castle_whims | Afterparty the Fifth

Afterparty the Fifth

[Yeah, he knows, he probably messed up by challenging Kakuya. At least everyone will know if they find a hedgehog-shaped splatter on the ground, or...him disappearing suspiciously into a mirror or water or something.

Anyways, in the meantime he's cooking, so if you guys want something, he'll make it for you. Except for Hunter, mainly because he's going to make that Not Evidence Chili Dog first. SO. Otherwise, you're all good for food. Sonic's got you.]

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[Yasu is quiet at the afterparty. She doesn't even have the easy bravado that she did when she made scones and tea for everyone last week. She's hunched over, shoulders bowed under the weight of the coming week. But if someone approaches... a spark of frustration flickers across her face.]

...you do realize that without Kakuya, we would be dead, right?

I know you all hate her. I know that she deserves it, in a lot of ways. Doing this to us is cruel, I won't deny it.

But if it wasn't for her, the Principal would've sicced the menagerie or... done who knows what to us after Jeanne's trial. He was clearly done playing this game. And even before that, although it was a way to trick us into playing with her, Kakuya was the one who woke us up from his brainwashing.

[Yasu sighs.] I'm just sick of everyone acting like she's this... incomprehensible abomination who has always wanted to torture us, who never cared about us at all. In some ways that makes what she's doing worse, and you have no reason to care about her feelings, but...

She's a kid, too. She gets hurt when she feels like nobody understands her.

That's all.

[Adorabat was happily flying on by, playing her kazoo when a frustrated tirade defending Kakuya is beset upon her.]

...

[Adorabat takes the kazoo out of her mouth, still flying with the other wing.]

...Umm... but... sor some reason... she's... scary...

That's... fine. I can't blame you for being scared of her.

[Yasu's smile as she pets Adorabat is wan.]

She's a monster, after all. It's more strange that I'm not.

...Real heroes need to act despite their fear, no matter how hard that is. But that doesn't just mean fighting. It means listening to other peoples' hearts, no matter how afraid you are of them.

["Real heroes need to act despite their fear, no matter how hard that is."]

[It may be telling that Adorabat just instantly latched onto that sentence.]

...I... I got that if you're scared, you should tell your friends and they'll always help you... and if you run away from the things you don't like, you'll miss out on the things you DO like... but... wow, I never heard of acting even though someone's afraid of something...!

[Adorabat seems utterly MYSTIFIED.]

Edited 2022-09-25 02:49 (UTC)

[It probably says something about the "heroism" of Adorabat's... guardians? Mentors? Both? (Are Badgerclops and Mao Mao even qualified to be either?) that this storybook definition of courage is news to her. Yasu is surprised for a moment, but puts on her best Big Sister Smile for Adorabat and nods sagely.]

Think of it this way... if one hero is totally unafraid of their opponent, but another one is scared, who's braver if they both decide to fight the same thing?

Um... The one who's not afraid?

[Yeah, Adorabat doesn't quite grasp the definition of bravery fully.]

...

[Anya sighs.]

If this were an easier sit...siteation, Anya would be more forgiving. But this is not. She is being cruel to us. We are being cruel in return. No side will budge. If we are let free, there is no problem. But the more we are forced into a game we do not want to play, we are being hurt, too.

Anya just wants to see Mama and Papa and not suffer through 'breakings' anymore. Everyone else wants the same. Anya's willing to talk it over, but if she wishes to break, we cannot be broken.

At the same time...

...Anya knows what it is like to be lonely. To want to hurt other people. To only be hurt. But Anya never hurt anyone. Anya found...a real family.

Better things are out there. But we cannot have it targeting in...insecurities.

...that's the thing, Anya. Kakuya never got that chance.

She was sealed in Kakuriyo for... who knows how long? With the only interaction she got to have with anyone else being the people whose job it was to keep her in there and the dolls that they put in there for her.

She's a spirit. Playing games is what she does, you heard as much.

But the reason why she's playing with our lives like it's a game is that she doesn't know that there's any other way to think of things. She wasn't given any other way to think of things, or anyone to really care about her as someone aside from something that needed to be sealed.

...

If she's willing to stop breaking things, then...maybe.

It involves both sides reaching out.

If we can make that happen, then...Anya can try...

[Mmm. It's all complicated, isn't it? This is a months-long project. Not a weeks.]

...it's not going to be easy, after today.

She thinks that everyone else wants her to be the villain, so... she's playing the villain.

