week 5, tuesday

[vigilantics]

[ sometime in the evening, steph is going to track belph down to drag him somewhere.

the lounge. she's dragging him to the lounge. ]

Let's have a drink, my friend.

Comments

[axilium]

Afraid you'll lose?

[vigilantics]

No, I told you, I am being a responsible adult.

[ but also she does not want to have this conversation completely wasted. ]

[axilium]

Uh-huh.

[but sure, he'll be fetching some drinks. jan knows nothing so i can't tell you what they are.]

[vigilantics]

[ jan do research wow

it's fine. she'll be bouncing on the couch. ]

[axilium]

Someone's eager to get drunk.

[vigilantics]

You're a terrible influence.

[axilium]

Don't blame me for this.

[sips his drink.]

[vigilantics]

I've never done anything wrong.

[ she glances at him before looking down at her drink. ]

So.

[axilium]

"So" isn't a full sentence, Steph.

[vigilantics]

Who are you, my English professor?

[ ... ]

Belph, what's going on with you?

[axilium]

Yes. So, I'm going to say that you'll have to be more specific.

[vigilantics]

You're killing me.

What did you mean when you said you were like Hikage?

[axilium]

[he shrugs.]

I'm a pretty terrible person myself. I'm just still at the point where I can restrain it, unlike him.

[vigilantics]

[ she takes a sip of her drink. ]

Why?

[axilium]

[...]

Do you believe in nature or nurture? Well, scientifically, it's both, but humour me for a bit.

[vigilantics]

You kind of just answered it for me. I've seen both, it depends, I guess...

[axilium]

[he's quiet for a moment, before his eyes flit elsewhere.]

I envied you, you know—as ridiculous as it sounds. Your family was a villain, and yet you turned out differently.

[vigilantics]

It's not that ridiculous.

[ hikage said something similar to her. ]

[axilium]

... Heh. Maybe.

[he just smiles sadly.]

In the end, though, I wasn't strong enough to do the same.

[vigilantics]

Um, who was it? You mentioned your dad before...

tw that i meant to throw up earlier: suicide

[axilium]

Oh, my dad's dead. He killed himself when I was a kid.

[vigilantics]

[ a pause. ]

Sorry. [ she's not sure what she's apologizing for, so she shakes her head. ] Then-- who?

[axilium]

It's fine. I don't really remember him, anyway.

My uncle. He pretty much raised me.

[vigilantics]

...

What was he like?

[axilium]

... Well, I used to think he was the greatest person in the world until I learned that my family had been screwing over the world for generations and he was A-OK with that.