(no subject)
WHO: Joshua and Neku
WHAT: We logged. It is what we do. =D Mostly Conductor training
WHERE: Sora's yard
WHEN: Day 222 I think
Joshua walked into the house, looking around for his Conductor. They had been a bit lax on the power lessons recently, and with people more negatively inclined towards them showing up (namely Konishi) it was a good idea to get back on them. "Neku?"
"What?" Neku asked, glancing up from his seat in the living room, where he was reading a book from the library - Animal Farm.
The Composer was actually a little surprised Neku was reading something- he hadn't seemed much into that most of the time. "Like it?" he asked, gesturing to the book.
"It's pretty good," Neku answered. "You know, just because you don't see me reading doesn't mean I don't like to... there just aren't too many good books in Japanese. It's all girly crap or manga."
"I didn't say a word," Joshua said airily, trying to ignore that the boy had actually guessed correctly, "Anyway, we need to get back to your Conductor lessons."
"Oh." Neku didn't sound too thrilled about that prospect, but he obliged and put the book down, tucking a label that read "mayonaise" in between the pages to hold his place. He then stood and dusted off the front of his shorts. "Where to?"
"The yard should suffice for now," he replied, heading out, "Need to make a check on how you're coming along, first."
Neku sighed, and followed Joshua out to the yard. "What first?" he asked, once they were there.
"Well, access your power first," the teen said, "Should be easy by now. See how much you can get to."
Neku had to stop and think for a minute - he didn't want to accidentally go into his noise form, but after a quick second of thought, he pulled it out, and his wings unfurled behind him. "Um, okay... so should I try and see how many pins I can use or something?"
"That, and how much power you can get out of them." Joshua moved a bit out of the way so Neku would have space to practice.
He pulled out a few pins, and cracked his knuckles, before trying to use Masamune. A bright slash of light swung outward from his hands. "er, kinda weird doing this when there aren't any noise around."
"Well, then, I guess I'll have to be your target," Joshua said, and then giggled, "Maybe you'll get some frustrations out anyway." He could put up some shields in front of him to make sure he didn't get any serious damage, and it would be good practice for him as well.
Neku looked a bit surprised, then smirked. "You sure you can handle that?"
The Composer smirked right back. "Oh, I think so. Don't hold back now~"
It was strange fighting with a pair of wings behind him, but Neku made sure to equip his strongest pins, before lunging at Joshua.
Joshua was not aiming to attack quite yet-- he was going to wait and see how strong Neku had gotten before countering. He stood there in front of the boy, merely setting up an area around him that would reduce his taken damage.
In truth, only a few of Neku's pins actually worked, but tha wasn't gonna stop him from trying. He activated Izanami, and a small line of fire appeared underneath Joshua.
The Composer merely stepped out of the way of the fire, watching it to see just how much power Neku was able to get.
Neku frowned, and tried Masamune again, trying to get Joshua with an uppercut.
It was apparently a good thing that they had started these up again. Seemed like Joshua wouldn't be attacking anytime soon- Neku would probably wear himself out before they got him dealing any real damage to the Composer.
And Neku could tell he wasn't dealing any serious damage, but he kept going, attempting this time to use murasame (and how he wished it was back at kusanagi).
Joshua just stood there, looking rather bored through the whole ordeal. "Had enough practice?" he said after a while.
He was panting, and pouting. "How come they don't work?" he demanded, looking very unhappy.
"Not enough power yet. Rivelata's crystal is restricting it still. You'll just need to train more." He smirked, flicking a finger across the boy's pout. "So cheer up, dear~"
Neku snorted when Joshua flicked his face. "Don't do that."
The teen giggled. "Whatever you say, dear. Want to take a break?"
The conductor sighed and plopped down onto the grass with a sigh. "Yeah."
Joshua sat down next to him, shielding his eyes from the bright sun as he looked out at the town. "Seems to have quieted down, at least for a couple of days."
Neku nodded. "Well, except for ironface showing up." The tone of his voice indicated how thrilled Neku was that Konishi was here.
"Well, yes, aside from her." Joshua wasn't exactly fond of her either, so he understood where Neku was coming from on this particular point.
He was curious about one thing she had said, though. "She makes it sound like being conductor is a lot more... paperwork. And, um, that I have to be a lot stronger." He fidgeted, playing with one orange spike. "So, uh, is she right?"
