[Day 156] | [Closed] And oh, come colder weather

[hellpyre]

Who: Twins, and one half of a set (Kaoru, Hikaru + Rin)
Open: Closed
When: Day 156, afternoon
Where:  Hospital
What: Bon helped Rin work through a lot of her feelings about Hikaru's arrival and the continued lack of Yuki in her life, and things are better for it, but there's still something she has to do...
Format: Action
Warnings: You all know the drill by now.

[Apologies - good ones, anyway - were never Rin's strong suit. She usually had to be muscled in to being sincere by Father Fujimoto because in her mind she hadn't done anything wrong  whenever she got in trouble like that. She was just giving people what they deserved for being assholes, after all. But it was moments when she actually fucked up in a way that hurt people she didn't want to hurt that she found herself at a loss for what to do. Should she apologize? Would it even be accepted if she did? Would she come off sounding insincere? What if the person she hurt didn't want to see her?

These were all the things going through her head as she stared at the closed hospital room door, holding a bag in her hands in front of her, slightly more cleaned up and dressed up than she normally would have been on a typical day. She stared at the door handle, as if willing it to move on its own so she didn't have to make that step forward to grab it herself. If something could have just conveniently shoved her in the room to get things started...

But that wasn't going to happen, and she knew it. Taking a breath in, she went for the door and knocked on it gently.]

Comments

[hellpyre]

[OH "she'll recover" GEE YOU'RE SO CONCERNED HIKARU.

But she does manage to catch her breath, shaking her head.]

I wasn't even thinkin' like that! This happened before they were even together!

[individuates]

[perfect timing, Hikaru, Kaoru's mouth is too full of cake to speak up for himself. Now you broke him, too.]

[individuating]

[You're not Kaoru, Rin, why would he be concerned about you? Speaking of, he will peer at his twin to make sure he's okay. A bit broken is fine, but he needs to make sure he hasn't caused any actual harm.

He is, for the third time, very pointedly ignoring the mention of any relationship. His current way of dealing with it is pretending it doesn't exist - the alternative would make Kaoru extremely unhappy, and he is the one person in the world that Hikaru doesn't want to upset. Also if Kaoru is doing any sort of 'catching' with Seimei there will be words.]

Ahh. Well, I guess you're too young to be thinking about that stuff anyway. Nevermind then.

[Still peering at Kaoru carefully, half-ignoring Rin. You okay there?]

[hellpyre]

[Fine ignore her. She's just going to be... sighing. And going back to her pastry.

Look at your life, Rinchan.

Look at your choices.]

[individuates]

[once he's finally stopped choking got himself back under control, he entwines his free hand with Hikaru's, leaning back against him slightly. He is sorry. Not for falling in love, but… he knows that that - and perhaps the little more than the three months difference between their arrivals - makes things a little harder than they would have been had they come in together.

He just hopes that when the time comes, Seimei can win Hikaru over with his personality]

…too young? You realise she's the same age as we are, right? [or at least close enough that it makes no matter]

[individuating]

[He squeezes Kaoru's hand and leans his head against his twin's, just briefly. He'll catch up, Kaoru, and once he's on the same level of understanding, things will be easier.

He leans forward a little after that, looking at Rin with a critical eye over Kaoru's shoulder.]

Physically, maybe, yeah. [He shrugs as well as he can right now.] It doesn't really matter anyway; we can teach Rin-chan everything she needs to know when her time comes.

[Please don't ever actually come to him for any sort of talk. It would break him. He's literally only saying this to get a rise.

...Speaking of helping! He'd forgotten! His next words are much more genuine, and he'll be aiming to look Rin directly in the eyes if she's not staring elsewhere.]

Anyway, I wanted to thank you for the other day, Rin-chan.

[hellpyre]

[Rin stared right back, lips pulled in to a tight frown.]

I'm almost-- ... I'm sixteen. I'm not that young.

[That's right. Today was her birthday. She wasn't making a big deal of it, though. For personal reasons.]

And I have a boyfriend and I really don't need anyone's help with him.

[Don't worry, Hikaru. She has no intention of going to anyone about Bon.]

