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Hey, Sakamoto Ryuji here.

I can't be the only one with ass kicking on the brain after that invisible dog bullshit. What's the consensus on fighting instructors around here? Did that turn out to be a thing?

If anyone's got the time show a few moves and still taking requests, I got one of my own. I'd appreciate a few tips if you feel like sharing. I'm talking about the badasses that know what they're doing, not just the make it up as you go kind (like me). Hate to say it, but the stuff we're facing in events is a little different from what I'm used to.

Dunno what I could trade for it, but I learn fast! And I'll think of something. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

PS: And if you're looking for Akira, don't worry. Nothing bad happened to him. He just went home. Sorry.

_{[The last bit is the real crux of the message and also the thorn in its side; bundling it in with the request lessens the sharp prick of it. Not by much, but some.]}

I | Exercise facilities + outer grounds

_{[Anyone with an eye for blond phantom thieves can usually spot Ryuji adhering to a runner's training schedule, a carry-over from home. Indoors in the weight room, outdoors on the grounds, casual long distance jogs, short distance drills--he's at it most days, alternating between staving off boredom and building on his strength.

Usually time following an event are cool down days, a period to let himself recover from the trial of the week. Not this time. He keeps his foot jammed on the gas pedal with the restlessness energy of someone who has something he has to face but is taking every detour to avoid it. The request for some self-defense pointers had been practical--if the Tartarus event taught him anything (and the Asgard event before that, and the zombie event before that), he could use them--but it's also fuel for the avoidance fire.

Usually there's room for a chat in between squats on the beach or a friendly wave on a run, but don't take it personally if he seems a bit standoffish today. He's distracted, brows set in a flat line, viciously pouring energy into his routine with a nice, healthy contempt for the ground or the horizon, whatever he happens to be staring at.

If someone catches his eye, though, he'll forcibly relax, offering a smile. It comes a beat too late to be effortless, but that's hardly out of place, right? They've all been through a lot coming out the other side of the event meat grinder.]}

II | Training center

_{[Futaba. Morgana. Iwai. Yusuke. Ann. Makoto. Haru... Akira. How could he have thought this place felt small? With all of the people most familiar to him--people he'd shared the burden of events with, sat across the breakfast table with, lived with in the case of his two best friends--gone to fuck knows where, Wonderland feels infinitely massive and empty. He could handle this together. Alone, it's... it's hard. Harder than he imagined.

There's still Akechi, and isn't that the height of irony, to be the last man standing with Akechi Goro, out of everyone. He hesitates a while with phone in hand, Akechi's name in the To: field, but his hands aren't interested in sending more messages.

They want to make fists. They want to break.

Those in the training center will be privy to Ryuji, uncharacteristically stoic and grim-faced, slipping on a pair of gloves and squaring off with a punching bag with a frenetic violence to match. Either that punching bag insulted him, or someone didn't burn off quite enough energy climbing stairs in Tartarus.

The flurry is broken up only by a wince after a particularly hard punch. Peeling off his glove reveals a streak of red from split knuckles. Apparently someone also doesn't know when to quit.]}

Fuck

_{[Any gym rats handy with bandaids...? Alternatively, maybe you see him taking himself and his bloody hands for a walk to the clinic for something to wrap them with. He's probably not the only needing aftercare after that doozy of an event, even if his most recent war wounds are fresher.]}

III | Kitchen

_{[The thought of going back to his empty room in his empty section of hallway throbs worse than his bandaged knuckles. Suddenly it's like his first day in Wonderland all over again, not knowing what to do or where to park himself in a strange, unwelcoming environment.

He ends up in the kitchen, hungry but not really, searching the fridge and cupboards with a listless indecisiveness. He's probably standing in your way as you go to grab something--and will continue to stand in your way until prompted, or he notices you.]}

_{[And he'll slide to the side to let you get to your business, smile apologetic.]}

IV | Wildcard

_{[Ryuji'll be going about business as usual in Wonderland post-event, so feel free to come up with your own starter around the mansion and/or elsewhere! Or hit me up for a different one if you're not feeling the locations/prompts.]}

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[Things aren't fair. Things are never fair, and Minato of anyone should know exactly what that means and what it had meant. Things did happen, he would still stand by that, but once they did, it was a matter of how to deal with them. This was more than likely getting into semantics more than anything else though.

