tearmeanewone | rendez-vous + APPOINTMENT POST

You don't have to keep saying it over and over again, I understand.

But I'm going to say this once, and then I don't want to repeat it ever again, okay? Gai has been very honest about his life before I met him. His role in your world, what happened to him in the past, his sexual life, almost all of it. So if you think you can surprise me, or play one of us against the other, you can't. Understand?

[She sighs, and it sounds like she's happy to get that out of her system. Today isn't a day to get angry for a long period of time, so she switches gears. Maybe Shu and Gai did argue and get into a physical fight, but Elizabeth knows Gai wouldn't have identified Shu as his friend if he hadn't cared at all. So she wants to care too.] Are you less confused now? Has someone helped you get familiar with everything?

[Calling Gai honest has to be a joke. Shu has been lied to by Gai many times before in the past. Quite frankly, he found that hard to believe.]

What did you to get him to be so honest? He wasn't like that when I was with him.

He was always...difficult. [That's putting it nicely.]

Cross helped me out and I've decided to live with him for a while. At least until I get more settled and find a place for myself.

We've known each other for four months. Things come out into the open. ...especially when you have certain experiences and traits in common.

[Elizabeth lets that sit for a moment.]

I'm glad you've found a place to stay. But don't get too worried over finding a place of your own--any open apartment can be yours.

Do you think you've changed him? [Shu isn't sure what to think of this. He doesn't understand what happened to Gai while he was here.]

I'll keep that in mind. I figured that Gai doesn't want me poking my nose into where it doesn't belong.

You probably shouldn't talk to me after this. It's better that way.

No-- God, no. [Elizabeth is very quick to deny that, mostly because of what Gai told her when he came back.] Everyone acts differently around different people. It's easier for me to tell him things because I know he won't ask me questions I can't answer, or that I know he'll understand. I'm probably the only one who he talks to about certain things...

Anyway. I talk to whoever I like to talk to--and as long as you don't keep bringing me into your fights with Gai we'll get along fine.

Do you honestly believe that? You never once thought that there might be another girl? [Shu's not trying to force Elizabeth to respond to this part. He just wants to tell about his experiences with Gai.]

Back home, Gai always spoke to Inori about more private things. I cared about her and he was just using her like a tool.

I'm afraid that's going to be impossible with how Gai's behaving. He's just going to beat me up again if we keep doing this.

Watch yourself, Shu. [Elizabeth sounds like she's on the edge of anger again.] I told you, just now, not to think you can surprise me with anything. Don't ever suggest to me that Gai is using me for anything, especially behind his back. I take offense to... to shit like that.

[Alright, so that sounded a little awkward when she said it... But she's trying to channel Booker right now, a little. He wouldn't let anyone get under his skin with needling little accusations like these.]

Listen, if you don't want to talk to me, that's fine. But Gai told me he was your friend, and he didn't have any reason to say that before you showed up. That says, to me, that you're important to him. And what's important to Gai is important to me too.

I don't know why he'd beat you up just for talking to me. Unless you start to make a habit of making me cry. But then I might just go ahead and get Booker involved too.

Do whatever you want. Get whoever you want involved because it doesn't concern me. I don't care.

[Shu's being incredibly apathetic about this. The thought of getting into an argument with Gai again makes him want to throw up. He'd prefer not to think about it at all.]

I thought we were friends too, until now. Now I'm not so sure. He didn't look at me like I was a friend, anyways.

...are you joking right now? [Elizabeth is honestly confused by how Shu is reading the situation.] You came out of Gai's closet while I was half-naked, if he'd done that to you wouldn't you be confused too? What did you want him to do?

I don't joke about things like this.

[He doesn't have much of a sense of humor either.]

Even if I answered that question honestly, you wouldn't understand. [Shu's just making naive assumptions again. Elizabeth's free to prove him wrong on this.]

Try me. I've been on more than one Skyline.

