[not again] catchall for ogata

[fishingforcompliments]

Comments

[snyaiper]

[Ah.

Well that’s... theres a lot to unpack there.]

I would have killed you.
[With absolute certainty. But he looks... actually troubled by this? And confused.]

Why would you have been the one to do it if it was Kocho’s idea?

[fishingforcompliments]

I know you would have.

[...she's really shitty at murder!]

We agreed that... whatever we were to do, we would do it together. I did not wish her to shoulder that burden alone.

[snyaiper]

[He thinks this is dumb because he’s sure Shinobu would have killed him pretty easily. She has a sword. It hurts a lot!]

That’s stupid of you... It’s better the way it happened, though. People needed you here.
[As opposed to himself who is not needed!!!]

[fishingforcompliments]

[Flatly:]

I helped kill three people, executed a fourth, and got you scapegoated, Ogata. I do not think anyone had much need of me at all.

[snyaiper]

So? All those people are alive now. If I hadn’t died, I’d have killed someone, too.

But even while you were doing that, people like Yin Yu were relying on you To support and care for them. I don’t have any use like that.

[fishingforcompliments]

...people could have relied on you for that, if you had the time to form those sorts of bonds with them. I took that time from you.

[snyaiper]

[Ogata laughs, sharply.]

You should ask someone else who died exactly how likely they think that to be. That’s not the sort of person I am, Flayn.

[fishingforcompliments]

...

[She still believes what she said to him the night before his execution. He could be, if given the chance.]

I imagine tensions were rather high for those of you who died. I am not certain that is the best circumstance to be judging from...

[snyaiper]

What do you want from me, Flayn? Do you want me to be mad at you?

[Or well, mad again, maybe.]

[fishingforcompliments]

[Her brow furrows slightly.]

...I want you to be whatever you... are, I suppose. [muttering:] Oh, that does not make sense.

[Words are hard.]

If you are mad, then be mad. That is fair - what I did contributed to your suffering, and I have no right to tell you not to feel whatever you feel about it. But whatever you do end up doing, I want you to do while knowing all the facts. It feels... wrong, somehow, to conceal the truth of what happened just because I do not want you to be upset with me.

[snyaiper]

[Hrm. This is all very challenging. It's all so hard. He didn't HAVE to deal with stuff like this when he was alone and kept it that way. It was easier back then. He was miserable, but can he really say he isn't miserable now, too.]

... I wanted to be a angry, when you all confessed. It was irritating not to be. I even goaded Yin Yu into hitting me so that someone would be.
[OGATA?]

But even though part of me was just glad to know you'd probably been suffering with the guilt all this time, it didn't really make me happy. Neither did Yin Yu hitting me. Not the way it should have. The way it normally does. I've been trying to get him to since we got here, you know.

[He sighs, letting his head fall to rest on his arms folded over his knees.]
It's your fault. I think I'm angrier at you for taking that away from me than anything else.

1/2

[fishingforcompliments]

...Yin Yu hit you?

[...??????

That, uh, that actually kind of throws her for a loop. She wouldn't have expected that. But that's also not what's the most important part of this conversation, so she bites down on her bottom lip to keep from chiding him about goading him.]

2/2

[fishingforcompliments]

...what do you think would make you happy?

[There has to be something. Or, if not fully happy - at least something that would make him a little less miserable.

She hadn't meant to take away his only method of coping.]

[snyaiper]

How should I know?
[He's never properly been happy. It's always just been... little things. Bitter. This man is so bitter, Flayn. He's become more that than smug over the past several weeks.]

It's terrible, actually, the things the snake was saying, what people were saying about the snake, it felt familiar. It made sense.
[When you kin the final boss and feel gross about it.]

[fishingforcompliments]

[Ogata has become espresso.]

...should we have prepared gifts for you as well, then?

[It sounds like a shitpost question, but. Flayn says it completely sincerely, and she looks like she's considering it in great detail.]

[snyaiper]

[Ogata laughs, but sadly it's the sharp unpleasant one he normally uses.]

I'm not so desperate and pathetic as to demand gifts from people who don't even like me, Flayn. But, to have something, someone, that's just for you and no one else...

[He shakes his head.]
It's normal to want something like that, isn't it?

[fishingforcompliments]

It is very normal to want that.

[...]

I meant everything that I said to you, you know. Even at the trial. I do believe there is someone out there like that, for you.

[snyaiper]

... If there's one person, I already found it. But-
[Ugh. His spaghetti. He looks away from Flayn, half mumbling into his sleeve.]

The fact that I ever met Anaido at all is ridiculous. I can't imagine meeting someone like that again.

[fishingforcompliments]

I do not think there is only one person.

[just look at lili's ship mess!]

...there are an endless number of worlds out there, Ogata. And an unless number of people on each one of them.

[snyaiper]

Sure, Maybe.
[HE'S STILL DUBIOUS.]

But unlike you, I don't have an endless amount of time to search them all.

[fishingforcompliments]

...

[Flayn bites her lip.]

Speaking completely hypothetically, of course - if it were possible for you to have that amount of time, would you want it?

[snyaiper]

[His gut answer is "no fucking way," but since it's Flayn asking he'll actually think about it for more than two seconds.]

Given that I'm really not ruling out death as a viable option at this point, just based on how miserable my life has been up to this point, I should say no, but on the other hand, the idea of having an immortal body that could be shot and damaged as much as I wanted without dying is interesting.
[Ogata why are you like this.]

[fishingforcompliments]

...well, hypothetically speaking it would not be impossible for you to die if you wanted to, simply... much more difficult.

[is she considering sharing her blood with him and giving him a Crest if they get their powers back to make up for scapegoating him?




maybe.]

[snyaiper]

[Frankly for him that just makes it more ideal because he doesn’t want to be immortal that sounds awful. But harder to kill while still being able to die should he want to or someone else was especially dedicated to destroying him (very appealing), but still.... if he really wanted, more time?

He sits up and looks at her, gaze focused and intent.]

Your so-called hypothetical situation is oddly specific, Flayn.
[Elaborate, he’s listening.]

[fishingforcompliments]

...

[honestly, she can't believe she's having this conversation with him. it never would have happened seven weeks ago. but she is responsible for something terrible that happened to him, so she ought to try to make amends.]

My long life comes from the blood I bear. It is possible to... use it to extend the lives of others. I have done it once before.

[gently looks back at linhardt's ancestors and wonders what the fuck even happened there. they probably thought they needed more healers for the war against nemesis.]