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Well, that's another thing learned. You're not overly sentimental.
I don't know the circumstances that led to you finding out about Star Platinum, obviously, but if you're willing, I'd like to ask: did it unnerve you, when you found out what he could do?
I don't know the circumstances that led to you finding out about Star Platinum, obviously, but if you're willing, I'd like to ask: did it unnerve you, when you found out what he could do?
I assumed I didn't need to state this so explicitly, but that's my mistake. Since you apparently need everything spelled out for you: no, the trust I place in you isn't the same as the trust I place in the Jotaro I know because you don't have the same experiences he does that shaped him into who he is.
But that's not the same thing as not trusting you at all. Something like this isn't all-or-nothing where I trust you completely or not at all. It simply means I'm more conservative as to how much I'm willing to rely on you, but I'm open to giving you more than that when I'm given reason to place more trust with you.
I think that's reasonable given the circumstances.
But that's not the same thing as not trusting you at all. Something like this isn't all-or-nothing where I trust you completely or not at all. It simply means I'm more conservative as to how much I'm willing to rely on you, but I'm open to giving you more than that when I'm given reason to place more trust with you.
I think that's reasonable given the circumstances.
[At some point on the 14th of February, a red paper takeout box ends up on an easily-noticed surface at Rohan's place — maybe near his work desk, maybe by his bed, maybe in the kitchen where he's sure to pass through. But either way, it's reasonably unobtrusive: nothing particularly fancy and with no particular fanfare, just there.
Inside, if he chooses to open it, he'll find his Valentine's day chocolate delivered in an equally unobtrusive way, featuring about a dozen chocolate-filled berries and a folded note that reads, in neatly printed Japanese: ]
You used to lecture me about how bad chocolate is for dogs...right before volunteering to eat all of Arnold's share of candy on his behalf. I thought you might not mind volunteering again this year. ~❤~
Inside, if he chooses to open it, he'll find his Valentine's day chocolate delivered in an equally unobtrusive way, featuring about a dozen chocolate-filled berries and a folded note that reads, in neatly printed Japanese: ]
You used to lecture me about how bad chocolate is for dogs...right before volunteering to eat all of Arnold's share of candy on his behalf. I thought you might not mind volunteering again this year. ~❤~
[Well, naturally Rohan's initial reaction is disgust and aggravation because he has much better things to do than waste his time on something as frivolous as these inane little holiday traditions. So although he's opened it and read it, for a little while, it goes completely ignored, untouched, and without response as he goes about his day. But he sees it a few times and can't ignore it completely. He thinks of responding. He drafts a half-dozen or so responses, varying in their degrees of scathing commentary that waxes and wanes with his irritation every time he looks at the small box. But even as he enjoys the spiraling, unkind responses in his head? He can't make himself pick up the watch and type all of that out. Not that he knows why precisely.]
[Or rather he doesn't want to admit to why because eventually, he stashes the note she's written somewhere to keep. He could care less about the berries or the chocolate they come with. He cares about that small scrap she's given him. So eventually, Reimi gets a very terse:]
Thank you.
[And he leaves it at that.]
[Or rather he doesn't want to admit to why because eventually, he stashes the note she's written somewhere to keep. He could care less about the berries or the chocolate they come with. He cares about that small scrap she's given him. So eventually, Reimi gets a very terse:]
Thank you.
[And he leaves it at that.]
[It goes without saying that Reimi is patient. True, not every test of her patience is quite as severe as waiting more than a decade for the opportunity to bring her killer to justice, but even in her more everyday ones there's still that inclination to wait. Wait, wait and see, wait and hope, wait it out, wait and watch. Time isn't something she notices all that much anymore — at least not the passage of it. There's no point in measuring out your existence in increments of time when you're dead; once you're already past the countdown clock into overtime, that kind of thing doesn't really matter so much anymore.
So she waits, maybe longer than she should, to talk to Rohan. She hasn't forgotten the crux of her concern, far from it. But there's a saying about time healing wounds, and whether it does or it doesn't, the fact still remains that time changes things like water eroding away a rock. The circumstances now are different than they were before.
Izabel is gone, which means she's taken some of the tension with her, but which also means Reimi is out a confidante and close friend.
