[ majima's quiet for a moment, trying to figure out how to answer yato's question. he's not ready to, not quite yet. but there's something bothering him about what yato said. and he wants to address that first. when he speaks, he tries to keep the judgment out of his voice. he's never judged yato for anything - not his living situation, not wanting to paint his nails, not the way he worked at the club, not even the beer-prom incident, not really. but the fact of the matter is, there is a kind of judgment to it, when he speaks. ]
I don't get it, Yato. Ya don't want a lawyer, 'cause yer sure of your guilt. But ya don't want anyone ta know, and ya just wanna slink on out of here like nothing ever happened. Aren't those two things at different ends?
[ there's part of him that understands responsibility and actions above all else. and maybe, sure, that included getting a lawyer and doing your best not to stay in jail forever - but that jived better with the idea that yato would want to hold to the fact he was guilty, than the idea that no one would ever know. he's torn - between the idea that a person should accept the fact actions have consequences, and the idea that he doesn't want yato or his friends to suffer for this. two months ago, there wouldn't have been any question. leave - the sooner, the better. now, there are so many things that make simple thoughts seem complicated. maybe yato wasn't the only person with contradictions right now. maybe that's what makes them so easy to point out.
it's a level of complication, on all fronts, that he isn't fond of. so he tries to go back to something they can both understand easier. something more concrete. away from judgment, and back towards something more like reassurance: ]
Yato, no matter what your powers do to ya, you'll never be so inconsequential that your actions are meaningless. You're always gonna matter to the people in your life, an' the decisions you make are gonna affect them.
I don't get it, Yato. Ya don't want a lawyer, 'cause yer sure of your guilt. But ya don't want anyone ta know, and ya just wanna slink on out of here like nothing ever happened. Aren't those two things at different ends?
[ there's part of him that understands responsibility and actions above all else. and maybe, sure, that included getting a lawyer and doing your best not to stay in jail forever - but that jived better with the idea that yato would want to hold to the fact he was guilty, than the idea that no one would ever know. he's torn - between the idea that a person should accept the fact actions have consequences, and the idea that he doesn't want yato or his friends to suffer for this. two months ago, there wouldn't have been any question. leave - the sooner, the better. now, there are so many things that make simple thoughts seem complicated. maybe yato wasn't the only person with contradictions right now. maybe that's what makes them so easy to point out.
it's a level of complication, on all fronts, that he isn't fond of. so he tries to go back to something they can both understand easier. something more concrete. away from judgment, and back towards something more like reassurance: ]
Yato, no matter what your powers do to ya, you'll never be so inconsequential that your actions are meaningless. You're always gonna matter to the people in your life, an' the decisions you make are gonna affect them.
[AND OVER AT FRESHENS HE'LL BE... staring at the dragon ride, poking at its head, and wiggling it from side to side.]
These don't look safe.
[More like they don't look like grownass people should be riding on them.]
These don't look safe.
[More like they don't look like grownass people should be riding on them.]
[WHY IS YATO LIKE THIS.]
Literally no one could make culottes look good. You could make a garbage bag look good before culottes.
Literally no one could make culottes look good. You could make a garbage bag look good before culottes.
[ a good citizen, maybe - but majima has never been that. not here in recollé, and certainly not in his memories. majima's good eye narrows. the judgment before was light, almost missable. judgment that didn't want to be. like he was hoping to be proven wrong, like he was still trying to asses the situation. but now, after what yato says, he's angry. real anger isn't something he shows often. it's rare and raw, but he keeps his voice quiet all the same. he doesn't want them to attract attention. ]
You don't know what the fuck you're talking about.
[ it's less about the letter of the law and more about responsibility. majima doesn't even necessarily see it as a question of right vs wrong at this point, only that the things you do have consequence. if you do something to correct a mistake, you deal with what happens after that, you don't just turn tail.
but that's only half of it, of course. that's the half that sneaks in with the memories he gets, the part of his thoughts that get twisted and contorted by the feelings he gets when he gets his memories.
the other half has to do with his brother. how his brother is not dead, but will die in prison. how he fucked up his brother's life. how he grieves for him every day without end. there are Principles, and then there is emotion, and sometimes the ends of a conversation get muddled by both. he has no desire to see people struggling to cope with what happened to yato. and he has even less desire to see another good man rot in prison.
but none of that is what actually sparks the indignation in his voice. it's yato's accusation that he doesn't understand. that they live by some different set of rules when his eye had been cut out in what he can only assume was an act of punishment within the yakuza. he has no proof, no memory that clearly indicates that. but it's the most logical conclusion as far as he's concerned. he knows what the yakuza demands of people who mess up. he knows he's one of them.
