Fon Master Ion (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
fragileprophet) wrote2018-06-16 07:33 pm
fragileprophet) wrote2018-06-16 07:33 pm
Week 1, Saturday Post-Trial - Akechi
[Ion takes a deep breath. He doesn't know why, but he feels...unsure. He wants to talk to Akechi, but a part of him doesn't want to face what he thinks he might already know. He's afraid...afraid of that reality, where he may have misjudged someone so greatly.
No. That's not the right way to think.
He's a human being. He's a person. He has to have his own...his own...
Ion knows he just has to talk with him. He closes his eyes, counts to five, and then he strides from his room to Akechi's. It's fortunate that they're in the same dorm. He knocks with a feather-light touch.]
...I hate to bother you, but could I come in for just a few moments? I promise not to take up too much of your time.
[For once, even he isn't smiling.]
No. That's not the right way to think.
He's a human being. He's a person. He has to have his own...his own...
Ion knows he just has to talk with him. He closes his eyes, counts to five, and then he strides from his room to Akechi's. It's fortunate that they're in the same dorm. He knocks with a feather-light touch.]
...I hate to bother you, but could I come in for just a few moments? I promise not to take up too much of your time.
[For once, even he isn't smiling.]
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[. . . for Ion, his reaction is different. he responds, voice muffled and tired]
What is it?
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I thought you must be hurting, so I...
[Came to support you. Came to check in on you. Came to ask you how you were. He knows that Akechi can't be feeling anything other than misery and isolation right now, so how does he even finish that sentence?]
I guess I thought maybe you could use someone to talk to who wouldn't treat you like a criminal.
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[he should have expected this. after everything Ion has done for him, this is about on par for the course, isn't it? and yet, Akechi lifts his head from where it's buried in his pillow, turns to face his fellow captive with a bland expression]
I am a criminal.
[I mean. it's as simple as that]
Why do you care whether I'm hurting or not?
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Because I'm a fool, maybe. Other than that...I don't know. But I do.
[He pauses.]
I'm sure you're getting enough grief from everyone else without me adding to it...but that isn't to say that the way I feel is free of disappointment. I'm not quite so blind.
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[Akechi replies blandly]
It hardly matters now.
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[He smooths his hands on his robes, patient as ever.]
Could I ask you to explain?
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It doesn't matter. I'm a dead man walking, anyway. Because of he-- because of her.
[there's distaste in what he says]
I'll certainly be killed next week, as a convenient target that no one will feel bad for murdering. My story will be cut off, before I have the chance to finish it.
[before he goes home. before he gets his revenge]
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[Ion's expression softens, losing a bit of its unsteady edge. Oh, Akechi...is this how you really feel?]
There's plenty of time left for you to finish your story.
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I doubt anyone here cares whether I do or not.
[after all, in his bid for survival, he cut of Soo-Won's story. and Ann's will be chopped to pieces come tomorrow. but that's how it is, isn't it? survival of those willing to do what it takes to live]
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I care.
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Shut up.
[the number isn't large, but every time someone tells him that. . .]
Don't lie, just to make me feel better.
[he has such a hard time believing it]
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[It's almost a snap of his own, but Ion snapping is still a gentle sort of frustration.]
And I won't be quiet about this. [How can he sit there in silence or abandon his friend to self-hatred and helplessness?] The way you behaved at the trial today...it put you in a bad light. That doesn't make you a bad person. I truly believe that for all your mistakes you're still much kinder than you're willing to give yourself credit for.
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You-- [and he puffs up, as though completely ready to argue Ion on that point. before every inch of him just. . . deflates, his entire body and mind clouded with exhaustion]
. . . believe what you want.
[how in the world can Ion see kindness in someone who poisoned a man in cold blood?]
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[Ion watches Akechi carefully, his body language and the look on his face. All he can think of to say to make his point is what only the two of them know.]
You knew I would have let you.
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I-- [and for a moment, he just. sort of frozen like a deer in headlights. or a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar]
Takamaki didn't. . . want to target children.
[he fumbles that excuse, even knowing that if Ann hadn't made that caveat, he would have passed over Ion anyway. despite his objective. despite knowing Ion would have let him get away with the murder. he would have passed him over, for reasons Akechi still can't understand]
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[He flexes his fingers, looking down at the freshly bandaged wound that had nearly gotten him into trouble today, as well.]
But then, when I spoke with you yesterday, you could have asked me to take the injury that incriminated you. I would have done that, too, without question. And even if I had asked questions, how easy it would have been to tell me that you sustained it only moments earlier, when you discovered the body and ran from the minotaur. Still, you chose to say nothing.
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I-- didn't wish to give myself away to you.
[the truth, but only half of it. yeah, he didn't trust Ion to not sell him out at the trial, but even more than that? some part of him probably subconsciously didn't want Ion to take the fall for his kill]
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[Akechi already admitted to what he'd done, so why not just admit to something that would help him save face, even a little? Why doesn't he want Ion to support him when he's offering it so freely?]
If it isn't too much to ask, I'd like it if you just spoke with me plainly.
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[Akechi gives a frustrated growl, grabbing at his bangs with one gloved hand]
Then what do you want me to say?
[he knows what Ion wants. he's just putting it off]
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[He closes his eyes, frowning, and shakes his head. No, he won't turn this into an argument.]
I just want to know what you were thinking--I want to know how you really feel. I know how much it can...I know how lonely it is, when you spend so much time pretending you feel one way when the reality is so much different. If I'm off base, you can tell me that, too, but if I'm not...I want you to know that you can talk to me, no matter how harshly.
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I don't know what I was thinking.
[he says that with raw, almost painful, honesty]
My job is to make sure everyone completes their objectives, regardless of what they are. I know your objective. I know your objective is to die in this place.
[. . .]
It should be easy. I should know what I have to do next. Right?
[like Kurusu had been easy. like killing Kurusu had been a victory. so why is Ion different?]
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[Ion smiles to himself. He doesn't feel happy but he feels...something hard to explain at the knowledge that Akechi had actually asked him all those questions about his title. And that in knowing that, whether or not he was prepared to kill, he still spared his life.]
I think...it's a mistake to follow a script as it's laid out, just because it's the easier thing to do.
[It's a subject he's intimately familiar with.]
What might be the better option for yourself, personally, is to take the guidelines you've been given and find your own way to use them...even if it takes time to figure out just how you'd like to do that.
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My guidelines don't leave much leeway for creative interpretation.
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Well...maybe you could just use more help. It’s hard to do these things alone, right?
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I suppose that's. . . [. . . hrrrgh] I suppose that's true.
[that was painful to admit]
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Then let’s start with what we can. My actual title is Humpty Dumpty.
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Humpty Dumpty?
[it's. it's so damn suitable that it almost makes him bark out a humorless laugh]
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Unfortunately appropriate, isn't it? I only just found that out before coming to speak with you, myself. I wasn't familiar with the story.