Painful Memories

[Ayame]

Toni felt the colour rise in her cheeks a minimal amount when Jenos kissed the back of her hand, her expression sympathetic and slightly sad. "Of course I'm not going to blame you, Jenos," she murmured. "Why would I? This wasn't your fault." Her attention returned to Chase as he spoke again, and her face rearranged itself into an expression of controlled anger.

"The fact that Jenos was able to open up to anyone is proof enough in itself that he's stronger than you," she snapped. "The strong silent type is overrated." Toni swallowed and looked up at Jenos as she forced herself to simmer down. On the outside, she was just peeved, but on the inside she felt a deep loathing of Jenos' brother on the rise.

It didn't surprise her over-much to find that Jenos was crying. She felt both sympathy and anger boil up again. The sympathetic side of her wanted to take Jenos in her arms and hold him close, murmuring kind words until his tears stopped. The angry side, however, wanted to attack Chase and tear him limb from limb. Sadly, a simple girl like her against a trained assassin wouldn't do much good.

Toni gently caressed the tears off of Jenos' face, her fingers lingering on his cheek affectionately to let him know that she wasn't going to walk away on him. She then turned her eyes on Chase. The compassion that had been there when she'd been looking at Jenos was still there, though it was only a ghost of its former self.

"I know what happened to you was terrible, but to let it make you act this way to your own brother is even worse. I pity you."

[nilo7]

Jenos looked up with relief that Toni wasn't blaming him for everything that had happened. Jenos then replied to Toni "I said that because for a long period of my life I was blamed for every little thing even if I didn't do it."

When Toni started to talk at Chase, Chase began to become mad. He didn't like it when people talk about him the way Toni just did. Chase replied to Toni " I am not the strong silent type. I don't like being silent it bothers me very much but that is how the Kodiac likes their killers. Quiet. So Jenos told you everything about what happened. So he told you how our parents were murdered in front of us and that Jenos left me behind to be tortured by our parents killer. If it weren't for the fact that our parent's assassin was killed when I was ten I would still be getting tortured by our parent's killers."

[Ayame]

After giving Jenos a small smile, Toni shook her head. "Well, that won't happen anymore," she promised sincerely, secretly praying that she was right. She then looked over at Chase and pushed back her anger. Riling him up wasn't helping things.

"Well... not exactly, no," she admitted when Chase quizzed her. Jenos hadn't told her exactly what had happened, but she didn't blame him for it now that she knew, either. He was only one person, after all. And people got scared.

Of course, just because she didn't blame him didn't mean that Chase would forgive him easily. "What would you have done, Chase?" she asked, not unkindly. "If you'd been in Jenos' shoes, what would you have done?"

It was an odd technique, Toni knew, but if she managed to calm Chase down then maybe he and Jenos could get to share an at least somewhat civil conversation, and maybe that would help things.

Or, of course, they could always end up trying to kill one another. In which case, she'd be pretty screwed. What could she do if two trained assassins got into a fight? Pretty damn near nothing.

Unless of course she tried to interfere in Achiyalabopa form. Which she very well could. Not that she really wanted to, though. Getting through this without violence would be multitudes better than having to watch two brothers trying to kill one another.

[nilo7]

Chase looked away when he answered Toni's question. He answered "If i were in his shoes at that time i would of made sure all of the younger kids were away from the scene safely. But instead he got some of them to safety and still let some of them get lost along the way. Jenos didn't even bother to go back to find the rest of the kids. I at least would of done that." Chase looked at Jenos with an evil glare.

Jenos looked sad that Chase thought he didn't try his best to help everyone. Jenos then replied "I did go back looking for you, YOU IDIOT!!! I went back to find all the kids that were lost in the travel and you that was still in the house but when i came back for you you were already gone. I have explained this to the kodiac just in case they found you i told them to tell me when they did but they didn't so I left and now i am being hunted."