I can't believe the ladder is where the challenge ends...
[but she's clearly teasing. instead she's just going to heft a tired sigh and let her head fall against his chest, because it really has been... a really long day? to think that she was just dead this morning... this revival and then thrown into a wild series of events thing is really getting old but. this moment is fine. it's comfortable, and she does feel safe.]
But yes, I should still be able to summon - what would you like me to get?
I mean, I've rescued people from heights, before, but I'd have to put you over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
[ sometimes you are just simply an odd jobs man and you do whatever people need you to do. but also, he's not tossing iris over his shoulder because that's just rude, so! yes, the challenge will end there.
(It's also really nice to hold her like this. he's trying not to enjoy it too much, but with her head on his chest, she can probably feel his heart beating a little faster. it's fine - he won't draw attention to it.)
as they're getting to the roof. ] I was thinking a couple of cokes. Maybe the good ones, in the glass bottles, if you can do that?
Oh. I can say confidently I have never been carried that way before.
[like. ever. but she's just laughing a bit and also not going to comment on his heartbeat. she'll unlatch one arm from around his shoulders and hold her hand out in front of her, summoning up two cokes in glass bottles held at the neck between her fingers]
These? I can't even remember the last time I had soda...
[ he smiles at her with that, and then set her down so they can head up the ladder, taking the cokes from her around the neck. ]
's an old tradition an old friend of mine used to have. We're not... it's a little complicated, but I always liked it, so I've tried to keep it going. [ and up the ladder they go! as he's climbing, he recounts the story, moving with the natural ease of being healed once more. ] - Basically, after a really hard day at work, he'd always drag me out to the konbini, and we'd get a couple of cokes, and sit outside and try and unwind. No matter what, even if we won or lost.
After all the shit that's happened, figure everybody deserves a little closure.
[ and a little celebration.
he'll hop on to the roof once he gets to the top, and offer her his hand to help her up the last step. ]
[good for ichiro and his heals... she will follow after then - she's a little slower, just making sure her grip is very firm so she doesn't faint right off the ladder, but it's also why she doesn't hesitate to take his hand as they make it to the top.
and there's just an envious sigh from her - ] Oh a konbini, you just reminded me I have to convince myself to forget electricity again...
[HER MEDIEVAL FIEF ISEKAI. but she laughs anyway, clearly not too heartbroken over it]
Well, thank you regardless for inviting me to your tradition. I'm honored indeed.
[ he probably should have gone behind her but he at least would've kept checking back every couple of rungs to make sure she got up okay - and there's zero hesitation in pulling iris up to the roof, then helping her settle down. the konbini talk makes him laugh as he settles down on one of the blankets out on the roof, then goes to busy himself popping the top off of their cokes.
... ]
...Well, you don't have to convince yourself for that long. [ ichiro turns his head a little, and the corner of his mouth lifts, in a smile. ] Can always come visit, if you start really missin' it. I'll hook you up with all the snacks from Lawsons you can eat to take back.
[ it's not just the tradition, he's invited her too - words he intends to stick by. ]
.... I'd be a little late, if I did visit. I don't know if - I don't remember the last time I took time off that didn't involve being called to the capital for some ridiculous spectacle. [she's a workaholic] I meant what I said - I'd love to. I want to see Tokyo again so badly...
[and she'd want to see him? obviously?
but if she's realistic about her own tendencies and her own workload,,]
's okay. Got a shitty government to take down, anyway. Give it a little bit, maybe it'll be a better place to visit, soon.
[ being a workaholic... deeply relatable. ]
...but, if I can get a bit, and you need a ridiculous spectacle in the capital, I can probably make one of those for you, too.
[ now he's definitely teasing - ichiro's smile brightens a little bit, and he tucks his cheek against his arm to look at her. look he's aware of his fountain debacle mess, he can make fun of himself. ]
What, he was! Who said I'd wanna hang out with him, he was like, not even the charming kind of tsundere. [ he's like playing it up a tiny bit because iris is cracking up laughing but also?! it's true!?!
Now that I met him, yeah, maybe. [ that gets him to snort, at least, and he shakes his head, chuckling a little, too, amused. berne... maybe a better impression could be made. ] Dude's got kinda bad taste in friends, and that's comin' from me.
[ gestures in a vaguely tdd direction
anyway. he softens a little after that, fond. ]
... I'd rather hang out with you any day, though. No cap.
[Berne hangs out with Iris' ex-fiancé after he dumps her for last 3 years after the fact but she's not going to easily volunteer this information just to dunk on her brother.
