(closed) did you hear the slamming door?

[coherer]

Who: jonas ward and plotted cr.
When: aereuer 13th.
Where: his mirror in the looking-glass house.
What: "dream a little dream (of me)" event.
Warnings: severe illness, suicide, assault, possession, nuclear disaster, drowning themes.

(jonas' oblong mirror is tall, its copper frame stained green by chemical weathering. it looks like an artifact dredged from the bowels of a sunken ship found on the bottom of the sea floor, but holds more character in its etched edges. music notes—that form a song if you can read them—spread the length of it, weaving through jail bars, sinking down into what appears to be the grate on the front of a car, and mounting hills with faint trees. the conifers stretch with fading detail into the "sky" of the frame where they form triangular fractals.

carvings may be lacking depending on how well you know him, missing elements that refuse to paint a whole picture, or they may be clear and feel characteristically jonas; however, one thing will always remain the same despite your relationship: when you touch the surface of your reflection, something looms beyond it, looking out as you look in.

the feeling of being watched settles at the back of your neck, persisting as the prevailing mood through each and every memory no matter how simple or happy. waiting and soaking.)

Comments

[coherer]

("it's alright," he thinks to tell him, "it happened and i'm not hiding it."

it isn't.

jonas watches itachi guardedly, inexplicably intimidated by him and his presence, the look of a wounded animal backed very gradually into a corner. the wound is raw, festering, and self-inflicted. isn't this stare what he deserves? that, at the very least, for putting his family through hell the last few years of his life. his father forgives him, but haven't they become different people from the ones who used to speak so freely and openly with one another?

itachi needs context. jonas hesitantly provides.)

Yeah. I-I hurt someone. Bad. (he begins, seeming to deflate more the longer he speaks.) And they wound up in the hospital 'cause of me. I got to speak with my mom... before my arraignment, which is– it's– that's what you just saw. I went to a detention centre for it. A prison for underage offenders.

[anbu]

[The lack of comprehension is there as Jonas answers his question, another layer to a world beyond his own, possessing a unique culture and set of ideologies—where 'underage offenders' are detained and imprisoned for acts of aggression.

Itachi's brow furrows, and he turns, watching the phantom-memory of this boy walk down the hall. He feels compelled to follow. ]

Your mother... She is dismissing you for this incident. [Someone was hospitalized, but not killed. Why be punished to such severity then?] If this is the first you've ever behaved in that way, it seems unreasonable to come to such a severe conclusion.

Why did you hurt him? [Though he notices Jonas' discomfort, he draws no attention to it.]

[coherer]

(wants to tell him not to go, because it's needless and there's little more than jonas' tearful smoking outside of the hospital. but he remembers how long it took him to leave for the lobby due to a desire to obey his father and the more powerful desire to rebel against his order. that was his mother in there, he had every right to stay.

yet he hurt that boy and he hurt her, something he felt worse about; he had no rights to speak of. they were stripped from him at his arraignment and they remain stripped in aefenglom. it's surreal.)

Not the first time I've been in trouble. First time I beat someone that hard, though... and for nothing. (jonas sounds tired, itachi is asking the heavy questions and all he can do is stay beside him until he's through with the memory.) My family– I was always disappointing my family. Then my mom got sick and I had to keep going to school, which seemed like such bullshit at the time. Like, unimportant compared to just everything going on.

One day this kid throws something at me—a baseball, sports equipment—and hits me in the head. And after that, I just snapped. I-I barely remember it, it was such a... an instinctive thing.

[anbu]

[Itachi watches that other version of Jonas lost in the past. It's the first he's closely observed the individuals who occupy these memories, like puppets performing the scenes of a well-practiced play. How oblivious this Jonas is to what comes of the future—Aefenglom, bonding, monsters and witches. All that sits in his head are the human problems of his current reality.

And the consequences.]

