Those Meddling Bastards (Open RP, Great Hall)

[serrulata]

((OOC: Backdated to the 22nd. Happy Birthday, Bad Fox! :D ))For all his efforts to the contrary, the school's congregation of House Elves had, once again, managed to trap him in the Great Hall with cake, party favors, and a stupid little party hat that one Elf kept trying to hang festively on one of his ears. He was amazed at his own restraint thus

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[beyourvalentine]

Vincent, for one, liked the atmosphere.

He'd come to appreciate the mood of things here. As he moved towards Kurama, the elves mostly kept out of his way, which amused him. One did seem to hang onto his cape though. He let it trail along after him, then stared at it when it stood by his side once he had taken a seat beside Kurama.

It asked him if he would like cake. Tilting his head, he said yes then turned to Kurama.

"Hello again," he greeted, pushing at the nearest floating candle with the tip of his claw, sending it careening towards the cake. As if driven by gravity, it took up place on on of the tiers of the cake.

Red eyes turned to Kurama.

[serrulata]

Kurama would have challenged Vincent for being so apparently amused by this, but seeing the gunslinger with any expression but a morose glare was so surprising that he was caught off guard.

"And well met, it seems," he said, watching the elf totter back with a slice of cake that could have fed a party of five.

[beyourvalentine]

While Vincent suffered for his sins, he still allowed himself little amusements.

"Indeed," he said, leaning back and nodding at the elf when it placed the plate before him. He picked up the fork that came on the plate with his unclawed hand, and picked at the cake. "You don't like it," he said, the question seeming more like a statement than a question.

[serrulata]

"I don't like being fussed over," he murmured. "Not like this, anyway. And I don't have much of a sweet tooth." He scowled at an elf who was offering him a fork. The staring contest went on for a few moments, then the frustrated elf stabbed the fork into the table and stalked off.

Kurama sighed, yanked the fork out, and took a very small bite of Vincent's piece. "It could be worse. Last year was fireworks."

[beyourvalentine]

While Vincent didn't outwardly show it, he was as amused at the elf's irritation. They were good hearted creatures. Just misunderstood by the current population.

He took a bite of the cake. It was nice.

"When you've seen a lot of death, sometimes celebrating life is a nice reprieve, no matter how embarrassing."

[serrulata]

Even the life of a murderous demon? He thought, but didn't voice that particular morose opinion. Kurama had been born a demon and gained humanity. Vincent, from what he could tell, had been forced in the opposite direction. Kurama wasn't that callous, after all.

Instead, he forced a little smile. "You've got me there. Though I prefer dancing in rice fields to all this."

[beyourvalentine]

"Perhaps you should seek out a rice field then." Vincent wasn't quite sure why he seemed to be the one giving advice all the time, not that he minded. Helping others while he forced himself to dwell on his own past was...right.

He pushed the cake towards Kurama a little. "And have more." He gestured with his fork to the elves, who seemed to be whispering to each other. Stubborn creatures.

[serrulata]

Kurama actually managed a genuine smile this time, taking another forkful with a nod. "Fox demons are expected to respect life, at least where nature and humans of a certain profile are concerned." He meditated on that as he took a bite of cake, forcing down a grimace at the extreme sweetness of it. Sweet tofu he didn't mind, but this much sugar made him fear the God of Diabetes like no other.

It was good though, as cakes went. And the sugar flowers were expertly crafted. "This isn't terrible," he admitted finally.

[beyourvalentine]

"Too much of a good thing is unhealthy," he said ambiguously, taking some more of the cake. He could have been talking about the ungodly amount of sugar in the cake (though it was well made and delicate in its own right) or the hazards of respecting life just a little too much. Sephiroth was an example of that. His would be son...had respected life too much. The life Jenova had wanted for him, at least.

"Perhaps the elves will leave you be if you indulge them a little." He looked at Kurama, raising a single eyebrow. Kurama had been around the elves for longer than he, it was as much of a question as it was a suggestion.

[serrulata]

"Or just be encouraged to cause more trouble," said Kurama, though there was no heat in his tone. He didn't miss the vague 'I know from experience' tone in Vincent's first statement.

"Everything should be taken in moderation. Who took it too far where you're from? If you don't mind my asking, that is."

[beyourvalentine]

Vincent couldn't help but smile a little.

But then that rare expression fell away and he lowered his head a little.

The old guilt settled over his heart. "There was, is, a man who tried to claim back the Planet in my world, believing his mother was the rightful owner, and he the chosen avenger." He sighed. Well, that was what it had started as. Now he was sure that Sephiroth and Jenova had melded to a point where all they wanted to do was created more like themselves again and again. Infect, move on, repeat.

A clawed finger tapped against the table. "He is the love of my life's son, and I have to kill him again and again because he believes in life too much, will not accept death, or anything less than complete obliteration of those who took what he believes is his."

[serrulata]

The man Vincent spoke of sounded more like a virus than a human. Kurama shuddered to think of the capabilities inherent in a once-human immortal with a persecution complex.

As if he hadn't seen that before.

But Vincent's situation... the implication that the man in question could be his son weighed heavily in the air.

"I understand the obsession with life," he murmured, "and the disdain of death," being that the afterlife where he was from happened to be a complicated and frustrating bureaucracy. "There is no way that one can be stopped? Put to rest and peace?"

[beyourvalentine]

Vincent withheld a sigh. "Sephiroth's will is far too strong. His hate has made him...insoluble. The Promised Land will not have him and Sephiroth refuses to give in to eternal peace." Even if he wanted to die, perhaps he could not. Just like Lucrecia.

"We even destroyed his memory, broke him apart body and mind. He still came back, cell by cell, infecting others along his path." The geostigma had been horrifying to Vincent, seeing the children in the gutter because of his own failure.

[serrulata]

Kurama crossed his arms and leaned on the table, looking at Vincent with a kind of horrified fascination. "And he was born a mortal?" Something like that would have been banished to Meikai, dragged bodily by tantei into the furthest void of space. But then, that never worked for very long, either.

He shuddered. "I don't envy you that horror."

[beyourvalentine]

Vincent shook his head. "He...was experimented on in the womb, then throughout the rest of his life until he went insane and decided to take his vengeance against us." And the bad thing was that Vincent kind of thought, on one level, that Sephiroth shouldn't be denied that quest.

He rubbed at his temple with his non-clawed hand. He wasn't even going to start on Hojo.

[serrulata]

"Persecuted god complex," he muttered. "And yet, if it was humans who started the trouble, he's justified in wanting to persecute them in return." A grimace took over his features. "God, life is too complex."