vigilantics | week 7, friday

[ he comes back eventually!! before he goes on his curry adventure, but after spending some time away (talking with Belph, actually...)

When he sees her, he just sighs. ]

This is the last one.

[ until this is over.

he doesn't know quite how to approach her, still, so he just does what he usually does. ]

You don't look terrible this time, at least.

I never looked terrible.

[ last week was a lie. no one has proof that she had multiple breakdowns. ]

Edited 2018-07-28 02:12 (UTC)

[ Hikage remembers!! Hikage also scratches his head, seeming to belatedly realize he probably shouldn't say that to a girl he thinks is pretty... ]

... Emotionally. That's what I meant.

... I think after Varian, I'm prepared for pretty much anything.

[ she's still really upset at who they found dead, as well as the fact that someone actually went after ion. but she truly cannot explain how dead you feel after seeing someone you love get eaten. ]

You'll see him again.

[ there's pretty much no way this can fail now, unless someone tries to sabotage everything tomorrow. ]

You were right about it not being over.

[ she nods her head. ]

Yeah. Can I say "I told you so" here, or...?

... Is it going to go to your head?

[ in other words, "yeah, probably." After a few seconds, he goes around her, taking a seat on the bed just to rest for a few minutes.

This might be the last time he'll be alone with her. He wonders what he should say. There's a lot he could, but... ]

No, of course not.

[ everyone else went "i told you so" at her this entire game, she's allowed to do it to someone. ]

Are you doing okay?

... I'm tired. I'm ready for this to be over.

[ whatever happens... if he can be with his little sister in some form, that should be good enough, whether they're together in death or reincarnated or whatever. He'd like to be with Steph and Belph, too, he thinks, but he doesn't know... how. Maybe he can reincarnate into one of their worlds and see them again. ]

I've been around for a long, long time... I've hurt a lot of people, and I've been hurt a lot, too. I want to rest.

[ she's quiet. she almost doesn't want to say what she's about to, in the small chance that she ends up jinxing it and the trial goes badly tomorrow. but steph has to believe that everything will go well, and that they'll save everyone. ]

You should come with me to Gotham. I think... you'll be able to.

[ Dragon had intimated that there was another ending possible for him - and, logically speaking, he'd guessed that it might be something like this. That doesn't mean that he thought it would happen. It would require someone to like him enough to want to bring him with them - and, as much as Steph and Belph are his friends, that would be asking far too much of anyone.

Frankly, the idea of being allowed to continue living is heavy and terrifying enough that he hardly knows how to react to it. He's afraid to believe in it. So he doesn't reply for a few seconds, overwhelmed. ]

... Do you know what you're saying?

[ she's taking responsibility for his actual existence - and possibly that of his sister, too. It's unthinkable to him. But his voice isn't angry or demeaning - if anything, it's a little bit shaky, as if he can't believe she would offer something like that to someone like him. ]

Yup.

[ it's said brightly. there are still some logistics aspects she'd have to figure out, like trying to explain to everyone back home why she is showing up with a bunch of people who clearly do not belong in the current era. but steph figures that's a problem for later. ]

It'll probably be a lot to get used to... oh, I'm dragging Belph along, too.

[ Belph, too? He's staring at her, now, or at least the top of her head that he can see fom his current vantage point. She sounds so cheerful about it...

Even this second chance was probably too much. But if what she's saying can be done - then Psychedelica is real. There was a paradise waiting at the end, a miracle, where he could meet everybody again. He may have had to go through hell and back to find it, but isn't that just how the story goes? ]

I-is that okay? [ he stumbles over the words, still shocked. If he were the crying type, tears would be falling; as it is, he just sounds a bit watery. The question sounds stupid and childish - but at heart, he's still just a ninteen year old boy, stupid and childish, who lost everything. ] You... want me to come?

[ she actually gets up at that-- or at least, she gets up enough so that she can peer over the bed so that she can look at him properly. ]

I wouldn't ask if I didn't want you to come, Hikage.