You were emotional and suffering under pressure. That instinct isn't unnatural. [He sees himself, in the street, confronted by men whose faces he barely recalls accusing him of being responsible for the death of his closest friend. Instinct and anger, like a funnel in his head toward one outcome of violence.] It is not unusual to lash out when trapped in a situation outside your control.

It was a mistake. That doesn't mean you should be excused of wrongdoing, but... I can see no reason for such severe punishment.

[Itachi says all of this calmly, eyes returning to the Mirrorbound Jonas.] How long will you be imprisoned for it?

[coherer]

(being validated by itachi is a bizarre feeling, but he can't help how gratifying it is. he doesn't hear that his mother was wrong, only that society was, and that's exactly how he processed this before his arraignment. his parents had every right to be disappointed in him; yet, the lack of empathy he encountered in court was frightening.

what they did to him in therapy, convinced him to accept that it was his fault, shines through now when jonas shakes his head.) Just under a year, like, eleven months or something. Got out a bit early on good behaviour. And it may have been a mistake, yeah, but– but I learned, I guess, that it wasn't right to do. I got the bad karma that was coming to me.

(his psychiatrist, his lawyer, his parole officer, his father—all of them, everyone he met and spoke to over that year—told him to repeat one thing. "i'll never do it again." he'll never get a chance to prove that to them.)

What about you? Are you alright? You seem... accustomed to this. Like, have you seen something like it?

[anbu]

[Something creases over Itachi's expression as he listens, as if he's now picking up on the undercurrent of guilt present there and he isn't certain how to field it. Customs of other worlds are strange, and if mistakes are made they should be amended, but... it still isn't easy to reconcile this strangeness.]

Eleven months is a significant period of time. Excessive, for this act. I cannot comprehend how that is meant to discourage future behavior, when even an accident is twisted to extreme...

[He glances over at Jonas, and though he's frowning, it doesn't show much on his mouth.]

I'm fine. This memory concerns your past, so it doesn't affect me. [This isn't meant coldly, it's just the truth.] However, I am accustomed to handling difficult situations and witnessing emotion as it manifests in my opponents. What you've done is understandable, and I don't believe you should carry prolonged guilt over it. Harming others is not in your nature.

[Itachi has seen that firsthand now.]

[coherer]

(it's all presented to him so objectively, jonas doesn't know what to say.)

... I'm not an opponent. (it's necessary for him to clarify their relationship. he doesn't know why, but simply knows that he should.) I feel sorry for ever laying a hand on that Finster kid, but beating the crap outta' him's not, like, the regret that's always on my mind. Getting punished for so long is, and disappointing my mom when–

I didn't see her again after this. I only spoke to her on the phone a few times before she died.

(shakes his head, finally looking away.)

Guess that's why there are so many repeat offenders in my world, huh? The punishment not fitting the crime? No one learns a thing from it and, if they do, it's 'cause they've been put away long enough that they don't wanna' come back out. Harming others might not be in my nature now, but I had to work hard to make it that way. The rest is– (a heavy sigh, reaching out in an attempt to pat the back of itachi's shoulder in wordless thanks.)

I don't know. Getting all philosophical about it's a waste of time... want to head out?

[anbu]

[While the concept of that regret is not impossible to understand, he can't see it from Jonas' perspective. Not so easily. Except... perhaps the disappoint, back when he used to consider what his father said to him as some sort of spoken gospel. Some of that is sore in his mind as he listens to Jonas describe his mother's death and the end of their relationship.

The rest is a glimpse into a world still so unlike his own that it takes a moment to consider, but by then Jonas has cut himself off—and is patting him on the shoulder. Itachi drops his eyes to that hand like he doesn't know how to interpret the gesture. Harmless and pointless, yet familiar, for a moment too close to the memory of a certain older cousin to be comfortable.]

I don't consider discussing the merits of those ideas a waste of time.

[That being said, he's more than ready to move on before this gets worse and Jonas starts to think he can touch him whenever he wants.]

Goodbye.

[Jonas actually gets a warning before he turns and walks abruptly through the mirror, it's a miracle.]