2025-07-13: The Difference Between an Alveolar and a Velar Stop
- Log: The Difference Between an Alveolar and a Velar Stop
- Cast: Minako Arisato, Minato Arisato
- Where: Iwatodai Dorms
- OOC Date: 2025-07-13
- IC Date: June 14, 2012
- Summary: Minako comes to check on Minato, after the argument during the mission briefing. They... try to have a heart to heart.
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
Minako knows, on some level, she shouldn't be trying to fix things. Talking to Yukari did not fix things. It did not leave Yukari feeling better; it certainly didn't leave Minako feeling better. She took a few deep breaths, though, and convinced herself she didn't feel as bad as she thought.
And then, she set out after her brother. Because Minako can't help but try to fix things.
She comes to her brother's door -- then she knocks on it. She waits outside, lowering her knuckles from the door. And she hesitates, for a moment.
Maybe she should leave him alone. Maybe--
She doesn't move, though. Yukari's words come back to her: 'It's not like every family is close.'
Minako stays put, and keeps the smile on her face.
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
He wasn't assigned to the mission, so Minato is here, in his room. He rests on top of his covers, one leg pulled up.
Music plays, through his earphones.
He stares through the ceiling.
Don't ask how long he's been here.
A faint sound creeps into the thud of the bass. Thud... thud. At first, it's nothing. But then he orients to his music -- he thinks -- that was off-beat. He fiddles with his earphones, wondering if the wires are damaged.
Thud, thud...
Oh. No, that was the sound of a door, knocking.
"It's not locked," Minato calls out, righting himself up from his supine position. He takes out his earphones, though they're still blasting music.
That explains that.
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
Minako pauses upon hearing her brother's voice. She wishes she could say that she could understand every little nuance in how he is understated; she wishes she could say that she can always hear things others can't. The truth, though, is that Minako can't always make those nuances out.
She hesitates for a second. Then, she opens the door -- looks at him as he sits up on his bed. She glances at the headphones, the mirror of the ones hanging at the collars of her school uniform.
Then, back to her brother's face.
"Hey," she says. "I thought... uh... I thought I'd come check on you. That... looked pretty rough." She's smiling.
As always.
"You doing okay, Minato-kun?"
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
"Yeah," Minato replies, and his face is that same absent it's always been, like his expression walked out ten years ago for cigarettes and never returned. Like an absentee father, it won't be walking back in any time soon, showing all his hurt and his grief.
Why would he be upset, anyway?
He's not the one who's probably dead right now, without even getting a chance to apologise.
Does she know...?
Anyway.
"I'm fine."
Minato looks over Minako, in turn. Always smiling. Always happy. Like it never touched her. Like the fire washed over the car and left her perfect, able to reach the people around her, able to connect with them and laugh and cry and be a normal person instead of some kind of space case from Mars.
Do those gaps, those lacunas in her speech all filled in with ellipses, mean anything else? Maybe that's just how people sympathise with each other. Maybe it's not so weird that she has so many of them.
"You?"
Maybe.
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
Minako doesn't ask if she can come in. She's his sister -- that means she can unless it's really obvious she shouldn't. She does close the door behind her, though, and she sits down next to him. She looks at his expression -- or maybe, it's a lack of an expression.
She knows he gets upset and frustrated. But he never broke the way she did. He doesn't have to hide how he feels, the way that she has to.
Because if she stops...
She smiles, and then shakes her head. "...I'm okay," she says. There is a little reluctance. "Takeba-chan... she was harsh with you. I-I mean... she shouldn't have said it like that."
She looks sideways at him. There is a 'but' there. "Do... do you want to be here, Minato-kun?"
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
It's not obvious that she shouldn't come in. Really, there's nothing here that would mark the room as private to begin with, as far as teenage boys are concerned. Not even clothes discarded on the floor, 'probably still good' to wear tomorrow.
... at least he has a laptop, though it's powered off, right now.
She's okay, she says, with a stop and a start. Engine's stalling. But Yukari...
"It doesn't bother me," Minato says, at once. "What she said, or being here, either. I don't have ambitions to be the leader," not like Junpei, who's always looking to prove himself, "so I don't mind being dismissed from the mission. And I don't have anywhere else to be, so I don't mind being here."
Is it possible for a man to be... too easygoing?
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
"That's..."
Minako looks sideways at Minato. Ordinarily, those stops and starts are a little less pronounced -- something that someone might think is only a consideration of her words. But, Minato knows her well. And in this case, Minako stalls out for a moment.
She sees why Yukari asked him what she did. She wishes Yukari asked another way, and she wishes -- she wishes a lot of things.
"That's not what I asked," Minako says, finally. "Is this something you believe in? Risking our lives, to stop Apathy Syndrome and the Dark Hour? To maybe save Yamagishi-san? Because..."
