[Jin chuckles a little— gods, how long do the victory rolls even take Giorno? every day?— but it fades away, as the thought of the inevitable returns to him.
Once Zymandis is gone, if they all live through it, what does ALASTAIR have left to do?]
Neither of you have told me, in exact words, what’s gonna happen when you go back home.
[He knows enough to guess that they won’t stay here.]
[It’s a sobering truth, and one that he’d hoped would be far from the truth. Jin’s brows knit together as he too avoids her gaze, all those worlds apart suddenly meaningless— slavery of her kind, of any kind, isn’t something he can find it in himself to excuse.]
They’d mutilate your people…?
[And treat them as cattle. He avoids dwelling on the thought, lest his imagination carry him to the depths of those dark fates.
Finally, he raises his gaze to her. She deserves to be looked in the face, the regal figure that she is, towering even above his height—]
You don’t deserve that. No one does.
[Is anyone doing anything for the jinba? Would anyone seek to liberate them, and would Hayame even live to see that progress? If she went home, that is.]
[His sympathy is like a knife in her heart, or rather, like a twist in the knife that has always been there. Her expression grows darker, because he says "your people" and it only reminds her that once she had thought herself above them, different from them, better than them. She had been born from a broken, armless broodmare and sired by one of the stablemaster's most obedient stallions, raised to obey and to enforce the word of humans. She'd thought herself trusted, armed and privileged.
And she'd come too late to the truth, and to the taste of what true freedom might be like.]
Those that do not serve.
[Jinba were larger and more powerful than humans, but humans had numbers. If they would not be broken, would not be tamed... they were made into creatures who could not survive alone, who had to rely on humans for food, for clothing, for bathing- a pitiful existence with little dignity. She cannot deny her role in it now, the words that she knows may imply that she was no innocent victim.
(Maybe that is part of why she and her lord felt such a bond. They loathed themselves in equal measure, regretted the things they had done and what had become of it.)
She barely manages to return his gaze, struggling for how to reply to such a thing.]
... What we deserve has little to do with it.
[She knew what she deserved. But Ninurrta had begged her not to leave him, not to slit open her belly and atone for her sins... what else could she do but swallow her shame and live?]
[It's true enough, and Jin's certainly observant enough to have noted. He steps back as another group of ALASTAIR members hustle across the newly-formed platform-- their speed unchanged by whether or not they heard Urahara.]
And what about you? What do you need to keep this up?
[And it occurs to him suddenly--] And to not come down with it? If that's in danger of happening.
I appreciate your concern, Jin-san~ It's very touching.
[God even with the effort of this making sweat beat on his forehead, he can still look stupidly flippant.] But I promise I'll be fine. I'm a lot more used to this than you are.
[Also I can walk on the motherfucking air if I want to.]
[pshhhhh concern??? what concern.] It's no big deal. You're my teammate, right?
[HE KNOWS, URAHARA, IT'S KILLING HIM.]
Let me at least cover for you. [Jin gestures with a tilt of his head at a small huddle of approaching robots, (laser) guns blazing.] How well can you defend yourself while you're holding her up?
[He's not waiting for the answer before he's pulling his bow off his back and nocking an arrow in.]
Ah... [Well, the answer is "not very" anyway. Maybe if he were weakening the surrounding structures he could afford to lose a little bit of concentration, but this is a huge undertaking and a massive exertion, especially since he didn't choose to leave his gigai. It's a bit awkward when no one can see him.]
Well, it doesn't matter, does it? You've made your decision, so it does seem pointless to stop you.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
➽ PREPARE FOR TROUBLE; hayame
➽ IC INBOX; ninurrta
➽ PREPARE FOR TROUBLE; urahara
➽ CRUMBLING WORLD; urahara
➽ PREPARE FOR TROUBLE; giovanni
➽ PREPARE FOR TROUBLE; fugo
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Once Zymandis is gone, if they all live through it, what does ALASTAIR have left to do?]
Neither of you have told me, in exact words, what’s gonna happen when you go back home.
[He knows enough to guess that they won’t stay here.]
no subject
They’d mutilate your people…?
[And treat them as cattle. He avoids dwelling on the thought, lest his imagination carry him to the depths of those dark fates.
Finally, he raises his gaze to her. She deserves to be looked in the face, the regal figure that she is, towering even above his height—]
You don’t deserve that. No one does.
[Is anyone doing anything for the jinba? Would anyone seek to liberate them, and would Hayame even live to see that progress? If she went home, that is.]
I hope you know that much, Hayame.
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...
In that case, I don't know if ALASTAIR will be the same as it was, either.
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And she'd come too late to the truth, and to the taste of what true freedom might be like.]
Those that do not serve.
[Jinba were larger and more powerful than humans, but humans had numbers. If they would not be broken, would not be tamed... they were made into creatures who could not survive alone, who had to rely on humans for food, for clothing, for bathing- a pitiful existence with little dignity. She cannot deny her role in it now, the words that she knows may imply that she was no innocent victim.
(Maybe that is part of why she and her lord felt such a bond. They loathed themselves in equal measure, regretted the things they had done and what had become of it.)
She barely manages to return his gaze, struggling for how to reply to such a thing.]
... What we deserve has little to do with it.
[She knew what she deserved. But Ninurrta had begged her not to leave him, not to slit open her belly and atone for her sins... what else could she do but swallow her shame and live?]
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And what about you? What do you need to keep this up?
[And it occurs to him suddenly--] And to not come down with it? If that's in danger of happening.
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[God even with the effort of this making sweat beat on his forehead, he can still look stupidly flippant.] But I promise I'll be fine. I'm a lot more used to this than you are.
[Also I can walk on the motherfucking air if I want to.]
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I'm not.
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[HE KNOWS, URAHARA, IT'S KILLING HIM.]
Let me at least cover for you. [Jin gestures with a tilt of his head at a small huddle of approaching robots, (laser) guns blazing.] How well can you defend yourself while you're holding her up?
[He's not waiting for the answer before he's pulling his bow off his back and nocking an arrow in.]
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Well, it doesn't matter, does it? You've made your decision, so it does seem pointless to stop you.
[There's a thank you in there somewhere.]