Night 45: M1-M10 Hallway

[whos_da_man]

...apparently being vampired made the zombie go away. Junpei wasn't sure what to make of this development. yes, he was quite happy that he no longer wanted to go gnaw on someone's arm, but... vampire. He'd seriously swallowed vampire flesh (complete with vampire blood) and then that same vampire drank his blood. That was a bad combination,

Comments

Re: [M4.]

[feartehreaper]

Haseo continued to keep his chin down, having to look up through the frame of his own hair in order to make eye contact at all. Endrance claiming that he'd been that worried was alarming; Haseo would never wish what had happened to them outside Leon's room on anyone. The mere thought of it made Haseo feel ill all over again, and honestly, it distressed him more than he would have admitted to be hearing more evidence toward Endrance's issues. There lingered a societal stigma regarding people who didn't quite fit in like that, and though truthfully Haseo wasn't one to even care in general, the effects it could have on the well-being of someone he was friends with did bother him.

The weight of the conversation eventually became too much for him, and he scoffed quietly as he looked away. Endrance kept saying that they didn't have to talk about the experiments, and so... he wasn't going to keep it up. Never mind how it added even more to the hundred problems already swimming around in his head. "Are you trying to mother me?" he asked, an intentional hint of disbelief creeping into his voice... even though the only other thing that showed any effort to feign sarcasm or amusement was that his expression faded after only a second or two.

"...What's that supposed to mean?" The heat on his face seemed to return in force as he stared, shifting his weight more than a little awkwardly. Aside from the 'I'd rather die' thing, a first kiss was very much a rite of passage... although perhaps he shouldn't have been too surprised, given who he was talking to. Maybe it had even been implied before, and Haseo had just missed it between the flowery metaphors and troublesome too-honest truths or something. "Er, you're saying you've never...?" The hand that was unarmed was lowered and placed on the chair, pushing it away as he frowned. "You've never been on a date or... anything like that?"

Re: [M4.]

[oftemptation]

"Not mother you, no...but...comfort, yes." Those words were a little too honest, too soft, too...something Endrance couldn't quite name other than far too loving for his own good. "And...if I said too much...I'm sorry. I was truly worried last night, though. I...I don't want to lose you, Haseo. Even if it's just as a friend, and nothing else..."

The words kept spilling out faster and faster, the tone of his voice a bit more scratchy than it might have been normally. It wasn't that he was close to tears, but...there was that sense that something was just a little different now than it might have been. Maybe it was a residual effect of what had happened the night before, but...it didn't feel wrong. The opposite was true.

"...it means...I haven't, no. It wasn't for lack of effort on the part of the girls in high school, particularly Masumi, but...they were too pushy. I was a bit afraid..."

Without thinking, he reached for that armed hand, gently taking the sword from Haseo and placing that on the desk. "It isn't like that with you, though," Endrance said, leaning close. "I..."

Re: [M4.]

[feartehreaper]

"Ah," Haseo answered vaguely, and made no other comment as Endrance's confession kept going, not sure what he was supposed to do. Anyone who wasn't a moron could tell where this was heading, and Haseo knew perfectly well that he could just step away at any time and force things go back to how they were before. Yet he didn't move, and suddenly he was overly aware of the sound and rhythm of his own breaths as he glanced aside to make sure that door was closed.

Maybe his certainty that there was something not quite right with him since the staff had personally attacked him had more merit than he thought. Haseo already viewed himself as kind of crazy and... Endrance was every bit as messed up if not more so in addition to the also male part. Not only that, but this place was intent on hurting them and-- a hundred other things....

Yeah, and...? So what? Haseo licked his lips nervously as every mental argument he had was shot down at once, mind buzzing as he let Endrance take his short sword, though any symbolism in regards to their respective Epitaphs escaped his notice. He looked up as Endrance leaned closer to him and cleared his throat slightly, the brief distraction created by the mention of another name pushed aside. ... Please don't let this just be stress and... teenagerness talking came the exasperated thought, apparently incapable of soothing his attitude even in this position.

"Uh... I don't think you're supposed to give your first kiss to another guy," he said, deceptively neutral even with his voice gone quiet and roughened once more somewhere in the last few seconds. All the same he acted without much thought to it, catching Endrance's elbow with automatic deliberation and urging him closer.

Re: [M4.]