She doesn't really know what makes her decide this is the right time. Maybe it's just that she's finally come to the decision that there's no time like the present, and doesn't see any reason to put it off any longer.]
Hey...I know you're probably as busy tonight as you are every night, but do you think you could find the time to take a walk with me, maybe?
[Maybe it's that she's already sad about Izabel, so if this ends up going badly, well. At least she'll consolidate all of her sadness together, instead of stretching it out long over time.]
So she waits, maybe longer than she should, to talk to Rohan. She hasn't forgotten the crux of her concern, far from it. But there's a saying about time healing wounds, and whether it does or it doesn't, the fact still remains that time changes things like water eroding away a rock. The circumstances now are different than they were before.
Izabel is gone, which means she's taken some of the tension with her, but which also means Reimi is out a confidante and close friend.
She doesn't really know what makes her decide this is the right time. Maybe it's just that she's finally come to the decision that there's no time like the present, and doesn't see any reason to put it off any longer.]
Hey...I know you're probably as busy tonight as you are every night, but do you think you could find the time to take a walk with me, maybe?
[Maybe it's that she's already sad about Izabel, so if this ends up going badly, well. At least she'll consolidate all of her sadness together, instead of stretching it out long over time.]
[It's not that Reimi doesn't still invite Rohan. He's fairly certain she'll never stop trying to invite him along on whatever silly thing she wants to do. It's just that they've come with lessened frequency lately. And that's just as well and to be expected. Rohan and Reimi are two separate individuals with very little overlap in how they wish to spend their time. There's only so many times anyone can be told no before they stop trying, even Reimi. And there was the somewhat unspoken, lingering disquiet in their relationship, anyway, that neither one of them was particularly willing to address. So, Reimi has her friends and Rohan has... Well, Rohan has his work. He doesn't need much beyond that.]
[But even still, he's suspicious of this invitation. It seems to be out of nowhere and such a mundane thing to do. It's also directly spending time alone with Reimi rather than trying to get him to spend time in a crowd. He hates this. He hates trying to navigate and decipher all of these little aggravating social contexts and cues. He'd just rather something far more straightforward. So, he pushes — no, forces it in that direction.]
What do you want?
[But even still, he's suspicious of this invitation. It seems to be out of nowhere and such a mundane thing to do. It's also directly spending time alone with Reimi rather than trying to get him to spend time in a crowd. He hates this. He hates trying to navigate and decipher all of these little aggravating social contexts and cues. He'd just rather something far more straightforward. So, he pushes — no, forces it in that direction.]
What do you want?
[It's tempting to say, "I just told you", but she knows full well that's not what he means. No, this is Rohan being too perceptive as always again, with no time for paying lip service to formality when he'd much sooner just get right to the point instead.]
I want to show you something I've been working on. And to hang out with you.
[She hesitates. This could make or break the whole attempt, but — honesty or nicety? Honesty. Honesty is the way to go.]
And I want to understand Heaven's Door better, if you'll let me. If you'll talk about him with me, I mean.
I want to show you something I've been working on. And to hang out with you.
[She hesitates. This could make or break the whole attempt, but — honesty or nicety? Honesty. Honesty is the way to go.]
And I want to understand Heaven's Door better, if you'll let me. If you'll talk about him with me, I mean.
[Honesty is always the right way to go with Rohan. It'd only irritate him, and then he'd very quickly begin to ignore her as a cruel means of punishment for seemingly wasting his time. But his hesitation in answering now comes from the mention of Heaven's Door. It's not really a spike in anxiety that he feels, but his stomach drops completely and his blood runs irritatingly cold. He doesn't stay there, however, with that low feeling where he wants to slide under his desk and contemplate never coming out for the next decade or so. He just gets annoyed at the idea of repeating a conversation that's already been had, already been laid to rest to some degree that's been enough to maintain the peace between them. Why would she want to start dredging that up again?]
[He scoffs bitterly to himself, as he wonders whether being a revenant made her this persistent or if she was simply always like this.]
What is there to talk about? You know what it can do now.
[What he really means to say is You know what I did with it now. and Leave it alone, Reimi. Just leave it alone..]
[He scoffs bitterly to himself, as he wonders whether being a revenant made her this persistent or if she was simply always like this.]
What is there to talk about? You know what it can do now.
[What he really means to say is You know what I did with it now. and Leave it alone, Reimi. Just leave it alone..]
