Comments | rivelatalogs: Feels like it was yesterday

necroshmancer in rivelatalogs

Feels like it was yesterday

Jul 05, 2008 17:19

Who: Jade Curtiss and Emperor Peony IX
What: A reunion.
Where: Keterburg lofts
When: The day of Peony's return, don't ask me when that is though!

( I hear your footsteps like you're walking, I hear your voice like you're talking to me... )

place - keterburg lofts, Ω peony ix, Ω jade curtiss

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rappigemperorix July 8 2008, 02:21:50 UTC

Peony facefaulted, and then frowned. His lips pursed together, and he sniffed, tilting his head up toward the ceiling. Such righteous indignation! Jade certainly knew how to push his buttons. Even when he was trying so hard to be nice and helpful, he managed to knock Peony down a peg.

"What do you mean, 'contrary to my nature?' I take care of you a lot, Jade. Don't you remember when you got the flu and I made chicken soup for you? From scratch? With my bare hands?" He asked, holding his hands up to Jade, fingers twitching. "I didn't even let the housemaids help me. And you said it was delicious. Also when--"

And with that, Peony spent at least the next ten minutes regaling Jade with tales from their childhood. Scrapes and bangs and illnesses that Peony helped Jade through nary a word to the contrary. Some of his memories seemed... embellished, somewhat; not that he would let Jade get a word in edgewise to correct him. As soon as Jade started trying to speak, he would bowl right over him with an even more fantastical story, until at last he ended with:

"--dragged you all the way down from the top of that mountain, with my teeth, cradling your freezing body in the warmth of my bosom! You nearly froze to death, but I even managed to save that cat. After all that, Jade, HOW can you say that it's not in my nature to help you?!"

necroshmancer July 8 2008, 02:35:39 UTC

Jade face's went from surprise straight to annoyance as Peony started retelling stories from their childhood... mostly imagined. A mountain? What mountain? And a cat?

He finally settled for resignation and waited for his friend to finish.
It's true that Peony had been his only shelter through a difficult childhood. And that he probably wouldn't have made it to adulthood without him.

But, since then, the roles had been swapped.
Jade had been the one to support Peony, to protect him, to keep him out of trouble.

Normally, he would have argued.
Peony would have left in a fuss.
They would have made up later, once Peony had apologized.

But this wasn't a normal day. Peony had died.
And he hadn't. He had been left behind.

He sighed.

"I appreciate it, Peony."

rappigemperorix July 8 2008, 03:08:17 UTC

Peony huffed a little, and his chest puffed out proudly. Of course he was appreciated. If all of those wonderful, fantastical things he did were not appreciated, he would be quite irritated with the state of things. But as it was, Jade wasn't arguing with him like he usually would. That was a strange turn of events indeed.

Peony was not as clueless as he looked... or acted, sometimes. This had to be a bizarre circumstance for Jade. Even if it sounded crazy to Peony, Jade had watched him die only a few days beforehand. To suddenly see your best friend again after you were sure he was dead... He supposed he could allow Jade to act a bit strange.

"Of course you do. I should probably stay in here with you tonight, anyway. In case you need anything else. You shouldn't move too much."

necroshmancer July 8 2008, 03:31:13 UTC

"Next time, don't open the door to strangers", Jade tried to deliver flippantly, but the words got stuck in his throat, "And you won't have to babysit me like this."

He moved over a little to give Peony space on the bed, but mostly to avoid looking at his best friend directly.

rappigemperorix July 8 2008, 18:20:05 UTC

Strangers? Was that how he had died? By opening their home to dangerous people? No one had bothered to tell him the details of his previous demise, and he had to say that curiosity was getting the better of him. But he would not ask Jade to relive the ordeal. He still seemed far too shaken by the event.

"Oh, but what if they're selling cookies, Jade?" Peony teased, scooting over onto the bed a little and snatching up one of the pillows. He bopped Jade very lightly on the head with it, grinning widely. "Hell hath no fury like an emperor without his cookies."

necroshmancer July 9 2008, 18:46:50 UTC

Jade's expression turned slightly sour, as if he had bit into a lemon, an expression that was reassuringly normal for the colonel.

"I'm not even sure Van or Sync could even bake cookies, let alone sell them."

Jade flinched, surprised, as Peony hit him on the head with a pillow, and he caught himself, against his own will... laughing.

"No hurting the invalid!"

