Help me help you [Takeo/Gou]

[Takeo]

Rumor had it in Seiyo that a second year student was 'the strongest' heart egg user in the school, and not only that, but the same young man was also the highest ranked member of The Roost faction, at an impressive fourth level within the group. His achievements were not as shortcoming; he, too, was president of the kendo club, and member of the cooking club. He had fan girls in the school, and a pretty girlfriend. Bizarre. It seemed that Takeo Matsuo was capable of anything he put his mind into; the complete opposite of the person he was at the begging of the school year: The person he still was, at heart.

He owed everything he was up to this point to his heart egg, his wish, his friends... And his faction. Takeo owed a lot to Gou Ohno, owner of the arcade he had been visiting since he was five years old, when he arrived to the country. The Aosaka Arcade was his safe place and, now that he belonged to it as a home, the fatherly figure that once gave him tokens to play when he had fights with his own father; was now supporting him in order to become a stronger warrior, for the sake of cleansing x-eggs.

Burdened by severe guilt, Takeo wanted to reciprocate the support he had received from The Roost: cleaning the arcade when it was vandalized was not enough... He wanted to do something better, something more meaningful. At core, he desired to get close to this man-- but he was unaware of how much he craved to form a bond. At one point of his troublesome childhood, Takeo once yelled, in a foreign latin american language, how much he wished that Gou was his father, and not Masanari Matsuo. It seemed that those inconvenient times came back, as Takeo was freed from the hospital, from his last fight against a corrupted heart egg user.

Takeo walked straight to the end of the arcade, looking for the old photo booth that'd lead him to the secret Roost room. Slidding his dice box inside of it, the entrance revealed for him to enter. The young man was determined to go to The Aosaka arcade, to offer his help, to look for anything to do for the place and for the man. Not even him knew for sure how things would end today.

Juon Keiko

[Juon]

Ohno had been seated at his desk, leaned back heavily in his chair, with his feet propped up on the edge of the desk, ankles crossed, as he stared into the monitor, seeming to be scrolling through his email, deleting junk and spam and general emails he probably wasn't going to be replying to. He seemed absentminded, as he often was in such scenarios; going through the motions, moving about his day as a business owner.

It was still early in the day, and he hadn't expected any Roost members to be swinging by just yet, only to have his expectations questioned as the sound of the back room opening echoed in from behind him.

"You know it's still school hours, ri--" he started to prompt, taking his hand off the mouse to use it to push off the desk to turn his chair toward the entering figure. "Matsuo?"

His brow furrowed at the sight of the kid, though more out of concern than disapproval. "Weren't you supposed to be in the hospital?" He wasn't sure if the guy had left, or actually been checked out--but he still held concern either way. "Pretty sure those docs prescribe rest, and all that."

[Takeo]

"I'm glad to see you, too." He responded, quite too fast, so he didn't consider what Ohno's furrowed brows actually meant. It was natural in him to act defensively, and to feel apprehensive, about any remotely negative expression towards him while he wasn't in use of his character change. No matter how well he was doing being Prince Charming; Takeo would still be himself, at core. "They discharged me in the morning. " Looking down to his worn out sneakers, the sulking boy murmured back. "Yeah... They said I hate to rest for two weeks more--" Scratching the back of his hair, Takeo evaded the older man's judging eyes. He knew he would be scolded, he could feel it in the air. He continued, "--B-but I have shit to do this week, I can't rest until I'm done with it." It was worth mentioning that Takeo knew he was being asked what he was doing there, but he preferred to act stupid; as if he hadn't been asked a rhetoric question.

"I wanted to uh..." Now, he was nervous. "I wanted to know what can I do for the faction, now that I'm back and... Yeah. You know what I mean."  They didn't have many people on their lists; it was Minji and him, as far as he knew. "I... Want to be... Strong, and useful!" He said it, he really said it. Takeo instinctively slapped his own mouth, realizing how Ousuke had just forcefully character changed him, for the sake of being honest and open to his faction leader. A reddish color colored his nose, cheeks, and reached into the tip of his ears.

"Can you NOT do that?!" His head snapped to the side, finding his guardian fairy snickering at him; from above. Takeo covered his head with the hood of his sweater, growling in utter embarrass.

[Juon]

"What you can do for the Roost?" Ohno echoed, raiding an eyebrow as he took his feet down from the desk, leaning over the chair and letting his elbows rest on his knees. He was practically agape at the question as he stared at Takeo with wide eyes; this kid, who had just been released from the hospital after an extremely dangerous encounter due to complications with Heart's Eggs was now asking him what more he could do to aid the faction.

