http://delmetor.livejournal.com/ (![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
delmetor.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
entrancelogs2006-11-27 08:28 pm
delmetor.livejournal.com) wrote in entrancelogs2006-11-27 08:28 pm
Ritsuka + Rion [complete]
Who: Rion ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
delmetor, Ritsuka sleeping_memory
Where One of the hallways outside the ball
When: Night of the ball
Rating: G/PG
Summary: Roin and Ritsuka chat about the ball, company,life and WTF Rion actually is xD
the Story:
Rion wandered the halls, somewhat amazed at their unusual lack of activity. It seemed that a majority of people were at this ball that everyone had been talking about for the past few days. Rion, himself, was still debating whether or not to go. Sure, if he went, it would give him something to do, but... The thought of being with that many people was not an appealing thought.
Fiddling idly with his bracelets, he continued walking down the many corridors, glad of the peace and quiet that he was for once experiencing away from his room.
Ritsuka was wandering down the hallway looking through the pictures he had taken of others at the ball. He was dressed in a black suit that he found in his closet. It reminded him of the attire he wore to Seimei's funeral. He wasn't paying attention where he was going. In a way, he was looking forward to going with somebody to the ball- even if it was Elphaba who was much older than him. Ritsuka was used to hanging out with adults. He did hang out with Soubi alot back home.
He didn't know he was about to walk into Rion. In fact, he was knocked to the ground on his bottom. His camera slid to the wall. Rubbing his head he mumbled something inaudible as he wiped his nose on his sleeve.
Rion blinked a few times, startled at having bumped nto somewhen. Eyes slightly widened, he studied the boy for a few moments, head tilted slightly to one side. The boy seemed dressed as if he was going to go to the ball. At this, Rion couldn't help but wonder just how many people were actually at the ball; prior to ths evening, it had seemed that quite a number of people didn't want to go, but...
Are you... ok?" He asked, somewhat awkwardly, feeling that it was a necessary response.
Ritsuka looked up at the person who had knocked him down. He wasn't dressed up like he was, "I'm fine..." He felt around for the camera, "Where did it go?" He couldn't lose that. He already lost his cell phone, if he lost his camera he would lose everything familiar to him.
“Where did what go?" Rion questioned, glancing about the carpeted floor for... something. Eyes resting on a black object, he moved to pick it up, thin fingers curling around it. "This?" He added, holding it a small distance away from himself. Tilting his head to one side, he studied the camera for a few moments, before holding it out to the boy.
Ritsuka looked up at him suspiciously. Where did he suddenly come from anyway? The last time Ritsuka had looked up from his camera, the hallway was empty. Standing up, he continued to watch Rion with a questioning look in his eyes. He slowly took the camera from him, examining it to see if anything was broken on it. He turned it on and then back off just to make sure. "What are you doing here? Who are you?" Whenever Ritsuka met someone new, his mind was full of questions- all of which sounded slightly demanding.
Pressing his lips together tightly, Rion stared at the boy with more than a touch of disdain. To walk into someone and then start questioning them was far from what anyone woulc consider polite - even by Rion's own standards. Raising his head slightly, he hesitated before answering, figuring that it probably wouldn't make a great deal of difference. "I don't know what I'm doing here. I was under the impression that no one did," he answered referring to the first question, deliberating replying in reference to the place as a whole, rather than the corridor. Pausing before replying to the second question, he frowned, opening his mouth for a few momwnts before speaking. "Rion. Who are you?" He replied coldly.
Rion. Ritsuka didn't know anyone named Rion. "Why aren't you at the ball?" He didn't answer Rion's question. So many people wanted to know who Ritsuka was. A few of them he told his name to, but that was only after he'd gotten to know them shortly. "You can't go dressed like that," Ritsuka ignored the tone of voice Rion was giving him.
"Conversations tend to take a turn based scenario. Acting like you're the Spanish Inquisition and ignoring my own question isn't going to get much of a response," he replied., turning away from the boy and leaning against the wall, fingers once again returning to the bracelets around his wrist, a habit that was becoming increasingly common, and as a result, increasingly annoying. He knew full well he couldn't go to the ball dressed as he was, and as a result, wasn't it obvious that he didn't want to go?
Ritsuka raised an eyebrow. He didn't know what the Spanish Inquisition was- he was only 12 years old. Though he was mature for his age, he was still naive. He noticed Rion fiddling with his bracelets. Ritsuka was curious as to know why. "Why are you twisting your bracelets?"
