmagical items, pretty much anything you can imagine, can be bought here, but there's one particular, innocuous item that seems to have Garfield the Deals Warlock in a tizzy.

The more those vinyl covers that can be used to decorate your Bracers are purchased, the more the name seems to spread, ghosts of whispers around the entire Moon Base, of a person who may very well be a ghost herself. Who is Miss Zarves? Who was Miss Zarves?

A powerful witch with the power to scramble your memories, insists one cantankerous woman who pours you a drink at Madame Frione's Tea Kettle. A heavyset, flushed with drink sort of man sitting next to you disagrees — Miss Zarves is a practical joke Garfield likes to trot out every couple of months to mess around with anybody gullible enough to believe him.

Whatever the case, it seems that the name alone gives everyone a curious case of déjà vu. Someone has to have information on her — and this is the Reclaimers' opportunity to hone their information gathering skills.

C. A (PERHAPS MANDATORY) DAY AT STOP DYING 101

Whether you're in class voluntarily, or whether you were dragged there on account of dying the past Field Mission, today's session of Fatalistic Fauna, and Danger Sense to channel your inner barbarian is going on a little field trip to the Arena.

Because this is your first test to see if you can put all that information that's been given to you in the first few lectures to good use.

You and a partner are placed in the middle of the Arena, in a simulation of an expansive, empty field, up against the first monster you were introduced to in class: A Bulette, a fearsome beast that can burrow, lunge, deal severe piercing damage, and jump an absolutely incredible distance. And you and your Reclaimer partner are absolutely no match for it.

Your only option here is to escape. Can you? If you are dealt simulated fatal damage, then the Arena will dissolve back to normal, and you'll be given extra homework and reading material for the day. Sorry, them's the breaks.

D. OPEN THE DOOR, GET ON THE FLOOR, EVERYBODY DO THE DINOSAUR

There's a signup available for those looking to take Dance lessons at the Academy. There seem to be enough slots available for 50 or so people, and the form's name simply reads: "DANCE, NOW. WITH MS. CHARLOTTE." It's a pretty large time commitment- a crash course in dancing is a rather intensive affair. You'll be spending 4 days a week for 2 weeks, 2-3 hours per day, learning all the basics of the waltz, the tango, and the quickstep. Don't even think about trying the cha-cha slide here, it's simply not pasodoable. At the studio, you can borrow a pair of ballet slippers and join in with Ms. Charlotte, which, for anyone coming to the class for the first time should be rightly horrified.

The newest member of the Bureau of Balance is a spider. A delegate from New New Aspen, Ms. Charlotte comes equipped with a bracer of her own, has taken in the Voidfish juice, and relocated here, to teach at the Academy. She moonlights as a ballroom dance instructor and a coach, and boy... she's pretty demanding with her approach, but incredibly thorough. You don't want to let Ms. Charlotte down.

The sessions she teaches will get you to learn the basics. Natural aptitude, of course, goes a long way, but she's very 8-hands on with her approach at correcting posture and steps. Not without compassion, however, if you manage to get blisters on your feet, Ms. Charlotte's web bandages will set and help heal those sore, tired feet. The next 2 weeks of this boot camp are going to be brutal.

E. THE MOON IS YOUR SPACE OYSTER (WILDCARD)

There are plenty of other locations around the Moon Base that you can explore at your own discretion. Feel free to refer to the Settings page for more ideas on what shenanigans you can get into.

Additionally, we'll be fielding Bender rolls again this month! With the exception of the three items that have been removed from his recipe database, if a food item was destroyed in a failed roll previously, you may roll to try to fix it. Bear in mind, of course, that you may make it worse.

Successful food rolls will stay in place at this time.

4. THE DIRECTOR ACTS; A GRAND RELIC DESTROYED

Erika has obtained and delivered the Space Mittens to Madame Director herself. She struggles to remain calm and composed at the moment, but the amount of immense pride and relief at recovering the Grand Relic slips through an otherwise sturdy exterior of coolness and level-headed features. She congratulates the entirety of the Bureau of Balance for their hard work, and relates to Erika that she couldn't be happier that she had made this world one step closer to being safe. A message will appear across all bracers, everywhere, with the following:

Reclaimers, welcome home and congratulations on a successful first mission. Although there were certain drawbacks and difficult decisions that had to be made, I believe, without a doubt, that you all have irrefutably surpassed all expectations. Congratulations on a job well done. However, next time, please do be more careful out there.

