[the entry title for this catchall is very funny now
but anyways when he finds her, she's in the medbay! it seems like she's looking around for burn cream for the new injuries on her arms, and she doesn't notice him quite yet.]
[that's easy, but - the memory of blood seeping out of the wound in his chest from the dagger she put there, the way his eyes closed as his consciousness left him. that's more complicated.]
w4, sunday.
but anyways when he finds her, she's in the medbay! it seems like she's looking around for burn cream for the new injuries on her arms, and she doesn't notice him quite yet.]
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Itsuki will open up the shelf where he knows Jiuqing puts the burn cream, and hold it out for Vin,]
Here, Vin-chan.
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...Thank you.
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but he thinks he just might.]
...Let me apply it for you.
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Does it hurt?
[quietly. he means the burns... but also everything else too]
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[it's unclear which wound she's talking about, but her expression tightens.]
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It might never stop. [but he thinks she knows that]
...But it'll get easier to carry, with time.
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...I don't want to carry this.
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[there's a pulse of understanding, and sorrow. rather than someone who's trying to teach her something...
he wants to commiserate with her, right here and now.]
Carrying it, accepting it... Forgetting it... That's always going to be your choice, no matter what else happens.
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[it's a bit weary.]
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[that's easy, but - the memory of blood seeping out of the wound in his chest from the dagger she put there, the way his eyes closed as his consciousness left him. that's more complicated.]
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after a moment he gently touches her hand. a careful brush, and not really a hand grab.]
I think about what Marie-chan said all the time. That Buzen looked sad in the end.
[...]
It's really hard, huh?
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...It's really hard.
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there's nothing else he can possibly say to that. instead, Itsuki sits with her, hand on hers, for as long as she might need.]
...I want to remember At-chan. The important things.
[not the pain and the person he was forced to be,]
Will you tell me about him? When you're ready?
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What did you want to know?
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Yes. It involved protecting other people from harm... It suited him.