lucetilogs | (no subject)

(no subject)

Who: Everyone! New Feathers especially.
What: New Feather welcome party!
When: Thursday, 5 pm.
Where: Battle Dome
Summary: IT'S A SUMMER PARTY
Rating: Worksafe, I reckon!
It's cold out there today, isn't it? Sure, it's not snowing but once you get into the Battle Dome, it'll be comfortably warmer. Warmer, not warm. Follow the tiny paper arrows and you'll probably find yourself in, well...summer!

It certainly looks convincing enough (a pool, a volleyball court, deck chairs, everything that you'd think you'd find at a pool party) and feels convincing enough (take off that coat! Aren't you hot?) so why not not step in? The barbecue's sizzling and there's some nice cold drinks at the cooler.

C'mon in, the water's awesome!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Friends. [ forgive her, Ikki, with all her weird antisocialness she's hard to understand sometimes.. ]

Do you have a lot of them..? Or a few?

[Good question. Except he's not going to bother to count them.]

I have more than enough.

[Since he really shouldn't have any.]

... I'm glad. [ Because it's always nice to have friends, right? Even if it's not a lot, even if it's just one person, like she had Tomoya back in the day.. Just that's enough. ]

Maybe.. [ .. she pauses, almost a little shyly or hesitantly. ] ... We could be friends too.. If you could use one more.

... Hmm, I suppose so. You're small, so you won't fill too much space.

[He smiles a bit, only a bit, and lightly pats her head. There, happy?]

I'm Phoenix Ikki.

[ More than happy, really. Even though there's something blank even in her smile, it's genuine and warm as well, as if this is enough to make her really happy. ]

My name is Kotomi Ichinose, a senior from class A. My hobby is reading. When referring to me, please call me 'Kotomi-chan'. [ from the sound of it, it's an introduction that's been practised and repeated many times over.. ]

[Yes, that sounds pretty practiced... Kotomi-chan, he has to call her that? Ikki doesn't do with those things, even if he's Japanese, it just doesn't sit right with him.]

You really like to be called that way?

Hmm. I'd like for all my friends to call me Kotomi-chan. [ because it helps her keep track of who's a bully and who isn't in her head, to a point where her brain just completely blocks out people who call her anything else without her consciously realising it.. ]

... Is that a problem..?

... No, I suppose not. I'm just not used to use those formalities.

[Even if calling her Kotomi-chan actually is pretty informal.]

I'll just have to get used to it, don't worry.

[Watch him forget it half of the time and her ignoring him when he does.]

Anyway.... My name's Phoenix Ikki, the Bronze Saint of the Phoenix... I don't have hobbies. And you can call me whatever you please.

Phoenix Ikki, huh.. I guess it should be Ikki-kun, then. [ a slow nod to herself. ] Hmm, I'll trust you to be able to get used to it in no time, Ikki-kun.

[ for some reason there's already a high opinion of him.. this girl's opinions swing between 'bully' and 'praise into heavens', apparently. ]

But.. what does 'the Bronze Saint of the Phoenix' mean?

It means I'm the Phoenix Saint. And that's a Bronze Cloth, you could say it's a rank. There are Silver and Gold Cloths. Supposedly Bronze Cloths are at the bottom in ranks of strength and power.

[Supposedly.]

[ She nods, easily absorbing the information - at least learning is something she's good at. ]

But.. you say 'supposedly'.. so are you maybe stronger than the others after all?

Four Bronze Saints and me were able to fight and defeat all the active Silver Saints but one and several Gold Saints. If that doesn't mean we can be as strong as them or even more, it means we have a lot of luck. And I know for sure we have none of that.

[ Even though she has no idea how much those relative power levels would be, she does seem impressed, her eyes widening slightly as she nods. ]

That's great.. Ikki-kun is such a strong person. He could probably beat any bully..

... I used to do that, anyone who dared to make my brother cry would have to face me. I told him over and over to fight his own battles and to stop crying and be strong, but he just hates to fight.

[So much that even despite being the strongest one of them all, he ends being the one in need of a rescue because he refuses to hurt his enemies. Ikki sighs at the memory.]

I suppose I still have to do that even now at times.

But.. don't all people naturally hate to fight? [ she blinks a little. ] People fight, but that's most of the time just because they have to, because they have to protect something or for another reason, but.. nobody likes to fight just for the sake of fighting, right?

Just like how you fought for your brother's sake.

Some people do. If everyone fights just to protect something, how come everyone keeps fighting against each other? Someone threw the first stone, for some people that stone is an actual attack for others it's a metaphorical thing. Like "I just can't stand sight of you".

And there are people that are just cruel by nature.

People who are cruel by nature, huh.. [ you can probably already guess what she's going to say here, Ikki. just take a wild guess. ]

... Like bullies?

Worse than bullies.

[ You know, bullies are pretty much the worst thing ever in Kotomi's view of the world. So to think there's something worse than bullies out there.. ]

H.. how can something be even worse than bullies..? They're really scary, aren't they?

They are more than scary. They are downright cruel, in their eyes nothing in the world has any value, nothing besides death and destruction. They kill anyone and anything in their sight and way, plants, animals, people, no matter their age, they kill pregnant women and the babies inside their wombs... And they get nothing from it, no fun, no money, not even some sicked sense of superiority, because they want nothing except to kill and destroy everything.

Bullies at least have fun while they do what they do, that's their reason to act the way they act. But those other people have no reason, they just are like that.

[Don't make him go into examples of how bad the difference is, Kotomi. You won't like it.]

[ She already doesn't like this, really. So that's why.. she just goes quiet for a bit. Her gaze turns towards her shoes, as if those are suddenly very interesting to look at, and she actually remains silent for quite some time like that. ]

... Those people.. sound even more scary.. [ Her voice is pretty soft. ]

Far more.

[He eyes her, noticing how she seems to take it really bad... And he used to think Shun had no backbone, this girl really has none.]

None of them are here, though. If they were we would have already dealt with them already.

[So no need to worry or be scared.]

[ a nod, even if she's still staring at her shoes, they're very interesting, okay? ]

Yes. ... Thank you, Ikki-kun. There's no scary people like that here, so.. it's okay, right?

Yeah. And if they appear I'll just send them back flying to whatever hole they crawled from.

[ There's a beat, and still with the blankest expression possible she holds up two fists, as if she's fist pumping in what probably seems like the least enthusiastic way ever, but it's energetic for her, okay. ]

That's right, Ikki-kun will show them. Since he's stronger than anyone else. [ how did it suddenly become that.. ]