Day 100 :: mingle - end of the core hunt[open]

[bastionpc]

Who: anyone and everyone
Open: Open
When: Day 100
Where: in the Bastion
What: This is a mingle post for after everyone gets back to the Bastion.
Format: action
Warnings: none

[So. They Bastion has a hospital now.

Seeing as how several people got pretty hurt, it might be a good idea to use it.

Or you can mingle and talk to people, if you want. Now is a time for resting and relaxing after a difficult day.]

((The OOC info post about the end of the event can be found here))

Comments

[yinyangfox]

[ He stops when Kaoru does and watches the boy take his other hand, frowning faintly. It takes him time to speak, to make sure what he says can't be misconstrued or taken too negatively. He would, in this case, attempt to be honest despite his misgivings. ]

You see too much good in people. Even if it is there, you assign it more value than you should, with reckless disregard to everything else. You actively choose to overlook the bad, which realistically only encourages that negative part of another person.

Moreover, you devalue yourself. You act as though your worth is not the same as another person's for no reason other than you are not what that person is. Why would anyone want two of the same people, Kaoru? Everyone is worth everything, and nothing. You cannot put a numerical value on a person, no matter how many or how few powers they have, whether they are human or demon or spirit, so you should stop trying to weight the scales and put yourself on the same level as others.

You are Hitachiin Kaoru, and you have no standards to live up to but your own. You should, however, find yourself. Certainly. Yet you should do it without comparing yourself to others. You are supposed to find Kaoru, you are not supposed to find the Kaoru like this person or that person.

[individuates]

[he dips his head and listens carefully to what Seimei has to say. The truth is that every word is pretty much spot on. He knows this. He also knows that his nature is to run away the moment he has been seen through, the moment he has been found, and for that reason he holds Seimei's hands a little tighter.

...find Kaoru. That earns a small smile. Their whole host club schtick had been the "which one is Hikaru?" game after all. It had never been about finding Kaoru. In any case, they would smudge the lines between their identities anyway and although they had each grown adept at impersonating the other, Hikaru had never been as good at imitating Kaoru's voice, or overriding his own natural impatience.

And Hikaru had been Kaoru's whole world for so long, it was second nature for Kaoru to place himself second.

Quietly, and slowly enough that Seimei can move away, he steps forward to lean his forehead against Seimei's shoulder, the shoulder Tama-chan isn't occupying]

...I accept what you're saying. I do.

[yinyangfox]

[ He stands there in stiff silence, eyes staring forward past Kaoru and down the way, hands still before finally lifting both hands, pale fingers splayed and pressing lightly against Kaoru's back as the onmyoji holds him. A very simple, very careful embrace. ]

I will never be dishonest with you, Kaoru. I swear it. In turn, please do not ever hate me too much for what I am forced to say in my pursuit of an honest relationship built on trust. I want to give you only good things. I simply have no idea how precisely to do it.

[individuates]

[closing his hands around Seimei's robes slightly. He needs this]

I don't want to say things like, 'I'll try to change,' - I know... you wouldn't want me to try to be something I'm not. But I'll try to be more mindful of it - of my own behaviour, too, not just being so... blinkered, in my views of others.

I won't let my desire to see good blind me to seeing the bad but... I just don't believe that people's negative traits can completely overpower their good ones.

[pulls back just a little, Seimei's robes still bunched in his hands, offering a slightly apologetic smile]

Um... so now that I've gone and covered you with my grossness... [oops. Sorry about that, Seimei...]

[yinyangfox]

I have been far dirtier than this before, Kaoru. I can cope. [ He murmurs with a sigh, reaching up to brush the boy's hair from his face gently, tucking it behind his ears and checking for injuries. ]

I do not mind that you see so much good in others, not really. I only wish that such kindness and innocence were not dangerous and naive in any world. There is no utopian paradise in which compassion is never taken advantage of. Even people without wicked intent tend to take advantage of those in a position to give.

I only ask that you keep both eyes open. Be the good person that you are, but always be mindful of the ignorance of others.

