voidtreckerexpress | Remember To Act Your Age [Open, Catch-all]

Remember To Act Your Age [Open, Catch-all]

Who: Open to everyone
Where: The entire train
When: Right after the Make the Clock Reverse event (Jelly 23)
What: Everyone is back to normal. Time to recover.
Warnings: In toplevels and subject lines if necessary! Definitely alcohol in some places, though.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but yesterday was exhausting. Maybe you were unaffected and took on the role of caretaker, making sure the new kids were fed and entertained. Maybe you were physically young but mentally the same, attempting to deal with the changes. Maybe you were a child again: frightened, or curious, or an absolute gremlin. Either way, there's a lot to deal with.

Are you helping clean up the mess, whether you caused it or not? Are you checking in with people to make sure they're okay? Do you have a lot of explaining to do to people that saw a very different side of you yesterday? Did you find the impromptu drinking party/circle happening on the top floor of the music car? Or are you just trying to rest and sleep it off? Either way, it was a long day yesterday, and it's looking to be just as long today.

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Ryo hadn't been expecting to sleep through part of the day, but evidently that's what he gets for exhausting himself yesterday. He'd woken up from his nap and resumed checking in on the people he'd seen yesterday, making sure they're back to normal. His Sense eventually picks up on Otoha, and he makes a beeline for him. He looks okay, at least, but Ryo won't know until he checks.

"How are you feeling?"

He's finished one of the beers already and is halfway through the second when Ryo pops up. He blinks slowly at the teen and lets out a long breath. "Does this give you any ideas?" He gestures to the empty bottle.

He also pats the seat next to him. Come here, Ryo.

"No, because I don't know what kind of drinker you are." There's a few options - happy, sad, angry - and Ryo has no idea which one Otoha will turn out to be. Still, he takes the seat next to Otoha - he trusts Otoha.

And if Otoha turns out to be a violent drunk...well, Ryo has escaped tight spaces before.

"i was a creepy little shit who barely talked and I think had a weird dead-eye stare. That's what it felt like, anyway. I scared the shit out of some people and also cracked Devero across the arm with a baseball bat."

So that's where that initial injury came from.

"I was a shell that looked like a person. No emotions, no vocal tone, just train and look for orders." He puts an arm over the back of Ryo's chair. He's not pulling the other in, but the pseudo-contact is there.

He takes another swig. Whatever it is doesn't smell great.

Oh, he's a sad drinker. Oh boy.

He ducks his head and lifts Otoha's arm, maneuvering it over his head and down into his lap, where he then takes Otoha's hand in both of his. To his credit, he keeps a straight face when Otoha mentions striking Devero. That explained the arm, but not everything else, and everything else had been a lot.

"You were hurt," he says, gentle but firm. "Your brother used you, and you didn't know any better. It's not your fault the train decided to make you a child again for a day. I think you may owe some people apologies if you hurt them, but you don't owe anyone an apology for being hurt yourself."

Edited (Thanks, HTML!) 2021-02-19 01:44 (UTC)

He looks confused as Ryo brings his hand down but tries to focus. It's a little hard, but... he's hearing what Ryo says.

"Yeah. You're right. ... Bastard didn't deserve to be my brother. You're my brother now. You 'n' Rich."

... Okay maybe this beer was stronger than he'd thought.

And just like that, he's part of a family again.

He smiles and bumps Otoha's shoulder affectionately with his own. "Alright."

And then, because he can't help but sass a bit: "Does this mean you'll start listening to me when I tell you to do things?"

There's always the possibility Otoha will forget about this completely by the time he sobers up, but that's not about to stop Ryo.

He bumps back, maybe a touch too hard, but the intention is there.

"Maybe. We'll see."

He just spends a moment looking at Ryo, just... taking him in. This gentle kid who's taken responsibility for him, even though it was unasked for and at first unwanted. But he's cared about, protected... in a way he'd never imagined before.

"... We should... uh. Have a picnic or something. In the greenhouse... rock garden would hurt. The three of us. Maybe four." Yurine goes where she wants, but sometimes that 'where' is 'with him'.

And then, because his filter is basically entirely gone: "... Am I handsome?"

Was there a link between this thought and the previous one? Probably not.

He's been roughhoused with before. It's fine.

"Okay, well, it should be a yes when I tell you you need to be healed." He's not going to let that one go - it's a bit too important.

He settles in, smiling up at Otoha as Otoha thinks and makes his suggestion. He opens his mouth to reply, and then Otoha-

...says...that.

For a moment, his mouth simply hangs open as his brain scrambles to keep up. Why had Otoha asked him that? Why had Otoha asked him that?

...yeah, he's drunk, isn't he.

"Yes," he says after a few moments, "generally speaking. Why do you ask?"

