sirenspull_logs | A man's memory is bound to be a distortion of his past in accordance with his present interests,

Current Mood: moody

Entry tags:

A man's memory is bound to be a distortion of his past in accordance with his present interests,

Who: Hitsugaya (

icy_heavens) and William (

gtfo_mypersonalspace)
When: March 25, afternoon
Where: Their usual coffee shop
Summary: The linface bros have one of their regular meetings for coffee and griping. But this time, they’ve both had a mindscrew in the past week. Confusion shall result.
Warnings: Very possible TMI about William and Grell’s relationship. Proceed with caution.

After this whole mess with his memory, Hitsugaya needed some normalcy in his life. Having coffee with . . . damn it, what was his name? Anyhow. The usual meeting for coffee was a step in that direction; he would not lock himself up in his house.

Though the point that his mind was still not where it should have been was not something that he could avoid. Between still forgetting his friend’s name, and having to look up maps to the location where their usual café was. Constant reminders that he had forgotten things. He might have appreciated the irony if he were anyone else.

As a result of having to look up the map, he was several minutes late to the meeting. Goddamn it, he hated being late. He just wanted to figure out what the hell was going on so he could fix it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"His things were all over the flat. I assumed he decided to let himself in and redecorate while I was working."

He looks as though he's concentrating harder on this than he should. He knows something isn't adding up right, but with the memory loss, he can't figure it out.

"Why would I continue living with him if it weren't necessary?"

He just heaves a little sigh at this question. "Something tells me you won't be inclined to believe the answer to that."

A long sip of his coffee here, before he continues. "The two of you have been in an intimate relationship for the past few months. I make no claim to understand why or how the hell that happened, but you've vented to me in regard to it before."

In more detail than what's necessary. Hence the frequent desire to scrub his brain clean after one of these meetings. He rather hopes that William won't ask for an example of this venting. He does not want to speak of such disturbing things.

He shakes his head 'no' almost immediately.

"Intimate as in...No, no that is impossible. I have far too much to deal with already. Besides, he is my subordinate. That would be completely inappropriate and unprofessional of me. I have no time for such emotions."

There is no sound of disgust in his voice, just complete objection of the possibility that he would even consider starting such a relationship with...wellanyone really. Much less a coworker!

He lifts an eyebrow marginally at the refusal. Certainly, he'd been expecting it, but still. "Why would I of all people say this if it weren't true?"

He pauses, considers something else. "Have you felt oddly off-balance at all in the past few days?"

"I have felt exactly the same as always." As in, he's gone back into his denial mode. That emotions are unneccessary and he is far better off without them plaguing him.

"If anything actually had been going on between Grell Sutcliff and myself, it is no longer an issue. It was obviously a mistake on my part which I am rectifying as of this moment."

"I've certainly no objection to you ending it. I don't even understand how it got started in the first place."

Because William is a sensible person, by and large. And what sensible person would involve themself with Grell Sutcliff of all people?

But Hitsugaya sets his coffee down and regards William levelly. "Shouldn't you be concerned on a logical level that you don't even remember being involved with him?"

"Honestly, it is not as though strange occurrences haven't happened here before." Especially considering the last thing he does remember happening between him and Grell was Grell randomly turning into a cat, for no apparent reason.

"Memory loss does not seem to be that big of an issue. Especially if you consider the fact that we can leave and return to Port at any given moment, with no recollection of what happened here during our previous visit."

Honestly, Williamm is being worse about this whole mess that Hitsugaya has been. At least he acknowledges that having a memory issue is flat-out wrong.

"If you haven't left and come back, I'd say that memory loss is a bit more than a trifling issue. The idea that someone can infiltrate the mind and alter it to their liking hardly seems a small matter."

"I suppose." He gives a loud, audible huff.

"Whatever the case, then, Grell Sutcliff and I are not an item. I threw him out last night."

He just shrugs and goes back to his coffee. "As I said, I don't blame you for that one. I at least have the good fortune to live with people I can stand the sight of."

Not that he hasn't griped about Kuchiki's various little insanities and haughty attitude before, but the man honestly isn't as annoying as all that. And if William is paying enough attention, he'll note that Hitsugaya has used a plural to refer to the number of people that he lives with. There's been a welcome addition since their last meeting.

William has a strange and sudden urge to defend his opinion of Grell; to state firmly that Grell is someone he does not mind seeing, and that having him around brings him some inner sense of balance. But he bites his tongue, shaking his head slightly to get the urge to dissipate. Grell and balance? There must be something wrong with this coffee.

"Ah... yes," he begins, but quickly turns the conversation onto Hitsugaya's living arrangements. "You have a new roommate then, I take it?"