Minako exhales. And, even if she speaks the truth, she doesn't say it the right way. "...I don't want you to get killed, Minato-kun. But I don't want anyone else to get killed, either."
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
Is Minato evading the question?
Maybe. It's not really a thing he's doing deliberately, though. His mind glances off of it as surely as his words do, ducking and weaving to avoid the worst thing he can do for anyone in his life --
Getting invested.
But... Minako is pretty good at tailing him, huh?
He looks at the empty chair, at his desk. He should probably invite her to sit at it. ... maybe she'll just psychically intuit she can do that if he stares at it hard enough.
"I don't know," he answers, at length.
"I don't want them to die, so I perform the mission. I want them to be happy, so I succeed at the mission." She must remember the train incident, after she'd saved Junpei from his own enthusiasm. Yukari wasn't happy about the idea of dying, so he'd just grabbed a lever, and yanked it. ... in a game he'd played, that was what the brake looked like, and luckily train games can be surprisingly authentic.
"But I don't feel anything when the world changes. I don't know why they're scared of it. I don't know why not Dark Hour is better than Dark Hour. All it is... is kind of a pain."
He dangles an earphone, still tinnily playing music.
"Since the music stops."
He drops it down.
"... I guess it's related to people stopping, too. It's not like I like that. I don't like Apathy Syndrome. Just sometimes... I wonder if I'm not like that, too."
Shrug.
"Just forgot to stop moving."
... the sad thing is, this is his best effort to share his feelings with his sister.
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
He doesn't know. Minako stares at him for a second. It's not that it's the wrong answer -- is it? -- but it's an answer that she isn't, at first, sure what to do with. Is it so different than her answer?
She does it because the guilt of surviving her parents comes before everything else. She does it because she wants the people around her to be happy. But does she do it for herself?
She doesn't, really.
She keeps that thought inside. It would just hurt him, she thinks.
"I hate how the music stops, too," she says, and a hint of a smile comes across her face. "It's always at the worst time." Because the middle of the night can be when thoughts are the worst.
"I don't... I don't think you're like them," Minako says, her smile fading. "The people with Apathy Syndrome. You want them to live. You want them to be happy."
Minako exhales. Why is this so hard? It's Minato. He can stay calm about the things that -- that if she faced them, honestly, she would fall apart. So she repeats what she tells herself, so she can get up in the morning.
"If you want something, you're moving."
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
Minato could say, 'it has to be me'...
... but it would be pointless to say something like that.
He doesn't even know why he feels like he has to step up, when he wasn't the one to die. It didn't happen to him.
(No, what happened to him --)
"Yeah," he agrees, softly. "And I can't keep it going, inside my head. I can't carry the tune on my own." The reason he always joins in with other people, when they're playing music, it's...
He's not a complete sentence. Without other people, something's missing.
Is that why...
"You're moving, too," he says.
And then, "I guess I'm being difficult."
He has at least a little insight, into what other people see when they look at him. ... a little. It's hard to miss, when Yukari's that loud. Guess she doesn't like him... huh.
He pulls his thoughts off of Yukari, though, because right now he's thinking about Minako. Minako, who came to see him. Who --
"I'm worrying you. Right?"
He's not sure, but maybe it's a decent guess.
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
"Yeah... I can't keep it going either," Minako admits. Her voice is a little quiet, then. "I mean--I never was very good at doing that kind of thing on my own." It's halfway to a joke; she was the clingy sister when they were little. The clingy little sister, some might say.
She looks at him, then -- and there's a moment of hesitation, before she nods. Both at moving, and at...
"A little," she admits. Minako smiles again. Then she sighs. "I guess I'm a bit transparent, huh...?"
If only that were true.
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
Minato is a year older than her. But that just means he has responsibilities, here. "Being able to work with other people is important, too," he says. "It's disruptive if you're the kind of person other people want to yell at."
As if the problem with the meeting was just that it was disrupted.
But when Minako sighs about how transparent she is, Minato shrugs a shoulder.
"Not really."
If she were really so transparent, he'd be able to figure out what the weird vibe in here is, like he's doing something wrong but the crime has been conveyed in code. Some kind of... secret girl code. Like how they talk about having a week full of sharks when they mean --
Okay, maybe not exactly like that kind of code.
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
"Mm, yeah," Minako says. It would be useless to deny it -- though there was more to the meeting than the disruption. There are the differences in opinion and methodology that the argument laid bare; the way that SEES is not nearly as united as they all would like to think.
"SEES... we've got a lot to work on," Minako says. And... and that falls to her. He doesn't care about being the leader.
Which means Minako has to figure out how to iron that out. That, too, is part of protecting him.
She falls quiet for a moment, though, when he says she isn't that transparent. And it reminds her, for a moment, of what Yukari said about families being close. Minako's red eyes look away from his blue, looking down at her lap.
"...When you talked about finding Yamagishi-san's body, I was worried." Her voice becomes quiet; it's almost monotonous. She looks down at her lap. "It... it was so matter-of-fact. But when I think about people dying..."
She hesitates. She could say the things it reminds her of; the impossible weight of their mother's corpse, the throbbing pain in her leg, the way she felt like she was left on the outside of living some days. But those words won't come to her lips. She can't say how she feels.
She can only think of what she has to do.
"...I hate it," Minako finishes.
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
"Yeah," Minato agrees, with no particular drive to work on any of the problems. He's fearless about everything... including frayed social links.
Yeah, it's a really good thing Minako is here to try and help with that.
Still...
"It's a matter of fact because that's what it is," Minato says. "I'm fine with everyone risking their lives. But it shouldn't be built on a lie. Well, that's how I see it... it's not like I was trying to hurt anyone, either."
His blue eyes are somewhere distant, as he looks to Minako.
"I can't just look away. That's how it is."
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
Minako nods. She agrees with him -- even if it means it's something she takes on herself. And something that, all told, she isn't sure that she is cut out for.
She blinks, though, at his explanation. There is a moment of confusion -- and then Minako looks down at her lap, when he looks at her.
He is so much stronger than her. He never broke, the way she did. (He broke in other ways.)
"I... I think I understand," Minako says. "It's--it's true. I just don't like accepting..." She swallows. She ignores the way she feels an itch in her throat; the feeling of grieving that comes with thinking of death.
"I'm just trying to have hope," she says. "For the others' sake, too. But... you're right. They need to know what they're getting into, and what the risk might be."
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
Minato thinks, again, of Fuuka wanting to apologise to Natsuki for saying such mean things.
... why does he keep coming back to that.
"I don't think they'll have hope until they see it clearly," Minato says.
"If they're lying to themselves, they won't be able to stand what happens."
Stand up and face it, right? Even though you're afraid? Even though the smell clings to your nose, charred and sloughy, and the glass cracks beneath your feet? Maybe every one of those summonings -- is just an echo of that day, windshields shattered and edges bloodied.
"... but maybe I'm just thinking of the worst case scenarios. I was never very good at staying positive."
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
"Mm. Yeah," Minako says. "If they have hopes that are built on a lie, then it's not real hope."
She frowns, as she thinks about it. She will have to talk to them. Maybe -- maybe she can try to get through to them. Minako glances sideways, then, at Minato. She pauses for a moment when he says that. But then, she smiles.
She reaches over, with one arm, and hugs him around the shoulders. "It's okay, Minato-kun," she says. "I'm here to help you be positive!"
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
Minato should be able to get through to them. He's not much of a leader, if he can't communicate with his team. But... that's why Minako's covering for him, huh?
At least one of them is suited to the role.
(Minato fully fails to grasp that both of them could make that statement in full belief of how right they are.)
But then --
"Personal space," Minato grouses, though he hugs Minako back with one hand anyway. Briefly, at least, before he shoves her back.
"... all right. I'm counting on you to watch my back."
Is that... where all the positivity is???
WHY IS HE SO WEIRD.
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
Minako laughs a little when he says 'personal space' -- but she appreciates the returned hug just the same. But, notably, she doesn't insist on a longer hug. She looks at him -- then she smiles again.
"You know it," she says. It is weird -- and she isn't entirely sure what he means -- but she does like that side of him.
Besides, if he wants her to watch his back, it means he wants her there. And that, as they say, isn't nothing.
"I'm counting on you to watch mine, too," Minako says. "The two of us can do this together!"
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
"Right," Minato nods, firmly. He's weird, but he cares about her. That's not nothing.
"... but I've been assigned to guard Moriyama-san for this mission," and he's not passionate enough to fight his team on being able to come with them. "So... take care of them."
It's all he can ask of her, in the end.
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
"Right... right, I understand," Minako says. They do need to keep Natsuki safe -- even if she caused this mess, even if Minako is angry with her, they can't abandon someone just because they were cruel. Besides...
Maybe Natsuki is realizing.
"I'll be there for them," she promises. The smile comes back. It's easier, somehow, when Minako can direct her focus onto someone else -- onto something besides her own woes. And for all of her concerns, SEES is easy for her to focus those efforts on. "You can count on me!"
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
Unfortunately, Natsuki has a guy like Minato on call to help her understand. ... she's got her work cut out for her.
(Is she a bad enough dude to realise she fucked up even though her ferryman is Minato Arisato?!)
"Good," he nods, firmly.
"I do."
Not 'I am', or 'I will', because he's been counting on her for this... the whole time.
(The reason Yoshirou was so foul-tempered and conniving... wasn't it because Minato was dealing with him alone, without backup from his sister who was actually good at people?)