7.5" cock with a firestarter attached to it. we don't have to talk if you'd rather just suck it.
My Future Plans
staying alive.
My Talents
i can skin anything in under 5 minutes. i can take apart an UZI and put it back together in the dark. you can't kill me.
and i play guitar.
Favorite Books, Movies, Music, and Food
favorite author: ayn rand favorite movie: snowpiercer favorite band: sisters of mercy favorite food: pork lo mein
My Ideal Partner
warm body (warmth optional) who's dtf 24/7 and doesn't ask stupid questions.
Height
5'11"
Body Type
athletic
Smokes
constantly
Drinks
constantly
Drugs
frequently
Sign
capricorn
Education
homeschooled
Occupation
data broker
Income
not your problem
Children
not your problem
Pets
crusher (dog)
Hobbies
activism, drinking, sex
[His tone is almost genuine - enough so to contrast against the mocking tilt to his smile. That smiles even holds, as Dodger hits the nail. Pure luck, Toma thinks - but he can work around it, thinking quickly.]
Oh, you noticed that? Too bad. Here, I thought I'd really sold that I was flattered to have a mangy dog latched onto my leg.
[Pinning it on who it came from seems straightforward enough; Dodger already knows, after all, that Toma doesn't think much of him.]
[He lets out a slow, audible breath through his nose. That smile... probably means he's getting somewhere, although he isn't sure where he's going.]
I don't trust anything you said during that.
[Although he guesses it was good to see how talented of an actor Toma is. If they hadn't done that, he wouldn't be as keenly aware of how little he can trust his senses with this man.]
I call myself a dog because I need a master. I don't like being on my own, I don't like thinking past what other people tell me to do. I'd probably be losing my mind if I didn't have Bloemrose around, because I do lose my mind whenever I have to think for myself. That's what makes me think you're better than me - you're not mindless. You're playing people.
[There's no apparent discomfort with calling Toma better than him. He stands by his words from before, and everything they necessarily mean. And Dodger is very comfortable with the idea that some men are just inherently better than others, and that he himself is a very exceptional slave rather than a man in his own right.]
[Toma takes another sip of his sake as Dodger speaks, but his gaze doesn't leave him, steady and neutral but for that lingering smile.
That seems to confirm it, then: That spur-of-the-moment lie from when they first met has held. It's a little bizarre, honestly, to hear Dodger's absolute confidence - his surety that Toma isn't like him, that he doesn't fall apart if left without direction.
All the same, Toma tilts his head, and it isn't entirely a lie when he answers:] Well, I can't say you're wrong in that regard. [He is better than Dodger, in his own opinion. A better informant, a better spy, with better taste in who he takes his orders from.
But, alright - he can still spin this.] That's just the thing, though; I don't need the esteem of a dog who splits his loyalties. You can be useful, sure - but I don't need to hear all that, knowing you're just going to go cozy up to the prince after.
[He raises his eyebrows, just a touch, adding before he takes another sip of his drink:] It's kind of gross.
[Dodger's brow furrows. Toma's comment digs under his skin, far more than he'd like to admit - because he prides himself on being blindly loyal to one man at a time, and things always seem to go horribly wrong when his loyalties split.
But they are splitting, because he just doesn't trust that Esikko didn't deserve what the brothers did to him. Because it feels like all of this was just Esikko having a temper tantrum over the brothers having a better relationship than he's ever had, getting punished justly for meddling where he didn't belong, and that's just from what Esikko described. For all he knows, it could go deeper and be even more clearly his fault.
It bothers him, too, that anyone he's talked to about the brothers seems to hate them. He truly doesn't understand why.]
You don't want me, so why do you care where I'm going after this?
[Indeed, Toma has none of the context of how Dodger usually operates; he just sees a man who would sow praise and harvest attention, direction, from two opposing entities, rather than making a real choice-- Toma won't even call it playing both sides. In his opinion, such phrasing would at least imply some attempt at subterfuge.
Obviously, that hasn't stopped him from accepting some measure of that desperation. He's an opportunist at heart, after all; no matter how much disdain he may hold for Dodger, there are still advantages to keeping him around. It's convenient, too, that knowing what Toma thinks of him doesn't seem to deter him.
That said, it would never occur to him that that could be why Dodger hasn't simply glued himself to the prince's side and called it a day. For his part, Toma has only told one person why he was out for Esikko's life; spreading it around would, after all, seem to him both tasteless and a waste of time. He doesn't need the assurance of outsiders - doesn't need anyone else's opinion as to whether the actions he and his brother take fall into some flimsy framework of righteousness. He doesn't expect it, either. He doesn't know how many of the prince's precious friends know the reality of what he did, how many will have validated him and how many he'll have twisted the story for, made himself sound more innocent than he is-- but he doesn't think for a second that explaining would matter with those who have already thrown in their lots.