. . . but that manages to get her expression to soften too, amused.]
... you're always welcome where I am. You know that by now, don't you?
[no matter what oddities happen, or what weird tumbles or turns their relationship takes - ]
Haven't we worked hard enough to build a home together?
[ iris, you can't just say things like that to him when he's trying to get over you. the way his cheeks turn red is almost immediately obvious, and his heart gives a flutter against his ribcage. home is all ichiro ever wanted to have. it's all he ever wanted to make. even here, because she's exactly right, it was a goal and an anchor all at once, a mooring point in the stormy seas of this school. and it's theirs.
...and soon, it'll be dismantled - though, not forever. not if he has anything to say about it. not if their fierce little group won't still be just that. a little group, a little home, in other people. all of them.
ichiro huffs, quietly, and reaches up to rub the back of his neck, looking away for a moment before peering back at her, head ducked. ]
... we have, yeah. I know. [ ... ] The same goes for you, too.
[ . . . . he's so obvious. it really does almost manage to make her feel a bit guilty. so instead she'll just duck her head a bit too, taking another sip of her soda like it'll be enough of a refuge to hide her own amusement and fondness. this is why everyone has assigned them messy!!!!!]
.... I'll think about it. If I ever truly get to retire - I was going to spend my days at the orphanage and play with children all day but... well, maybe retiring in Tokyo doesn't sound so bad. Or something like that.
[the fact that she literally cannot promise the next five months but she's like 'maybe if i longterm plan in the next fifteen years']
Trust me, there are plenty of orphanages in Tokyo that could use someone like you. I sure as hell could have.
[ he can't help himself in saying so, because, well - of course there are. ichiro grew up in one. miserable, angry, and exploited, he'd learned how cruel adults were personally because of it. the care of someone like iris could change their life.
the idea is kind of funny, really - that iris can promise fifteen years ahead - it's just so her. ]
[ . . . . it feels so close to jinxing something. she's almost nervous to speak it aloud, so close to the end. but instead she does it, looking back up at him.]
... have I ever mentioned to you? Why I want the pocket dimension so badly?
I think... if we do win - we'll make it everything that you'd all want, of course. I heard Dimitri saying something about a beach. Naturally, it's to our own liking. But I also... want to at least create a small section that can serve as it's own self-contained shelter. Housing, for anyone who might not have a home. A farm, so that there will always be food. A library for literacy or - anything else people could want to learn. And I want to open it up to every world imaginable, so that anyone who wants to come in will never have to go hungry or cold.
... I'd love to do that work for the rest of my life, no matter where it is. My fief or Ikebukuro or anywhere else. But I thought using this place to guarantee something good that could help other people might be a start.
I'm so happy you're the person you are, Ichiro, through your struggles and all - but if I could make it so that just a few more children don't have to go through life the hard way, I'd be content.
... he just - he loves that. it's blatantly obvious on his face - surprise, at first, and then softening into something just impossibly, impossibly fond. how easy it is, to feel something so heavy and so light, all at once. ]
...That's amazing. [ the phrase comes out soft, too. he's almost speechless. ] I -
... you're amazing, you know. [ ichiro knows she'll say otherwise. and, it's not the first time he's said so either - she'd called it flattery, then, but there's just nothing in the tone of his voice or the expression on his face that would make it so, because it's all just closer to adoration, and even a little awe.
he knows that story of villainy, he knows what she's told him about her life up to this point, but... stories like this are what make iris's character, and they're the stories that he loves about her the most. ] If I can help with it, I wanna help with it, too. Whatever you need - even, shit, even just somebody to come stock the bookshelves or cook dinner once in a while. Let me help.
's the kind of dream I've always wanted, too. I don't want anybody to have to grow up like I did. [ not his brothers, especially - but, not anybody. ]
[automatically, as expected, she shakes her head. there are a few things in her life she is proud of, but in this case, this is something that she considers a given. it's a part of who she is - this type of generosity and charity, and there is nothing particularly amazing about it because there is also a selfishness in it. she is simply a person who cannot stand the idea of witnessing suffering and do nothing about it.
but she's pleased regardless, clearly happy that he likes the idea and she peers up at him as pleased as can be, both of her hands holding onto the glass bottle in her hands] Of course - if I get my way, it'll be just one big extension of Winter, after all. The same sort of warm, comforting, and so very strange energy. Wouldn't it be nice, if we could share our home with even more people - others in need?