It seemed unreal, illogical., ridiculous... familiar.

Puffing out a sigh, he leaned back in the chair again, crossing his arms and shaking his head. "What you can do is go home and rest like the doctors at the hospital advised," came his insistent answer. Looking up at Takeo with that softness he sometimes had--but that never extended any farther than a simple look--the arcade owner continued. "You're of no use to anyone if you're trying to push yourself while you're still recovering; you'll just end up hurting yourself more. It's like that saying... 'never half ass two things; whole-ass one thing.'" He nodded definitively. "In this case, don't try to fight and rest at the same time... rest, and then fight when you're fully rested."

[Takeo]

"NO!" It came out too loud, desperate to save himself from the embarrassment. "I didn't mean to say that-- I... URGHHH!" He growled and groaned, red faced and gesticulating with his hands, which rubbed his face like it was made of bread dough. He snorted angrily, glaring, pointing with his arm at the guardian character floating above them, all so smugly. "It was him! It's his fault I didn't meant to--" But with a tired sigh; he hopelessly decided to let the argument die, and listen to the older man's scolding. He agreed to it with the smallest of nods, pulling the edge of a sleeve with the opposite hand. His toes curled nervously, inside of his sneakers, feeling a familiar air about Ohno's words. "Never half ass two things; whole-ass one thing." Takeo repeated, mechanically, but understandingly.
Yet, there was a corner of his mind that stubbornly wanted to say no, and do things on his own way; the wiser side of him kept Takeo's mouth shut, for his sake.

"But, what can I do when I'm... Fully rested." His stammering voice added. He still have some frustration pent up, and it reflected on the intensity of his pronunciation. "Lately all I've done is cure eggs; not that it bothers me, it's better than fighting other people for no reason." He made a pause, looking back at the man in the chair. "I really, really want to protect wishes, old man. I don't even know why, but..." He shrugged, then sighed. Ousuke sat on his right palm, and he looked up to Ohno once more. "...I just... Feel compelled to do it, after I decided to trust the little man." Yet, more silence, followed by a scowl, and another growling noise. "I want to help... The Roost... As long as I don't have to be fighting other factions. Guardians and Faberge are always doing that... It's so troublesome."

[Juon]

Puffing out a throaty chuckle as Takeo dismissed that the statement had come out of his mouth via Ousuke, he crossed his arms with understanding, but didn't mentally make the note to have the statement be any less valid or meaningful. Whether Takeo had wanted to say it or not, it was still a true feeling that he'd been holding onto somewhere--it just happened to get its opportunity to voice itself via the Character Change.

Ohno nodded when the second year repeated his statement; he hoped that it'd gotten through the kid's head--though he didn't have too much faith that it had; kids were like that--before shrugging, especially at his further insistence.

"Then you've already got your answer, kid," he went on to say, putting extra emphasis on the kid to combat from the old man--a term he still refused to accept. "Protect wishes. If that's what you wanna do, then do it, eh?" He turned in his chair to face away from Takeo, but he still kept eyes locked on him. "You do what's best for number one. That's how you can help The Roost. Understand?" His gaze was hardened, and he was hoping that the gravity of his words was getting through.

[Takeo]

"N- No, no, that's... What?" With a tilt of his head, half closing his eyes in disbelief, Takeo showed the older man how... He had no idea of what he was listening to. "Yeah, I-- I want to cure eggs, we got that one clear, cool, but..." He scrunched his nose,  then sniffled. There was an upset growl, too. "...Who is 'Number One' and how do I know what's best for them?" One of his hands scratched the hair behind his head, a typical gesture in his moments of doubt. "I mean, aren't you 'Number One'? In theory. So, what's... best for you?" Maybe it was the post surgery process, but Takeo couldn't wrap the concept around his head just yet.

The way Ohno had turned his seat away from him, gave away the message that he was being requested to leave. Takeo stayed in the room, against what his guts and instincts told him to do. "I get that The Roost is about doing what's best for yo-- oh." If metaphysical entities could illustrate daily life's successes, a candle would have been lit over Takeo's head, that, and the wax of it would have melted, fallen, and burnt his head: He finally got it, and let the other know with a prolonged "Oooohhhhhhhhhhhh........." Of pure awe. He was a stupid boy. "Still...! That's not what I mean! How's that supposed to help The Roost? I'm... I'm not against caring about myself and... my stuff, my growth-- but--! How does that help the rest of us?" 'What rest?' He told himself in the head. "I... forgot it's only Minji and I..." Sighing, he let his shoulders fall, and release the tension of the conflict. "So... There's nothing special to do. I don't get it, Old Man, but whatever you say."