He hasn't thought much, either, about whether Dodger himself is likely to know what happened - but, if pressed, he'd probably assume that he just wouldn't care much. He isn't too concerned about the murder, clearly, to still be hanging around Toma and Chobe; why would he care why Chobe did it?
...All that said, it's no mystery to him why Dodger would have met so many people here who don't like him and Chobe. They are monsters by any measure, after all.]
"Care" is a strong word. [He shrugs, just slightly.] But, sure; what does it matter? You're right that I don't want you, after all - though, I do have to wonder what he thinks of all this. He gets so pissy about us, after all.
[It's not an unfamiliar feeling, this disenfranchisement with the man he considers his master. Often, it's the warning sign of Dodger snapping under pressure, and killing them himself. But it's different with Esikko, because there is a pang of guilt that comes with it. Maybe just because they're romantic in some sense or another, and Dodger still really likes him as a partner - he's just thoroughly frustrated by the situation he's been dragged into. Because keeping Esikko happy necessarily means being at arm's distance from the Aza brothers, and he's unwilling to completely jump ship and lose Esikko's trust.
It's all... far more complicated than he usually puts up with.]
He got himself killed trying to punish someone for having what he doesn't. And then he dragged me into it, and got pissy when I learned enough to question him. I'm not doing shit about you or Chobe for him, and I don't care what he thinks.
[Really, the thing that stuck with him most was Esikko complaining about how much Chobe talks about Toma. Esikko had denied that he'd give Dodger the same treatment if he talked too much about his own brother, but Dodger didn't really trust that and he still doesn't. Combined with how many things here have been making him wish for a chance to speak to Tony again, Esikko's jealousy has really gotten under his skin.]
[...Now, that is a surprise. It shows a bit on Toma's face, too, in the way he pauses with his cup just short of his lips, dark eyes searching Dodger's face.
After that moment's pause, he sets his cup down without drinking.] He told you what he did, then?
[It certainly seems more likely to Toma than the possibility that Dodger got it out of Chobe... no, it isn't that shocking to think the prince would have told him. The way Dodger speaks about it, though, as if he actually thinks Esikko was in the wrong... that's another story. Enough so for Toma to wonder if he actually thinks that at all-- to search Dodger's face, look for any sign of a lie. Any hint that this may be some ruse to get Toma's guard down, to convince him that he's on his side, whether for the prince's purposes or Dodger's own.
But he already knows Dodger isn't much of an actor... which could make it more likely that he actually means it. That, in turn, would raise a number of questions.]
Sure. He said he went on a date with Chobe, and fucked with his memory to punish him for talking about you. And I'm guessing that was still him trying to make himself look good.
[For the first time, there's venom in Dodger's tone when he speaks about Esikko. He's a terrible actor, but it isn't just that - he believes in Esikko's guilt so strongly that it chafes horribly against his love for the man, and that frustration at having to feel like this is bleeding into it. He doesn't want to think, he doesn't want to feel anything, and it's his damn sense of justice that's making this so complicated for him.]
Chobe didn't give me any more information when I asked him about it. So if you want to tell me it was actually your fault or Chobe's, I'm all ears, but this feels pretty cut-and-dry to me.
[Toma tilts his head thoughtfully as Dodger speaks - again, interesting. All that loyalty to the prince, and yet, even having heard Esikko's version of events, he seems really, really sure of his guilt.]
...You may have skipped a few steps, but that's the gist of it. [He sits back again, shrugging.] I'm not going to pretend we didn't do anything to him, before he overstepped. Threatened him and so forth. But that just meant he knew what we were - or, at least, he should have.
[He sneers, remembering the moment Esikko found him in the garden all those months ago - that smug satisfaction clear as day, even through Toma's tear-blurred vision. He hadn't even backed away, when Toma started for him. Didn't consider, until he was on the ground, that he wasn't dealing with someone he could just push around as he pleased-- and that was at the core of it, wasn't it? No matter how many warnings he got, the prince was still ever so sure that he had power over them. And the moment he found he was wrong-- that was when he became the victim.]
The point is: He heard hissing, and he stuck his hand in the nest out of spite - just to prove some stupid point that he was wrong about, anyway. I'm not going to claim we were right - don't really believe in that kind of thing to begin with. [right and wrong are a conspiracy by Big Shogunate to sell more samurai] But he absolutely brought it on himself.
