estoria | [closed]

Who: Abe family nerdlords aka

snakebait
When: IC: 12/17 // OOC: 4/9
Where: Around....ish.
What: Can the pseudo-ancestor-descendent duo actually get along--stay tuned
Rating/Warning: None!

[Sousei takes a different path home every single day from work in an attempt to better understand how this entire place functions, and to know the lay of the land--so to speak. Really, he's just paranoid and doesn't like sitting complacent ever.

At least this makes him feel like he's being useful. Even though he really isn't.

Either way, that's why he's wandering in this direction, and finally crosses paths with the not-ancestor that he hasn't seen in quite some time. Last time, he was in not so great shape, so at least he's not about to pass out from the shock of losing an arm this time.....?]

...Abe no Hirari.

[Sousei finally does approach, if only because he feels some vague sort of obligation to check up on him. Even if he still doesn't know what to think of this guy, exactly.

Hopefully he's not interrupting anything important.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ That might explain why he's not as terrible as the Abes that he knows. Being raised by non-Abs. ]

You're not.

[ He has to ask some questions about the future of Abe, (how exactly he knows Botan) and what exactly that one thing meant.

And now that he's said es, he starts walking again. Anything Japanese that reminds him of his own time here? ]

[Hirari isn't the only one with questions, certainly, though most of what Sousei was curious about was answered by Kagemitsu or Tenka obtaining Kagemitsu's memories, one way or the other.

This, though... it's a good way to get the chance to speak with Hirari properly, without silly things like blood loss and missing arms getting in the way.

Sousei's tastes run towards the traditional as well here, and he has explored the restaurants available with Tenka more readily (because they both suck at cooking)--so when it becomes clear Hirari has no set destination in mind, Sousei points out one of the more acceptable Japanese restaurants.]

The food here is familiar enough for my tastes.

[ What silly things, almost bleeding dry.

Well, he can deal with that. ]

Alright, I'll try it out. Does it have sake?

Yes.

[Not that Sousei generally partakes, but Tenka almost always knows. So he nods, and leads the way in with that acceptance.

It's when they're seated and settled that Sousei finally breaks the silence otherwise.]

Have you settled in acceptably?

[ Well, maybe he could get to know Tenka through drinking then. He can't be completely bad if he's related to Kagemitsu and has a taste for sake. He can't speak for any other habits. ]

Yeah, I guess. I work, read a lot.

[ If he's going to find a way to get Botan back it might be in one. That or in a scroll. ]

...I see.

[It's boring, but--it's not entirely different from Sousei's own schedule. His research is just different, honestly.]

Are you continuing your search for Botan, then? [He'd pieced together the love story for himself even before Kagemitsu made it obvious, but....the confirmation just made it clear.]

Of course I am. [ What a stupid question. Of course he's going to continue; he's never going to stop. ]

So what was that thing about being separated from the Abe?

[.... well, not everyone falls in love with a shikigami and follows her throughout time, okay....

But right, that... question. It's an odd one to discuss with someone else who also bears the family name, though he suspects that because of that, it also makes it easier. After all... Hirari would understand, wouldn't he?]

... As a candidate for the Orochi's vessel, I was separated from my family at birth and raised to be a sacrifice to that end.

[He sounds calm as he explains it, anyway--it's... easier, to tell it to someone who will understand all of the nuances to the situation.]

[ His eyes widen a little at that. He hadn't thought about that. And many people would do the opposite and try to hoard candidates. The Ashiya sure wanted to keep close to Sasaki after all. ]

Sacrifice... For what, exactly?

[ In a way he had been raised as one as well, but this seemed so opposite he wasn't sure it was the same way. ]

You experienced something similar.

[....]

Acting as "bait" for the Orochi--it was not an entirely different concept, though executed differently. I was simply to be killed should I have showed signs of becoming the vessel.

[and maybe if he didn't.

Hard to say, really, what would happen to him after all was said and done.]

So it's uh, kind of similar to what they did to me, but I was adopted into the family instead. They don't get any better, huh...

[ It seems like the general Abe family will be horrible forever. ]

No, they don't. They are committing the same crimes they always have.

[alas......]

It does not matter. In my case, I was taken in instead by Kumou Taiko, the 13th head of the Kumou family.

[life with the kumous is pretty good, so.]

[ Lucky Sousei. Hirari on the other hand had been stuck with the other Abe for many years, the same words being burned into his brain over and over. ]

How did you get involved with the Kumou?

[ For him it had been because of Botan, but had him meeting Kagemitsu tied their families closer together in any way or something? ]

Kumou-sensei found me.

[Quite frankly.

He just found tiny 6-year-old Sousei and dragged him home. Like finding a puppy in a box in the rain.]

... In that way, I was lucky.

'Sensei'?

[ So does being an idiot come in waves in that family or? Kagemitsu; Brat, Tenka; brat, this Kumou-sensei; not a brat(???) ]

They didn't let anyone go like that in my time.

[... Look, hot dad Kumou was really cool, okay. (but also kind of a brat).]

... We were simply kept elsewhere for observation, in the end.

[After all, that had been one of the Yamainu's original purposes.]

It was not as though we escaped that fate.

Are they ever going to stop being such assholes?

[ It's more to himself than to Sousei, but nevermind that. ]

Do they still say the same things?

[Hirari sure is more vocal about it than Sousei ever will be...though he doesn't necessarily disagree. They're assholes. Worst family, would not recommend.]

I couldn't say without knowing what "the same things" are.

[But. He suspects he knows what those are, and he suspects the answer is "yes".]

[ Well, he's done what he could. He didn't die, so he didn't do what he was supposed to, but he was of no more use to the Abe. They wouldn't want to be associated with him now.

He remembers their words perfectly though. They've been etched into his mind and he wouldn't be able to forget no matter how much he would have wanted to. ]

"You must not think of living. No mercy towards others or yourself. You must throw away your compassion."

[ It had been repeated countless times to him, to the other unfortunate children taken in by the Abe. ]

[... He's heard it.

He's heard it all before. Admittedly, he was more a case of neglect than outright emotional abuse; he existed to be a possible Orochi vessel, and that was all.

But even so...]

...I'm not unfamiliar with those words.

[A noise, deep in the back of his throat, disgusted. He's..sick of this sort of thing. Sick of this awful human character.]

It would appear the Abe family truly has not changed.

[closed]

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