photonbutterfly

[photonbutterfly]

Droite said nothing, somewhat surprised by the reply she was given. Of course, she guessed Chris would have wanted his brothers to be forgiven; they had caused her no harm, after all. It was only Chris and Tron, who had wronged her - or someone she cared about - to a certain extent. The thing that surprised her was the fact that he did not fight against her when she said she could not forgive Tron. She was certain that she probably would never forgive him, as well. "It doesn't bother you that I can't forgive your father?" she asked him. He seemed to be the loyal familial type. Then again, Chris' appearance did easily deceive people. Still, she could not imagine him being fine with the idea that she was against one member of his family. On the other hand, he did know what Tron had done. She supposed there was only so much family love could defend. It could probably defend murder, but probably not all the things Tron had done, from putting people in comas to using his own sons as worthless puppets. There were probably more things, things she did not know about, but she didn't think she would want to know. It was also a little surprising that he didn't care about whether or not he was forgiven. She did, eventually, want to try and forgive him. After all, it wasn't as if he had purposefully harmed her, unlike his father. Chris' actions were justified; he was following orders. And still, even after thinking about it and knowing that, she could not forgive him in that moment in time. Perhaps it just was not the right time yet. "And it doesn't bother you that I can't forgive you yet?" she added. There was no way this man could have been real. Other people would have cared about whether or not they were forgiven. Then again, Chris was different. Chris was...well, he was Chris. He was an anomaly. Not that it was too much of a bad thing. Droite did not break eye contact with him. She didn't feel the need to any more; she was becoming more and more comfortable with his presence. After all, he wasn't exactly a terrible person. He was intimidating, but if she dealt with Gauche on a daily basis - he could be intimidating, and along with his build, he really could have used that to his advantage - then she could deal with a tiny bit of intimidation from Chris.

Don't See Me

[photonbutterfly]

She wasn't a fan of the discomfort brought by V's presence, not at all. But she had grown used to it, much like a baby crying on a plane, or that one friend who chewed their food far too loudly and disgustingly. Droite was starting to learn to get used to it. After all, she supposed this was just who he was.

Moments passed without her replying to him. What in the world was she supposed to say? In a quiet voice, she could have told him 'I forgive your brothers, but not you or your father'. She could have told him 'I don't know if I can trust your apology'. She could have said a whole range of things, but it was picking the right one - the one appropriate for how she felt - that was the true challenge.

Droite lightly bit the inside of her cheek. Mulling over the apology was no simple task. She still wasn't even sure if she could have believed it; Chris' family wasn't exactly known for their honesty. And with his usual frozen façade, she couldn't have even made an attempt at reading him. Droite let out a heavy sigh. This man was nowhere near simple, and that was what bothered her the most.

What if Chris had an agenda? What if this was just some lie he was telling as part of some elaborate plan? It was possible, yet...'It's not very likely,' she thought to herself. The Arclights might have been jerks, but surely, they weren't as terrible as they had been painted as. It would be wrong to simply act upon rumours and stereotypes and vicious lies that had been spread.

She didn't look back at him. Her gaze didn't flicker. "I forgive your brothers," Droite started, her voice barely above a whisper. Her eyes closed. "I will never, ever forgive Tron." She took a deep breath, before opening her eyes again, and turning to face him.

"And then, there's you." The corner of her lips were turned down with the light touch of a frown. She was silent. Moments went by. In her mind, she tried to carefully pick the words, shuffling them, placing them in the right position. Yet, she was still hesitant. She wasn't an idiot; she knew that making him mad was a terrible idea. "You, the person I don't know whether or not I should forgive."

Chris had never hurt her directly. But she was very loyal to the people she cared about, and Droite was sure he knew damn well what he had done. Though, it was not up to her to pardon that sin, and she was well aware of that.

Don't See Me

[photonbutterfly]

There were many things Droite could have questioned him about at that point, her mouth open slightly in confusion as she tried to process this. Of course, she was aware that people could change, but there certainly was something off with V.

"I never knew you were so interested in others." It didn't seem like he would be the type. Though, what did she know? She knew next to nothing about the man.

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[photonbutterfly]

Alright, I know I've been very slow with replies right now. But I have a good excuse, I promise!

