( OPEN )

[swordsitter]

Who: swordhaus + cr
When: throughout march
Where: the three apartments swordhaus uses.. or will be, once the newbies arrive
What: march catch-all
Rating/Warning: probably nothing, but i'll edit as necessary.

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[ this is a busy, noisy household. sorry, neighbors. ]

Comments

[spes_phthisica]

[Souji gratefully reaches out his hands and takes the cup, leaning over it a bit so he can breathe in the fumes - that always eases his breathing a little bit, and the slight, constant scraping noise lessens somewhat. He resists saying that some are more cracked than chipped, and then it depends a bit on how far the crack goes. Haru still has a good point, and there's a time and a place to argue semantics.]

Honestly, I've always thought that both people and things only get more interesting once they've gotten a bit chipped and stained with time - but then, I don't have to tell someone like you that, huh?

[A saniwa sage in charge of a big number of sword spirits would know all about how the marks of time bring more life to things as well as people.

He makes a soft little noise, lapping experimentally on his tea, but it's still too warm.] I'll do my best, of course. He's very sweet, and very brave and loyal. I'd like to get to know him better, and ease his mind. [He shoots Haru a warm glance.] It's strange, how different they are, and yet... at the same time, not completely different at all. And since I know I care so much about one, it is quite impossible not to already love the other.

[swordsitter]

[ he fidgets a moment or two, then glances away, ears going red again. awkwardly, he shuffles back to the kitchen to check on the soup. ]

Um. Well.. you know. I was raised by spirits, mostly. [ he's never really talked about that. he doesn't intend to now. it's just.. ] I didn't even know it wasn't.. normal for a long time. But they always seemed more real than.. humans. When I was younger. [ in a lot of ways, he's still more comfortable around spirits and demons and monsters than he is around human beings. spirits he gets. humans are complicated. ] And then.. you know, there's.. the tsukumogami, and they're--

[ he trails off, then pours tea for himself to give him something to do with his hands. ]

.. I'm really, really glad that you love them, too. I'm really glad that Kashuu-kun and Yamato-kun have you here. I'm glad.. that.. you're staying here.

[spes_phthisica]

[Souji tilts his head curiously in response, because really, who wouldn't be s bit fascinated? His own childhood was hardly what anyone would call entirely ordinary, but that's not quite the same thing.] Raised by spirits, huh? I have a friend with spiritual powers, and those kind of things seem perfectly ordinary and real to him, but I suppose it's just a bit hard to imagine if you're not that kind of person.

[His curious expression warms into a smile after a couple of moments.] Then again, they clearly did a very good job, so maybe it's not that much stranger than any other way.

[He lowers his head for a moment, making another attempt at the tea, and this time managing to take a couple of tiny sips.]

I'm really grateful to be here, you know. Back home... mm, you can see I don't have much time left, right? And Osaka castle is pretty far away from where most of the Shinsemgumi are. I'm honestly feeling less lonely here than there - that's pretty sad. [His tone lightens somewhat.] And I'm grateful as well as honored to have a chance to get to know them - and the other swords too! And you, Ha~ru~ji! [Yep, the nickname is everywhere.]

[swordsitter]

[ he shakes his head a little as he sets the kettle back down and lifts the spoon to stir the soup. ] I just-- my parents were.. busy. [ 'busy' is one way of putting it. ] And our house was old. And.. because I have.. these powers, spirits and the like could sense me. So we had a lot of them around, and they taught me how to do things. [ which.. isn't the point. ah-- ] I mean, the point is that-- You know, they're really important to me, and I'm really overprotective of all of them sometimes, and-- I was really prepared not to like you, but I-- I do. So I'm really glad. And you always have a home here with us, and so do the others if they show up.

[ in all this time, he hasn't turned around to look at souji, too embarrassed by his own admission, ears red beneath the fall of his hair.

it only gets worse as souji says that. he whirls in embarrassed shock, pale eyes going wide. ] Souji-san, that-- [ HE'S NOT YOUR MASTER??? OKAY??? ugh, he brandishes the spoon at him, whole face a little red. ] I know I boss you around some, but calling me that..

[spes_phthisica]

[Souji listens in silence at first, taking in the silent implications of subtle abandonment, and duties shouldered at a rather young age - no wonder Haru reminds him of Tatsu sometimes. He looks away as Haru tells him that he's been prepared to hate him, a subdued gesture, weighted by the complexity of his feelings.]

Of course. I understand.

[He can only try to put as much gratitude and goodwill in his voice, trying to communicate that he really does see what Haru means. Kashu, who was so strong and bold and beautiful... and brittle underneath all that, as if one unkind word might raze him to the ground. Souji had given him that. And Yamato too, in a different way. Somehow in the last stages of Souji's tragedy, he'd imprinted too much of himself into the sword, left him aching for everything he could not have, trying to hold it alive within himself even though it twisted him up inside at times.

But then he shakes those melancholy thoughts away, shaking with barely controlled laughter as Haru appears to threaten him with a kitchen implement, and at the bright blush underneath.] Ah, really? I don't get to use it? [A theatrical sight.] What a shame. And I thought it was so cute too. It makes everyone sound so much like a true family. [He's so cheating.]