ardent: (A mob jumps to their feet)
Kiyotaka Ishimaru (石丸 清多夏) ([personal profile] ardent) wrote2014-03-04 05:27 pm

012. Video/Action for Goldenrod City

[VIDEO]

[Ishimaru is outside again today, seeming to be taking advantage of the nice weather while it holds; at least he's looking at the camera today, and his gaze is shifting...a little less, maybe. He still seems a bit tired but at least he's calm; the view behind him is, once again, that square in Goldenrod near the Center.]

The place I came from put a lot of emphasis on punishment...both for what we did, and what we didn't do. Failure to act in a certain way, to do as we were told, was punished; failure to not act in the way that we were expected to was likewise punished. Rules and laws and "justice" were used to control us, not to guide or help us; instead of keeping us safe, they were used to tear us down.

No matter what we did, we were going to be wrong.

[His voice remains firm but calm through all that; he's not shouting, but he doesn't seem about to cry, either. Just...working through it, really.]

When situations are hard like that, and seem unwinnable, it's easy to forget what justice is intended for. It's meant to protect people, and most importantly, it's meant to give people hope - for themselves, and for the future!

So even if...even if you haven't always done what's right, even if you've made mistakes or taken punishment - if you choose to do right afterwards, the wrong you've done doesn't have to define you!

I think there comes a time when you deserve to be considered good again!

[...yep, there's the shouting.]

It's not going to be easy - it's something I'm still working on, too. But if we're willing to work hard and not lose hope, I think we'll all be all right, in the end! We just have to do our best.

I hope today is both good and productive for you, and if not, I know that tomorrow will be better!


[ACTION]

[Returning to Goldenrod City has been...strange.

It's not strange in the way that coming to a new place tends to be strange, or perhaps returning to an old place that's changed drastically in your absence; there's no lack of familiarity, and if anything the strangeness is caused by just the opposite - there's a weird sense of returning home to it, and Ishimaru isn't entirely sure what to do with that. He hasn't felt that way since before Hope's Peak; it's weird to experience it now, but it's not altogether unwelcome.

...granted, it's not something he has long to dwell on; he finishes the video and takes a while to just...collect himself, but eventually he heads back to the house. And as soon as he manages to get the front door opened there's a sudden sharp skittering of nails against the floor and the vibrations of twenty-odd Eevees hup-hup-hupping their way down the stairs, and he flinches a little and braces for the moment where the swarm hits -

And then there's a thud, and there is quite simply nothing.

...

... ... ...

Huh.

It takes him a moment to open his eyes, given that they'd slid closed while he was in the middle of preparing for impact; apparently the thud was the fuzzball legion all sitting in unison, and now they're just kind of parked on the floor and headtilting like confused pugs because grandpa's home and we sat and why is he just standing there.

He's clearly going to be spending some time playing with the fuzzballs today, because oh my god they did so well. c: ]
soundmind: (wait a second)

[video]

[personal profile] soundmind 2014-03-09 06:02 am (UTC)(link)
[Ishimaru please she is not you.]

I'll try not to come at a bad time in that case.

[Ah such positivity right there.]

If you're ever in Olivine, come see me too! I'm planning on living there when everything's done. I liked the atmosphere and Jasmine is very sweet.
lieutenantantichrist: (the job will not save you)

[locked]

[personal profile] lieutenantantichrist 2014-03-09 06:33 am (UTC)(link)
I don't believe you.

[It's not angry or accusatory. Just a statement of fact. Ishimaru and sending somebody to die doesn't add up.

Unforgivable. Yeah, that's about the size of what Shaun's face said, every time he saw him.]


I would've. I still thought he was the one out there drowning little kids. If he'd made one false move... [he spreads his hands] I'd've had him shot.

He didn't, so I didn't. That's not how the kid tells it, though. Every detail's the same except that one little thing.

[He drops his hands and sighs, looking like an old, tired man.]

You know Shaun Mars, right? I'm surprised he hasn't told you about it.
lieutenantantichrist: (a man must have a code)

[locked]

[personal profile] lieutenantantichrist 2014-03-09 07:13 am (UTC)(link)
You can if you want. You don't gotta. [a twitch of a bitter smile.] I'm not gonna fuckin' interrogate you.

[Of course the kid would have nightmares in the rain. Who doesn't?

He can't look Ishimaru in the face.]


It was his dad.
lieutenantantichrist: (that shit caught up to him)

[locked]

[personal profile] lieutenantantichrist 2014-03-09 10:00 am (UTC)(link)
I don't know. I know it happened the way it happened. But the kid says he's been dead for months.

[He wants to protest that he knows Ishimaru wouldn't kill anybody. Then again, he knows he'd never shoot an innocent man, either. Look how that turned out.

He's expecting horror. A How could you, or a How could you hide this at the very least.

