wcb r5; day 1; Moriarty

[exequte]

[Akane is perfectly calm, and perfectly willing to be carried wherever Moriarty sees fit to take her. Why shouldn't she be? She knows him, even if he doesn't know her. He wouldn't kill her without a good reason, not this early. Not even if he doesn't know her.

And if he has a good enough reason for that...?

Well, maybe that would be fair too. But for now she's perfectly relaxed.]

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[hatesdeerstalkers]

[He listens. He listens, and can't help but feel he's heard this before, countless times. Though perhaps not with her being so anxious, but - he knows, somehow, her story once she says it to him.

Carved into the core of what he is, is her. Her pain. Her suffering, of being burned alive as a 12 year old. The fact that she is doing her own game where there will be death and suffering, all for her goal to survive -

- and he does not hate her, for how could he hate someone who is struggling for the right to live, even if it would be considered Evil? Even if it was to also get revenge, is that not fair for it to be given to men who were willing to sacrifice children for their aims?

She has the resolve to do so, even if those innocent will suffer for it. He knows this, just like he knows her story, coming to him like a half-remembered dream.

So, his response...is obvious, isn't it?

When she trails off...he looks at her, and then wraps his arms around her, pulling her close to his chest, hand on the back of her head.

It's alright. I will not reject you, Akane. I could never reject you, no matter if you were good or evil.]

...Thank you, my Akane. For trusting in me.

[Again, that falls out of his mouth before he can even think it, but is just....feels right, in this moment as he holds her, now aware of how afraid she must be, how much this must have taken to say, how quickly she attempted to downplay it.

And yet...she trusted him with a truth that could jeopardize her if it ever came to light, an ugly truth that most here would not be able to understand.

But he does.

So he will never betray her in turn.]

[exequte]

[She lets out a small, half broken sound like a sob and her arms go around him in turn when he reaches out and hugs her and she clings, and there's a release of tension as he doesn't hate her, doesn't blame her for where they are now, doesn't....]

I'm glad I get to meet you again. I'm glad I met you the first time. I love you, Daddy.

[hatesdeerstalkers]

[He smiles, continuing to hold her. To just...be there.]

And I you, my dear. Though you'll have to be a bit understanding if there are things I miss! I'll have to learn you once more.

[And then...Moriarty laughs, lightly.]

Then again, I suppose this is merely my comeuppance for normally being the one in your situation!

[exequte]

[She laughs in turn, just a little, and there's a tangled mess of relief and sorrow and joy and pain and far too many conflicting emotions in it. But still.]

That's okay. I told you, I know that you aren't, well.... That you aren't the you I knew before. It's only understandable that it will take time for all of this again.

[And then he makes her laugh again, almost giggle, and this time there's relief more prominently than anything else in it.]

Maybe there is. If it helps, I do know some of what you're dealing with, I think.

[hatesdeerstalkers]

[He nods, softly.]'

Ah? Yes, I assume you would, given...

[He trails off, before gesturing.]

...Well. I needn't say it fully, hm?

[There's a pause again, before-]

...Ah. Should I go into a bit of detail about myself, given what you've kindly told me about yourself? While I am certain the core of the two of us remains the same, I have gone through certain...events my other has not, I'm sure.

[exequte]

If you want to. I'm still kind of a stranger to you, right?

[This part... it can never really be rushed, no matter what the need is. What a shame.]

[hatesdeerstalkers]

Well, consider it tit for tat with the trust you showed me earlier.

[He smiles at her, then-]

Truthfully, I was never taken to the world I was in before like most involved in this game for the purpose of playing in these sorts of games - no, I was instead summoned to the middle of one to play a certain bit part.

[He sighs, dramatically.]

It was supposed to be a simple thing - one and done! Yet, just because I led them all on a small, inconsequential chase, one of them forced a contract with me.

[He shrugs, though it's with a bit of chagrin.]

...Well, I suppose I had another reason in accepting it, and it wasn't completely forced. Still!