[Video/Action] Bittersweet the Bonds of the Heart

[oathshackledbird]

[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?]

Comments

[oathshackledbird]

[It's fortunate for Diarmuid that he knows the sizes of his swords and their swing arcs so well, since he is still a little hazy when Sephiroth comes in for his attack. It is only that knowledge that keeps him from being wounded. He brings up his own weapon, blocking the swing of the other and sliding the shorter blade down the longer to keep it from cutting him along any part of the swing.

Blood drips down the side of his face from where the book struck him, but thankfully, Diarmuid is able to shake off the last of the haziness very quickly as he gets to his feet after Sephiroth steps back.]

Give me back my blade or so help me...

[It is a childish threat, but he has no intention of letting Sephiroth walk out of here with something that means so much to him.]

[neverbeamemory]

[Impressive defense maneuvers aside Sephiroth now quite clearly has something that Diarmuid cherishes in his hands. Or rather, hand. He turns the sword around in his grip a little as the Servant gets to his feet - getting much more attuned to the balance of it in the meantime.]

So help you? That almost sounds like a threat-

[He swings the sword up and around, striking nothing but the air with it almost as if imagining slicing something to pieces. Then steps further away from Diarmuid and eyes the printing press.]

-that's not like you.

[From what he learned from his time in Ryoji's mind, that is. Sephiroth steps back towards the press and, keeping an eye on Diarmuid at all times, smirks lightly before opening it up to it's fullest. He places the sword in between the two plates and then reaches up, fingering at the handle to the top-plate.]

It's all not real, of course. Just film.

[oathshackledbird]

[Diarmuid's eyes narrow, the sick feeling in his stomach just growing stronger the longer that Waver's gift to him remains in Sephiroth's hands.]

Yes, you tend to bring out the worst in me for some reason...

[It's frighteningly easy for Sephiroth to do it too. Even more frightening to Diarmuid, though, is how his anger at Sephiroth makes him not care that he's not being himself and not care that he's slipping so far into the rage and hate inside of him.

What if he loses his way back out or worse, what if he just decides he doesn't want to come back out?]

Not that someone like you has any right to judge me.

[His eyes warily follow Sephiroth as the man moves toward the press.]

If it is just film, then it won't matter if you give it back to me, will it? Not that someone like you would under-- What are you doing?

[It takes Diarmuid a moment to realize what Sephiroth intends to do, but when he does, he sees red and what little control he has over his emotions starts to slip from his grasp. Not only will shutting the press on the sword likely damage or ruin the blade, it will also damage the press itself.

He can't let that happen. Not when the press has been so useful to so many people and not when that sword means so much to him.

Even if it is just film.

Despite fury in his eyes--in fact, if Sephiroth is watching closely enough, he might notice those eyes shift just slightly almost as if something is trying to force its way out--and the roaring in his ears, Diarmuid is completely silent as he launches himself at Sephiroth. He is not thinking, merely reacting on emotion and instinct, but while that kind of attack might work well for a fighter like Cu Chulainn, it does not work so well for Diarmuid himself. He executes five sword strikes at Sephiroth, all in the blink of an eye, but in doing so he leaves himself wide open for retaliation should the strikes not land.

This is a mistake he would normally not make in his right mind, but at the moment the combination of his recent losses and his hatred for Sephiroth means Diarmuid's right mind is very far away from this battle.]

[neverbeamemory]

You should practice what you preach, with regards to judgment.

[Indeed Sephiroth locks his blazing green eyes with Diarmuid's even as he curls his fingers around that top handle-

He thought he saw something of a shift within his opponents eyes but the strikes were executed in the next instant. With similar speed Sephiroth's opposite hand rips the blade from the plate on which it rested, to defend against the flurry of attacks.

What follows is a swift turn into that wide-open gap in Diarmuid's offense. Charging a powerful knee with extra-momentum spurned by Sephiroth's will itself, up deeply into Diarmuid's torso. And then brings the pommel of Diarmuid's own sword down onto the back of his head while hunched over before driving him into the plate on which the sword was rested before.]

You shouldn't let your emotions ride you so completely.

[Sephiroth steps around and then brings the top plate of the press slamming down on top of him. He's not intending to crush the Servant but at the very least it did succeed in knocking him unconscious. A few more, kicks follow to the rib-section of his opponent, pinned as he is between the plates, before Sephiroth steps away.

Striding away from the machine, Diarmuid's stolen sword is still in his hand. He would keep hold of this for now, better to gain an upper hand in dealing with Diarmuid in the future.]