[ this time, when ichiro grins, it's back to normal. the smile is warm and bright, determined. always 100%.
what a great time for a memory share of his own! ]
[ it's a quick memory, and at first, it's one that's confusing. you are running up the stairs of a building, following behind a guy in a leather jacket with something written on the back of it. you're feeling angry, but determined, but underneath that? you're terrified. there's a single, bright point of fear as you rush to the top floor of a building, because your brothers could be in danger and you have to save them.
as you make it up to the top floor, you hear low, muttered voices - and you hear a panicked gasp, and you know that voice, that's jiro. terror grips your heart like ice and you throw yourself onto the landing and scramble for the door -
samatoki bursts out of the staircase first, and you're a second behind him, and you can see over his shoulder -- a shoe? that is definitely a woman's heeled shoe that goes sailing across from where it hit its original target. it's followed immediately by a girl's voice.
"Hey! You wanted to cut off my fingers! So do it!"
the scene comes into view from behind samatoki - a man that you know as the head of the orphanage you live in is holding a knife in one hand, and the wrist of a young woman in the other. she's holding perfectly still despite the knife a centimeter from her finger, refusing to scream.
...unlike her brother, who launches forward with a scream of YOU FUCKER! and attempts to tackle the man, who just roundhouse kicks him in the stomach and chides him for his loud attack. samatoki snarls at him, but you're not even paying attention, because you look from the brave girl back and you see your entire world, hands tied together, at the wall. terrified, unharmed - but alive.
the emotion threatens to burst out of you, and you're shouting before you can help yourself as you skid onto the scene. ] Jiro, Saburo! I'm coming to get you out of there as fast as I can! Wait for me!
[ the two of them look stunned. jiro stammers a soft, "Wh... why?"
and you love your brothers, so much, but that is a stupid as hell question. ] Does a guy need a reason to rescue his brothers? I'm doing it because you're important to me!
[ the boys stare at you for a moment longer, as you turn all of your fire onto the man who was supposed to raise you, a dick named genchou housen. a person you have never liked, you have never trusted. (you have learned never to trust adults. that burns in your core. you never trust them.)
behind him steps out your boss. mozuku, the head of the dirty jobs business you can't stand. the guy you beat the shit out of with samatoki as you finally broke free of his stairway2heaven just a few days before, and shit starts to get real.
so you battle. you fight, and mozuku and housen beat the shit out of you both. the attacks come relentlessly - hypnosis mics break up your whole soul, rattle you from the inside out. you know you could take these clowns with your eyes closed, let alone with samatoki next to you, but you take every single hit, because your resolve is steady and you refuse to be knocked down.
you rap like shit, samatoki says from next to you. you laugh, a scoff, and wipe your mouth, spit blood on the floor, and jerk your head up in defiance. ] I'm not done yet.
[ housen grins, and they another verse comes. brutal, more painful than the last. you can feel it, frying your braincells, making you bleed. another hit might do you in.
you glance to the left. this top floor of this building is a restaurant - there are tables and chairs thrown everywhere, and a roll of silverware is undone on the floor, not far away. you can see a fork, a knife. two pairs of chopsticks.
and you get an idea.
you glance at samatoki. you've barely known each other for 24 hours, but you're on the same wavelength. mozuku laughs. seems like this one's going to be your last!
think again, bastard, you think, and you grab the chopsticks, straighten up, and with zero hesitation, jam them into your ears, popping both of your eardrums in one fluid, painful motion. the world goes deaf, and the pain doesn't matter, even if it makes you want to scream.
because you'll take another twenty rounds of this hell if it means jiro and saburo get to walk out of here alive. you will do anything for the people that matter to you.
viola's eyes widen suddenly at the memory and - it makes sense, she supposes. with what she knows of ichiro.
and yet even so.
she pulls her hand out of his grip instantly, and brings her hands up to rest on either side of his head, covering his ears from the cold with her own hands as if to protect them]
[ this is the cutest possible reaction to this im on the floor
he -- freezes? the pain is a burst of white but it's not unfamiliar, and he's left startled, staring at her with big, wide eyes as he comes back to reality. ]
...Huh? [ oh. oh, right. ] Oh. Oh - hey, hey, Vi-chan, it's okay, it was just a memory...