[Dodger perks up a little, listening to Toma talk. This is the most they've agreed on since they met - he's even wording things in a way that Dodger thinks he would, too. There's no such thing as good as evil, there is cause and effect. If Esikko was sticking his hand into an obvious hornet nest, then anything that happened to him is just and right. It's a lot of why Dodger is pissed off about his own role in this.]
...I'm glad I took too long to figure you two out. He needed the lesson.
[He can't be sure if it's completely sunk in. But as much as he's still worried about Esikko after his death, and felt awful about failing to prevent it at the time, he doesn't think it was wrong to kill him. Dodger himself only learns when he's bitten by the mouth he shoves his hand into (hah) and he gets the sense that Esikko is the same.]
I'm not gonna pretend he's lost my loyalty, this isn't really about that. But memory shit is a red line for me. I'm still running information to him, but not about you or Chobe - he lost that right.
[A quiet hum, noncommittal. He's aiming for disinterest - like he doesn't need Dodger's validation, like he wouldn't have been able to stop them anyway. And he does believe that, absolutely-- but it isn't really the reason for his minimal answer.
He doesn't regret what Chobe did, of course, and he stands by their reasons for planning it - but it's difficult to muster much enthusiasm for the actual event, given how it went. How little Toma could actually do to back his brother up, in the end.
Rather than dwell on that, though - he hones in on the rest of what Dodger says. No surprise that he's still loyal to the prince - though, Toma wonders about that. If he feels so strongly about what Esikko did, if he thinks so poorly of his judgment... that loyalty isn't a matter of pragmatism, is it?
He makes note of that comment about memory, as well. Interesting.]
...He does have a way of targeting those, doesn't he. [Openly implying that, if things had gone differently between them, he absolutely thinks Esikko would have done something similar to Dodger.] Well, I appreciate that, in any case.
[Even though it's almost a shame, in a way. He wonders how much Wrong Bullshit the mutt would have funneled to him, otherwise.]
[Dodger doesn't want to mention it, but he's thinking something along those lines. If he had met Esikko under difference circumstances, if he'd pointed out (correctly) how weak and petty Esikko is, if his brother were here for Dodger to talk about, or if he actually mentioned his boyfriend that Esikko reminds him of... he would have gotten the same treatment, most likely. And some part of him still thinks Esikko might target his memory if he steps too far out of line.
But they knew each other in another life before this, so maybe there's no point in wondering about 'what if's. Clearly they're tied together in some way. And the mark Esikko left on his chest in this life makes him wonder if he even could stray away from him now.]
The men that tried to protect Esikko, when Chobe killed him - they were firestarters, right? [Or close enough, in Bakugo's case.] Do they know how to kill him?
[Because Dodger knows, and he doesn't feel like it took that much effort to figure it out. That makes him worried for Chobe's safety, if not around Esikko then just in general.]
[Dodger cocks his head. That tone sounds like a warning... but he knows his own intentions, he doesn't really think it's worth Toma getting aggressive over.]
I'd have to blast the core behind his navel with as much heat as I can make.
[He holds up a hand.]
Before you say anything - I'm not trying to blackmail you or anything. But I figured it out after fighting with him once, which means the other two can figure it out if they haven't already. I'm telling you this so you can plan accordingly.
[Granted, Dodger learned most of his own fighting style by studying his opponents. But Bakugo struck him as incredibly smart and capable, and while he hasn't spoken to Dabi as much he knows the man comes off as equally bright. He can't imagine they'd do any worse than him.]
[Dodger may know his own intentions, but Toma isn't one to trust based on his word alone - or even their acquaintanceship so far - that Dodger doesn't mean his brother harm. That he wouldn't talk to someone who does. The instant Dodger says anything even remotely accurate, Toma's thoughts are racing.
Does he know that it's some particular quality of his fire that weakens Chobe, or does he still think that he's vulnerable to fire in general? Could he muster enough fire, loaded with enough Tao, to kill him? It's one thing, too, for him to have worked out that Chobe's abdomen is a weak point, the damn resort practically put a target on it-- but he knows about his core. He knows where it is.
His gaze holds, a cold veneer over boiling anger, as Dodger goes to clarify - as though he's doing him a favor. As though Toma didn't already know they could well have started to figure it out, as though the very possibility wasn't why he called the truce to begin with.
Okay. He has to respond. To navigate this.