For those of you who wish to watch, my office will remain open until 1600 hours today. The relic will be destroyed, and if you would like to attend to see how it's done, please stop by.

There will be light refreshments and coffee served, of course. If unable to attend, you can watch the ceremony later on your bracers. Don't forget to click Like and Subscribe.

At the appointed hour, a ceremony will occur. She calls forth Davenport to wheel out the structure that's been created and designed with the sole purpose of destroying these things. She dare not takes the relic herself, no, refusing to touch the item at all. It's a medium sized metallic sphere, and once opened and closed, can never be opened again. Pulling back the curtain to an observatory, the Reclaimers can watch as Davenport sports a nifty pair of goggles, and wheels the orb onto a raised platform. He waits for the Director's signal, which is performed by an agreeable stamp of her oaken staff against the floor, and a nod. Davenport hits the KILL SWITCH, and the light show from behind the glass is amazing and terrifying all at the same time. You watch as the Space Mittens are obliterated from existence.

An eruption of cheering breaks out. This concludes the first successful mission, and a deeply needed win, for the Bureau of Balance.

blurb code by photosynthesis

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It actually tastes pretty good to Ryuji. Warm strawberries. If there was some milk around, he could make this some sorta cream desert, maybe. But that's not really the point of any of this, so he leans back and watches Akechi on TV, answering questions. Interesting, how this is a cognition of Akechi's mind, and there he is, on TV.]

What's worse? Rigging a game so that you can never lose, or havin' the cards stacked up so high against you that there's no chance of winning?

[It makes him snort out a laugh while he's trying to drink his awful tasting coffee.]

That's an interesting question. Experience wise, I would say both are hell, just different types of hell.

[He traces the rim of his mug in thought.] You could look at it from an ancient Greek perspective and think of them as two primary expressions of suffering. The Greeks loved it when positives and negatives were one in the same. Hope is also despair, poison is an antidote, things like that. I tend to think they were onto something. There's no reason they can't both be the worst thing to experience.

[He watches Akechi go on about the Greeks, and there's a fond sort of smile that builds up at the corner of his lips. He's such a know-it-all, huh?]

You're still in quiz show mode, dude.

[There's a rowdy sort of chuckle that comes bumbling out of him, as he takes a sip of his "coffee." It's not like he wasn't listening, though, as he files that away for later. There are a lot of dualities to things that exist in the world; this place being here, in VR form, is one of them.]

Kinda like the concept of somethin' bein' bittersweet, right? It's cool to be here, but it's also kinda sad, because it ain't the real thing.

[Leaning forward up against the counter, he examines the labels of the beans on the shelves. How accurate is his cognition of this place, after all? Is there an upstairs?]

So, uh. Burnin' question on my mind, and I'm gonna ask it 'cause that's what I do, but... uh, Leblanc? Why this place?

[He's definitely going to peak upstairs at some point.]

[At least Ryuji listened. Sometimes, he talks just for the sake of talking. It's weirdly soothing to him, which might explain a lot about how much he tends to talk in the first place.

Still, Ryuji understood it well enough so he doesn't feel the need to explain further. He kind of wishes he did, to avoid explaining what Ryuji actually asks. Well, that was inevitable, really. It's more impressive he waited to ask.]

It's tempting to ask you to make a deduction about it, but that might be somewhat unfair when we're still coming to know each other.

[Except it's more fun for him to make Ryuji figure it out, so actually never mind what's fair.]

Still, it stands to reason that this was the place I thought of when asked for a special memory, does it not? The memory I value most I think was the question's specific phrasing. And it could not have been anywhere but here for me. At least, if I wanted it to be a positive one, this was the only choice.

[There are plenty of places with important, terrible memories attached. But so few with positive ones.]

[To be fair, the both of them do talk a lot, but how much of it is actually useful is highly variable. At least, on Ryuji's side of things. Philosophy doesn't really do much for someone who lives life without thinking about the merits and constructs that it imposes. He's still trying to walk and chew gum at the same time, never mind crawling out of the Cave and becoming some tho(ugh)t king.