"Yes, she is," he replied, "No paperwork here for you to worry about, but we are doing these training sessions for a reason."
Neku looked at the ground, playing with the grass. "So did Kitaniji really do that much better than me as a player?"
Oh, Konishi's foolish stat reading. "She was reciting off his statistics from being a Reaper, I think-- though he was considerably less narrowed minded at the start of his game than you were at yours, which probably gave him a bit of an edge on you, yes."
Sora's lawn was starting to get a bare patch from how much grass Neku was plucking out. "Um, could you just... I dunno. Tell me stuff I don't know? Like... all of it, no beating around the bush?"
"There is an awful lot you don't know, dear," Joshua said with a sigh, "You might have to be a bit more specific."
"Well... like, about what I'll be doing on a daily basis. Or some of the stuff I saw in those reports I found."
"Reports?" Joshua raised an eyebrow at him. "Which reports?"
"Um...." Neku paused, and rubbed his ear under his headphone. "I found some reports about me. LIke someone who knew what was going on was SPYING on me or something."
"Hm..." Joshua frowned. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, but as for everyday things you'll be doing... well, paperwork, keeping track of the Reaper's points, dealing with discipline..."
"Tell me specifically," Neku demanded. "I want to know for real."
Joshua sighed. "So picky. The paperwork is all over the place, so I can't really specify that. You keep track of how many points the Reapers get for their respective jobs to determine how long they live. You also have to make sure Reapers like your friend Beat don't pop up."
Neku frowned. "Do points HAVE to determine how long they live?"
"Yes. That's how it works." It was a pretty good system, considering. Certainly encouraged people like Kariya to do their job.
He sighed again. He just had to resign himself to Joshua's will. "Do I have to collect entry fees too? And how do I know what they are?"
"Yes, you do. And you should just be able to know. We'll get you up to that point." He probably wasn't going to be any more specific than that, even if pressed.
"So then what about Mr. H? I know he's not a normal resident of Shibuya that can just see ghosts..." Neku figured that if Joshua didn't know about those reports, then he shouldn't reveal that he knew Mr. H was some kind of angel.
"Mr. H is the Producer. Technically you're not supposed to know about that, but." Joshua shrugged. "He's an Angel, part of the Higher Plane and basically keeps all the Reapers from abusing the rules to harm Players." He also functioned to keep the Composer in line, but that didn't always work very well.
Aha, that explained the reports. And also why Mr. H showed up that second day... Neku wiggled a little, looking up at the sky. "How come I'm not supposed to know?"
"The Producer is supposed to remain unknown to everyone except the Composer to remain as unattached to the Reapers as possible." Joshua smiled a little at him, before continuing. "You would probably have figured it out sooner or later, though, so I don't see much harm in telling you."
"Oh." There was another long pause, as Neku tried to think of another way to get information out of Joshua - seeing as he was being so cooperative today. "So then what's imagination?"
He was quite sure he had explained that before, but might as well say it again. Maybe Neku would remember this time. "It's mostly a measure of potential power."
"Like how?"
"Well..." He tried to think of a way to explain this. "One way of putting it, I suppose, would be exactly what it sounds like- creative ability. Those with strong Imaginations can use it in combat."
"How high is yours?"
"Rather high. There aren't numbers assigned to it or anything."
"And mine?"
"Yours is quite strong. One of the reasons I picked you as my proxy~"
Oh, right, THAT. Neku squirmed at the memory of his death. "What about the other reapers - Pi-Face, Kariya... and Ironface."
"All very high."
"So why me, then? I don't think it has to do with killing Kitaniji."
"You mean for Conductor?" Joshua giggled. "Now, I have answered quite enough of your questions for the moment."
"But you said you'd tell me."
"When was that?"
"Earlier, you..." It was useless. "Never mind." Since when had Joshua had him this... whipped? Okay, he didn't like to think of it that way, but it was true.
Joshua smirked. "Well, come on. Time for some more training."
Fantastic. "What now?"
"Frankly, there's not much we can work on besides you getting your power up, so I guess we'll go back to what we were doing before." He stood up, walking over so he was standing across from the boy.
