I don't give a shit-- [Snappy. He realizes before he centers himself again, huffing out and trying it again.]
It's alright. [He pauses, bringing a hand up to pinch at the bridge of his nose.] You don't have to forget it, unless you want to. Just a thing that happened to me.
[He does his best to shake off the last of it, adjusting his coat, fixing his belt. It's fine! Everything is fine. His tail swishes a bit like an agitated cat.]
Just-- puts it into clarity how one stupid move can really put the knife in you, doesn't it?
“…. Hm? This is….” The police station – your old familiar workplace. How long ago has it been now, since you used to walk past those doors everyday and report for work? And how much longer has it been since you could do so with pride? “…. Haha. I’ve always avoided this place, so how did I end up here…?”
A girl’s face flashes through your mind – along with her last words to you: W-Wait. What do you… Enomoto, listen to me…! But you didn’t give her a chance. You didn’t let her finish. You walked out of the apartment and that’s what led you here – alone, like always.
“Hoshino’s gonna give me an earful. Nothing good can come from working with her. …. The justice she wants to protect, huh…. Did I used to have that much passion?”
Your thoughts are interrupted with the sound of footsteps approaching quickly, and before you can hope to respond—
“Who’s there?!”
Blunt force to the back of your head before you can meet your assailant. Your ears ring. You hit the ground and everything’s dark.
. . .
When you wake up, all you can smell is blood. All you can taste is blood. All you can feel is the pain screeching from everywhere. Your arms and legs, bound. Distantly, there’s the understanding that you’re sitting, but you’ve been blindfolded and gagged. The cloth in your mouth holds nothing but the bitter taste of iron.
“Awake?”
A distant, garbled voice speaks. It’s hard to place it and yet there’s pain lacing the words when the person speaks again: “Why didn’t she go after you? Why has everyone abandoned you?”
The question is punctuated with a gunshot, followed by another and another, and you realize the next sound is your own muffled scream behind the gag as new pain blossoms in your chest as if to compete against the rest. The bullets tear past your skin and into your body, unforgiving. Will you bleed out first or will you be put out of your misery?
“Enomoto Mineo.” The voice speaks again, and this time it is not sympathetic. “Your rash and thoughtless behavior psychologically cornered someone you admired.”
A pit sinks in your stomach, and you realize that the last shot did not pierce your heart because the words were always meant to be what broke your spirit. Whether by surprise or something else you can’t name even now, you stop struggling.
You realize what this is. Judgment is coming.
“That man then wrongfully arrested people in a rush for glory, ruining the lives of many people.”
You hear the slide of metal – you know the gun has been reloaded. Even though you cannot see, you know it is pointed at you once again.
“For your inability to pursue the truth, and your cowardice that has stolen the light from others – you have been judged as evil. This is our justice.”
[you'd think they'd eventually just figure out to maybe walk away from each other and then the whole experiencing two deaths in as many minutes wouldnt be such a danger but GEEZ
anyway
there's that rise of anxiety and panic and fear and pain again, and he's still holding onto mineo's hand so he's probably squeezing hard enough with those claws to leave a mark]
given the fact that - molly can have mineo's hand, but he will feel that it is, in fact, shaking. his other hand is pressed against his chest against a wound that isn't there, not unlike molly just moments ago. he's trying to press his back against the closest solid surface like it'll keep anyone from attacking him from behind.
[That's alright. He can be scared, when he's reminded of that-- Molly will just let him back up to the wall, then, but sticking close by so he's got like at least an emotional support purple to hold onto so he doesn't fall over.]
[Emotional support purple... but at least - with the words, with Molly speaking to him and reassuring him kindly, he seems to come back. Slowly but surely, he comes back. Even as his heart thunders in his chest like it wants to escape if only to prove that it still beats - he lets out a shaky breath.]
I...
Yeah. Sorry, I...
[ . . . clearly still need to process that one a little.]
[He'll let go of mineo's hands for a moment to put his own on either side of his face - like you would a kid who's just fallen over or something. A little condescending, but also sort of comforting.]
[ . . . it is. and the thing is that it's secure, and it makes him focus on the person in front of him. the fact that he can see, and he can raise his own hands up to rest over molly's, and his expression can crumple into something just a little bit more relieved]
I am.
[ . . . ]
But I guess... that's what I wanted to tell you anyway.
[it felt -
wrong.
to know that something happened to molly, and to not offer the same up in return.]
[A lot of things make much more sense now, to him. Mineo had tried so hard to support him, help him when he was at his lowest, he feels he owes him this at least. Sharing this.]
[softly, and he calms down enough that he turns his hands so that he can take molly's and pull them off his face. he'll hold on though.]
... the thing I'm here for... It's not really a lie to say I've got some mysteries I want to solve. I do. I still need to find out what happened to my friend but I -
[ . . . took so long he died before he could. the sloth tattoo on the back of his hand burns a little worse.]
[ . . . . there's a slight pause at that and he just manages, a bit more softly.]
... I don't know. I don't really want to be a waste of space anymore either, Molly-san. I... I can't keep getting stuck.
[it doesn't feel like it's enough. even when he was alive, all he did was waste time. waste his days. accomplish nothing. all his friends were getting tired of him and in the end - he really was abandoned.
it would be nice to be worth something, he thinks.
but he just shakes his head and focuses.]
I want it for you too, though. I haven't forgotten - I promised. Both you and Beauregard-san are going home.
Bullshit. No one's a damned waste of space. You're going home too, to do whatever you like. You live your life as you please, you give a little good turn here and there, you don't have to earn any sort of place in the world. It's yours already.