With some effort and a quiet scoff, he relaxes back into his seat. His tone, now, is dry and dismissive - like Dodger had gotten him tense for nothing.] Well, thank you for your insight; I would never have thought to plan for such a possibility myself, after all. Incredible, truly, how we've lived all this time without a single thought to caution.
Of course, if that's really what you think you've figured out - maybe I don't have quite so much to worry about from them, either.
[Dodger's eyes narrow slightly. He guesses this is useful - he can pick up some physical signs of Toma lying, since he's so dog-shit at guessing intentions on his own. At least this time he knows it's a lie, which means he doesn't have to tie himself in knots deciding whether to trust Toma's words.]
I trust you to be cautious, I don't trust him. You need to talk to him.
[His voice lowers, out of an abundance of caution that someone might hear this.]
Look, I love how much of a freak he is, don't get me wrong. But he's fucking lucky I like you both. And I sure as hell hope he's not letting anyone else touch it.
[He knows this is dangerous territory. Both because Toma is going to take this poorly - he knows he will - and because he's probably cutting himself off from fucking Chobe in the future. But he'll take that hit, if it stops this knowledge from spreading further.]
[He does, in fact, need to talk to Chobe - especially when Dodger says that.
There's no further evading to be done, no hiding how that tension snaps back into his shoulders, shock and something bordering on fear flashing across his eyes-- overtaken a moment later by the same roiling anger from before, now undisguised.]
[Proof, as if he needed it, that he knows what he's talking about. And finally, he feels like he's made an impression.]
You heard me.
[He pauses, to light a new cigarette. Partly for dramatic effect, and mostly to soothe his own nerves. Toma could still attack him, but more importantly... it's troubling that Chobe is being this reckless without Toma knowing.]
I don't want him to get hurt doing something stupid to himself. Especially not if it means people who hate you two knowing how to kill him. And, by extension, how to kill you.
[He doesn't know exactly how to kill Toma, if it would be the same or take something extra. But they have similar powers, it stands to reason that Toma would also have a core and a way to break it. He certainly doesn't have a reason to figure it out, let alone test it.]
[Something has shifted around Toma - like, just in this little corner of the bar, the air itself has grown heavy. His first thought is both straightforward and familiar: Kill him. Here and now - he knows, he's Fire, he's been digging around the most vital part of Chobe's being, he has to die.
But it wouldn't help. He'd just come back, with nothing solved. Might even be more hostile to them afterward-- more of a threat. Not an option, then - not for now, at least, not as a solution to this.]
...And yet you're fine if it's you doing something stupid to him, right? [Toma braces his hands on the table, trembling, rage strung through every tendon, as though getting ready to walk out then and there-- he knows the owner doesn't want people fighting here, and he isn't sure how much longer he can hold off if he has to keep looking at Dodger's face.] Let me make myself entirely clear: If you think having a couple pieces means you have any idea what it actually takes to kill things like us, you're more of a fool than I thought. You don't have what it takes, and neither do the prince's little firebugs.
But you don't get a pass for not being able to pull it off. I don't care if he hands you a written invitation. Keep your filthy hands out of my brother, or lose the ability to hold your cheap fucking cigarettes.
[Dodger huffs softly. This is going poorly, but still about as well as he could expect it to. Toma is still here and listening to him, that's a win of some sort.]
Toma, I don't want to figure out how to kill you. It's safer for you if I don't. I have enough information to keep myself from killing Chobe by accident, that's all I need.
[He's still pretty sure he could kill Chobe if he wasn't careful, but only because he got uncomfortably close during their fight as far as he's aware.]
I can't promise I'm gonna keep my hands off of him. Or out of him. But I can try to go easier on him if it makes you feel better - I just want to look out for him.
[Toma leans forward, just slightly, over the table. He deliberately ignores most of what Dodger says - keep from killing Chobe by accident, his ass. The bastard has the audacity to claim to be looking out for him, as if Toma is supposed to believe it? As if he can trust anyone but himself to actually look out for his brother's safety? Chobe included, frankly; it sounds like he's going to have to pay much closer attention to the state of his Tao.]
You didn't trip and land wrist-deep in my brother, idiot. This is not a matter of trying, and a promise doesn't mean shit. I am telling you, as a statement of fact, that if you try anything like that again I will tear you apart. Do you understand that?
No, I didn't, he asked me to touch it. That's why I'm not making promises, because he does shit to my head. And I don't make promises I can't keep.
[Dodger's expression softens a bit. He does get it. And he doesn't really expect Toma to accept that he means well.]
I understand, I'll deal with it if it happens again. You can kill me, that's fine. And if Esikko tries to start shit because of it, I'll deal with him too.