But without Sherlock Holmes'ing his ass into the entire situation, he sits there, picking up his cup to hide the content of his smile. So, Leblanc holds a similar sort of place in his heart as it does his own. It's kind of nice, really.]

Your most important memory is of Akira.

[He'll get straight (as straight as this entire encounter is) to the point.]

[For a moment it doesn't register.]

Of course, Akira is—

[And then it does register. Despite himself, he can feel his skin grow hot and he quickly waves his hand and shakes his head. His voice goes lower as he clears his throat.]

Wait, no. Why the hell would you say it like that? Do you even know what you're saying or are you just spouting whatever nonsense comes to your mind first?

[What comes after "Akira is-"?

Huh. Ryuji watches the quick change in attitude, vocal pattern, and immediate refusal of all the railroad tracking that's been laid out in front of the both of them. He could be delicate about this, since he thinks he might be on the precipice of a cliff's edge made entirely out of ice, but that's not really his style, is it?]

Yeah, dude, I know exactly what I'm sayin'.

[Placing the cup down on the table, his focus fixates on how incredibly detailed this place is. Everything is in perfect crystal image, even down to minor details like Boss' crossword puzzle chilling over there.

Akechi wanted him to get better at deduction. Is this really that, or is it more of a feeling? This place is only missing one thing, and probably... strictly speaking, here. There's only two people on this entire Moon Base who knows exactly what that is and what that looks like.

Akira behind the bar, making a cup of coffee.]

'Cause... if you had a chance to make any memory come to life, and it's gonna be this place, it kinda makes sense. I ain't judging you, dude. Just be real about it, if that's how it is.

Edited 2019-01-11 03:40 (UTC)

I am being 'real' about it.

[A lie, technically, but not a complete one. After all, the best lies contain some truth.

There were reasons aside from Akira that he felt so happy here. The quiet atmosphere, so far away from all the people who knew his masks, from the pressure and demands they brought with them and the inevitable knowledge that even if everything went right, there was nothing for him to look forward to. The gentleness of this place gave him some reprieve.

But Akira was here. They didn't always talk much but his presence was enough. Even hearing him talking with someone else was enough. When they did speak, though, those really were his favourite nights.

It went beyond Akira, it really did, and yet—

He shakes his head and scoffs.]

It was just somewhere nice to be.

[In the midst of all the lies, the surveillance that led to Akechi knowing their every move as thieves, the way he tried to kill Akira. Those things don't line up very well with the entire thing, and it's a shadow of doubt about all of this that fixates in the corner of his mind. He needs to work this out, because it won't make sense in his head.]

So being here meant something to you. It wasn't just part of keeping tabs on us. Or, well, keeping tabs on Akira. At some point you knew it was him, and us, right? So you knew that, you even thought of him as your rival. But that ain't addin' up. If that's all this place was to you, then it wouldn't make sense for you to, like, want to be here now. Right?

[It's getting a little circular in its logical flow, but that's how Ryuji normally is when he's got an inkling something's out of whack, and it's not piecing itself together.]

... I'm goin' upstairs.

[He slides his chair backward, and looks over at the bend behind the toilet that leads up to the attic.

This is Akechi's cognition of Leblanc, and it's perfectly intact. Is Akira's room up there, or is it closed off from this picture perfect place? He heads over and looks up the stairs. What does he see?]

Ah— Wait.

[Goddamn it. Akechi gets up as well to follow him, frowning the entire time. Akira's room is indeed up there. A little fuzzy in some ways, maybe from how few times he actually got to be there, but that speaks even higher of how well its remembered. Some of the books that would usually be on the shelf are even in a pile on the sofa from Akechi reading them there, if Ryuji happens to be observant enough for it.

He realises Ryuji will probably use this as proof or something, so he tries to distract him by answering his earlier thought.]

For the record, I knew it was you all months ago. You're horribly unsubtle. It was killing me.

Yeah, I shouted it in public a few times and even Makoto recorded it. She ain't no world star detective, so, whatever. Water under the bridge, dude.

[He's a track star, he runs on a one-track philosophy most of the time, as he starts heading upstairs anyway. The curiosity's getting to him, and yeah, he definitely plans on using this to make some sort of point. What point that is? Probably isn't really apparent, as much as the feeling that lead him up here. Not even danger sense, just instinct.

And the fact that the room isn't complete, but it's still shaded in with enough detail does confirm something.

But more important than that, he stops when he gets to the top of the stairs. How many times had he been up here? Shit, seeing this is like ripping a piece of his heart right out of his chest. It hurt being torn away from everything he knew and loved, only to be taunted by his own memories and thrown into some weird, unknown place for as long as it did.

It's not about Ryuji, though. Whatever's going through his mind isn't important.]

I thought so. I- dude. [He turns to look down the stairs, or behind him, wherever Akechi wound up out of this exchange after Ryuji left to head up here.] If it was just Leblanc that mattered to you, this place wouldn't exist, right? No use creatin' somethin' like this when the only thing you cared about was the cafe.

So it was Akira.

[And don't think he doesn't notice the books, either. He knows this place like the back of his hand.]

Akechi--- do you...

[Ryuji waves it off too well for Akechi to really say much back, as much as he wants to continue scolding him for how obvious it was back then. Instead he hovers halfway up the stairs, not really wanting to go up the whole way, watching Ryuji, his expression softening.

Even if Ryuji wants to argue this place mattered to Akechi, it mattered to him, too. It's why he agreed to let him see it again in the first place. He knows enough about Ryuji's circumstances to know how much having the Phantom Thieves must have mattered to him. For him, seeing this must bring so many emotions.

Then Ryuji looks his way again and Akechi straightens up, frown returning as he tries to think up an argument. Maybe it just happened to be this way. He doesn't know. They can't really find out, right? Ryuji could be wrong.

He feels his body tensing and trying to draw back, waiting for Ryuji to continue, somehow hating the fact that Ryuji is higher up than him at the moment.]

What? What now?

[This is grossly above and beyond what he ought to be doing here; he really has no right to invade the privacy of his head or his heart like this. But as there are more questions left open than answers available, he teeters on the edge of being helpful or just downright fucking intrusive. He doesn't know.

He doesn't know if that's the type of friendship Akechi wants out of him. And somehow, through all of this, Ryuji finds himself caring a lot about him and whether or not he's doing alright.

And yeah, this place means a lot to him, and if he were really, truly honest with himself... in hindsight, after coming to actually be okay in his own skin about falling in love with Dave? He can recognize that he had his own wealth of feelings for Akira that were more than just the thickly bolded line of friendship. Ryuji tilts his head and motions for him to come up the stairs, and leans his ass against Akira's desk. There are signs of someone being in here that weren't the familiar patterns that Ryuji had committed to rote memory. Little things off, here and there. Far less perfect than downstairs, but Akechi tried and that... has to be worth something, right?

So, time to make a choice. What does he want to say here? This is hard. But Ryuji doesn't fear himself for the sake of his honesty. It's who he is. So, when or if Akechi manages to get up there, he'll just say it outright.]

Do you... have feelings for him?

[Akechi regrets moving closer now. If Qrow hadn't talked to him about this, well, he would still be flustered but he could lie better, since he would still be lying to himself, but no, God won't allow that. Never. Instead, he freezes up, face hot as he scrambles internally for a good enough lie.

Ah fuck no lie detected. The last time someone pointed out he had feelings for Akira, he just hit himself with Desperation and tried to kill them. Unfortunately, not an option here.

Fuck. Okay. Distract. Divert. Improvise.]

What... makes you ask a question like that?

[Nailed it.]

[Was that distracting, diverting, or improvising, Akechi? It kind of feels like that's the opposite of that thing he was trying to do right there, and Ryuji lays a hand on his other arm, rubbing at his own elbow as a state of self-calming.]

C'mon, I ain't no detective, I don't have like, clues or anything to follow up on, but. You've been up here a few times, 'cause I've never seen the room look like this before. You completed Leblanc with his room. You're stallin' right now as you speak to me. And...

[Rolling his shoulder-]

Like, I've been there? I kinda know what it's like.

[Although he wants to protest, he stops and reconsiders at the last piece of 'evidence' he gives.

