okitactless | week 1, post-trial

[He's equally tired but maybe not for quite the same reason. There's an effort of a smile though because of the strangers in this castle, Yasusada's become one that he genuinely likes well enough.

It's a daunting though that he's just at as much of a risk as everyone else. But he doesn't say so.]

I told you I'd be okay. [Even if he wasn't entirely sure.] But thanks. One more week behind us, huh?

[He did say that, but they both know how close to an empty promise it could've been. No need to point it out.]

Oh, that's right--I took this for you.

[Digging into the folds of his clothing, Yasusada procures one (1) sharp metal skewer! He's careful, holding it out with two hands.]

It's not a sword, but... I thought it might be good to have something else to keep with you, just in case.

[It's like a cat presenting a mouse to its owner...he's a little bewildered but the gesture is...touching? It's weirdly touching to be given a sharp object and he's equally careful to take it and hold onto it.]

Did you take this from the garden? [There's a hint of a laugh in his voice, but he's holding it anyway. He's definitely going to hang onto this now.] Thank you. It's a lot less obvious than Mesánychta, but it functions the same. Did you take one for yourself?

Mmhmm! Just a couple.

[It probably would've been noticeable if he'd marched off with an armful of skewers... but he shakes his head in response to the second question.]

No, just for you, Okita-kun and Rapunzel-kun. Rapunzel-kun only has her frying pan, and Okita-kun...

[He pauses, visibly hesitant--but he trusts Nico, insofar as anyone can trust anyone here. He doubts Nico will rat him out to Okita.]

...I think Okita-kun tried to wish for his other sword, my partner, but... I'm pretty sure it didn't work.

[...there's a very quiet sort of surprise because he didn't think about swords having partners outside of their masters.]

What makes you so sure of that? I didn't know you had a partner you worked with.

[Yasusada doesn't answer right away. He glances towards the door, then down at his feet before he takes a shuddering breath.]

I'll be right back.

[He looks around cautiously before he slips back into his room--Rapunzel isn't here, but still. When he emerges, he's holding something carefully in his scarf; when he unwraps it, he reveals the broken tip of a sword.]

Kashuu Kiyomitsu. When Okita-kun collapsed at Ikedaya... he broke. That's like dying, for us. [Yasusada's voice is low, his eyes fixed on the shard in his hands.]

I wished that Okita-kun would get his wish, and then I got this, so...

[He waits patiently and when Yasusada unwraps Kashuu Nico actually looks kind of sad. He can only assume that maybe this sword would have also been a sword spirit, and also to lose a partner...that's pretty...hard.

He's too well aware of how loss effects a person to be anything but sympathetic.]

...all of the wishes seem to have backfired. [He's staring at the sword.] When a sword breaks...is it broken forever? Can you guys ever be remade if the pieces are available?

[It was centuries ago, and Kashuu is alive and well with a body of his own in Yasusada's present, but he looks next to miserable anyway, fingers twitching like he wants to rest them on the steel itself.]

It depends... [On the sword, on the type of break, on what era they're from--going into detail would take quite a bit of time.] Kiyomitsu... back then, he couldn't be repaired. The saniwa, our master now, was able to find him, so he has a body like me... but that was the last time Okita-kun was able to use him.

...he abandoned him because he couldn't use him anymore. [He can at least fill in the blanks for himself, and maybe it's his own biases clouding, but whatever.] And that meant Kiyomitsu was left alone until someone came to rescue him. Right?

[...that sounds hauntingly familiar, yikes.]

He didn't abandon him.

[It's a quick response, too quick--something he's obviously argued before. The rebuttal seems more like a reflex than anything, his devotion to Okita immediately drawing out his defenses on his master's behalf.

Even so, Yasusada doesn't like to lie. He wouldn't say it if he didn't believe it.]

He tried so hard to repair him... he wouldn't have left him if the smith hadn't insisted.

