Comments | theun4givables: LJ Idol Season 9, Week 14: Confession from a Chair

theun4givables

LJ Idol Season 9, Week 14: Confession from a Chair

Jul 08, 2014 14:02

Kenji sits in the waiting room, fingers tapping against his dirty jeans. He avoids eye contact with the others sitting in the waiting room and picks up a magazine, flipping through it. Advertisements line the pages, many featuring people gathered together around various glasses and bottles.

( He shuts the magazine and slips it back onto the small coffee table in front of him. )

original fiction, lji: season 9, novel: just talk, character: kenji, trigger: alcoholism, rating: r

Comments 46

dmousey July 8 2014, 19:45:40 UTC

So dark, soooo tragic. Makes me sad. Must go find my happy place now! Hugzzz and loves.

theun4givables July 8 2014, 20:08:58 UTC

<3

I... tend to not write very happy things, hah. It's just what I do.

roina_arwen July 9 2014, 04:56:01 UTC

Poor Kenji. He's definitely in a tough spot.

theun4givables July 9 2014, 11:05:34 UTC

He definitely is. And so is James. Poor guys.

alien_writings July 10 2014, 00:28:23 UTC

Ouch, Kenji's situation is... not happy. I feel bad for him, though I must admit I was kind of annoyed with the guy when he was like "I'm not going to help James because nobody helped ME. Why does HE deserve help when I didn't get it?" Just because Kenji was able to get out without help doesn't mean everyone has the ability to do that. All situations are different, and it was something for James to even ask for help. That's not always easy to do.

That said, Kenji's not in much of a mental or emotional place to be helping, especially if James is an actual trigger for him. He's not obligated to help, but the whole "since I could get out on my own, HE should have to do that, too" thing annoyed me. It seemed kind of... bootstraps-ish to me, and I am not fond of "bootstraps" rhetoric. Maybe I'm reading too much into it or misreading, but that's the impression I got.

I remember the earlier version of Kenji, and he... definitely wasn't this troubled. Somehow, I'm not surprised that new!Kenji has his own mess of issues.

Your story was well

theun4givables July 10 2014, 15:45:03 UTC

I both feel for him and am annoyed with him a bit, too. As a therapist, he knows that asking for help is a big, huge step for James to take. But James's situation being triggering for him like it is, it's hard for him to really see and acknowledge that. I think it's one of the reasons why he decided to refer James to someone else -- on top of him developing feelings for James, that is.

I don't think Kenji's much of a fan of the bootstraps thing -- it's just that he's frustrated, and he doesn't know how to process everything, and so he's struggling with his own issues and can't really handle James's, at the moment. I think if he weren't triggered/were in a better spot, it'd be easier for him to be able to see the sort of strength it must take James to even ask for help, at this point.

But this is part of that "character development" thing and sometimes they pull shit that annoys/makes me upset with them. Kenji and James are no exceptions to this, apparently. :)

Thank you.

eska818 July 10 2014, 16:45:19 UTC

I don't think I've read much of this character from you, though the name is familiar. He seems very tragic and anxious. I imagine his story won't end well, but it would be nice if it could!

theun4givables July 10 2014, 17:05:07 UTC

Kenji was mentioned in last week's entry, actually. :) This is essentially in the same time-frame as last week's piece, just from Kenji's side of the event.

And yes, tragic and anxious is a good way to describe this version of Kenji. He has his own issues he needs to work through before he can really help James with his own, I think. Which kind of sucks for them both. (Though I think they both will be able to help one another once Kenji opens up to James...)

eska818 July 10 2014, 17:52:43 UTC

I saw that, and I'm planning to read it! Last week I didn't make it through everyone ._.

theun4givables July 10 2014, 18:01:36 UTC

Haha, it's alright. Last week was the first week where I've read EVERYONE in a long, long while. It happens. :)

swirlsofblue July 10 2014, 17:45:46 UTC

Yay sequel.

This is all so heartbreaking, you've managed to make this verse even more heartbreaking. So evocative, get a very real feel for all that's happening and the strain on Benji.

theun4givables July 10 2014, 18:03:09 UTC

Don't come to expect sequels being a thing. ;) I'm trying to avoid serials, damnit! But this was all I could focus on after I wrote my Idol piece last week, and then the topic came up, and well... yeah. xD

Yeah, this 'verse is just not a happy one. But then again, how many of my 'verses ARE? Hah. Thank you. :) I was trying real hard to show the emotions and the stress without actually telling anything.

Hard to do when the scene takes place in a therapists' chair. ;)

n3m3sis43 July 13 2014, 01:56:35 UTC

Serials seem to be really big this season. Which is hilarious to me for reasons I'm sure you understand. It's tempting me to dust off some of my own serial shit, but I kind of already missed my best chance to do that in Idol. XD

theun4givables July 13 2014, 18:01:50 UTC

I'm terrified of playing with my serials more, but now that I'm not constantly in Ev's presence... I think they're all going to be sneaking up on me.

And you SHOULD dust off your serial shitttt. You know I want to read more of that 'verse. :)