[He pauses.]
I owe him, I'm not turning him down if he wants something from me.
[Toma doesn't seem to relax at all at Dodger's clarification - but he doesn't lunge over the table, nor does he walk out. Just keeps glaring with roughly the same intensity, only glancing away to scoff.
He can't argue with the fact that Chobe is hard to say no to; that, he knows better than almost anyone. But that doesn't make him any more inclined to accept it as an excuse; if he can't forgive himself for letting Chobe put himself in danger when they were younger, he certainly can't accept Dodger actively contributing to that danger.
So, his only answer is:] Oh, he won't start anything. He's made it pretty clear I'm free to do as I please to you.
[He's not even surprised - if anything, it's just a relief. He was serious when he told Esikko he doesn't want to be involved in their drama, the last thing he wants is for anything involving him to start up more drama between Esikko and the brothers.
He's quiet for a moment after that last bit, and his gaze lowers to the table. Mostly, he just wants to get his thoughts straight without Toma's expression affecting him.]
Yeah, I owe him. He had a chance to fuck me up and he didn't. He's been... shifting the way I think about things, I guess.
[That's almost no information, and he knows it. But admitting exactly what happened and the journey of soul-searching it set off is far too vulnerable for how the conversation is going.]
[Even with so little to go on, Dodger's explanation is telling enough. Toma knows better than most how few limits Chobe actually has - and where those limits lie. There are only so many circumstances that could be described as him specifically "having a chance" to hurt someone - not just in the day-to-day sense that he can and will hurt pretty much anyone if he feels like it, but an opportunity handed to him - where he wouldn't take it.
Shifting the way he thinks about things, he says. Maybe he really thought being the villains they were meant they were of the same kind as him - or that anyone would be, in a sprawling calcification of the suspicion that rests perpetually in Toma's own mind.]
...Well, even we have our limits.
[He leans back in his seat again, slowly; the tension in his hands, between his brows, eases a bit, even if it doesn't go away entirely.]
Look - the best dogs know when to think for themselves. If you really want to do right by him, that's all the more reason not to just blindly do whatever he asks when it puts him at risk. If he makes it an issue, you're free to tell him I said to knock it off.
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[His tone is almost genuine - enough so to contrast against the mocking tilt to his smile. That smiles even holds, as Dodger hits the nail. Pure luck, Toma thinks - but he can work around it, thinking quickly.]
Oh, you noticed that? Too bad. Here, I thought I'd really sold that I was flattered to have a mangy dog latched onto my leg.
[Pinning it on who it came from seems straightforward enough; Dodger already knows, after all, that Toma doesn't think much of him.]
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I don't trust anything you said during that.
[Although he guesses it was good to see how talented of an actor Toma is. If they hadn't done that, he wouldn't be as keenly aware of how little he can trust his senses with this man.]
I call myself a dog because I need a master. I don't like being on my own, I don't like thinking past what other people tell me to do. I'd probably be losing my mind if I didn't have Bloemrose around, because I do lose my mind whenever I have to think for myself. That's what makes me think you're better than me - you're not mindless. You're playing people.
[There's no apparent discomfort with calling Toma better than him. He stands by his words from before, and everything they necessarily mean. And Dodger is very comfortable with the idea that some men are just inherently better than others, and that he himself is a very exceptional slave rather than a man in his own right.]
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That seems to confirm it, then: That spur-of-the-moment lie from when they first met has held. It's a little bizarre, honestly, to hear Dodger's absolute confidence - his surety that Toma isn't like him, that he doesn't fall apart if left without direction.
All the same, Toma tilts his head, and it isn't entirely a lie when he answers:] Well, I can't say you're wrong in that regard. [He is better than Dodger, in his own opinion. A better informant, a better spy, with better taste in who he takes his orders from.
But, alright - he can still spin this.] That's just the thing, though; I don't need the esteem of a dog who splits his loyalties. You can be useful, sure - but I don't need to hear all that, knowing you're just going to go cozy up to the prince after.
[He raises his eyebrows, just a touch, adding before he takes another sip of his drink:] It's kind of gross.
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But they are splitting, because he just doesn't trust that Esikko didn't deserve what the brothers did to him. Because it feels like all of this was just Esikko having a temper tantrum over the brothers having a better relationship than he's ever had, getting punished justly for meddling where he didn't belong, and that's just from what Esikko described. For all he knows, it could go deeper and be even more clearly his fault.
It bothers him, too, that anyone he's talked to about the brothers seems to hate them. He truly doesn't understand why.]
