altimit | [closed]

[ ?… ???… ????

nani the heck?

hani stops walking. earlier they were tugging mithrun forward, now they tug him back toward them. he’ll let them, hani knows. their hands reach up to frame his face, soft, dry palms holding his cheeks.

they turn his face slightly to the left, then right. hmm. then gaze up into his lovely eye. hmm!! ]

If I kiss you right now, would you mind?

( Mithrun's tugged back toward Hani without resistance, and he doesn't resist how they turn his face about.

He gazes at them and their pretty face impassively. He wonders if he's seen this expression on their face before quite like this. )

I would.

[ hani kisses him then, to prove that statement wrong. just warm lips and a little bit of shared breath. even that small action makes their toes curl.

they pull back with a huff. ]

A blessing? Maybe like the thought bubble one I received last week… Mmm.

( Mithrun, as always, lets it happen, his gaze flicking away elsewhere the best acknowledgment that he had felt some sensation when it had. )

... No. I wasn't just in an Area before we met, so I couldn't have been given an effect I was familiar with.

It makes a particular difference to me, so I really wanted to clarify.

( the w word... feels weird to even say that phrase )

I see.

[ very seriously. makes sense, makes sense. ]

I don’t mind it either, but I don’t think I like that it’s forcing you to say you want things. Yes, that part I don’t like. These blessings are quite relentless…

[ the thought bubble had even translated their thoughts for everyone. though the timing was convenient since they had been too tired for most things, including basic conversations.

well! now that that’s settled, hani lets go of mithrun and continues onward. ]

( Oh... The sentiment gives him pause, and he's pulled along. )

... Are you happy for me?

( Upset, rather.

As they approach, though, he sees the first mob - Disco Knives among them. Mithrun's hand slips from Hani's as he shifts into a stance to start his AoE combo. )

It feels as though...

[ hani withdraws a bottle of whiskey from their inventory and flings it over to the farthest enemy. it hits one of the knives where hani images its forehead would be if it had one. the sound of shattered glass is quickly followed by spell: givak don, invoking fire and flame.

there's no friendly fire (pun unintended, they barely know what puns are), so the explosion of heat doesn't touch mithrun. but hani had deliberately aimed for the back of the pack, just in case. ]

I'm a cat and I've been given the softest, most delicate scratching post. It's still nice, but I don't like it. That kind of feeling?

[ iya na kanji ]

( Mithrun listens, even as he dashes in, untroubled by the rising flame, and unleashes a Koranshu, a broad swing that strikes through multiple targets with startling ease - before he doubles back into the rest of his combo to slice through the rest.

With Mithrun up front and fire at back, they bunch up toward the middle - making them easy targets for mowing down. )

... You don't prefer things as they are?

( Ah, so not all questions come out exactly the right way. Probably because it's not neutral; there's a presumption behind it - that he gets the sense Hani may like things as they are, even if that's a prickly and unrefined scratching post, as it were. )

That’s not quite it, no.

[ an absentminded answer as they fling more fire to finish off the mobs. ]

I would just prefer it if you had a choice. Whatever it may be - you know?

( Ah, he sees.

Once the mobs are satisfactorily finished off, he begins to trot down the way again. )

... You pay attention to other people less than I do.

Yay, good job!

That’s how I am. [ they agree, following along at an easy pace. ] I don’t understand people a fair amount of the time, however. I guess if you’re comparing us, it would seem like I do it more.

But why compare? You’re fine as you are.

( He keeps his gaze ahead, claymore still drawn. )

... What's it like, having so much space in your chest?

( Referring back to a conversation. )

[ megan rom is murmured from hani's mouth before they answer mithrun. the rocks impede the incoming dark horse, which is a terribly unfair name to the human part of it. ]

Well! [ a thoughtful hum. ] What's in your chest right now?

( He watches the dark horse struggle against the rocks for a moment, falling slow into a stance to leap - like an animal. )

... So much of everything, I think it might burst.

( And then he's off, coming up real close to the monster with a Death Bringer as the Dark Horse breaks through the rocks, its form a little more haggard from the damage - in time for Mithrun to meet it with a blade thrust into the horse's neck, twisting around to lop the whole thing off in a critical hit. He shifts to run the belly of the rider through with his blade, just as it raises its own blade to strike and shield to defend. )

I wouldn’t say I’m much of an expert.