He's not expecting understanding, and the shock is stark on his face.]


You think so?
impheired: not on me. just like...in a drawer (ponder ♚ sometimes i wish i had boobs.)

[personal profile] impheired 2014-03-10 09:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Right, I gotcha. At least I think I do. My world's pretty different from yours, we don't handle this sort of thing in the same way. See, there's rarely any uncertainty when it comes to making amends. If you significantly fuck up, you'd better be ready to shed some blood to make up for it. Apologies aren't just pretty words lacking substance. You have to prove you're sorry with more than just feelings. Because otherwise, how can you tell the difference between someone who's genuine and someone who isn't? And if somebody wrongs you...and I mean REALLY, unforgivably wrongs you...you make them fucking pay for it. Eye for an eye.

But even having grown up in that sort of world, the idea that everyone deserves to at least have one person care about them... It has a nice appeal to it. I want to say I agree with you, but I can't.
lieutenantantichrist: (we fuck up they give us pensions)

[locked]

[personal profile] lieutenantantichrist 2014-03-11 01:38 pm (UTC)(link)
[The funny thing is, if you got something ugly to get off your chest, Blake isn't a bad one to tell it to. After all his years on the force, there's not much left that can shock him. He just takes it in.

He's done a lot of hearing this kind of story. Usually it takes coaxing and questions, leading them on, trying to get it all straight and calling them back when they break down crying or stare into nowhere. It would have made his job a lot easier if there were more like Ishimaru who just listed off the facts.

Of all the sick shit he's seen in his life - and there's a list that'd take days to read down - this is something special. Something elaborate. Usually the nasty shit gets its special oomph from the makeshift brutality that comes in the heat of the moment. A head smashed in a freezer door, a nailfile through somebody's hand. The rarest thing is a plan.

What Ishimaru is talking about is orchestrated. Meticulous pre-fucking-meditation. Most murders don't actually have that many moving parts. Guy shoots a guy with a gun. Maybe if he's the real intellectual type, he thought about it first. The real world's messy and unpredictable. You don't really see elaborate horror-movie mad-scientist set-ups.

He can think of one exception.]


Christ. That is a special kind of sick. Making you into a part of the machine.

[Don't even do the dirty work yourself - give them no choice but to do it for you.

Conviction darkens Blake's eyes.]


It was never you. Any of you. You get that, right? There was one murderer there. They just used some of you as the fucking weapons. No real court in the god damn world would hold you responsible.

Now, the other way around, if I was up on one of those trials of yours... [There'd be some kind of weird justice in that. In front of a court of kids, for a crime that a kid suffered for.

It's a total honesty that he looks at Ishimaru with. In a way, it's kind of comforting. Bright and certain as headlights when you're standing in the middle of the road.]


I wouldn't give a lot for my chances.
impheired: “I’m too young for this to be happening” and 50% “i’m too old for this shit” (gaze ♚ adulthood is 50%)

some minor spoilers

[personal profile] impheired 2014-03-12 01:42 pm (UTC)(link)
[...okay now he's even more curious. He knows Ishimaru isn't one of the survivors of the 78th class's killing game but the file hadn't elaborated on any of the murders themselves. But what he's reading right now sure as hell kind of makes it seem like Ishimaru was a culprit, not a victim. And, if that really is the case, he can honestly say that he did not see something like that coming.]

[Though...then again...maybe it's not what it sounds like. Maybe they're alike in more ways than just not being crazy about the idea of inter-class buddying up. Because Kuzuryuu knows better than anybody in his class how it's possible to be responsible for somebody's death without actually doing the deed with your own two hands.]

[Maybe that's what he means by "things I'm not proud of".]


Exactly. Everybody knows what's up, so the system works. Though...sometimes part of me wonders if maybe it isn't actually the best way to do shit. Especially during the times when I'm around people like you. People who don't come from that same background. Actually, I'm kind of surprised that you sort of understand. Not why we do it the way we do, but that that's how things work even if it's something you don't agree with. Most people don't. Which I can't really hold against them, since that's just how people are.

But you tell me if you ever meet someone who's truly lived a life without regrets. It's not possible, everyone's done shit they aren't proud of. At least you recognize that it's your own damn fault, fucked up rules or not.

It makes a little more sense when you put it that way, yeah. Or it's a little easier to agree with, I guess? I dunno, maybe I'm more of a cold-hearted bastard than I give myself credit for but...there are some people in my life that I can't bring myself to wish anything but misery on. It's hard to put that feeling aside and say something like "yeah this asshole deserves to have somebody care about them, despite the shit they've pulled."
impheired: then we'll see how good of a firefighter he is. (smirk ♚ i'll set him on fire for you.)

[personal profile] impheired 2014-03-14 12:04 am (UTC)(link)
[Kuzuryuu really needs lessons in being an effective anon.]