(he also knows, inevitably, that he will always fuck up something somehow, whether it's this life or the last.)
the irony in what yato says is so ripe that it allows him to process his experiences in a way he'd almost never with anyone else. but he's also not just going to sit here and take this idea that he can't comprehend, or that yato's new found sense of living on the wrong side of the law distanced them. he doesn't know what his position was in the yakuza, but he was still in it. in the most notorious and hardcore crime syndicate in japan. it was something he and kiryu had talked about extensively, the kind of thing that the suggestion alone had been terrifying to kiryu's cousin. ]
You don't know what the fuck you're talking about.
[ it's less about the letter of the law and more about responsibility. majima doesn't even necessarily see it as a question of right vs wrong at this point, only that the things you do have consequence. if you do something to correct a mistake, you deal with what happens after that, you don't just turn tail.
but that's only half of it, of course. that's the half that sneaks in with the memories he gets, the part of his thoughts that get twisted and contorted by the feelings he gets when he gets his memories.
the other half has to do with his brother. how his brother is not dead, but will die in prison. how he fucked up his brother's life. how he grieves for him every day without end. there are Principles, and then there is emotion, and sometimes the ends of a conversation get muddled by both. he has no desire to see people struggling to cope with what happened to yato. and he has even less desire to see another good man rot in prison.
but none of that is what actually sparks the indignation in his voice. it's yato's accusation that he doesn't understand. that they live by some different set of rules when his eye had been cut out in what he can only assume was an act of punishment within the yakuza. he has no proof, no memory that clearly indicates that. but it's the most logical conclusion as far as he's concerned. he knows what the yakuza demands of people who mess up. he knows he's one of them.
(he also knows, inevitably, that he will always fuck up something somehow, whether it's this life or the last.)
the irony in what yato says is so ripe that it allows him to process his experiences in a way he'd almost never with anyone else. but he's also not just going to sit here and take this idea that he can't comprehend, or that yato's new found sense of living on the wrong side of the law distanced them. he doesn't know what his position was in the yakuza, but he was still in it. in the most notorious and hardcore crime syndicate in japan. it was something he and kiryu had talked about extensively, the kind of thing that the suggestion alone had been terrifying to kiryu's cousin. ]
[That is absolutely true. And not that Yamato's averse to giving Yato some extra clothes, but--]
what I don't even get to wash it first???
what I don't even get to wash it first???
Okay.
Why'd you try to kill that guy. That wasn't spur of the moment. You got a weapon and you really wanted him dead.
Motives matter, so tell me.
[He can think of a couple times when if he had had a sword...so he's trying to be helpful.]
Why'd you try to kill that guy. That wasn't spur of the moment. You got a weapon and you really wanted him dead.
Motives matter, so tell me.
[He can think of a couple times when if he had had a sword...so he's trying to be helpful.]
...Did going to the police ever even occur to you?
[It's reflex to want to bristle, to argue that it isn't up to Yato to decide what he can and can't risk. But even as he thinks it, he knows Yato is right. He'd love to insist that he'd do anything for Yato's sake, but... would he? If it came down to it, really came down to it, could he say he'd put himself on the line 100% of the time?
He can't. It stings to admit it, even to himself, but he doesn't like to lie. He isn't selfless, he isn't infallible, and he isn't even really all that smart--not smart enough to talk his way out of a jail cell, that's for sure.]
We could've found another way. [For Yamato, of all people, to suggest solving a problem without violence... it's the biggest indication of how much he hates this situation. It's not that he doesn't care that Yato tried to kill someone, but to think that Yato could've been killed in that fight, to think about how long he's bound to be trapped in here, especially when people can't remember him as it is... it's sad. It's just too sad.]