[ they call out teasingly, “hey, mister. over here!” the rider’s eyes start sliding their way, having forgotten there was another player here in the midst of all the horse slaying and potential belly slicing. in comes the bright disco stick, hitting the creature in the face. a moment’s distraction but enough for mithrun to finish it off. ]

But I’ve felt cracks that I thought weren’t possible. Before Justy-kun, even. When Gani-kun… [ they trail off with a smile. ] Sometimes, I feel like bursting, too.

I don’t think I’m remotely close to being full? That’s a handful of people out of the dozens I’ve met and hundreds I’ll meet. Maybe we only imagine a limit. And maybe we don’t realize we’re not empty until that person has already settled into our chests, in our hearts.

( He listens to Hani speak as he beats off the shield with the sheer force of his claymore, the thrust of his blade too powerful in momentum to quite block - it's a normal hit, but a critical, and it runs the rider through.

It hangs there skewered for some few more moments before it finally dissipates away. )

... I see.

( He looks back at Hani, a nonverbal signal that he'll be proceeding so they don't get left behind, and starts off again down the stony corridors. )

... You think we're alike, right?

( Or rather, you think we're very different - Hani being of the conviction that they're all particularly unique. Or so Mithrun understands of them. )

[ with an air of someone who’s just here for a nice little scroll and some interesting scenery, hani follows along. ]

Us? We are indeed different, you and I - but we’re similar in some ways.

[ they stretch, interlacing fingers high above their head. maybe in another life, mithrun and hani would be like their hands, closer to mirror images of each other. but hani was born worshipped as a near-otherworldly marvel, carefully loved, body unscarred. that tachibana boy. then again, if mithrun’s scars didn’t exist, would they be similar still? ]

Do you have any thoughts on that?

( Maybe it's all the fire from earlier, or maybe they're just lucky, but this stretch of the way doesn't seem to feature any monsters, even as it narrows into a one way path.

Mithrun keeps his gaze fixed ahead, suspecting something will pop up eventually.

He doesn't really know the words for how he wants to reply to Hani - he wouldn't know them even if he weren't speaking backwards. It's a level of feeling and introspection he doesn't understand, can't see. When he sees himself in the water, it sees his reflection blurry. )

... I prefer me to you.

( Envy.

It's a general feeling - not rooted in the strange tangle of the three of them, though he sees shades of it there. He doesn't want to change, he has a goal in mind he can only complete while he is himself - he cannot and would not be them.

But there's something about being relatively alone in your experience, and finding someone similarly alien, and then - finding they are so blithely bright; curious and open to the world about them. They don't find themself so defined by what they lack.

As they walk, the air gets thicker, and heavier, in some subtle way - like two frogs in a boiling pot. The tell of a Dark creature watching them from some distance, no doubt. )

[ hani makes a soft noise that becomes a sigh, their head turning to catch the eyes watching the pair of them. the skull devilgon that slinks out of the darkness of the path ahead interrupts their conversation.

hani casts their first spell, their second, their third in quick succession. earth to impede, fire to provoke, water to stagger. usually touched with luck and power, all three spells fail to thwart the devil in any effective way, as if reflecting the vague impatience of their caster.

mithrun’s answer will have to wait until they’re done with this fight. and they’ll run their SP into the ground to do so as quickly as possible.

the devilgon stalks closer as hani’s fingers flex around their weapon, mindless malice meeting grim indifference. they fling a bottle of whiskey this time, a weak givak don to fan the flame, before a sharp merue rom vaporizes for critical damage.

yet the monster stands. ]

( He doesn't know what that sigh sort of sound means, but he doesn't really have a moment to dwell before their malevolent visitor reveals itself. He's quick to dive into battle, claymore already at ready, and elements exploding around him. Mentally, he tracks how much SP that must be taking Hani - they'll burn out quick if this thing isn't dead soon. So be it.

The skeletal creature feels the impact of the attempts, but its grin only seems to widen as it how it cuts through Hani's magic, raising its bone-white blade to parry Mithrun's own swing - Mithrun narrows his eyes in mild annoyance.

