#v; kintsugi

[theyoungblooded]

@nonhumen asked: [ CARE ] receiver finds the sender has fallen asleep somewhere and places a blanket or jacket over them. 

It isn’t like Ryō to fall asleep in the Boss’ office while waiting for him to return. Hell, it isn’t like him fall asleep in front of other people. It’s been a chaotic month for the Port Mafia, & while normally he can balance those duties just fine, this time of year is… difficult for him.

August is the month his mother passed away, he suspects that is the reason for his loot sleeping schedule these past couple of weeks. You would think that after eight years he would have gotten used to it, but he still feels her absence constantly, especially around this time.

He doesn’t even realize he’s drifted off with his head propped in his hand on the arm of the couch until he feels the soft weight of a blanket of a blanket on him, & gray-blue eyes open, his right iris noticeably lighter & cloudier due to the partial blindness from his old injury. He catches sight of a blurry, brown-haired figure hovering over him attentively, “ Anmaa…? ” he whispers, the Okinawan term for Mom.

It’s only when he feels the cool familiar touch of No Longer Human wash over him that he realizes his error. If he wasn’t so out of it from sleep deprivation he would have been embarrassed. Obviously his 19-year-old superior & friend isn’t his dead mother.

Ah. “ Boss… ” he yawns groggily, trying to sit up & regain a sense of professionalism. “ Sorry. ”

[theyoungblooded]

@nonhumen asked: “Do you think I deserve to be forgiven?” (to any of them from verlaine!)

There was a time when Piano Man would have said absolutely not, & tried to kill him for being stupid enough to even ask such a question. He’s well aware how lucky they all were to have survived their encounter with Verlaine. He had seen from the other Gifted in the Port Mafia what would have happened had Dazai simply not intervened; Iceman’s bones shattered completely, frail little Doc severed in half from the waist down, Albatross with his torso ripped open & his legs crushed, Lippmann… his partner, his other half… his heart burns with grief at the very thought.

But that’s not what happened. Instead of ignoring it when he noticed Verlaine’s presence in Yokohama, Dazai had warned them all.

It’s been seven years since then, a lot has changed. Verlaine has changed. He’s still not the friendliest, but he’s amicable. He doesn’t try to convince Chuuya he’s better off alone anymore, & …when N seemingly came back from the dead & triggered Corruption against their friend’s will, he’d taken them all out rather quickly. While Dazai was executing N, Verlaine had been the one to place himself between his brother & Chuuya’s friends. He knows it was for the younger man’s sake, Piano Man was under no illusions that Verlsine was especially fond of any of them, such was his anger & envy towards all perceived humans.

“ Do you regret what you did? ” The other Executive asks softly, golden eyes flicking towards the blond with a gaze wise beyond his years. There was only one real answer he could give. The truth was, nothing was as black & white as it seemed. He had seen Verlaine in the aftermath of Rimbaud’s return. No one was truly evil at the end of the day. Everybody had someone they loved. “ …If you truly want my forgiveness, then you already have it. The real question, Verlaine-san, is what will it take for you to forgive yourself? ”

It’s a loaded question, Piano Man is well aware. He’s had Chuuya speak to him many times about Verlaine’s agonized self hatred for his perceived lack of humanity, for being an artificial killing machine implanted with a demon. He’s not sure he believes in wicked people, but wicked actions. Can Verlaine forgive himself for everyone he’s killed, all the potentially innocent people in the name of war for a government that would just as soon stab him in the back? Can he forgive himself for the turmoil he put his brother through?

Unfortunately, only one person can answer that, & it’s not Piano Man.

[theyoungblooded]

@nonhumen asked: “ How long have you been dealing with this? ” ( to doc from dazai )

Dazai wasn’t supposed to find out this way.

Ideally, nobody was meant to know until it was over & he could share with them all the good news. The doctor had been so meticulous about hiding it, too. But then Dazai had come into his office without him hearing & seen Doc, with his shirt off & a port in his chest for the IV which now contained a fluid that looked vastly different from his usual combination formula of vitamins & minerals he was typically on.

There was no mistaking the white-knuckle grip Doc had on his chair, the way he shaking & sweating, anti nausea medication sat open next to him along with a waste basket just in case. A litany of other drugs were scattered out across the desk with long, difficult to pronounce names that most people wouldn’t understand, but Dazai would… they were drugs to help battle the side effects of chemotherapy.

“ What is it? ”

Doc dips his head, dark bangs falling into his eyes so he doesn’t have to see the expression on his Boss’ face. “ Sarcoma. It just reached the criteria for Stage III. I am trying to make sure it won’t metastasize. ”

Now they sit side by side, & Doc’s eyes are closed. His chest felt like an elephant was sitting on it, & his vision spun when he tried to look at anything for too long. “ …about four months. Discovered it after performing a self examination following localized pain in my upper shoulder, I— ” his stomach lurches & he quickly leans forward to grab the basket before he can empty his stomach, coughing afterwards as his stomach burns.

“ …S-Sorry. Sorry, Boss. ” It wasn’t recommended for even skilled doctors to perform chemo in themselves, hell, it wasn’t legal. But he hadn’t wanted to burden anybody else.

[pyrebright]

@yuureibanaa

"Oh! Well, hello!"

The little hands tugging at the hem of her tunic had startled her, at first, and she'd nearly dropped the stack of books she was holding.

It was... a good thing she had kept her grip, though; the culprit was, truly, one of the most adorable customers she'd had this week, and she couldn't help but feel warmth bloom in her chest as the little girl scrunched the fabric between her hands.

Carefully setting her work aside, and carefully extricating herself, she knelt to put herself closer to the little girl's eye level, reaching out to ruffle her hair.

"Can I do something for you, sweetheart? Are you, ummm..."

Pausing to glance about the shop, her brows drew together in a frown.

"...where are your parents? Are you... lost?"

Was there anyone else in the area that looked like her? There wasn’t anyone that came to mind immediately... 

And there was something about her... something that prickled at the corner of her sixth sense. A slumbering power. One just beginning to wake, and to fledge. A young mage?

This... could be bad.

“I can help you find them, if you’d like.”