Neku groaned before standing up, and attaching his pins. He'd left his wings out, so t felt less weird to move with them. He lunged forward with Murasame again, trying to land a blow.
He hadn't put up any defenses this time, letting Neku have any easier try at him. The boy still wasn't hurting him all that badly.
Being unable to deal real damage was only making Neku frustrated. He kept trying with the four pins that did work, and kept not doing much good
It eventually lead to the Composer just standing there until Neku got tired again, hoping that this would eventually prove to be some use.
And Neku did indeed become tired again. "My wings hurt," he said with a sulk.
"We can take another break," Joshua said, "Though if they're hurting we might just want to go back inside for a bit."
Neku flopped back down on the grass, laying down this time. "Would keeping them out help me get used to them?"
"Get used to them, yes. Use your power anymore, no."
Neku nodded. "They feel weird." And it was true, he hadn't really kept them out since they'd first appeared - and they'd been quite tiny back then.
"Alright then." Sitting down next to him again, the boy pulled a small book out of the jacket he was wearing.
"What's that?" Neku asked, sitting up a little.
"Some works by Poe," Joshua said simply, flipping it open.
"Poe?"
"Edgar Allen Poe. A 'dark' Romantic poet and short story author from the United States."
Neku paused. "Sounds... depressing."
He giggled. "A bit, yes. But a very good writer."
"Oh." He huffed, then sunk deep into though. "What was it like being me?" he finally asked after a few moments
"I felt very Poe-esque," he replied. The smirk seemed to indicate that he was joking, but with Joshua it was hard to tell.
"What's that suppposed to mean?"
"Some people joke that Poe was the official founder of emo, dear."
Neku spluttered. "I'm not emo!"
Joshua giggled. "Which is why it was a joke, dear."
"You should make it more obvious that you're joking, then."
He shrugged. "Just because you couldn't tell doesn't mean it wasn't obvious."
There was another sulk for Joshua.
He didn't seem to care. "Why do you ask~?"
"Just curious. Is it so bad to want to know what other people think about me?"
"No, just wondering." He shrugged. "It was a learning experience, to say the least~"
"like how?"
"Well, it's not like I got to see in here." He tapped Neku's forehead with a smirk. "But I did get an idea of how you felt about things. Pity I didn't come across Ms. Shiki very much, that would have been interesting..."
Neku turned bright pink at that statement. "Uhh...."
That got him to laugh. "Anything you want to share about being me while we're on the topic~?"
"Besides that you're a cryptic asshole and apparently enjoy it?"
"What, you didn't know that already?"
"Well... I didn't want to believe the enjoying it part."
"Oh? Why not?"
"Just... it's weird."
"That doesn't really explain anything, dear."
Neku rolled over, as though he was pretending to ignore Joshua.
"So uncooperative," Joshua sighed with a shake of his head. "Oh well."
Neku let him get back to his reading, and even dozed off for a bit, before hesitantly asking, "Joshua?"
"Hm?" He looked up from the book again.
".... Are you gay?"
Joshua raised an eyebrow at him. "...Did you just figure that out recently as well?"
"Well, I mean... I kinda thought THAT was all part of the act too."
"Hmm, nope~" he chimed, "Not an act."
There was another long pause, as Neku curled up slightly and mumbled "oh."
The teen looked at him oddly for a moment before returning to his book. Perhaps now would be a good time to leave him alone...
Finally, in the warm afternoon sun, and worn out from so much training, Neku finally dozed off, snoring quietly in Sora's front lawn
WHAT: We logged. It is what we do. =D Mostly Conductor training
WHERE: Sora's yard
WHEN: Day 222 I think
Joshua walked into the house, looking around for his Conductor. They had been a bit lax on the power lessons recently, and with people more negatively inclined towards them showing up (namely Konishi) it was a good idea to get back on them. "Neku?"
"What?" Neku asked, glancing up from his seat in the living room, where he was reading a book from the library - Animal Farm.
The Composer was actually a little surprised Neku was reading something- he hadn't seemed much into that most of the time. "Like it?" he asked, gesturing to the book.
"It's pretty good," Neku answered. "You know, just because you don't see me reading doesn't mean I don't like to... there just aren't too many good books in Japanese. It's all girly crap or manga."
