I can move mountains, I can work a miracle [OPEN]

[rassera]

WHO: The residents of Nonah 05 + YOU!
WHERE: Nonah, Residence #005
WHEN: All month long (January)
WHAT: Nonah 05 open log for January Shenanigans
WARNINGS: Obligatory Bull and Tetsuo warnings apply.


Starters will be appearing in the comments. If you want something specific from any one person (Kaneda rassera, Tetsuo iamtetsuo, Bull rideme and Ken amadaman), feel free to drop them a line and ask! Otherwise, feel free to add your own starters for the whole household or individual residents as you like.

Comments

[stealwithit]

[ This is why you just keep things casual, Bull. Not that Kasumi's one to judge. She was excited for the both of them when Charlie had told her they began dating, if only because she's a hopeless romantic sap.

She turns her head, looking over her shoulder out the window, from the other side of which she had just been looking into. ]

... I don't mind talking about it. It's been over a year since it happened, now, so.

[rideme]

[Maybe after this, things will stay casual. It always worked out back home, didn't it? No attachment, just fun. Maybe that part of the Qun was on to something.]

[He nudges one of the chairs at the table with a foot.]

Then sit down? Feel sort of bad sitting here yapping while you get to be brooding and mysterious over there.

[stealwithit]

Hey, I like being brooding and mysterious.

[ But she gives a light chuckle, and will take that offer and join him at the table, anyway. And because she's Kasumi and she is super ladylike, she sits with one leg crossed over the other, and leans forward to fold her arms over the table top. ]

Well... what do you want to hear? Long story? Abridged version?

[rideme]

And it looks good on you, but still.

[By contrast, he leans back in his chair. One arm thrown over the back of it. He'd have tipped back in the chair if he trusted himself to balance completely.]

Anything you want to tell.

[stealwithit]

Well...

[ She brings a hand up to cup her chin, peering at him from beneath her hood. ]

You can probably guess how it went, anyway. He was my partner-in-crime for a long time--and obviously, not just in crime. But then he got into some intel he should've just left alone, and he was killed for it.

[ It was actually more tragic than how she's telling it. Kasumi was there when Hock killed Keiji -- the man nearly died in her arms, and she would have followed him if he hadn't convinced her to leave him to save herself, if he hadn't dangled the promise that they would be together again through their grayboxes in front of her. ]

[rideme]

Ahhh... That old story.

[He doesn't say it dismissively. Or he tries not to. Because it is a common story among spies. But it doesn't make it hurt any less to people involved.]

[One big hand moves across the table to touch her arm. Just shy of resting on it. The expression on his face quiet, honest.]

I'm sorry. Long time passed or no... I'm sorry.

[stealwithit]

[ She gives him a nod, glancing down at the hand that touches her arm before she meets his gaze again. She recognizes the look to be honest, supportive, and familiar from the time Bull had comforted her while she recovered in the house after Archangel's fallout; it makes her smile a little. ]

It's alright now, but at first, I was stuck on pretending he was still alive in a way. I have something-- [ she gestures at her head ] an implant that lets me go through my memories perfectly, almost like videos. And I have Keiji's, too. All the time we ever spent together? It's all in there... And then-- you know, I've spent almost a year now, hoping the Porter would really bring him back to life. I thought I'd get lucky. That one day I'd see him come out of that base in Cape Carneval and we'd have a touching reunion or something.

[ She takes a deep, shaky breath. ] ... It was Charlie who helped me pay more attention to the present than the past. So we should do the same, now.

[rideme]

Doesn't sound like a bad thing to have around. You know -- if you need a boost now and then.

[Hey, he wouldn't mind having something like it. Remember the good shit when all you could think of was the bad. Remember all the guys back home... those assholes.]

[But he can see why that... would also be a bad thing. If you got hung up on them, relied on them too much... Yeah. Still. It'd be nice. And he wants to say she still might get lucky. This guy might still turn up, and give her what she wants.]

[... it wouldn't help though. It wouldn't actually make this Keiji come back. And it would undermine what she's already gone through. Already worked through. So he doesn't. He just pats her arm with scarred fingers again.]

Damn.

Even when he's not here... bastard makes a good point.

[He does his best to keep the words steady and light, but there's a catch around the edges that threatens to undo them.]

[stealwithit]

[ That's something Kasumi has struggled with, herself. If Keiji were to show up -- well, she's changed since he died. Would things between them stay the same?

She tries not to think about it, for the most part.

But Kasumi doesn't respond to Bull's first comment; those who knew about her habits back then knew just how much time Kasumi spent dwelling in her own and Keiji's grayboxes, how unhealthy it was. How much sleep she lost over nights pretending to live through the happier times again.

So she focuses on something else. That little catch in his words, his voice -- it's almost hard not to notice. ]

Yeah, well, you might have forgotten that he's got at least a couple of decades of life experience over us.

I miss him a lot, Bull. I just -- I don't want to undo everything he's helped me go through by going back to the way I was.

[rideme]

[It sounds like such a good thing, to anyone who doesn't know the trouble with it. Later, thinking about it, he'll probably come to some reasonable conclusion about the dangers of such a thing. But that's later.]

[Now there's... other things to focus on. Even if he doesn't want to.]

Yeah. I do forget that.

[The tabletop is very interesting.]

And hanging around a guy who's all hung up on him doesn't help you. I get it. [A pause, and then the poker face.] Don't worry. It won't be a problem.

[stealwithit]

[ She shakes her head. ]

You're misunderstanding me.

I'm the last person in the world to judge someone for being hung up-- [ She interrupts herself with a bitter, blithe sort of laugh. ] Take all the time you need. But don't let it get in the way of your life, is what I'm saying. Charlie wouldn't want that for anyone, regardless of the relationship. He wouldn't want it for Ken, for Peter-- and, well, I wouldn't want it for you.

[rideme]

[Yeah, okay. Enough beating around the bush. That hand brushing her arm moves to rest on top of her hand.]

It won't.

This is not the kind of shit that's ever happened before. Any of it. So... maybe I don't know how to handle it.

But. I'm the Iron Bull. Yeah? Be pretty shitty of me if I can't get over this. For everyone.

[stealwithit]

Screw everyone.

[ She tries for a challenging little smirk. ]

It'd be pretty shitty of you if you can't get over this--for yourself. I've been there, Bull. It's not good for any of the people around you, but most of all it's not good for yourself.

[rideme]

Hm.

... Not sure if that's a good enough motivation for a guy like me. Doing shit for me is...

Different.