Taking the long road home

[bloodyashes]

Characters: Anyone. Everyone.
Setting: The few days after the event, throughout the Tower as you will.
Format: Mingle! Assign your own dates/locations/etc, tag yourself, do as you do.
Summary: Jason's dead. So are a lot of other people. Fallout and picking up the pieces.
Warnings: Discussion of death and cannibalism inevitable.

[Catch-all for events following the Event. Discuss Jason's death and its consequences, come back from the dead, party?, quiver in fear?, take a long, hot bath. Whatever it is you do, do it here.]

Comments

[notsogrimreaper]

I know I couldn’t have, but I’m still sorry it happened. Shouldn’t I be allowed to feel bad about it?

[Yes, he’s trying to find a loophole. At least he doesn’t try to deny that the injury is bad enough that he needs to sit down, and he follows Yukiko to sit down with her before focusing on listening.]

That young… What do you think that means? Does she know what she’s doing, or is she just as cruel as we originally thought?

[slightlyoblivious]

...you're right. I'm sorry.

[She's quiet for a few minutes, thinking hard.]

I was talking to someone else about it, and they think she just kind of broke, under everything. I can believe that.

I have to wonder if she's broken so far that she just can't be empathetic anymore, that she really is that twisted. It's a sad thought, because I don't want to think that a little girl can be so broken and twisted, but it's not impossible.

[notsogrimreaper]

It’s okay. You were just worried I was trying to blame myself. I know.

[He looks away for a moment, lost in thought.]

Considering the kind of place we’re in, I think that’s a reasonable assumption, and I think we all know a place like this breaking someone to that point isn’t at all far-fetched.

[He turns back to Yukiko with a sigh.]

But we can both hope she’s not really like that. Deep down, there must be some good in her. We just have to try and find it.

[slightlyoblivious]

...I was. I didn't want you blaming yourself.

[She frowns a bit, considering the worst.]

That's assuming she's not so broken that she can't find a way back. We have to take that into consideration. Some people...much as we want to, we can't make it better.

[She closes her eyes for a moment, remembering someone else who had broken that far. If she thinks about it too hard, Yukiko can almost hear that twisted laughter as Mitsuo Kubo was taken away in handcuffs.]

We can hope for better, of course, but I don't know. I wish I could be more confident in that.

[notsogrimreaper]

I know… but we have to try. If we fail, we don’t say she was evil… she was just too far gone for us to help. And that’s okay.

[He wraps an arm around her shoulders, presses his nose against the top of her head to breathe in the smell of her hair.]

I understand entirely how you feel. It’s okay to be unconfident, or unsure. Just… try to let hope win out in the end.

[slightlyoblivious]

[She nods, wrapping both her arms around him and burying her face in his scarf.]

It's true. Giving up on her now means giving up on that little bit of hope that means she might turn things around. I...I can't say I'm entirely sure about things, but I don't want to give up on that hope.

Even if we do have to say she's too far gone, we can still make our own hope, right?

[notsogrimreaper]

Yeah. We have to keep on hoping. I know it’s impossible to be sure about things here, but you can be sure that we have to keep positive if we want to keep living.

[He smiles softly as he runs his fingers through her hair again, gently soothing her.]

[slightlyoblivious]

[She nods, and eventually she manages a small smile.]

That's true. As crazy as things get around here, the one constant that keeps us all going is hope - no. Two constants, for me. Hope and love. As long as I remember that, I'll be okay.

[notsogrimreaper]

[He actually laughs at that.]

Hope and love… I like the sound of that. As long as I have you, I’ll always be able to keep going. We both will.