Well it's not like you would have been the first to tell me something like that. But I'm kinda glad that's not the case. It's nice to finally hear someone say all that stuff. I never asked for people like you to agree with my way of life or even condone it...just to try and understand. Though even something like that seemed impossible. But even if I go back home one day, a change to the system like that...I don't think it's possible. Best I can do at this point is work on changing myself.

[Which...he's been trying to do for a while now and it's sort of working but also change is hard. So hard...]

Yeah, you're kind of a weird one from what I can tell. But maybe that's not such a bad thing in your case.
impheired: to reproduce. the world doesn't need my sarcastic asshole demon spawn in child form. (sigh ♚ i should not be allowed)

anon text --> video; filtered

[personal profile] impheired 2014-03-14 06:28 am (UTC)(link)
I just meant people who don't come from the same sort of background as me. People who aren't...fuck it, hold on.

[Okay so this conversation was straying too far into "frustratingly cryptic and vague" territory for Kuzuryuu's taste so we're just throwing all caution to the wind here and giving up the anon. Because really, all he meant by "people like you" was "people who are not involved in the yakuza" and clearly this format switch is the best way to get that point across.]

[Uh. Hi there. This probably explains some shit. Like...basically everything that was sending up little red flags this entire conversation long.]


Get it now?
impheired: to my eye. i punched myself in the face. (sigh ♚ i found out what happened)

[personal profile] impheired 2014-03-14 07:23 am (UTC)(link)
[Surprisingly, he wasn't trying to be deceptive about anything. He's just 1) paranoid and 2) bad about talking about his feelings. Hence...anon seemed to be the best option. But then things got super real and he was in it up to his neck and now here we are.]

[At this thing that sure is a thing.]


You can relax, you know. It's not like I'm going to attack you or anything.

[Because he totally noticed that tensing up and immediately sort of regretted showing his face. Whatever though, it's not like he's not used to that sort of reaction by now! He doesn't care!]

[Holy hell this is so awkward.]

[...]


...thanks. I should have said that at least once before now. Because regardless of whatever you might be thinking right now...this helped. You helped.

[Right then.]
impheired: with a trip to the emergency room, a broken macbook and a gigantic hole in the concrete of my driveway. (stare ♚ it started as a joke and ended)

[personal profile] impheired 2014-03-14 08:15 am (UTC)(link)
[Ishimaru..............]

[Why couldn't you just have left it at the part about believing him? Why. What do you say to this.]

[...]


...you don't have to make excuses. I'm used to that sort of reaction by now. People have trouble relaxing when I'm around, and why shouldn't they? So really, it's just...it doesn't matter.

[Where is this conversation even going now and what is the point. How is it possible for both of them to be this socially inept? At least they haven't started yelling yet?]
impheired: stop autocorrecting all my fucks into ducks. you're making all my strong worded texts look harmless and adorable. (angry ♚ seriously iphone.)

[personal profile] impheired 2014-03-14 08:50 am (UTC)(link)
[So that was like the world's shortest M.T.B. that wasn't actually an M.T.B. because this is not a class trial and Ishimaru is not the protag. But even so, he did a pretty good job of shattering that argument there.]

[Because he's absolutely right. It does matter. God job on being one of the few people to actually have the balls to call Kuzuryuu out on his tsundere bullshit. He makes a weird, strangled sort of noise. As though he somehow managed to choke on whatever it was he wanted to say.]


That isn't... Fucking... [Words. How do they work.] I-If you're not making excuses then why did you tense up when you saw me!? You weren't that tense before!
impheired: and said "oh look blood" and then looked at me and touched my face... And said war paint (distress ♚ you touched your head)

1/2

[personal profile] impheired 2014-03-14 09:23 am (UTC)(link)
[He is absolutely going to kill you right in the face. He might have to get a step stool to do it, but he'll totally do it. Right in the face.]

That--! [That...okay that makes a lot of sense. And he hadn't actually stopped to consider that option because it's Kuzuryuu so OF COURSE he was going to assume it was a slight against him. Because he does that more than he should. It's one of the things he needs to work on.]

Y...you--!! [FRUSTRATED SIGH. He's lost this argument entirely.]
impheired: to my eye. i punched myself in the face. (sigh ♚ i found out what happened)

2/2

[personal profile] impheired 2014-03-14 09:40 am (UTC)(link)
[...]

...I'm sorry.

[Oh hey, what do you know. It's one of those apology things they were talking about back before this whole trainwreck started. And one that doesn't involve bleeding, because thankfully this particular grievance doesn't fall high enough to warrant that.]

I wasn't trying to piss you off I just... Look, maybe you were right. Maybe it does bother me when people react like that. I just...fuck, I don't know.

[An Attempt Was Made. It's kind of a wonky, bad attempt, but it's an attempt nonetheless.]

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