[oftemptation]

"...I didn't think you usually cared about things like rules," was the quiet, perhaps coy, reply. It wasn't a lie, and even if it was stretching the truth a little, Endrance couldn't entirely bring himself to care. Not then, when instead of the expected response - a scoff, the words 'lay off the sappy stuff, Endrance', a side-step, a push away - the exact opposite was happening. It was entirely unexpected, but it would be a lie if he had tried to deny wanting it.

There was a moment's pause - if I'm dreaming, don't wake me, he thought, but he couldn't remember his heart ever beating so fast in a dream. More than that, the roles had usually been reversed in those dreams, not that he was going to spend too much time musing over them, or even admitting that he'd had them, when they were that close to becoming reality. "...and...I...wouldn't want to give it to someone I didn't care about." Those words were a rough murmur, spoken while his eyes were closing.

In that last moment, Endrance couldn't help one last, almost silent, "...and I love you." Then his lips touched Haseo's, silencing him.

Re: [M4.]

[feartehreaper]

Well, come on then!! Haseo's brow creased for a moment before Endrance finally took initiative, his heart leaping into faster tempo as he went still except to angle his head... and to keep up the pressure on the arm he already had a hold on. Come on, Endrance, closer!

He let a second pass, softer, and then his other hand brushed over and caught the faux-armor on the Blade Brandier's shoulder, tugging the taller man into the kiss more aggressively than recent behavior might have suggested. Like hell he was 'submissive' or anything like that... though he knew better than to push it much farther at first, regardless of any disregard for 'rules' Endrance had implied.

Then he realized there was quite a bit of blue hair in his face too, and finally he broke away, drawing in a long, slow breath as he smoothed back one half of his own PC's silver hair distractedly. "Yeah, well..." he answered belatedly, then let the rest of that breath out as scoff. First kiss? You lied... you had to have lied! "You have to know there's more to me than just 'Haseo,' right?" He couldn't decide if that sounded corny or a bit too bitter in meaning beneath the words. Emotions were weird... but after a beat he decided he didn't want much of an answer to that anyway and tried to pull Endrance in for a second try.

Re: [M4.]

[oftemptation]

That response was, again, unexpected, but not in a bad way, not at all. The Blade Brandier certainly appreciated the initiative - and it was more than just simple 'appreciation'. There was something else mixed in with it, that he didn't quite know how to phrase. Haseo...no...you have another name. One I don't know, but want to...you do return some of that, and it's more than I could have hoped for...and you never said if you'd done this before, but that has to be the case.

The response to that question was simple: "Of course I do..." The words were in a slightly lower pitch than usual, and still half-breathless. There was just enough time for Endrance to tuck his hair behind his ear before he was being pulled close and kissed again. That time, he did move closer, wrapping his free arm around Haseo's shoulders. That shift was enough to make him lose balance, but only just...and it might have been subconscious.

Either way, the result was the same: his lips parted just slightly as he landed back on the desk, pulling the Rogue with him.

Re: [M4.]

[feartehreaper]

Haseo wasn't counting on suddenly being sabotaged by his own insistence, yanked forward with a surprised mmph! and wincing at the friction on his shoulders. He just barely managed to catch the surface of the desk with a thrown out arm, reflexively grabbing Endrance's shoulder to keep him from getting too far... and their positioning from going too awkward. He likely would have broken away again in surprise had Endrance himself not been so eager, the teen keeping his off-center weight on the hand that wasn't getting itself half-tangled somewhere in the hair down Endrance's back.

Vague uncertainty caused the Rogue to be decidedly more reined in, however, keeping his tongue to himself thankyouverymuch before straightening and bringing Endrance back up with him, panting slightly. The art of using the environment was one yet unknown to him, but... he couldn't object to having their height more level, even if part of his senses flooded back in the pause as well as very acute embarrassment.

"Um--" he started, then turned his face away to rearrange the weapons on the desk. He was far from an expert on keeping a blade, but he doubted it took a genius to know that knocking them onto the floor might dull the sharpness or... something.

Re: [M4.]

[oftemptation]

"Yes...?" Endrance's voice was still breathless, and more than a little - not incredulous, but certainly surprised. "I...I'm sorry, if that was a little over-affectionate, I...just..." There was really no need to say 'my foot slipped', or 'my Epitaph must have taken over for a minute there', or anything like that. There was even less need to say 'my feelings got the best of me'. That was obvious.

