Shattered reflections

[ugyuuya]

[1]

[In one of the smaller lesser used workout rooms Yuuya is busy working over a heavy bag with a particular fervor.]

I try to point out the flaws in her logic to help her and she turns it back to an attack on me. Just like Yui, her little flunky Ken, and half the goddamned Japanese personnel here. Support crew talking like they think I can't understand while Yui's got me on her damned leash and not saying word one to them about it.

[He proceeds to move from the bag to free-weights.]

So what if I don't match their little happy world views and want to keep grounded in a realistic frame of mind. That's a "poisonous" attitude? I guess that's what my grandfather meant about being underhanded and untrustworthy with their attacks. So what if Volya was "saved" from his attackers and given a healthy place to finish growing up in. In the end he's going to have to stand up and fix things himself like every kid who's stuck in a poor situation. Not like he has to worry about a loveless family being the only thing outside of military service that he'd have to return to and at least he seems to remember more than one member of his family fondly. People are willing to support and help him not worry about a superior who makes inordinate demands and then quotes pretty little "proverbs" instead of actually useful advice.

[Yuuya pauses momentarily as he sets his weights down on a bench his breath ragged due to the length and intensity of his workout. He looks up into the mirror and glares as he tried ]

And worst of all is this damned appearance. I've shed tears and blood for the American forces, pushed myself to live up to their standards and expectations but to everyone else I'm Japanese. The Russians with their damned interrogators, Yui and her opinion of how disgraceful I am, Ken and his stupid "Japanese Pride" and Mizuki with her stupid maybe the Japanese person most in need of getting chewed out by you is the one waiting for you in the mirror

"I'm American god damn it! Stop holding me to the stupid standards of a country and father that I never knew you bastards!"

[With the last audible outburst Yuuya threw the weight into the mirrored wall, turned to deliver a kick to the sand bag that manages to add just enough momentum to it's swinging that knocks the stand off balance and tumbling into another rack of free weights. Turning on his heel he begins to leave, a look of frustration and anger on his face that is tinged by something else underneath.]

[2]



[Entering the workout room you see broken glass and spilled equipment. One of the Maintenance staff for the TSF teams is just beginning to clean up and you can hear him speak with a resigned sigh.]

"Damn it Yuuya, I thought you were past this type of shit. Guess someone managed to finally get to him again, haven't seen him do this since Leon started shit after his mother's death. I wish he'd at least have the decency to do these rages where it wasn't so heavy to fix things."

[3 -Locked to Mizuki]



[Mizuki is disturbed in her office by Vincent entering and closing the door behind him.]

So for someone so concerned about Volya and being a great savior you managed to turn someone who was trying to offer some reasonable advice in a rather sanctimonious way into quite the little ball of anger and self-loathing.

I know what he said wasn't the best phrased and playing devil's advocate with a human life is in poor form but really how many of his concerns were at least valid on some level. So I'm not going to be upset about you dismantling his arguments and calling him on his hypocrisy.

What I am upset about is that after our discussion where I came to you on behalf of Ken and the efforts of myself and Lt. Takamura to keep an official reprimand from falling on his record and you took that warning that his heritage is a sore point and purposely attacked it. Yes he's been an asshole and yes his fight with Ken was stupid but taking that kind of attack when you knew how it would hit him was unnecessarily cruel.

I had at some point hoped that you're history and being accepted into the Japanese culture could help him which is why I sought you out after the fight to talk. Now I'm just disappointed and more than anything would like to know why you'd have done that to him.

Comments

2

[star_of_sad]

Yuuya Bridges... did he really do this?

[Setsuko looks around the partially broken gym.]

[ugyuuya]

[Vincent turns at the noise behind him and upon noticing Setsuko sighs and nods to her as he speaks.]

It's not all as bad as this seems really, there is some proof he picked up at least a little bit.

[He begins to reset the weight rack and sort the weights back onto it.]

Yuuya is a hot-head and he demands more of himself than others do. Since he's come here he's been struggling and Lt. Takamura seems to be so similar to him that he's missed it and her dismissal has only made things go worse. Add in whatever mess happened before this, and I do intend to find out what happened, and you get where it boils over.

[Looking at the rack to make sure it's sorted properly he turns back to Setsuko and takes a seat and motions for her to do the same.]

Now it's not healthy or a good habit but you shouldn't worry too much about it. I've only ever seen Yuuya get into a fistfight with 3 people now that he and Ken had one and even then I'm not sure Yuuya would have taken that to blows if Ken hadn't. He hates threatening people who don't fight back because if he does he sees his grandfather in himself and he hates that.

[star_of_sad]

I don't think he's a bad person.

Actually... I understand him. He must feel really alone, even now, doesn't he?

[ugyuuya]

Well I'm glad someone else has been able to see it. I try to help as I can but until he makes peace with himself he really won't get any better.

It's sad when the person closest to family that he has left in this world is reduced to saying things like that. His mother passed about a year ago and he was a goddamned pariah at her funeral. The goddamn preacher couldn't get a word in with him to express his condolences because his family kept everyone corralled away from him. He came back an absolute wreck. He'd left home about 2 and a half years before that and hadn't been back to see her once before she died and he lost an anchor that he just assumed would be there and just couldn't forgive himself. He dove into piloting and reached the top of his field becoming a test pilot.

Now he gets assigned here where that's stripped out from underneath him by an entirely new style of unit and a rough start with Ken on his first day here has just snowballed as he bounces off of one person after another just getting more and more upset.

It's really painful to watch and to be honest this makes me a bit relieved. I'd rather him tear up something like this which can be cleaned and replaced than to see him manifest that anger with his own self-hatred.

[star_of_sad]

Can we even help him?

From his perspective, it looks like the whole world's been against him for his whole life.

[ugyuuya]

Well he's got to stop somewhere, the trick is that we just have to be there to help pick him up when he does and help put back the pieces in some way that's better for him. I had thought he'd already broken and was on the way back up but it seems like some part of him held out longer than the others.