Duster (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mindofathief) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
melodiesoflife2017-01-10 02:05 pm
mindofathief) wrote in melodiesoflife2017-01-10 02:05 pm
Entry tags:
I'll Face Myself - Duster
Who: Duster and anyone helping with his shadow, open to people in the laboratory
Where: Laboratory
When: Month of December
What: Free T-shirts! Oh, and Duster is finally facing his Shadow. There are two starters in the comments.
It's late. Not dark enough for it to be considered night, for the Moogles working in the lab to wish for warm blankets and hot Kupo Cocoa, but dark enough that the hallways are lit by artificial light. The blues of the night have always comforted Duster. They remind him of midnight walks, of the dark but persistent ocean, of cool castle corridors. Even the falling now brings its own particular type of light.
But tonight is not the night for calm reflection. Duster has an important job, one that the fate of Crystallis depended on.
Following him is Tamekichi, wearing the sunglasses that never come off no matter the time of day. The Moogle is carrying a brown cardboard box over his head.
"I'm ready," he said to himself, facing the door leading to the Black Crystal laboratory room.
Where: Laboratory
When: Month of December
What: Free T-shirts! Oh, and Duster is finally facing his Shadow. There are two starters in the comments.
It's late. Not dark enough for it to be considered night, for the Moogles working in the lab to wish for warm blankets and hot Kupo Cocoa, but dark enough that the hallways are lit by artificial light. The blues of the night have always comforted Duster. They remind him of midnight walks, of the dark but persistent ocean, of cool castle corridors. Even the falling now brings its own particular type of light.
But tonight is not the night for calm reflection. Duster has an important job, one that the fate of Crystallis depended on.
Following him is Tamekichi, wearing the sunglasses that never come off no matter the time of day. The Moogle is carrying a brown cardboard box over his head.
"I'm ready," he said to himself, facing the door leading to the Black Crystal laboratory room.
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"If you don't like how it is, you can take steps to fix it. But first you have to realize the problem is there at all. It's how we grow. And hey!" she added, her expression softening into a cheerful smile. "You know you can ask any of us to help you out if you just need to talk, or want to make plans...whatever you need. We've got your back."
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With one glance at the floor, he turned to the others, his Shadow watching them through disgruntled eyes.
"The people the created Tazmily gave my dad the role of a thief that could save the world. My dad planned my entire life around training and saving the world. I didn't decide when to take a break or when to be upset about not getting to play with the other kids. And then I lost my memory, joined a band because they were the only ones who would take me in. If there's one thing I learned growing up, it's that things feel okay if I tell myself that I'm okay."
A glance at the Shadow.
"I don't know if I'm not okay. It's kind of scary having all this freedom and choices. I should do something about my dad. I don't know what. Fight him, I suppose." A shrug. "But...going along with my impulses isn't like getting pushed to murder, right?"
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"If you're not ok, you got to be able to admit it to yourself if you want to change things to make your life better." It sounded too sappy to say out loud, but if Duster was afraid of change, Aoi wasn't going to let him face it on his own.
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"All things in moderation?" she shrugged. "You don't have to take it to any extremes if that's not what you want to do. Having feelings doesn't mean acting on them no matter what. You have no idea how many times my best friend wound up in the bastille because of that..."
But that was another story for another time.
"It's okay to admit your feelings exist, though."
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"My feelings tell me to protect my friends most of all. That's what strongest in my heart. But...I might have been ignoring any other kind of feeling that has to do with me. What I want for myself."
He turned to his Shadow, who remained silent, though continuing to look at the real Duster disdainfully.
"Because everyone else's opinion was more important. But thinking about it...I think-- no, I should pay more attention to myself. I do want to stand up for myself, but doing that...it's hard." A hand was held out to the Shadow. "I'll need your help doing that."
The Shadow glanced at the hand, then back to Duster's face. No one moved for a tense minute as Duster's mouth tightened into a line.
"Now that's what I'm talking about." The Shadow gripped his in a handshake, and a light enveloped the two. When all was clear, Duster stood in the middle of the room, hand still outstretched.
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If this want meant to be a solemn moment, Santa was ruining it. Oh well.
"We gotta go out and celebrate. Dance at a club, or karaoke or something. We can even all wear those stup...uh, those cool band t-shirts." There was probably a good reason Akane usually did the planning for the two of them back home. Whatever. Santa wasn't about to let all this adrenaline go to waste.
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But now came the end, and she never really knew quite what to say in these kinds of moments. It sounded like Santa and Duster wanted to spend some quality time together, and she wasn't about to make herself the third wheel.
"...Wellllp, I'd better go check on my horse so...you guys have fun!"
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"...Thank you. For everything you did." He looked at Aoi, then the rest of the group. "Actually, going out sounds like fun, all of us. It's better than heading off on my own."
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He slung an arm around Duster's shoulders. It looked like Rialynn was out, but maybe the others would come out for a victory celebration. If not, he and Duster could party. Either way sounded fine to him.