10th Frost | Private Video [Backdated to the day after Gavin's post]

[icy_heavens]

[It wasn't until too late that he saw that post about murdering the Keys. And recognized the handwriting on the first damn reply. He's very far from pleased. Oh, he can guess the reasoning, but he does not agree. At all.]

Luke, get your stupid ass on here and explain.


[[OOC: I guess I should have mentioned this earlier, but there is going to be a lot of really bad language in here, because Toushirou is incredibly angry and not holding back.]]

Comments

[songoftimeandtimeagain]

[He knew this was coming. He is not looking forward to it. But he knows he's right.]

I was tired of being too late or too slow.

[icy_heavens]

And what, your fucking solution is just hunt people down? You don't even know that those ones did anything bad enough to deserve that! [Hi there, much fouler mouth than usual.]

[songoftimeandtimeagain]

[His expression hardens a little bit and he takes a deep breath before he replies.]

I don't. But I know if they're dead they won't ever be able to.

[He doesn't know the words for preemptive strike, but if he ever heard them they would resonate with him in a very worrying way.]

[icy_heavens]

Where did it become acceptable in your mind to institute a goddamn death sentence WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW THAT THEY DID ANYTHING?

[songoftimeandtimeagain]

When more and more of my friends kept getting hurt by them when I couldn't be there.

[His voice is getting strained. He doesn't like being yelled at, and there's a part of him, mostly the old pre-network him, that's begging him to put down the mirror and just stop. But he's not giving in on this. He doesn't know how to say what he's feeling, but he knows he's not doing it quite right. He lets out a frustrated sigh, and breaks eye contact, glaring down at the ground for a moment before he remembers a phrase that's been said at him again and again by coaches, cousins, teachers, and television.]

The best defense is a good offence!

[icy_heavens]

[He takes a breath. No more yelling, not right now, but his tone is still sharp.] And you really think this is gonna protect us, huh? You don't have any idea how much worse this could make things?

[songoftimeandtimeagain]

Of course it is. How could it make things worse? There's l-less of them now.

[He hates the stutter in his voice, but he can't help it. As stubborn as he's being he can't deny that the actual killing part was almost as horrible this time as it was last time. When Gavin transformed into that thing....


Well it had gotten the job done. And Luke has convinced himself that that is what matters.]

[icy_heavens]

[Eyes narrow. Does he have to hit you over the head to get you to see logic here?]

First of all, we're not in a video game. There are goddamn consequences. You'll make the rest of them more violent and you can't be everywhere, idiot. You'll force everybody else into having to kill. What happened to that being a fucking terrible experience? You want the rest of us to have to do that?

And the cops, Luke. All the murder going on, and you'll get even the decent ones against you, against all of us. You wanna wind up fighting good people? You're just giving them actual excuses to bring people in and who the hell even knows what happens to them after that?

[songoftimeandtimeagain]

[He wasn't forcing anybody! If he just BEAT the stupid Blood Keys then all of it would be dealt with.]

I won't- I won't have to be everywhere if they're all gone!

And that's not- I'm not making anyone do anything! But the people who want to fight should. So we can do it instead of anyone else.

[He can feel that he's losing ground but Toushirou's arguments still aren't convincing him. He hasn't been able to really explain what he wanted to and he feels like he's being reprimanded for things he hasn't done.]

[icy_heavens]

If the Keys come after them, they will have to. It's the same thing. You can't stop that from happening. Not gonna wipe 'em all out before somebody else winds up in that situation.

And that still doesn't cover the point about the cops. Gonna make them "go away", too? I sure as hell hope not, but that looks like the way your logic could go, here.

[He folds his arms.] And there's a difference between fighting and going on killing sprees.

[songoftimeandtimeagain]

I-if the cops are bad too then I'll have to!

[His argument is breaking down but he's sticking to it. He has to. Gavin thought it was the right thing to do, and Luke knew that doing something and getting out there was better than sitting around and feeling useless.]

Fighting means killing. O-or it does with the blood keys. If you don't kill or p-prove that you will kill them they don't stop.

[icy_heavens]

Funny how I've managed to be fighting for months without killing anybody. And if I ever have to, it won't be because I hunted them for it. And killing the Keys has done fuck-all to get them to stop. You're not the first to have offed any of them.

And only some of the cops are bad. Hell, we have some on the network that are honestly decent people. And the cops that come after us won't necessarily be bad. They see somebody go on killing sprees, they've got no reason to believe they're not a threat to everyone.

I fucking defended you after that first time, when people started freaking out and calling you a killer. Because that was different. Don't turn that into a goddamn lie, you fucking idiot!

[songoftimeandtimeagain]

W-Well maybe it WAS a lie! I killed that guy! That is killing! I was defending myself, and now I'm def-fending everybody else! It doesn't feel any different to me!

[He's breathing hard, and there's a tightness in his throat and he hate hate hates it but he knows if this goes on much longer there are going to be angry tears, and he won't be able to keep talking, and Toushirou will win, and that will make him a murderer instead of a hero.]

[icy_heavens]

You fucking did that when he was beating on you and there was no other way for you to get out! Immediate danger made it different! Wiping out everybody by association is not protecting! Why can't you get that through your head?

[There's a prick at the back of his own eyes, but he's keeping that feeling back. Luke's supposed to be a friend, they're not supposed to be screaming at each other like this, they're not supposed to be so far apart on such a goddamn important issue.]

Fucking hell. I'm sick of this. You don't listen to sense. Don't talk to me again until you've actually put some real thought into what's going on here because all you're doing is spouting bullshit. And it should go without saying that any sword lessons are fucking done. Not teaching you if all you're gonna do with them is be like this.

[Connection terminated. He is so done with this crap.]

[songoftimeandtimeagain]

[His tears start falling right around the phrase no other way but he bites his lip and he clamps his mouth shut with all the strength he can muster. His face has dissolved into a blotchy, wet mess, and his shoulders are twitching with the effort of keeping himself silent. However clear it is that he's falling apart now, he is determined not to start wailing. He will hear every word that Toushirou says, no matter how much he wants to drown out the other boy and refuse to listen.


His resolve crumbles with Toushirou's final statements, and with a gasp a single pained sob escapes him before the connection ends. An instant later the only thing looking back at him from his mirror is his own wretched face and he lets himself cry full force. He curls up into a ball and his eyes screw shut, a large damp patch rapidly spreading across his clothes where his face comes into contact with his knees. Between shuddering breaths Luke lets out one last useless retort.]

You're not! R-r-ight! Ab-Bout everything!

[It's a meaningless statement, it's too late, and it doesn't make him feel any better. But at this point it's all he can do.]