009 | [Voice/Action]

[screwthegods]

What would you be willing to give for a second chance?

[Take the question as you will, Luceti. Homura's purposely vague, wanting not only to see what answers he receives, but how people interpret the question itself. After he poses the question, he'll be making a trip out to House 50--unannounced, of course. Ayumu has yet to contact him after the experiment, so Homura will take it upon himself to go see her. Better that than leaving the issue unresolved.]

[Afterward, he'll head to the Battle Dome to practice. It's been some time since the last draft, and he refuses to let his swordsmanship suffer during the lull. So he'll be going at it while completely limited, fighting the targets offered by the program. Unlike others he's seen, Homura moves with cool efficiency, and aims to kill with almost every blow.]

Comments

[screwthegods]

So you say. Your anger would indicate that you do need something, however. And until you resolve this issue, it will remain an excellent striking point for the Malnosso.

[ayu_nee]

Or yours, since you seem quite willing to use information that only came to you through their interference.

[screwthegods]

So it would seem. You're free to do the same, if you think it will be to your benefit.

Either way, the point remains.

[ayu_nee]

[Perhaps it does. But only if she cares to acknowledge it, which — for the moment, at least — she does not. What she'd told him she'd hoped would remain unacknowledged, but clearly she'd hoped in vain.]

I have no need to taunt you, Homura-san. But I should return to my work.

[And she'll step forward again, approaching the door with her careful mask only slightly marred by the tension remaining in her posture and movements.]

[screwthegods]

[Ah, but Homura can't risk leaving her with that lingering opportunity for an excuse. Otherwise his efforts will have been for naught, all brushed aside by a new form of denial.]

No, I suppose you wouldn't. After all, of the two of us, I'm not the one so dangerously close to breaking because of that weakness.

[Yes, it's cruel. But so often that cold mockery is necessary for someone to grow stronger, or so it's been in Homura's experience.]

[ayu_nee]

[It's certainly enough to make her halt again, standing unconsciously poised to move even though the look she gives him is nothing but cool.]

Am I, indeed.

[screwthegods]

Oh yes. How else could it have festered for so long? This event didn't start these issues for you, Yamazaki Ayumu. Just when did your brother arrive in Luceti? Or perhaps he found you on your first day.

[Her coolness is met with the same untouchable arrogance as Homura is acustomed to showing when he plays these sorts of games.]

You knew from the moment you saw him that your mission was done--otherwise, there'd be no question of your resolve. And it's left you helplessly stuck in limbo since, moving from persona to persona, hoping no one would notice the cracks breaking through to the surface that you are unable to fix.

[ayu_nee]

[By itself his latest taunt might have been something she could have dealt with— she would have been angry, certainly, but no more so than before. The addition of her brother, however, the brother she'd cared for more than her own life and yet denied for so long, the brother she'd only managed to make tentative overtures to once they'd been reunited again, that was more than enough to crack what fragile resolve was left to her and send her from carefully controlled and simmering anger to unthinking fury.

And without thought Ayumu simply acts, hand flashing to the small blade concealed in her obi and drawing it out even as she lunges forward. She cannot fight against words, this she knows logically, but when she was left stripped bare of all defenses logic gave way in the face of a blind need to somehow fight back, to stop the flow of words before they could hurt all the more.]

[screwthegods]

[So the facade finally shatters, and Ayumu reveals herself as an impressive opponent. Even blinded by rage, her movements are swift and efficient--potentially lethal if Homura doesn't take care. But he has told her already of his origin, and speed far beyond a human's allows him to reach out, gripping her wrist to cease her assault.

But given the hidden nature of that weapon, Homura has no doubt she will pull another if given the opportunity. So he turns, forcing Ayumu hard against the door by way of that captured hand. He pushes it up over her head, and in the same moment seeks to grip her other arm to incapacitate her fully.]

Could you even bring yourself to tell him the truth?

[ayu_nee]

[Homura had mentioned before what he was, certainly, but it was difficult for her to entirely grasp the concept: Ayumu was never comfortable around supernatural phenomena to begin with, no matter how common it might be in Luceti, and she hadn't quite realized just how fast he was until she found herself caught and restrained. For an instant she flashes back in memory to another day, another time, minutes before she found herself in this place, and that adds another degree of urgency to her struggle to free herself from the bruisingly tight grip on her wrists.

As his words sink in, though, she freezes with a brief flash of almost anguished regret in her eyes, certainly answer enough for one perceptive as he. And then the fury once more blanks her expression and she lashes out with one foot for his knee, trying to force him to let go.]

[screwthegods]

[Homura sees it, that flash of emotion rising to answer, unbidden by the woman struggling so furiously against him now. Yet for all her efforts, Ayumu would have greater success striking a wall; even when her kick connects, Homura doesn't falter, as if he feels no pain from the blow.]

Lash out all you wish. I am not the one responsible for your choices, or your regrets.

[ayu_nee]

[She continues to fight a moment longer still, as though it takes time for the words to sink in, but finally her struggles weaken and then halt entirely. All the anger has drained away now, leaving her with nothing left but the shattered remnants of her pride, and though she stands as straight as she can in his hold her head bows, eyes closing as her lips silently form three syllables.]

[screwthegods]

[Homura lingers after Ayumu stills, searching her body for some sign of further rebellion. Yet there is no tension, no tell-tale twitch or tightening of muscle to indicate that she is setting a trap. And when her lips move, speaking some phrase that Homura can't discern, he leans closer so his words fall as little more than a whisper against her skin.]

We aren't often given second chances, and yet here we are, both still alive. Decide who you wish to be, Ayumu, before you add on to those regrets.

[And then he vanishes completely, his presence gone from her room in an instant.]