You're more than just what you do with your art. And he's part of you. Why should he be any different?
[The truth is, she almost thinks better of that. Almost deletes it, almost changes it to something else. And she realizes, slowly, that she does need to say something else, but in addition, instead of in exchange.]
You say a lot that I shouldn't treat you like a little kid. So I'm asking you, like an adult, to talk to me about him. Because you're a person with the power to make anything you write become absolutely true. If I'm going to treat you like the person you are, then...then I can't just ignore that, and I shouldn't, and I don't want to.
[The truth is, she almost thinks better of that. Almost deletes it, almost changes it to something else. And she realizes, slowly, that she does need to say something else, but in addition, instead of in exchange.]
You say a lot that I shouldn't treat you like a little kid. So I'm asking you, like an adult, to talk to me about him. Because you're a person with the power to make anything you write become absolutely true. If I'm going to treat you like the person you are, then...then I can't just ignore that, and I shouldn't, and I don't want to.
[He disagrees immediately on that point, that point that he's more than just what he does with his art. His art is everything to him to the point it's arguably just as inseparable from Rohan as Heaven's Door is. It's what he focuses all of his attention on at first because the rest of what she says isn't something that he particularly wants to consider. It's easier to get angry over that gross misinterpretation and misunderstanding than it is to try and tease out what she feels when she calls him a person who has the power to make anything he writes become absolutely true. The truth is, he can't see her ever saying that in a positive light. Not when it was used against her in some capacity and she never knew until that fucking moron Okuyasu had to run his mouth...]
[Not that Rohan believes in lying. He doesn't. Deception is the antithesis of who Rohan is as a person even if he's willing, in a moment where he must be the one to overcome, to allow the hubris of his opponent to blind them to what's right in front of them. But all of this could have been avoided if Okuyasu had just kept it to himself. Instead, he struck low. and he forced Rohan into a position he wasn't prepared to be in. And he hurt Reimi.]
[No. He, Rohan, hurt Reimi.]
Fine.
[Not that Rohan believes in lying. He doesn't. Deception is the antithesis of who Rohan is as a person even if he's willing, in a moment where he must be the one to overcome, to allow the hubris of his opponent to blind them to what's right in front of them. But all of this could have been avoided if Okuyasu had just kept it to himself. Instead, he struck low. and he forced Rohan into a position he wasn't prepared to be in. And he hurt Reimi.]
[No. He, Rohan, hurt Reimi.]
Fine.
[Well, on one hand, it's a one-word text — not altogether optimistic. On the other hand, it's Rohan not only not saying no, but actually agreeing to meet up with her, which is highly optimistic. So it's all in the perspective, really.]
I'll come by and pick you up. Then we can walk over to the thing I want to show you together.
[Carefully, she makes that a set of statements, and not a question.]
I'll see you in a few minutes.
I'll come by and pick you up. Then we can walk over to the thing I want to show you together.
[Carefully, she makes that a set of statements, and not a question.]
I'll see you in a few minutes.
[Rohan doesn't reply to her. As far as he's concerned, he's already given her his answer and there's probably better uses of his energy right now than sending a relatively unimportant response of confirmation. Not that he does much in the span of time between her last message and when she finally turns up at his door. There's really only the debate he holds with himself about whether or not he could convincingly pretend to not be in at all. Well, not so much pretend convincingly, but give her the message that he's completely changed his mind even if he's not actually certain of that himself.]
[In the end, he removes the choice altogether from himself and chooses to wait outside with his hands shoved deep in his pockets to remove the temptation to fiddle or fidget. To the untrained eye, his body language likely reads as impatient since he appears to be waiting on pins and needles, but that's the not the case at all. When Rohan's impatient, he's simply tense and he looks bored or waiting for the opportunity to cut whatever it is that's irritating him like that short and into pieces with his words. There's none of that viciousness in his body language, though he doesn't slouch or make himself smaller. He'd like to get this over with for reasons beyond merely wanting to be doing anything other than waiting. Still, he greets her with,]
It's about time.
