Deer Country In-Box

[burnitblack]

un: dabi  *cla-chick* ... what?  *growl* [ that would be his omen ] [ contact through his omni stone can be text, audio, or video. contact through his omen can be visual, mental, or physical. ]

Comments

[swellter]

[ Another pause. This time longer than the last, yet eerily his expression never changes. ]

Did you have a choice when you hurt Bakugou?

[burnitblack]

[take long enough and touya's gonna roll over and grab a nap.]

Yep. It was an easy one.

[swellter]

Why did you kill him?

[burnitblack]

D'ya have selective hearin or just choose to ignore the words ya don't like?

[swellter]

[ He simply waits for a response. ]

[burnitblack]

[does he really think he can out-patient a guy who's waited ten years?]

[swellter]

[ It's not about what he can do, it's what he's willing to do for what he wants. That's where they are very similar.

He will wait for his answer. ]

[burnitblack]

[...sigh...]

I already answered that.

[swellter]

[ Answer it again. ]

I want to know why you killed him.

[burnitblack]

Cause he tried to kill me earlier.

Happy?

[swellter]

No.

[ But he'll talk to Bakugou about it at another time. For now, he'll let it lie. ]

None of this makes me happy.

[burnitblack]

Kill or be killed world, Shouto.

[Trench has never changed its face.]

Forgot that already.

[swellter]

That's not what I believe.

[burnitblack]

That's cause you're naive.

[swellter]

I make the effort to use restraint.

[ He's never used deadly force, never will. ]

[burnitblack]

That's why I'll always be stronger than you.

[swellter]

Strong enough to save someone instead of harming them?

[burnitblack]

That's a choice, idiot. It's got nothin to do with strength.

If I felt like savin him, then I would.

But that ain't me.

[swellter]

If it was easy, then anyone could do it.

[ There's a pause after that where mismatched eyes stare straight at him, pondering something new at that remark. ]

... Who are you?

[burnitblack]

Anyone can save. Anyone can kill. It's a choice.

[he regards those eyes with his own burning turquoise gaze, not backing down at the comment or the look.]

No one. Just a failure.

[swellter]

Not anyone can save or kill. It's a choice.

[ He meets that turquoise gaze easier than he ever did his father's. For one, there's no burning anger or outright dismissal. He cares what Touya has to say. ]

You're not 'No one' to me.

Or a failure.

[burnitblack]

Think about what you just said and repeat it once ya understand your own words.

[touya drops his head back on the couch, not bothering to look anymore.]

Cute.

Too bad ya ain't that thing.

[swellter]

I understand. I don't think you do.

[ It's always been a choice for him; always will be.

Ain't that thing? ]

Are you... saying I'm not a failure?

[ The exact opposite of everything you've told him since he first met you during their summer camp. ]

[burnitblack]

Anyone can save. Anyone can kill. It depends on motivation.

[thus, it's always a choice. manipulated, coerced, forced, but still a choice.]

Of course you're not. You're the only one your parents gave a shit about.

Mom and dad's little perfect success.

[swellter]

Not anyone can make that choice.

[ Same answer, different perspective, but that's not what he focuses on when Touya brings up their parents so casually. No one brings it up, but he knows his arrival ruined their family, especially their mother. ]

... I wasn't her success.