imeeji_frontstage | (no subject)

That kind of scheming isn't anything to be proud of.

[A pang of shame.]

Well, no... but you're still not a bad person, if that's something you're worried about.

[Holding a hand out to him, palm up. If he's not in a hand-holding mood, she understands, though.]

It's okay to not be proud of what happened. I don't know the outcome and if you're not comfortable talking about it, I understand, but I don't judge you.

[A twinge of annoyance at the "not a bad person" part.]

That's a pretty bold claim for someone you don't really know.

[He doesn't take her hand, instead looking out over the park.]

...It wouldn't have killed him. I already knew that.

So it turned out perfectly fine.

Is it? I only know you've been kind to me. I don't know the circumstances of why you would want to kill him or why you felt like you needed to pull a knife on him - you're right about that - but doing something like that doesn't specifically make you a bad person. You just made a bad choice.

[Maybe that's her being too naive again - too forgiving. Vergil was always perplexed why she insisted he was a good person, but she's never wavered from that even once. Why should it be different for someone else?]

I'm sorry if you think I should be angry at you, but I'm not.

[It just makes her think of the vampire woman in the basement with her child, surrounded by corpses. Her father had to execute them because of it, when - had someone just helped them - such things could be avoided.]

...

Ren, do you know what anecdotal evidence is?

More or less? Why?

Anecdotal evidence is basically useless for determining fact. Just because an individual's experience turned out one way doesn't mean it's accounted for all the outside factors that led to it.

Your kindness. Any reasons I might have to behave the way I do around you, including the relationship between our units.

Just because your experience went one way doesn't mean it's the only truth. Especially with a lack of experiences to draw from.

Then I guess I'm lucky I've never given you a reason to want to sneak a knife in behind your back.

[Sigh.]

I just... I don't think you're a bad person because of one incident. You would need to give me more evidence than that. I understand to someone else it must be bad and make you seem back, but I can only judge based on my own evidence or experience. I would be in the wrong if I looked at one thing and made judgements based on that.

Edited 2022-01-10 02:38 (UTC)

[Definitely annoyed feelings now.]

And I don't owe it to you to refute a blindly optimistic comment you made, no matter how well-meaning it may have been.

[Standing up!]

You should find something better to do with your time.

[Ouch.]

I didn't come over here to fight with you. If we can't agree, then that's fine. Could you at least sit and talk with me for a while?

[She's been having an off few days lately. Maybe she was wrong for insisting that he wasn't defined - at least to her - as a bad person but it didn't change how she felt. The Izanagi she knew made just as much sense to her as whatever was happening in that memory.]

I'm sorry I upset you.

[Annoyance, frustration, and resignation.

But he just pulls a gentle smile nonetheless.]

Sorry Ren, I'm kind of tired today. Maybe you should go visit with Serenity?

[It's the smile that makes her the most angry, because she can feel how frustrated he is with her - which is bewildering in itself but not the important thing right now. It's fake and it makes her feel gross in turn. She wants to understand where he's coming from and maybe chalk it up to him as just being bad at accepting that she doesn't care as much about one mistake as she does all the million other ways he's capable of being kind.

Maybe she is just as naive as everyone keeps telling her she is.]

Fine, but if you'd rather people avoid being understanding, then maybe you should just stop being nice to them in the first place.

[Her voice is raised sightly and she gets up just before she says it, both of her hands balled into fists and eyes glowing a mismatched purple and red. She's angry and maybe more explosively so than she would normally be, but her mother is here roaming around talking to people and blissfully unaware that she has a daughter who missed her - a mother who always treated her as if her capacity for kindness was her best trait.]

I'll ask Persephone for updates about my mother from now on, so you don't have to go out of your way for me again.

[Turning and immediately beginning to storm away from him.]

[There's brief flashes - confusion, indignance--

...a sort of deep-seated resignation. Loneliness.]

...If that's what you want.

[Still very indignant, actually. But he'll turn to head off in the opposite direction.]

(no subject)

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