these zombies in the park, they're looking for my heart, oh oh oh

[psychofailed]

WHO: Kogami, Aerith, Tetsuo
WHERE: Nonah #6
WHEN: Idk now?
WHAT: Kogami and Aerith's date has an unintended guest
WARNINGS: Nothing I can think of. Will update if any come up.


[It's not exactly a "traditional" date, gardening with your girlfriend, but really nothing about their relationship so far has been traditional.

He still doesn't really know anything about flowers, but she's good at giving him instructions, and he's--if not a natural green thumb, at least a fairly quick study. At the moment, he's helping pull weeds, which requires, uh, less of a gentle touch. But it's not unenjoyable, honestly, and the weather is pretty nice. He stops briefly to wipe the seat from his forehead, when he notices something out of the corner of his eye--

A flash of color, a Hue. Someone else is here.

...Someone he recognizes, actually.]

Tetsuo, right? Aerith went inside to refill the watering can. She'll be right back.

Comments

[psychofailed]

I know.

[He's not sure if it's the right moment to admit this, and he won't go into specifics unless pressed, but...he'd wanted Tsunemori to look out for him, but now she's gone too.]

I met him the first time when people were the wrong ages for awhile. He was...peaceful. Even when he talked about the things that had been done to him in his life--[his hue didn't cloud; it was clean and clear and healthy] he wasn't angry.

[He wasn't struggling or desperate or lost. He wasn't like me.]

[23wishes]

That's when I met him first too. He felt so... overwhelming. He gave out this aura... I couldn't ignore it. I guess that's his future. His powers are just going to keep getting stronger...

[psychofailed]

[He goes silent for a bit, as if in debate with himself. It's none of his business, he knows. Tetsuo isn't really his business, regardless of how much the kid's hue reminds him of his own.

And yet...]

You--[He hesitates a second longer, then just presses forward]

...You can tell, right? Whatever it was that changed.

[...]

Can you help him?

[23wishes]

To be honest, I don't really know. I'm not even sure what it was that we both saw him as. And... now... he has so much anger inside of him.

It's not even irrational - Tetsuo has had a hard life. He's done bad things, too, but because he was a victim first, it's going to be harder to reach him. He thinks he's vindicated in doing these things. He thinks other people deserve it. I'm not sure what I could do to help him get past that. For now... I just try to be friendly. We're not exactly alike in our powers but we're similar. I like feeling less lonely, admittedly, but... Tetsuo needs to be humbled. It's not good for him to feel so superior to others.

[psychofailed]

[He relates so intensely to that anger, though. It's what he feels, white-hot, every time his thoughts drift to Makishima. But that's why he can't help him; he's too much like him, even if he's not and he's just projecting. Tetsuo needs someone stable and kind and hopeful. Someone like Tsunemori.

Somebody like Aerith.]

I don't know a lot about psychics, and things like that. But he remembered all those things, when I met him. He told me about being experimented on, about his anger, how he'd once felt like he was alone in his suffering.

[It's clear this has been bothering him for some time, now. Tetsuo's ill-timed outburst has just finally brought him to talk about it.]

But he said it didn't matter to him anymore. And it was true. He wasn't angry when he was telling me.

...He turned his life around, somehow. That kind of thing is pretty rare, back home.

[Especially for someone as damaged as Tetsuo. The implication, unsaid, remains clear: he wants to help Tetsuo become that person he met originally, but he doesn't know how.]

[23wishes]

Really? That doesn't sound right to me.

[She's seen plenty of people turn their lives around back home. So many of their friends fought for revenge for the things Shinra took from them. Their anger and hate was overwhelming sometimes, but they were able to move on. She can't believe it's that hopeless.]

It just takes work, that's all.