IC Contact Post! (Sol Raveh)

[generalflirt]

"Ring, ring, ring~! Oh wait, I'm lying, you got my message machine!"

[ Feel free to respond to texts, voicemails, or action stuff if you want little action things ]

Comments

[duelkatana]

[Leonardo doesn't interject through Masaomi's false cheer. He feels its scathing underbite, accepts the subtle lashing for what it is. Reminds himself the whole while: he did the best he could. That's what the Ancient One taught him, the last time he failed in something this important. His best just wasn't good enough this time.]

[It's only once Masaomi's face and voice turn dark that Leo looks at him. He's earnest, but there's nothing else to read in his tone.]

Because she's your friend. [Isn't she?] And I didn't bring her home.

[And, well, reporting casualties. Respects to the family. It's all very standard, in war. Just because it's supposedly temporary doesn't mean Leonardo can pretend it hasn't happened - or own up to it.]

I won't ask for your forgiveness. But if it's true, then I won't stop looking into it until I have answers.

[generalflirt]

[ Is "friend" the right word? Would Rin even agree to "friend?" Did he have any "friends" in his castle? This whole time here, fading in and out of being involved with these people, in and out of taking their asinine war at all seriously. He'd been denied his happy ended, and he's fought his own war before now.

Here...

What? He had Rin. He had an artificial connection he'd made with Patty and Perona, neither of which were here. He had a tenuous connection to the past with Blue, who is no longer here. He had many other phantoms.

... He missed that warmth, when he could feel it. Right now, he can't feel much of anything. ]

You're a diligent person, Leonardo-san.

[duelkatana]

[His gaze slides away from Masaomi again, but it falls straight ahead rather than to the floor. For all the years he's learned to be calm and unreadable in the face of adversity, he recognizes the look in someone else. The news has been delivered. The news has been received. Unless Masaomi sees fit to question him about the details, their business is concluded.]

[It's a cold way to think after telling someone that their friend has become a casualty, but Leo feels he's seen the type. Masaomi isn't looking for his excuses, or his comfort, or his pledge to make things right. The best he can do is leave. Masaomi's observation feels like a cool criticism wrapped in a compliment, and Leo isn't offended in the slightest. It feels fair; generously so.]

Not as diligent as I should have been. [Stiffly, he pulls away from the counter. His head inclines politely towards Masaomi, and there is regret.] I apologize for interrupting, Kida-san. I wish my news were better.

[generalflirt]

[ Really, their business should be concluded here. After all, the guy came to show up and say he was sorry, he was out with the girl that Masaomi - with his roommate, out on some patrol that she trusted the goddamn reptile more for, and then up and got her killed. No, no, wrong framing. That he got to be a witness to Rin chasing down some "Malevolence" using some power that she's barely explained to him to chase down a shadow and got herself taken in. This stupid, stupid man was going to go out and try to fix it on his honor, probably.

This was the end.

Of course it was the end of this talk, it's not like Leonardo had anything else to say, and it's not like Masaomi- ]

Eeeeeeeh, eeeh. I'm not sure that the sort of samurai vibe you're giving off could have anything good to say, right?! It's just go on out, do your duty, live the life, right?

[ Didn't have anything else nice to say, and he really ought to be silent. ]

No, no. You've interrupted nothing here, Leonardo-san. Really, I could break the glass and burn the cheese and it's about the same conclusion. Think nothing of it, and make up that due diligence.

[ He laughs. ]

That's how heroes do, after all.

[duelkatana]

[Though it stings beneath his plating, a life warring with Raphael has given Leonardo a thicker skin against the pointed barbs. He's silent as Masaomi speaks; doesn't do anything, really, other than keep his head at that exact incline, staring at the wall like he's not even there. It's always been his response, and one his brother has let him know is infuriating - as though he isn't even listening.]

[It's not very kind of Leonardo, but it's how he's always handled this sort of conflict. The mercy of it being someone he knows less well than his brother: that's what makes it unkind. No less his responsibility. But the same familiar wedge that doesn't need family connections to drive deep, doesn't drive quite as deep.]

[It doesn't change the fact that he's let both of them down.]

I am no hero. But I am truly sorry. [He notes, quietly; only that. As if saying it again will make it more profound, somehow.] Please... excuse me.

[A deep, formal bow -- and if he is allowed the opportunity, Leonardo turns to leave.]

[generalflirt]

[ Why him?

Why the goddamned reptile.

God, Rin, you're so stupid and arrogant and- and you don't feel the same way as him. He knows that. Growling to himself, Masaomi marches his way back to his cheese and Mountain Dew, making to down the rest of it in one gulp. He doesn't know what he's going to do from here, but yes, he's excused. ]