[It sounds enough like Guanshan that, again, he's thrown for an immediate reply. Itachi watches the dark-paned windows of the apartment in front of him and wonders how to approach this.]
Then it is sincere. You would want to see me wearing this.
[Being wrong feels good—he doesn't know if he can comprehend that. He needs time with the idea.]
The other two gifts are more logical to me. They're relevant to conversations and experiences I've shared with Guanshan. So you must be some part of him, or at least have access to his thoughts and memories, if you are not him. Does he know you're speaking to me? And others, too, I suspect.
[ true enough, hours later he's gone through his phone and witnessed the havoc his shadow has wrought. he doesn't know what it says about the quality of his relationships that his inner circle has... well. behaved themselves, even when "he" was incapable of it. ]
[ in some ways, it would've been easier if they hadn't — but he finds himself grateful all the same. unsure of what to say but wanting to follow up all the same, he sends a (shy) little: ]
I assumed as much. Thank you for them. [Because he'd figured out that while that other version of Guanshan might have orchestrated the hunt across Sumarlok, he couldn't have found all of those items in a day. The perfume and weapon were too intimate and premeditated.] ... Excluding that last one.
[ success!! between a knife and a perfume, the one he was more anxious about was certainly the latter. now he just wants to... smell it on him... is he a creep ]
i figured u wouldnt want somethin too strong everything about u is kinda.....
[ wait he needs to think is the right word ]
quiet
oh yea its the last character in my name shan
[ read the same in both of their languages: mountain. ]
[Almost stiffly formal in comparison, the conversation drops off there. He sends no other message for nearly two full days—and when word does finally come, it is strategically timed on an evening Guanshan is alone at home, off work. Like a phantom materializing from thin air, he appears on his balcony identical to that past encounter, except he is far more composed, and the sky is dry of rain.
There was no right time to discuss this. Yet those gifts had reminded him that, unless he did this soon, Guanshan would only be continually disillusioned about him.]
I'm here.
[His stony, set expression reveals nothing—yet he will be still betrayed by the faintest trace of sweet, smoky perfume.]
[ leave it to Uchiha Itachi to know how to give a man anxiety. he's never before experienced the "we need to talk" ploy despite wielding it himself on more than one occasion — a sentence he suddenly considers removing from his lexicon entirely. ]
[ days pass and he self-medicates with a mix of alcohol and marijuana like a nail house occupant who refuses to join the modern world as it goes brilliantly flying by. when Itachi announces himself, Guanshan emerges from his bedroom in joggers and a shorn-open tank top barely looped around his neck and hips, red-eyed and still wreathed in the cloying, herbaceous scent from his freshly stubbed-out joint. his hair is getting scruffy on the buzz, fringe bleeding down towards his hard brows. ]
Hey. [ forcefully casual, his hands tuck into his pockets after he's opened the balcony door. ] Tea?
[ something with honey to mortar the oncoming break. ]
[By record of past experiences, this situation is as best it could be: it is under his control, and he is initiating the conversation as planned. Better than Jonas, better even than Stiles—although in comparison to those two situations, he does not recall the same dread now. Perhaps testament of how much he's changed; it sits heavy as stone in his gut, turning over with each moment that passes, knowing and accepting it could very well be his last time here.
Only black eyes turn onto Guanshan at the greeting. He doesn't move, remaining still as displaced shadow on the balcony.
Uncharacteristic in the refusal:] No, that's all right. [... but this discussion is better indoors. As if a man walking to the noose, he enters the apartment to the strong scent of smoke. Guanshan's bloodshot gaze tells him the rest.]
If this isn't a good time in your current state, I can return later.