You don't want me, so why do you care where I'm going after this?
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Obviously, that hasn't stopped him from accepting some measure of that desperation. He's an opportunist at heart, after all; no matter how much disdain he may hold for Dodger, there are still advantages to keeping him around. It's convenient, too, that knowing what Toma thinks of him doesn't seem to deter him.
That said, it would never occur to him that that could be why Dodger hasn't simply glued himself to the prince's side and called it a day. For his part, Toma has only told one person why he was out for Esikko's life; spreading it around would, after all, seem to him both tasteless and a waste of time. He doesn't need the assurance of outsiders - doesn't need anyone else's opinion as to whether the actions he and his brother take fall into some flimsy framework of righteousness. He doesn't expect it, either. He doesn't know how many of the prince's precious friends know the reality of what he did, how many will have validated him and how many he'll have twisted the story for, made himself sound more innocent than he is-- but he doesn't think for a second that explaining would matter with those who have already thrown in their lots.
He hasn't thought much, either, about whether Dodger himself is likely to know what happened - but, if pressed, he'd probably assume that he just wouldn't care much. He isn't too concerned about the murder, clearly, to still be hanging around Toma and Chobe; why would he care why Chobe did it?
...All that said, it's no mystery to him why Dodger would have met so many people here who don't like him and Chobe. They are monsters by any measure, after all.]
"Care" is a strong word. [He shrugs, just slightly.] But, sure; what does it matter? You're right that I don't want you, after all - though, I do have to wonder what he thinks of all this. He gets so pissy about us, after all.
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[It's not an unfamiliar feeling, this disenfranchisement with the man he considers his master. Often, it's the warning sign of Dodger snapping under pressure, and killing them himself. But it's different with Esikko, because there is a pang of guilt that comes with it. Maybe just because they're romantic in some sense or another, and Dodger still really likes him as a partner - he's just thoroughly frustrated by the situation he's been dragged into. Because keeping Esikko happy necessarily means being at arm's distance from the Aza brothers, and he's unwilling to completely jump ship and lose Esikko's trust.
It's all... far more complicated than he usually puts up with.]
He got himself killed trying to punish someone for having what he doesn't. And then he dragged me into it, and got pissy when I learned enough to question him. I'm not doing shit about you or Chobe for him, and I don't care what he thinks.
[Really, the thing that stuck with him most was Esikko complaining about how much Chobe talks about Toma. Esikko had denied that he'd give Dodger the same treatment if he talked too much about his own brother, but Dodger didn't really trust that and he still doesn't. Combined with how many things here have been making him wish for a chance to speak to Tony again, Esikko's jealousy has really gotten under his skin.]
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After that moment's pause, he sets his cup down without drinking.] He told you what he did, then?
[It certainly seems more likely to Toma than the possibility that Dodger got it out of Chobe... no, it isn't that shocking to think the prince would have told him. The way Dodger speaks about it, though, as if he actually thinks Esikko was in the wrong... that's another story. Enough so for Toma to wonder if he actually thinks that at all-- to search Dodger's face, look for any sign of a lie. Any hint that this may be some ruse to get Toma's guard down, to convince him that he's on his side, whether for the prince's purposes or Dodger's own.
But he already knows Dodger isn't much of an actor... which could make it more likely that he actually means it. That, in turn, would raise a number of questions.]
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[For the first time, there's venom in Dodger's tone when he speaks about Esikko. He's a terrible actor, but it isn't just that - he believes in Esikko's guilt so strongly that it chafes horribly against his love for the man, and that frustration at having to feel like this is bleeding into it. He doesn't want to think, he doesn't want to feel anything, and it's his damn sense of justice that's making this so complicated for him.]
Chobe didn't give me any more information when I asked him about it. So if you want to tell me it was actually your fault or Chobe's, I'm all ears, but this feels pretty cut-and-dry to me.
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...You may have skipped a few steps, but that's the gist of it. [He sits back again, shrugging.] I'm not going to pretend we didn't do anything to him, before he overstepped. Threatened him and so forth. But that just meant he knew what we were - or, at least, he should have.
[He sneers, remembering the moment Esikko found him in the garden all those months ago - that smug satisfaction clear as day, even through Toma's tear-blurred vision. He hadn't even backed away, when Toma started for him. Didn't consider, until he was on the ground, that he wasn't dealing with someone he could just push around as he pleased-- and that was at the core of it, wasn't it? No matter how many warnings he got, the prince was still ever so sure that he had power over them. And the moment he found he was wrong-- that was when he became the victim.]