[In the end, he removes the choice altogether from himself and chooses to wait outside with his hands shoved deep in his pockets to remove the temptation to fiddle or fidget. To the untrained eye, his body language likely reads as impatient since he appears to be waiting on pins and needles, but that's the not the case at all. When Rohan's impatient, he's simply tense and he looks bored or waiting for the opportunity to cut whatever it is that's irritating him like that short and into pieces with his words. There's none of that viciousness in his body language, though he doesn't slouch or make himself smaller. He'd like to get this over with for reasons beyond merely wanting to be doing anything other than waiting. Still, he greets her with,]
It's about time.
[As promised, it doesn't take her long to come zooming up — and it is zooming, as a matter of fact, because it turns out today she's on wheels as she makes her way through the streets. It's obvious that the cobblestone isn't optimal for gliding on with the Rollerblades she's got strapped to her feet, but the sidewalks are at least a little better, and what she lacks in the ability to fly she makes up for in her determination to hit her stride anyway.
So she glides to a halt as Arnold trots along beside her, mildly surprised to see him already outside waiting for her, and waves anyway by way of greeting.]
Come on! It wasn't that long.
[He's all wound up, isn't he? It makes her sad, a little bit, to notice that; more likely than not she's not going to be able to do anything about it, and in fact might only make it worse instead of setting him at ease like she'd want to.]
And it's not that far of a walk, either, where we're going. I won't keep you out too late.
So she glides to a halt as Arnold trots along beside her, mildly surprised to see him already outside waiting for her, and waves anyway by way of greeting.]
Come on! It wasn't that long.
[He's all wound up, isn't he? It makes her sad, a little bit, to notice that; more likely than not she's not going to be able to do anything about it, and in fact might only make it worse instead of setting him at ease like she'd want to.]
And it's not that far of a walk, either, where we're going. I won't keep you out too late.
[It's a scathing look he gives her up and down, eyes linger on the rollerblades on her feet with undisguised disdain. He's not asking why she's wearing rollerblades, but it's obvious that whatever reason she might try to give, he's not going to approve or see as valid.]
Just talk while you... [He gives a vague wave of his hand as he joins her, his hand moving back down to give Arnold a brief scratch on the top of his head. (Don't get an ego, pooch. It's brief.) He says the next word like he can't even begin to fathom how something could possibly be so beneath him.] Skate.
[It's naturally easier to condescend about her mode of transportation than it is to address anything else.]
Just talk while you... [He gives a vague wave of his hand as he joins her, his hand moving back down to give Arnold a brief scratch on the top of his head. (Don't get an ego, pooch. It's brief.) He says the next word like he can't even begin to fathom how something could possibly be so beneath him.] Skate.
[It's naturally easier to condescend about her mode of transportation than it is to address anything else.]
[Arnold, delighted for the attention, utterly fails in that implicit directive not to get an ego, and instead just happily wags his tail and falls into step beside Rohan with an eager bump-brush against the side of his leg. Meanwhile, Reimi's back to needing to build up momentum on the uneven pavement again, and wobbles a little before righting herself as she pushes off at a pace easily matched by walking speed.]
...Okay.
[She stays quiet a minute, arms swinging lightly as her balance shifts from foot to foot, and draws in a slow breath.]
I don't like...not knowing much about Heaven's Door. It's like in a movie, when all the suspense comes from not seeing the monster — the not knowing is scarier than anything they could put out on the screen, you know? And I think that's wrong. To go on feeling like that, I mean, it shouldn't be like that.
...So I want to talk to you about it, because that's not something I can fix alone. And I don't really know what the best way would be, either. Maybe you could just tell me about him, or...maybe you could use him on me, I don't know. I don't know what the right thing to do is. But I know that the wrong thing is to keep...letting him be the elephant in the room. So...will you help me figure it out? Please?
...Okay.
[She stays quiet a minute, arms swinging lightly as her balance shifts from foot to foot, and draws in a slow breath.]
I don't like...not knowing much about Heaven's Door. It's like in a movie, when all the suspense comes from not seeing the monster — the not knowing is scarier than anything they could put out on the screen, you know? And I think that's wrong. To go on feeling like that, I mean, it shouldn't be like that.
...So I want to talk to you about it, because that's not something I can fix alone. And I don't really know what the best way would be, either. Maybe you could just tell me about him, or...maybe you could use him on me, I don't know. I don't know what the right thing to do is. But I know that the wrong thing is to keep...letting him be the elephant in the room. So...will you help me figure it out? Please?
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