rw percy aka jumpy-san

[leggymaru]

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[leggymaru]

[When he hears someone come up, he turns his head a little to peer over his shoulder. He waits until Junpei gets up beside him before he looks fully.]

Hello, Junpei-san.

[His head turns back out over the water. There's a farm in the distance. Nothing really gives it away except for the word CHOCOBO, and Hizamaru remembers who told him about those.]

Two more ruins appeared.

[crashout]

[He squints past the horizon to see where he's talking about.]

Is that...a farm? [What the fuck is a farm doing out there? He has no idea what a chocobo is or what Hizamaru knows about it.] Do you recognize either one?

[leggymaru]

[He nods in the direction of the farm.]

I haven't ever seen such a place, but... [His voice lowers gently.] Prompto-san told me they have a beast called a chocobo. It looks like... a chicken, I suppose, but it is as big as a horse. He said you can ride them.

He liked them. He had a picture of one on his camera.

[crashout]

A chocobo? [That's new. A giant chicken actually sounds kind of terrifying but also sort of like a dinosaur and now he wonders where the hell Prompto actually came from.] They sound kind of cool. Do you think the farm out there has them?

[And better yet...why is the farm there? He's still stuck on that.]

[leggymaru]

Mm.

[Looking out over the farm, he's not sure if there are any chocobo rummaging around. He'd like that, even if they couldn't get to the ruins at all. Just to see them... He thinks Prompto would have been excited to show him.]

I'm not sure. I hope so. [Maybe the baby one that runs around and around.] Do you think it appeared because Prompto-san died?

[crashout]

[He watches the farm, but as the boat turns he spots the new residential area, too.]

It's possible. The first four ruins appeared when Carlos and the others became a part of this game. So, what do you think it means if they appear when people die? Is that where they go?

[leggymaru]

[For a long moment, he's quiet, thinking. His eyes search the receding farm and then the residential district. He thinks about Prompto, about how much Prompto claimed to have loved chocobos.

And then he thinks about the Citadel.]

Perhaps they are special places to them.

[looks at dcom]

[crashout]

[There's a nod.] It's possible. Maybe not even just special, but...important. If they are...how do you think we can get to them? There must be a way.

[leggymaru]

[ha ha

He just turns and looks at Junpei with a very solemn expression. Earnestly:]

We die.

[crashout]

Okay...I like your dedication, but what about if we don't do that?

[leggymaru]

I don't think it is a good idea either, Junpei-san.

[crashout]

Then we think of something else. [..hm.] Have you tried contacting our hosts? Chuuya-Red and Nathan and stuff.

[leggymaru]

I've spoken with Chuuya-san, yes. He wasn't able to give Prompto-san any messages; I had to speak to Carlos-san instead. But I didn't mind.

[crashout]

[Wait.]

So those who die here do go where Carlos and Polly are? What'd Carlos say?

[leggymaru]

[His head tilts.]

I asked if he could send a message to Prompto-san. He said, [carlos voice] “Depends.” I gave him a short one, and he said that should be okay. I also sent one to Monika-san, if I could.

I tried to send Prompto-san back his bracelet, at Nightwing-san’s suggestion, but... Carlos-san couldn’t do it.

[crashout]

...[He squints out at Dcom.] What in the hell is he doing over there...

[This seems to be in reference to Carlos.] Maybe they can't take tangible items back to that other realm unless we take them ourselves. It was a verbal message, right?

[leggymaru]

[He watches Junpei without saying anything to what Junpei had said.]

Yes. I spoke it to him. I haven’t received a response yet, so I’m not sure...

[crashout]

...it'll be alright. [Probably.] Even if Prompto can't respond, Carlos will do everything he can to deliver the message.

[leggymaru]

Mm. I trust Carlos-san. [He tries to give Junpei a reassuring smile about his belief, but it's sort of weak still.] I know Prompto-san will hear it.

[crashout]

Good. [But he sees that. All he can do is try to match the expression.]

I know what you're probably going to say, but are you doing okay? It's not really easy to lose them.

[leggymaru]

I'm okay. Knowing Prompto-san is safe on the other side with others is enough. Monika-san, too. Humans... don't have very long lives. Sometimes, they are shorter than they should be.

[He turns his head to look back out over the sea and the ruins.]

Knowing I'm not the first to learn this feeling is okay, too. Chuuya-san... [He's quiet for some time, lips thin and eyes distant.] I shouldn't say. I think it was a secret, but...

Chuuya-san told me about his son, Fumiya-kun. So I understand why he had been sad. He had felt these feelings, too.

[crashout]

Tell me about it. [It's mumbled more to himself than Hizamaru, but death sure is a lot. He keeps his gaze out to the sea as well, but his head is turned enough to show he's listening.]

Grief is a funny thing. People always handle it differently, but the root of it is still sadness. What counts is what you do with the sadness after that. [He glances back at Hizamaru.] I won't tell Chuuya you told me. That can stay between us. But I'm glad he told you...there are others on this ship, too, who've felt those things. Even if they won't say it, it's not always the worst thing in the world to try and understand.

[leggymaru]

[Junpei looks his way, but he doesn't glance over at Junpei for now.]

Human life is... very difficult. [It's what he's finding out, slowly.] It was easy for me to be strong because I was only a sword. I lived for a thousand years through many things.

But being human... is even tougher than having elder brother cut away my extra length, or fighting a giant spider. Here, [He touches his chest.] you have so many feelings I've never felt. You all feel them, sometimes all the time, and continue living knowing one day you will die.

It's very brave.

[crashout]

...you've lived a very interesting life as a sword. [He has so many questions, but he doesn't interrupt after that, letting Hizamaru continue to speak. There's a sigh because, like, he's right, but human life is confusing.]

In way I can see why you'd say that. Some people do give up and some can't go on living. But people are motivated by things and other people in order to continue living even knowing it'll end someday.

Then again, you have people who want to end those lives before they should be over. [...murderers are bad.] Do you think feeling those things makes you less strong than when you were just a sword? [He's curious about where Hizamaru's thoughts lie on this.]

[leggymaru]

[For a moment, he finally looks at Junpei again, expression contemplative and soft. He doesn't turn away so much as shift his eyes to look distantly over Junpei's shoulder.]

No, it is different... I am not less strong or more strong with a human body, but I am strong. It takes great strength to be a human. To want to live, knowing it will end. And even to end lives knowing that will make them short.

One of my more famous masters was made to take his own life after being betrayed by the son of a friend.