raidraptors | Ryslig

By caring.

[That's the first step anyway, the first startled answer that Shun comes up with, the best he can give without knowing what this is about.]

Why?

Is that really the only thing because I thought it was supposed to be harder.

Tsukikage brought Ron to stay here and Ron wanted to know if that made us brothers because I got adopted when I met niisama and now if Ron's staying here that makes him adopted, so we asked the robot in the arcade and it said 'correct'.

And that means yes.

[Tsukikage what. You barely qualify to take care of Reira! Anyway, the question…]

It's the most important thing. And it's hard enough sometimes, especially if you are adopted.

Why does that make it harder though?

Niisama cared about me a lot, and I was still adopted then too.

I've known Ruri for as long as I remember. I can't imagine a life without caring for and about her. I would have done anything to keep her out of the battlefield, but I didn't have that choice.

[Akaba Reiji hadn't cared enough to protect Reira – from their mother and her experiments, from the dangers waiting in Synchro and beyond – and no matter how much Reira might have grown through it, Shun has no intention to forget or forgive that.]

You've only known Ron for a little while, right? So you can't compare that bond just yet.

Niisama didn't know me long and he still kept me safe though!

[And there he goes, pulling the cards that are wrong right as Shun thinks of that fact.

...It's not something he's entirely oblivious to either, and while he can't say he's attached to Ron exactly, it still makes him frown.]

I don't want him to get hurt.

It's not hard to think that.

Niisama didn't want me to be hurt either.

Even if people think he did.

Your brother was a complicated case.

[Which is the most polite thing Shun will ever say about him, so case closed.]

Not wanting him to hurt isn't quite the same as caring. It's a good place to start from though.

I thought caring was wanting to make sure nothing bad ever happened to someone.

Tsukikage cares.

[Why must all of these problematic people be set on pedestals-]

It is but it's not just that.

Tsukikage is an idiot with no sense of responsibility.

[Shun may stop to spit on dead men, but he sure as hell doesn't hold back on the living.]

That's not true!

He tries really hard!

[There is.

Quite the pause as he convinces himself to admit the next part though.]

I just didn't want him to follow me all the time.

So I fly over the lake a lot.

But he shouldn't get in trouble for that, that's my fault!!

If you've done it more than once without facing consequences, he doesn't try hard enough.

[Never mind that the lake hadn't stopped him from taking Reira to bug city.]

It's not his fault there's nothing to do if I do that!

[Realistically there were consequences-Reira was just fairly good at ignoring them.

The amount of times he's been grounded only to slip to the arcade while someone was at work is unfortunate, truly.]

If he doesn't try then what about everyone else?

There is plenty to do. If you feel there isn't, then he's been doing the wrong thing. There are consequences either way.

[Like this very discussion that they wouldn't be leading if Tsukikage didn't let Reira walk all over him.]

They aren't responsible for watching over you most of the time, are they?

Skye is.

And Frodo too, or Steve, or Bucky sometimes.

Tsukikage has work.

And he has to sleep too, Frodo and I make sure he does, otherwise he works too hard.

That was why I didn't want him to follow me all the time, he was going to get hurt because he was trying to do too much!

He

[The message, unintentionally it seems, cuts off there-until a short bit later, at least.]

Are you mad?

Do you run away from them too?

I'm disappointed.

I just wanted to eat!

[A feeble excuse, certainly. And definitely not one that always applied.]

It wasn't fun inside and no one was at the parks.

And if Tsukikage was there that meant he didn't sleep I wanted him to sleep!!

[Equally poor excuses.]

He can't be there at night, he has to work.

He's supposed to guard other places, so if he's awake in the day he'll be tired.

[But really, that's just defending someone else, now.

...he doesn't want Shun to be disappointed.

...Somehow it feels worse than being mad.

It feels like when he thought he had failed his brother.]

please don't be mad

[He said he wasn't-but it feels the same. It feels exactly the same and he knows this isn't something anyone would be proud of him for.]

i'm doing school now i'll try not to leave please don't be mad

i promise

it's a promise

[Shun doesn't comment the excuses; Reira seems to realize himself that none of that really impresses him.]

When you are told to stay put by one of us, it's in order to keep you out of danger. How am I supposed to trust your promise, if you don't listen to what you are told?

I've been staying now!

I've been trying

i got hungry

[He told Frodo he was 'getting food', that time of course. He was supposed to go to the forest whenever he was getting food though. He hadn't lied when he said it-but at the same time, he hadn't gone after he left the house.

It doesn't feel right to say that he really did tell someone where he was going, this time, because of that.

It was really just as bad as never saying anything at all.]

That doesn't answer my question.

[Don't try to sidestep him, Brat.]

yes it did

[Hardly the time for sass, but he probably doesn't think he's meant to say it directly if the answer is 'obvious'.]

So any promise you make is worthless.

[Uncomfortable as it may be, that's the inevitable conclusion to reach from here, that Reira can't be trusted to listen.]

No!

I keep my promises!

I keep them, you're not allowed to break promises!

It's not their fault

You don't break your promises, but your hunger still trumps them.

[That's what Shun's been getting out of this, hence trust issues.]

No!

It didn't!

[At this point there's an odd keysmash of sorts, mostly caused by...well. Who knows what, but it wasn't intentional.

About twenty minutes later perhaps, a new response comes in.]

It's not Frodo's fault

I said I was going to get food

and then i got it

i don't know what happened after

[Shun frowns at the messages, eyes narrowing.]

What are you talking about?

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, SHUN KUROSAKI. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 235.59.665.46 * XYZ-RAPTOR has joined 235.59.665.46 <XYZ-RAPTOR>** Keep it short.

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