Any port in a storm...

[hostclubshadowking]

Who: The crew of the Antoinette
Where: Three Moons Tavern and Inn, Island Empieza
When: January 12th-19th
What: Time to get reacquainted, make new introductions, and weather the storm until they can return to their ship. And collect black coral from the beach.
Warnings: Possible language?
Style: Any
Status: Closed

(Please feel free to make new headings [for your character, for a day, for your character on a day, WHATEVER] and/or threadjack and/or use this as a mingle log. Backdating, forward dating, etc., all more than welcome.

ETA: With regards to Dog's suggestion of the coral, the evening of the 12th will be used to arrange the next week's rotation for keeping Tamaki company and checking the beaches for coral.)

Comments

[haruhi_fujioka]

...eventually? [When is that? She pales.] That doesn't mean you're not friends anymore. People can change and adapt without falling apart.

[hostclubshadowking]

But they do grow apart. And that day will come.

[It's inevitable. A fact he's already accepted and is preparing himself for. The bonds that tie them now...

He's already felt them slip. And one day, they'll come undone entirely. He'll be ready when it comes.]

And he'll do fine without me. As long as he's not alone.

[haruhi_fujioka]

...what about you? [Is she sensing some sadness in him? Kyouya always seems so well put-together and calm. Yet losing a friend always hurts, doesn't it?] He'll care how it affects you too.

[hostclubshadowking]

I'll be fine.

[And he will. He managed to get by without Tamaki before, and he knows more about himself now. Has learned what it means to actually live. So, he'll progress just fine.]

It's the way of things.

[haruhi_fujioka]

It's strange for me to think of you not seeing each other on a daily basis.

[They are...Tamaki and Kyouya. They balance one another. She has noticed Tamaki seems a little different, but does that mean Kyouya can no longer be in his life? Her head aches at the thought and she closes her eyes.]

Only if you're ready to move on.

[hostclubshadowking]

It'll happen when it's time to.

[It's simple. As far as he's concerned, at least. When Tamaki's ready, he'll be the one to walk away.]

Until then, things will continue as they have.

[haruhi_fujioka]

You're really strong. [And kind. She read him completely wrong when they first met.] I should give you an apology.

[hostclubshadowking]

[Kyouya can't help but arch an eyebrow.]

An apology?

[haruhi_fujioka]

I was wrong about you when we first met.

[hostclubshadowking]

[He can't help but smile a bit, chuckling ever so faintly.]

Were you, now?

[haruhi_fujioka]

I jumped to conclusions about...a lot of things. [She feels pretty embarrassed now.] I shouldn't do that with anyone I meet.

[hostclubshadowking]

[Kyouya takes a moment to think about it and then shrugs his shoulders slightly.]

That's what the Host Club is about, isn't it? Letting those who walk through our doors jump to their conclusions. We conform to what our guests want us to be.

[haruhi_fujioka]

That's not how friends act. I'm not a Host Club client. [She sighs faintly.] And it didn't take me long to see the real people under all of the costumes anyway.

[hostclubshadowking]

But when you walked through our doors, that's not what you were.

[And then:]

You're one of the few who's bothered, you know. Most others -- male or female -- are content with the facade. You're one of the few to care to look past it.

[One brutal truth for another.]

Which says something about you, you know.

[haruhi_fujioka]

I don't like only having superficial relationships. Not anymore. Maybe I was okay with that when I first entered the Host Club - people seemed irrelevant compared to my studies - but I've changed too.

[For the better, she thinks.]

[hostclubshadowking]

Tamaki has a way of doing that.

[It's easily said, and... perhaps it's obvious. The deflection, averting the attention from himself.

The Shadow King.]

He picked every club member, fully aware of all their positive and negative traits.

And he molded them.

[haruhi_fujioka]

He wouldn't have been able to do that without your support. The club would have gone bankrupt soon after opening.

[The club members have expensive, extravagant tastes.]

[hostclubshadowking]

[A slight nod, a concession.]

He needs someone to steady him. A bit of a tug at his sleeve when he gets too lost in his dreams.

[Beautiful dreams, ones very like a fairy tale.

"If I asked, will you stay with me?"
"You'll never be alone again."

Foolish dreams. But that was his job, wasn't it? To make those dreams a reality.]

Even when the time comes for us to go our separate ways, I'll only leave him when I know he has someone else to provide him with the same support. Who can restrain his more elaborate impulses without stifling the heart of them.

[Too fond. Far, far too fond. He'll deny it later if it's brought up. But alone with Haruhi, talking about Tamaki, in the midst of this chaos? It was the one thing that felt actually sane.]

[haruhi_fujioka]

It isn't hard to get through to him. You just have to tell him the truth. [They both have a talent for being brutally honest.] He'll want someone like himself in your life too. He won't want you to stop dreaming or to stop achieving your fantasies.

[She could imagine Tamaki making a production out of finding the best person for Kyouya too.]

[hostclubshadowking]

[He has tried very, very hard not to imagine that.

But that's why it's key to settle Tamaki in first and then slowly pull away. No elaborate to-do, no formal goodbyes. Just a slow, steady withdraw.

Especially since he has the terrifying inkling that he's met his replacement. That it really is only a matter of time before he slips out of the picture.

Another year, perhaps. Different universities and distance will do most of the job for him.]

I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

[haruhi_fujioka]

Just don't...stop being there for him - even if you think you don't make much of a difference. There is only one you.

[And the Kyouya she has come to see and know isn't a bad guy in the least. Sure, he's ambitious and, at times, downright conniving, but when he does care about someone or something, he gives everything he has - and more if he can spare it!]

[hostclubshadowking]

This isn't like anything we've known before. These aren't bullies or gossip or even parents.

[It's a lot, he knows. Especially to suddenly lay on her, but. It's important.]

This...

This is real.

Any of us could die.

[His voice catches in spite of himself. Just saying it is hard, but he can't let that stop him.]

If anything happens to me here, Haruhi. ["If you're willing to accept all consequences."] It falls to you to look after him. All of them.