[A raised eyebrow. That was absolutely too quick, Yasu. But at the same time he gets that Okita is very important to him so he can't quite call him on it. He'd say the same thing about a few people. Still...that's a depressing though.]

...that must have been awful. [...] What happened to you then? You said he was your partner, so...?

[It definitely was awful and depressing, and even with Kashuu by his side back in his own world, it's not quite the same.]

We're the same kind of sword, so Okita-kun couldn't use us together. It was either me or Kiyomitsu. So after Kiyomitsu...

[Well. He only had one uchigatana left.

That's not all, of course. It never is.] ...Okita-kun's health started to fail very quickly after that, though. It was only a few years before he died, and he wasn't allowed to fight anymore before that. I stayed with him, but... [He looks down.] Swords can't cut out illness.

[Every now and then I remember TR is actually pretty depressing. But that makes sense.

"Let him try. He'll be weakened. And my son here, Nico—well, he's not much now, I'll grant you. It would've been better if Bianca had lived. But give him four more years of training. We can hold out that long, surely. Nico will turn sixteen, as the prophecy says, and then he will make the decision that will save the world. And I will be king of the gods."

Either him or Bianca. And his father had made his preference very clear at the time. Things have improved, slightly, since then, but it's hard to shake that off. He wonders why Okita solely chose to use Kashuu and leave Yasusada back when they were the same.

It's why he's quiet.]

So the battle with Kashuu was pretty much his last chance, and you never got to be by his side out there on top of losing someone important to you. Kind of a tragic end.

[WELCOME TO HELL.

For a minute, Yasusada's tempted to clarify--he did get to be by his side after Ikedaya, if only for a little while. But it had only been because Okita had pushed himself, harder and harder, desperate to serve his purpose. To make Kondou and Hijikata's dreams come true.

In the end, though, he decides against it. There's no point. Everyone here can see that Okita tries to hide his failing health, he's sure--it's all Yasusada can do to stop him from overdoing it just to prove himself.

He sighs softly, taking care to wrap up the broken shard again; he doesn't expect Okita to wander in here, but still. He'd rather not leave Kashuu bared like that, knowing how much he'd hate it.]

...We're together again now. Kiyomitsu and I. [There's a pause, and then Yasusada's shoulders rise, like he's expecting judgment or rebuke for his next words. Still, he says them anyway.]

I-- I can't say I don't mind being here, of course. This isn't where any of us belong. But being able to see Okita-kun... to talk to him for real... I can't be unhappy about that either.

[I WOULD LIKE A REFUND.

It's true though. Everyone here can see that Okita's trying and it's worrisome in its own way. He watches the way Yasusada handles the sword--Kashuu--with care. It's respectable, he thinks.]

...sometimes there can be good things to be found in terrible things. I know none of us should be here and we're putting a lot at risk by playing along, but I think I understand.

[...] I haven't seen Reyna for a few months. It's hard for us to see each other for a handful of reasons, but I can't say it's been terrible being able to see her every day again. Update her on our world and what I've already seen that she hasn't yet. Things like that.

And how does Okita feel about it?

[NO REFUNDS OR EXCHANGES.

Yasusada smiles a little at the mention of Reyna, though. He likes her a lot, and he's glad Nico has a companion--he can't imagine how difficult this would be to deal with alone.]

...do humans always do that? [Yasusada asks softly, finally looking back at Nico.] Try to find happiness even in terrible situations?

[His smile turns just a little wry at the question.] Okita-kun is like that. He tries to be happy as much as he can. I think... it's probably got to be very strange, for him. Me being here, I mean. [He bites his lip.] And I think... I think maybe it makes him a little sad. Since I'm from so far in the future, to him.

No. [There's an equally soft tone.] Not all humans, but there are plenty who do that drag the rest of us along anyway.

I don't think it's a bad thing, by the way. People who do that. But even with the difference in timeline...you get to be together. It doesn't make it less depressing, I think, but I think at the same time it can maybe be a bright side.

week 1, post-trial - nico

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