@sparrow; video

[flowlikewater]

[ A young man with green hair that's almost neon in brightness appears on the video feed, the angle and steadiness of the camera evidence that he does this quite a lot. His eyebrows are too perfect to not be something he maintains and his eyeliner is, as they say, quite on point. The young man's voice is probably familiar to some people around the Quarantine, although a bit younger and not muffled by a cybernetic mask and a synthetic tongue. ] Yo! Look, I don't know where exactly this place is but I'm not complaining— [ He says it like he's used to waking up in strange places he doesn't quite recognize.

He runs a hand across his chin. ] —because I'm always up for some time to get away from shit, y'know? But I gotta ask, where does everybody have fun around this place? There has to be an arcade around here, right? Or at least a good bar with cheap booze. Drop me some info, I will definitely make it worth your while.

[ The young man smiles and it approaches something playful and almost wicked. Genji Shimada was such a little shit in his youth. ]

Comments

[kuyamu]

Your threat is not as effective as you think.

[ the point of the mask is that it never comes off and Hanzo can convince himself that he isn't human, not anymore. it feels disingenuous to take it off. but he reaches for the release along the sides of his helmet, and the visor disengages with a hiss.

Hanzo takes it in his hand. his face is only a little scarred, and perfectly recognisable; it seems that the mask isn't really needed at all for his health. without it, though, he needs to keep a neutral expression, and he sets his jaw so hard that his teeth hurt. ]

I have already died once.

[flowlikewater]

[ The anger drops from his face and he looks— lost for a moment. Confused. Genji's mouth drops a moment and a hoarse little croak escapes him before he speaks. ] Brother...? I— How long have I been gone? What— What happened? What do you mean you died?

[ Because for all his grandstanding, he would drop everything for his big brother. ]

[kuyamu]

[ he doesn't even know. he has no idea. that... takes the wind out of Hanzo's sails somewhat. he's done enough impromptu recon here to understand that strange, impossible things are happening; seen enough that it's possible, as much as he doesn't want it to be, that this is Genji at a time when they haven't crossed the point of no return yet.

it doesn't soothe the part of Hanzo that still wants to make him hurt, but it does stagger him for a moment, and something pained crosses his face before he catches it and smooths it out, robotic. ]

We should do this in person.

[flowlikewater]

[ Genji swallows and nods. He shouldn't get too worked up because this could be a trick... a very elaborate one, but. He doubts it though; there are some things you just cannot mimic no matter how hard you try. ] We should. Where are you? I'll find you.

[ He's already noticeably running. ]

[kuyamu]

[ he's already putting his visor back into place, voice switching to that heavily-processed synthetic rasp: ]

Along the river. It is no small area, but I am hardly a difficult figure to recognise.

[ a robot dressed in kyudo-gi. not such a strange sight at home— no, in Hanamura. but less common here, he's noticed. ]

[flowlikewater]

I'll be there soon. [ Because no matter how wide the divide between them gets, Genji will always close it like this.

He rushes to the river and runs alongside it until he spots that same sleek mask. The gi familiar yet so foreign at the same time. Genji stands at the top of the bank and rests his hands on his knees, taking a few deep breaths. ] Brother! [ With a deep inhale, he slowly heads down and approaches him. ] I— I don't understand any of this.

[kuyamu]

[ he doesn't understand it either. even if someone explained it to him, it still just wouldn't make sense, how any of this can be possible, why any of it is happening. but he could hardly admit that. instead, he draws the guise of an omnic over himself like a shield, to convince himself more than anyone. like he could just smother the anger and the hurt and the residual fear lurking in the pit of his stomach, snuffing out the embers. ]

From the reconnaissance I have done, it seems as though people can come to this place from different points along a shared timeline.

[ unlike Genji does in another life, Hanzo makes no effort to compensate for his lack of facial expression. he doesn't cant his head or talk with his hands; he holds perfectly still, moving stiffly and sparingly. ]

You must be from a moment in time before the family passed their judgement on you.

[flowlikewater]

[ It's so strange. Now that he knows, he can absolutely hear his brother's voice coming from this— this that he doesn't recognize. It's jarring and disturbing and he wants to know why. Who did this him? Who does he have to kill? ] I—

[ He wants to refute that, say it's impossible and crazy, but... Genji doesn't know why he's here, doesn't understand any of it. There are so many people here with such varying stories that they can't be lying.

And his brother wouldn't lie about something like this anyway.

But— ] Wait— Judgement? What do you mean? Father would never allow something like that. [ He knows because it isn't like he hasn't tested it. Multiple times. ]

[kuyamu]

[ this time Hanzo startles, shifting like he's been struck. he'd forced himself to accept the idea that Genji is from a time before their lives fell apart, but— he hadn't considered it might be that early. Father's death had been such an unfathomably huge event, had split Hanzo's life again the way that Mother's death did, into a before and after. he can't put himself in a mindset that remembers what it was like when he was still alive.

he hesitates, and then says evenly: ]

Genji. Father is dead. [ any subtleties in his tone are lost to the voice processing. ] There was a raid several years ago. I was the head of the clan until I—

[ and his voice stutters, trips over the enormity of that, all the ways he could describe it. too much to feel, or even comprehend; something that has to belong to someone else for him to even bear it. in the end, he settles on simply: ] I made a foolish decision.

