Learning dreamotion from a man he'd traded jibes with, who was so much more than he'd let on. Sparring with a horned woman who'd acknowledged his anger, who hadn't called him wrong for having it, supporting him even if she'd irked the shit out of him. Facing his own Shadow, feeling the relief as the last of Hereward's suicidal single-mindedness left him, coalescing instead into Captain Nemo. Throwing it all away and starting over. Learning three-cushion billiards from an imp who'd stunned him by calling him a friend. Feeding crows while he talked with an owl-man, nearly twice his height. Learning to sign from a pale boy who smiled all the time in spite of everything. Being welcomed to a holiday party by a man in a red coat, who'd told him- "I'm glad you came, even if it wasn't your thing." Ren and Sumi and Ann and Futaba, showing up at his house uninvited on the holiday, pushing past all his objections and giving him food, for no reason other than that they didn't want him to spend it alone...
And it lingered, there, on that scene of the five of them, laughing and poking fun at his shitty paint job and his lack of cooking ability, offering him a plate and dragging the furniture together, like it wasn't even a question of whether they wanted him there, warts and all.
"... I didn't do it alone. That's the takeaway, isn't it?"
no subject
Learning dreamotion from a man he'd traded jibes with, who was so much more than he'd let on.
Sparring with a horned woman who'd acknowledged his anger, who hadn't called him wrong for having it, supporting him even if she'd irked the shit out of him.
Facing his own Shadow, feeling the relief as the last of Hereward's suicidal single-mindedness left him, coalescing instead into Captain Nemo. Throwing it all away and starting over.
Learning three-cushion billiards from an imp who'd stunned him by calling him a friend.
Feeding crows while he talked with an owl-man, nearly twice his height.
Learning to sign from a pale boy who smiled all the time in spite of everything.
Being welcomed to a holiday party by a man in a red coat, who'd told him- "I'm glad you came, even if it wasn't your thing."
Ren and Sumi and Ann and Futaba, showing up at his house uninvited on the holiday, pushing past all his objections and giving him food, for no reason other than that they didn't want him to spend it alone...
And it lingered, there, on that scene of the five of them, laughing and poking fun at his shitty paint job and his lack of cooking ability, offering him a plate and dragging the furniture together, like it wasn't even a question of whether they wanted him there, warts and all.
"... I didn't do it alone. That's the takeaway, isn't it?"