Izana "I bring a sword to a gun fight" Kunagiri (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bonafidebrother) wrote2037-12-07 07:22 am
bonafidebrother) wrote2037-12-07 07:22 amEntry tags:
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Hey, this is Izana. Everything okay?
bonafidebrother) wrote2037-12-07 07:22 am
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[Doesn't he realize it's hopeless? Machina's not stupid. He's made decisions and they've shaped up to be terrible. And he knows he just hurt his brother by popping off at the mouth. Does it a lot really, and it's the last thing he wants to do. It just... happens.
And yet he cannot abide the thought of needing to be helped, not in any way. Not even with all the reassurances he's had from friends, and from Sheena, that help comes from caring. It's just too much to process. Too difficult to accept.
The truth is, nothing can be done to reverse Machina's pathetic life choices, to save him from the fate he ultimately chose for himself. But saying so, or that he doesn't want to be so weak to need help, is going to hurt Izana all over again.]
I... I don't know.
You want to fix things and... I guess, I need to know that you're not going to blame yourself when I...
[Sorry, Izana, but he can't bring himself to even vocalize where his 'life' is going to end up. Unfortunately, that was a when and not an if.]
...yeah.
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But even if that... can't happen. For one reason or another.
I want to be here for you. Whatever that may mean... I don't think you fared well on your own, and I don't want you to have to, again.
And I won't... I won't blame myself for what's beyond my reach.
Does that work?
[ A day late and a gil short. It's Izana's very best, and it's not enough. (Never enough.) But, even so, what right has he to not offer it? ]
What else can do? What does it feel like from the inside of your own mind?
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You're not going to like this.
[Best to just warn Izana up front.]
I took over Qun'mi's Focus. I have all her powers.
[People of Orience know the names of the current l'Cie in all the city-states. Usually as a matter of gossip and speculation. Machina doesn't know if that name will mean anything to Izana, but it's worth explaining. Because it delineates right away that his baby brother is a Secundus and not a Primus. That is both good news and wretchedly bad news. There's a lot of arguing that the Secundus are more dangerous, and they're not necessarily wrong.]
She's the one who powered the crystal jammers in the capital. And I'm positive she powered the Ultima Bomb that wiped out Lorica.
I can uh... [Deep breath. Already started down this path, need to finish now.] ...power, manipulate, repair any weapon just like her. And... I've enhanced a prototype anti-magic shield. Enough to withstand Lady Caetuna's summoning of Alexander.
[Maybe that's good for a start. Anathemic weapons, crystal jammers, anti-magic shielding. Potentially the greatest threat to Rubrum is sitting in this room staring down a bowl of soup.]
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She's the one who powered the crystal jammers in the capital.
Izana tries so hard not to flinch, but he fails so spectacularly.
It has been a long time ago for Machina. Many fights and much pain. So, perhaps, he has forgotten what it was exactly to reach for the power, for that connection, and find it completely gone. It's different from running out of ether, too, so very different.
But Izana remembers.
Then he blinks. ]
Gods, Machina. You had to-- you lived through that?
[ Because Machina said that he could - did - withstand it. But the Alexander... Nobody in living memory knows about it, but Izana has done his best to study for his Agito Cadet exams. He's read about the legendary, Verboten Eidolons.
Machina was right. Izana doesn't like it. But if Machina could live through it, then Izana could hear it. He could at least do that much. ]
Does it - come naturally? Or do you have to try things out before they happen, or rely on what you've already learned how to do?
[ He can handle this. He can focus on the reality, not on fears and pain. He can. ]
holy wall of text, Batman
Though, it's good for Izana to know just how spectacularly strong his brother is, to survive a Verboten Eidolon. Maybe in some strange way that will reassure him that Machina can handle himself?
No he can't, the child is a trainwreck. Where is it ever a good idea to give the power of a god to a teenager?]I did. I was the only one. [Wait, wasn't there a magitek pilot? He can't remember now.] But, it's okay. Lady Caetuna's summoning turned the tide of the war. Rubrum has a real chance of winning now. Not just winning, controlling all of Orience.
[Despite who he is leashed to, and which side of the battle lines he'd been standing on at the time, Machina's national pride shines through. He could shake their government for their duplicity and scheming, but his love of country still runs strong in him. And truthfully, he'd far rather fill Izana in on the war effort, even particulars he knows will dismay his brother, than keep sharing his particular circumstances. But. He offered and backing out now would be a coward's move.]
Uh... yeah it kind of does. I just reach for it and it's there.
[It's always there, at the front of his mind, pushing away irrelevant immortal concerns. Machina's eyes glaze over and grow distant, like he's listening to another voice. And he is. But he's also trying to sift past it to an analogy to explain.]
It's like wearing clothes. They shield you from the elements [or from the world in his case], but you don't really think about them being there until they're too tight or itchy. It's always there but I'm used to it now.