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[F11-PP] Stand Proud Among what was once Fallen


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With the curtains pulled shut and the lights off, it became surprisingly dark inside the guest bedroom of Koga's house. Even though it was a bright, sunny afternoon outside, the somewhat small room was filled with the heavy shadow of regret. The tall, snow-hared boy lay curled up on his bed, only the top of his head peeking out from the covers. Reddish lines that streaked down his face showed that he'd been crying for a long time now, though he'd clearly stopped, content to wallow in his misery. 

After his meeting with Tala, Yukiro had felt bad about what he'd said to her. Was he still angry at her? Absolutely. But he still missed her terribly and still wanted to see her. Did he feel what he said had been wrong? Not at all, he felt he'd spoken very honestly with her. And yet, he still felt like he was in the wrong for having ripped into her like that. Even after everything she'd done...

The sound of the door opening made the boy jump a bit, startling him out of his own thoughts. Right, Koga must  have come home. He should go see if the man was doing any better than him... Well, he probably wasn't, but the least Yuki could do was try to lend a hand. 

Slipping off the bed and attempting to rub the pained look from his face, Yukiro quietly opened his door and slipped down the stairs to see Koga just coming home. 
"He... Hey," he offered his friend quietly, "...Are you okay..?"

@Koga

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Spoiler

Koga
Level:
 42
Health: 860
Energy: 84
DMG: 16 // EVA: 2  // MIT: 18 // ACC: 4
BRN: 24 // BLT: 24 // FALN: 4 // REGN: 10

Skills
>> Katana V
     // Ferocity
     // Precision
>> Light Armor VI
     // Athletics

Extra Skills
>> Familiar Master: Fighter III
>> Survival

Inventory
>> T2 Demonic Katana <<Tsuki no Hikari>> [Burn // Blight // Cursed // Fallen]
>> 
T1 Perfect Necklace <<White Owl Necklace>> [Accuracy // Accuracy // Accuracy]
>> 
T2 Perfect Light Armor <<Shadow Chance Coat>> [Evasion // Evasion // Regen]

Battle-Ready Inventory
---

Buffs
>> <<Well Rested>> -1 energy cost for the first three expenditures of each combat.
>> <<Squeaky Clean>> The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 25% (rounded down).
>> <<Relaxed>> Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.

Koga shut the door behind him with a softness that surprised even him. In the end, he supposed he just didn't have the energy to slam the door shut in anger. He was too tired to be angry anyways. Immediately, Koga collapsed onto the couch, and his head fell back with his eyes closed, Okami curled up beside him. "Fuck." It was the only word he could muster the energy to say.

And then he heard a soft voice behind him. He looked like he was having just as bad of a time with all this as Koga was...Perhaps even worse. Koga opened his eyes and looked over in his friend's direction. "No, not really," he admitted, before gesturing for the man to come join him on the couch. "You?" he asked. The red puffiness of Yukiro's eyes already told Koga the answer, but  he asked anyways. Out of habit, courtesy, or whatever, it didn't matter.

@Yukiro

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As he moved quietly to join his friend on the couch, Yukiro was working hard to keep his breathing steady. He had to keep it together in front of Koga; the man didn't need any more weight on his shoulders. "Yeah, me neither," he admitted softly, "I, uh..." 
What was he supposed to say? Should he ask about what had happened with Tala? How could he comfort someone like Koga after all that had happened?  He didn't even know how to control himself. What a life the two had been handed... 
"...Not that it eases the pain," Yuki almost mumbled, "But I'm glad they're alive." And it was the truth. For all the suffering it was causing, and that it was likely to cause as time pushed on, Yukiro couldn't make himself wish for the alternative. Well... For them, at least. Leaning forward, he offered a hand to Okami, waiting to see if the wolf reacted. 

@Koga

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As Yuki came over and sank into the couch beside Koga and Okami, the swordsman watched him. The younger man's shoulders sagged with the weight of emotions too confusing to make sense of, and the couch seemed poised to swallow him whole. Koga reckoned he looked about as pitiful himself. But his fight with Tala had sobered him in a way. If anything, he felt numb, except for that one gaping hole in his chest. He swore if someone wanted too, they could simply reach in and tear his heart out. If there was one even left for them to take. Noct might have already done that herself.

"...Not that it eases the pain, but I'm glad they're alive," the snow-haired man said. "Yeah...me too...," Koga replied. They'd thought the girls had been dead for so long. They'd grieved, they'd wept, they'd gone out and killed thousands of mobs in the hopes it would restore some part of them they'd known they'd lost. They'd started to recover and return to living world. Changed, but they'd began to return.

