when the zetas fill the skies, will our leaders tell us why

[priorcommitment]

The moment that someone steps into Semele's is the moment that they register on Ishiah's radar. It's important to be able to look into the background of a customer, especially if they later become a regular patron. Most of the time, it's nothing too interesting. Your average salaryman, come to Semele's to have a break and to indulge themselves with good food and drink, sometimes with a family in tow.

When one young man asked recently to see the owner within fifteen minutes of entering, however, Ishiah decided to keep a closer eye on him.

Afterwards, it became a waiting game. The boy's surname was familiar, as was the color of his eyes. Ishiah had considered briefly trailing after the young man and speaking to his more well-acquainted brother, but the brother comes into Semele's often enough on his own, and the last thing Ishiah wants to do is raise alarm before it becomes necessary.

So he waits until Rin comes into the restaurant again late one day, heading directly for a booth at the back of the restaurant and ordering his usual soda as he waits for Nuriko to finish her shift.

Casually, Ishiah makes his way to the table, and seats himself across from Rin.

"I met your brother recently," he says with a slight furrow of his brows, without greeting or preamble.

Comments

[phosphor]

Rin tried harder for that positive expression, although he was fairly sure that it was trying too hard, and maybe a little more on the side of awkwardly threatening, with the teeth. Like when people on YouTube teach their pets to smile. Clearly, his self-esteem was at an all-time high.

Giving up, he took a drink of his soda instead, before swinging the straw in circles around the edge of the glass. He rested his cheek in one palm. Ishiah wouldn't have been his first choice to have a heart to heart with, but maybe that's what made him an ideal choice. He was guaranteed to be able to see things a little more from Yukio's point of view, which meant Rin would do less floundering for some kind of reference.

"I'm grateful. And I'm happy. But I'm not sure either of those things are what Yukio really cares about, anyway. We're not the kind of brothers who get along well. Even though we technically grew up together, we never really shared a life. Not really. He's my only family But we don't really have anything in common, except ... you know. I can't even say, well, we're both exorcists. I'm just an apprentice."

[priorcommitment]

"You are focusing entirely on sentimental considerations," Ishiah points out, watching Rin's little movements, from swirling the straw in his glass to slumping over in a dejected manner. It's petulant, but Rin is a child, after all. Petulance should be expected.

If anything, Rin's brother is the more unusual one there.

"The idea that you haven't shared a life, the idea that you don't have many things in common, why should either of these things get in the way of your relationship? The both of you had very different priorities for many years, which is why your skill lags behind him, beyond the matter of your differing personalities. Now would be the opportunity to close the gap," he says, tilting his head. "But you don't seem confident in that possibility. What is it that you want to get out of your relationship with him?"

[phosphor]

"S-sentimental?" Rin mutters, practically growling the word out. Maybe that's true, but he doesn't really want to think of his character that way. More that, he doesn't want to think of sentimentality as something that's a fault in his character. He lifts a finger to point at Ishiah.

He doesn't see what the guy's deal is, talking with him like this. Who cares about his relationship with Yukio except himself, and Yukio, and maybe Shiemi. "What do you know about me and Yukio anyway," he says defensively. "What do you mean, what do I want to get out of my relationship? Just having a relationship with Yukio period would be good enough for me." Lately, Rin gets the sense that he just doesn't have one. Not like he did, when they were kids.

[priorcommitment]

Ishiah raises a brow, watching as Rin shifts around, squirming and defiant at once while under Ishiah's gaze. Only after Rin settles down does Ishiah speak up again, leaning close and folding his arms neatly on top of the table.

"I don't know about you and your brother. But I do know about you on your own, and I understand that your mind has been preoccupied with the thought of your brother, but your expression rarely matches the sentiment you express," he points out. "Frankly, the relationship that you have with your brother isn't any of my business. But you receive my guidance in other areas, so I thought I would check where your brother is concerned, too."