Rion sighed, before glancing at the boy irritably. "Because it's a habit," he replied simply. If he was honest, he didn't know why he did it. He supposed it was just a comfort. "Why do you ask so many questions?" He added, feeling rather frustrated. He wasn't in the mood for company, let alone being questioned on... well, everything, it seemed. Not that he ever really was in the mood for company.
"How did it become a habit?" Ritsuka's ears perked up. Maybe Rion did that because he was afraid of something. People twirled their hair and some girls played with their earrings when they looked nervous. "..Isn't that how you get to know somebody?" That was more of a rhetorical question than a real one. Ritsuka was trying to make friends here. If he was going to have to live here, he figured he should make memories with new friends he met. He missed his old ones a lot, especially since he just began to start liking them.
Focusing his blue eyes on the boy, he watched him for a few moments. "If I knew how it had become a habit, I probably would have stopped it by now," he answered with a shrug, knowing full well that most habits people didn't really want to break, no matter what they believed they thought of them. "Hmn. I suppose so," he consented, once again looking away from the boy, whose name he still didn't know, not that it bothered him a great deal; you couldn't do much with a name.
"Did somebody give you them?" Ritsuka heard of people going to shops that were somewhere outside on the grounds of the mansion. He wondered if Rion had gotten them there or if he had brought them with him when he got here. "or if you found them, maybe you could tell me where."
"I suppose..." He paused. "I got them the last time I-- They're from my 'home'," he answered eventually, casting his gaze down towards the carpet. He supposed, if he thought about it properly, Lilia gave them to him... Sighing quietly to himself, he continued, "So I can't really tell you where they're from," he finished, not noticing that the two statements were at odds with each other.
Ritsuka cocked his head to the side, he was certainly intriqued. He wasn't going to ask Rion where he was from, if he did, Rion would want to know where Ritsuka was from. Instead he asked shyly, "Do you...have anyone to go to the ball with... because the lady I was going to go with cancelled.." he wasn't mad at Elphie. Apparently she had found Luxord and was going to go with him, but that didn't mean he wasn't upset. He had looked forward to the ball.
Rion felt faintly amused at that question; did he look as if he had anyone to go to the ball with? He wasn't even dressed to go to the ball. "No." He paused, before placing his full attention on the boy, standing up away from the wall, and facing him again. The thought hadn't entered his head until now, but... "Why aren't you at the ball?" He asked. "You're dressed to go..."
Ritsuka looked down at the floor at his feet. "I know..but then Elphaba said she found someone else to go with.." He pulled out his camera and handed it to Rion, "so I went and took pictures." He had taken quite a few. He was planning on printing them out for the people who had gone. He even got one of Elphie and Luxord. No body saw him taking these pictures either, they were all candid shots. There was also a picture Ritsuka had taken by himself with the happenings of the ball in the background- it was a rather depressing photo once you thought about it.
"Oh. That's rather... Suddenly dropping you like that," he commented, taking the camera, and briefly glancing through the photos. He doubted whether the ball would have been enjoyable for him. There was ...so many people. He cringed at the thought of being around them all. "You... Like taking photos?" He asked. It seemed a rather stupid question, really, but... Just because someone done something, it didn't mean they liked doing it. "Why did you take so many?"
Ritsuka nodded, "Its how I used to remember." He wasn't sure if Rion would understand exactly what he had meant by that. Then again, not many people did beside one of his Sensei's. "I always take pictures. I have a wall of them in my room."
A small, sad smile appeared on Rion's face for a moment, before disappearing. "Photo's helped me remember once," he commented, his thoughts travelling to the photo of 'his' parents, and how... Mind returning to the present, he shrugged. "That's a better reason than most," he told him, before running a hand through his hair, and realising that his earlier bad mood had pretty much disappeared.
Ritsuka opened his mouth when Rion told him about how he used to take pictures. He didn't say anything until Rion finished. "You did? Did you take them or just collect them?" Ritsuka wanted to know why Rion needed pictures to remember. Maybe it was the same reasoning as Ritsuka once had.
"What? No. I didn't take them. Or collect them. I--" Rion hesitated. "I didn't... They were of my family." He replied eventually, hoping that that would explain what he was finding difficult to put into words. Going into a proper explanation wasn't something Rion particularly wanted to do, but if he must... Then he would, albeit unwillingly.