He understood why Ryuji was upset. Why wouldn't he be? Something and someone pissed him off and there was no real solution to fix it and make it all better, no panacea to heal it over, or not something easily within reach. Having a goal and working toward it was easier than shots in the dark.

But really, all they had right now were shots in the dark despite some of the supposed answers spilled during that non-memory based event. Nothing is ever easy, is it?

Not that Minato wasn't interested in the answers. He was, kept them in mind for later research. But maybe too it was a matter of how interested he was.]

Why do you think I'm not doing anything?

[What kind of person did Ryuji think he was?]

If you want to go home, you should be able to. Other people want to stay. Let them.

[In the end, it didn't even matter. No one was going to remember this place once they went home. And if they stayed long enough, no one was going to remember home either.

And for Minato? He's dead. There's nothing to remember.]

_{[He has to be mishearing things. Because he could have sworn he just heard Minato offer Wonderland up as a place to live.

Ryuji is made speechless for one scoffing, incredulous second, so much that he actually laughs. Laughs.]}

What're you talkin' about? No one's stayin' here. Did you not get the memo, Arisato? This place is killin' people to suck their souls!

_{[It's got to go. Like the Metaverse in Ryuji's timeline--they have to find a way to destroy it for the greater good.

There's no doubt in his mind on that; it's the goal at the end of the darkness they have to flounder toward. Have to, no other options. Foolishly, he'd assumed someone who had a second shot at life and wanted to keep it would feel the same way.]}

Edited (what are proper tense changes, idk) 2017-10-20 18:23 (UTC)

[Minato wondered about that too, when it was okay to make these blanket statements and speak for everyone. But then again, he had his own share of doing the same thing, making his choice that day up against Death itself. He didn't consult with anyone about it. He probably made some people upset that day too.

He understood Ryuji's sentiment. He did. No one is supposed to be here, but here they are.]

Why do you get to choose who stays and who leaves?

[It was why Minato said it the way he did at all. He'd work to get anyone and everyone who wanted to leave to have the chance to go. And then anyone who chose to stay should get to stay. Why did it have to be all or nothing? Nothing is that black and white.]

Are you not gettin' somethin'? It's eating souls. Our souls!

_{[If Wonderland's Core can't be made safe, there's no other choice to make, unless Minato considers letting Wonderland continue to feed on human life an option.]}

It's just another Dark Hour or a Palace. We gotta stop it!

Right now?

[Like at this very moment? Should he be panicking or worried about it at the moment? Even handling the Dark Hour took a year and he had help then, more of an idea of how to handle it.]

_{[What kind of question is that? The other boy is doing nothing to dissuade him from the point Minato either acts like he's completely spaced out from the urgency at hand, or needs a warm up period to give a crap.]}

That's all you got for me? Yes, right now! Like, yesterday! And however many years' worth of effin' yesterdays there were before that!

_{[He comes forward to slap his hands down on a kitchen island between them, leaning in.]}

C'mon, dude! Where's your anger? Where's you bein' ready to dish out some hurt? _{[He searches for it, seeking a hint of warmth to indicate Minato is sitting on a fire to mirror his own.]} I was wrong to say what I said--I know you care. You can't honestly look me in the eye and say this is just how it is and it doesn't piss you off, too.

Edited 2017-10-20 23:06 (UTC)

[Minato tilted his head slightly, thinking about people who've been here for years, decades. They didn't seem to be too torn up about it. Ryuji had his point and made it several times already, said it loud and clear and repeatedly and then even louder on top of that as if Minato didn't know any better.

He did look Ryuji in the eye as he spoke.]

Why should it? It is what it is.

[Why should it piss him off? It shouldn't. It hadn't. It didn't mean he wouldn't act when he needed it. He didn't have to get upset over whatever Wonderland was doing, the simple mechanics of it. He didn't have to get upset over the consequence or result of whatever Wonderland did either, though he would more likely react to the latter depending on what happened. There was a difference as to what he was reacting to.

Why did he have to be angry? Because being angry was the catalyst to make him act?
Was anger the motivation behind doing something about Wonderland? The two weren't necessarily linked at all.]

... What exactly do you want from me, Sakamoto?

_{[Ryuji could smack that clueless look off Minato's face, and from the tensing of his arms and the pulling back of his lips into a grimace, the urge is there, stifled if only out of thought for the times they've shared and not wanting someone to walk in while he's knocking a sense of decency into the other boy.

