[closed / incomplete]
WHO: Renji Abarai [rukongai_dog] and Luke fon Fabre [replica_dreck] and the Disreputable Dog [walker_dog]
WHAT: After Renji’s upset journal entry, Luke shows up to give some comfort.
WHERE: Renji’s home
WHEN: Late night, after the clinic fire
( Renji may be miserable and Luke may not know how to immediately fix it, but hell if he was going to leave Renji alone in his misery. )
WHAT: After Renji’s upset journal entry, Luke shows up to give some comfort.
WHERE: Renji’s home
WHEN: Late night, after the clinic fire
( Renji may be miserable and Luke may not know how to immediately fix it, but hell if he was going to leave Renji alone in his misery. )
After a moment, Luke sat on one edge of the loveseat next to Renji and patted the other side of Renji for the Dog in an offer. For a second, one hand brushed Renji’s hair back, away from his face, before he dropped his hand, and the other deposited the brush beside him. Maybe he’d switch the order of his ideas of what to do with Renji. The tangles were going to be hellish anyway, why bother with them if Renji was like this.
Out of ideas and getting the impression consoling words weren’t doing the trick, he went back to the one thing Guy had taught him that always worked. He gave Renji another hug, this one, with little intention of moving soon. Luke’s forehead ended up almost at Renji’s collarbone, and his arms just settled, warm, on Renji’s shoulders.
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Still, she took the invitation, leaping up onto the loveseat beside Renji in one smooth bunch and flex of muscles. She stayed standing for a moment, just long enough to give Renji's cheek a gentle lick, then flopped down onto the loveseat with her head and forepaws in Renji's lap.
It was about as close as she could get to a true hug, her furry bulk warm against Renji's bare chest, her sides moving gently as she breathed.
No one should hurt like this, and she had in her the vaguest idea to get the scent of whoever it was that had left Renji like this, track them down, and drag them forcibly back - she probably could, really, though her seeming lack of ability to change her size might make it a little more difficult... Not to mention her magic being missing...
But at the moment, it seemed more important to provide what support she could, even if all that meant was doggy kisses and soft fur.
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Despite the jitters that came with his need, Renji was exhausted. He had nothing left. The intensity of his guilt and loss had ebbed since the arrival of these two - now he felt it just as much, but was numbed enough by the boy and the Dog not to do anything stupid.
Probably. Yet.
He squeezed Luke gently, to keep himself in the real world.
"I'm... glad you guys could come."
He was waiting for the inevitable questions, though. Eventually, they would want to know.
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“Anytime, Renji,” he muttered against Renji’s chest, before tilting his head to the side so his voice was more tangible. “Thanks for letting us be here.”
Luke wanted to know what had happened, wanted to know so he could scramble up some idea of how to fix it. He was also terrified of bad timing.
“When... you feel up to it,” because Luke wasn’t sure if he would. “You can tell us...”
Maybe the Dog had the right idea with just dragging Byakuya back.
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Until Luke asked the question. Her ears perked in response, hoping for an answer, but to her it seemed fairly obvious what had happened.
Renji had done something - it didn't much matter what, to the Dog - which had constituted a broken promise, and spurred someone important to leave. That was the basic gist of the situation. And the Dog knew, of course, that it must have been something quite serious.
But anyone with a heart needed only to look at Renji - even to read his journal entry - to see how repentant he was. To understand how much he regretted what he had done, and to see how desperate he was to fix it.
Love...it shouldn't be so simple to lose. The Dog understood that, if nothing else. Circumstances aside, love was...love. That was the important bit.
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"It's... a long story," he told them quietly. "I... was..." Impaled. Beaten to a pulp and left in a ditch to die. "Havin' a bad week a couple months ago. I wanted painkillers, and Katou had 'em. I got a job... sellin' 'em for him, too."
He knew Luke knew of Katou, but wasn't sure about the Dog. He didn't pause to explain, though.
"I came home one night... outta it. 'Kuya... made me swear notta do anythin' like that again. But he didn' order me to." Here he swallowed and looked at the Dog and Luke - they could probably already tell where this was going.
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Luke got the idea quickly and squeezed Renji in the hug again.