"Do you miss them?" Ritsuka asked Rion. He let him hold onto the camera however long he wanted to. Ritsuka missed his older brother dearly ever since he died. He would never forget him and he couldn't imagine what he would do if he did. "I mean..would you have forgotten all about them if you didn't have the pictures?"
Rion had forgotten that he was still holding the camera, and glanced down at it with a start, before holding it back out to the boy. "I..." He'd never really thought about it. He used to miss them, but... They weren't really his, and... These days, he wasn't sure whether he did or not. "I wouldn't have remembered them at all, no," he told him. Of course, it wasn't just photos that helped him remember.
Ritsuka frowned, he looked like he wanted to cry, "That's not fair to you, you should be allowed to remember your family at least." It never occured to Ritsuka the different circumstances that could explain why Rion would forget. He took the camera back and placed it in his pocket.
Rion shook his head. "It's complicated, and... Anyway. They weren't... 'my' parents, really. So it makes sense that I wouldn't 'remember' them," he answered, scuffing his shoes against the carpet for a moment, not wanting to look into the others face, or eyes. "And no one ever really cares about what's fair, or what isn't, so why should I be treated as if it is?"
"Are you adopted?" That was the first thought that popped into Ritsuka's mind when Rion said his parent's weren't really his parents. "Who said that? You should be treated the way you want to be treated and not let someone else make decisions for you."
Rion chuckled quietly. "No, not adopted..." He trailed off, sighing, and looking up at the ceiling. "I'm not really-- They had a son, Rion. He died at 14. I'm..." Rion ran his tongue across his lips, falling silent for a moment. As often as he had thought this over, it was still something he struggled with. He accepted it, yes, but he still didn't cope with it particularly well. "I'm not really him. I have some of his memories, his personality, but I'm not him."
Ritsuka blinked, his eyes widened for a moment or two. "..You're not the real Rion?" He said that this other Rion died when he was 14, but how could this Rion..unless he took the real Rion's identity. Ritsuka's head was spinning and he was beginning to feel light headed. "But how can you..I don't understand.."
"I was created. And then I died. And then I was recreated, aged 20. I'm basically a computer progam... Kind of." He looked into the boy's eyes, staring at him, watching his reaction, before deciding that was basically al lthe boy needed to know. That, and Rion didn't really want to go into much more. "I was supposed to have been deleted, but... This place doesn't seem to care about things like that, hmm? He added quietly, a small amount of humour present in the comment.
Ritsuka backed up against the wall before sliding down to the floor. He held his head in his hands and shut his eyes tight. "I don't understand! Why are you here. How can you be a computer program? Why is everyone here that doesn't make sense?" Everyone in this mansion had such odd stories to tell. How did they get here? Why couldn't Seimei be here as well? All these people were more complicated than he was. He even met people who were supposedly dead.
Rion stared at the boy, somewhat shocked at his, what Rion would describe as an 'overreaction'. But, if he were honest, he probably would have reacted in exactly the same way. He wasn't exactly known for producing stellar reaction when things weren't how he expected, or wanted them to be. "I don't understand either, but it's something you've just got to deal with. Getting upset over it isn't going to change anything," he told him, looking down at him. He felt sorry for the kid.
"Then why aren't you doing something about it? Don't you want to be yourself again?" Ritsuka remembered how his life was prior to entering the mansion. The days when he thought he wasn't himself. "Or if you're not yourself then don't you get to choose your own destiny?" Ritsuka's train of thought was scattered. Talking to Rion only made him more confused about how he got here and who he was. He remained on the floor, not staring back at Rion.
"Be myself again? I am myself..." He replied, confused. "I... don't know if I like this place, but it's quieter than what my life was before. There's no Galerians here. It's..." He fell silent, unable to think of the word he wanted. Before being here, he had just wanted for it all to end, to not have to try and cope with any of it anymore, regardless of whether the 'future' was better than the past. "I'm not doing anything about it, because I can't do anything about it, not anymore. The thing that created me is gone, destroyed, and my world is a better place without her, and the others like me."
Ritsuka rubbed his eyes with his sleeve. "How can you just stand there and do nothing? There's always something that you can do. There has to be." He took his time to stand up, head still down, eyes fixed on his shoes. "I..hate it here." He admitted it. He didn't hate the people in the mansion, they were all mostly helpful and nice to him, but the mansion itself- that was what he hated. "It gives everybody else what they want! Why can't I have what I want too."