[ . . . oh, she's covering his ears, he might not be able to hear. she lets her hands drop to his shoulders instead, grip not quite tight but definitely like she's tempted to shake him]
[ that's fine. it was a little muffled! boy she's gonna have a time on thursday
the tight grip is fine, if a little surprising, too?? he can hear fine, it was a really long time ago and jakurai healed him up fine, and... her concern is kind of knocking him out a little bit. he reaches up to kind of half cover her hands with his? ]
...Uh, sorry. I... if I could've stopped it, I would've. The memory.
[ not the stabbing out his own ear drums... well, maybe, because hindsight is 20/20 and now he knows jakurai was right there. ] It's all good, it's okay. I'm okay.
[her brow furrows at that - ] It's not the memory that I wanted stopped. I'm not asking you to hide things from me, I just—
[under his touch, he'll feel how tense she is. it's immediate, every time she sees one of her own in danger. the way that she wants to snatch out and take whatever is hurting them away herself.
but so much of the time it feels like all she can do is watch.]
... I know you feel strongly and that... that seemed like the solution but -
[ ichiro ducks his head, a little bit, very much cowed by this genuine care, and feeling a little guilty about it because she. does have a point. ]
...yeah. [ yeah. he agrees, after a second, muttering - ] It was pretty dumb, huh. People do crazy shit when the adrenaline's high, can't even think straight.
Like two seconds later a couple of guys who we ended up teaming up with showed up, and one of em was a doctor. [ a little snort. ] If we'd waited, we probably wouldn't have even had to do that. I just...
[ his brothers were in danger, and by god, he would do everything in his power to make sure they were okay. he doesn't need to say that, though, and he looses his gentle hand on hers to reach up and rub the back of his neck, under his headphones. ] ...if it helps, I haven't done anything like that in forever.
[ . . . . she sighs a little bit, feeling somewhere between tired and... another complicated emotion. they probably wouldn't have had to do it, but it's not like she means to insult the conviction behind the action. she lets her fingers curl a little bit into the fabric of ichiro's shirt, clinging as if to keep him close and safe -
before she catches herself and lets go very suddenly, pulling her hands back to herself as she flusters]
Oh - pardon my forwardness.
[ . . . but the rest of what she feels is sincere. maybe even that action was a little too sincere for her to manage.]
.... I'm glad you haven't. I understand what motivated you and I don't mean to discount how sometimes your body can move before your brain catches up - [she understands that too, but.]
.... just please stay safe. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you.
[ oh. he sort of stops, for a second, hands hovering, a little surprised at the way viola's clinging to him - it absolutely makes his heart skip a beat, which is really unfortunate - but he's mostly just surprised. then again, aside from shrinking out of a hug just once, and even then, it was touch week, she doesn't seem to mind being as close to ichiro...? so.
he blinks and looks down at her. ] ...Nothing to apologize for. [ it wasn't forward. he's pink in the cheeks again, though, and nods... when viola says things like that it feels a little bit like he's in a dating sim? almost too sweet to be true. god. he really did not stand a chance.
anyway i'm writing this tag after having him just get severely electrocuted so i think it's EXTRA funny, but he nods, expression softening into a smile. ] I'll be careful as I can be. Promise.
[ (72 hours later: i may have broken that promise a little bit) ]
...alright. I think that's enough serious, yeah? C'mon, we've got some skating to do.
[there's still something worried in her gaze - because now winter has had a taste of loss. two of their own have gone now, and even if it's due to the fact that they were murderers, that apparently makes no large difference to viola. she'll just sigh a little bit and try to offer a smile]
Let's go, then.