So. Huh. Interesting.]

Ah. Is that so? I didn't realise that.

Well... yeah, I mean. I didn't really realize it at the time, 'cause my life was a pretty huge goddamn mess back then, but...

[Yeah... he feels a little awkward about it.]

I mean, it's... it's fine, whatever it is. If that's what it is. And it took a really, really long time for me to, like. Come to terms with the idea of it. But, this ain't about me.

[Nope it is about Ryuji's feelings because Akechi has an out now.]

Ah, well. I am happy for you. I noticed, ah, well, you and Dave. And you've seemed like a more... settled person emotionally.

Thanks, we're, uh. [This is rude to do, Akechi!]

I mean, yeah, we're still kinda figuring a lotta stuff out, but, all that shit we left behind back in Tokyo. The dumb thoughts about what's right or wrong or like, any of that shit. A-ah! What the hell, man, you're trying to squirm your way out of this? Forreal?

[That does it.

He slides a card out of his back pocket. The special card. The get out of lies free card. Ryuji didn't expect to be using it so soon, but he... did keep it close by to him. It had sentimental value now, after all.]

You said you wanted to be better, right? So start bein' better. You can just tell me I'm wrong if I'm wrong.

[Oh Goddamn it. Even if that is fair considering what he tried to use as a distraction. Akechi hesitates, looking at the card. It's a promise. He promised to tell the truth if it was used. The whole point is that, true, he could still keep lying, but it was something in good faith. Even using it is kind of a way of trusting him to answer honestly.

Akechi runs a hand through his hair before he sighs and walks past Ryuji. Then he collapses onto the couch. It is undignified, unlike most of his movements, but Ryuji wants honesty, so might as well go all in on it. He stares at the ceiling, frowning.]

...You're not wrong. Not at all.

[So. That's that.]

[His instincts here weren't wrong, but it doesn't stop him from feeling like time stopped around him for a second. It's like getting in the car to drive somewhere and realizing you've gone past the exit too many stops and didn't think about all the mile markers in between. Some stuff makes more sense now.

Watching him fall down and accept this as a defeat in confessing his feelings doesn't sit well with him, though, and as he watches on, he frowns a little bit about it.]

It ain't a bad thing. You know that, right?

[It doesn't bother him much. If he reflects on it, he can find points in time when what he felt towards Akira wasn't the rivalry or the hatred or even the desire to be his friend, though all of those still stand. The fact that they all still remain might make it worse.

He snorts, dropping his arm over his face.]

Are you joking? I have to try to get rid of these feelings now that I've become aware of them and, as you may have noticed, I am not particularly good at doing that.

[Are you seriously telling an overly emotional, sentimental loser that it's right and proper to try to rid yourself of those instinctive thoughts? That's fucking whack. So here he is, sauntering over to the couch to go right on and pull his hand away from his face. No more hiding. Metagorically or otherwise.]

Did I effin' stutter or something?

[Yeah, sure, he tried to kill him. That's still a very huge and important thing. But it comes with the whole package deal of seeing this through, right? In for a penny, in for a pound.]

Dude, if there's one thing I know about the dokis is that when they hit you, you don't really get the option of rippin' em right up outta you and tryin' to throw 'em away. The more you try, the worse it's gonna get and the deeper in the shit you're gonna get.

[Listen, he's been with Dave for 6 months now and spent a good deal of his time going through this phase himself. Different perspective, different scenario. Same feeling, though. Scared, annoyed at himself for having them. Not knowing, most of all, how to deal with that.]

[Although he gives him an annoyed look when he pulls his arm away, he doesn't fight it. It's part of the promise, ultimately. If he wanted to, he could probably wiggle out of it, saying this went past what the card offered. But the card was meant to be something else, not just a single answer. It was supposed to make him talk honestly with two people he wants to know better, because they matter to him in weird ways.

So he listens to Ryuji's surprisingly nice words and hesitates before sitting up. Lying would be so much easier. Instead he pushes himself.]

...All right. What do I do then?

[Now he looks at him intently. If Ryuji really does know about this, then he might be the only person who can tell him what he should do with the feelings.]

In an absolutely perfect world, what would you wanna see happen?

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