Even when the starry sky dissolves at dawn

[brightlyshines]

WHO: Literally anyone and everyone
WHERE: The Town
WHEN: May 3rd, evening
WHAT: The town's regained both some aspects of evening and a starry night sky. Stargazing is clearly in order.
WARNINGS: All that good pure cute, probably.

The town is just a little bit different today. Color has returned to some objects, even phenomenon, and it has left others. Slowly but surely, things are changing.

In some cases, very big things are changing.

Maybe someone looks out a window, maybe they're out late in the evening. At around 6pm, the sky takes on it's normal hue, just for a moment. And later, as darkness falls....

The stars blink into existence, one by one.

Comments

[doublecrowss]

[ Akechi's only response to that first comment is a slight tilt of his head and a single blink. What does that mean, indeed...

But then Lupin is talking about his friend, and Akechi sees it as an opportunity to learn more about him. Maybe it's true, what Lupin said about Akechi being more like him than he knows-- at least as far as being fairly secretive about their past. ]

Business partners... Does that mean he, too, was a thief-- or at least someone who assisted you in your heists?

[heartsteals]

[ he shakes his head. ]

Nope. Just the opposite, actually - he had something stolen from him, and I happened to be tracking down the people who stole it for entirely separate reasons. That's how I met him. We figured we may as well work together to find them. [ that's the gist of it, at least. ] He's a genius engineer - says he's going to fly to the moon someday.

[ the light way in which lupin talks about him speaks of their familiarity. If he were less strict about showing weakness, there might even be a hint of loneliness in his voice, but he does a good job keeping it locked out. ]

[doublecrowss]

[ Yes, their familiarity is obvious just from the way Lupin speaks about him, and even though he doesn't show it, Akechi does wonder if he feels sad, talking about someone who isn't here. It's hard to relate when Akechi himself doesn't have anyone to miss. ]

So you tempted an otherwise upstanding citizen to the wrong side of the law... Lupin-san's charm truly is a force to be reckoned with!

[ It's not a joke, but he laughs, anyway, airy and friendly. Praise is often a very effective technique. ]

Flying to the moon, though... That sounds like a fairly romantic notion. I wonder if this, too, was the result of your influence on him.

[heartsteals]

[ that makes him laugh a little, too, although the idea of calling Impey an "upstanding citizen" is... funny, somehow... he hasn't done anything bad, but he doesn't seem like the kind of person Her Majesty would want representing her country, either. ]

I can't take credit for that one - he was like that before I met him. I don't know all the details, but it's been his dream since he was a little kid. He just happened to never grow out of it.

[ considering what he's been through, his positivity and idealism are somewhat miraculous. It's what Lupin likes about him best. ]

[doublecrowss]

[ Akechi ponders over for a moment, whether or not he should tell Lupin that man has made it to the moon already, in his own point in time, but ultimately decides against it. If this person is someone important to Lupin, then it would likely upset him to know his friend's dream will not come true, not according to history as Akechi knows it, anyway. ]

So, allow me to venture a guess: you intend to assist Impey-san in making his dream a reality, correct?

[ It's grand and ostentatious, and very Lupin-like to aim that high. ]

[heartsteals]

[ he already heard it from Minato, who conveniently left out the fact that it wasn't for another hundred years or so... which is probably the way to go. It's true: he'd be upset to hear that Impey failed in his quest. Enough so that he'd assume his own world would just be different. There's no way that idiot could fail. ]

If he needs my help, sure, but there's not much a thief can do to help build a missile to the moon. Science isn't my forte. [ he waves a hand. ] Like I said, I'm mostly helping him track down a part that was stolen from him.

[doublecrowss]

He might need some government-controlled components or chemicals, though. Certainly your legendary skills as a thief could prove to be helpful.

[ But it's said with a soft laugh, as though making light of his own suggestion-- surely such an upstanding young man on the side of the law would never imply such a thing and mean it, absolutely not. ]

Regardless, whether it's simply tracking down this stolen part or offering support as a friend, I'm sure your presence must be a valuable asset to him.

[ A pause, and he considers his next words. Would it make him upset...? ]

He must miss you.