Rion shook his head. "No, it gives people material goods, it doesn't give them what they want. Big difference." Pulling at the white band round his other wrist, Rion ran his fingers along the material a couple of times. "I can do nothing, because there is nothing for me to do. What would you have me do, eh? There isn't..."
"If you're created then does that mean somebody created your mind too? Because if they did then you can't think for yourself can you?" Ritsuka raised an eyebrow.
"No. She couldn't create minds. I have my own mind, I do as I want," Rion answered, pausing in his mindless fiddling.
"But then..if you have your own mind, then how did you get one?" Ritsuka couldn't comprehend the complexity of Rion's creation.
"I don't understand what you mean. She created me, what I am, but she didn't create who I am. Does that make more sense?" Rion asked. He had never explored how Dorothy had created any of the Galerians, he honestly didn't know, nor did he want to know.
Ritsuka just shook his head. "No. I don't understand." He sighed, his eyes rested on the ballroom door. "Everybody looks so happy tonight."
"Well, I can't explain it. I don't know how it works." Rion followed the others gaze. "Hmm, I wouldn't know, I haven't seen anyone. As long as they're enjoying themselves, I suppose..."
"I wanted to dance with somebody.." Ritsuka said in a shy voice. He never went to a ball before and the music he was hearing from the doors sounded inviting. Everyone was probably laughing and dancing. Ritsuka wished his friends would have been here to see it.
Rion cast the boy a sharp look, wondering whether he was attempting to get at anything with that comment, but he wasn't about to jump to conclusions, especially when they involved him being sociable. "I'm sorry the girl you were going to go with cancelled. Wasn't there anyone else you wanted to..."
"Well..she was the one who asked me to go with her. She's a grown-up." If Elphie did find Luxord, then she was going to be happy again. he hoped that maybe he had helped her find him. "..no." There was someone Ritsuka wanted to go to the ball with, but he wouldn't admit that to Rion let alone the one he was looking forward to going with.
Rion raised his eyebrows at the boy. "If you say so. Just as long as you're not putting yourself out just because." Sitting down on the floor, he crossed his legs, drawing circles on the carpet with his fingers. "I've never been one for company so I'm not missing out on anything," he stated simply.
"oh.." Ritsuka looked down at Rion. "Do you want me to..leave you alone?" Ritsuka had been keeping Rion company for a while now. What if he was trying to get rid of him and Ritsuka didn't realize that.
"What?" Rion looked up, frowning momentarily. "Oh no, it's fine. I mean, I don't like being around a lot of people. If I had wanted you to go, I wouldn't have continued talking to you." He told him honestly, returning to giving the carpet his undivided attention. If he was honest, it was actually quite nice not having spent the entire evening with only his own company.
Ritsuka kneeled down on the floor and watched Rion. "When you said you died...how did you come back?"
"Lilia said that my data was stored in the backup files of Michelangelo City. So she was able to recreate me from my data," he explained, continuing to look at the floor. It wasn't really that interesting a thing to look at, but... It was something.
"Your data? Like what?" Ritsuka wanted to know more about Rion. He never met anyone like him before.
"Like..." Rion paused. He didn't know. It was something he had never questioned. "I suppose... My personality, my thoughts, memories.... I don't actually know. Me. Just me. My consciousness without a body."
"But if your data was stored, then how do you know if someone changed it or not?" Ritsuka blinked.
Rion froze, glancing up at the boy, his eyes widening as he thought it over. "I don't. But ...It was stored in Michelangelo City. The city was destroyed after-- When... Dorothy and I died, the city couldn't survive. So.. .There wouldn't of been anyone who cared enough to alter it. And Lilia would never have--" He paused, shaking his head firmly. "No. Lilia wouldn't have."
"How do you know if she did or not? Did she tell you?" Ritsuka didn't mean to put worries into Rion's head, he just wanted answers. "Does that mean you're some sort of robot?"
"She just wouldn't have," Rion snapped. "She cared for me, so why would she change me?" Voice softening, he continued. "No. I don't think I'm a robot. i mean, I'm flesh and blood... But I can enter the data world, as well."
Ritsuka blinked, he didn't expect Rion to snap at him like that. "Maybe I'll go finish taking pictures."
"Do what you want," Rion mumbled, not noticing that he might have hurt the others feelings.
Ritsuka wandered off towards the ballroom doors, looking back at Rion before re-entering. Something was different about him. Ritsuka wasn't sure if he could trust what he was saying or not.
delmetor, Ritsuka sleeping_memoryWhere One of the hallways outside the ball
When: Night of the ball
Rating: G/PG
Summary: Roin and Ritsuka chat about the ball, company,life and WTF Rion actually is xD
the Story:
Rion wandered the halls, somewhat amazed at their unusual lack of activity. It seemed that a majority of people were at this ball that everyone had been talking about for the past few days. Rion, himself, was still debating whether or not to go. Sure, if he went, it would give him something to do, but... The thought of being with that many people was not an appealing thought.
Fiddling idly with his bracelets, he continued walking down the many corridors, glad of the peace and quiet that he was for once experiencing away from his room.
Ritsuka was wandering down the hallway looking through the pictures he had taken of others at the ball. He was dressed in a black suit that he found in his closet. It reminded him of the attire he wore to Seimei's funeral. He wasn't paying attention where he was going. In a way, he was looking forward to going with somebody to the ball- even if it was Elphaba who was much older than him. Ritsuka was used to hanging out with adults. He did hang out with Soubi alot back home.
He didn't know he was about to walk into Rion. In fact, he was knocked to the ground on his bottom. His camera slid to the wall. Rubbing his head he mumbled something inaudible as he wiped his nose on his sleeve.
Rion blinked a few times, startled at having bumped nto somewhen. Eyes slightly widened, he studied the boy for a few moments, head tilted slightly to one side. The boy seemed dressed as if he was going to go to the ball. At this, Rion couldn't help but wonder just how many people were actually at the ball; prior to ths evening, it had seemed that quite a number of people didn't want to go, but...
Are you... ok?" He asked, somewhat awkwardly, feeling that it was a necessary response.
Ritsuka looked up at the person who had knocked him down. He wasn't dressed up like he was, "I'm fine..." He felt around for the camera, "Where did it go?" He couldn't lose that. He already lost his cell phone, if he lost his camera he would lose everything familiar to him.
“Where did what go?" Rion questioned, glancing about the carpeted floor for... something. Eyes resting on a black object, he moved to pick it up, thin fingers curling around it. "This?" He added, holding it a small distance away from himself. Tilting his head to one side, he studied the camera for a few moments, before holding it out to the boy.
Ritsuka looked up at him suspiciously. Where did he suddenly come from anyway? The last time Ritsuka had looked up from his camera, the hallway was empty. Standing up, he continued to watch Rion with a questioning look in his eyes. He slowly took the camera from him, examining it to see if anything was broken on it. He turned it on and then back off just to make sure. "What are you doing here? Who are you?" Whenever Ritsuka met someone new, his mind was full of questions- all of which sounded slightly demanding.
Pressing his lips together tightly, Rion stared at the boy with more than a touch of disdain. To walk into someone and then start questioning them was far from what anyone woulc consider polite - even by Rion's own standards. Raising his head slightly, he hesitated before answering, figuring that it probably wouldn't make a great deal of difference. "I don't know what I'm doing here. I was under the impression that no one did," he answered referring to the first question, deliberating replying in reference to the place as a whole, rather than the corridor. Pausing before replying to the second question, he frowned, opening his mouth for a few momwnts before speaking. "Rion. Who are you?" He replied coldly.
Rion. Ritsuka didn't know anyone named Rion. "Why aren't you at the ball?" He didn't answer Rion's question. So many people wanted to know who Ritsuka was. A few of them he told his name to, but that was only after he'd gotten to know them shortly. "You can't go dressed like that," Ritsuka ignored the tone of voice Rion was giving him.
"Conversations tend to take a turn based scenario. Acting like you're the Spanish Inquisition and ignoring my own question isn't going to get much of a response," he replied., turning away from the boy and leaning against the wall, fingers once again returning to the bracelets around his wrist, a habit that was becoming increasingly common, and as a result, increasingly annoying. He knew full well he couldn't go to the ball dressed as he was, and as a result, wasn't it obvious that he didn't want to go?
Ritsuka raised an eyebrow. He didn't know what the Spanish Inquisition was- he was only 12 years old. Though he was mature for his age, he was still naive. He noticed Rion fiddling with his bracelets. Ritsuka was curious as to know why. "Why are you twisting your bracelets?"
Rion sighed, before glancing at the boy irritably. "Because it's a habit," he replied simply. If he was honest, he didn't know why he did it. He supposed it was just a comfort. "Why do you ask so many questions?" He added, feeling rather frustrated. He wasn't in the mood for company, let alone being questioned on... well, everything, it seemed. Not that he ever really was in the mood for company.
"How did it become a habit?" Ritsuka's ears perked up. Maybe Rion did that because he was afraid of something. People twirled their hair and some girls played with their earrings when they looked nervous. "..Isn't that how you get to know somebody?" That was more of a rhetorical question than a real one. Ritsuka was trying to make friends here. If he was going to have to live here, he figured he should make memories with new friends he met. He missed his old ones a lot, especially since he just began to start liking them.
Focusing his blue eyes on the boy, he watched him for a few moments. "If I knew how it had become a habit, I probably would have stopped it by now," he answered with a shrug, knowing full well that most habits people didn't really want to break, no matter what they believed they thought of them. "Hmn. I suppose so," he consented, once again looking away from the boy, whose name he still didn't know, not that it bothered him a great deal; you couldn't do much with a name.
"Did somebody give you them?" Ritsuka heard of people going to shops that were somewhere outside on the grounds of the mansion. He wondered if Rion had gotten them there or if he had brought them with him when he got here. "or if you found them, maybe you could tell me where."
"I suppose..." He paused. "I got them the last time I-- They're from my 'home'," he answered eventually, casting his gaze down towards the carpet. He supposed, if he thought about it properly, Lilia gave them to him... Sighing quietly to himself, he continued, "So I can't really tell you where they're from," he finished, not noticing that the two statements were at odds with each other.
Ritsuka cocked his head to the side, he was certainly intriqued. He wasn't going to ask Rion where he was from, if he did, Rion would want to know where Ritsuka was from. Instead he asked shyly, "Do you...have anyone to go to the ball with... because the lady I was going to go with cancelled.." he wasn't mad at Elphie. Apparently she had found Luxord and was going to go with him, but that didn't mean he wasn't upset. He had looked forward to the ball.
Rion felt faintly amused at that question; did he look as if he had anyone to go to the ball with? He wasn't even dressed to go to the ball. "No." He paused, before placing his full attention on the boy, standing up away from the wall, and facing him again. The thought hadn't entered his head until now, but... "Why aren't you at the ball?" He asked. "You're dressed to go..."
Ritsuka looked down at the floor at his feet. "I know..but then Elphaba said she found someone else to go with.." He pulled out his camera and handed it to Rion, "so I went and took pictures." He had taken quite a few. He was planning on printing them out for the people who had gone. He even got one of Elphie and Luxord. No body saw him taking these pictures either, they were all candid shots. There was also a picture Ritsuka had taken by himself with the happenings of the ball in the background- it was a rather depressing photo once you thought about it.
"Oh. That's rather... Suddenly dropping you like that," he commented, taking the camera, and briefly glancing through the photos. He doubted whether the ball would have been enjoyable for him. There was ...so many people. He cringed at the thought of being around them all. "You... Like taking photos?" He asked. It seemed a rather stupid question, really, but... Just because someone done something, it didn't mean they liked doing it. "Why did you take so many?"
Ritsuka nodded, "Its how I used to remember." He wasn't sure if Rion would understand exactly what he had meant by that. Then again, not many people did beside one of his Sensei's. "I always take pictures. I have a wall of them in my room."
A small, sad smile appeared on Rion's face for a moment, before disappearing. "Photo's helped me remember once," he commented, his thoughts travelling to the photo of 'his' parents, and how... Mind returning to the present, he shrugged. "That's a better reason than most," he told him, before running a hand through his hair, and realising that his earlier bad mood had pretty much disappeared.
Ritsuka opened his mouth when Rion told him about how he used to take pictures. He didn't say anything until Rion finished. "You did? Did you take them or just collect them?" Ritsuka wanted to know why Rion needed pictures to remember. Maybe it was the same reasoning as Ritsuka once had.
"What? No. I didn't take them. Or collect them. I--" Rion hesitated. "I didn't... They were of my family." He replied eventually, hoping that that would explain what he was finding difficult to put into words. Going into a proper explanation wasn't something Rion particularly wanted to do, but if he must... Then he would, albeit unwillingly.
"Do you miss them?" Ritsuka asked Rion. He let him hold onto the camera however long he wanted to. Ritsuka missed his older brother dearly ever since he died. He would never forget him and he couldn't imagine what he would do if he did. "I mean..would you have forgotten all about them if you didn't have the pictures?"
Rion had forgotten that he was still holding the camera, and glanced down at it with a start, before holding it back out to the boy. "I..." He'd never really thought about it. He used to miss them, but... They weren't really his, and... These days, he wasn't sure whether he did or not. "I wouldn't have remembered them at all, no," he told him. Of course, it wasn't just photos that helped him remember.
Ritsuka frowned, he looked like he wanted to cry, "That's not fair to you, you should be allowed to remember your family at least." It never occured to Ritsuka the different circumstances that could explain why Rion would forget. He took the camera back and placed it in his pocket.
Rion shook his head. "It's complicated, and... Anyway. They weren't... 'my' parents, really. So it makes sense that I wouldn't 'remember' them," he answered, scuffing his shoes against the carpet for a moment, not wanting to look into the others face, or eyes. "And no one ever really cares about what's fair, or what isn't, so why should I be treated as if it is?"
"Are you adopted?" That was the first thought that popped into Ritsuka's mind when Rion said his parent's weren't really his parents. "Who said that? You should be treated the way you want to be treated and not let someone else make decisions for you."
Rion chuckled quietly. "No, not adopted..." He trailed off, sighing, and looking up at the ceiling. "I'm not really-- They had a son, Rion. He died at 14. I'm..." Rion ran his tongue across his lips, falling silent for a moment. As often as he had thought this over, it was still something he struggled with. He accepted it, yes, but he still didn't cope with it particularly well. "I'm not really him. I have some of his memories, his personality, but I'm not him."
Ritsuka blinked, his eyes widened for a moment or two. "..You're not the real Rion?" He said that this other Rion died when he was 14, but how could this Rion..unless he took the real Rion's identity. Ritsuka's head was spinning and he was beginning to feel light headed. "But how can you..I don't understand.."
"I was created. And then I died. And then I was recreated, aged 20. I'm basically a computer progam... Kind of." He looked into the boy's eyes, staring at him, watching his reaction, before deciding that was basically al lthe boy needed to know. That, and Rion didn't really want to go into much more. "I was supposed to have been deleted, but... This place doesn't seem to care about things like that, hmm? He added quietly, a small amount of humour present in the comment.
Ritsuka backed up against the wall before sliding down to the floor. He held his head in his hands and shut his eyes tight. "I don't understand! Why are you here. How can you be a computer program? Why is everyone here that doesn't make sense?" Everyone in this mansion had such odd stories to tell. How did they get here? Why couldn't Seimei be here as well? All these people were more complicated than he was. He even met people who were supposedly dead.
Rion stared at the boy, somewhat shocked at his, what Rion would describe as an 'overreaction'. But, if he were honest, he probably would have reacted in exactly the same way. He wasn't exactly known for producing stellar reaction when things weren't how he expected, or wanted them to be. "I don't understand either, but it's something you've just got to deal with. Getting upset over it isn't going to change anything," he told him, looking down at him. He felt sorry for the kid.
"Then why aren't you doing something about it? Don't you want to be yourself again?" Ritsuka remembered how his life was prior to entering the mansion. The days when he thought he wasn't himself. "Or if you're not yourself then don't you get to choose your own destiny?" Ritsuka's train of thought was scattered. Talking to Rion only made him more confused about how he got here and who he was. He remained on the floor, not staring back at Rion.
"Be myself again? I am myself..." He replied, confused. "I... don't know if I like this place, but it's quieter than what my life was before. There's no Galerians here. It's..." He fell silent, unable to think of the word he wanted. Before being here, he had just wanted for it all to end, to not have to try and cope with any of it anymore, regardless of whether the 'future' was better than the past. "I'm not doing anything about it, because I can't do anything about it, not anymore. The thing that created me is gone, destroyed, and my world is a better place without her, and the others like me."
Ritsuka rubbed his eyes with his sleeve. "How can you just stand there and do nothing? There's always something that you can do. There has to be." He took his time to stand up, head still down, eyes fixed on his shoes. "I..hate it here." He admitted it. He didn't hate the people in the mansion, they were all mostly helpful and nice to him, but the mansion itself- that was what he hated. "It gives everybody else what they want! Why can't I have what I want too."
