Week 1, Saturday Post-Trial - Akechi

[fragileprophet]

[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.]

Comments

[fragileprophet]

...life would be so much easier if the path was always so straightforward.

[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.

[doublecrows]

[Akechi draws his knees up to his chest, wraps his arms around them, and presses his forehead against he top]

My guidelines don't leave much leeway for creative interpretation.

[fragileprophet]

[Ion considers the facts before them. It feels like a good train of thought...but Akedhi’s right. Maybe this situation isn’t quite where one should start testing the limits of fate.]

Well...maybe you could just use more help. It’s hard to do these things alone, right?

[doublecrows]

[he lifts his head, giving Ion a tired, exhausted expression]

I suppose that's. . . [. . . hrrrgh] I suppose that's true.

[that was painful to admit]

[fragileprophet]

[Ion smiles kindly at Akechi as he looks up.]

Then let’s start with what we can. My actual title is Humpty Dumpty.

[doublecrows]

[his gaze snaps up, eyes blinking rapidly]

Humpty Dumpty?

[it's. it's so damn suitable that it almost makes him bark out a humorless laugh]

[fragileprophet]

[Ion's smile takes on a pained edge.]

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.