[individuates]

[he's not injured, just a little shaken up, though he closes his eyes contentedly and relaxes a little as Seimei touches his hair, moving a tad closer again]

I'll try. I will try. You can pull me up on it, if I don't.

[breathing another sigh of his own. He still has to clean himself up and get in the onsen after this. But he's more than happy to just stay here. Right here.]

...I wish a world like that existed, though.

[yinyangfox]

[ Seimei like being there, but he liked gore cleaned off of people just a fraction more at that moment. Putting a hand on Kaoru's back, he once again guides the boy out towards the onsen. ]

No you don't. A world without conflict is a world in which no one is able to appreciate anything. You cannot have light without dark, Kaoru. Everything has to have an opposite for it to exist.

[individuates]

It just doesn't sound right, though. A world where it's dangerous to be kind.

[Tama-chan slips off Seimei's shoulder to help, chasing behind and around them like a sheepdog. How she has so much energy is beyond Kaoru - he's completely exhausted.

She sees them as far as the path toward the onsen, and runs off up it and through the women's entrance, leaving Kaoru to blink after her]

I can't figure out whether she actually understands this stuff, or if she's just really good at guessing.

[yinyangfox]

Well, I could always talk to her about it, but she's rather young right now and I try not to have too much influence over the thoughts and ideas of children...

[ He tilts his head, regarding the onsen before clearing this throat and gesturing vaguely. ]

Go ahead then...

[individuates]

[smiles] Maybe later, then.

[blinks, glancing towards the onsen] You're not...?

[individuates]

[...ah.]

Oh.

[yinyangfox]

Oh? [ He blinks, pausing and folding his hands into his sleeves. ]

What?

[individuates]

Mmm [shaking his head slightly] Another cultural difference, I guess? Don't worry about it.

[yinyangfox]

[ He stares, narrowing his eyes slowly. better judgment tells him not to press but he finally does. ]

No, I want to know what you are talking about, very specifically.

[individuates]

...you know onsens are generally not one-person-only, right?

I-I mean not that I'm suggesting-- I'm not saying you have to get in or anything, but... it would be nice to have someone to talk to.

[yinyangfox]

[ Seimei sighs, a deep, slow inhale and exhale as he looks at the onsen, then Kaoru, the muscles of his jaw working. Glancing away uncomfortably he eventually makes a small sound of pained surrender. ]

I will...gather my things.

[individuates]

Only if you're comfortable with it.

...are you?

[yinyangfox]

Ah...yes? [ He asks as much as answers, looking suddenly very not comfortable. Though mostly because he's afraid of disappointing Kaoru. ]

Go on, go on ahead. I will return in a moment with clean clothing. You need not concern yourself. [ He adds, gesturing with shooing flaps of his hands. ]

[individuates]

If you're sure...

[he touches Seimei's arm briefly before slipping inside the changing room, leaving his dirty clothes in a pile to be burned and his clean ones in a safe place.

When - if - Seimei comes back, Kaoru will already have cleaned up and will be soaking shoulder-deep in the water, a towel folded on the rocks nearby.]

[yinyangfox]

[ Despite his own misgivings, the onmyoji eventually arrives and cleans up, slipping stealthily into the water and leaving his clothes behind. Both his and Kaoru's soiled clothes are carried off by Taisan who is intent on getting them cleaned, come Hell or high water.

Seimei, for his part, has chosen to let his hair down - though at the moment is floats around him like seaweed, himself in the water up to his nose, regardless of lack of dignity. ]

[individuates]

Seimei? [hearing him enter the water, he cracks open one of his closed eyes, searching the vicinity until he finds him] [after a moment] ...are you trying to hide, or sink?

[yinyangfox]

[ rises up just enough to speak. ] I am not really sure.

[individuates]

[chuckles warmly, and edges a little closer after a moment]

Don't hide from me, Seimei.

[yinyangfox]

[ Don't move Seimei. >.< Don't move. Just stick it out. ]

I do not believe that is my intention. I simply do not bathe with others...yes.

[individuates]

[chuckles again, stopping just out of reaching distance] With others? Then I'm flattered to be the exception.