"I didn't say a word," Joshua said airily, trying to ignore that the boy had actually guessed correctly, "Anyway, we need to get back to your Conductor lessons."
"Oh." Neku didn't sound too thrilled about that prospect, but he obliged and put the book down, tucking a label that read "mayonaise" in between the pages to hold his place. He then stood and dusted off the front of his shorts. "Where to?"
"The yard should suffice for now," he replied, heading out, "Need to make a check on how you're coming along, first."
Neku sighed, and followed Joshua out to the yard. "What first?" he asked, once they were there.
"Well, access your power first," the teen said, "Should be easy by now. See how much you can get to."
Neku had to stop and think for a minute - he didn't want to accidentally go into his noise form, but after a quick second of thought, he pulled it out, and his wings unfurled behind him. "Um, okay... so should I try and see how many pins I can use or something?"
"That, and how much power you can get out of them." Joshua moved a bit out of the way so Neku would have space to practice.
He pulled out a few pins, and cracked his knuckles, before trying to use Masamune. A bright slash of light swung outward from his hands. "er, kinda weird doing this when there aren't any noise around."
"Well, then, I guess I'll have to be your target," Joshua said, and then giggled, "Maybe you'll get some frustrations out anyway." He could put up some shields in front of him to make sure he didn't get any serious damage, and it would be good practice for him as well.
Neku looked a bit surprised, then smirked. "You sure you can handle that?"
The Composer smirked right back. "Oh, I think so. Don't hold back now~"
It was strange fighting with a pair of wings behind him, but Neku made sure to equip his strongest pins, before lunging at Joshua.
Joshua was not aiming to attack quite yet-- he was going to wait and see how strong Neku had gotten before countering. He stood there in front of the boy, merely setting up an area around him that would reduce his taken damage.
In truth, only a few of Neku's pins actually worked, but tha wasn't gonna stop him from trying. He activated Izanami, and a small line of fire appeared underneath Joshua.
The Composer merely stepped out of the way of the fire, watching it to see just how much power Neku was able to get.
Neku frowned, and tried Masamune again, trying to get Joshua with an uppercut.
It was apparently a good thing that they had started these up again. Seemed like Joshua wouldn't be attacking anytime soon- Neku would probably wear himself out before they got him dealing any real damage to the Composer.
And Neku could tell he wasn't dealing any serious damage, but he kept going, attempting this time to use murasame (and how he wished it was back at kusanagi).
Joshua just stood there, looking rather bored through the whole ordeal. "Had enough practice?" he said after a while.
He was panting, and pouting. "How come they don't work?" he demanded, looking very unhappy.
"Not enough power yet. Rivelata's crystal is restricting it still. You'll just need to train more." He smirked, flicking a finger across the boy's pout. "So cheer up, dear~"
Neku snorted when Joshua flicked his face. "Don't do that."
The teen giggled. "Whatever you say, dear. Want to take a break?"
The conductor sighed and plopped down onto the grass with a sigh. "Yeah."
Joshua sat down next to him, shielding his eyes from the bright sun as he looked out at the town. "Seems to have quieted down, at least for a couple of days."
Neku nodded. "Well, except for ironface showing up." The tone of his voice indicated how thrilled Neku was that Konishi was here.
"Well, yes, aside from her." Joshua wasn't exactly fond of her either, so he understood where Neku was coming from on this particular point.
He was curious about one thing she had said, though. "She makes it sound like being conductor is a lot more... paperwork. And, um, that I have to be a lot stronger." He fidgeted, playing with one orange spike. "So, uh, is she right?"
"Yes, she is," he replied, "No paperwork here for you to worry about, but we are doing these training sessions for a reason."
Neku looked at the ground, playing with the grass. "So did Kitaniji really do that much better than me as a player?"
Oh, Konishi's foolish stat reading. "She was reciting off his statistics from being a Reaper, I think-- though he was considerably less narrowed minded at the start of his game than you were at yours, which probably gave him a bit of an edge on you, yes."
Sora's lawn was starting to get a bare patch from how much grass Neku was plucking out. "Um, could you just... I dunno. Tell me stuff I don't know? Like... all of it, no beating around the bush?"
"There is an awful lot you don't know, dear," Joshua said with a sigh, "You might have to be a bit more specific."