And then there comes the dancing flames - the explosion and injury that seems to force it to stumble backwards. Mithrun seizes this chance to bring his blade around for a Death Bringer, slicing through its bloodied body brutally, though he fails to crit. Through the vaporizing flames, he combos into a normal attack, then a Calamity for little damage and a normal attack again, trying to keep it preoccupied and hold aggro while he waits for Death Bringer to come off CD.

He glances back at Hani, wordlessly - they'll be able to react before he can pull back his blade for his next strike, but he doesn't know if they're going to run out of SP in the process. )

Edited 2023-08-28 00:12 (UTC)

[ the way mithrun’s claymore dances in heavy swings and swift arcs speaks to how practiced he is at doing these runs. it’s something to admire; if only there was a moment to just stand back and watch him in his element. he seems to be doing a good job of holding the enemy back, giving hani time to regenerate some SP. the ticks are slow, but if they can time it right…

the moment mithrun glances back, hani is ready to give it another try at boiling this thing alive. it’s always a shame to waste too many bottles, but it is how it is. hani tosses four in wide arches, the bottles landing in strategic positions around the devil rather than on it.

the first givak don hits only one out of the four, dealing minor damage. the second one, murmured with enough force that their voice rings through the decrepit corridor, manages to shatter the rest, amplifying their attack despite the lack of critical force. the rapid flames surround the devilgon and brings it to its knees for the final time.

be quiet in death until you need to exist again for the next group. ]

( Mithrun watches its final, hellish moments, claymore still at ready, should it have some final trick up its sleeve. It doesn't, though; it passes, contrary to its nature, peacefully. Only when it's fully dissipated does he finally rise up, and sheathe his claymore.

Wordlessly, he turns and returns to Hani, and, after a moment of studying them and confirming to their condition, he reaches into his inventory. He offers them two bottles of sake: the two he'd had left over from an evening drinking with Tylor. Clearly, Hani makes pretty good use of these. )

[ that took longer than hani wanted. they still feel a little keyed up from the battle, but they let go of their weapon, letting the staff dematerialize into their inventory.

a breath. then, oh -

they manage a smile. mithrun’s offering is probably just that, a pragmatic exchange rather than a gift. it’s… still something. still cute enough that they laugh a little as they slot out two cocktails to make room for the sake. ]

Thank you… Mithrun-kun, Morgan-kun.

[ now that their hands are free, they take both of his. fingers curl into scarred skin, stroking, contemplative. finally, hushed: ]

Earlier… what you said. Did you mean me, or… the idea of me? The idea of what you think I am?

( The idea of them?

They let Hani hold onto his hands like they're doing him a favor while he considers what they mean. The thing is - can anyone really know another person? Don't people all just tumble through life, seeing a picture of a person through their rear view mirror, and never head on? He's not a complex person, but, Solipsistic as it might be, he can't expect anyone to really know him, the way he can't find himself to really know anybody else. Every man is an island. Such that it is.

But maybe Hani, Hayanari, feels there is a true, objective self, that can be quantifiably be defined.

So he looks at them, even though he doesn't know if he sees them as they are. )

... What are you?

( I don't know. That's his answer. His idea of Hani, yes. But he doesn't know Hani to know if what he thinks Hani is and what Hani feels they are are one in the same.

So, what is Hani? What is "me"? )

[ who are they? who is hani, this person who doesn’t even have a proper name. who is hani, who loved and laughed with a heart untouched, a mona lisa that would watch the louvre burn and smile still. and hani now, who loves and laughs is… ]

… More brittle than I realized.

[ in another life, it would have been more human. maybe that’s still the case here. humans ache over the strangest things. a single comment and a fire settles insidiously in their lungs.

this is how justy and hani are alike, their struggles seemingly invisible through the force of their smiles.

and this is where they feel the beginnings of something ugly in them. they’ve never minded being hani before because hani finds everyone beautiful. thinks the very being of each and every person catches the eye like marbles glinting in the sun. but if they suddenly become the hand stopping someone’s marble from shining, clutching it tight in their selfish, beautiful hands, then they -

maybe they’re wrong for mithrun? they had been so happy to be right for justy. but that’s how it is, they know, you can’t be right for everyone.

but you can learn to be less wrong, can’t you? hani squeezes his hands, unable to find the words. eventually, they just settle on a smile, a little frayed at the corners, but there. ]

[closed]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)