Easily, he could understand why Byakuya didn’t want Renji taking them. Luke had only just met Renji then and he had felt similar, didn’t wanted anyone taking it. He could also see the appeal in taking it. Luke had done too many cowardly things in his life to be unable see the appeal. Byakuya, though... by not ordering Renji, by just making him swear... Byakuya had been putting his trust and heart in Renji’s hands.
If anything, the story was only getting more sympathy from Luke. He knew what it was like to lose someone’s trust and painfully aware of how difficult trust was to get back. “Tell him... by journal or whatever... that you’ll stop using it,” Luke started, carefully, but reusing the idea of what he’d done himself. “He won’t believe you, likely, but vow to it. Ask him to help you and watch you change.”
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She lifted her head a bit to glance up at the two of them.
"Luke is correct," she said softly. "If he loves you half as much as it is glaringly obvious you love him, that is a good course of action."
"Those we love," she continued, laying her head back down, but still looking upward with her brown eyes, "are those who prompt us most to change - and those we hurt most often in the process. But they are also the ones whose support means most."
"I know you are hurting," she said, a bit more sternly now, but still gentle enough in her own way - and at least she hadn't progressed to nipping yet - "but this is not the time for self-pity. You have made a mistake and driven away the one you love most - and it is only by your effort that you will win him back."
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He couldn't write that entry now, though. Not... like this. He was too injured and too proud and too out of it, and he had a slight suspicion that if he moved from where he was with the Dog and Luke, he'd suddenly be a lot less stable.
"I'll figure somethin' out," Renji said to no one in particular. "Dunno if he'll come back, but... I gotta try."
He'd always been trying when it came to Byakuya. Now he simply had to switch focus into trying to get Byakuya back.
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They weren’t much, but they were much more optimistic than anything he’d heard from Renji since it happened. Luke just hoped that realization that it was fixable would allow some of the depression to recede.
“She’s right. Having your trust broken hurts and it might be hard to win that trust over again...” Luke shifted away just a little, just enough so he could look at Renji. To be this upset... Renji really had to have all of his heart focused on Byakuya. It was easily something most people would be jealous of. “He’s stupid if he doesn’t come back to you.”
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Then again, there was something to be said for the intimacy of a private apology, as well...
But perhaps in a bit. Her job here...was likely not quite done yet.
She snuffled affectionately at Renji's bare chest and arched up to lick him softly under the chin.
"Everything will be all right," she repeated. And she would do her best to make it so.
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Not that it was easy to be proactive when depressed.
"Thanks, guys," Renji mumbled, honestly grateful. Although he felt little different than he had five minutes ago, he now had... something to do, something that wasn't aimlessly wandering the streets of Rivelata or getting high.
Though he'd probably still get high.
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Luke doubted that Renji would be this in love with someone too stupid to see what they had. He was certain it was just a matter of time before the two found their way back to each other. Despite the broken promise, Luke was positive it wouldn’t be a mistake Renji repeated once he had Byakuya back.
“It’s what friends are for, right?” Luke replied with a bit of a smile. A glance was had back to the Dog and he let his head slip to Renji’s shoulder, while he gave her a stroke of thanks. She’d really outdone herself here.
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"One can never have too many friends," she said vaguely, then wriggled a bit more to snag the hairbrush in her mouth and drop it in Luke's lap.
"Best take care of that hair of his now," she advised. "Before it gets hopeless. I'd help, but..."
She shrugged, settling back down in Renji's lap. Whether it meant "no hands" or that she'd rather lie and be scratched, well...
Did it really matter, either way?
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His body sped up a bit again. Jitters.
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He, reluctantly, ended the hug, pulling back and drawing his bare feet up to sit crosslegged and facing Renji from his side. Luke smoothed Renji’s hair, settling on the section closest to him to begin with. He plucked up the brush and brought it to the very ends of the red hair in his hand, carefully, gently, starting to work out tangles.
“You know,” Luke started, almost wistfully, but mostly filling the silence. “Where I’m from red hair is a mark of royalty.” Born in Kimlasca with hair like this, Renji could have gotten into high society.
Completely oblivious to Renji’s jitters, of course.
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