I just... you shouldn't be in here. I don't like it. [And there it is, that childish behavior that shows up every so often. It's a weird sort of naivete, the way Yamato sees situations sometimes, cutting straight through nuances and complexities to say exactly what he's thinking. Maybe "I don't like it" should sound whiny, or almost laughable, but he says it as if that should truly be enough reason for Yato to be set free.
He hasn't forgotten their conversation from that night, either. Yato's a warrior god, or something like it. If he's begun regaining abilities, it's only logical he'd start regaining instincts, too. "I guess I didn't feel guilty about any of it either... I found it kind of fun, actually. And my dad seemed really proud of me."
He hasn't forgotten, but he stands by what he'd said. Yato isn't that person, the child-slaying child, and that's enough for Yamato to want him out of here.]
He can't. It stings to admit it, even to himself, but he doesn't like to lie. He isn't selfless, he isn't infallible, and he isn't even really all that smart--not smart enough to talk his way out of a jail cell, that's for sure.]
We could've found another way. [For Yamato, of all people, to suggest solving a problem without violence... it's the biggest indication of how much he hates this situation. It's not that he doesn't care that Yato tried to kill someone, but to think that Yato could've been killed in that fight, to think about how long he's bound to be trapped in here, especially when people can't remember him as it is... it's sad. It's just too sad.]
I just... you shouldn't be in here. I don't like it. [And there it is, that childish behavior that shows up every so often. It's a weird sort of naivete, the way Yamato sees situations sometimes, cutting straight through nuances and complexities to say exactly what he's thinking. Maybe "I don't like it" should sound whiny, or almost laughable, but he says it as if that should truly be enough reason for Yato to be set free.
He hasn't forgotten their conversation from that night, either. Yato's a warrior god, or something like it. If he's begun regaining abilities, it's only logical he'd start regaining instincts, too. "I guess I didn't feel guilty about any of it either... I found it kind of fun, actually. And my dad seemed really proud of me."
He hasn't forgotten, but he stands by what he'd said. Yato isn't that person, the child-slaying child, and that's enough for Yamato to want him out of here.]
He could be put in jail, you goddamn moron!
[Well, he notes to investigate that NPC very thoroughly.]
Anything else.
Is this part of some long string of events.
[Well, he notes to investigate that NPC very thoroughly.]
Anything else.
Is this part of some long string of events.
There's a lot you don't know about me.
[ he's calmer when he says it. like it was the one momentary slip of emotion he was going to allow himself, before, and he's collecting it back. like yato's patience is enough to remind him that he should be, too. there's a note of resignation somewhere in it, too. but no apologies. ]
[ he's calmer when he says it. like it was the one momentary slip of emotion he was going to allow himself, before, and he's collecting it back. like yato's patience is enough to remind him that he should be, too. there's a note of resignation somewhere in it, too. but no apologies. ]
Never liked hypotheticals much, myself.
[ he's quiet, like he might say something more about that. like he might just, after a moment, decide to play the game answer what he thinks. but he'd never see yato like that, no matter how many powers he got back. he'd never see yato as anything less than human.
so when he does speak, it's not about hypothetical ghost arrests. it's about something much more concrete. ]
My brother was arrested a couple years back.
[ he's quiet, like he might say something more about that. like he might just, after a moment, decide to play the game answer what he thinks. but he'd never see yato like that, no matter how many powers he got back. he'd never see yato as anything less than human.
so when he does speak, it's not about hypothetical ghost arrests. it's about something much more concrete. ]
My brother was arrested a couple years back.
Was this guy out for your friend, did something happen.
I need your help.
[That's it, no intro, no hi, no you know who's speaking, not even your good ol' "hey, it's me! me!".]
[That's it, no intro, no hi, no you know who's speaking, not even your good ol' "hey, it's me! me!".]
Wait, someone hired him to get you?
[Just fucking great, this is turning into a conspiracy.]
So lemme make sure I'm clear here.
He breaks in to get you. She defends herself, he gets mad and tries to burn her place down with her in it, you decide to kill him. That about right?
[Just fucking great, this is turning into a conspiracy.]
So lemme make sure I'm clear here.
He breaks in to get you. She defends herself, he gets mad and tries to burn her place down with her in it, you decide to kill him. That about right?
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