[OPEN] Avengers Assemble

[socialbutterfly]

Characters: Members of SEES, new and old, as well as anyone who wants to stop by.
Location: SEES HQ, sort of under minor renovations.
Rating: I want a clean fight, guys.
Time: Dinner-time/Evening
Description: SEES has been without leadership for a while, so it's time to talk about that and other things. Over dinner.
Further Reading: OOC Post 1, OOC Post 2, Network Post 1

The SEES HQ is a humble, unadorned office in the process of renovation. There is scaffolding on the outside (really a continuation of the arcade expansion happening next door) and buckets of paint on the floor inside, stored until needed.

The arrangement of desks in the middle and chairs along the outside give it an almost conference room feeling, except that each seat has a dinner setting of plate and utensils (and chopsticks), and the middle of the table is covered in Kanji's generous dinner spread.

((Action or Log, your choice. Just have fun and let's talk about some baskets.))

Comments

[socialbutterfly]

Maybe we can check at the Detective Agency. If they've soundproofed an area recently, it'll be the monitor room for all the cameras...

[sayatakagi]

Hm, or that. Do you have a good connection with any of them from the agency?

[socialbutterfly]

Naoto-san and Kuzunoha-san are from the Agency. While they are not the same, different versions of those two founded the Agency long ago...

[sayatakagi]

It doesn't hurt to ask, anyway. [a small nod. Aka, you ask because Saya won't.]

[socialbutterfly]

It doesn't hurt to ask, huh..?

So would it be okay for me to ask you something as well, Saya-chan?

[sayatakagi]

Hm? Yeah, sure.

[socialbutterfly]

... Do you want to start dating?

[sayatakagi]

[NBDFGJHBSVIBASZCBSGJABBDJZHFVXGFZBJHVFSJBFJ]


WHAT??!?!?!?!

[socialbutterfly]

Naoto would disapprove... But I like you, so it'd be okay.

[sayatakagi]

[OH MY GOD.


WHAT IS HAPPENING.


WHAT IS BREATHING]

If you already have a girlfriend, why are you asking ME?!

[socialbutterfly]

[Does he actually have another girlfriend right now..? He didn't think of that, but Naoto definitely isn't his one of them.]

Naoto's my partner... That's different. [Plus I think she's going out with Kanji-kun... or Kanji-kun thinks they are going out. Haven't figured that out yet either...]

[sayatakagi]

[she doesn't know who Naoto is, she just assumed it was a girlfriend]

Why would you even...?! [oh god, minato you broke saya's brain] If Naoto doesn't approve, then, there must be a good reason for it!

[socialbutterfly]

[You spoke to her him in the interview, remember? Looks like a smaller, more serious Minato...]

Oh. Part of it is because Naoto doesn't think you're responsible girlfriend material...

[sayatakagi]

[ohhh that's right. She hasn't spoken to her him since then, so she doesn't really remember. ]

Well, maybe Naoto is right--

wait a moment, you've talked about this with them!?

[socialbutterfly]

Well... Naoto's a detective genius... [He'll just leave it like that to avoid the straight answer.]

[sayatakagi]

[oh my GOD MINATO WHAT THE HELL]

Wait.

You are joking about this, right?

[you gotta be]

[socialbutterfly]

About how I like you..?

[sayatakagi]

Yes. The dating too. [an exasperated sigh] Don't joke about that.

[socialbutterfly]

[He looks directly at her.] It's a serious question, Saya-chan...

[sayatakagi]

[oh my god, what the-]

Okay. I'm not walking on you right now because I do like you, Minato. [so she is going to explain]

Let's say we start dating. And there is love and... [other romantic stuff] - and then BREW decides to take one of us back. Better yet, decides to take one of us back, only to bring us back again with no recollection of we ever being here what-so-ever.

Then, what?

[socialbutterfly]

[Saya-chan says she likes him. That makes him happy.

Minato smiles. The question is easy too.]

We worry about it when it happens and enjoy ourselves while we can. I would miss you, though...

[sayatakagi]

[don't take things lightly!]

Minato, I don't- [how to explain this?]

I have PTSD. I came from a... zombie apocalypse. [already resigning herself to call them that]

[socialbutterfly]

And as a result you're worried about getting that close to anyone... [His hand comes up to touch her arm.] It's why I didn't ask before...

However, you said it wouldn't hurt to ask, so I did. It's okay to say no, Saya-chan. It won't hurt to say no either.

[sayatakagi]

I trust you, so that's no longer the point. What I'm worried is if allowing that is fair.

[she sighs, and shakes her head softly] You know, back in my world, there was a boy named Hirano who liked me, right from the first day, "love at first sight". However, during our journey, we met Asami, a girl who also fell for Hirano. And Kohta, he... loved her back. Just like that. And after she died, Hirano was once again in love with me. [a pause] It sounds weird, doesn't it? Feelings switching so fast, showing up so quickly. But it's not.

We were all so afraid that whatever we were becoming would dehumanize us, that we clung to every single little feeling we had or that was offered to us. We are so afraid of not seeing tomorrow or losing our humanity, that it makes the simplest little feeling of "I like your company" turn into "I love you". That's why I hold it back.

[Saya bites her lower lip] What I feel for Hirano, what I feel for Sendo, what I feel for you. To what point it's me just clinging to something that is being offered?

[socialbutterfly]

[Minato glances down to digests her words, processes them in his head, then composes himself for the long speech.] I think it works differently than that, Saya-chan. [His eyes lift to catch her gaze.] Your conclusion is that calamity elevates human emotions... Makes it into something unnatural. Based on your experiences, that appears to be the truth. However, have you considered the possibility that those feelings were always so large? Rather than be magnified by crisis, what if those emotions are diminished by societal expectations and the illusion that we will always have tomorrow? What if those strong feelings you hold are the truth, but you've been trained to hold them back..?

[He pauses. He re-affirms that held gaze into her eyes.]

Looking at it that way, you're not picking at scraps, Saya-chan, but being true to yourself and how you feel, even if those feelings aren't just for a single person. [Confessional?]

After all... isn't the idea that we can only like one person trained also? It's not a weakness to feel so strongly for people... It's a strength.