003. [video.]

[scathes]

I've been waiting for an opportunity to display your hypocrisies back onto you... but how effectively this world came to prove my point, all by itself.

[ for however rude and offensive his start is, leaks doesn't sound particularly annoyed. if anything, he's unusually pleased about this, more triumphant than anything. he watches the feed from a

Comments

[freed]

I thought that post was all in good fun. It did get a bit...childish at times but no one was hurt by it, right?

Let it be said that I was the one who expressed pity to you and said you seemed lonely. Am I not correct?

private.

[scathes]

[ there's a startled pause. his ears are never going to come up from angry mode, after all this. ]

You... you, who open yourself to the same destruction that so ruined your existence before out of some naïve, far-fetched expectation of change... what place do you have to pity me?

I am not lonely, and I need no-one, except insofar as this pathetic city has forced it!

♡VIDEO. PRIVATE FOREVER.

[freed]

[if N had ears, his would be pricking upwards as well. his gaze hardens, determination reflected in his lifeless grey eyes. after speaking with rai, he's not so afraid and reserved about speaking of his past anymore, at least in private.]

My entire life has been a lie because of them. They are selfish and cruel creatures by nature and nothing will change my opinion on that. I've seen what they can do.

Because of that, I cannot believe that you would not be lonely. No one is meant to be alone, and you too must long to feel important and precious to even one person.

If nothing else, I want to come to understand you so that you no longer need to feel so embittered and hurt.

♡VIDEO. PRIVATE FOREVER.

[scathes]

You...

[ leaks is clearly a little startled by n's frankness, the obvious confidence in his face, and he lowers his head slightly, grunting out a noise of aggravation. still, his gaze never leaves him. ]

Then I wasn't so wrong about you, after all. To think that you returned to humans because of loneliness. You can't live without them, and because you need their kindness, you can't live without the civilisation that forces their kindness. Even at risk of treachery, with that as their nature.

[ he murmurs, at last. ]

... Whether I am meant to be alone or not, I choose to be.

[freed]

I will not try to persuade you into thinking they are trustworthy when I have difficulty believing that myself sometimes.

[his expression softens, watching leaks and wondering what sort of face he had, what his expression looked like at this moment-- whether his eyes had the spark of life he's seen in everyone but himself or if they were glassy and lifeless like his.]

But I do not want someone who has done no wrong to suffer because of them. I vowed never to abandon a casualty to human selfishness ever again, and I will not go back on that now.

[a small smile tugs at the corner of his lips.]

Does it not hurt, choosing such a thing? Isn't it lonely? I thought it was.

[scathes]

[ painful...? leaks looks at n and that soft little smile, the furrows deepening in his brows. his sharp eyes close slowly, and he stays like that behind the mask, for a while.

it's easy enough to recall it all. the feel of flame burning the air around him, singeing his skin even without touching it. the screaming and loathing of those who approached with lit torches. a typically monstrous image. ]

Don't be ridiculous. There's no pain in being alone, where the presence of others can't be tolerated.

... I had better sense than to return to the society that would see me dead. In that respect, I've spared myself every possible pain.

[ perhaps it wasn't as much of a choice as he made it seem, in that respect. ]

[freed]

[something sad reaches the corners of his eyes, this melancholy little thing that N usually saved for a pokémon being brave and telling him its story, for the unfortunate creatures he understood better than anything baring their scars that would never fade.]

I am sorry.

[his tone is sincere, perhaps even sympathetic. he can't imagine what sort of pain leaks was shouldering, and all alone at that.]

You are very strong, bearing this pain and choosing this path for yourself. Nevertheless, you do not need to be alone anymore. Not all humans are as cruel and evil as the ones you have encountered. I am not like them, and I want to show you how nice friendship can be.

[naive words, to think that he can actually pull away the thorns set around leaks' heart, but N is nothing if not determined.]

[scathes]

[ what compels all these humans to be so meddlesome? is that in their blood, as well, this ravenous need to know everything? perhaps compared to ribika, who are generally quite happy in their feudal, backwater fashion, he's finally managed to find something to differentiate them.

(though, isn't it reminiscent of that fool? he, and his son...

but then, they were already exception enough.) ]

The matters of a stranger are none of your concern. Don't think for a moment that you see any commonality between us!

[freed]

[despite the harshness of leaks' words, N's gentle expression remains, the sympathy and tenderness and desire to heal multiplying if anything.]

I do not wish for us to be strangers any longer. I cannot unsee the vision I have of you, and until I can be sure that I have done all I can for you... I wish to be there for you, as a friend.

I mean it. You do not need to be alone anymore, Leaks.

[scathes]

[ - he's actually run out of words. behind the mask his mouth trembles with responses his mind can't actually form. can't unsee-? what can't he unsee?!... it's not up to him to see anything, he can't just decide to be his 'friend'!

but all that comes out is just a lot of broken, near-silent sound, just his ears bending back and his tail agitatedly swishing. and his face getting hot. ]

[freed]

[it's a familiar reaction to him, the stunned silence of indignation as rationale and the heart's needs begin to wage their terrible and soft war, and N can only smile gently, imploringly, understandingly; if he could reach through his device and hold leaks, he certainly would.

he knows his will is not something to be contested, but rather than rub any more salt into leaks' wounds, he simply leaves it at that. N has a feeling any more words, reassuring or not, would be met with vehement resistance.]