[Whew, not spotted. That gives him some time to scramble ahead and find a spot that isn't too damp for them to sit down.
If Kanji thunders onto the scene with slightly more than his usual sub-buttlety, he may catch a glimpse of Yosuke flicking through a few photos on his bracelet screen before hastily dismissing the whole thing.]
[From the way Yosuke starts, Kanji might as well have crept up and screamed in his ear. Before he knows it, he's springing back to his feet, and even more acutely aware of their height difference than normal.] Ah -
[Dammit, he had a whole speech lined up - he'd had most of last night and this morning to line it up - and all of it has completely flown out of his head, leaving it blank. So much for psyching himself up!
Well, nothing for it. Without warning, he throws himself into a low bow, just shy of headbutting himself in the sling.]
[While he's willing enough to accept that Yosuke's admitting he screwed up, and knows that the damage he did (even involuntarily) is possibly more than his senpai deserves... It's still hard to say more than-]
Tch. I believe ya.
[Not quite 'I forgive you', but a start.]
An' I'm sorry 'bout your arm, man. They said you're gonna be okay, right?
Yeah, as long as I remember to keep moving it. Or something like that. [He gives Kanji a little wave to demonstrate, and immediately regrets it, although he manages to bite his lip in time.]
... If I tell you it wasn't what it sounded like, are you gonna try and hit me again?
Hehe. [He finally falls back into a more familiar slouch, hand in his pocket.] Comparing that to when you came up to all of us and tried to take us down for looking at you funny... You've really grown up. I wouldn't recognise you. [And not just because of the hair! ...is what he doesn't add, because he probably would earn another punch for that.]
... I still recognise me. And I dunno exactly how it happened, but all of a sudden, it just pissed me off so bad... That's what it was, I guess.
[Has he? It's strange thinking back to those days. But remembering what it'd been like, the panic, the worry, the what if... that'd sent him hurtling after the group - Maybe. Hard to see from the inside.
The faintest of smiles comes to his face for a second. He runs a hand through his hair -]
Yeah. You kinda weren't making any sense there. You just sounded like you hated the world and - everyone.
[He shoots a glance across the water, and shrugs.]
That time, inside the mirror... It told me, if I didn't want to be left behind, I had to change. It didn't tell me anything about how, or when... What if everything I'm trying is just taking me further and further away from where I want to be? What happens if I don't try? On my own, I don't know.
Then I thought, if I can beat you... Well, not just you. But if I could show you I know exactly what makes you tick, make you depend on that, then - I already know you're doing good, see? So that must mean I'm doing better than good... in some way.
[With his own self-deprecating smile, he shakes his head.] In the end, I'm not like that. I think there's only one person who could be, and it turns out he's not like that either. That's... Anyway, that's what went through my head. Just a bunch of crap, huh?
[That last comment - huh? Even when he's coherent, Yosuke's still not entirely making sense. Kanji looks a bit puzzled, to say the least.]
Kinda.
[He pauses for a moment.]
Sure, I'm doing okay here. [Quietly for a moment-]...Probably better than at home, huh. But you ain't gotta prove shit to me. I know you can be better than just some asshole - so being an asshole isn't gonna make you the better man.
Man, sugarcoat it a little more, could ya? [Yosuke shoots him a look.] No, I'm through with that... I think. I know it's easy to just say. ...Besides, next time you'd just pile-drive me into a wall. [His grin doesn't come as easily as it normally does, but it's there.
Still, it flickers, just briefly.] But, you know, that kind of thing - it doesn't bother you at all? Not knowing how you measure up.
Doing whatever you do, huh? Yeah, I guess you'd already know.
[On impulse, he reaches over to very lightly punch Kanji in the shoulder. Actually, it's best described as a nudge. The lake doesn't sound much more appealing to him right now than a wall would be.] Turns out you're a super-dependable guy after all. Who would've thought?
When it's you saying it's that simple, I gotta believe it... [He winks.] Maybe I should fight you for reals one of these days, whaddya say? Last time I trained with Souji, he found a cat up there and literally dropped everything to go say hi.
Oh, I dunno. [Yosuke raises his hand to his chin and shoots Kanji a mock-pensive look.] I can see it happening with the right timing. You and Ted, sometimes...