[heartsteals]

Tch. What do you take me for? I only steal goods from people if they're undeserved or ill-gotten. I'm not the biggest fan of the government, but I'm not taking their things just for Impey's sake unless they start abusing them.

[ he doesn't think Impey would ask him to do that for him, anyway... unless he was really desperate, in which case Lupin might actually make an exception. He probably needs that stuff more than the Queen does. ]

Anyway, I'm sure he does. He's probably crying right now, wondering where I am, the big baby. [ he gestures idly. rather than being upset, Lupin seems amused; he has a lot of faith in Impey. ] We've got other friends who can mop up his tears, though.

[doublecrowss]

[ A giggle. ] Lupin-san is as ruthless as a friend as he is as a thief, I see.

[ That's... some odd friendship, to say the least, and Akechi wonders how much of that is true and how much is just Lupin's own way of coping with the distance. Akechi may not have anyone back home that he can really miss, but it sounds natural to him, that parting from someone you're so close with must leave a mark. ]

Still, it sounds like your government is in better hands than the one I'm familiar with, if even a thief of your caliber is willing to spare them. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about the state of affairs in my own country.

[heartsteals]

Really? I've never been to Japan... Not that it would matter. Yours must look pretty different from the one I've read about.

[ he'd like to say that meeting Akechi and the others have given him a better idea of it, but the future seems wildly different than the present in some ways; he refuses to make any kind of assumption about it all. ]

[doublecrowss]

[ That's true-- from Lupin's sense of fashion alone, Akechi can tell he probably comes from an alternate version of their reality, close enough, but not quite the same. The world of fiction, maybe? ]

I think you would like the place, but as a nation, Japan still has a long way to go. In my line of work, I could see from up close just how corrupt the system has become.

[ From prosecutors, school principals and even politicians, Akechi has definitely seen his fair share of disgusting adults. ]

I did tell you before, didn't I? On at least one occasion, I found myself in a position where I had to turn a blind eye on the law, for the sake of true justice.

[heartsteals]

[ more like the world of 1850s Europe... but yeah, it's also steampunk, so he's not completely wrong.

Lupin's not surprised to hear that, in any case. People are the same all around the world. There are people who go into the system just to take advantage of it. It's one of the reasons he never works with it. Akechi, on the other hand, sounds like he's trying to root that corruption out from the inside - at least from Lupin's point of view. ]

Most people in your position would do the opposite, you know.

[ he's seen plenty of cops ignore terrible things for the sake of their positions, maintaining whatever rules. Much more than he's seen the reverse, actually. ]

[doublecrowss]

I know. [ He nods. ] People like that are the reason why I must seek justice no matter what.

[ And he's not exactly lying, either. Corrupt adults who would use their power to crush and further oppress the weak, people who would eliminate any and all that may threaten their status quo-- including their own flesh and blood, no less-- they had all been responsible for his distorted sense of justice. His revenge.

But of course, he's not about to expose all of that to Lupin, not now, and probably not ever. If he were to ever find out the kind of person Akechi really is... he would never accept him. ]

But, to the eyes of the law and even my peers, I am but a child. There is only so much I can do to help, and I suppose, at that time, seeing a group of teenagers around my own age about to face a lifetime behind bars for a crime they didn't commit... that must have been what spurred me into action.

[heartsteals]

[ it's interesting to hear him talk this way. In theory, he knows there are people like this in the system - people that actually care - but he rarely meets them. He's not so cynical as to imagine every single person in law enforcement is doing their work simply to make themselves feel better rather than protect those in need. However, he does believe that those voices are usually snuffed out. He tilts his head at Akechi. ]

And? Did you manage to save them, Akechi?

[ there's no pressure in his voice - just a gentle nudge. ]

[doublecrowss]

[ There's a sigh, and a shake of his head. ]

You could say I was on the process of assisting them, when I was whisked away to this place-- along with some of them, as a matter of fact. Though there isn't much I can do for them at the moment, I suppose our truce still remains.

[ He briefly wonders, if Lupin has met them-- if he has made the connection. He doesn't want to out Akira and Yusuke in case they haven't told that many people about it, though, so it's up to Lupin to bring it up. ]