"...s-so...um..." There was that dark flush on his cheeks again, as much from embarrassment as from anything else. The real question was 'why did you kiss me back like that?', but those words were caught in his throat, and clearing it or coughing wouldn't help that. Clinging more probably wouldn't help, either, but Endrance did it anyway, carefully slipping that arm to the middle of Haseo's back.

"...what's your real name?" That wasn't what he had meant to ask, but it was a start to the whole 'there's more to me than just Haseo' issue. "I mean...you know mine...and probably where I live, and all..."

Re: [M4.]

[feartehreaper]

There wasn't actually anything Haseo had to say, and his mind went around and around before he finally settled on, "Don't break a blood vessel in your face, Endrance." The momentary urge to actually reach up and touch him was dismissed as way too much, even if he hadn't had a problem just a minute earlier. I-- I'm in so much trouble... he thought, stunned, though any sense of regret was distinctly lacking, distracted by how close they were- much closer than he was used to when attempting conversation.

"Oh, er... yeah, Kaoru, right?" Name. Yeah, that's generally a good thing to let someone know before you go off kissing them onto desks. However, with that thought the quickly-becoming-familiar sense of dread ran down his spine and settled in his stomach, the female doctor's taunting voice echoing in his mind. He swallowed and then closed his eyes with a sigh. "It's Ryou. Misaki Ryou."

Re: [M4.]

[cannotlogout]

Tsukasa had eaten his dinner in silence, not much inclined to conversation when he had so many things on his mind. There were the ever present thoughts about this place of course, about monsters and the night and about how he hated even looking at himself. Once it might have seemed like heaven to be a different person, to be Tsukasa for real, but now, when he'd fought so hard to return to being An, it was more uncomfortable than he had imagined. Physically uncomfortable too come to that when there were things where things should not be and the only upside that Tsukasa could see was that at least there wouldn't be monthly cramps.

He couldn't believe that he'd just thought that.

But on top of the worries which had unfortunately become normal over the past few days, there was the worry for Haseo too. Sora... Could they really be the same person? Haseo was so different to Sora. He wasn't a PKer (probably), he seemed to abhor the idea in fact, while Sora had been gleefully enthusiastic about the pursuit. Childishly so.

Seven years had passed according to Endrance so if Haseo really was seventeen then Sora would have been...

It made his head hurt to think about time differences and the things that he should have done differently. If he'd only talked to Mimiru earlier, if he'd admitted what was wrong earlier, if he'd found help instead of burying himself in Morganna's lies, but ah, what was the point in that? He had to live life and he couldn't do that by looking backwards.

He moved to pull on the sneakers from the Doyleton trip and then opened the door. He knew where Haseo's room was and well, he couldn't just spend his time avoiding the other player, especially since Haseo was the only one who knew the truth.

He moved down the hallway and knocked lightly on the door. "Haseo? It's Tsukasa." There was no answer, but Tsukasa could hear soft voices from inside. He Tsukasa knocked again before finally pushing the door open and...

...and then he just stared, cheeks heating up. "Uh..."

Re: [M4.]

[oftemptation]

Endrance didn't actually hear the knock at the door, through all the distraction and the fact they were still that close. "R-right...I won't..." While Haseo might have been a little hesitant, he wasn't, bringing his free hand up and tracing the crescent-shaped wavemark again. That was a little better, even if his heart was still beating a sharp staccato rhythm that he didn't think would slow down any time in the near future.

There were a thousand other questions that came to mind, then, ones he might normally have reserved for email - but they weren't that important. "And that's right...Ryou." The name somehow fit, and he had to wonder. Did the PC resemble its player? He knew his own did, at least somewhat - he wasn't as tall as his PC, but was definitely also tall and thin, with long hair. Blond, in the real world, but...

...was that another knock? Endrance dismissed it until he heard the voice that went along with it. At least it wasn't Kanji-kun, but... and then there wasn't any time, and while he didn't turn and face Tsukasa, he could feel the Wavemaster's eyes squarely on them.

"Um..." There was no saying it wasn't what it looked like, because it was exactly what it looked like. Still, he figured extricating himself from that embrace - as loath as he was to do it - was the best response, and did so, then looked down, sure that this time he actually would break a few capillaries with all of the blood rushing to his face.

Re: [M4.]

[feartehreaper]

Annoyance crossed Haseo's face, eyes still half-lidded as he looked away at finding himself the one being scrutinized in close quarters this time. "Hrm," he answered, feeling bemused and a little too hot, wary at his face being touched again - could Endrance even feel anything through those gloves? - and internally wondering when his own name became a point of personal distress. He was moments away from stepping back entirely, until--

-- Oh.