[He sniffs, because, well, he does get that Mineo's thing is important. He's see the thing he's working against--]
And you're smart, I'm sure you'll take that bastard down.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
It's alright. [He pauses, bringing a hand up to pinch at the bridge of his nose.] You don't have to forget it, unless you want to. Just a thing that happened to me.
no subject
... then I'm not gonna forget it, if that's okay. 'cause I try not to forget anything about the people who matter to me.
[a beat]
Are you mad at yourself?
no subject
Just-- puts it into clarity how one stupid move can really put the knife in you, doesn't it?
no subject
.... I don't think it can really be considered your fault when you're not the asshole with a sword.
[he has to say that first.]
But I'm still - sorry it happened.
no subject
[god,]
Well. Me too. Suppose I'm doing what I can about it now.
[1/2]
[firmly - because unfortunately that does make the world of difference to mineo.
as for the second piece, his answer takes a beat to come.]
.... yeah. I... get that.
[ . . . ]
Molly-san, you should know I—
[but why wait to speak when a memory can explain?]
no subject
“…. Hm? This is….” The police station – your old familiar workplace. How long ago has it been now, since you used to walk past those doors everyday and report for work? And how much longer has it been since you could do so with pride? “…. Haha. I’ve always avoided this place, so how did I end up here…?”
A girl’s face flashes through your mind – along with her last words to you: W-Wait. What do you… Enomoto, listen to me…! But you didn’t give her a chance. You didn’t let her finish. You walked out of the apartment and that’s what led you here – alone, like always.
“Hoshino’s gonna give me an earful. Nothing good can come from working with her. …. The justice she wants to protect, huh…. Did I used to have that much passion?”
Your thoughts are interrupted with the sound of footsteps approaching quickly, and before you can hope to respond—
“Who’s there?!”
Blunt force to the back of your head before you can meet your assailant. Your ears ring. You hit the ground and everything’s dark.
When you wake up, all you can smell is blood. All you can taste is blood. All you can feel is the pain screeching from everywhere. Your arms and legs, bound. Distantly, there’s the understanding that you’re sitting, but you’ve been blindfolded and gagged. The cloth in your mouth holds nothing but the bitter taste of iron.
“Awake?”
A distant, garbled voice speaks. It’s hard to place it and yet there’s pain lacing the words when the person speaks again: “Why didn’t she go after you? Why has everyone abandoned you?”
The question is punctuated with a gunshot, followed by another and another, and you realize the next sound is your own muffled scream behind the gag as new pain blossoms in your chest as if to compete against the rest. The bullets tear past your skin and into your body, unforgiving. Will you bleed out first or will you be put out of your misery?
“Enomoto Mineo.” The voice speaks again, and this time it is not sympathetic. “Your rash and thoughtless behavior psychologically cornered someone you admired.”
A pit sinks in your stomach, and you realize that the last shot did not pierce your heart because the words were always meant to be what broke your spirit. Whether by surprise or something else you can’t name even now, you stop struggling.
You realize what this is. Judgment is coming.
“That man then wrongfully arrested people in a rush for glory, ruining the lives of many people.”
You hear the slide of metal – you know the gun has been reloaded. Even though you cannot see, you know it is pointed at you once again.
“For your inability to pursue the truth, and your cowardice that has stolen the light from others – you have been judged as evil. This is our justice.”
Bang!
Everything goes black. ]
no subject
anyway
there's that rise of anxiety and panic and fear and pain again, and he's still holding onto mineo's hand so he's probably squeezing hard enough with those claws to leave a mark]
Godsdammit-- shit. [wait, uh] Mineo?
no subject
given the fact that - molly can have mineo's hand, but he will feel that it is, in fact, shaking. his other hand is pressed against his chest against a wound that isn't there, not unlike molly just moments ago. he's trying to press his back against the closest solid surface like it'll keep anyone from attacking him from behind.
oh - he's scared.
give him a second.]
no subject
Woah there, alright-- everything's okay. You're here, remember. You're here.
no subject
I...
Yeah. Sorry, I...
[ . . . clearly still need to process that one a little.]
no subject
No apologies, you're alright.
no subject
I am.
[ . . . ]
But I guess... that's what I wanted to tell you anyway.
[it felt -
wrong.
to know that something happened to molly, and to not offer the same up in return.]
no subject
That's the last thing you remember? Before this?
no subject
Yeah.
[softly, and he calms down enough that he turns his hands so that he can take molly's and pull them off his face. he'll hold on though.]
... the thing I'm here for... It's not really a lie to say I've got some mysteries I want to solve. I do. I still need to find out what happened to my friend but I -
[ . . . took so long he died before he could. the sloth tattoo on the back of his hand burns a little worse.]
You know...
Need to be alive to do that.
no subject
[All of you people are so much sometimes? He is very worried?]
I'm sure your reasons are good, but, you're allowed to just want that too. Hells, I want that for you.
no subject
... I don't know. I don't really want to be a waste of space anymore either, Molly-san. I... I can't keep getting stuck.
[it doesn't feel like it's enough. even when he was alive, all he did was waste time. waste his days. accomplish nothing. all his friends were getting tired of him and in the end - he really was abandoned.
it would be nice to be worth something, he thinks.
but he just shakes his head and focuses.]
I want it for you too, though. I haven't forgotten - I promised. Both you and Beauregard-san are going home.
no subject
flicks him in the forehead?]
Bullshit. No one's a damned waste of space. You're going home too, to do whatever you like. You live your life as you please, you give a little good turn here and there, you don't have to earn any sort of place in the world. It's yours already.
[He sniffs, because, well, he does get that Mineo's thing is important. He's see the thing he's working against--]
And you're smart, I'm sure you'll take that bastard down.
no subject
I've gotta give it my best try next time.
[and he'll just offer a small smile. tired, saddened, but - stubborn. like he knows he's on the ground but the fight's not over yet.]
.... I won't give up. Not again.