"... It's... uh. Some guy last platform... said that... no one's ever called me that before. So I kind of... shut down?"

He drinks a little more and then sets the bottle down. It's not finished, but it's close.

"All these people saying positive things to me... and I don't... I don't know how to handle it."

Oh. With context, it suddenly makes a lot more sense.

"It's weird, isn't it?" he says gently. "You're not used to anyone giving you the time of day, and then suddenly you're surrounded by people who think you deserve basic compassion just because you're alive." It's Otoha's experience, and also Ryo's. "Which, for the record, you do." He's fairly certain Otoha knows that already, but best to make sure.

"You'll get used to it eventually. You just need to be open to it. For now, 'thank you' tends to work pretty well."

"... Mm. I guess. I can... try. I always thought I was ugly. I mean... I guess my face looks fine, and when I'm in clothes I look okay, but... most people have trouble with one scar, let alone so many..."

Maybe some people are into that? He has no idea. He also has no idea if...

"Don't even know who I'm attracted to... never found any girls... that I like. But it'd have to be someone who could keep up with me. Or... well."

He has the Other Type, but that's a real specific niche he's not sure he wants filled yet.

"I told you earlier, if someone has a problem with your scars, it's their problem, not yours." Ryo bumps Otoha's shoulder with his again. It bears repeating, especially if it didn't sink in the first time.

As to who Otoha is attracted to... "Well, if you can't find any girls you like, there's also boys." It is entirely matter of fact. Girls are attractive; boys are also attractive. These are facts. "But I wouldn't worry too much about it right now, unless you have someone in mind."

"... Not really, no." He looks sad for a moment, his mind wandering towards his upcoming long lifespan, but then it veers away again. "Is there someone I should be watching for with you?"

Does he need to be protective? He can be protective.

Ryo just snorts, still smiling. "I've been here for three weeks. I've had other things to worry about." The mission earlier this month, getting accustomed to a level of technology that is unheard of in his world, taking care of people in his role as a healer, unceasing anxiety that everyone he's come to care about here will abandon him for no reason...you know, other things.

"Okay." He leans into Ryo a bit. "... Just want you to be happy. You deserve to be happy."

He's...not expecting that.

The words sink in, accompanied by a soft intake of breath and pinprick tears in the corners of his eyes. It's one thing to know that others believe that about him; it's another thing entirely to hear it put into words, especially by someone he hasn't known that long. It's only been three weeks, but Otoha...

Well. Otoha's his brother now, isn't he.

Ryo leans into Otoha, quiet for a few moments as he tries to gather himself. "You do too," he says, as firmly as he can manage. "Don't forget that."

"... Working on it. Let's get to 'okay' before we get to happy." He chuckles and glances at the bottle, then glances at Ryo.

"You're too young for this, aren't you?"

"You deserve both," he insists, "but okay." There's a progression here, and Ryo is not about to let Otoha forget the end goal.

He looks at the bottle, then goes back to leaning. "No, but I don't really want any right now." A beat. "And you should have some water."

"I... had some water." He frowns as he pulls himself more upright and thinks. ... When did he have it? Time means nothing right now. "Didn't... want to think about.. how I was yesterday."

He takes another swig, this time draining the bottle. He sets it down next to the other. "Gotta... recycle those..."

"Not thinking about it doesn't make it go away." Wisdom of the ages. "But you really should have more water. You'll regret it if you don't."

"Probably." To the first statement? Second? Both? Who knows. "... I don't want to think about it. I was a horrible creepy monster."

He knows he's not supposed to call himself a monster anymore, but that's the only thing he can think of to describe how he was.

"Stop it." His voice is firm but not forceful - he's not about to repeat the same mistake he'd made post mission. "You weren't a monster - you were an abused child, and you were doing your best in an unfamiliar place. Do not beat yourself up over that."

"I hurt someone I -" Well, he didn't know Devero was friendly then. "... I wasn't... that bad..." He stares at his hands, blinking slowly. He knows he didn't deserve the treatment he was given, but he still has a very faint sense of guilt over some of the thing she'd done that had gotten him punished.

"I'm... it's not... my fault... but it is my fault. I..." Ugh. Okay. His brain seems to have mostly fled his skull at the moment. "... You saw my scars." Were they all his fault? Too slow, not strong enough, pissed off the wrong person...

Speaking of those scars and of pissing off the wrong people. "... Ichi... Ichigo said that one of the bullets in me could... could start putting pressure on... on one of my major blood vessels. I... I was scared to tell you. I don't... he said they could remove it but I... I didn't want you to worry about me but you'd find out anyway if it got to be a problem and then you'd be mad at me for hiding it so I might... as well tell you now."

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Remember To Act Your Age [Open, Catch-all]

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