Waitin's worse, [ his voice his a croak of something — burn-raw throat or emotion or even some kind of callow determination, he can't quite discern. there are a lot of bad things Itachi could have loaded in the chamber; a flavor less caustic than gunpowder on his tongue is the least of his concerns. it only makes him slower, smooths his usually anxious, slatted movements, muffles the familiar chalkboard scratch of suspicious paranoia to which Itachi is not usually privy. ]
[ feet tucked up under him on the first corner of his couch, there's enough room for Itachi to claim the other with the comfortable distance he usually requires. Guanshan only looks at him expectantly with those glassy eyes, offering him no further conversational lubricant; he isn't good at it, and it wouldn't help. ]
[ never one to be gently enticed to the slaughter, he'd rather see the barrel against his brow. ]
[The delivery of difficult news is no new phenomenon to him. In some tucked-away, cobwebbed corner of his mind it is the same as surrendering a report of mission failure to a superior—or mission success at the cost of lives—which is everyday life of someone like him. Yet never has he been forced to put this exact confession into his own words. Always, before, there were holes filled in the person's mind, assumptions drawn, a sort of knowing that already existed. Jonas saw. Stiles hunted the information, then dragged it out of him the rest of the way. Everyone else had his reputation, infamous enough to carry over country border.
Itachi lowers dark eyes onto the other end of the couch, but he doesn't move to claim it. He is more comfortable standing as a dark pillar close to the wall, close to the window he came through, as though there is some invisible comfort in having an easy path back out.]
... I've told you before that you should not wish to know me. That was never an idle warning. [He looks over Guanshan in a cold, piercing survey; if nothing else, he deserves to see the effect this has on him. Already he can feel a defensive crystallization of detachment begin to form in his gut.] You're aware of what I am, and what sort of abilities I possess. I have killed many others before on condition of that.
Including my own family. [Sharp, precise as a knife between the slit of ribs.] My parents, cousins, and friends. My entire clan.
[Guanshan, if he is aware enough of it, may notice that brother is not on the list. Itachi moves on either way. This dark and slippery truth that will weigh him down forever, permanently, every waking moment that he is forced to remain alive. Saying it here freshens the wound; he feels unreachable, suspended somewhere deep below in a void of thought, unfeeling.]
That is what I am capable of, what I've done, and it will never change. You cannot trust me. Don't try.
[ stuck sedentary, this news washes over him slow, Guanshan lingering on every calculated word with intention. his eyes lower from Itachi, two shifting orbs he can feel in his scratchy skull, shifting between thoughts and emotions that feel just out of reach, behind a mesh of cotton balls. he watches himself pick at a hangnail without any awareness of it. ]
[ family is a familiar cross to bear. if ever it truly wounded the body, he'd have scars in the same place he's given them on Itachi. he remembers Sasuke primarily in reference to his brother, but also as a handsome older stranger who saw him hurting and did something about it, applied his sapphire to fix the damage he couldn't with needle and string. whether it was altruism or quid pro quo, Guanshan never learned — and it wasn't fratricide that robbed him of the opportunity. ]
[ Clan Killer isn't even a new epithet in his life. on some level, he's always been aware of the similarities between Itachi and Rokurou. it would be harder not to be. at some point, his idea of the shinobi had separated, formed its own path of nuances and experiences; now, he latches onto the humor of it and snorts, low and amused. he does not share the joke. ]
I decide what I can and can't do. [ it feels important to say, to remind to Itachi of his own stubborn will. what he offers in return isn't rejection; he knew the night he met the man, down to bottom of every cell, that he was a killer. ] And I ain't tryna change the past, that'd be stupid.
[ when he unfolds long legs out from under him again, they stretch out from beneath him as he settles back, his half-sprawl reaching towards him. the danger has passed. ]
Wanna tell me why? [ his choice. Itachi isn't one for baseless killing; if he were, Guanshan would've been dead a long time ago. ]
[In the minimal space of one silent moment, emotion itches at him vaguely, and then slowly begins to nag, growing into larger irritation—Guanshan's snort of amusement wedges into the edge of steely, numb composure. A roving thought wonders what it means and where it came from; how humor can be uncovered in such a confession. Misunderstanding festers. Itachi's dark, watchful eyes turn to narrow slits, then fall away, sweeping across the floor. His body stiffens and turns half toward the balcony.