[ and she means that. steph knows that hikage is a handful, but she will happily take all of the risks that come with him if it means that he'll be happy. ]

... I don't deserve you.

[ he doesn't deserve any of this. He's spent decades damning people to nothingness for his own amusement. Even before that, he shot and killed a man for revenge. This isn't the ending he deserves. This isn't the love he deserves, either. None of it is.

But he really wants it. He's selfish like that. He glances away, hiding his face. ]

I think that you deserve a lot more than you give yourself credit for.

[ he's trying to change, and that's what matters. if he was as bad as he says he is, he wouldn't feel this remorse.

steph actually climbs onto the bed properly now though. ]

[ he stays where he's sitting, presumably still trying to process the new information - the very real fact that he might get to live again. His sister might get to live again. And he might be with Steph and Belph - the only two people he's ever called friends. It's too good to be true. His instinct is not to believe it - but he has to. No, he wants to. Her crawling up onto the bed doesn't alarm him. They've shared it so many times by now that he's over his shyness. ]

... If... If I could go with you, like you said... I'd like that.

[ it would be scary, to live with all the knowledge and memories he has, and yet... he doesn't want this time with her to be over, either. ]

Then we're doing it.

[ she has no doubt that this will work as long as they don't somehow totally mess things up at the trial. steph at least believes in everyone enough to not somehow make things worse though; they all know what's on the line this time. ]

It'll be nice.

... I want to bring my sister with me.

[ if he can't -- he's not sure he'll still go, if he can't bring her. Everything he did, he did for her. It's a selfish thing to say, but he refuses to spring it on Steph when she's already offered him this much. To his surprise, he finds himself defending her instead of begging for forgiveness; he looks back up at Steph, somewhat timidly. ]

She's a good girl. She won't cause you any trouble. [ a beat. ] She'd probably like you.

[ she doesn't mind. honestly, a child seems easier to take care of than both hikage and belph, honestly. but--]

Was that a wish you made? For her?

[ that's true ]

That was always my wish. Even before I came here... That's why I'm still here. I was desperate to find a way to see her again.

[ he looked into a lot of things he shouldn't have and called on powers that weren't supposed to exist, and it all blew up in his face, anyway. Until now. ]

She was all I had. [ a beat. ] ... Before I met you. Belph, too. But I can't forget about her.

She can come too. I wouldn't separate the two of you.

[ the only thing that's stopping her from dragging varian along is that she's not entirely sure if she can somehow bring his dad too. ]

I'm not that mean.

... Thank you.

[ that's really all he can say. He remembers begging for people to help his sister - relatives, anyone who would listen, and how they would turn up their noses at his pleas and her plight, no matter how he prostrated himself. Steph gives her assistance freely.

It still doesn't feel real. It feels like they're talking about a fun daydream - how nice it would be, if all of this was true. He wants to believe it's true. She's never lied to him before. ]

... You're so...

[ Hikage trails off, glancing down at his lap again. Even he doesn't know what to say - how to qualify her. He's never met someone as kind as her. ]

Edited 2018-07-28 05:43 (UTC)

Stubborn? Annoying?

[ she knows that's not what he means, but she can't actually bring herself to finish that sentence for him out of embarrassment. steph doesn't think she did much here overall in the long run, but if she managed to make at least one person happy, then... she's perfectly content with that.

she reaches over to take his hand in her own. ]

That too.

[ she's held his hand plenty of times before now; it still sends an uneasy warmth spreading through his arm to the rest of him. Uncomfortable, unreliable, and yet, he can't turn away from it. Hikage returns her grip, fingers curling around her hand. ]

You sure do have a way with words.

[ it's said with a laugh, and she just takes a moment to look at their hands before looking up at him. ]

Thank you for saying yes.

... Why are you thanking me? I haven't done anything for you.

[ if anything, he should be thanking her. She's giving him a second chance at life - not his soul, reincarnated into someone else, but him. ]

I think you've done a lot for me, actually.

[ he went against years of his own conditioning, and took a chance to believe in her. ]

week 7, friday

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