Rion shook his head. "No, it gives people material goods, it doesn't give them what they want. Big difference." Pulling at the white band round his other wrist, Rion ran his fingers along the material a couple of times. "I can do nothing, because there is nothing for me to do. What would you have me do, eh? There isn't..."
"If you're created then does that mean somebody created your mind too? Because if they did then you can't think for yourself can you?" Ritsuka raised an eyebrow.
"No. She couldn't create minds. I have my own mind, I do as I want," Rion answered, pausing in his mindless fiddling.
"But then..if you have your own mind, then how did you get one?" Ritsuka couldn't comprehend the complexity of Rion's creation.
"I don't understand what you mean. She created me, what I am, but she didn't create who I am. Does that make more sense?" Rion asked. He had never explored how Dorothy had created any of the Galerians, he honestly didn't know, nor did he want to know.
Ritsuka just shook his head. "No. I don't understand." He sighed, his eyes rested on the ballroom door. "Everybody looks so happy tonight."
"Well, I can't explain it. I don't know how it works." Rion followed the others gaze. "Hmm, I wouldn't know, I haven't seen anyone. As long as they're enjoying themselves, I suppose..."
"I wanted to dance with somebody.." Ritsuka said in a shy voice. He never went to a ball before and the music he was hearing from the doors sounded inviting. Everyone was probably laughing and dancing. Ritsuka wished his friends would have been here to see it.
Rion cast the boy a sharp look, wondering whether he was attempting to get at anything with that comment, but he wasn't about to jump to conclusions, especially when they involved him being sociable. "I'm sorry the girl you were going to go with cancelled. Wasn't there anyone else you wanted to..."
"Well..she was the one who asked me to go with her. She's a grown-up." If Elphie did find Luxord, then she was going to be happy again. he hoped that maybe he had helped her find him. "..no." There was someone Ritsuka wanted to go to the ball with, but he wouldn't admit that to Rion let alone the one he was looking forward to going with.
Rion raised his eyebrows at the boy. "If you say so. Just as long as you're not putting yourself out just because." Sitting down on the floor, he crossed his legs, drawing circles on the carpet with his fingers. "I've never been one for company so I'm not missing out on anything," he stated simply.
"oh.." Ritsuka looked down at Rion. "Do you want me to..leave you alone?" Ritsuka had been keeping Rion company for a while now. What if he was trying to get rid of him and Ritsuka didn't realize that.
"What?" Rion looked up, frowning momentarily. "Oh no, it's fine. I mean, I don't like being around a lot of people. If I had wanted you to go, I wouldn't have continued talking to you." He told him honestly, returning to giving the carpet his undivided attention. If he was honest, it was actually quite nice not having spent the entire evening with only his own company.
Ritsuka kneeled down on the floor and watched Rion. "When you said you died...how did you come back?"
"Lilia said that my data was stored in the backup files of Michelangelo City. So she was able to recreate me from my data," he explained, continuing to look at the floor. It wasn't really that interesting a thing to look at, but... It was something.
"Your data? Like what?" Ritsuka wanted to know more about Rion. He never met anyone like him before.
"Like..." Rion paused. He didn't know. It was something he had never questioned. "I suppose... My personality, my thoughts, memories.... I don't actually know. Me. Just me. My consciousness without a body."
"But if your data was stored, then how do you know if someone changed it or not?" Ritsuka blinked.
Rion froze, glancing up at the boy, his eyes widening as he thought it over. "I don't. But ...It was stored in Michelangelo City. The city was destroyed after-- When... Dorothy and I died, the city couldn't survive. So.. .There wouldn't of been anyone who cared enough to alter it. And Lilia would never have--" He paused, shaking his head firmly. "No. Lilia wouldn't have."
"How do you know if she did or not? Did she tell you?" Ritsuka didn't mean to put worries into Rion's head, he just wanted answers. "Does that mean you're some sort of robot?"
"She just wouldn't have," Rion snapped. "She cared for me, so why would she change me?" Voice softening, he continued. "No. I don't think I'm a robot. i mean, I'm flesh and blood... But I can enter the data world, as well."
Ritsuka blinked, he didn't expect Rion to snap at him like that. "Maybe I'll go finish taking pictures."
"Do what you want," Rion mumbled, not noticing that he might have hurt the others feelings.
Ritsuka wandered off towards the ballroom doors, looking back at Rion before re-entering. Something was different about him. Ritsuka wasn't sure if he could trust what he was saying or not.