But what if I said I disagreed with how Gai does things?

Would you still be speaking that way?

...wait, you're expecting me to never talk to you again because you disagree with Gai?

It's more complicated than that.

We're going to keep arguing from now on and it's clear to me that you don't like that.

Because I disagree with him so much you're going to keep getting involved in our arguments so that's why I said what I did.

Your arguments with Gai are your arguments with Gai. What I'm objecting to is you making me a weapon in your fights with him. If you're going to keep on doing that, knowing that you're the one using someone Gai likes as a tool to prove a point, then maybe you're right. Maybe I don't want to know you.

Nothing good ever comes out of talking with me anyways.

All this time, I've known that better than anyone else. Maybe I was just trying to fool myself into thinking that I could be better. There's no point in me trying to be stronger if all I do is be a huge bother to everyone. [His low self esteem is showing.]

That's the best thing you can do. Just pretend we never spoke and I'll leave you alone too.

You're not keeping to the topic we're talking about, Shu. I'm going to narrow this down to one question:

Can you carry on an argument with Gai without bringing me into it? Yes or no.

Ask Gai that, not me.

I barely know you. What do you want me to say?

[How is he supposed to answer this honestly? Shu's never been particularly good at being social so it's to be expected.]

Exactly-- you barely know me. You barely know what Gai's and my relationship is like. Just earlier, you were saying that you weren't going to talk about things I wouldn't understand. Maybe you should turn that around. Not talk about things you don't understand.

Gai already knows enough not to use my feelings for him to win points with anyone. What we have is too precious to be treated like some cheap thing.

If you had automatic contempt for strangers Shu, I would expect you to treat me like I'm cheap and expendable. But Gai gave me the impression you were above that. Was he wrong?

He doesn't know what I've been through.

Gai's dead and there's no way he could've known. I'm not behaving this way because I want to.

I'm surprised he gave you that impression after how he's treated me. You people just can't keep assuming you'll always know how things will be.

Really? You aren't? I must have missed obvious gun to your head, forcing you to act a certain way.

[Don't tell the girl, locked in a tower for almost all of her life, that acting out is inevitable because bad things happen.]

I can see how you're similar to Gai now. You're both harsh and you always assume that having attitude is the best response.

You restore to using harmful responses, just to make yourselves feel better in the end.

In that regard, you're just like Gai. [Shu doesn't really understand it completely, but that's how he sees things from Elizabeth's response.]

[~~Guess it runs in the family.~~]

I think you're someone who needs harsh truth instead of someone who pats your head and says you're right about everything. I'm not going through life to please everyone, certainly not you. So I'm not going to apologize for my 'harmful responses' that go against what you want to hear.

...If I had to choose between being like you, and being like Gai, I would choose him in a heartbeat. I've had enough of fantasy worlds where everyone tells me everything is fine and nothing has to change ever.

You don't even get why it hurts so much, do you?

When Gai was a live he pointed a gun at my head. I killed a friend of mine and I was in shock. He didn't seem to understand that and he even fired a bullet. [Shu kills a lot of his friends, huh? Elizabeth might be noticing that.]

That's your decision. It still won't change how I see things.

rendez-vous + APPOINTMENT POST

[voice-private, October 15th]

[voice-private, October 15th]

[voice-private, October 15th]

[voice-private, October 15th]

[voice-private, October 15th]

[voice-private, October 15th]

[voice-private, October 15th]

[voice-private, October 15th]

[voice-private, October 15th]

[voice-private, October 15th]

[voice-private, October 15th]

[voice-private, October 15th]

[voice-private, October 15th]

[voice-private, October 15th]

[voice-private, October 15th]

[voice-private, October 15th]

[voice-private, October 15th]

[voice-private, October 15th]

[voice-private, October 15th]

[voice-private, October 15th]

[voice-private, October 15th]

[voice-private, October 15th]

[voice-private, October 15th]

[voice-private, October 15th]