[ raiden's response is understandable. it's a thought he'd had before, once upon a time, before meryl— when she had asked him for his name and he had conceded to the idea of him. the legend of solid snake. he didn't need anything or anyone and the idea that someone might want to get to know him for himself wasn't scary. it just struck him as dangerous. he felt dangerous. he was on the battlefield and there was only need for a weapon out there.
so he doesn't speak at first. snake just lets the nostalgia of raiden's words wash over him. instead, he looks downcast, brows knitted together. for a moment too long, he looks and feels old. decisively does he stand and close the distance between the two of them, placing his hands on raiden's shoulders with a meaningful gaze.
he'll do what he has to do, but he trusts in raiden, too.
but he smiles, a little. ]
You've got better to do than daydream about me. [ "about an old man," he almost says. playful, despite the tone of the conversation. ]
[ raiden's shoulders tense beneath his touch; the warmth doesn't register the way it would have 10 years ago. but it's there, emanating through layers of metal and synthetic flesh. boyishly, raiden looks away.
"you'd be surprised." ]
Sounds exactly like what a hallucination would say. [ he's joking — to some degree. ]
[ he's not somber, not factual; forceful in his statement. ]
Raiden, this is what they do to people. They raise you in it so you don't know better. So you're born on the battlefield, made for it like a gun is made to kill. Then they take away your chances, make sure you never get the tools you need to make it anywhere else but on the stage they pick for you. [ just like when they forced him away, even when he said his dogs needed him, that he had a normal life, a place to go back to; none of that was in the file they had on solid snake. it had to go. the man for the legend. ] No jobs for cyborgs, right? Made sure you had no choice but to keep working on the battlefield. For them. But they didn't account for is yourself. Your morals, your thoughts, your desires... even Jack is something like like that. They can't take even him away from you.
[ and while he's not going to say that's a good thing, jack is still part of raiden. that bloodlust, the desire to kill, will always be there. what's the point of lying to someone who would know it was bogus? ]
They didn't think you could change. But you did, and you can.
[ in this moment, raiden has reverted back to a 26 year old man, eyes clouded with doubt — or the 31 year old man, the one who was desperate and tearful and searching for something, for anything to keep him tethered to this world. there are traces of those men present in his features, ghosts of the past reanimating as he listens in silence.
raiden's jaw shifts and clicks. his brows cinch and his eyelids squeeze shut before his head raises as snake is about to leave. ]
Because of you.
[ his voice is strained and high, practically on the verge of giving out. he has to say this now. he doesn't know if snake has any object permanance, if he's going to fade and wither into dust the second he's left this room. ]
I changed because of you, Snake.
[ a beat. ]
I've got my own things to take care of now. But you're always going to be one of them.
[ he pauses with his hand on the doorknob, ready to retreat to his own room and probably have a shitty meal of empty calories. jack speaks, though, like he's holding onto something precious; his last bit of truth.
so snake stands, turned at the hip, looking down at him with an impassive, simple expression, half cast in shadows.
it's a mutual declaration, he supposes. raiden hasn't changed, but he's matured. become something more of the man snake knew he could be. ]
I won't prove to you that I'm real.
[ he pauses, shaking his head. ]
I don't need to. If you mean that... you'll see it before long.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
so he doesn't speak at first. snake just lets the nostalgia of raiden's words wash over him. instead, he looks downcast, brows knitted together. for a moment too long, he looks and feels old. decisively does he stand and close the distance between the two of them, placing his hands on raiden's shoulders with a meaningful gaze.
he'll do what he has to do, but he trusts in raiden, too.
but he smiles, a little. ]
You've got better to do than daydream about me. [ "about an old man," he almost says. playful, despite the tone of the conversation. ]
no subject
"you'd be surprised." ]
Sounds exactly like what a hallucination would say. [ he's joking — to some degree. ]
Just...[ a sigh. ] be careful, alright?
no subject
[ he's not somber, not factual; forceful in his statement. ]
Raiden, this is what they do to people. They raise you in it so you don't know better. So you're born on the battlefield, made for it like a gun is made to kill. Then they take away your chances, make sure you never get the tools you need to make it anywhere else but on the stage they pick for you. [ just like when they forced him away, even when he said his dogs needed him, that he had a normal life, a place to go back to; none of that was in the file they had on solid snake. it had to go. the man for the legend. ] No jobs for cyborgs, right? Made sure you had no choice but to keep working on the battlefield. For them. But they didn't account for is yourself. Your morals, your thoughts, your desires... even Jack is something like like that. They can't take even him away from you.
[ and while he's not going to say that's a good thing, jack is still part of raiden. that bloodlust, the desire to kill, will always be there. what's the point of lying to someone who would know it was bogus? ]
They didn't think you could change. But you did, and you can.
[ snake pauses. ]
I'm next door. I'll be here.
[ "whenever you want or need" is implied. ]
no subject
raiden's jaw shifts and clicks. his brows cinch and his eyelids squeeze shut before his head raises as snake is about to leave. ]
Because of you.
[ his voice is strained and high, practically on the verge of giving out. he has to say this now. he doesn't know if snake has any object permanance, if he's going to fade and wither into dust the second he's left this room. ]
I changed because of you, Snake.
[ a beat. ]
I've got my own things to take care of now. But you're always going to be one of them.
no subject
so snake stands, turned at the hip, looking down at him with an impassive, simple expression, half cast in shadows.
it's a mutual declaration, he supposes. raiden hasn't changed, but he's matured. become something more of the man snake knew he could be. ]
I won't prove to you that I'm real.
[ he pauses, shaking his head. ]
I don't need to. If you mean that... you'll see it before long.