But there's someone inside there who wants to be loved. I know that. So if I can just draw her out, get her to see that there are people who want to see her...

I don't think that's something I can convince everyone of, though.

[roejfrieogwjifds he wasn't even he was just going to give Hunter his chili dog and he turned back to make more food and-

...

sigh.

You know what, he's just going to sit and let her vent on him.]

...I was trying to get through to her. I thought if I said something-and I was frustrated, I

...

I know I screwed up, man. You can be mad at me. I'm the one who spoke up.

Edited 2022-09-25 02:17 (UTC)

...thanks for apologizing, if nothing else.

It's just... I love her. I k- know I'm biased because of that, but the only reason why I did fall in love with her is beneath A, beneath Ao, there was someone who could be loved.

And seeing everything think she's just pure evil who exists to torment them, it's...

...Y'know, Kuro mentioned last week that she was like a spirit and stuff? And they were basically like aliens. Not necessarily good and not necessarily evil and whatnot. I'll be honest, I don't like her. I don't like what she did to us, and I don't like that she's just doin' this as a game and we're all gonna eventually die because it's all part of her game that she wins when she wins and she wins when she loses because she'll, you know, keep playing.

But I dunno if I'd call her pure evil even then? She does seem like she cares for you, somehow, even if I don't understand the whole daddy thing. She's not Father and she's not Buttnik. But, uh, you can probably tell she's not something or...someone I really get, either.

Edited 2022-09-25 02:58 (UTC)

I can't change that part of her. I, um. Don't even want to, I think. She wouldn't be Kakuya if she wasn't a spirit, someone totally removed from humanity... Animal-nity? I- I don't know.

But she really does love me. She really can feel. So if I can broaden her view, just enough to see that all of you are people too...

It's just that feels so hard now, after...

[Yasu trails off, expression growing distant.]

I recognize that voice she used, at the end there. She figured that... if nobody else wanted to see eye to eye with her, consider her as anything other than pure evil, acknowledge that she saved our lives twice... then she'd play the part she thinks you want her to play to the hilt.

...Yeah, you can see why Sal's the strategist of our group. I'm not good with negotiating.

[Personality? Uh. Who knows at this point, he gets what you mean.]

And honestly, I'm stumped what to do. Obviously I can't reach her the same way, even if I was trying to be nice. I doubt she'd listen to me.

Especially after saying all that.

[If Sonic wasn't going to bother with subtlety during his tirade against Kakuya, neither is Yasu.]

Just... if we can work something out... please try to keep an open mind. I know you hate her, but if I can build some kind of bridge, I'd like people to try crossing it before they start saying it's unsafe and burn it to the ground.

[ slurpin' her milkshake ]

Yasu... When you say that Kakuya cares for us, do you think that means the same thing it would mean if we cared for Kakuya?

Of course it doesn't. I know that.

But it's still something. And if it wasn't for her caring in her own odd way, we wouldn't be here right now, one way or another.

Everyone has the right to hate her, but... acting like she's just some evil thing and not a person...

It... it hurts me, too.

[ ...sighs ]

You're right. I don't hate her, because I know she doesn't understand that from our perspectives, what she's doing is wrong. Still...

[ ... ]

Have you asked her to do the same thing? For us?

...I'm going to do my best. I need to try and figure out how to get her to understand, but... I'm not sure that's possible anymore, with how she sounded at the end there.

Still. I need to give it my best shot.

Alright, Yasu-chan~ Do your best!

[ There is a definite hollowness to Kuro's cheer, though. ]

A one-sided understanding won't get us anywhere. Until Kakuya understands the same thing— That we're people, not objects... This is just a matter of self-preservation.

...no hard feelings between us, no matter what happens. Promise?

[While Yasu is certainly capable of holding a grudge, at the very least she doesn't want to lose the girl who's probably her closest friend after all this. Not to mention her partner in crime-busting.]

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copycut - 2022-09-27 22:13 (UTC) - Expand

[Okay, that gets Emma to pause after she grabs her sandwich.]

I know she's a kid in some ways. But she's still a jerk and a bully. If she was human, I'd be just as mad at her.

[A sigh.]

But...I guess it's not healthy, for you to be the only one who cares about her and the only one she cares about.

... I'll try.

That's... that's all I can really ask for. Thank you, Emma.

You're welcome. [A brief pause before she signs some more.] If I do try and talk to her...do you have any idea of good topics to talk about?

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