browbeater | Recolle IC Inbox

Shouldn't younger brothers treat their older brothers with more respect? It'd be nice if Yu called me big bro now and then.

mine doesn't ever call me big bro... not since we were little.

and i had to take care of him because he couldn't deal with things like colds.

I think we should sit down our little brothers and tell them that they need to start addressing us properly then.

If we have to take care of them and act as their role models, the very least they could do is call us big bro and admire us.

maybe it's because your twin is your younger brother... but i can tell you, that's not how younger siblings work. at all. i've got two years between me and my brother, and there's a lot of difference there.

What are the differences?

well...

if you ever tried to mess with him, i'd have to fight you. but i've done things like steal the last piece of his birthday cake.

and he decided to smash mine in my face on my birthday.

and sometimes he would start randomly crying just to get mom and dad to yell at me.

Is this really how siblings are?

[ it's honestly kind of hard for souji to really say because he and his brother always got along so well. then they had the divorce when they were seven so the only contact they had before recolle was through video or voice calls. they never got to spend a lot of time together. ]

I don't have a lot of things like that with Yu but he does hold my cats as hostages sometimes and he once ate the last of my pudding. It's very upsetting.

[well, to be fair, he's giving the memories he misses the most right now. After their parents died, it got a lot harder.]

well, at least you guys don't fight all that often, it sounds like. unless he's really holding your cats hostage and not just not letting you pet them.

and at least he didn't shove the putting in your face or something.

i'm making bolin sound like he's all bad and annoying, but he's my brother. he's incredibly talented when he wants to do something, and he's a lot better at me with this whole empathy thing.

[ sorry about your dead parents, mako. that's rough ]

I hope the day will never come where he will waste my pudding to shove it into my face. I think I'd have to revoke our twinhood if he did that.

But I can understand that. Siblings are still your siblings, no matter what (even if you play the trumpet beside their bed at 6am and then got smothered by a pillow even if you were trying to be a good brother).

I'd like to meet your brother one day. He must have a lot to say about you too.

well. he's never tried to do the whole smothering thing... and i was a pretty tough teacher when i ended up helping him out with things like homework, etc.

anyway, yeah. he's pretty awesome.

Did you two do your homework together in the same room? Yu and I used to do that when we were younger and even if our parents told us not to, we sometimes copied each other's answers.

Does he know that you're saying all these good things about him? Or do I need to track him down to show him this convo?

yeah. i was ahead of him, so he was basically just going through the classes i went through. he didn't really focus much, though. so i couldn't let him just copy my answers, not if i wanted to make sure he did okay on the tests.

[he pauses, time to skirt this conversation a little bit, before the inevitable "what about your parents" comes up.]

honestly, i'd say all this to his face. but i'd also tell him he needs to focus, and start taking things seriously. i hope he knows i care.

what about you and your brother?

Makes sense. Yu and I had to do that as well when one of us was struggling in a class and needed to get better. It was still fun though, being able to spend time together even through homework.

[ even if it seemed awkward to silently do their homework together through a video call, silently focused on their own work until they needed to ask for help. however, what seemed awkward to everyone else, this was a fond time for the twins as part of the only time they could try and recreate what they had before the divorce. also it's cool, mako, not to talk about your parents because souji doesn't really like bringing up his own either. ]

A reminder never hurts. Sometimes if things get tough or if you go on for too long without mentioning it, doubt can arise.

My brother and I have a very good relationship. We hardly fight but we do have the occasional playful banter to pretend that we are. We haven't been together since we were seven so I guess we're just trying to make up for all the lost good times.

[Mako can't imagine a relationship where he doesn't sometimes fight with his brother. he isn't sure if he'd be able to deal with too much of Bolin's playful banter, like they're fighting. it already tends to get on his nerves when he takes it to extremes.]

you haven't been together since you were seven? that's... a really long time to go separated.

from what i've seen, you and your brother are pretty different. so expect that you'll fight eventually, especially if you're getting caught up on lost time. maybe you won't, but i haven't met any siblings who haven't fought at least once.

you should get caught up on your sibling wrestling skills. as the older sibling, you have to ensure you can wi any impromptu wrestling matches.

[ A lot of the reason why the twins never fight is because they never express their true feelings or thoughts to one another. They bottle it all up, slowly becoming resentful of each other and resentful of their situation. It's one of the reasons why they're eventually going to have a fight that'll be blown way out of proportion. ]

Our parents got a divorce when we were seven so Yu went with our father and I went with our mother. We moved a lot so we couldn't see each other.

[ haha souji bitter at our parents narukami ]

Will you coach me on the ways of sibling wrestling? I'm unfortunately rusty in knowing how to pin down my brother and make him beg for mercy.

[an exhale. Damn it, Souji. This feels... serious. Like they're more than conspiracy theory antagonists now, and Mako isn't sure if he's the best person to offer advice. His feelings towards parents of all stripes is just...

Well, he knows that adults are terrible people, sometimes.]

you'd think that parents would have to have some basic empathy. but, guess not.

anyway, look, all of my tricks are not going to work for you. unless your brother is ticklish or something, i don't know how you get the advantage outside of a surprise attack. and even then, you're evenly matched.

you should probably try tickling anyway, he might be shocked enough it'll work no matter what.

[ Souji chooses not to reply to the line of convo about parents and basic empathy and all that because he just... shrugs it off. He knows his parents are terrible and that they split up the twins just to split up the responsibility so there's no use in going back and rehashing what he already knows and let his bitterness seep through. ]

You know, he is actually ticklish so I might have to try that again.

Though the last time I did, he kind of kicked me in the face... It hurt.

that means it worked. you can't get far in sibling wrestling without taking a few hits.

mostly because they'll never agree to it otherwise.

[he's okay with the other part of this conversation dropping. It was getting Too Real for his tastes.]

Can't I just wear a bunch of football gear before I go and get involved in a sibling wrestling match?

Taking a few blows to the face might be too much for me.

Recolle IC Inbox

07/15

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject