entrancelogs | Chihiro's Training Montage

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Chihiro's Training Montage

Who: Chihiro Fujisaki, seperately with Dean Winchester, D'Artagnan, and Shannon Beiste - possibly others; I'm open to other characters dropping in the threads, so long as everyone else is!
Where: Various locations
When: At various points within the week
Rating: PG, PG-13 at most.
Summary: Through the course of her personal mission to become stronger, Chihiro seeks the help of various residents who had offered to help her.

They're probably busy. I don't want to be a bother. Maybe it's hopeless, I shouldn't waste their time.

These thoughts and more had often swirled in Chihiro Fujisaki's head whenever she thought back to all of the people who offered to train her to defend herself and strengthen her body. Weighing in at less than 100 pounds and standing less than five feet tall didn't leave Chihiro with a lot of room to grow, and it was often easier to simply look at herself for a few good seconds and give up.

As the mansion's cruel tricks chipped away at her, however, her behavior began to change. Rather than being discouraged, Chihiro found her resolve. She could either give up, or bite the bullet and strengthen herself - and she had too many good friends counting on her to stand up for herself to take the easy way out any longer.

"...Alter Ego... if anyone asks for me for the next few hours... tell them I'm not available. I'll be back, all right?"

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"Cheeseburger recipe... that sounds nice..." His speech seems to have calmed her down somewhat. She dries her eyes, following behind him, wrapped up in her own thoughts.

"Dean... did I ever tell you about where I came from...?" Chihiro's circumstances before arriving at Wonderland has never been a common topic of conversation - even her conversations with Kirigiri have revolved primarily around their current situation. "I think... what I went through, there... that's what made me..." She trails off, knowing that Dean wouldn't appreciate her finishing that sentence with the word "fail", but finding herself unable to say something different.

He glances down at her as they go, steering her gently through the hallways so she can focus on composing herself. Their gait is slow, more of an amble than a walk.

"What're you talking about? I thought you came from, like, high school?"

Unless high schools are like secret code in her world for the Hunger Games or some shit.

"It was a high school... and really, that's how it was supposed to be... but I think the school was taken over by someone else... once we got there, there were no faculty or other students but our class... and we were trapped inside." It was so long ago, by this point, but for some reason the memory is especially vivid.

"The person or organization that trapped us communicated to us through a robot made out of a stuffed toy... it looked like a half-black, half-white teddy bear. Through this machine, he told us that we were going to have to live trapped in that school forever, unless..."

She swallows nervously, her throat going a little dry. "Unless we 'graduated'... and the only way to graduate was to... was to kill one of the other students, without getting caught."

At some point during her explanation, his footsteps falter and then slow to a complete stop so he can stare at her. Something incredulous and horrified and downright affronted spreads across his face and for a long moment he can't even manage words.

Until it finally sinks in completely and he chokes out a dark, pissed off "What the hell?"

"I wish I understood why they were doing this to us, but... whenever anyone asked what his motive was, the bear just replied that the only reason was 'despair'..."

She sniffles a little bit, but keeps her composure and continues on. "At first, it seemed like there was no way anyone would actually do it... but after showing us videos of our families in danger, as motivation... there was a murder. My classmates found 'Super High School Level Idol' Sayaka Maizono dead in one of the bathrooms..."

Beginning to shake a little, she continues her story, balling up her fists. "I couldn't bear to go see for myself. After that, we were all called into the gymnasium, and told that it was up to us to find out who the culprit was - and if we didn't identify the culprit, everyone but them would be killed. One of the other students, 'Super High School Level Fashion Girl' Junko Enoshima... at that point, she attacked the bear, and in response was... was killed, by countless spears, right in front of my eyes..."

Recalling such traumatic memories and recounting them in detail is difficult for her, but she seems to be determined to power through it. "So, we had a trial... taking all the evidence into account, we discover that Maizono-san was the first to try to murder another student, and we was killed in self defense, by 'Super High School Level Baseball Player' Leon Kuwata... we decided by vote, and when we identified him as the culprit... despite the circumstances, he was... executed, while we all watched..."

She stands in silence for a moment, trembling, the color drained from her face. "It... wasn't long after that, when I was brought here..."

Everything she's seen, everything she's been through... She's so goddamn innocent, she's so... She's so Chihiro, and it stabs through him, fills him up with a kind of righteous anger. Because there's nothing he can do about it, is there? All that shit, all that death and distruction and torture to an innocent goddamn little girl is exactly the kind of thing he would put a stop to.

And if she ever gets sent back, if she ever goes home, she's going to be thrown right back into the thick of it. A muscle in his jaw twitches, but even so, he pulls her forward into a tight hug.

"C'mere." He mutters it, because at first, that's all he can say. That's not all he wants to say, but some of the threats he's got aren't for her ears. "We'll figure it out, alright? There's gotta be some way, some... some kinda loophole... When we get outta here, I'm gonna make sure you don't go back to that, you understand? We'll... figure it out."

It's an empty promise, it's got to be, because he doesn't have any sort of control over who stays and who goes, but he can damn well try.

Chihiro momentarily seizes up when Dean wraps his arms around her, but it isn't long before the surprise wears off and she's able to relax. It takes her some time, but eventually her arms find their way around him in turn, and she rests her head against his chest, hiding her face from him so that she can take a moment to cry without feeling self-conscious.

"Thank you, but... everyone there... my classmates... I want to go back and help them all escape, too. I don't know if I'll make it out, but... if there's anything I can do to help them escape before it happens... I want to do it. That's... that's the kind of person I want to be."

It he feels the way her shoulders shake, feels the dampness working it's way into his shirt, he has the good grace not to mention it or acknowledge it.

After a moment he pulls away, lifts a thumb to wipe away a few tear tracks from her eyes, and shoots her a soft, reassuring smile. "Sounds an awful lot like something a strong person would say, Chi."

"Really...? You think I'm strong...?" She looks up, her watery eyes making contact with his. "Even after breaking down like that...? Someone who's too weak to get over bad memories... that isn't the kind of person that'd be able to save everyone, is it...? I mean... I want to try, but..."

She trails off and looks away from him, staring off in no particular direction. "I... I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't say things like this... you've been so encouraging... and I've already made so much progress thanks to you... I don't want you to think that I'm not grateful. I am... I'm really grateful for your help, Dean..."

"I do," He nods seriously, dipping down a few inches to get on her level. There's a quiet moment wherein he considers her questions and how best to answer them. His head shakes a little, but the motion gets aborted a little prematurely. "I wouldn't do this with you if I didn't think you could handle it, and you've done awesomely so far."

He licks his lips, and his hands drop away. "...The thing about bad memories... You wanna know a secret?"

"A secret...? I'm pretty good at keeping secrets... I mean, I say that a lot, actually, every time someone's offered to share a secret with me... but I hope it means more to say that to you, since you know about the secret I've kept so long..."

She shakes her head slightly - she's getting off track. "I guess what I'm trying to say is... if you have a secret to share, you can be sure I won't tell anyone, all right?"

He huffs out a soft laugh, his smile twitches up to something more genuine, a bit more fond, before it slips away again. "It's not really a secret, I guess, so much as I don't really... tell people."

Especially not young people- kids. Still, he thinks it's relevant. "I went to hell. I sold my soul, I died, I went to hell, for forty years. And when I came back, man, I was... I was broken. I still dream about it, I don't think I'll ever get over it. I guess what I'm trying to say is... bad memories are just part of life, and you might never get over them, but that doesn't make you weak. That makes you human."

Chihiro's expression changes entirely as all of her concerns about her own problem immediately fly out the window. "You went... you went to hell? Real hell? Oh...! Oh, Dean! That's so terrible! I can't believe that... I mean, I believe you, but... wow... I can't imagine what that's like, but... forty years... selling your soul... I... wow..."

Once she gets over the shock of it, she shakes her head, running a hand up through her hair. "Going to... going to hell, for forty years... to endure something like that... it's no wonder you're so strong, Dean..." After saying this, something occurs to her. "I just realized... Dean, I don't actually know anything about you... all I've ever done is talk about myself..."