It's currently exam season in England. Know what that means? It means revision and slow replies.

I'm really sorry, but I'll be done on the 13th of June!

Please be patient with me and, try not to miss me too much.

[photonbutterfly]

There were two ways she could have approached this; make an attempt at lying - which she wasn't exactly terrible at, but that didn't mean her poker face was perfect - or she could have told the truth about her opinion of him. The choice was clear.

"Of course I do," she replied. Though she understood that V would be mad, she also knew he would be madder if he found out Droite had blatantly lied. Besides, she didn't care much about whether or not he liked her at that point in time.

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[photonbutterfly]

"It's polite to ask about someone else after they ask about you, I suppose." She crossed her arms, tapping her index finger lightly on her elbow. Droite was getting more and more uncomfortable; why was he so interested in her all of a sudden? They never were particularly close.

She closed her eyes for a moment before letting out a sigh. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped like that." The slight irritation she felt was to be expected, especially when every time she saw V, she saw Tron.

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[photonbutterfly]

Droite nodded as well, understanding a little bit. "I see," she said. It certainly couldn't have been too easy for Chris. That family had been through a lot, had done a lot, and it was only normal they would catch disdain and dislike from the rest of society. Their lives were hard, and she understood that. Of course, she would have never understood how it felt and the extent of their suffering, but she wasn't sure whether she wanted to know.

The whisper caught her attention. She wasn't sure what exactly that was supposed to mean. She blinked in surprise, before looking back up at him, trying to read his expression when she knew very well there would be no expression to read. Had Droite even heard what she thought she did? Was he talking to her, or was he talking to everyone he had hurt? Perhaps he was muttering to himself. She wasn't sure. When he glanced down at her, however, she got the slight feeling it was her he was apologising to.

Droite looked away. She couldn't have exactly said she completely forgave them. She knew she would never forgive his father, no matter how much remorse she would have shown - if he even knew what remorse was. When it came to Chris' brothers, she didn't know whether she did forgive them or not yet. The apple never fell too far from the tree, after all. But she got the feeling that they wouldn't be as terrible as their father. She understood that much.

And then there was Chris. From what little Droite knew, he was close to his father. Stereotyping may have been wrong, but it was mingling genes and socialisation; of course Chris would have ended up crooked as well, if only a little. And he proved this when he brutally abandoned Kaito. She bit her tongue again. That incident would never be brought up. She never wanted to think about a person she loved so dearly hurt so terribly.

"Is that a collective 'we', or are you just apologising for yourself?" she asked, her voice quieter than before. Of course Droite was stalling for time a little. She needed a few extra moments; could she even forgive Chris?

Don't See Me

[photonbutterfly]

Good, a topic shift. Droite was glad; if he didn't shut up about Kaito then, so help her, she would have shut him up herself. She relaxed slightly. "Yes, I've taken on the job of his manager."

It wasn't easy for her, though. The job was stressful; finding him duellists to go up against him was no simple task, especially when Gauche was still obscure. Thankfully, the job was becoming easier, since he had become a star. "I didn't think you were interested in my life, V."

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[photonbutterfly]

She was silent for a moment. It was difficult for her to voice her current thoughts; she felt ridiculous for thinking about it. "Kaito is a friend of mine. I think about him a lot, even without his condition."

Droite despised thinking about Kaito being sick. The though of him getting himself hurt or killed was heartbreaking to her. He didn't want to be helped, but she so desperately wanted to help him in whatever way she could. But she couldn't do a thing. The feeling of being powerless was a feeling she never liked feeling.

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[photonbutterfly]

"I--" Droite silenced herself. Who was he to intrude on who she did and did not think about? Who did he think he was, anyway?

"I don't know if that's any of your business," she finished, crossing her arms. He had no right to try and intrude in such a way! What a total violation of her mind.

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[photonbutterfly]

Droite was snapped out of her daydream with that question. "What do you mean?" But she knew perfectly well what he meant.

Of course she thought about Kaito a lot. She thought about Gauche a lot, as well, but she knew she thought of the former more often than the latter. Droite didn't need to worry as much about Gauche; he was in full health. Kaito, on the other hand, was a whole other story.

