100

[looselips]

Who: Shinji Matou and OPEN
Setting: Room 2-06, Floor 96, Floor 14
Format: Action preferred
Summary: Shinji has emotions and passive-aggressively plays video games
Warnings: Shinji having no idea how to cope with feelings, will add anything else that comes up

[Room 2-06]
[The video game Shinji receives is a good one. He's fond of it. Maybe not his favorite, but it would certainly rank within his top ten, if someone forced him to sit down and make a list. Under any other circumstance, he would be all but overjoyed to receive it.]

[Now, though, all he can think is, That's it?]

[In his anger, and with his usual childish level of restraint, he raises an arm and chucks the game, still in its case, down at the floor. He isn't particularly strong, but the force combined with the angle as it hits the floor is enough to make the case crack at the top corner and along its spine.]

[...But that's it. He doesn't throw a full-blown tantrum, like the time that Rider left. Instead, he merely stares in silence at the video game where it has settled on the floor, a second or two passing before he moves to pick it up again, checking to be sure that it is otherwise undamaged and sitting properly in its case.]

[Floor 96]
[Shinji hasn't actually set foot onto the floor proper yet, lingering on the stairs. The video game he received earlier is tucked under one arm. Evidently having drifted off into his own little world of thought, he isn't paying particular attention to his surroundings, his expression blank as he mulls things over.]

[He's heard what will happen if he steps onto this floor, and where the thought of losing his memories normally unsettles him, it almost appeals to him in this moment. He can remember being restrained, and having people standing over him, and the horror of being conscious but unable to control his own body. He'd rather not be able to, so here he stands, weighing the pros and cons.]

[Floor 14]
[And, because this is a Shinji post, he can at some point be found irritably and passive-aggressively playing his "new" video game in the media room. It isn't actually making him feel much better.]

Comments

[looselips]

You're an idiot all of the time. [He tries to keep his tone relatively flippant, but some genuine frustration leaks in, and the words come out more strongly than his last ones.] Yeah, yeah, I get it. You had to save someone, because other people are just so important to you.

[There's a second after he says that where Shinji just seethes, not looking at Kariya, but then he admits:] I don't want you to die. [His voice is quieter now.]

[vermicompost]

I like to think I do things right sometimes. [If anyone else had said that, Kariya might have been angry, but Shinji is different. He's a child, yes, but that's not all. Kariya knows Shinji's not really his nephew, but it's hard not to think of him as family.] Yes, that's right, I did.

[Kariya is quiet, touched that Shinji would say that, though he didn't think Shinji was the kind of person who would want him to die.] What matters is that we're alive, here and now.

[He reaches out to give Shinji a hug.]

[looselips]

That doesn't mean you can't be an idiot while you do them.

[Saving someone else might be the right thing to do, maybe, but that doesn't mean Shinji can't think he's an idiot for throwing his life away to do so.]

[The last time Kariya hugged him, Shinji neither accepted nor rejected the contact, allowing it without responding to it. Now, though, he lets himself lean into the gesture. He doesn't know what to say to Kariya's words, so he asks instead,] Can we go to the aquarium?

[vermicompost]

Maybe you're right about that. [Kariya laughs, taking this remark in good spirit. There could be some truth in it. But he doesn't want to talk too much about upsetting things, like his death.] But I do the best that I can.

[He's glad when Shinji seems to accept his hug. That makes him feel better. He'd been worried since the last time he saw Shinji. It's comforting to see him responding.]

Yes, we can. I like the aquarium. You never know what you're going to see there.

[looselips]

[Shinji doesn't especially want to talk about it, either. So, even though Kariya saying he does his best upsets him for some reason he doesn't fully understand and doesn't want to stop and analyze, he lets it go.]

I haven't spent much time there, so I'll take your word for it.

[The last time he spent any extended length of time on that floor, he had been fruitlessly searching for Rider. He hadn't seen any reason to revisit it afterwards. But... He supposes going to an aquarium with a relative is a normal experience, and this is as close as he can come to that in a place like this.]

[vermicompost]

We should go up a few floors to get the elevator. That's the quickest way.

[Shinji's not-uncle can't take all that much stair-climbing in one day. He's stronger than he was before coming to the tower, but he has his limits.]

I've seen fish there I could hardly believe existed. Glowing fish, fish with three or four heads, and some as large as houses. Some I can't even describe, they were so strange.

[Kariya is really thrilled Shinji wants to go with him. He starts up the stairs.]

[looselips]

[As he hops up to follow, Shinji places the photographs back in their envelope and shoves them in Kariya's direction. It's a pain to traverse the stairs from top to bottom, so he's happy to take the elevator, even if he isn't a helpless invalid like some people. He nods slightly at Kariya's description.]

That sounds pretty cool. [...] The SE.RA.PH. had a sea theme. I liked it alright. [He isn't sure why he says this, exactly, but he feels more willing to make small talk than normal.]

[vermicompost]

[Kariya takes the photographs back without comment, but with a smile. He walks with his usual halting limp, his left leg heavy and unwieldy and sore.]

It is. Every time I go there, I see something I've never seen before. You have to be careful, but it's worth it. [And he's confident he can protect Shinji. He'll use a Command Spell if he needs to.]

A sea theme? That sounds interesting. Can you tell me more about it? I don't know a lot about what your Grail War is like. It sounds so different from the one I was fighting in.

[looselips]

[He shrugs a shoulder. It's an impersonal enough question that he has no trouble answering casually.]

It took place in an artificial environment made up of multiple reality marbles. The one that served as the main hub was a school campus, if you can believe it. They even made us attend classes. [He sounds vaguely incredulous as he relates this information, despite having lived it.] The other ones, though— It was like being underwater. You could even see fish swimming around you.