metacognition: fei du will cut out middle man. (101)

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-18 01:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[ filing this information in with what he knows about D already - the story he told him about his father and his genetic experiments, about his view on the world - makes the context click into place. he's too analytical just to leave the details of the memory behind, especially when he's avoiding thinking about his own, especially when the similarities between the two send a chill down his spine.

learning what it's like to be human. learning the way humans feel. the things they do. the careless cruelties he's seen over and over again - the way his own father acted towards the very same subject. it's funny, in a way; only because if their fathers ever met, it would have likely ended in instant murder? that's fine. ]


... And what about you?

[ about that, about what he was trying to teach. he knows, a little, from their previous conversations and from the memory, but he wants to hear him work through it, too. ]
metacognition: fei du's peace lily is pieces lily. (1.)

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-18 03:14 pm (UTC)(link)
[ thanks i hate it!!!!!!

the tighter grip doesn't bother him, really, mostly because he looks up and sees the source. he's starting to wish he had wenzhou's gun again so he could blast it but, it's too late.

this memory helps to explain a lot of context, but worse than that, it's familiar. it's the exact sort of thing that fei chengyu might have done in the same situation. don't stray from the path anymore is worse, than the memory before it. it's worse because it's so familiar. it's worse because he remembers d's execution, remembers their talk of the preciousness of life. it's worse, to understand how it feels to be strapped with a burden you never asked for, expected to carry out the weight of a sword you don't want to swing. it's worse because it is so intimately familiar that it's not the blood in the memory that makes fei du feel sick.

he exhales out when it's faded away, short, and sharp, and for a moment, his expression is inscrutable - like he's filing away all the little details of that memory, dissecting it piece by piece to understand it fully.

also, kinda gay that you jumped off a roof holding hands with your detective buddy but he won't say that. ]


... a duty. [ he repeats, after a moment, softly. ] I see.
metacognition: fei du's special soup is ready. (142)

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-18 03:56 pm (UTC)(link)
[ NOT THE ITACHI

in the context of d's execution, this is a lot to see. in the dichotomy of their two memories, back to back, it's almost thrown into stark relief.

his tone is (maybe surprisingly) gentle, after it all - non judgmental, slightly curious, but recognizing. ]


...But a love built for the humans who aren't so cruel, too.
metacognition: fei du demands everyone shower. (36.)

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-18 05:35 pm (UTC)(link)
[ unfortunately he's also really skrunkly. antagonist passing. also d is a weenie.

aha. that's what he thought, though - he doesn't say anything, just smiles a little knowingly to the way he looks away, and lets d finish.

and eventually: ]


I really don't know how, either. [ it's a more candid response than he'd usually give, but it's true. the sheer nature of fei chengyu's lessons meant there was no room for empathy, let alone room for love. fei du had convinced himself that was true.

and then, well. wenzhou happened. ]
It has a way of sneaking up on you anyway. Even if you don't know what it is, or if you don't want it. Maybe especially, then.
metacognition: fei du has too many secrets. (7.)

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-18 08:03 pm (UTC)(link)
[ larping as an antagonist is 100% correct, yeah. you have no idea.

one of fei du's favorite things about d is the fact that they really are strikingly similar. and having been reamed to the fourth degree by luo wenzhou at home and by shenhe here, he recognizes this behavior so intimately that brings a curve of a smile to his mouth. ]


Self destructive.

[ he tilts his head just slightly, meeting his mismatched eyes, but there's no judgement there. maybe recognition, which might be worse. idly: ] If you're going to witness the fall of mankind, isn't it going to hit the detective and his little brother at some point, anyway? But if you get away from them, then that would delay it. Or... help you to separate from them, literally and metaphorically. Protect them. Something like that?
metacognition: fei du dreams for a good school district. (145)

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-19 01:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[ like in so many other things when it comes to d, fei du just smiles, a little. it's lacking mirth, but it's lacking judgement, too. because how could he judge? ]

I do.

[ he understands so intimately that it's like looking into a mirror. ]

... What happens if they chase you down?
metacognition: and lost a little weight. (89)

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-19 06:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[ (gasps softly) and they were soulmates

that's about the answer he's expecting, to be honest. it's so funny - their lives are so similar, for two people with such different circumstances.

fei du lets out a quiet laugh, at first, and lets the silence fall. despite his general demeanor - the social way he tends to act, his gremlin personality - he's actually fairly reflective. he weighs the words people give him very carefully, dissecting them with an experts' hands, and he looks back on their conversation. i was going to give you another memory here but im too tired to write another one i have nine prewritten so it will come eventually.

anyway ]


... You know, I've been cruel to Luo Wenzhou on purpose to try and make him realize what kind of person that I am quite a few times.

Once, I locked him out of my room when he was trying to talk to me, stopped answering his calls, and cut him off completely, and instead of taking the hint, he went back outside and got a wire so he could pick the lock and barge in. Another time, I baited him into an argument and told him I never loved him because I was incapable of it, so he went to go fume about it in his room. I thought I could leave then, and when I was putting on my shoes he suddenly stormed back out into the hall and, quite literally, tied me up with my scarf and forced me to tell him something sincere.

I'll give you a word of advice. People like them [ because he is also not blind to the similarities between the detective leon and the captain luo wenzhou ] are more stubborn than people like us. Idiots will chase sincerity down until it can't escape.
metacognition: fei du will steal the show. like usual. (179)

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-20 08:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[ i had a whole ass tag written here and it vanished but thats fine

all of this is to say that the comment just makes him laugh - and it's a genuine one that brings a real smile to his face, even though it's like. the tiniest bit self deprecating, because he recognizes it. ]


I wouldn't be angry, no. [ maybe just at the circumstance. at the fact this kind of thing repeats. ] Trust me, I wasn't happy with it when I figured it out at first, either.