[Now he jokingly raises his hand in self-defense.] Hey, you can't just punch a guy over the horizon right after he goes and bares his heart to you like this, can you!? Anyway, the cat gambit would only be Payback Plan A...
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ninetydegrees
-> action!
on 2014-07-24 10:06 pm (UTC)If Kanji thunders onto the scene with slightly more than his usual sub-buttlety, he may catch a glimpse of Yosuke flicking through a few photos on his bracelet screen before hastily dismissing the whole thing.]
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on 2014-07-25 10:35 am (UTC)Hey.
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on 2014-07-25 10:57 am (UTC)[Dammit, he had a whole speech lined up - he'd had most of last night and this morning to line it up - and all of it has completely flown out of his head, leaving it blank. So much for psyching himself up!
Well, nothing for it. Without warning, he throws himself into a low bow, just shy of headbutting himself in the sling.]
I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!
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on 2014-07-25 11:39 am (UTC)It's still hard to say more than-]
Tch. I believe ya.
[Not quite 'I forgive you', but a start.]
An' I'm sorry 'bout your arm, man. They said you're gonna be okay, right?
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on 2014-07-25 12:03 pm (UTC)... If I tell you it wasn't what it sounded like, are you gonna try and hit me again?
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on 2014-07-25 12:07 pm (UTC)Depends what it actually was.
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on 2014-07-25 12:25 pm (UTC)... I still recognise me. And I dunno exactly how it happened, but all of a sudden, it just pissed me off so bad... That's what it was, I guess.
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on 2014-07-25 12:32 pm (UTC)Maybe. Hard to see from the inside.
The faintest of smiles comes to his face for a second. He runs a hand through his hair -]
Yeah. You kinda weren't making any sense there. You just sounded like you hated the world and - everyone.
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on 2014-07-25 01:14 pm (UTC)[He shoots a glance across the water, and shrugs.]
That time, inside the mirror... It told me, if I didn't want to be left behind, I had to change. It didn't tell me anything about how, or when... What if everything I'm trying is just taking me further and further away from where I want to be? What happens if I don't try? On my own, I don't know.
Then I thought, if I can beat you... Well, not just you. But if I could show you I know exactly what makes you tick, make you depend on that, then - I already know you're doing good, see? So that must mean I'm doing better than good... in some way.
[With his own self-deprecating smile, he shakes his head.] In the end, I'm not like that. I think there's only one person who could be, and it turns out he's not like that either. That's... Anyway, that's what went through my head. Just a bunch of crap, huh?
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on 2014-07-25 09:30 pm (UTC)Kinda.
[He pauses for a moment.]
Sure, I'm doing okay here. [Quietly for a moment-]...Probably better than at home, huh. But you ain't gotta prove shit to me. I know you can be better than just some asshole - so being an asshole isn't gonna make you the better man.
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on 2014-07-25 10:25 pm (UTC)Still, it flickers, just briefly.] But, you know, that kind of thing - it doesn't bother you at all? Not knowing how you measure up.
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on 2014-07-26 04:37 pm (UTC)[After all, hadn't that been part of the dream - well, so to speak - during the tournament? To prove himself?]
But if I'm doing whatever I do the best I can do it, what else'm I meant to do? I've spent too damn long worryin' about how I compare to other people.
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on 2014-07-27 10:46 am (UTC)[On impulse, he reaches over to very lightly punch Kanji in the shoulder. Actually, it's best described as a nudge. The lake doesn't sound much more appealing to him right now than a wall would be.] Turns out you're a super-dependable guy after all. Who would've thought?
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on 2014-07-27 09:34 pm (UTC)I've got people who give a damn about me now, and about what I do. It's worth it. I ain't gonna let anyone else down.
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on 2014-07-27 09:58 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2014-07-27 10:01 pm (UTC)...Wait, he did what? [Damn, and he thought he was bad with the cute things...]
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on 2014-07-28 03:53 am (UTC)[All of a sudden, he quirks an eyebrow.] Unless... Come to think, you might not be an improvement there, huh?
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on 2014-07-28 05:25 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2014-07-28 05:36 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2014-07-28 06:26 pm (UTC)Aw, dude...!
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on 2014-07-28 08:00 pm (UTC)