[Juon]

_{((psst, canonically there are more members in each faction than just what's listed, made up in NPCs. It's no worries tho!))}

Rising from his chair as Takeo couldn't figure out the meaning of his words, he got back to his feet and approached the kid, but it seemed that by the time he'd gotten over there, the gears in Matsuo's head had finally started turning, and he was able to figure it out. Still though, he stopped in front of him, hands shoved down in his pockets, his figure looming a handful of centimeters taller than the second-year.

"When you better yourself, you're contributing to the betterment of the world. Got it? You help The Roost by doing what's best for you--and in doing that, you make yourself a better ally to the rest of us. Right? When you get stronger, the rest of The Roost gets stronger, too. Get what I mean?"

He sighed, removing his hands to cross his arms over his chest; his expression softened up as it settled more into a fondness; maybe he'd been too hard on the kid. Staring down at him, he followed up, "Don't stress yourself out about it. It's good that you're passionate and you've got drive, but don't burn yourself out."

[Takeo]

((sorry about that!! good to know for future reference))

Maybe, he shouldn't have talked at all. Gou got up from his seat, ready to walk over to him, and, gasping, Takeo could feel how every muscle of his body started to get tense. The scene painted in front of his eyes in slow motion, like a surreal sensation that was, in fact, all too familiar to him. His weakened knees allowed his feet to move one step behind, as his hands clutched into hardened, defensive fists, sitting on his sides. His head retreated into his shoulders in a cringe, protecting himself, closing his eyes over the inevitable. Why? Because he was going to get hit, of course. What else would a masculine figure of authority taller than him do, if not slap him for his idiotic mouth? Takeo was close to whimper as Gou's shadow loomed over him.

But nothing happened. Nothing but a few words from him, encouraging him, yet telling him to not overdo himself.
Takeo's heart rate was still an stampede, but the boy allowed his eyes to open, to find the arcade owner in a more mellow disposition. Only then, he realized what had happened, and it was embarrassing to think how he had shown a very personal, private, natural reaction to him. If Takeo was embarrassed for 'opening his heart' earlier, now, he was certainly dead.

Nonetheless, he nodded to the older man's advice, yet again scratching his head. This time it was the side of his head, rubbing his ear, searching for a primal, almost infantile, source of comfort. Oh, how should he get out of this problem, now?

"Okay, then." Said the young boy. "I'm sorry." He added, in a nearly inaudible mutter. He liked to present himself as someone strong, rebellious and capable, but his own mentor and faction leader now knew that it was all bullshit. His stubborn teenage heart resolved that he would work twice as hard to become stronger; half listening to the advice he just heard-- he could not rest now, not after coming out as a weak boy... No, a man. He was a man and he would prove it!

"I'll go... Home now." Takeo removed one of his key chains from his bag, choosing tobutama to get him out of The Roost room. However, before he walked through the photo booth entrance, he turned around to look at Gou with determined eyes. The most stubborn and angry, worth of a boy of his age; he was almost mad that the other had to see two moments of weakness of him, as if his eyes tried to blame him. Yet, that was not the truth. Takeo merely wanted to be praised by Ohno Gou. And he would do anything in his hands to get that pat on the back. 

"I'm going to get real strong and then I'll kick your ass!" He yelled, in a nervous stammer. "P S your waifu isn't real!" He added later on, disappearing from his sight.

[Juon]

The reaction Takeo had as he'd approached was startling; he'd made an effort to neither comment on it nor have any visible reaction, but he'd certainly felt a mix of something inside that put a pit in his stomach. In a way, it said a lot about the kid, and the attitudes that he had, and how he'd developed over the years since he'd first started coming as a kid--not that he'd known him well then, but one could tell a lot by watching. There was a gap that felt filled, and he seemed to come to understand Takeo a quite a lot more. But he wished, now, that he hadn't; but at least he hadn't had to learn it via witnessing the actual thing.

Having given a nod of approval as the kid announced that he was finally going home, Ohno leaned his weight back, watching him start to head out.

Any softness of heart or gentler demeanor he might've had at the moment, though, was obliterated in an instant when Takeo went and insulted Kanako, and he instinctively lunged forward, snarling out, "Why you piece of--!" but Takeo was gone before he could get the rest out.

Goddammit.