[flowlikewater]

I— [ His heart bottoms down to his feet like it did all those years ago. 'Your mother is dead, sparrow.' Except this time there's a fear, so visceral he almost let's out a scream before he swallows it with a visible gulp.

Father dies in the future. And something— Something happens to his big brother. And him.

Genji is arrogant and flippant but he's no fool. He can easily put two and two together. ] I— [ He wipes at his brow that's suddenly sweating. ] I see.

[ But then he brightens. ] So I can fix this?

[kuyamu]

[ oh. oh, that— that hurts in a new, awful way. he cringes behind the visor, balls his hands into tight fists; the worst part of this body is that there's no way to ground himself, and a robot shouldn't need to but Hanzo does. he can't dig his nails into his palms or feel the touch of his own hand on the opposite forearm. he just breathes in, harsh, the sound making it out through the speaker. ]

No. [ it's such a bleak thing to admit. helpless, hopeless; to know there was no way of salvaging the past. ] Not if you wish to live.

[ he holds up a hand to keep Genji from interrupting. this will be easier if he gets it all out first, rather than in bits and pieces as Genji tries to muddle through it. ] The family was... displeased with how your behaviour continued after Father's death. A disgrace to our name, they said. The order was eventually given for me to kill you.

I refused. [ he lets the implication hang there. it was an order; Genji will know what it means, to have refused a direct order from the elders. and then sharper, angry: ] And I thought— I thought that in my absence, you would take over.

[flowlikewater]

[ It's like someone scooped out his chest cavity with a shovel. Genji almost stumbles and to cover it heads closer to his brother, raising a hand to reach out but stopping himself.

The thought of his big brother denying the clan anything makes him dizzy. But Genji shakes his head and continues on, trying to smile even though his lips are trembling with the effort. ] Brother, no, I don't care about being a disgrace— [ Yes, he does. ] —but I can fix this. We can fix this. Right?

[ He finally closes the distance and puts his hands on the other's shoulders. It feels— wrong. Unfamiliar. It hurts. ] When we're all sent back, I-I'll tell you everything and we— we can leave. It'll be that easy!

[ No. ]

[kuyamu]

Leave?

[ there is the anger, a more familiar foothold than this, trying to reconnect with a Genji who doesn't know what he did. Hanzo brings his hands up to shove Genji's off his shoulders, taking a half-step back and steeling himself like he's expecting a fight. ]

You want to abandon the family? [ he makes a sharp noise, derisive: ] I should not be surprised; you already did. I died so that one of us would remain. [ his voice is losing its flat control as he gets louder. ] If I had known you would not take responsibility for the clan, I would have—!

[ he stops, throat constricting. would have — what, killed Genji? that was the only other option. and he won't lie, he had considered it; of course he had, when that's what was expected of him. he'd examined it from every angle and there were only two paths. and he'd decided that one of them, he could not take. didn't want to. if he hadn't had any other choice, he would have done it, but he did have a choice. him or Genji. and Genji had— ]

I trusted you! When I refused the elders' judgement, I believed that you would have the sense to take my place! And you ran away! Like you always do!

[ there are warnings that go off in his systems, not so urgent as Genji's cyborg body would have been; the damage isn't as extensive. but the notice is jarring to Hanzo, and he freezes suddenly. he backs off another step, breathing hard. it's not for his health that he heeds the alerts, anyway.

quietly, he says to himself, clearly a mantra he's used many times before: ] An omnic does not feel.

[flowlikewater]

[ The look on Genji's face when he's shoved away is one of such genuine pain, stemming from his own unique brand of sheer loneliness. Not needed by his brother, not wanted by the rest of the clan elders, not trusted with anything important by their father and coddled like a child.

And then he's angry, lip curling when he retorts. ] It's always the fucking clan with you! We haven't had a normal conversation since before Mother died! [ Saying that is almost taboo, speaking of their Mother. Genji's throat and eyes burn. ] Why would I want anything to do with them? All they've ever done is keep people away from me!

[ He huffs and puffs like the dragon on his back and clenches his fists so hard they hurt. ] What reason would I have to stay, if you were gone? Wouldn't it be better if we were free of it all? We could be normal—

[ Genji swallows harsh, a vice in his throat. ] You aren't an omnic, you idiot.

[kuyamu]

[ his pride is a coiled, fanged thing in him, wanting to lash out in reaction to Genji shouting back at him; the deep-rooted need to embody the family name, and have another row with Genji, a repeat of the argument they've had a dozen times before. but he hooks himself desperately to his new focus instead, the core of who he is for Blackwatch: ]

I failed the family. I am not a Shimada any longer. [ and Genji knows him, knows that for Hanzo that's a sentence worse than death. ] And I am hardly a human, am I?

[ he indicates himself, his chassis, one hand coming to rest on his own chest. the metal of his fingers clinks softly against the armour plating there. ]

Overwatch required a weapon. Nothing more.

[flowlikewater]

[ Something about that breaks his heart and absolutely infuriates him all at once. His big brother has given so much of himself and it's never been enough. And now he stands here in this state and still stands up for their family? ] What would it take for you to be selfish for once in your life, brother? Why are you excusing this?!

[ He deflates a little, shoulders sagging. ] I miss when things were easier. Why can't we just go back to that? [ Because it doesn't work like that, because just wanting something doesn't make it happen or true.

But he frowns again, a deep line between his thick brows. ] Overwatch, huh? So you always have to be some dog with a master? Poor Hanzo, he can never think for his own damn self.