Some part of Hitsugaya would have been relieved to hear that, in spite of his own negative opinion of Grell. Because it would have meant that William does remember something.

"Someone from my home was Pulled recently. I insisted on her staying with me."

"One of my co-workers, the final one, to be exact, has finally arrived, as well. It is quite astonishing how often people we are familiar with show up. Considering how many worlds there are, apparently, and how many must exist in each of them."

He goes to take another sip of coffee, but instead pushes the cup away. "I do not believe I have spoken with anyone recently who mentioned knowing you. What is her name?"

An eyebrow goes up at that. "The Core seems to have a fondness for shinigami this time around. Though it's been several months since anyone from my home has gotten here."

And in the space of a couple of weeks, there has been Kurosaki and Hinamori. He's halfway expecting Matsumoto to show up again at any moment and give him one of those suffocating hugs he's so frequently expressed his hatred for.

"She replied to the insane broadcast Sutcliff made while bothering me a few days ago. Hinamori Momo. She's a seated officer, but in a different division than mine."

"I don't believe I noted your conversation with her in that post." He steers clear of the Grell part of Hitsugaya's comment, this time. He's aggravated enough without thinking of other inappropriate things Grell's done recently.

"It was brief; I wasn't about to discuss details over a public network."

He's not going to point out any specifics of his short conversation with her here, as the quickest way to identify her would be as the one who called him Shirou-chan. And he's not doing that. Even though William would never use the nickname and would also have no idea what it means.

He just doesn't share the nickname with anyone. Ever. Because it's embarrassing.

"Understandable." William would understand completely if he'd known the nickname even existed. But Hitsugaya's correct, William would never use a nickname for him. In fact, if he knew how much he hated the name, he'd probably reprimand anyone who DID use it.

"I would be interested in meeting her, if you would care to introduce us." Hopefully, for Hitsu's sake, she won't bring up the name on her own!

If William were ever to reprimand Hinamori for it, he would be in for some whiplash as to whose side Hitsugaya would take. He's the only one allowed to scold her.

"I'm sure she'd be amenable to the idea. She's a social sort."

She'd made friends with him when he'd been a cranky child. That says something for her.

"Good."

William gets distracted by something outside. Nothing of particular interest, but he stares for a minute or so, nonetheless. He's in a bit of a daze lately; not feeling quite like himself due to this whole memory issue.

Or perhaps he's feeling too much like his old self.

"I suppose we both need someone sociable around us. I, myself, am certainly not that type." He finally looks back at Hitsugaga, "I have been here over a year and have only formed relations with a limited number of people."

He follows that glance out the window, but seeing nothing, he raises his brow at William in mild concern. But the expression is gone by the time William focuses again.

"I only have a few I speak to on a regular basis myself."

More than William does, possibly, but still not that many. Some of them are only because they room with others that he knows. If they didn't he'd have no reason to speak to them.

"She'd always try to pull me along with her when we were children." And was successful most of the time, even if he didn't form any attachemnts with the people he interacted with.

It had been easy to avoid forming attachments when people had tended to make it clear in subtle or non-subtle ways that he wasn't welcome in their company. And that the only reason they tolerated his presence was because of Hinamori.

"You have known one another for a long time, then?" He finds the idea interesting, if only because he knows just how long Death Gods tend to live. Of course, things could be different in Hitusgaya's world, perhaps they shared the same timeline as mortals.

William's focus wavers once more, and he stares down into his coffee cup, stirring its contents unnecessarily with his spoon.

All of these unnecessary behaviours are unlike William and a bit concerning. He can verbally deny all he likes that he finds his current mental state unsettling, but the truth will be obvious to anyone who knows him well enough.

"Over forty years. Before either of us were shinigami."

One particular word catches William's attention once more, and he looks up again.

"Before?"

Hn. Come to think of it, they've never gone into this before, have they?

Another sip of coffee. "In Soul Society, some of the dead souls have the potential to become shinigami. Such is the case for both her and I. We resided in the same neighbourhood until she was accepted into the Spirit Arts Academy. I didn't attend myself until a few years later."

Not for Hinamori's lack of trying. She'd tried to get him to go with her from the moment she'd registered for the entrance exams. It took being informed that his reiatsu was leaking out in his sleep and slowly killing Granny for him to change his mind.

"Hm. That is quite different." William finally puts the spoon aside and takes another sip. The coffee's lost a bit of heat, but the sweetness still comes through.

"If I am understanding correctly, you made a conscious decision to become a Death God?"

He nods. "I did."

