carcajous: (167)
𝑳𝑶𝑮𝑨𝑵. ([personal profile] carcajous) wrote in [community profile] diademlogs2025-06-09 11:56 am

[ CLOSED ] june.

Who: Logan + Kimiko, Scott, Jesse
Where: Panorama
When: June
What: Catch-all for the month, including a little misunderstanding at the barbershop (oops)

Warnings: A bit of violence, probably!
pse: (pic#17652793)

[personal profile] pse 2025-07-01 03:17 am (UTC)(link)
[ Kimono shakes her head. Hand tucking into a fist, her thumb juts out and is turned downward.

Charles Xavier is a name she recognises. His unassuming friendliness has been reassuring, especially in the wake of Scott's eagerness and Logan's... whatever this is. She hadn't realised he was the owner of a school with the same alleged parameters as Godolkin.

He took us in.

Never knew him to turn anybody away.


It's... surprising, to hear anyone be talked about in this way. It's like a canker eating at the heart of the belief system she's spent the last few years cobbling together. Kimiko spends a few moments gently moving the noodles around with the chopsticks before typing out another message. Buying a phone is a real game changer. ]


Why did you ask if my friends are like me?
pse: (pic#17652805)

[personal profile] pse 2025-07-02 10:31 am (UTC)(link)
[ Grabs her phone again, thumbs flying across the numerical keypad.

Where I'm from, people like you need to be gotten rid of_

No. An unnamable impulse leaves her cold. Delete, delete, delete.

Where I'm from, people like us_

The chill doesn't abandon the back of her neck. It presses harder, sowing its dominion by force. She isn't good at this. She wishes she wasn't alone here, fumbling through this with all the grace of a stone square wheel being pushed down a mountain. Delete, delete.

In the end, it's a relatively brief message, considering the time she spent typing it. ]


Do you know who Homelander is?
pse: (pic#17701306)

[personal profile] pse 2025-07-04 10:30 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Maybe, if it came down to it. But Kimiko knows she wouldn't need to look for Homelander. Wanda asked her if it was likely Annie would miss her fame, announce her presence. The answer had been a clear, resounding no.

Homelander, though? He would announce himself. He would seek to fill whatever space's he's in. Everyone would know his face, his voice, whether they wanted to or not. The thought fills her with unease. She's glad Logan has no idea who she's referencing. This place really is different. Maybe she can start over here. Forget about everything that happened before Panorama.

His question begets a small shake of her head in answer. Some hair gets into her noodles.

Another message. Pok-pok-pok on the keypad. ]


I hope he never comes here.

If he does, stay away from him.
pse: (pic#17652783)

[personal profile] pse 2025-07-05 10:06 pm (UTC)(link)
[ With a mouthful of noodles puffing out her cheeks like a chipmunk, Kimiko shakes her head.

No, Homelander never hurt her would be her immediate answer. They've never shared space. While he stomps around in movie premieres and on the upper floors of the Vought tower, she exists in the shadows of the CIA's payroll and Operation: The Boys. But she thinks about his highly public dalliance with Stormfront, of Kenji's broken body on the roof, those notorious red boots touching down so softly among the stones — I said he was mine.

She doesn't want to share that. This is a place where Kenji never existed. Never lived, never died. She can't bear to kill him all over again.

Instead, with quirked eyebrows and a distinctly skeptical expression, she gestures roughly at herself. How could anyone hurt her? She's too awesome! Etc. ]
pse: (pic#17701311)

[personal profile] pse 2025-07-06 06:45 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She thinks, no, you don't.

She's wrong about that, of course. But no one else has extricated themselves from The Shining Light and survived. In the pidgin she created with Kenji, the sign for monster is a slow, twisting thing; it comes together and pivots, suggesting transformation over time — something that is made, not born. The way he's explained it, he and Charles and Scott and their ilk were all born like this. Nothing was forced on them. It doesn't occur to her that he's telling her something about himself, in secretive ambiguities that equal her own.

But the sentiment, the attempt at understanding, at inclusion, it leaves her smiling. It leaves her chest feeling a little less tumultuous, warmed in a way that doesn't altogether owe to the hot broth.

Maybe this conversation wasn't a total failure.

Holding up a hand — wait a second — she turns to wave over Sophie, miming out something too quick to follow. A moment or two later, Sophie sweeps in with a small ice cream cone topped with a scoop of black mochi. It's held out to Logan. Kimiko's smile only grows, somewhere between affectionate and teasing, in a way that announces her cheeks and touches her eyes. ]
pse: (pic#17787416)

wrapped!

[personal profile] pse 2025-07-11 03:17 am (UTC)(link)
[ Kimiko's smile only grows, chin briefly dipping in acknowledgment.

Even if she isn't sure she believes him when he claims to understand her, she's slowly beginning to realise that may not even matter. He's responded to her with patience and kindness every step of the way, even when she's struggled to maintain grip on her sense of humanity (sometimes thick, sometimes flimsy; Rome wasn't deprogrammed in a day).

At some point, Sophie passes Kimiko a chocolate coin wrapped in flimsy gold foil. When they do go their separate ways, Kimiko presses it into Logan's hand before disappearing around a corner. ]