To put it in layman's terms: Now What

[deadfreesia]

Who: Nagi (tots_prodigy) and Mamoru (deadfreesia)
When: Sunday afternoon
Where: Nagi's apartment
Summary: Nagi and Mamoru talk about the impact of Friday night on their alliance and on Nagi's relationship to Ken.
Warnings: TBA

Comments

[tots_prodigy]

Of course he learned fast and adapted quickly - both were completely perfect traits for Weiss's homegrown member, whether he'd been born with them or simply forced the abilities into his mind over the years. Nagi didn't seem fazed by that one bit. It meant one less thing for him to take care of helping his boss out with while he got used to the irritating circumstances they'd both been forced into

[tots_prodigy]

Nagi knew, in a corner of his mind, that the part about the monsters was true, but he still didn't want to believe that Ken was innocent. Someone fully capable of breaking a promise and killing someone close to Nagi in the past was capable of doing it again. He only barely nodded his acknowledgement of that point.

"He was injured. That'll slow anyone down."

[deadfreesia]

"By that much?" Ken had pretty high physical resistance. He was surprisingly sturdy for his size, and while a bad hit could make him slower, it wouldn't affect him so much that slowly would be an appropriate description for how he moved while on the offensive.

[tots_prodigy]

"He hit his head when I moved him away from the scene and was bleeding from other wounds as well." He didn't know Ken very well at all, just remembered one day all too clear on top of his encounters with them when he'd been part of Schwarz.

[deadfreesia]

Perhaps he needed to go about this differently. Nagi didn't seem to be responding well to the rebuttal for the hypothetical situation in which Ken did mean to attack.

"Even when Ken-kun is uninjured, I'm sure that he has the sense to avoid a fight with you whenever possible. He has no reason to want one and is horribly outmatched. It's doubly the case in situations where he's already hurt."

[tots_prodigy]

He sighed, but Nagi knew that point was very true.

"It doesn't change how I saw things at the time," he pointed out. It was, though, as close to admitted that he might have been wrong as he'd get.

[deadfreesia]

And Mamoru recognized that as a quiet admission that he may have misread the situation. He was still angry, and might well have found it satisfying to point out that Nagi's making excuses for his actions didn't change the fact that he'd killed someone who was trying to help. He refrained from that temptation; the satisfaction was irrelevant. What mattered were the results. Far smarter to accept the admission gracefully and remain focused on his goal.

"Apologies remain unnecessary. Acting in self-defense isn't a crime. However... in light of the great probability the need for self-defense was an inaccurate perception, some reconsideration of your current attitude towards him may be in order. You've had ill feelings towards Ken-kun for many years. It may be difficult to believe, but he doesn't enjoy killing, and would go to great lengths to save a life."

[tots_prodigy]

Nobody was perfect, but even if he had misread it, Nagi didn't feel bad about what he'd done. Ken still deserved death for what happened in the past, if not for the other night. And yet, the satisfaction of getting part of the revenge he'd wanted for years was already fading away.

"Even if he doesn't enjoy it, he still broke a promise and killed someone he said he wouldn't." Nagi had heard the explanation as to why, but he didn't think it justified Ken being the one to kill her. Anyone else could have done it and if Ken wasn't around at the time, Nagi wouldn't have been able to link Aya, Yohji, or Omi to him until much later, when Schwarz had first dealt with Weiss. "I'm not going to start liking him anytime soon."

[deadfreesia]

Mamoru didn't bother trying to rationalize Ken's broken promise. He also didn't bother responding to what sounded suspiciously like griping: a classic case of he-started-it childishness. Mamoru did not have a great deal of patience for such immaturity. He shut his eyes and leaned back in his chair, causing his posture to shift into a more upright one. At that point, the tone of Mamoru's voice changed. The conciliatory inflection disappeared, replaced with a more assertive and matter-of-fact one.

"Whether you like him isn't my concern. In trying to help her, and then being killed as thanks, it would seem to me that your longstanding grudge towards him is no longer appropriate. A cessation of observable hostilities is the least that can be done to honor his efforts. Please leave him alone from now on."

Mamoru opened his eyes to gaze into Nagi's. "Aya-kun, too. It would be undesirable for relations between them and us to sour any further."

[tots_prodigy]

While Mamoru had ended up growing far more emotionally mature for his age, life with Schwarz hadn't pushed Nagi to the same extremes. Although he'd calmed down enough to put his general revenge on hold long enough to work for Mamoru, all attempts at disregarding his hate failed. After all, Ken was a much more personal hate than Nagi's general misanthropy towards powerless humans and the way they treated those who had little control over what they'd been born capable of doing. Nagi ran his fingers over the bandaged cut on his face, pressing rather than scratching to take away some of the itchiness caused by the multitude of tiny stitches designed to minimize scarring

[deadfreesia]

With more experience, Nagi would have the chance to learn that Mamoru was not asking him at all to leave Ken and Aya alone. He simply had a more polite way of phrasing his expectations. "Please" had a tendency to make people more receptive to adherence, after all.

"That's acceptable. I'll follow up on this matter later in the week. If there are any further details to discuss before finalizing this agreement, they can be discussed then."

That would be the plainest indication possible that to Mamoru, this was more than an agreement: it was a contract.

[tots_prodigy]

However it was worded, Nagi wouldn't risk losing the unsure tie they still had, or was that again had? He knew better than that and things had been settled anyway. But he still had something to ask before this was done.

"There's nothing else where that's concerned. I do have a question, though." He paused for a moment. "Aya and Ken both said that they weren't Weiss - that they'd cut ties with you. How is that possible when you'd only just decided to reform Weiss with additional members?"

[deadfreesia]

Mamoru's eyebrows furrowed slightly. Nagi didn't know; he was from earlier in time, as Mamoru had discovered he was in relation to Ken. He had no memories of that final mission or its aftermath.

That would have been handy to know ten minutes ago if not for the accompanying revelation that Ken and Aya had informed him-- unnecessarily-- that they were no longer Weiss. They'd thrown out a valuable card to play with that admission. It would have made it so much easier to see that Nagi left them alone if they were still considered his subordinates. As it was, the cut ties meant cut protections as well. He couldn't use the argument that as his tools, hurting them was hurting him.

This, of course, also meant that there was nothing to lose in telling Nagi the future. He sighed.

"It seems that some temporal distortion is in effect amongst us. The reformation of Weiss was some time ago for me. Several months. The mission it was reinstated to take on was completed. Aya-kun and Ken-kun... both left. Youji-kun, too. The two new Weiss... do not

[tots_prodigy]

When they'd said it, Ken and Aya had no way of knowing that Mamoru would be here and they'd been so annoyed with Nagi using their old cat names that they'd let that slip in an attempt to get him to stop using them. The association would never leave, though, and Nagi didn't think he'd ever be able to see them as anything other that Weiss.

"You let them leave after one mission?" That seemed weird.

[deadfreesia]

"This was a rather extended mission that took months to see to its true end," Mamoru explained. "It's different from the Weiss you remember."

[tots_prodigy]

"All I know is that it was related to Eszett." Getting rid of them was just as important to Nagi as it was to Weiss - Schwarz couldn't act towards their goals with their former employers still trying to cause trouble, after all.