ledbythewind | EMPATHEIAS IC CONTACT/APPOINTMENTS POST

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EMPATHEIAS IC CONTACT/APPOINTMENTS POST

This post can be used to thread with or get in contact with Richard at any point when he doesn't have a post up! Just comment here (please use the format [Action], [Voice], etc. to make it clear what type of thread it is) for a thread with him; if it's a continuation of another thread or post, please link that so I remember the context of the thread.

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Richard?

Yes?

[As far as Richard can tell, this is just the initiation of one of their typical conversations, so the emotions seeping through the connection are warm, affectionate.]

[Yusuke appreciates the emotions, but he has a goal in mind today.

He flashes up an image of Akechi.]

Avoid this boy, please.

[That warmth shifts to gentle puzzlement as Richard studies the image. That boy... that was the boy he'd rescued from those pirates. Goro, he'd said his name was...?]

Goro? You know him? Is he from your world?

[It's the most logical assumption to make.]

[Dammit.]

I do. He killed a friend of mine's father and countless others. He's insane--criminally insane, and I don't want you getting hurt.

[The phrase "killed a friend of mine's father" gives rise to a swirling mixture of pain, bitterness and sorrow, though he tries his best to fight it down. There's anger that someone would do something like that, but... when it came right down to it, wasn't he responsible for the same thing?]

He seemed harmless enough...

Yes, he's very good at that. But while I use my Persona to help people, Akechi's only ever used his to hurt. He tried to kill Akira.

What?

[His tone turns instantly sharp, edged with ice.]

He tried to kill another Persona user?

[While he still doesn't fully understand the whole concept, what he has managed to glean from it is that Persona users stick together and help each other, not try to kill each other.]

Yes. We were able to stop him, obviously, but he took a gun and was going to shoot Akira point-blank.

I don't understand. Why would he do something like that?

[There had to be some sort of reason for it, as awful and as crazy as it may be... right?]

I couldn't tell you. His life wasn't easy, but I don't know what made him think killing countless people was the way to handle that. Personas don't drive a person insane, after all.

[... oh. That hurt. Not that Yusuke intended it to - he would never make a dig about something like that on purpose - but Richard can't quite manage to cut off that hurt feeling before some of it leaks into the connection.]

... no, I don't suppose they do.

[He just... isn't even going to touch that other part.]

[But he feels it all the same and suddenly the connection is flooded with regret]

Oh, Richard--no, no what Akechi did and tried to do is completely different from what you did! For one thing, you regret it! He doesn't.

[He thinks.]

You were in part possessed and Akechi has been entirely himself during all of this. His normal state of being is an angry, revenge-seeking murderer. Yours isn't.

I don't completely regret killing my uncle.

[And he should regret that, shouldn't he? After all, even as awful as Cedric was, he was still family. He killed family in cold blood and was happy about it.]

I cannot blame that on Lambda. The desire for vengeance was as much mine as it was his, if not more.

Edited 2018-05-17 03:54 (UTC)

He was also a murderer and an usurper. If you didn't do it, someone else was likely to.

[Just saying.]

Still. Are you telling me if you hadn't been possessed you would have done all of that?

I...

[And here he has to pause.]

... I don't know.

[Which is probably the worst part. How much of those feelings had really and truly been his own?]

I don't think you would have. You're too kind, Richard. Even if you don't see it, you are much too kind to do that sort of thing without an outside force.

... thank you.

[He isn't entirely sure he believes it, but if Yusuke feels that strongly, who is he to argue?]

I only hope you're right.

[There's a pause.]

I won't say that I'm never wrong about this sort of thing, but it takes a lot for me to stop loving someone, Richard. Even if you're not as kind as I believe you are, I still love you.

Edited 2018-05-17 04:46 (UTC)

I don't know what I did to deserve you.

[That much, at least, is the truth.]

You love me even when I can't love myself. Now that is true kindness.

[He huffs a small laugh.]

Or selfishness.

Then I give you my permission to be as selfish as you'd like.

Is that permission to come over to your house and stay the night?

But of course.

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EMPATHEIAS IC CONTACT/APPOINTMENTS POST

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