[she lets a hand rest over her heart then, getting something of an excited rush just planning the future she wants to see in front of her]
[ it's really, really good it's not thought share week, anymore, because while she's talking, looking up at him like that, hand on her heart and face lit up with the kind of excited determination and warmth that comes from talking about something with passion, he can't even help himself, just thinking - i am so fucking in love with you. it's bad. it's so bad, and he's known how bad it's been for weeks.
how could he not be? after everything that's happened, after hurt, after pain, after the good and the bad, he still just is. distance will help, probably. it has to.
but it's so hard to think anything otherwise, when iris looks at him like that. ]
Right. [ exactly. exactly. ] You said it way back when, y'know - the only limit's creativity. When it's you at the helm of something like that? Making a place like that'd be no sweat.
[OH THAT IS SO BAD THANK GOD SHE HAS NO IDEA HE'S THINKING AT ALL.
just the same as it was when they came up here to go stargazing together - the first time they shared their hopes and wishes with each other - she seems just as oblivious as ever to the idea that anyone could love her. instead she just continues to pour her affection out for everyone she can, as it's the only thing that can keep her going some days. that can make her think that maybe they can make something beautiful out of this mess.]
You think too highly of me, you know...
[but regardless she smiles, pleased.]
I'll have to make it come true then - the last thing I'd want is to let you down after speaking so boldly.
Just callin it like I see it - but I'll be waiting for it.
[ he manages to turn his gaze away from that smile after a moment, moving to take a long drink of his coke to will himself to find an ounce of chill. god. ]
...y'know. [ ichiro starts, as he finishes, reaching up to wipe his mouth. ] ...I ended up remembering everything you said, when I forgot. [ and boy that sure was a Lot to get hit with! it's just been - everything has just been so fucking awful, lately, that there hasn't been a second to address anything. her words have been on his mind since, though, echoing - what was said, and what wasn't.
his fingers drum against the side of the bottle, for a moment. ]
...thanks. For trying to help me remember, even though I couldn't. [ that part's the easiest to address, anyway. ] And... for what it's worth, 'm glad I could help you. Even if it was just a little bit.
[ there's a lot more than that, but it's a start. ]
[ . . . . that manages to get her to laugh softly then, a bit amused. right. they should circle back to all of that, shouldn't they? it was very pushed off to the side given how tumultuous the weekend already was but - it was also nice to just be able to be comfortable around each other again. it was like a reset, and reassuring to know that no matter their oddities, they would still be able to find each a rhythm with each other again.
the people who are meant to be in your life will always find a way back.]
.... I'm a terribly frustrating person. I know that you saw me when I was - very close to my worst, I imagine, and endured some of my most horrific tendencies. [to be pushed and pulled away, to suffer the mixed signals of someone who loves so much but is terrified to be loved in return because it means believing in someone else] ... but it's funny. Mandricardo and Mollymauk both helped pull me out too but -
I think I needed a push. A severe one. I needed to be scolded, else I continue my bad habits. Even now I think I'm... not sure how to quite have faith because it still sounds like nonsense sometimes but... I was told that maybe it's alright, and that maybe day by day I can think that it might be worthwhile to believe in a little nonsense.
So it took a group effort, and a bit of cracking at the edges but - you did save me, you know. I've been trying to tell you that you have, this entire time.
[that even when he's struggled, fumbled, felt things slip through his grasp - he never needed to be anyone besides himself, with her. that he's managed to save even just one person, and even if she lashed out at first, self-detonating—
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
[but she's clearly teasing. instead she's just going to heft a tired sigh and let her head fall against his chest, because it really has been... a really long day? to think that she was just dead this morning... this revival and then thrown into a wild series of events thing is really getting old but. this moment is fine. it's comfortable, and she does feel safe.]
But yes, I should still be able to summon - what would you like me to get?
no subject
[ sometimes you are just simply an odd jobs man and you do whatever people need you to do. but also, he's not tossing iris over his shoulder because that's just rude, so! yes, the challenge will end there.
(It's also really nice to hold her like this. he's trying not to enjoy it too much, but with her head on his chest, she can probably feel his heart beating a little faster. it's fine - he won't draw attention to it.)
as they're getting to the roof. ] I was thinking a couple of cokes. Maybe the good ones, in the glass bottles, if you can do that?
no subject
[like. ever. but she's just laughing a bit and also not going to comment on his heartbeat. she'll unlatch one arm from around his shoulders and hold her hand out in front of her, summoning up two cokes in glass bottles held at the neck between her fingers]
These? I can't even remember the last time I had soda...
no subject
[ he smiles at her with that, and then set her down so they can head up the ladder, taking the cokes from her around the neck. ]
's an old tradition an old friend of mine used to have. We're not... it's a little complicated, but I always liked it, so I've tried to keep it going. [ and up the ladder they go! as he's climbing, he recounts the story, moving with the natural ease of being healed once more. ] - Basically, after a really hard day at work, he'd always drag me out to the konbini, and we'd get a couple of cokes, and sit outside and try and unwind. No matter what, even if we won or lost.