[ these dumb good hearted cops are the worst ]

That's what I thought, too. I suppose mine doesn't involve the destruction of an entire world, but - well. It feels like it. The enormity of it all was too large for me to try and explain. [ a beat. ] Until he made me explain it. You might want to watch out for that, too. He may just ask.
metacognition: (201)

1/2... finally

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-27 03:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[ because the graveyard is hell ]

Maybe it does. [ he smiles a little at that, mouth quirking at the corner. there's something wry about it, as he considers the scope of what he knows of d's life, and of his own. ]

But, it's up to you if you want it to stay that way.

[ and this is the MEMSHARE WEEK THREAD which means, right as fei du says that, the final pig does a lap around the two of them. wow! ]
metacognition: fei du appreciates they didnt force romantic subplot. (120)

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-27 03:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[ after zhou huaixin is stabbed, repeatedly, in front of you, after you speak with his brother, after you call luo wenzhou and he picks you up, after the entire debacle with him in your house, you finally, finally, get a moment to yourself and your thoughts.

and that's the thing about it - they are your thoughts. they've been drilled into you by the malicious and purposeful actions of your father, who showed his love to you by making sure you were his protege. countless lessons were taught in the basement of the home where your family spent the most of their time. countless images as you sat at a tiny, rosewood desk, and watched your father beat your mother. countless words, as fei chengyu placed a hamster as small as your palm in your tiny, tiny hand, and talked to you about what life and death were really were. countless lessons as he placed a band of iron around your neck, punished your instincts of kindness with the tightening of a band that made you choke. countless lectures on how life and death were yours to control, how they didn't matter, how if people needed to die they just needed to die. how you were going to be his perfect heir, as he tucked your hair behind your ear and you trembled strapped into a chair. a monster well developed.

but the furniture in the basement of the home has been replaced. you still own the childhood house, passed on to you. it's exactly in the condition it was when the woman who lived here died, except for this room.

now that you own it, the basement has been remodeled. in the center of the room is a chair, surrounded by floor to ceiling LED screens. a small computer sits on a table by the chair, and a small refrigerator sits beside it. the room smells faintly, just barely, of blood.

you make your way down the stairs into the basement, and you shut the door behind you. you can still see the images in your head: huaixin, dying in front of you, how you felt for a moment this was just an animal, not a human being. the blood, blood from his stab wound, blood on his shirt, on the ground under his corpse, how sick and nauseous you felt seeing it - but how numb you felt, how you didn't know what the people around you were feeling, how you should feel, the way it felt like you were split in two parts, your father's voice -

"Every moment is death. The only thing that doesn't change is the sack of skin made of carbohydrates. If you feel an emotional connection to the sack of skin, isn't it like anthropomorphizing the pork on your plate? It's a sort of delusional disorder."

that numb emotional disconnect is still there, uncomfortable in your chest, almost too comfortable. you drop into the chair, calmly, and you reach for the leather belts, and tie them. around your arm. around your chest. around your waist. strapping yourself in. you take the electrodes and put them on your chest through your open shirt. you consider the emetics in the fridge, and then decide against it.

(Clinical research says there are several disadvantages to the use of drugs: the cerebral depressant effect may interfere with the patient's ability to form responses)

you reach over your head for the headphones on the edge of the chair, mechanically, and you put them over your head. take a deep breath in the disconnect and lack of emotion. feel the lack of care. feel it pushing at the edges of your definition of self. your hands are shaking again.

you type something one handed onto the little computer and hit a button. the sound of electricity buzzes through the chair around you, and you loll your head to look at the screen, eyes open. you hit play.

the video screens flare to life as the music plays over your headphones - a hysterical scream breaks through the cutting of the music, and the screens flash on in front of you. it's a direct broadcast of a murder, the victim screaming like a dying farm animal as the man killing them stabs into them with a knife - you raise me up so i can stand on mountains -

the minute it appears, you push a button - violently, electricity pulses through your body, sends you jolting and shuddering. again. again, as the video continues - people being beheaded, executed by firing squad - every time you see the image, you electrocute yourself - it hurts, it hurts it hurts - you hate pain and pain is watching other people suffer, pain is knowing that other people hurt, people's lives shouldn't be taken violently and cruelly you won't be a monster, you will do this over and over to yourself until you can't anymore, you will throw up the contents of your stomach at the sight of blood because you won't be what fei chengyu wanted you to be, you won't

( The use of the apparatus follows classical conditioning technique. The stimulus to which aversion is to be produced is presented, and then a shock is administrated. This procedure is repeated throughout the treatment session of 20 to 30 minutes, which can be held up to six times a day. The strength of the shock should be adjusted so that it is as painful as the patient can bear. )
metacognition: (198.)

[personal profile] metacognition 2023-07-27 08:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[ you know, comically - fei du's less stressed about this one than the one before.

because this isn't really something he's ashamed of. that's a problem, because it's not even remotely healthy behavior. and no, it's not something he really wants people to know about himself, considering he works very, very hard to present a certain kind of mien to the rest of the world, because it's not exactly normal behavior.

but. for fei du, it's worth it. these decisions, the conditioning, were fei du's and fei du's alone. it was his choice to turn his capacity for violence inwards. his choice, to use the tools his father used on him for his own gain - for his own good.

he's not expecting to be grabbed onto, and he's sort of frozen when it ends, but. he looks at d as he snaps out of it, and seems to finally remember to exhale. more startled to be touched than anything else, fei du gently puts one hand over his where he's grabbed on, reassurance. his heart's pounding, but it's fine. ]


- It's fine. [ it is. it could be so much worse. ] ... I suppose that answers your question.

[ about overcoming your nature. ]