He might never have made it, had it not been for Matsumoto coming upon him that night. Or at least, not until his power had killed Granny without him even realizing it, leaving him no one in Rukongai with Hinamori off in Seireitei. He's never told Matsumoto that he's grateful for what she'd done. He doesn't need to; he firmly believes that she already knows.

"I take it that doesn't work that way in your world?"

"Not at all. We are born into the position, having died in our mortal life." Died in a certain way, but that really isn't important to bring up. William prefers to ignore that part aspect of the job. He hasn't viewed his own cinematic record as he feels he doesn't need to. He knows how it ends, so he will just work towards correcting it.

"What was your schooling system like?" He assumes that must be different, as well.

Well, Hitsugaya doesn't even know how he died. Given how young he'd have been at the time, suicide is an unlikely cause. But an illness, accident, murder, or neglect? All distinct possibilities. He's no longer interested in finding out what had happened.

Because either he had a crappy life with awful parents, or he'd died prematurely and caused his good and decent family awful pain as a result. Both are horrible.

"One needs to pass an entrance exam first, proving they've enough potential ability to be successful. Those with the highest scores are placed in a more advanced class than those with lower ones."

He can't fathom being in the regular class. His own scores on that test had been off the charts, and all of Hinamori's rambling were of adventures in the advanced class; she'd been good enough to end up there herself.

"We're taught in the four principle battle skills of shinigami, with particular emphasis on swordsmanship and kidou moreso than the others. Given instruction on how to commune with our zanpakutou so that we can one day form a strong enough bond to fully access its abilities."

Percentage-wise, few shinigami acheive even shikai. Bankai is, of course, much rarer still.

"Management skills are taught, as well as strategy and the history and capabilities of Hollows. All training is both theory and practical, particularly in the advanced classes. It's a six year program, for most."

William raises an eyebrow at Hitsugaya's explanation. There are quite a few terms in there that he has never heard of, or could even begin to decipher what they might mean.

"I feel as though my world's system is far more simplistic in comparison to yours."

Yes, William is feeling as though, if he were to attend Hitsu's old school, he would have been a C average student, as opposed to a B. If that.

He just shrugs at that, not knowing at all what it's like to be just decent, or just average. He's always excelled. Not to say that he didn't work hard for every skill he has, but it's just come more easily to him than it has for others.

And excelling is no guarantee that people will approve of you. The word genius has been used as a perjoritive toward him more than it's been used as a compliment. He doesn't bother paying attention to that word, as it's lost any meaning it might have ever held to him. Genuis or not, he is what he is, and does what he has to do.

"Oh? What does yours entail?"

"We are graded on three aspects: Practical Technique, Written and Ethics. If we receive passing grades in all three, we are paired up with another compatible student and given a final exam."

William pauses for a moment, musing on the fact that he'd said 'compatible' just then.

"The final exam consists of studying a human who is scheduled to die in one month and determine whether they are to live or die, then perform the reaping if necessary. The entire system is run more like corporation, I suppose."

'Compatible' certainly was an interesting choice of words, but Hitsugaya didn't comment on it.

"So your involvement begins shortly before a death. The living are by and large off-limits for us, unless they present a significant threat."

Like they'd decided that the Quincy had. It was before his time, but he'd read it in the histories -- that the Quincy had been a threat to the balance of souls and no peaceful resolution was possible. He wasn't really sure how he felt about all that, but it was the past, and therefore not his concern.

"We make no judgement on whether someone lives or dies, or where the soul properly belongs after death."

"That is quite the opposite. We only deal with mortal humans, unless some supernatural being interferes, causing more deaths than are scheduled."

That last part is said with the utmost disgust in his voice.

"Our job is only to perform the reaping and file the reports. As far what happens to a soul after it has been reaped, we have no influence on that aspect."

In truth, he finds the whole concept of reapers who deal with other supernatural beings only to be quite a strange concept. However, if his own world had guardians, so to speak, like that, perhaps there wouldn't be so much trouble caused by demons and zombies and fallen angels. Perhaps then, William could get out of work on time, more often!

"Filing reports is inescapable, I assure you."

Everything is kept track of in Soul Society. The information may be different than the type kept in William's world, but records are kept all the same. And honestly, Hitsugaya would probably go stir-crazy in a purely corporate environment. He prefers his field work.

"The primary concern is to keep souls from lingering too long in the Living World; souls can only remain properly intact there for certain lengths of time. Those that sufficiently corrode lose their hearts and become Hollows. That's when sending them on requires combat rather than a simple soul burial."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A man's memory is bound to be a distortion of his past in accordance with his present interests,

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Damn his logic, huh Will?

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject