countermeasures | chroma | catchall for kazunari miyoshi

[if he doesn't fucking survive the night i will manifest in new york and kill you

anyway]

When she put...? [she glances down at the necklace, but she's getting supplies out to clean out the wounds.] When she put that on you?

[ fast forward to tomorrow to find out ]

Yeah. She had to hold me down for it, and it kept burning me every time it touched me.

[jesus christ.

does it look more like a fire burn, an electrical burn, or an acid burn? because how it looks will change how she treats it. for now, though, she'll do the stabs first.]

...so you three were made to fight each other?

[ it looks electrical, like lightning spread out over his skin. ]

...Sort of? We were fine at first, but then I... [ guilt. ] I attacked them.

[there's a pang of sympathy at that, followed by a seething anger - though the anger isn't directed at him. it's more at the prism in general.

insert proper treatment of this type of injury here i don't know why i agreed to play a doctor i'm bad at this]

...I'm sorry, Sir Miyoshi.

...It's okay. It could have been worse.

It just - [ he cycles quickly through hesitation, guilt, fear, and finally resignation. ] It felt like I was refracting again...

[honestly, that's part of what that seething anger is from.

hasn't this place messed with his head enough?]

Were you... aware, while it was happening, that something was wrong? Or...

No.

[ distress is bubbling up underneath it all, worry - more fear - as kazunari tries to explain. ]

I was just - angry, and worried about Kumopi, and I blamed everything that happened on those two, like it was their fault he was hurt. And it wasn't. I don't know where it came from, and I don't feel it anymore, but Kumopi was the only one who could calm me down before this.

[ he touches the necklace. ]

I don't know why. I don't know where it even came from.

[when she feels that distress start to bubble up, jiuqing reaches up into her hair to tug her hairpin out. it's made of metal, with forget-me-nots dangling down from one end of it, but at the center of the largest one is an amber stone. she presses it into his hand, and he'll immediately feel a wave of calm wash over him.]

...it was like that for me last week, too. I couldn't remember who I was, and... at a certain point, all I knew was that I had to kill the people I was with. I nearly succeeded.

[...]

So believe me when I say that I understand. ...but that's not you, Kazunari. [no "sir miyoshi" this time] It's this place, trying to affect you, but it's not you.

[ it helps a lot. and there's a moment of disbelief, because - he could have done that? he could have just as easily done that. wow. proof this really messed him up. ]

...Hard to imagine it happening to you, doc.

[ a soft laugh, with no humor to it. ]

It just... It scares me. [ he turns the hairpin over in his hands, taking deep breaths. ] I don't want it to happen again. Not whatever this was, not refracting - any of it.

It's hard to imagine it happening to you, too.

[which is why she was so sure he'd been cursed the week before.]

...there must be some way to stop it. I'm not sure what it is yet, but I refuse to believe it doesn't exist, and I'll keep looking until it's found. [she puts a hand on his arm, gentle.] We all will.

...I guess that's just more proof that it can happen to anyone then, huh?

Yeah, there has to be something. Just... We need to find it sooner than later, somehow.

We'll find it.

[she is giving off the most reassuring vibes she can possibly muster.]

I really want to believe that.

[ it's hard to, but it's something. so he'll hold onto that shred of hope. ]

...Thanks, doc.

You're welcome.

[...]

I'm so sorry you had to go through this.

[ shrugs. ]

It could have been worse, I guess. We're all alive, so I'll take it.

As long as you're still alive, things can always get better.

[she smiles faintly]

...we'll be here to help.

Yeah, we've just got to work together the find the answers.

[ a pause, and he gives a soft laugh. ]

It's like something right out of a Spring play.

[she tilts her head to one side]

A Spring play, specifically?

Yeah. They've got the most stories about friendship and working together to fix things, you know? Hopeful endings and new starts - that kind of thing.