The point is: He heard hissing, and he stuck his hand in the nest out of spite - just to prove some stupid point that he was wrong about, anyway. I'm not going to claim we were right - don't really believe in that kind of thing to begin with. [right and wrong are a conspiracy by Big Shogunate to sell more samurai] But he absolutely brought it on himself.
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...I'm glad I took too long to figure you two out. He needed the lesson.
[He can't be sure if it's completely sunk in. But as much as he's still worried about Esikko after his death, and felt awful about failing to prevent it at the time, he doesn't think it was wrong to kill him. Dodger himself only learns when he's bitten by the mouth he shoves his hand into (hah) and he gets the sense that Esikko is the same.]
I'm not gonna pretend he's lost my loyalty, this isn't really about that. But memory shit is a red line for me. I'm still running information to him, but not about you or Chobe - he lost that right.
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[A quiet hum, noncommittal. He's aiming for disinterest - like he doesn't need Dodger's validation, like he wouldn't have been able to stop them anyway. And he does believe that, absolutely-- but it isn't really the reason for his minimal answer.
He doesn't regret what Chobe did, of course, and he stands by their reasons for planning it - but it's difficult to muster much enthusiasm for the actual event, given how it went. How little Toma could actually do to back his brother up, in the end.
Rather than dwell on that, though - he hones in on the rest of what Dodger says. No surprise that he's still loyal to the prince - though, Toma wonders about that. If he feels so strongly about what Esikko did, if he thinks so poorly of his judgment... that loyalty isn't a matter of pragmatism, is it?
He makes note of that comment about memory, as well. Interesting.]
...He does have a way of targeting those, doesn't he. [Openly implying that, if things had gone differently between them, he absolutely thinks Esikko would have done something similar to Dodger.] Well, I appreciate that, in any case.
[Even though it's almost a shame, in a way. He wonders how much Wrong Bullshit the mutt would have funneled to him, otherwise.]
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But they knew each other in another life before this, so maybe there's no point in wondering about 'what if's. Clearly they're tied together in some way. And the mark Esikko left on his chest in this life makes him wonder if he even could stray away from him now.]
The men that tried to protect Esikko, when Chobe killed him - they were firestarters, right? [Or close enough, in Bakugo's case.] Do they know how to kill him?
[Because Dodger knows, and he doesn't feel like it took that much effort to figure it out. That makes him worried for Chobe's safety, if not around Esikko then just in general.]
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Do they know how to kill him.
Toma's eyes narrow, and his voice is cold.]
If I didn't know better, I'd think it sounds like you believe you do.
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I'd have to blast the core behind his navel with as much heat as I can make.
[He holds up a hand.]
Before you say anything - I'm not trying to blackmail you or anything. But I figured it out after fighting with him once, which means the other two can figure it out if they haven't already. I'm telling you this so you can plan accordingly.
[Granted, Dodger learned most of his own fighting style by studying his opponents. But Bakugo struck him as incredibly smart and capable, and while he hasn't spoken to Dabi as much he knows the man comes off as equally bright. He can't imagine they'd do any worse than him.]
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Does he know that it's some particular quality of his fire that weakens Chobe, or does he still think that he's vulnerable to fire in general? Could he muster enough fire, loaded with enough Tao, to kill him? It's one thing, too, for him to have worked out that Chobe's abdomen is a weak point, the damn resort practically put a target on it-- but he knows about his core. He knows where it is.
His gaze holds, a cold veneer over boiling anger, as Dodger goes to clarify - as though he's doing him a favor. As though Toma didn't already know they could well have started to figure it out, as though the very possibility wasn't why he called the truce to begin with.
Okay. He has to respond. To navigate this.
With some effort and a quiet scoff, he relaxes back into his seat. His tone, now, is dry and dismissive - like Dodger had gotten him tense for nothing.] Well, thank you for your insight; I would never have thought to plan for such a possibility myself, after all. Incredible, truly, how we've lived all this time without a single thought to caution.
Of course, if that's really what you think you've figured out - maybe I don't have quite so much to worry about from them, either.
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I trust you to be cautious, I don't trust him. You need to talk to him.
[His voice lowers, out of an abundance of caution that someone might hear this.]
Look, I love how much of a freak he is, don't get me wrong. But he's fucking lucky I like you both. And I sure as hell hope he's not letting anyone else touch it.
[He knows this is dangerous territory. Both because Toma is going to take this poorly - he knows he will - and because he's probably cutting himself off from fucking Chobe in the future. But he'll take that hit, if it stops this knowledge from spreading further.]