[phosphor]

It's true, that unlike some people Rin has known, Ishiah never shies away from sharing his opinion about a thing, even if it's a harsh opinion, and in some ways Rin respects that It's different from his brother's harshness, which can at times be as manipulative as his kindness Which is not to say that Yukio can't be genuine when he wants to. Only that Rin only ever feels like Ishiah feeds him unpleasant truths just because Ishiah thinks they're the truth.

Rin respects that, even if he definitely doesn't like it.

"I love him, but ... I think I drag the worst parts of him out, sometimes. Maybe that says everything about me. Because I'm what I am. And he acts like he's my dad. No, Yukio acts like he's got dad's job, but that dad never did it good enough, so he has to do it better. Raising me. That's what it feels like sometimes."

[priorcommitment]

Even if unaccustomed to working within the framework of another person's emotions regarding a subject, Rin has finally managed to put everything in a manner that Ishiah feels capable of processing. The responsibility of raising someone, of being accountable for their growth, is weighty. Complicated. If Yukio is the type of personality that Ishiah suspects he is, then what's practical is weighed far above being kind, in his mind.

"Sounds like he cares, then," Ishiah says, sitting back and crossing his arms over his chest in thought. "Granted, a sibling acting as a parent is bound to create friction. That's probably what you see as the worst part of him. Do you think that he's actually doing a better job, or is it worth communicating that there are certain things you don't want from him?"

[phosphor]

Rin lowers his eyes with a sigh before sucking on his drink again, more for the excuse to have more time to compose his answer than anything. He just .. doesn't talk about it. About him and Yukio. Not even with Shiemi, who he is closest to, after his brother, had he ever really got into the topic. It had upset her.

Almost as much as it upset Rin.

"It's not what he gives me that's the problem," Rin says. "It's not that there's something I don't want from Yukio. It's that sometimes, I feel like, he won't let us just be brothers. I don't need another dad. The one I had ... did great. I want my brother to be my brother. He's all I've got left."

[priorcommitment]

"So what is the distinction that you feel that there should be between father and brother?" Ishiah asks, frowning slightly. He's genuinely curious, at this point. There are ways in which he addresses and protects his peri brothers back home that Rin might qualify as being overly paternal.

But admittedly, it's hard to picture a human carrying that same approach and tone at such a young age. Between the Okumura twins, it feels like there's a difference of years as opposed to hours, for more reasons than the physical.

Before Rin has a chance to answer, Ishiah looks up with a thought. "Do you think that he may feel strongly about being a father to you... because he has a certain opinion of the father you shared? I doubt he treated both of you similarly."

[phosphor]

"I--" Rin starts, before quieting again. He lowers his head slightly, dark blue eyes half-lidded with thought. Resentful, but contemplative. He doesn't like having to think about these things, but once he's made to, he doesn't totally refuse.

Sucking his bottom lip into his mouth, he worries it carefully. "I don't know how Yukio feels. I used to think I did But he was lying to me. For years. For practically our whole lives. And there's no way for me to know .. how much of it all was Yukio, and how much of it was just something Yukio was pretending at, to keep me complacent. The way our dad wanted things. I know dad didn't treat us similarly. But I don't know what Yukio thinks of that. Probably that dad was way too easy on me. If I was Yukio .. I think I'd be angry. Angry at dad. Maybe angry at myself. But Yukio's not me."

[priorcommitment]

"You could stop to ask him questions like this," Ishiah suggests. A first impression isn't enough to offer his suspicions on any of the above, but he's watched Rin more than often enough to know that Rin has a tendency to evaluate everything at face level — and the meeting with Yukio, however brief, showed that the younger brother didn't expose himself so simply.

"If you don't know what Yukio thinks about your father, try to find out. If he seems angry, try to uncover where his anger is directed. The worst case scenario might be that he bears some degree of anger with you, in which case you have the ability to either address that or leave it be. But there's also the chance that there is some other fact that you haven't considered yet that has constructed the wall between the two of you." Ishiah's eyes briefly skirt to Rin's glass, where condensation starts to slide down the side, pooling at the rim.