After all the shit that's happened, figure everybody deserves a little closure.
[ and a little celebration.
he'll hop on to the roof once he gets to the top, and offer her his hand to help her up the last step. ]
no subject
and there's just an envious sigh from her - ] Oh a konbini, you just reminded me I have to convince myself to forget electricity again...
[HER MEDIEVAL FIEF ISEKAI. but she laughs anyway, clearly not too heartbroken over it]
Well, thank you regardless for inviting me to your tradition. I'm honored indeed.
no subject
... ]
...Well, you don't have to convince yourself for that long. [ ichiro turns his head a little, and the corner of his mouth lifts, in a smile. ] Can always come visit, if you start really missin' it. I'll hook you up with all the snacks from Lawsons you can eat to take back.
[ it's not just the tradition, he's invited her too - words he intends to stick by. ]
no subject
.... I'd be a little late, if I did visit. I don't know if - I don't remember the last time I took time off that didn't involve being called to the capital for some ridiculous spectacle. [she's a workaholic] I meant what I said - I'd love to. I want to see Tokyo again so badly...
[and she'd want to see him? obviously?
but if she's realistic about her own tendencies and her own workload,,]
.... but I'll try.
no subject
[ being a workaholic... deeply relatable. ]
...but, if I can get a bit, and you need a ridiculous spectacle in the capital, I can probably make one of those for you, too.
[ now he's definitely teasing - ichiro's smile brightens a little bit, and he tucks his cheek against his arm to look at her. look he's aware of his fountain debacle mess, he can make fun of himself. ]
no subject
You're already there, and so are your brothers - so I would say it's one of my top desired destination spots. Right after Rupert's wedding.
[and she is so sincere....]
I'm starting to think you want to see my brother again more than you want to see me, though. If boys must be boys....
no subject
What? Why would I - okay, no offense, but your brother was kind of a douche.
[ he really just said it ]
no subject
she's turning away to not face him because she's like
cracking up]
no subject
and then just mutters ] Rich people.
no subject
[she's just laughing at that though, giggling as she takes another little sippy from the coke bottle]
I meant it when I said I think you'd be a good influence on him, you know? Rather than who he considers his friends now...
no subject
[ gestures in a vaguely tdd direction
anyway. he softens a little after that, fond. ]
... I'd rather hang out with you any day, though. No cap.
no subject
. . . but that manages to get her expression to soften too, amused.]
... you're always welcome where I am. You know that by now, don't you?
[no matter what oddities happen, or what weird tumbles or turns their relationship takes - ]
Haven't we worked hard enough to build a home together?
no subject
...and soon, it'll be dismantled - though, not forever. not if he has anything to say about it. not if their fierce little group won't still be just that. a little group, a little home, in other people. all of them.
ichiro huffs, quietly, and reaches up to rub the back of his neck, looking away for a moment before peering back at her, head ducked. ]
... we have, yeah. I know. [ ... ] The same goes for you, too.
no subject
.... I'll think about it. If I ever truly get to retire - I was going to spend my days at the orphanage and play with children all day but... well, maybe retiring in Tokyo doesn't sound so bad. Or something like that.
[the fact that she literally cannot promise the next five months but she's like 'maybe if i longterm plan in the next fifteen years']
no subject
[ he can't help himself in saying so, because, well - of course there are. ichiro grew up in one. miserable, angry, and exploited, he'd learned how cruel adults were personally because of it. the care of someone like iris could change their life.
the idea is kind of funny, really - that iris can promise fifteen years ahead - it's just so her. ]
no subject
[ . . . . it feels so close to jinxing something. she's almost nervous to speak it aloud, so close to the end. but instead she does it, looking back up at him.]
... have I ever mentioned to you? Why I want the pocket dimension so badly?
I think... if we do win - we'll make it everything that you'd all want, of course. I heard Dimitri saying something about a beach. Naturally, it's to our own liking. But I also... want to at least create a small section that can serve as it's own self-contained shelter. Housing, for anyone who might not have a home. A farm, so that there will always be food. A library for literacy or - anything else people could want to learn. And I want to open it up to every world imaginable, so that anyone who wants to come in will never have to go hungry or cold.