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There's no further evading to be done, no hiding how that tension snaps back into his shoulders, shock and something bordering on fear flashing across his eyes-- overtaken a moment later by the same roiling anger from before, now undisguised.]
Excuse me?
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You heard me.
[He pauses, to light a new cigarette. Partly for dramatic effect, and mostly to soothe his own nerves. Toma could still attack him, but more importantly... it's troubling that Chobe is being this reckless without Toma knowing.]
I don't want him to get hurt doing something stupid to himself. Especially not if it means people who hate you two knowing how to kill him. And, by extension, how to kill you.
[He doesn't know exactly how to kill Toma, if it would be the same or take something extra. But they have similar powers, it stands to reason that Toma would also have a core and a way to break it. He certainly doesn't have a reason to figure it out, let alone test it.]
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But it wouldn't help. He'd just come back, with nothing solved. Might even be more hostile to them afterward-- more of a threat. Not an option, then - not for now, at least, not as a solution to this.]
...And yet you're fine if it's you doing something stupid to him, right? [Toma braces his hands on the table, trembling, rage strung through every tendon, as though getting ready to walk out then and there-- he knows the owner doesn't want people fighting here, and he isn't sure how much longer he can hold off if he has to keep looking at Dodger's face.] Let me make myself entirely clear: If you think having a couple pieces means you have any idea what it actually takes to kill things like us, you're more of a fool than I thought. You don't have what it takes, and neither do the prince's little firebugs.
But you don't get a pass for not being able to pull it off. I don't care if he hands you a written invitation. Keep your filthy hands out of my brother, or lose the ability to hold your cheap fucking cigarettes.
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Toma, I don't want to figure out how to kill you. It's safer for you if I don't. I have enough information to keep myself from killing Chobe by accident, that's all I need.
[He's still pretty sure he could kill Chobe if he wasn't careful, but only because he got uncomfortably close during their fight as far as he's aware.]
I can't promise I'm gonna keep my hands off of him. Or out of him. But I can try to go easier on him if it makes you feel better - I just want to look out for him.
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[Toma leans forward, just slightly, over the table. He deliberately ignores most of what Dodger says - keep from killing Chobe by accident, his ass. The bastard has the audacity to claim to be looking out for him, as if Toma is supposed to believe it? As if he can trust anyone but himself to actually look out for his brother's safety? Chobe included, frankly; it sounds like he's going to have to pay much closer attention to the state of his Tao.]
You didn't trip and land wrist-deep in my brother, idiot. This is not a matter of trying, and a promise doesn't mean shit. I am telling you, as a statement of fact, that if you try anything like that again I will tear you apart. Do you understand that?
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[Dodger's expression softens a bit. He does get it. And he doesn't really expect Toma to accept that he means well.]
I understand, I'll deal with it if it happens again. You can kill me, that's fine. And if Esikko tries to start shit because of it, I'll deal with him too.
[He pauses.]
I owe him, I'm not turning him down if he wants something from me.
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He can't argue with the fact that Chobe is hard to say no to; that, he knows better than almost anyone. But that doesn't make him any more inclined to accept it as an excuse; if he can't forgive himself for letting Chobe put himself in danger when they were younger, he certainly can't accept Dodger actively contributing to that danger.
So, his only answer is:] Oh, he won't start anything. He's made it pretty clear I'm free to do as I please to you.
[His lip curls, just slightly.]
Owe him, huh.
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[He's not even surprised - if anything, it's just a relief. He was serious when he told Esikko he doesn't want to be involved in their drama, the last thing he wants is for anything involving him to start up more drama between Esikko and the brothers.
He's quiet for a moment after that last bit, and his gaze lowers to the table. Mostly, he just wants to get his thoughts straight without Toma's expression affecting him.]
Yeah, I owe him. He had a chance to fuck me up and he didn't. He's been... shifting the way I think about things, I guess.
[That's almost no information, and he knows it. But admitting exactly what happened and the journey of soul-searching it set off is far too vulnerable for how the conversation is going.]
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Shifting the way he thinks about things, he says. Maybe he really thought being the villains they were meant they were of the same kind as him - or that anyone would be, in a sprawling calcification of the suspicion that rests perpetually in Toma's own mind.]
...Well, even we have our limits.
[He leans back in his seat again, slowly; the tension in his hands, between his brows, eases a bit, even if it doesn't go away entirely.]
Look - the best dogs know when to think for themselves. If you really want to do right by him, that's all the more reason not to just blindly do whatever he asks when it puts him at risk. If he makes it an issue, you're free to tell him I said to knock it off.
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