(no subject)

[searingedgelord]

Who: Anyone
Where: Around the hotel
When: Day 47, late morning/early afternoon

[Seems like a nice day for memory broadcasts]

Comments

[criminaljustice]

You're doing it.

[hugs are so superior, u don't even understand]

[artisticliberty]

Oh. Then... this is helping you?

[criminaljustice]

Yeah, it really is.

[artisticliberty]

[fox withdraws, but only a little, just so he can look boss in the face with a gentle smile on his own]

Please reach out to me whenever you need, then.

[criminaljustice]

I'll... try. I haven't been that great about that, though I've been... working on it with Maki and A a little.

[artisticliberty]

They are both good to you, then?

[criminaljustice]

Yeah.

... I've messed up a lot, in this place. And they're still... despite a lot of things, they're still with me.

[artisticliberty]

They see you for far more than your flaws. That speaks well of them, in my opinion.

[criminaljustice]

[or maybe it's in spite of his flaws?]

We're still figuring some stuff out but... yeah, I guess so.

[artisticliberty]

[potato, potahto]

And how do you feel about them?

[criminaljustice]

[that's a loaded question.

a question he hasn't even fully answered to either Maki or A because... the whole... mirror jail thing... maybe has him skewed? but no.]

... I don't know... what I'd do without them.

[which is. terrifying, actually.]

[artisticliberty]

Do you love them?

[criminaljustice]

[--nnnnnnnooooope.

mouth is clamping shut now.]

[artisticliberty]

... have I upset you? Should I not have asked that?

[criminaljustice]

[drawing back a little, but not completely.

it takes a couple of false starts before he can manage to get his voice to cooperate]

No. It's just... it's complicated. The whole thing with the mirrors--but it's... only been a month and--

[still struggles wrapping his head around that and around how he sat thinking about things like that for what felt like centuries when it was just hours for Maki and A... suuuure is a thing that got mentioned before between the three of them.]

I-it's complicated.

[artisticliberty]

[reluctantly lets go of him, lowering his arms]

I am sorry. I should not have pried. You don't have to say anything else.

[criminaljustice]

No, it's--you didn't do anything wrong. I'm just still... messed up.

[kind of winces a bit because really wishes he wasn't so messed up]

[artisticliberty]

[his hands hang uselessly in his lap, fingers clenching the fabric of his kimono]

... would you like to come back to Taisho with me? There is something I wish to show you.

[criminaljustice]

[blinks, seeming to refocus and relax a little at the topic change.]

Yes, of course. I'd like to see it.

[not sure what "it" is but...]

[artisticliberty]

[rises]

It's several things, actually. Follow me.

[he heads to the elevator]

[criminaljustice]

["several things"...

but getting up and following after him easily.]

[artisticliberty]

[once they're in taisho's dorm, fox heads to his room and comes back out after a moment with a few books in hand, and he sits down at the low table with them, and gestures for boss to sit next to him.

hanging on the wall next to the table is a painting: all the current members of taisho, and a little girl sitting in the middle. it looks like a family portrait.]

[criminaljustice]

[... awk when you came in late for your own team's family bonding experience.

but he sits next to Fox, looking curiously between him and the books.]

[artisticliberty]

[they are... art books! the big thin ones with lots of pictures in them. fox opens one up and starts flipping through it]

I have been doing some reading on the history of art. After a certain point, I cannot find anything recent--but there is plenty to learn beyond that, thankfully. Just looking at these pictures fills me with intense emotions, some of which I cannot understand. Sometimes they fill me with sadness and sorrow, and sometimes they fill me with joy and wonder. And there are some that feel... mysterious, as though there is something unknown hidden in the depths of the painting that I cannot yet see. But it is important, I think, that art makes me feel something.

[he pauses at a centerfold page of van gogh's starry night.]

... I thought that, perhaps, if you could see something beautiful, it might help you.

[criminaljustice]

[he wasn't really sure where Fox was going with this but then the picture of the painting... and the explanation... and...

...

oh wow.

was not expecting to feel a little punched in the gut of feelings??? for seemingly no reason??? it's just... a painting.

but he's still going to hesitantly reach out to let his fingers trace the various whirls in the brushstrokes that make up the sky.]

... it's lovely.