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[ at the least, at the very least, sakamoto isn't shinsengumi; he knows how to hit the brakes, and most importantly, when.
the car's barely slammed into park, right there in the middle of the road, before he's stumbling out, slamming the door loud in his haste. this would be a grand time for words of wisdom, for pleas and pleading and warnings against foolishness, but since when did anything ever go so smoothly?
arm braced against the car side, sakamoto hunches over like a man mortally wounded and is very thoroughly, messily, loudly sick on the pavement.
god damn ]
the car's barely slammed into park, right there in the middle of the road, before he's stumbling out, slamming the door loud in his haste. this would be a grand time for words of wisdom, for pleas and pleading and warnings against foolishness, but since when did anything ever go so smoothly?
arm braced against the car side, sakamoto hunches over like a man mortally wounded and is very thoroughly, messily, loudly sick on the pavement.
god damn ]
[ there's a fist in his personal space, knuckles meeting the flesh of his cheek and despite the fresh flare of pain and the snap of his head jerking to the side, sakamoto can only be thankful that it isn't his nose again.
he stumbles back a shaky step, kept up only by the hand still braced against the car door.
his glasses hit the pavement with a saddening littke crack.
his nose is still choosing to bleed, for all that. ]
Hhffu-- Badou!
[ a statement, a plea, a warning, a shout through the fog. ]
he stumbles back a shaky step, kept up only by the hand still braced against the car door.
his glasses hit the pavement with a saddening littke crack.
his nose is still choosing to bleed, for all that. ]
Hhffu-- Badou!
[ a statement, a plea, a warning, a shout through the fog. ]
[people come with manuals]
[the gangster knows what to do with them; what to tell them to get their money, what words (buttons to push, triggers to pull) to say to get them to speak, spill, bleed]
[worick is the one that lacks instructions -- he doesn't know what to do with himself when it's just loneliness with another person in the room (is that it? in all his well-readness, he can't summon up the right word; does it exist?)]
[what else, Badou asks, like it's that easy]
[in the world of a child, it probably is]
...Ya ever shot a gun before?
[the gangster knows what to do with them; what to tell them to get their money, what words (buttons to push, triggers to pull) to say to get them to speak, spill, bleed]
[worick is the one that lacks instructions -- he doesn't know what to do with himself when it's just loneliness with another person in the room (is that it? in all his well-readness, he can't summon up the right word; does it exist?)]
[what else, Badou asks, like it's that easy]
[in the world of a child, it probably is]
...Ya ever shot a gun before?
[ two choices, sakamoto thinks, knows. he has two choices in the end, grey areas be damned, and less than a second to make a decision.
he hates the battlefield's snap decisions, the weight behind each choice, but he makes his all the same.
so instead of lashing out, instead of putting a boy half his age on the ground, instead of catching at skinny limbs and breaking his grip like so much brittle glass
sakamoto drops to a knee, and he lets it happen. ]
Badou!
[ said again, and this time the plea is audible, the warning muted like curtains drawn across a lit window. are you there? can you hear me? i'm here. ]
he hates the battlefield's snap decisions, the weight behind each choice, but he makes his all the same.
so instead of lashing out, instead of putting a boy half his age on the ground, instead of catching at skinny limbs and breaking his grip like so much brittle glass
sakamoto drops to a knee, and he lets it happen. ]
Badou!
[ said again, and this time the plea is audible, the warning muted like curtains drawn across a lit window. are you there? can you hear me? i'm here. ]
[ the boy is no warrior, no street fighter, no killer with hits designed to hurt or kill or leave wounds untreatable on the inside. there's no finesse to his strikes, and maybe that's what saves him from more damage, from worse.
but it still has him leaning hard against a car tire, and even that doesn't last long when he eventually, inevitably slides to the asphalt in a shuddering heap. his mind tells him no permanent damage, no broken bones, but his breath still rattles and rasps in his throat, he can still see stars and flashes of too-bright pain behind his eyes.
it hurts, and he can hardly breath right for the blood, yet he hasn't raised a hand in offense, defense, or plea.
only the breathless and wavering- ]
Badou?
but it still has him leaning hard against a car tire, and even that doesn't last long when he eventually, inevitably slides to the asphalt in a shuddering heap. his mind tells him no permanent damage, no broken bones, but his breath still rattles and rasps in his throat, he can still see stars and flashes of too-bright pain behind his eyes.
it hurts, and he can hardly breath right for the blood, yet he hasn't raised a hand in offense, defense, or plea.
only the breathless and wavering- ]
Badou?
[ he thinks, dimly, that he has a cracked rib, for all the stabbing little pains that accompany drawn breath, but it takes a backseat quick enough. priorities take helm, push all aside in a blind rush.
he reaches out a careful (shaking) hand, and brushes at bloody knuckles. ]
'M here.
he reaches out a careful (shaking) hand, and brushes at bloody knuckles. ]
'M here.
[ there's something there that makes his skin crawl, beneath the sting and the ache, like looking into dark corners for too long, like standing out in the rain an hour longer than was allowed. It's familiar, he thinks, in some muted and bloody-fresh way, like a melon (a skull) fresh broken, instead of one left to sit and rot and fester into something new and hideous and unrecognizable.
Urgency flares, and he puts aside creature comfort yet again. ]
Badou.
[ it's like a madman's dream, like if he says it enough, with enough hope, the brightly burning spark would rekindle, rise up, come back through the murk.
A little farfetched, but any hope was a good thing right now.
With a stifled groan, he pushes himself up, first onto a scuffed elbow, then to bruised knees. Time may not have healed all wounds but did, goddamn it, it did rob a man of a threshold once so hardy as to be noteworthy. Hurt hurt hurt it hurt and this wasn't even the worst of what could be but he grits his teeth, pushes himself up.
Gets a hand on Badou's shoulder and tries, tries, tries to look at him through everything. ]
Urgency flares, and he puts aside creature comfort yet again. ]
Badou.
[ it's like a madman's dream, like if he says it enough, with enough hope, the brightly burning spark would rekindle, rise up, come back through the murk.
A little farfetched, but any hope was a good thing right now.
With a stifled groan, he pushes himself up, first onto a scuffed elbow, then to bruised knees. Time may not have healed all wounds but did, goddamn it, it did rob a man of a threshold once so hardy as to be noteworthy. Hurt hurt hurt it hurt and this wasn't even the worst of what could be but he grits his teeth, pushes himself up.
Gets a hand on Badou's shoulder and tries, tries, tries to look at him through everything. ]
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