His own reaction—upset, surely, a keen sting along the bed of nails that is his sense of control—surprises him. It is stronger than he has ever felt previously. With Jonas it was an ambiguous disappointment, with Stiles it was a cold sense of judgment. In comparison, this is hot and frustrated, and he does not know what to do with it. A tongue of that emotion flashes across Synchrony like the burnt tail of a firework, very quickly gone.]
It's complicated. [At some point, his gaze had come to rest on the bottoms of feet, long legs stretched out toward him, eating into distance.] I am not here to justify it. The choice was still mine.
[Could he turn Guanshan against him, as he had Sasuke? Lying is easier, always, but that guise has long since unraveled; it would be meaningless. And he is exhausted at the idea of wearing it again.]
What I did to you on the beach is nothing compared to the suffering I have inflicted upon others. [I am not a good person.] Knowing this, I would advise you to be more cautious how you approach me. We should limit our relationship to one another.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Then it is sincere. You would want to see me wearing this.
[Being wrong feels good—he doesn't know if he can comprehend that. He needs time with the idea.]
The other two gifts are more logical to me. They're relevant to conversations and experiences I've shared with Guanshan. So you must be some part of him, or at least have access to his thoughts and memories, if you are not him. Does he know you're speaking to me? And others, too, I suspect.
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nah hes busy
im sure hell be pissed later but thats his problem, he shouldna left me locked up for so long
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Perhaps it's best if we end this here.
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well that i didnt expect
[ weirdly... touched... ]
u dont even wanna ask me any invasive questions ?
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well awright then
u probly gonna hear from him later tonight
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Don't cause him too much trouble.
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[ in some ways, it would've been easier if they hadn't — but he finds himself grateful all the same. unsure of what to say but wanting to follow up all the same, he sends a (shy) little: ]
uhh
hi
oops 2/2
[ you know. that one. ]
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I assumed as much. Thank you for them. [Because he'd figured out that while that other version of Guanshan might have orchestrated the hunt across Sumarlok, he couldn't have found all of those items in a day. The perfume and weapon were too intimate and premeditated.] ... Excluding that last one.
Are you all right?
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yea im fine
got a headache n im not finishin my shift but
coulda been worse
[ ... ]
did u like how it smelled
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You surprised me. I expected something... stronger. Is the signature on the card your name?
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i figured u wouldnt want somethin too strong
everything about u is kinda.....
[ wait he needs to think is the right word ]
quiet
oh yea its the last character in my name
shan
[ read the same in both of their languages: mountain. ]
1/2
[Mountain... immovably stubborn and dumb as rocks. Meant fondly.]
I'm not certain I will have the occasion to wear it often, but perhaps someday soon.
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Guanshan. There is something I need to discuss with you in person the next time you are available.
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yea ok
late morning or early night works best
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[Almost stiffly formal in comparison, the conversation drops off there. He sends no other message for nearly two full days—and when word does finally come, it is strategically timed on an evening Guanshan is alone at home, off work. Like a phantom materializing from thin air, he appears on his balcony identical to that past encounter, except he is far more composed, and the sky is dry of rain.
There was no right time to discuss this. Yet those gifts had reminded him that, unless he did this soon, Guanshan would only be continually disillusioned about him.]
I'm here.
[His stony, set expression reveals nothing—yet he will be still betrayed by the faintest trace of sweet, smoky perfume.]
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[ days pass and he self-medicates with a mix of alcohol and marijuana like a nail house occupant who refuses to join the modern world as it goes brilliantly flying by. when Itachi announces himself, Guanshan emerges from his bedroom in joggers and a shorn-open tank top barely looped around his neck and hips, red-eyed and still wreathed in the cloying, herbaceous scent from his freshly stubbed-out joint. his hair is getting scruffy on the buzz, fringe bleeding down towards his hard brows. ]
Hey. [ forcefully casual, his hands tuck into his pockets after he's opened the balcony door. ] Tea?