... yeah. Well. I ain't gonna leave anyone out there. I may be a half demon but I ain't a bitch and I ain't cruel. 'kay? So... y'know... if you ever need any help with anythin' out there or whatever...

[Wow the tsun levels sure went up in here.]

[individuates]

Told you. And before you try to say that we've been sixteen for longer, like that makes us better, let me remind you who carried who off the Skyway. [drops a light kiss onto Hikaru's cheek. He appreciates that the thank-you was made, and Hikaru did a great job with it. Though Rin's acceptance was less than graceful]

She carried me too, you know. [with a smile and a small chuckle at the memory] Slung me over the shoulder like a sack of potatoes - not the most elegant entrance I could have hoped for.

[individuating]

[He huffs out a breath of air. He knows who carried who off the Skyway; like he could forget. The affection quickly smooths it over.]

Yeah, well, I wouldn't have made it here if it weren't for you, so you don't have to worry about me going out there ever again. [Seriously, he's not suicidal.

Hearing that Kaoru had to be carried too makes him feel better about his own embarrassing entrance. You really are a life saver, Rin.]

Maybe Rin-chan has a thing for carrying good-looking guys around?

[hellpyre]

[That made Rin smirk a bit. Sure, it wasn't a graceful moment for her, but she rarely had those moments.

Just be grateful you were too injured for the sack treatment, Hikaru.]

I keep sayin' it. You ain't my type. Too scrawny.

[Just going to nom her pastry and pet Tama-chan in her lap now ok.]

[individuates]

[s-scrawny? He turns his eyes to Hikaru for reassurance]

…we're not scrawny, are we?

[individuating]

We're not scrawny! [Hikaru wants to know what the hell kind of people she hangs around with if she thinks they're scrawny? He believes they're model proportions, if anything.]

[hellpyre]

Y'haven't seen my boyfriend yet. [To Hikaru]

But Kao-chan has.

[Sorry, boys. Models are skinny. Exorcists are strong, most of them muscled or at least a little thick. Hearty people who have to learn to haul around heavy equipment and weaponry, and deal with getting knocked around by things twice their size if not more. Rin is among those ranks - her stature isn't all that tall, but she's built bigger than most girls and has the muscle to back it up, even if her limbs don't show it as much as Bon's do.

To all of this, she's just grinning, toothy and showing off her fangs as her tail wags.]

Sorry, but you both look like you'd fall over in a high wind.

[individuates]

Oh, of course, yes! [Rin-chan likes beefcakes~!] And that is why you brought the pastries, isn't it? You think we need fattening up!

…and we've survived perfectly fine so far without being blown over. Ne, Hikaru?

[individuating]

[He nods in agreement with Kaoru.] I don't think we've been blown over even once. What's your boyfriend like, Rin-chan? I bet he looks like a brick.

[hellpyre]

I think you could stand to eat better.

[It has nothing to do with image or what she wants, Kaoru.]

Ryuuji?

[That's right. Not "Bon". Actually using his given name.

She shifts a bit, reaching in to a pocket in her skirt, tugging out a worn, folded photograph. It was a bit torn up, as she carried it around often. It was one of the few objects that made it with her to the Bastion from home.

There were a lot of people in the photo, all of them in varying styles of casual clothing. Kyoto stretched out through a window behind them that showed they were up high. Rin was front and center with a dopey grin, tail hidden. Her sister was next to her, but their physical differences probably made it hard to tell. Their eyes were... similar but not exact. Plus Yuki wore glasses when Rin didn't, which hid a lot of how their faces were really close to the same.

But she pointed instead to a muscled, gruff looking teen with a blonde streak through the top of his hair standing with the group. He looked to be friendly with them, but in a way that didn't show just how caring he really could be when it came to his friends.]

That's him.

[individuates]

[rolls his eyes a little bit at that one] We eat perfectly well, thank you.

[Or did until they came to the Bastion. And he still eats fine. Besides, Rin provides most of the food…

…actually, that's a fair point. Better not piss off the provider of the food and accept the change in subject that has been offered]

[crawls forward, bringing Hikaru along with him to look at the photograph. So that's what his hair was supposed to look like!]

