driftfleet | it's a mingle, a paisley mingle

Entry tags:

it's a mingle, a paisley mingle

Who: Paisley crew and/or visitors and/or Chloe
Broadcast: N/A
Action: The Paisley
When: Anytime in March p much

[ Welcome to the Paisley, where the drama's made up and the points don't matter ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Leto tilts his head at him curiously. ]

Did you expect me not to?

No, I knew you would. That doesn't make me less grateful.

You worry far too much, Sable.

[ He looks around the lab. ] Is this where you work?

[ He politely ignores the comment about worrying too much. He disagrees, but doesn't feel like arguing.

Shinjiro nods at the question. ]

Yeah, this is it. There's another guy as well, Stefan. He already had everything organized, so that made it easier.

And what do you do in this . . . lab?

[ Science has never been one of his interests, though he possesses every scientific fact there is. He gives the instruments a cursory uninterested look. ]

So far, it's mostly been keeping inventory and making sure everything's stocked up.

[ Shinjiro snorts. ]

There's not a whole lot to do right now. Not that I'm complaining.

[ Somehow, it seems to him that being busy in a med lab would mean trouble. ]

No. No one is dying. It is a strange turn of events.

[ Not that Aather had that much death, but it did factor in the occasional maiming and mental torture. Compared to that, the Fleet was practically paradise. At least, to some. ]

[ Honestly, the lack of maiming and torture was one of the charm points of the Fleet. ]

Strange and pleasant, yeah. I'm hoping it stays that way.

[ It's an attempt at optimism, at least. ]

For now, at least. I do not foresee many terrible forces, but my foresight can only go so far when I'm dealing with omnipotence.

It's a comfort, for now.

I suppose.

[ He doesn't find it comforting. He doesn't do well with peaceable tedium. ]

But that is not the matter at hand.

No, it's not.

[ He'd been— he doesn't want to say he was stalling, but he can't deny that he's a bit apprehensive about this. He walks over to where he'd put his jar of memories and holds it in both hands, staring down at them with a deep breath. Steadying himself for what's to come, he supposes. Whatever it may be. ]

[ Leto says nothing. They know the routine, know that the first step has to be taken by the person who needed to go forward. Even when the memories piled up and questions were asked, it was never forced, never belittled.

They all have ghosts they wished to run from. Leto never fully understood the impulse to. Memories did not hurt him, not personally. The grief was past, the wounds had been healed. The only time he recoiled from them was the thought of his future - and the burden he had to face. ]

[ Shinjiro was— afraid of his memories, had been ever since he remembered killing someone and then had injured Chronosome directly after. He was afraid of so many things, that he would lose control of his Persona again, that someone else would get hurt again...

But this was Dune that he was with, and Dune could protect himself just fine if anything happened. Shinjiro had far more faith in Dune than he ever did in himself, if he's to be perfectly honest with himself. And he's trying to be.

He opens the jar. And as he does that, the keys begin to glow. As if they'd been waiting for this moment.

And Shinjiro remembers. His hands clutched to the jar still, his eyes seeing only the past as a thousand tiny memories and larger memories enter his consciousness all at once.

Sorry, it'll take a moment before he's even able to say anything, lost as he is in remembering. ]

[ Leto reaches out to shake him gently. ]

Sable.

[ Shinjiro blinks once, twice. He turns his head to look at him. ]

Dune.

[ It's all he can say, the weight of nearly his whole lifetime on him at last— the bad, yes, but also the good— and he can't even imagine how Dune did it with several lifetimes worth. ]

[ His expression softens. ]

How was it?

It was....

[ Shinjiro sighs, a soft sigh of breath he didn't even know he'd been holding. ]

...a lot better than I thought it would be. More happiness than I thought... and sadness... and...

[ He leans slightly, putting his head on Dune. ]

[ He runs his fingers through Sable's hair quietly, like Naha used to. ]

There are worse ends, scattered in time. Worse paths one could have taken.

[ He breathes, a silent benediction. ] This was not one of them.

[ Yeah, at least he's from the timeline where he actually survived October 4th. ]

[ Though he doesn't say it, he appreciates the touch of Dune's fingers in his hair. ]

Well, there's that. [ He chuckles slightly. ] I'm... glad I did this.

[ He hums lightly. ]

Ah, well. You know how the old saying goes. "Dune is always right".

"Dune is always right", yeah. And Sable should've listened sooner.

[ He lifts his head back up and smiles at Dune. ]

I'll keep it in mind next time I'm being stubborn.