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[photonbutterfly]

"Yes. I suppose another chance at being a child would make anyone happy," Droite sighed. Though it must have been strange; being an adult for so long then, out of nowhere, time had taken his body back to when he was a child.

She would have loved to see Tron hit puberty again.

"I can only imagine," she replied. And her imagination was beautiful.

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[photonbutterfly]

Droite wasn't really a snotty person, though there were times that she could have appeared as one, especially when presented with scruffy people. When IV approached, she felt like it was one of those times. She didn't particularly want to be associated with him, but she had no choice. She was polite and had to be polite; the very last thing she wanted was to cause some sort of scene. The second to last thing she wanted was to be faced with Tron. Having to talk to one of Tron's sons was definitely third place.

Still, she supposed the past was the past. IV wasn't to blame for what had happened. That didn't mean Droite didn't hold contempt for those Arclights. She was a strong believer that apples didn't fall too far from the tree. And in this case, those three fine-looking apples that fell from the rotting tree were probably going to be just as bad inside as the tree itself.

"I could say the same to you," she replied. Not just that, but she had also hoped that she wouldn't have to see those four people again. Well, Droite always did seem to have awful luck.

She was quiet again. What could she have even said to IV that didn't involve bringing up the past? Part of her did want to put everything behind her, but she thought that was asking a lot of herself. Her eyes barely made contact with him, only glancing for a second before casting her gaze away.

"Did you need anything?" She managed to keep her voice calm, which she regarded as an achievement. There would be no scene tonight; this party was going to go well.

She wanted to forgive and forget, but when she saw the brothers, she would see their resemblance to Tron, and she would always be reminded of that duel.

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[photonbutterfly]

Droite smiled a little at the thought of a younger Kaito, though she could not imagine him to be any shorter than he was currently. It was an adorable mental image, one that soon passed. It was a shame; she enjoyed the image of a tiny Kaito.

"Yes, I remember being told about that." V had met Kaito at the age of fifteen and thirteen, respectively. Droite knew how much of an impact meeting V - and his betrayal - had on Kaito.

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[photonbutterfly]

Idle small talk. Naturally, she should have expected this, but that did not make her any less annoyed by the prospect of standing around and acting as if they were two normal adults. They were not normal, not in any sense of the word. That was the reason small talk was so bothersome. But, she understood why Chris was using small talk; they were simply on polite terms, and they were never close. Sometimes, she regarded it as a shame, but most of the time, it did not bother her all that much. In a way, it was good that she never got attached to him. "Life has been fine." She could have elaborated further, but she felt as if Chris wouldn't have cared much regardless. The atmosphere was unnervingly quiet again. It wasn't like she didn't care about how he was doing, it was quite the opposite - she was curious, and she would have been very willing to listen. However, she knew he would have lied to her if it was bad, and understate it if it was good, which was another problem with not knowing each other well. Though Droite understood it would have been better to play charades with how they feel than stand in uncomfortable silence. "How has yours been?" She expected bad news hidden behind a lie. She knew his type and she knew they could be such excellent liars. Droite would say that his type annoyed her, but to an extent, she shared some of his traits. She couldn't help but wonder for a moment just how similar they were as people.

Don't See Me

[photonbutterfly]

"I wouldn't call myself 'kind'," she said pointedly. No, Droite knew she wasn't kind, but she still tried to be. Even though she didn't know much about V, she still wanted to help if possible. Perhaps it had something to do with his link to Kaito, or perhaps she saw him as a friend, even if just slightly.

She didn't particularly like thinking about Tron, though. The thought of him was enough to make her dig her nails into her hands. Taking a deep breath, Droite calmed herself down. She couldn't think about him too long. "He is a child now, after all. It's only normal." She liked children. She just didn't like that particular child.

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[photonbutterfly]

Droite's dislike of Tron was obvious, she liked to imagine. It didn't take a genius to understand why, either. But she refrained from making comments about him. Tron was still V's father, and she had the courtesy to not berate a person's loved ones in front of them.

"I'm glad. If there is anything I can do, let me know," she replied. She was happy V was slowly putting the pieces back together of his broken family. "You got along well with your father as well, didn't you?"

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