It's gone beyond a joke now, or a comment made in the heat of the moment.]}

Does Wonderland have you brainwashed? What it is is killin' people! Kids. Your friends. I ain't jokin' around with you--how the fuck can you stand there and say that don't upset you?

_{[It rattles him, this lack of... well, anything. The lack of even a flicker of indignation or will to turn inevitability on its head and fight.

It is what it is? How many times is going to hear this shit parroted at him?]}

How can you just shrug it off?

Edited (GRAMMAR SWITCHEROO) 2017-10-21 06:55 (UTC)

[Minato did say that if Ryuji wanted to take it out on something, that's what Minato was there for. Not like he couldn't heal either. It was really no big deal. Though it wasn't Minato's intention either to incite or provoke, though even without doing that, Ryuji was still going to go off like a stick of dynamite.

That was probably the difference between them though. Ryuji was like fireworks, loud and brash, an explosion or conflagration, showy and fast. When anyone sees it, they immediately know what they're getting into and what they're up against. Minato was surprised that Ryuji's base power was electricity at all. But maybe it worked. He had sparks, and sometimes, just one spark can create an inferno.

Minato for his part was harder to pinpoint. He ended up the color of the ocean, of water, of still, forest pools, seemingly calm, tranquil, unmoving. But then again, it was so hard to tell just how deep the ocean ran, how much it contained, what exactly it held at all. And here Minato was, resembling the sea but his base element? He was made of fire.]

You must have a low opinion of me if you believe everything you're saying.

You're the one talkin' shit, Arisato. Don't you "it is what it is" at me.

_{[If Minato doesn't like being thought of as a cold bastard, then he can stop acting like one anytime.]}

I put up with this hakuna matata crap because of what you said about your final battle at home, but seriously, man, enough already.

[And now, Minato thought so. He should've just kept his secrets to himself. It was his own fault for trusting Ryuji, someone who he thought understood him. But he supposed he wasn't a proper Fool, the right Fool. But it was his own fault too. He wasn't obvious enough for Ryuji, apparently. Or whatever he did, Ryuji couldn't read between the lines no matter what hints Minato had dropped. But he wasn't here for Ryuji's entertainment. Judgment, perhaps.]

You don't know me at all. Even after everything. And now, you're using my life against me.

[But what other ammo would Ryuji have to use? Minato handed him the weapons and then let himself become vulnerable. But Minato didn't mind, he supposed.]

What is it? You want me to be angry because you need someone to justify your own anger? And now you're upset that I'm not? What exactly are you upset about?

Edited 2017-10-22 03:29 (UTC)

_{[Some of his heat drains, evacuated in a puff of breath and the straightening of his back so he's no longer leaning on the countertop. It's like talking apples and oranges. If Akira were here...

He can't bear to finish the thought, but if Akira were here, he'd probably know how to talk to Minato. Akira has charm and malleability, able to fit himself into a shape people need, while Ryuji has passion and aggression. Two things which seem to only be sending Minato back behind his walls, not drawing him out.

If nothing else, he can rein in his own bruised feelings and try to lean a ladder against that wall. He thinks this is something the other needs to hear, they just so happened to get into it today of all days.]}

I'm not usin' it against you. I'd never be more glad to eat my words. I'm just tryin'a to figure out how I can get that guy pumped up.

_{[A person can desire to be understood all they want, but unless they give there can be no real understanding. Minato needs to help him out.]}

You and me, we ain't just anybody. We have Personas so that we can do things other people can't. You helped save your world when everythin' went to shit and you weren't sure it could be saved. That's what you told me--you stood up to frickin' Death! You made your own rules, you didn't lie back and play by 'em.

You keep askin' me what I want? That--I wanna hear that person. I want you to stop talkin' about Wonderland like everythin' that goes on here is outta our control. I want you to wanna change it like you did before--'cause I won't lie, man, if you give me one more fortune cookie line about goin' with the flow I might honestly lose it.

_[FYI.]

And yeah, I guess that means I want you to be pissed? 'Cause if you ain't, Wonderland's already won.

Edited (once again, i cannot grammar) 2017-10-22 06:42 (UTC)

[Minato found it hardly fair, but as he thought before, nothing was ever fair.

Repeating events from his life, throwing it back in his face right now? How was that not using his life, his past, his secrets against him? What gave Ryuji the right to hijack it, run away with it as if calling it his own, then use it to psychoanalyze him?

