week 3, post-execution

[higanbana]

[Well, okay, there is Some Bullshit™ going on with carrying heads, but what's important to Ris is that Minato is wandering off without so much as touching the potion Caleb set out before him.

So, she's snatching it up and following the stream of people out, trying to keep her eye on the blue head of hair, but it's difficult when there's an entire audience moving too and Ris is so much shorter than most of the people here.

Regardless, eventually, she manages to hunt Minato down, and there is a righteous fury in that one visible eye of hers as she calls out to him.]

Minato!

[He'd damn well better acknowledge her.]

Comments

[biddentodance]

[He pauses again. Stares at his hand. For a long moment, he seems genuinely at a loss.]

....Punishment? I guess?

[higanbana]

[There is nothing Ris can say, for an equally long moment, as she just looks at him in what can only be called despair.]

...idiot...

[That word comes as no more than a whisper before she shakes her head.]

...Come. Sit. This is more than I can speak to you about just tarrying about like this, let us at least pretend to be respectable individuals.

[biddentodance]

[....He never wanted to see that kind of expression on anyone else's face ever again...]

Right...

[He'll let her lead the way. He's not sure what she has in mind, but if he can help her never need to make an expression like that again, in any way, at all...]

[higanbana]

[Eventually, she'll lead him to the lounge. She takes a seat at a table where she can see the entrance, and waits for Minato to take his seat across from her before speaking up again.

Even then, she keeps her voice soft, just to keep things between them.]

Minato... listen to me.

I don't know what happened in your world, exactly. Maybe you're right, and it is your fault. I couldn't say. But this is not your world.

You are not responsible for everyone else here. As much as I hate it, too, Eliza is responsible for her own choices.

You did not fail anyone. You did nothing wrong... nothing wrong until you hurt yourself, anyway.

[She pauses for a deep breath, trying to work through how she wants to phrase her thoughts.]

...my heart may not have been created to feel, but it still does, you know. It still hurts.

And hearing that anyone else would want to go such gruesome "punishment" after what my own has been makes it hurt worse than I can tell you.

[biddentodance]

[He follows. Sits. Listens.

And he does try to process what she's saying. He hates that his actions hurt her, for all he doesn't get why. But it just....doesn't sit right.

So Minato does what he does best, and latches onto whatever isn't about him.]

"Your own".....punishment?

cw: eye scream

[higanbana]

[Ris sighs. She knew he'd ask, but it doesn't make this any easier to talk about.

She reaches up to pull off the half-goggle that's been functioning as an eyepatch for her, then looks up at Minato with both eyes open. The one she always covers... there's something in there, but it's blank. Just white glass, no iris nor pupil.]

I made an attempt to escape from my former master once before. It was short-lived, I had little idea where I was going or what I was doing surviving on my own.

He found me, as was inevitable. Brought me back, and removed my right eye. To "match him," as his is scarred and blinded. So that I might "never forget who I belong to."

That was the punishment for hurting under his care and wishing for better.

So, tell me, Minato. Did I deserve that?

[biddentodance]

[He doesn't seem phased at all by her eye. At least if he is, it doesn't show.]

...Not at all. Deserve so much better than that...

[His heart aches for her. That's no way to treat anyone, and while he only knows part of the story...there is some anger at her "master".]

[higanbana]

[That's the response she was expecting, so. Staring at him, now, with both eyes seemingly focused on him even if they both know the one can't see.]

Then explain to me why you "deserve" to lose usage of a hand for something you had no control over. Because what you just said right now?

That's how I feel about you.

[biddentodance]

...I... [He....doesn't have words to explain himself. It's not like he was thinking completely coherently at the time.]

...I'm sorry...

[She...got attached to someone like him? He's sorry for that, and for screwing up again...]

[higanbana]

[And to that she just sighs, fiddling with the strap of her half-goggle. She sees no need to put it back on right now.

It's not like she can walk this back. She may as well just keep herself exposed.]

...I wonder if you even truly know what you're apologizing for.

[She doesn't look at him when she says that, turning her gaze down to the table for a moment. After taking that time to collect herself, though, she looks back up again.]

If you truly care for us so much, then please. Care for yourself, even if you can't fathom why you should.

Those who care for you hurt when you do. If nothing else registers with you from this conversation, I want that much to.

[biddentodance]

...

[She says so, and it's like....a cold shower, maybe? He doesn't know what it's like, but he can feel it. She's right. He doesn't really know what he's apologizing for.... He's just so used to having to, for always being mistaken or flawed...sometimes without knowing what he did to cause offense, just that he messed up.

He....looks away. He doesn't know how to reply to that.]

[higanbana]

[...She really doesn't know how much of any of what she's said has left even the slightest impression, but still, she stands. They're more or less done here.]

You matter, Minato. You may not see it, you may not understand it, but it's true.

Take care of yourself. Please. That's all I ask.