He reached out for the pillow.

rappigemperorix July 10 2008, 01:16:44 UTC

Peony chuckled, letting the pillow fall into Jade's lap. It was refreshing to hear the man laugh. It was such a rare treat. He reached out to press his index finger gently against the other's cheek, then pinched it gently. Jade was always making such ridiculous excuses for himself. 'I'm an old man,' 'I'm an invalid,' etc. Perhaps he was a hypochondriac.

"I can bake cookies. Well... I can help bake cookies." He said with a sheepish grin, looking up at the ceiling. "We should do that tomorrow, if you're feeling well enough to get out of bed. Invalid."

necroshmancer July 10 2008, 03:37:54 UTC

Jade's eyes widened as Peony laid his fingers on his cheek, but he quickly schooled his features back into the slightly distant expression he cultivated for most of his adult life.

Completely, irrationally, all Jade could think of was to throw an arm around Peony and hold him close... he wanted to feel his heart beating, because all he could think of was Peony's chest, sticky and cold and unnaturally still against his cheek.

So he frowned and, instead, answered curtly: "I don't bake."

rappigemperorix July 10 2008, 03:49:24 UTC

"Hm," Peony pursed his lips together in thought, leaning over to press his shoulder against his friend's. He placed his index finger beside his own lips, tapping slowly as he pondered. He didn't let up the weight against Jade. At this rate, he would push the other man right over onto his side. Strangely, he didn't seem to care.

"I wonder if Saphir bakes. It kind of seems like something he would do, doesn't it? Baking." He smirked slyly, making a mocking kissy face at Jade. "I bet he would make lots of cookies for you if you asked him to."

necroshmancer July 10 2008, 11:25:57 UTC

Jade's fingers tightened on the pillow in his lap as Peony continued to be completely utterly annoying... why was he leaning into him like that anyway? It hurt.

And then he brought Dist and his horrendous infatuation into it.
That was the last straw.

The expression on Jade's face did not waver, but the hands and the pillow came up swiftly, aiming for Peony face.

THWAP!

rappigemperorix July 10 2008, 21:22:41 UTC

Peony's eyes widened, the laugh dying momentarily on his lips before he was knocked squarely in the face by that pillow. He fell onto his back, putting a hand up to his forehead as that contagious laugh returned ten fold. What was so terribly hilarious about nearly getting your nose broken by a pillow, he had no idea. But it had indeed gotten him rolling.

"S- Stop that! Now that's not nice! I didn't you that hard!" He exclaimed during the periods that he actually had the wherewithal to breathe. Oh, but he knew he'd struck a nerve. He took up Jade's hand, holding it to his chest as he screwed up his face into his best impression of Dist.

"BUT JAAAAAAAAAADE! Surely you MUST understand how much he LOVES you! He would DIE for you! There is nothing he wouldn't do just to see a smile on your radiant face!" Peony proclaimed, all the while still battling back the hysterical laughter that his friend had sent him spiraling into.

necroshmancer July 11 2008, 13:16:13 UTC

Jade, nonplussed, deposited the pillow in his lap, fluffed it up, then looked towards Peony to see... that.

To see Dist's expression on Peony's face.

"You're 35", his voice sounded bitter to his own ears, so he could not imagine what it would sound like to Peony, "You should be old enough to realize that this isn't remotely amusing."

He had to admit to himself, reluctantly, that what stung the most wasn't Peony reminding him of Dist's disturbing obsession with him... but that, in a way, he parodied his own attachment to Peony, to the boy whose smile had turned him away from his unhealthy fascination with death, to the Emperor he would gladly die for, to the man...

rappigemperorix July 11 2008, 20:52:11 UTC

Peony's hysteria was dying down quickly. He chuckled still at Jade's words, reaching out to pat him on the shoulder. He didn't mean to be an annoyance, really. He just couldn't help himself sometimes, especially when Jade responded so aptly to his teasing. He was playful and mischievous by nature. Surely that wasn't the worst thing in the world.

"Alright, I'm sorry. I was amused, anyway," he explained, reaching up to tug Jade back against the pillows that were propped up behind him. He needed to relax. He was getting too worked up. What relaxed Jade? ...Peony thought he remembered something. He wondered if it still worked.

His hands moved to Jade's hair, fingers carefully combing through the long chestnut strands. He took up a handful, separating it into three strands, and starting to weave them over and under each other into a loose braid. He loved this, when they were children; loved having his hair braided and brushed, if someone could actually get him to sit down long enough to do it. In fact, Peony was one of the only people Jade ever allowed to touch his hair. "Just calm down. You won't heal right if you get yourself all upset."

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