Minato wondered how he let Ryuji needle his way into his life like this, though he knew that he answered himself several times over that he let this happen to himself. This was why he should've known better.]

Why do I have to explain myself to you?

[Why? Ryuji didn't know what Minato has done or was doing in terms of "doing something" about Wonderland. The assumption that just because Minato wasn't angry meant that he was doing nothing was really so off the mark. Again, just because something wasn't visible didn't mean it did not exist. How close-minded.

And now what? He was being pressured now to show or prove himself? Why? Why does Minato have to be the one to raze his walls? Why does he have to be the one to relent and show all of his cards? It wasn't as if he had anything to fire back with. He didn't know everything or anything about Ryuji's past, his personal struggles, his brushes with danger, nothing.

Out of an ingrained defense mechanism because getting hurt too many times beyond what one can count is more than enough, Minato could build higher walls. He was good at that. Ryuji had gotten this far already, climbed over a wall, which meant that Minato just had to build even more walls to keep people out.

But he wouldn't since he knew better. Why he has to be the one to know better, he's not sure.]

It is what it is. Now. You make it seem like I can't believe it can be changed.

... You are so blinded and isolated by anger that it's Wonderland who has defeated you, not me.

[His lack of anger was a strategy, and actually, it made Minato smile. If Ryuji again couldn't just accept him for who he was or respect his way of bringing about change, if Ryuji couldn't stop being so hung up on his own assumptions about Minato, if Ryuji needed to be right, 100% right all the time ever, believing that his way was the right way, the only way, then this conversation was over.]

You don't hafta to meet me halfway, but clearly you think I'm missin' somethin' here. If you want me to understand, tell me. I can't read minds. You mighta noticed this, but I ain't always the best at readin' between the lines, either.

_{[He spreads his heads imploringly. If Minato needs a personal invite to take part in the education of one Sakamoto Ryuji, then here it is, signed and sealed.

He's never advertised himself to be anything other than what he is--by his own estimation, an uncomplicated person. If his ideals seem untenable in their size and immovability, it's because they rest on solid, elementary building blocks. An internal compass pointing to what he believes is right and away from what he believes is wrong. An appreciation for late mornings, sunny days, the wind in his hair, and spending time with people he loves. It's not nuclear physics in here.

He doesn't need Minato to eke out an answer across thirty one volumes like the Konjaku Monogatari, and on that note more than willing to describe in depth what the taste of his foot is like, but he needs something. Something more than a basis of passive deflections and rhetorical runarounds. Something.

And something does come, sort of. It's sharpened to a point to draw blood, but he supposes he deserves that. If Minato's affronted he's been misunderstood, they can be mutually misunderstood together.]}

Why didn't you just say that?

_{[The smile, so like a kid who's been difficult deciding now to throw out a breadcrumb, brings on exasperation.]}

You coulda told me that earlier without jerkin' me around like an ass.

I didn't want to.

[He didn't want to just say that. He didn't want to just tell him. It's not that easy. Too much explanation, too much making things so obvious verbally when there really was no need to waste the energy talking about something when he was already doing something. Simple. But even that was probably too complicated for Ryuji. Well, lesson learned again, though maybe Minato thought he should've known again.

Minato didn't let just anyone in or understand him. That part Minato understood of himself well enough, and only opened up when he felt comfortable. Safe. He had given information before because he felt safe, he felt like he could trust Ryuji to keep it to himself and be aware of it, and then here, he ended up treading in a space that made him want to close himself off and leave it at that. But no, he decided not to lay the last few bricks.

He still thinks Ryuji shouldn't get so worked up over someone else's feelings, but oh, well. To each their own.

Ryuji was just so... He's an excellent Chariot, but he'd make one hell of a Magician.]

Shithead, Sakamoto. [Not as ass.] First vampires, now this. Have you not met me?

And you wonder why I'm pissed off!? Wonderland ain't funny to me. None of this is.

_{[Minato might well have gotten that impression without needing to be told, as instead of relenting, his lips thin over an expression winding tighter with displeasure.]}

I've met you, all right, and I've been tryin'a to get on the same level since then! What's the big damn deal just sayin' what you mean? For cryin' out loud, if you don't wanna talk about somethin', just say that, it ain't hard.

How do ya expect someone to know when you're pullin' this kind of shit, huh? You don't wanna talk straight with me? Fine. But effin' around about this place ain't cool.