[ something with honey to mortar the oncoming break. ]
no subject
Only black eyes turn onto Guanshan at the greeting. He doesn't move, remaining still as displaced shadow on the balcony.
Uncharacteristic in the refusal:] No, that's all right. [... but this discussion is better indoors. As if a man walking to the noose, he enters the apartment to the strong scent of smoke. Guanshan's bloodshot gaze tells him the rest.]
If this isn't a good time in your current state, I can return later.
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[ feet tucked up under him on the first corner of his couch, there's enough room for Itachi to claim the other with the comfortable distance he usually requires. Guanshan only looks at him expectantly with those glassy eyes, offering him no further conversational lubricant; he isn't good at it, and it wouldn't help. ]
[ never one to be gently enticed to the slaughter, he'd rather see the barrel against his brow. ]
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Itachi lowers dark eyes onto the other end of the couch, but he doesn't move to claim it. He is more comfortable standing as a dark pillar close to the wall, close to the window he came through, as though there is some invisible comfort in having an easy path back out.]
... I've told you before that you should not wish to know me. That was never an idle warning. [He looks over Guanshan in a cold, piercing survey; if nothing else, he deserves to see the effect this has on him. Already he can feel a defensive crystallization of detachment begin to form in his gut.] You're aware of what I am, and what sort of abilities I possess. I have killed many others before on condition of that.
Including my own family. [Sharp, precise as a knife between the slit of ribs.] My parents, cousins, and friends. My entire clan.
[Guanshan, if he is aware enough of it, may notice that brother is not on the list. Itachi moves on either way. This dark and slippery truth that will weigh him down forever, permanently, every waking moment that he is forced to remain alive. Saying it here freshens the wound; he feels unreachable, suspended somewhere deep below in a void of thought, unfeeling.]
That is what I am capable of, what I've done, and it will never change. You cannot trust me. Don't try.
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[ family is a familiar cross to bear. if ever it truly wounded the body, he'd have scars in the same place he's given them on Itachi. he remembers Sasuke primarily in reference to his brother, but also as a handsome older stranger who saw him hurting and did something about it, applied his sapphire to fix the damage he couldn't with needle and string. whether it was altruism or quid pro quo, Guanshan never learned — and it wasn't fratricide that robbed him of the opportunity. ]
[ Clan Killer isn't even a new epithet in his life. on some level, he's always been aware of the similarities between Itachi and Rokurou. it would be harder not to be. at some point, his idea of the shinobi had separated, formed its own path of nuances and experiences; now, he latches onto the humor of it and snorts, low and amused. he does not share the joke. ]
I decide what I can and can't do. [ it feels important to say, to remind to Itachi of his own stubborn will. what he offers in return isn't rejection; he knew the night he met the man, down to bottom of every cell, that he was a killer. ] And I ain't tryna change the past, that'd be stupid.
[ when he unfolds long legs out from under him again, they stretch out from beneath him as he settles back, his half-sprawl reaching towards him. the danger has passed. ]
Wanna tell me why? [ his choice. Itachi isn't one for baseless killing; if he were, Guanshan would've been dead a long time ago. ]
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His own reaction—upset, surely, a keen sting along the bed of nails that is his sense of control—surprises him. It is stronger than he has ever felt previously. With Jonas it was an ambiguous disappointment, with Stiles it was a cold sense of judgment. In comparison, this is hot and frustrated, and he does not know what to do with it. A tongue of that emotion flashes across Synchrony like the burnt tail of a firework, very quickly gone.]
It's complicated. [At some point, his gaze had come to rest on the bottoms of feet, long legs stretched out toward him, eating into distance.] I am not here to justify it. The choice was still mine.
[Could he turn Guanshan against him, as he had Sasuke? Lying is easier, always, but that guise has long since unraveled; it would be meaningless. And he is exhausted at the idea of wearing it again.]
What I did to you on the beach is nothing compared to the suffering I have inflicted upon others. [I am not a good person.] Knowing this, I would advise you to be more cautious how you approach me. We should limit our relationship to one another.
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