... I'd love to do that work for the rest of my life, no matter where it is. My fief or Ikebukuro or anywhere else. But I thought using this place to guarantee something good that could help other people might be a start.
I'm so happy you're the person you are, Ichiro, through your struggles and all - but if I could make it so that just a few more children don't have to go through life the hard way, I'd be content.
no subject
... he just - he loves that. it's blatantly obvious on his face - surprise, at first, and then softening into something just impossibly, impossibly fond. how easy it is, to feel something so heavy and so light, all at once. ]
...That's amazing. [ the phrase comes out soft, too. he's almost speechless. ] I -
... you're amazing, you know. [ ichiro knows she'll say otherwise. and, it's not the first time he's said so either - she'd called it flattery, then, but there's just nothing in the tone of his voice or the expression on his face that would make it so, because it's all just closer to adoration, and even a little awe.
he knows that story of villainy, he knows what she's told him about her life up to this point, but... stories like this are what make iris's character, and they're the stories that he loves about her the most. ] If I can help with it, I wanna help with it, too. Whatever you need - even, shit, even just somebody to come stock the bookshelves or cook dinner once in a while. Let me help.
's the kind of dream I've always wanted, too. I don't want anybody to have to grow up like I did. [ not his brothers, especially - but, not anybody. ]
no subject
but she's pleased regardless, clearly happy that he likes the idea and she peers up at him as pleased as can be, both of her hands holding onto the glass bottle in her hands] Of course - if I get my way, it'll be just one big extension of Winter, after all. The same sort of warm, comforting, and so very strange energy. Wouldn't it be nice, if we could share our home with even more people - others in need?
[she lets a hand rest over her heart then, getting something of an excited rush just planning the future she wants to see in front of her]
There's no reason not to pursue it, right?
no subject
how could he not be? after everything that's happened, after hurt, after pain, after the good and the bad, he still just is. distance will help, probably. it has to.
but it's so hard to think anything otherwise, when iris looks at him like that. ]
Right. [ exactly. exactly. ] You said it way back when, y'know - the only limit's creativity. When it's you at the helm of something like that? Making a place like that'd be no sweat.
no subject
just the same as it was when they came up here to go stargazing together - the first time they shared their hopes and wishes with each other - she seems just as oblivious as ever to the idea that anyone could love her. instead she just continues to pour her affection out for everyone she can, as it's the only thing that can keep her going some days. that can make her think that maybe they can make something beautiful out of this mess.]
You think too highly of me, you know...
[but regardless she smiles, pleased.]
I'll have to make it come true then - the last thing I'd want is to let you down after speaking so boldly.
no subject
[ he manages to turn his gaze away from that smile after a moment, moving to take a long drink of his coke to will himself to find an ounce of chill. god. ]
...y'know. [ ichiro starts, as he finishes, reaching up to wipe his mouth. ] ...I ended up remembering everything you said, when I forgot. [ and boy that sure was a Lot to get hit with! it's just been - everything has just been so fucking awful, lately, that there hasn't been a second to address anything. her words have been on his mind since, though, echoing - what was said, and what wasn't.
his fingers drum against the side of the bottle, for a moment. ]
...thanks. For trying to help me remember, even though I couldn't. [ that part's the easiest to address, anyway. ] And... for what it's worth, 'm glad I could help you. Even if it was just a little bit.
[ there's a lot more than that, but it's a start. ]
no subject
the people who are meant to be in your life will always find a way back.]
.... I'm a terribly frustrating person. I know that you saw me when I was - very close to my worst, I imagine, and endured some of my most horrific tendencies. [to be pushed and pulled away, to suffer the mixed signals of someone who loves so much but is terrified to be loved in return because it means believing in someone else] ... but it's funny. Mandricardo and Mollymauk both helped pull me out too but -
I think I needed a push. A severe one. I needed to be scolded, else I continue my bad habits. Even now I think I'm... not sure how to quite have faith because it still sounds like nonsense sometimes but... I was told that maybe it's alright, and that maybe day by day I can think that it might be worthwhile to believe in a little nonsense.
So it took a group effort, and a bit of cracking at the edges but - you did save me, you know. I've been trying to tell you that you have, this entire time.
[that even when he's struggled, fumbled, felt things slip through his grasp - he never needed to be anyone besides himself, with her. that he's managed to save even just one person, and even if she lashed out at first, self-detonating—
he did save her.]
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
[1/2]
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)