Edited 2017-10-28 06:33 (UTC)

[There really wasn't much else to say about this place that hadn't already been said or emoted over. If Ryuji was going to still be upset and irritated, then what was Minato going to do about it? The subtleties were flying very well under the radar, especially in Ryuji's airspace.]

Okay. You're right.

[However this conversation was going or had gone or wherever it was going, Minato was wrong, of course. Again. But he could be that for Ryuji since Ryuji's insisting. No problem at all.]

_{[Sweet baby Jesus grant him strength.]}

... Are you tellin' me what you think I wanna hear?

_{[Breath, Ryuji. Breathe and find your happy place.]}

You told me to keep you honest, remember? I can't really do that if you aren't bein' honest.

[Minato shook his head. It wasn't what he thought Ryuji wanted to hear. He was being honest.]

You are. And I am. You think I'd lie to you?

[So Ryuji was right. Shouldn't he enjoy being right? Minato was only saying that he was.]

Uh? This entire flippin' conversation is because you didn't wanna be? For a reason you haven't explained yet, I might add.

_{[Oh yeah, he's enjoying this so much. So much. This is him running his hands down his face in victory, and not because he wearily hit his limit somewhere around the time Minato claimed "too cool for school" status when it comes to being outraged against Wonderland.]}

You can't just suddenly change your tune and leave it there! What am I right about?

_{[Please help him understand what is happening right now.]}

[Since when was Minato not being honest? Ryuji still must have a rock bottom low opinion of Minato to even accuse him of everything he had been accusing of him in the first place.

The tune changed because there's no point in playing music on deaf ears or ears that don't understand or won't understand, like a spoon ladling soup and never knowing its taste. No point in taking a diamond and scratching it up against cheap metal. Shields, engage.]

That you're upset. That you have the right to be upset. If other people aren't upset, you get upset.

[He was right about all those things. That seemed clearer now. Ryuji could feel however he wanted. Minato shouldn't have suggested in the first place that Ryuji should react or feel any differently, even if he had been trying to be helpful, but wherever help wasn't needed, he should just mind his own business.]

That's a backhanded way to put it, but fair enough, I went off on ya and I shouldn't have. I can't stand hearin' things have to stay the way they are or there's nothin' to be done and I took it out on you.

_{[He's not without this much self-awareness, or the self-moderation to say it. And he can give up the anger--it's burned out of him and left him feeling more worn out than when he started--but the other is still side-stepping around the elephant in the room.

He's not willing to give that up just yet. He searches Minato's face with a hard, scrutinizing sweep of his gaze.]}

I wanna know why you're still puttin' on this act like you can't be bothered. What is it? You think I can't handle it?

_{[Ryuji is a creature of honesty, enclosing his thoughts behind a transparent pane of glass, easily seen and easily known--and in many cases even when others don't want to know.

To have someone not return the favor, and not even give him a reason as to why, is to put him at an impasse. He's unsure what else to do to get the bottom of this evasive jig aside from flipping Minato upside down by the ankles and shaking him until something comes out.]}

[Backhanded? It was perfectly clear to Minato, but maybe not clear to Ryuji. That couldn't really be helped though. But really, sometimes nothing could be done about some things--including not at the moment, but maybe in the future--so why get upset? But Ryuji was entitled to be upset about things that he or anyone else or the universe couldn't change. It didn't mean Minato had to agree.]

Can't be bothered with what?

[Maybe it was Ryuji's turn to make himself clearer.]

Quit playin' dumb. You know.

_{[Stepping back, he waves to encompass the entirety of this debate, the one which Minato's so far all but been a spectator in. Taking his unopened drink, he moves to put it away again, looking visibly tired. Sharing a drink together is a bit of a tough ask when they haven't yet been able to meet in the middle.

There's only so many times he can beat his head against a wall before even a hard-headed guy like him has to call a timeout, for both their sakes.]}

I ain't down for gettin' this runaround anymore, man. Give a shout when you feel like talkin' for real. You know where I am.

_{[He's willing to listen, but he's done with this left-footed dance around matters at hand. The track is calling his name louder than ever; his legs itch to move.]}

I gotta grab some air. _{[With that, he starts for the door.]} I'll catch you later.

[Minato gave Ryuji a nod and then a wave.

This conversation could come to a close now. Whether it came up again, then it would. If it didn't, then it didn't. There wasn't really a need for an explanation on either of their parts. If they didn't meet, then they didn't.

Sometimes, that's the way it was. It is what it is.]

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