Her reaction's one reason out of many he doesn't like telling his story. It's a little less oh poor me and a little more stupid fucking decisionmaking. He deserves what he got and then some, but he's come to terms with everything well and enough since then. He pushes upright, guides them back into motion toward the kitchen, obviously dismissing a fair portion of her concern. Not because he doesn't appreciate it, but because he doesn't feel like deserves it.

He's fine, after all, isn't he?

"Truth be told, sweetheart, it's probably better that way. I'm not exactly a flawless and shining example of a human being." But it's not exactly fair for her to spill her story and not give her anything in return, so he glances down a little, eyebrow quirking in curiosity. "What do you wanna know?"

"Well... what is it that you do, Dean? I mean, I know that you've spent a lot of time learning how to fight... that much is clear... are you a soldier of some kind?" That was Chihiro's best guess, but since meeting some of the other residents, she couldn't rule out that it'd be something more atypical than that.

"I know the people here are from all sorts of different worlds. I never got the sense that your world was too much different from mine - actually, I even thought that maybe we could even be from the same Earth, just in different parts of it - but hearing about things like selling your soul... that's not something that happens in my world."

She looks away, a little embarrassed. "Well, I mean... as far as I know... things like magic and the supernatural... the closest thing I've ever seen to the supernatural were our Super High School Level Fortune Teller's predictions, and he was only right 30% of the time..."

He can't help the amused look that he shoots her at her question. They step through the doorway to the kitchen, and it's blessedly empty. He's not sure it'd feel right having these kind of conversations with an audience. He moves methodically pulling ingredients from the fridge and the cabinets, laying them out with neat professionalism along the counter top.

Dean does a lot of cooking.

"You're not completely wrong. It's not a bad guess." He shrugs a shoulder. "Back home, I'm what's called a hunter. It, uh... I'm guessing my world's not all that different from yours, on the surface at least. But where I'm from, every monster, every story, everything that goes bump in the night? Everything you've ever heard of- vampires, werewolves, revenants, demons, angels, all of it's true. And at least half of it likes to snack on humanity. I put a stop to it."

That's the most simple explanation for a much bigger role that he plays in humanity's safety, but it's a good start anyway. "I don't always get it right, but me and Sam- my brother, he's here, you might've seen him. Kind of... moosey looking? We uh, we try and save people. When we can. Dad was a marine, though, so I guess the soldier thing's practically genetic."

A beat. "And 90% of fortune tellers are a hack. The other ten percent are the real deal."

"Wow... you protect people from supernatural creatures? That's..." She's about to say that it's 'really cool', but considering the amount of anguish he's clearly experienced in the line of duty, she thinks it better not to.

"Come to think of it, I remember you telling me about angels before, when you told me that they didn't have... gender... I wasn't sure if you were being hypothetical or not, but now I'm pretty sure you weren't..."

She idly watches him begin to prepare the food; she'd never been able to prepare food, herself, since it involved a lot of timing and intuition and imprecision. If cooking involved mostly something along the lines of import(array.Ingredients); let makeFood=true; then she'd be much better at it.

"Helping people, saving them from real monsters... that's so admirable... I admired you before, Dean, but hearing that... that's exactly the kind of person I wish I had the strength to be."

He moves toward the cupboard again, tugs out an apron and gently tosses it at her. Evidently gun training isn't the only lesson she's getting today. He focuses on opening up a pack of meat, doesn't bother checking to see if she's putting it on.

"Ahh, trust me, it ain't all that admirable. As a matter of fact, whatever you're thinking, think the opposite and that's probably a hell of alot more true." He shakes his head, back to her as he works, cranks the sink to wash his hands, follows motions that are so practiced they're practically autopilot. "I get a lot of people hurt. I get a lot of people killed, and I've killed some people that didn't deserve it. You need to know that before you go admiring me. Trust me, you've got a hell of alot of better role models to choose from here."

He turns, tugs a knife out of the drawer and nods her toward the countertop. "Come on. You know how to slice tomatoes?"

Chihiro fumbles the apron a bit when she catches it. It takes her a moment to realize what it is, but once she does, she looks... excited. Inordinately excited. "Ah! An apron... I get to wear... oh! Oh, I'm sorry, um... yes, tomatoes, cutting them... I can do that..."

