Calling the Old Man Out

[foolishjustice]

[Goro has barely been seen since getting back from the Fissure, only leaving his room briefly to eat a couple times a day, coffee in hand and looking half asleep. Now, though, he seems to finally be properly awake...at approximately 8PM.]

Good...erm, evening, I suppose. I’m sorry I’ve been so absent lately, that Fissure must have taken more out of me than I thought.

But, now that I’m recovered, there’s something important I need to tell everyone. The last batch of new arrivals included a man named Masayoshi Shido. He’s my father, and a truly despicable man, who has had numerous people killed for his own convenience or benefit. He even had my mother killed to cover up the scandal of my birth.

[Here he holds up a phone, showing a picture of Shido...with what looks like avocado and cheese smeared on his face and a shrimp up his nose, wearing the most tiredly Done expression as he reaches for the offending crustacean.]

I injured him in the forest in retaliation for the things he’s done to me, one of my boyfriends, and countless others, but don’t mistake him for someone who deserves your pity. He’s physically not much of a threat, but he is a skilled schemer and manipulator, and-

[ Which is the moment that the video will shake, and a very brief flash of a familiar face (spoiler: Akira’s) can be seen. Off-screen, he’s gently pressing a kiss to Goro’s cheek, whispering that he loves him. Don’t mind the view of a ceiling for a moment, guys - it’s a nice ceiling, at least?

… He’ll properly make it up to Goro, later, if he can? For now, though, he gently brushes the fingers of one hand through his boyfriend’s hair. Akira’s face can properly be seen, after he takes a quiet breath. He looks… well, how most would remember? Only with a bit more of a tiredness to it, maybe.

Though, that’s not taking away from how serious he looks as he speaks. ]

... and, while Goro is right about all of that, there is one more detail I feel should be taken into account. Shido isn’t a good person, but he’s well-aware of that now. He’s done unforgivable things, but his eyes were opened to all of it after his ass was kicked.

[ JUST SAYING… ]

Anyway, nobody has to worry about him. Besides, he knows if he tried anything, he’d have to answer to all of us from his world, and then some.

[ JUST SAYING... ]

[This is the point where Goro takes his tablet back, looking a bit huffy.]

It’s true, he isn’t likely to be a threat now. But he absolutely doesn’t deserve anyone’s kindness or sympathy.

Comments

[foolishjustice]

Akira and Futaba-chan have, unfortunately, already made it clear that they won't tolerate me killing him. I assure you, he otherwise wouldn't have even made it to the station.

[dragonmouth]

I can't say that I'm unfamiliar with how that goes, myself. You have my sympathies.

[foolishjustice]

Ah...and you have mine as well, if you're familiar with the particulars of having such a callous and cruel parent.

[dragonmouth]

I can't say I know what, exactly, your circumstances are. And I'm rather confused about the particulars...

[what am societal stigma against out of wedlock births, can you eat it]

Still. My mother had her complications, but she was a far better person than this.

But the man you speak of seems just as vile as her consort.

[Her mother's husband. Not her father. The choice of words is quite deliberate here.]

[foolishjustice]

He is quite vile. I wouldn't even call my mother his former lover, she was merely a mistress to provide immediate satisfaction and be discarded when she became inconvenient. Though, that's more or less how he treated everyone in his life.

[dragonmouth]

My father was a poet.

His feelings for my mother had cooled some years after my birth, but from the letters I found in her room...

It was like a comet, I think. Far too fleeting, far too intense.

[So, a romantic fling.]

I was kept from him more than I would have liked, but I bear no resentment towards him.

When the Crown Princess - my aunt - died without any heirs, my mother married her betrothed to fulfill our family's political obligations.

As much as as my mother has her mistakes... I don't doubt that she cared for me.

But her consort only ever saw me as being in the way of what was promised him.

[foolishjustice]

Politics.

[He says it like the word tastes bad in his mouth.]

Shido saw me as an inconvenience for similar reasons. He had his sights set on becoming the leader of our country, and my very existence threatened his public image. I suppose causing the deaths of all involved is an effective way to cover up a scandal, if a particularly horrible one.

[dragonmouth]

That's an overreaction if I'd ever heard one.

[ Partly because killing someone is almost always an overreaction, but also because she has no fucking idea what's scandalous about anything. ]

[foolishjustice]

To him, it was fully justified. Anything, to make sure he reached the top.

[dragonmouth]

...you'll have to forgive me; I'm still confused as to why even the most mercenary sorts would think it necessary.

[foolishjustice]

My culture is...very unforgiving about out of wedlock births. If people knew he'd fathered illegitimate children, it would ruin his public image.

[dragonmouth]

...that is, by far, the most nonsensical thing I've ever heard.

My parents never married, and I could probably say the same for more than a few of my peers. I've yet to find someone in the realm who cared.