[and she'll let her hand brush against his, fingertips just lightly dancing against the backs of his own, before she goes to where the skates are!]
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cw for ear trauma just in case
[ this time, when ichiro grins, it's back to normal. the smile is warm and bright, determined. always 100%.
what a great time for a memory share of his own! ]
no subject
viola's eyes widen suddenly at the memory and - it makes sense, she supposes. with what she knows of ichiro.
and yet even so.
she pulls her hand out of his grip instantly, and brings her hands up to rest on either side of his head, covering his ears from the cold with her own hands as if to protect them]
—Ichiro!
no subject
he -- freezes? the pain is a burst of white but it's not unfamiliar, and he's left startled, staring at her with big, wide eyes as he comes back to reality. ]
...Huh? [ oh. oh, right. ] Oh. Oh - hey, hey, Vi-chan, it's okay, it was just a memory...
no subject
[ . . . oh, she's covering his ears, he might not be able to hear. she lets her hands drop to his shoulders instead, grip not quite tight but definitely like she's tempted to shake him]
... don't scare me like that.
no subject
the tight grip is fine, if a little surprising, too?? he can hear fine, it was a really long time ago and jakurai healed him up fine, and... her concern is kind of knocking him out a little bit. he reaches up to kind of half cover her hands with his? ]
...Uh, sorry. I... if I could've stopped it, I would've. The memory.
[ not the stabbing out his own ear drums... well, maybe, because hindsight is 20/20 and now he knows jakurai was right there. ] It's all good, it's okay. I'm okay.
no subject
[under his touch, he'll feel how tense she is. it's immediate, every time she sees one of her own in danger. the way that she wants to snatch out and take whatever is hurting them away herself.
but so much of the time it feels like all she can do is watch.]
... I know you feel strongly and that... that seemed like the solution but -
Please regard yourself with more care.
no subject
...yeah. [ yeah. he agrees, after a second, muttering - ] It was pretty dumb, huh. People do crazy shit when the adrenaline's high, can't even think straight.
Like two seconds later a couple of guys who we ended up teaming up with showed up, and one of em was a doctor. [ a little snort. ] If we'd waited, we probably wouldn't have even had to do that. I just...
[ his brothers were in danger, and by god, he would do everything in his power to make sure they were okay. he doesn't need to say that, though, and he looses his gentle hand on hers to reach up and rub the back of his neck, under his headphones. ] ...if it helps, I haven't done anything like that in forever.
no subject
before she catches herself and lets go very suddenly, pulling her hands back to herself as she flusters]
Oh - pardon my forwardness.
[ . . . but the rest of what she feels is sincere. maybe even that action was a little too sincere for her to manage.]
.... I'm glad you haven't. I understand what motivated you and I don't mean to discount how sometimes your body can move before your brain catches up - [she understands that too, but.]
.... just please stay safe. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you.
[
laughs in cyoa]
no subject
he blinks and looks down at her. ] ...Nothing to apologize for. [ it wasn't forward. he's pink in the cheeks again, though, and nods... when viola says things like that it feels a little bit like he's in a dating sim? almost too sweet to be true. god. he really did not stand a chance.
anyway i'm writing this tag after having him just get severely electrocuted so i think it's EXTRA funny, but he nods, expression softening into a smile. ] I'll be careful as I can be. Promise.
[ (72 hours later: i may have broken that promise a little bit) ]
...alright. I think that's enough serious, yeah? C'mon, we've got some skating to do.
no subject
[there's still something worried in her gaze - because now winter has had a taste of loss. two of their own have gone now, and even if it's due to the fact that they were murderers, that apparently makes no large difference to viola. she'll just sigh a little bit and try to offer a smile]
Let's go, then.
[and she'll let her hand brush against his, fingertips just lightly dancing against the backs of his own, before she goes to where the skates are!]