I wish I had a photograph from home. [he didn't have anything on him when he arrived - the perils of host club cosplay] All I got was that giant elephant plant-holder.

[individuating]

[The photograph sends an unexpected pang of bitterness through Hikaru. How lucky is Rin, to be able to have a photograph? He'd do weird things to have one of the Host Club, right now. But--]

Wait--are you talking about that elephant? [If they're talking about items from home, there are very few elephant plant holders he knows of.

Since he's been brought forwards, he looks at the photo and raises an eyebrow. Rin really does go for beefcakes.]

That's a lot of people. Do they know you're a demon?

[hellpyre]

This was in my pocket when I got dropped on the Skyway... I'm glad, though.

[She smiled fondly at the picture, nodding to Hikaru's question. There was also a feline with odd little horns and two tails on Rin's head, grinning just as much as her owner.]

They're my classmates. And yeah. I... had to lie for a while, but when I finally told 'em they were more mad about the lyin' than over what I really was. See... all of us were trainin' to be exorcists back home.

[She started pointing them out, naming the people in the picture.]

Shiemi Moryiyama, Izumo Kamiki, Renzo Shima, Nemu Takara, Konekomaru Miwa... Ryuuji I already pointed out. His family name is Suguro, by the way. That half-dressed lady there was my sword instructor, Shira Kiragakure. And that...

[Finally pointing at the glasses wearing girl.]

Is my twin sister. Yuki.

[individuates]

[he kind of saw the resemblance before Rin pointed her out, but wasn't entirely sure until she said so. He also realises he said something a little tactless. As nice as it would be to have a photo of their friends, he had his twin here and now. Which was more than he'd had for a long time - certainly more than Rin had now.

He had learned the hard way, coming to the Bastion, how easily it could all be taken away. To appreciate what he had now. He offered her a small smile.]

It's something to hold onto, ne? Until you find them again.

[individuating]

[Hikaru really, really wants to say something about Yuki but--Kaoru didn't, so should he keep his mouth shut too?]

You two don't look very alike.

[That's what he settles for in the end, rather than any of the questions swirling around his head. He says it carefully, aware that he may be stepping onto a mine with that statement. There's a resemblance between the girls in the photo, of course, but... well, he's never really considered that there are twins who exist that function differently to he and Kaoru. It's obvious when he thinks about it, but this is the first time it's been even remotely relevant.]

[hellpyre]

Yeah. It is.

[Rin smiled at the picture, tucking it away after a moment and looking up at Hikaru with a blink. Oh. Right. They were identical. Rin hadn't really meet any other twins before meeting Kaoru.

If Yuki had been there, she would have rambled something about the statistics of identical versus fraternal, but all Rin could do was shrug.]

We're really different in a lotta ways. We've always been like that. Hell, she's a damn genius. I'm an idiot. It's not just looks.

[individuates]

Hmm~? [leans back into Hikaru] That's kind of strange. But also interesting, I guess. We have a lot of similarities and… usually our differences make up for each other's shortcomings.

[he doesn't really know any other twins to be able to tell how normal this is. Are they normal, or is Rin? Wait, what did she just say…?]

E-eh? Rin-chan, you say that almost like you're useless...

[individuating]

Whatever I can't do, Kaoru can. [He says in agreement, adjusting his arm around Kaoru to hold onto him more comfortably.] And the same the other way. [That's how it's always been. It's strange to think that there are twins out there who aren't like that, when it seems so... normal, to him.

Did she say it almost like she was useless? She only admitted to being an idiot, right? Still, even then...]

You're not really that stupid. Not enough to be called an idiot, at least.

[And that's pretty high praise from him.]

[hellpyre]

Nah. Trust me. I'm pretty dumb. I'm actually a drop out. The only reason I wound up at True Cross was 'cause my guardian forced me to go.

[Well that and she sort of screamed in Lady Pheles' face that she'd better damn well make her an exorcist...

But that's really neither here nor there in this conversation.]

I was always gettin' compared to her. "Yuki-chan is so smart, Yuki-chan is so athletic, Yuki-chan never gets in trouble or punches guys in the face for being jerks..."