Wasting no time in donning the apron, she retrieves a tomato and begins cutting it into thin slices, slowly and methodically. "I... I'm sorry, but I do find it kind of hard to believe that you would be anything but good person, Dean... I mean, I'm sure you've always used your best judgment... even if you've made mistakes."

"Like Kuwata-kun... the thing he did to Maizono-san was reprehensible, but... he was scared. He didn't know that he was putting everyone in danger, or that he was putting his own life on the line, either... someone tried to kill him, and he wanted to get out... that doesn't excuse the horrible thing he did to Maizono-san, but... I don't think he deserved what happened to him... I still feel so horrible, voting for him..."

Noticing that she's made it to the end of the tomato (before she got to her fingers, luckily), she puts the knife aside. "I think... people who do bad things, after making bad decisions... they aren't always bad people, who don't deserve forgiveness..."

He's gotta say, excited is a hell of a lot better than crying. He can handle a lot of things, but for some reason, young girls crying is just... not his area, like, at all. He moves while she slices, preparing a pan, preparing the stove, preparing the meat, but his hands move slowly- enough to indicate that he's listening to her, really listening.

You don't think you deserve to be saved, god damn but that line's come back to haunt him so freaking often these last few years and he can't help but hear it echoed in the things Chihiro says to him.

He licks his lips slowly, stares forward as he works rather than meeting her eye. "Guess that just depends on the kinda bad things they've done, doesn't it?"

That's an ominous statement admittedly, and he turns, tugs a crinkly plastic bag of lettuce out of the fridge and holds it out. "Round two, vegetable master."

"Oh... should I cut this thinly, or... I guess for cheeseburgers, the pieces should be flatter..." She mutters mostly to herself as she assesses the vegetable, eventually placing it on the cutting board and getting to work.

"...Well, I... maybe I don't know you that well, but I still think you wouldn't have done anything you have with bad intentions... and even if you did, it's obviously something you're trying to make up for... I don't think what you did is that important, as long as you can acknowledge that it was wrong, and try to move forward and do the right thing..."

She sighs, putting the knife aside for a moment. "I'm sorry. This must all sound so trite. I'm only a teenager, after all... I don't know why I thought I'd have anything meaningful to say to you, or that anything I could say could make you feel better, especially since I don't even know what happened in your past. It's not like I'm one to talk, either... I've done some really cowardly things..."

He arches an eyebrow as she talks, mostly to herself, about the best way to cut lettuce. Kindly refrains from throwing out his input, because whatever she decides? It's going to be completely fine. You can't really screw this up. A little self-determination never hurt anybody, and not every decision needs to have a right or wrong answer.

Meet gets thrown into the pan, a sharp hiss cuts off his response until he muffles the sound by covering the pan with a lid. His hands get dusted off on the dish towel in grabbing distance before he turns to her finally, lips pressed, expression faintly amused. "Trust me, kid, nothing you're saying's trite. And it's all shit I've told myself over and over again since, like, the dawn of time. But it's ancient history, the whole bloody mess. Mine and yours. Can't changed what happened, can't change what we're going back to, but what we can do? Is eat these burgers. And after that? I'm gonna find you a goddamn taser. And then we'll see if we can't find some kinda... more effective non-lethal solution to your gun problem. But let's just..."

He nods his head toward the pan. "One step at a time."

"All right... one step at a time."

Chihiro sets the knife aside, gathering up her sliced lettuce with a light sigh. "Thank you for taking the time to help me. Not just today, either, but... just... in general, I suppose. I've never really had anyone like you to look up to before, and... well, having you around means a lot to me."

She smiles faintly, looking off into no direction in particular, folding her hands in front of her. "A taser... one of those electric stun-guns, right? That's probably a better place to start. I mean, I hope I won't have to use it, but... you never know, right? Better safe than sorry... It will have to do for now, until I can get strong enough..."

Looking at her, standing a full head shorter than Dean, wearing that apron, her small hands nestled together - she looks so dainty, it's hard to imagine that deep inside her is a burning desire to become strong and to use that strength to protect others. It may be difficult to picture the demure, soft-spoken Chihiro as someone's guardian, but even if she has a long way to go, she's already shown that she has the drive and determination; she'll just have to take it - like Dean told her - one step at a time.

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Chihiro's Training Montage

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