lapidarius | rubycity_rp ic inbox

lapidarius

"This is Kakyoin Noriaki. Please leave a message, I'll contact you as soon as I can."

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

lapidarius

It's not a terrible thing to weaponize, I think.

[...It probably said a lot that he'd stopped fidgeting with his collar. Every day he was careful to hide a mess of scars under his uniform, and it hadn't been long ago that he'd started to get used to going without his sunglasses to hide the rest. This was probably the only shirt he even owned that didn't explicitly conceal what had once been lacerations left by twisted metal.]

[...And strangely, right now he didn't mind it so much. Giorno wasn't likely to see that kind of thing as some kind of personal failure or sign of weakness on either side; it just was what it was. That was all.]

I never did manage to grasp the finer points of doing that, past 'emeralds hurt a lot when you hit someone with them'.

From:

digiorno

[It was important to feel safe in one's own home, wasn't it? Important to be able to be weak and vulnerable, to rest all the shields one holds up between the self and the world. Back home . . . he doesn't have that, he thinks, with a note of wonder. He has to be strong all the time.]

[Here, he could be weak sometimes. It only made sense to repay that favor.]

[Resting his chin in his hand, he gave Kakyoin a thoughtful look.]

I talk to Jotaro about it sometimes. He calls it peacocking. It's pretty funny, how well he understands something he'll really never have to do.

From:

lapidarius

He's usually good at that. Understanding, I mean.

[A small smile crossed Kakyoin's face as he said that; turned out the conversation was lingering on one of his own favorite subjects.]

...It still manages to be impressive to me how natural things are. We understand each other like we've been friends our whole lives; half the time we don't even have to talk to have the other one know what we're thinking.

From:

digiorno

I know. He brags about you a lot. You do know that, don't you? He said - what was it.

[Something complicated crossed his face, but a smile settled in the end.]

Something about how amazing it is, when you understand without him having to say a word. How it's really special.

From:

lapidarius

He would, I'm not surprised. [Kakyoin shook his head with a quiet laugh, edged with the smallest note of embarrassment.]

...It's a pretty nice change, being understood for once.

From:

digiorno

It is, isn't it.

You know he wouldn't say it if it wasn't true. You really are amazing.

From:

lapidarius

Two can play that game, Giorno, don't make me start flattering you.

From:

digiorno

Oh, I didn't realize this was a competition. I probably should have, shouldn't I? Since it's you.

From:

lapidarius

Everything is a competition with me. I thought we all knew this by now.

From:

digiorno

Sometimes I forget these things, I'm so sorry. Still, I think you might lose this one.

From:

lapidarius

Oh? And what makes you think that?

From:

digiorno

Because flattering people is my job.

From:

lapidarius

I guess that just means I'll have to work that much harder to keep up, doesn't it?

From:

digiorno

Hm. I suppose it does. If you do win, I'm not sure what I'll do with myself.

From:

lapidarius

Apart from being stunned into silence by my amazing talent and sheer stubborness?

From:

digiorno

Well, that, and I'll probably have to retire in shame.

From:

lapidarius

Oh, I'm not nearly ready to run the mafia because I out-complimented its leader.

From:

digiorno

I really think you underestimate how much of my job is pretending to be very fond of people and then hilariously surprising them with ultimatums. It's much more that than violence, most days.