oathshackledbird | SoulGemmed Mailbox

It's okay--mine's kind of a mess, too. [He stepped in a little carefully, looking around as he did.]

I probably shouldn't be here after...well, everything. But I don't want to keep arguing with you because of--you know, that magic thing.

Neither do I, but I have been worried about making it worse. It's why I have tried to give you your space.

[Diarmuid clears away enough things that Kakyoin can make his way to what serves as the couch, a large piece of furniture with intricately carved wood everywhere.]

I'm sorry if it seems like I am smothering you or trying to force you to see things a certain way. I just have a very hard time seeing people who I call friend in pain.

Please, have a seat.

R-right. [He set down what he was carrying, unwrapping it to reveal a pair of bento boxes, one of which was handed to Diarmuid.]

It's...complicated. I know I haven't been very forward about it, so I want to...try the whole relying on people thing, if I still can.

[A gentle smile crosses Diarmuid's face.]

Of course you can try. As many times as you need to.

[He opens his mouth to say more, but as soon as he catches sight of the bento boxes, his previous words are forgotten.]

Those look amazing. Did you make them yourself?

...Yeah. Most of what I know about cooking, I picked up from my mother--she's Italian, so neither of us are very good with Japanese food. I just kind of stumbled through this with a few recipes.

[And there went the hat pulled over his eyes.]

Bento boxes are just easier to carry around.

[Diarmuid's eyes drift to the motion Kakyoin makes when he pulls the hat down. For a moment, he's tempted to call him on it, but decides to let it go. The humor might not go over like he wants and the last thing they need is another cause of tension between them.]

I think this is more than a little picked up from your mother. I haven't had Italian or Japanese, so this will all be new for me. Thank you.

[He loves trying new things. It's too bad the war didn't give him a chance to try any of Japan's trademark dishes.]

...It's nothing, really. I just thought that would be better than showing up here empty-handed, that's all.

[Diarmuid takes a deep breath to smell the food in front of him and then sits back and gives the redhead next to him a serious look.]

You could have come empty-handed and I would have welcomed you the same way. We may have tension between us, but you aren't my enemy.

[Kakyoin looked away a little awkwardly, still uncomfortable with some aspect of this. Was it just the time-stopping magic, or was it the idea of trying to actually be open for once? Or was it guilt for constantly bristling at someone that had only ever tried to help him?]

You realize that you're far too nice, don't you?

I have been told a time or two, yes.

[Diarmuid smiles and then leans over the bento box in front of him again, looking over the food in it in a very obvious attempt to make sure he doesn't make Kakyoin feel anymore uneasy by pointing out how uneasy he already is.]

Any suggestions on what I should start with?

I-I don't know. Whatever you think looks good, I guess.

[Diarmuid rolls his eyes toward his redheaded friend.]

It all looks good. I guess I will just randomly pick something then. While I do that, where do you want to start this discussion?

[Well, that was suddenly straight to the point. So much for not making Kakyoin feel uneasy, though it is probably hard to be that uneasy of a guy hovering over a bento box and picking at the new foods inside like he is trying to decide if any will try to eat him before he eats them.]

That would probably be best, yeah. But I'm not...really sure where to start. There's a lot I should say and a lot that I can't.

Would it help if you just started with the first thing that pops into your mind and work outward from there?

[He finally decides on something to try and pops it into his mouth. From how fast he goes back for another bite, it is obvious he likes it.]

I know it might not make sense at first, just saying something randomly, but it's a start, right?

...I killed a vampire.

[You asked, Diarmuid.]

[Diarmuid pauses with another bite halfway to his mouth. For a moment, he's not sure if he heard Kakyoin right, then he finally ask a question.]

Fire or stake through the heart?

[His people didn't really have the equivalent of vampires in their myths, but Diarmuid knows enough from the information the Grail gave him to understand those are the two ways people usually kill a vampire.

This is probably not quite the reaction that Kakyoin was expecting.]

Neither.

[All things considered, the idea that Diarmuid wouldn't believe him wasn't even a concern. After Nightmares and whatever the other thing was, vampires almost seemed easier.]

[He sat back slightly, not quite like he wanted to disappear on the spot but more just...out of sheer exhaustion, fiddling with the hat that didn't quite suit him.]

I basically hit him with a family technique that amounts to weaponized sunlight.

[Oh, sunlight. He had forgotten that. The one weakness that all vampires--no matter what type--always have.]

That is one amazing family technique. It is something your family learns as they grow up or is it a special talent that only some get and your family members were the lucky ones?

[His eyes drift to the hat that Kakyoin keeps fiddling with. There are other questions he wants to ask, but he has a feeling he already knows the answers. Why else would Kakyoin bring up this vampire if he wasn't the one who had the time stop ability that killed his best friend and almost killed his grandfather?]

I'm actually not certain, it might be a little of both--Grandfather never explained every detail very clearly. I know that his grandfather learned it from his teacher, and he was always able to use it in some capacity even before being taught. I don't know if my mother can do it or not, and I was...technically only taught some basic aspects. Grandfather said once that I have an affinity for it, which I suppose makes sense.

[Those fate has plans for tend to have affinities that others don't. It's what makes them special. It's the 'gift' to balance out the hardships waiting for them, but Diarmuid doesn't say this out loud, just like he didn't mention who he guessed the vampire was before. Some things are better left unsaid.]

Is that why this vampire was after you? Because your family holds a power that could so easily kill him and you had a special affinity for it?

Not entirely. He was after my family because...we were in his way, basically. He had something that tied us to him in a sense, and none of us were exactly happy with the arrangement. As he got more powerful, we ended up developing abilities to match him whether we liked it or not.

Is that something one of the things you can't talk about right now?

[Diarmuid is trying to not push too hard in certain directions because he knows how touchy the redhead is about them. Whatever that thing that ties Kakyoin's family and the vampire together is, he has a good feeling it probably falls into one of those directions he has to be careful with.

As he reaches for another bite of food, for some reason a memory of their first meeting slides into his mind. Kakyoin had started to call for something then. Something that didn't come.

Is that the ability he's speaking of?]

'Hierophant.' You started to say it when we first met, but stopped yourself. Would I be right to guess that word is tied to the abilities you just mentioned?

It's the kind of thing that would make you think I was crazy. The details aren't important, anyway.

[And honestly, he might have felt insane going into the whole 'a vampire stole my ancestor's body from the neck down' thing.]

...The abilities we got were--are called Stands. Psychic projections, in a sense. They were described to me once as fighting spirit made manifest. Mine was named Hierophant Green--I just got so accustomed to calling him out when I needed him that it's taken a while to remember he doesn't answer anymore.

We're talking about you having killed a vampire and the fact that members of your family tend to be able to focus sunlight through your bodies. If it is that much crazier than that, you're right. I don't think I want to know.

[Diarmuid winces. As odd as it was for him to lose the abilities he had gained as a Servant, once he was without them and he survived just fine. To lose what is basically a part of oneself? How does Kakyoin stand it?]

I have heard of many who talk about their fighting spirit almost as if it is a person, but I've never met someone whose actually was a physical partner. You must feel so empty without him here to fight with you.

I didn't have mine for very long. Three of the people in our group were born with Stands--Grandfather developed his a few months before I did, I think. Hierophant didn't manifest until a couple months before I met Kyubey. So losing him is...weird, but at least he wasn't something I'd lived with for eighteen years.

[Apart from Lisa Lisa (who didn't need one), he'd had his Stand for the shortest amount of time. All things considered, it was probably ideal that it would be him instead of someone like Jotaro.]

Edited 2016-04-07 00:09 (UTC)

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