08 . family drama

[necrolord]

Who: necrolord, Gideon, Harrow, Paul; Oscar, Ruby, Ozpin, maybe Qrow and Ange; possibly others.
What: Some kids robbed a lich and got their hands melted off. The fallout is messy.
When: April, following the party, network post, and Oscar's log.
Where: Bone House & Clockhouse

Content Warnings: Marked as needed. Note all the usual warnings of this character.

Comments

[peripheries]

...I know humans have a lot of different sorts of art. But I only understand music.

[It had been the only art he'd been taught. He takes the mushrooms and chops them slowly, a little rough but not carelessly, all while quiet, forehead scrunched a little in thought. Then as he finishes, he straightens, as if set on what to say.]

It's lonely when everyone is gone. The quiet is louder than any voice.

[necrolord]

[ He fusses with glaze for the fish while Kaworu chops. At this, though, his hands still. ]

Don't I know it. [ The look on his face goes wry, quiet. Something like wistful. ] That's a rough one to learn. It helps to talk, even if it's only your voice... it helps to fill the quiet with something.

[ He turns to look back at Kaworu, encouraging. ] And we're not alone, are we? There's two of us to make our wastefully pretty fish dinner.

[ A beat, and his lips twitch with a smile. ] And the lizard.

[ 'Shinji' trots over to bump itself against Kaworu's ankle, on cue. It is still very dead. ]

[peripheries]

I used to practice my English and Japanese by speaking out loud to myself, at night, after testing and everyone went home... I got tired of not hearing anything back. At least music isn't supposed to get a response.

[He's silent then. He doesn't want to think about this house being anything like the SEELE facility, even when it gets quiet. When Shinji-kun bumps his nose against Kaworu's leg, he smiles and drops down, to pet the lizard's head. It's easy to understand in that moment, why he would attach himself to a lizard that pays him affection and have no interest in determining if its dead or not.]

No, we're not alone. Everyone will be back. And we're together now.

[necrolord]

[ He gets it. He gets it better than anybody should. Sometimes, on bad days, he can't see anything except that he's been playing house with zombies for the past ten thousand years.

This isn't a bad day. He loves them all too much to stop loving the dead. Kaworu should get to love whatever's around to love, and if that's a secondhand God and the corpse of a lizard, then that's a family for the evening. ]

We are. And I bet we can have the better night of it. [ 'Shinji' leans into the petting, then trundles off again. ] Cooking means making something together - helping each other. I'll teach you.

[ He has a lot of experience, at the end of the day, when it comes to learning how to live. Teaching himself and someone else how to be human. It's been a long time; it hurts too much to bear thinking about; but he can't stop loving these echoes any more than Kaworu will stop loving his dead lizard. It's what they have. ]