oathshackledbird: Where has hope gone? (Where has hope gone?)
Diarmuid Ua Duibhne ([personal profile] oathshackledbird) wrote in [community profile] animus_network2013-10-09 03:30 pm

[Video/Action] Bittersweet the Bonds of the Heart

[Losing Mami, who he viewed as an adopted daughter, last month had been hard, but Diarmuid had worked his way through his grief by focusing on the happy times they had spent together.  However, when three more people he is close to are sent home--two of which he cares for like his own children--those happy memories become a source of pain instead of a route passed the grief.

When he appears on the Network, Diarmuid looks more lost and empty than he has in a long time.
]

Usually, when I address everyone, I am asking for help on a project that will benefit the whole Tower.  Today, I am asking for help on a more personal level.

How does one handle losing a child?  Not just one, but several over a short period of time?  Nothing I try seems to work, and I am...

[His voice trails off here, shaking and uncertain.  A short time later, the feed ends.]

Action:

[After making his post, Diarmuid can be found wandering the Tower almost as if he hopes one of the floors might give him the answers he seeks.  There are some specific prompts below, but feel free to find him elsewhere.]

Room 4-16:


[A handmade wooden box sits on the bed next to Diarmuid.  Once it held chocolates, now it holds letters.  Several written in a childish hand are sitting on the top, but what Diarmuid is looking at is a pair of drawings that are usually set up near his bed on the nightstand.

He's not crying...  He's not...]


Floor 48 (The Graveyard):


[Rabbit would probably scold Diarmuid for singing what is suppose to be a funny song in such a sad voice, but it's hard to be happy when he is singing the song alone to the gravestone of the person who was suppose to be singing it with him.  He and Yotsuba had promised to get together to sing Rabbit's songs as a way of honoring their friend's memory...

Now that is never going to happen in any way other than this.]

Floor 3 (The Library):


[There is ink smudged on his cheek and his arm, but Diarmuid doesn't notice.  On the surface, he's focused on printing more copies of the Tower Guide to put out for those who might want them, but really he's in the Library for a very different reason.  Tohko was always here and it's like he feels spending time here will help him find her again--find that cheerful voice who had so often redirected him when he didn't know what to do next.  He almost expects to look up and see her there, smiling and ready to offer her help with what he's working on.

Unfortunately, no matter how long he waits, that will not happen.]

Floor 28 (The Music Room):

[Before even his brother, Labrys had been the first family Diarmuid had in this place.  Their bond created during the January experiment, afterward they had talked about learning to play an instrument together, but life in the Tower and his indecisiveness had kept them from doing so.  Now, as his hands run over the piano he had once heard her picking a tune out on, the sound of his grief blocks any music the instrument might make.

How is it that one who once lived his life with no regrets has so many of them now?]



floreatnoctem: (pic#1344584)

[personal profile] floreatnoctem 2013-10-11 06:39 am (UTC)(link)
Oh I wouldn't dare to think.

[Chidori's sarcasm is perfectly deadpan, cultivated from long years of dealing with Jin and Minato.]

I wasn't aware there were so many people with family here. But even so, if Ken didn't shock anyone with Dike, I suppose things weren't so bad. Though if I might-- you don't seem the foolish type.

[Or at least, not in the sort of way that would irk Ken.]

...shouting?
floreatnoctem: (They're gonna rip up your heads)

[personal profile] floreatnoctem 2013-10-13 03:43 am (UTC)(link)
Ah- I understand. I used to have someone I felt similarly about here. [A slight inclination of her head.] And I suppose there is Naoya now as well...

[Though she's not sure if classifying her boyfriend as 'family' is the right way to put it.]

We were very surprised to find people summoning Personas in a manner other than that, honestly. But the fact that he did it at all means his temper was very short.

[Because Chidori has a lot of faith in Ken's maturity level.]

It's alright to be self-sacrificing. Sometimes, it's the only way one can really think to act. However... if someone else has other ideas about it, it may be wise to heed their advice.

[She frowns a bit at the last bit, mouth twisting in displeasure.]

Really. Perhaps I should have a talk with this brother of yours about what is acceptable behavior in public.
floreatnoctem: (They got methods of keeping you clean)

[personal profile] floreatnoctem 2013-10-15 10:06 am (UTC)(link)
Our other brother- Minato. There is a version of him still here, but he is not Ours, and he cannot take his place.

[Chidori tries her best not to dwell on the fact, because otherwise she tends to worry herself in circles over his not being in the tower anymore. About what could be happening to his soul while she has yet to save it.]

I can imagine it was very taxing. I suppose it's lucky our room was so quiet, more or less.

[Though Chidori doesn't doubt that the need for silence probably helped Ken keep himself calm for a great deal of what had gone on.]

...I suppose I can refrain from setting him alight for a while. Though if I may add- at this point, killing people is becoming too simple a punishment for their actions in this tower.
floreatnoctem: (They got methods of keeping you clean)

[personal profile] floreatnoctem 2013-10-23 07:07 am (UTC)(link)
There is always a punishment to be found. A chink in the armor. One must simply know what to look for.

[She smiles thinly, coldly, the smile of someone who would find said chinks and exploit them gleefully if she had to.]

...it is foolish to sacrifice yourself for others here. Better to stay alive so that you might continue to protect them, in my opinion.