Koga could remember his relief when he'd first laid his eyes on Noctua again. Like some rush of...was it relief? Joy? He'd never been good at giving his emotions their proper names. They were always too muddled, too confusing. He hardly understood them. Why he kept them bottled up, because if he didn't, they threatened to consume every piece of Koga in an unknown space that he quite frankly feared.

But when she'd told him why she'd left? That was something else entirely. There were over 170,000 words in the English language, and not one could properly describe how he'd felt. At least when he had figured out where Noct's note had gone, he could give that emotion a name. Anger. Rage. Hate. But to have the person he loved run away from him again, after they'd already had to deal with nearly being torn apart? He could never describe that.

Koga began to wonder how Yukiro felt though. He wasn't the only one who'd fallen victim to Tala's selfish actions. She'd left behind Yuki in turn. And those two had faced challenges of their own, somehow still intrinsically intertwined with his and Noct's. A common thread they shared, it seemed.

"What did Aki, tell you?" Koga asked, figuring Yukiro probably already knew her real name anyways. It only then occured to Koga that he didn't know Yukiro's real name, despite the kinship they'd developed. A question for another time. "I...I can't imagine whatever she said was easy to hear. At least, judging from the way you look," he said with a faint smile. He'd tried to make it humorous. He'd probably failed.

@Yukiro

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Retracting his hand from the mostly unresponsive wolf, Yukiro looked up at Koga for a moment. "Aki..?" he asked quietly. His mind flicked through the people he'd interacted with, but nobody named Aki came to mind. His next couple of lines cleared up what Koga had meant though. Aki must be Tala. Was that her real name? 
Shaking his head, Yukiro tried to return Koga's aching smile. He wasn't sure if he'd even managed that. "Well, it definitely wasn't easy," he admitted softly, "She, uh... Tried to apologize, but she was also trying to put the blame on Noctua. I... I really tore into her. Said some things I regret." Leaning back against the couch, the snow-haired boy closed his eyes. "I told her we could talk again when she was willing to take responsibility for... Everything, really."

Opening his eyes and looking over at Koga, Yuki offered a tiny but forced smile. "How was your conversation with Noctua? I can't help but feel it didn't go any better." After all, Koga was probably going through a lot more than he was right now. "If you want to talk about it."

@Koga

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Koga nodded along silently as Yuki spoke. He figured as much, given how Tala had acted during their fight. "I think she needed to hear it," the man said to Yukiro. "Don't feel bad. You probably managed to do what I haven't been able to for years." That much was true at least. Maybe she hadn't listened in the past because it had been Masato who had told her. Akiara had never been one to listen to her older brother anyways.

When Yukiro asked how his conversation had gone with Noct, the man inhaled deeply. "It was...rough..." That was an understatement. "I imagine Aki already told you why she disappeared. I guess in part, I was a little too hard on her but...I mean, how was I supposed to know she accidently turned off her calendar in her HUD?...Still...it wasn't pretty." Koga had only yelled at Noct one other time, but that had been different. He'd been manipulated then. This time? That was all him. "Fuck man, I don't know what I'm supposed to do here."

@Yukiro

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"I hope that's a good thing," Yukiro said solemnly, "I don't like hurting others like that." Even if Tala... Aki had needed to hear what he'd said, it pained him to have to be the one to do it. Still, at least there was comfort in the knowledge that maybe he'd influenced her for the better. All he could do was hope it didn't drive her to do something stupid again. 

Yukiro turned to look at Koga as he spoke, watching him sadly. He'd been told why Tala had disappeared, but now that he thought about it, he didn't actually know why Noctua had fled in the first place. "I guess we both tend to say things we regret in the heat of the moment. I'm sorry that all went how it did," the white-haired boy closed his eyes for a moment before continuing, "I'm... Not a great source of advice in these things. But, um... I was taught that, if you feel bad about something, you need to apologize, even if it's not your fault. I still don't know what happened with Noctua, but..." Sighing heavily, Yukiro shook his head. "Sorry, I don't know where I was going with all that. I don't mean to pressure you or anything." 

@Koga

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Koga sighed as Yuki finished his spiel. Even if the guy hadn't really had a point when he started to speak, he had made on in any case. Except Koga didn't exactly know how to apologize for apparently being such a bad guy he made his fiance run away for a year. Okay, planned, a month, but that clearly had gone on much longer. What kind of world did he live in that such a sentence would even have to be thought?

"She...got cold feet," Koga explained, suddenly appearing distant. "She went to go hide on the Tenth Floor for a while, do some thinking or something, I dunno." The whole thing gave Koga a bad taste in his mouth, even as the words spilled out. "Its probably my fault anyways. She said when I chose to believe Tala, way back, I broke a promise to her." Koga shook his head as he leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. "I mean, she's right I guess. Fuck." Koga stamped his foot in frustration and stood abruptly before putting his hands on his head and pacing back and forth, staring at the ceiling.

@Yukiro

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