All at once that sense of dread blossomed almost painfully throughout Haseo's body, and he stiffened in place as he looked over at the Wavemaster in shock. Something switched over in his mind, and yet it wasn't because of what was going on right then; any horror at someone else seeing him-- them like that would have to wait until later. Tsukasa--

It seemed Endrance was just distracted enough not to stop him... or perhaps simply didn't know the details behind the relationship between Tsukasa and Sora-- and the unstable state Haseo was in regarding it at the moment. It honestly might have been better if Endrance had kept a hold on the teen, because suddenly he was snatching up the closest sword and stepping toward Tsukasa deliberately, grabbing the Wavemaster's shirt and pushing him back with what seemed to be clear purpose.

Yet his hands were shaking and breath uneven, obviously more alarmed than malicious. He sought out a fighting response in confusion to the rush of memories, though he kept the sword at his side for the time being, reversed grip he had on the hilt keeping the blade behind him.

Re: [M4.]

[cannotlogout]

Tsukasa could only stare for a moment, feeling the awkward tension grow between them (he should have knocked again, should have waited for an answer, should have just gone to sleep!). "I should um... I'll g-" he began to stammer, wanting to just get out of that room so that he could go and die of embarrassment in a corner somewhere. He was never going to be able to look at the two of them again, he was sure of it!

Before he could flee though, Haseo had moved, grabbing the front of his shirt and forcing him back against the wall. Tsukasa's eyes widened, seeing Haseo's expression twist into something that looked wrong on him, the way that his hands shook and most importantly, the sword in his hands. He swallowed thickly, nervously, wondering again what happened to a player if they were PKed while trapped in the body of their character.

"Sora?" he whispered hoarsely.

Re: [M4.]

[feartehreaper]

Haseo was too caught up in his bout of temporary insanity to answer at first, his breathing far too coarse to be comfortable and hand gripping the front of Tsukasa's shirt tightly enough that even through fabric his fingernails began to press painfully into his palm. Unfortunately, actually hearing the name only made it worse, and with eyes flashing he pushed the Wavemaster against the wall harder.

"No! I'm not Sora! I'm not!!" he insisted, anger and fear and frustration almost tangible in the air around them. If he didn't have one of his hands still occupied with a sword, he likely would have tried to use both of them to shake the other teen, but coupled with that and the already loose nature of the patient uniforms, the attempt seemed mostly ineffective... although the Adept Rogue didn't really seem to notice.

The synthesis was likely far more unnerving than Sora had ever been, considering the Twin Blade's attitude and kind of intensity Haseo had only picked up in the last several months. Yet he just couldn't stand it- the last time he'd seen the Wavemaster in the reawakened memories, it was only moments before Skeith had--

"Tsukasa-- why?!"

Re: [M4.]

[oftemptation]

"What are you -- Haseo! Stop this!"

Endrance snapped out of the momentary daze and dashed across the room, stepping to the side of the two and putting his hands directly inbetween them. "I know...that things are strange for you. But...what happened last night is not Tsukasa's fault. It's no one's fault but the Head Doctor's."

He stepped in front of Tsukasa, arms spread out. "I...I know the past is difficult. They awakened some terrible memories for you, and...I don't know all of those details. But...I do know that it wasn't her fault."

There was a pleading look in the Blade Brandier's eyes - a silent call to talk all this out.

Re: [M4.]

[cannotlogout]

Tsukasa gasped as Haseo's grip tightened and he was pressed further back against the wall, leaving it pressing painfully against his shoulder blades. He could practically feel Haseo's anger and it made him shudder, eyes widening with fear. No, he wasn't Sora. Sora had been playful and childishly malicious, Haseo was intense and single-minded and dangerous. Oh god, he was going to die here. He was going to die as Tsukasa, as a boy and he'd never see Bear or Subaru or Mimiru again and they'd never know what had happened to him.

He felt a surge of relief when Endrance interrupted them, but it was mixed with guilt and hurt because Sora... Haseo, had every right to hate him for what he'd done. "I'm sorry," he whispered, clenching his hands at his side. "I'm sorry! You said to run, to take Aura somewhere safe, and I didn't know that you weren't following us. And I couldn't log on for months afterwards in the hospital and Bear said that he kept hearing people talk about you and I... I'm sorry."