[open] Salvage and squeeing on the shore

[birdlady]

Who: EVERYBODY IT'S A LAKE PARTY
What: Clean-up! Chao rescue service! Other stuff! Open log!
Where: The lake
When: March 9-15
Warnings: Let's hope the lake Gyarados isn't pissed off about the spaceship that landed in its house...

Just as she said, Melia was at the shore of the lake in the early afternoon, already directing her bodyguards around the scattered, remaining pieces of the Egg Carrier littering the ground. What she really wanted to do, though, was find those Chao. It was a bit selfish of her, she thought, to be more concerned about finding the cute critters than cleaning up the lake, but she did have a good reason. She had to make sure they were all right in the aftermath.

And she wanted to pet one. Or all of them.

((This is a catch-all 'do stuff at the lake' log! Go nuts!))

Comments

[mohawk_tomahawk]

Connor knew what happened to Hajime, he was there. He also knew what he looked like now, he was there.

Seeing Hajime was surprising because he really did kind of oft and hide away, Connor hadn't seen him since the raid. That was maybe good and bad. Bad because he had hoped the one who initiated the raid to begin with would be out and taking charge of clean up, as what leaders should do. Good because, well, it didn't come out as glorious as Hajime probably hoped.

Connor had to remember that he was a kid, but that was still no excuse really.

He caught the reflection of the light and decided it was time to confront, mono to mono. He had to know how he was handling it, for everyone affected.

He was walking to him.

[inspirethewires]

There had been a number of reasons Hajime had been avoiding people, especially those who had aided in the raid. By this point, his continued evasion was largely based on his own behavior: he should have come out to show some sort of thankfulness for their help, but he'd been too selfish and wrapped up in himself. The people who had put so much on the line deserved better than that, and he'd made a fool of himself ignoring them. He'd caught himself in a spiral of bad opinions.

Hajime saw Connor's approach, but didn't turn to him to greet him. It was possible that the janitor would walk right by, and there was no point in distracting him. More likely, Hajime was about to get chewed out, so it was better to simply let it happen and not pretend at cordiality.

Connor looked mad, probably. Maybe. It was a lot harder to tell these kinds of things without souls to read.

[mohawk_tomahawk]

Maybe he was angry, maybe a little. This whole situation felt familiar to him and he expressed a similar emotion when handling THAT mess.

George Washington wanted to retire after all that was said and done, and Connor didn't want to hear any of it. He had his responsibility to uphold, so did George, and now so did Hajime. The whole Washington thing was a beast far gone, but Hajime he had to solve.

"Hajime," Connor began with as he was close enough. "Where have you been?"

Let's get the basic questions out of the way.

[inspirethewires]

Oh god do not compare Hajime to George Washington that's not something his processors can handle right now and he doesn't even know American history that well

Avidly avoiding eye contact, the recent robot kept all of his attention on his work. The best course was to behave as if he knew what he was doing, now if not before; even if his decisions for handling things weren't the right ones, he couldn't think of anything better, so he may as well own them.

"Keeping out of the way. After my performance, I figured it was better for someone who knew what they were doing to take the lead."

[mohawk_tomahawk]

Sorry, but, this was sounded a lot like that one time he did have that talk with Washington, a man Connor didn't claim to really like that much anymore. Or really, a man he was civil with but didn't trust for various and justifiable reasons.

Long story short, he wasn't going to have any of that talk.

Connor took a long, hard look toward Hajime, feeling serious about this. He could barely believe Hajime even said that. Oh, Hajime, were you ready for a doozy?

"Ridiculous." Connor nearly spat out, "You share some blame, you led our troupe to put this to an end."

[inspirethewires]

Had he any lungs left to him, this would be the point where Hajime took a long breath to steady himself. As it was, he went still for a long moment, still not looking up.

Sure, he deserved any amount of scorn Connor had for him, any abuse or disgust for his performance. He'd never planned on being called the leader of the excursion, but it was his idea and it had resulted with this. He was responsible, and afterwards he had evidently hidden away from the outcome.

What got him was the implication that he didn't know this already.

"Yes."

[mohawk_tomahawk]

Oh he knew that already, the fact that Hajime offered no other input didn't make it any better. He wasn't going to abuse Hajime, that wasn't how he functioned at all. That didn't mean he wasn't disappointed, and wasn't going to let Hajime know that.

"So instead of helping the relief, and finishing the job, you hide," he added. "That is not something you earned the right to do."

Also, it didn't mean he wasn't going to throw some harsh verbal punches either.

[inspirethewires]

His fists clenched, and he couldn't bear to lift his head at all.

"I just... I figured, no one would take seriously any more efforts I tried to pull together, after..."

That didn't matter. He should have helped, even if he wasn't leading. Put that way, was he really so self-centered that he couldn't imagine a project if he wasn't the head? While he was off whining about the loss of his humanity, people were still dealing with the mess he'd left behind.

"...You, you're right. That's not a decision I should make for other people. I got selfish."

Those were the only kinds of decisions he'd been making, lately.

[mohawk_tomahawk]

At least Hajime was willing to hear him out and not avoid the accusations. It caused him to soften a little bit. It made him realize he was talking to a child, or rather, young man.

He was out here trying to help, key words being: trying.

"This is the time when people would take you the most seriously," Connor explained on point, sounding more like a guy trying to offer advice and not someone so pissed off. "We all had made sacrifices and took chances, that is what happened as a result. You claim you were no leader, but at the very least, you were there with us. A war's aftermath is just as important, if not moreso than the war itself. The efforts it takes to bring people back from the ashes is a testament of the lengths you would go to for them. Rather, why you went to war in the first place."

[inspirethewires]

"Why I went to..." He'd been telling himself, over and over, war hadn't been his intention, but none of it negated what had occurred. It had been a war, and a cause worth fighting for, but a war all the same.

He simulated a weary sigh. "Back home, optimism and confidence always paid off, but... that's just too naive, out here." Wish and dream for bloodless success, and it would come. Still, he'd been in this city too long to cling to that.

"I... I'm no good at this. Leading. I'm sorry. Past failures always meant trying harder, but... I don't want to try harder at war."