"Well... like, about what I'll be doing on a daily basis. Or some of the stuff I saw in those reports I found."
"Reports?" Joshua raised an eyebrow at him. "Which reports?"
"Um...." Neku paused, and rubbed his ear under his headphone. "I found some reports about me. LIke someone who knew what was going on was SPYING on me or something."
"Hm..." Joshua frowned. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, but as for everyday things you'll be doing... well, paperwork, keeping track of the Reaper's points, dealing with discipline..."
"Tell me specifically," Neku demanded. "I want to know for real."
Joshua sighed. "So picky. The paperwork is all over the place, so I can't really specify that. You keep track of how many points the Reapers get for their respective jobs to determine how long they live. You also have to make sure Reapers like your friend Beat don't pop up."
Neku frowned. "Do points HAVE to determine how long they live?"
"Yes. That's how it works." It was a pretty good system, considering. Certainly encouraged people like Kariya to do their job.
He sighed again. He just had to resign himself to Joshua's will. "Do I have to collect entry fees too? And how do I know what they are?"
"Yes, you do. And you should just be able to know. We'll get you up to that point." He probably wasn't going to be any more specific than that, even if pressed.
"So then what about Mr. H? I know he's not a normal resident of Shibuya that can just see ghosts..." Neku figured that if Joshua didn't know about those reports, then he shouldn't reveal that he knew Mr. H was some kind of angel.
"Mr. H is the Producer. Technically you're not supposed to know about that, but." Joshua shrugged. "He's an Angel, part of the Higher Plane and basically keeps all the Reapers from abusing the rules to harm Players." He also functioned to keep the Composer in line, but that didn't always work very well.
Aha, that explained the reports. And also why Mr. H showed up that second day... Neku wiggled a little, looking up at the sky. "How come I'm not supposed to know?"
"The Producer is supposed to remain unknown to everyone except the Composer to remain as unattached to the Reapers as possible." Joshua smiled a little at him, before continuing. "You would probably have figured it out sooner or later, though, so I don't see much harm in telling you."
"Oh." There was another long pause, as Neku tried to think of another way to get information out of Joshua - seeing as he was being so cooperative today. "So then what's imagination?"
He was quite sure he had explained that before, but might as well say it again. Maybe Neku would remember this time. "It's mostly a measure of potential power."
"Like how?"
"Well..." He tried to think of a way to explain this. "One way of putting it, I suppose, would be exactly what it sounds like- creative ability. Those with strong Imaginations can use it in combat."
"How high is yours?"
"Rather high. There aren't numbers assigned to it or anything."
"And mine?"
"Yours is quite strong. One of the reasons I picked you as my proxy~"
Oh, right, THAT. Neku squirmed at the memory of his death. "What about the other reapers - Pi-Face, Kariya... and Ironface."
"All very high."
"So why me, then? I don't think it has to do with killing Kitaniji."
"You mean for Conductor?" Joshua giggled. "Now, I have answered quite enough of your questions for the moment."
"But you said you'd tell me."
"When was that?"
"Earlier, you..." It was useless. "Never mind." Since when had Joshua had him this... whipped? Okay, he didn't like to think of it that way, but it was true.
Joshua smirked. "Well, come on. Time for some more training."
Fantastic. "What now?"
"Frankly, there's not much we can work on besides you getting your power up, so I guess we'll go back to what we were doing before." He stood up, walking over so he was standing across from the boy.
Neku groaned before standing up, and attaching his pins. He'd left his wings out, so t felt less weird to move with them. He lunged forward with Murasame again, trying to land a blow.
He hadn't put up any defenses this time, letting Neku have any easier try at him. The boy still wasn't hurting him all that badly.
Being unable to deal real damage was only making Neku frustrated. He kept trying with the four pins that did work, and kept not doing much good
It eventually lead to the Composer just standing there until Neku got tired again, hoping that this would eventually prove to be some use.
And Neku did indeed become tired again. "My wings hurt," he said with a sulk.
"We can take another break," Joshua said, "Though if they're hurting we might just want to go back inside for a bit."
Neku flopped back down on the grass, laying down this time. "Would keeping them out help me get used to them?"
"Get used to them, yes. Use your power anymore, no."
Neku nodded. "They feel weird." And it was true, he hadn't really kept them out since they'd first appeared - and they'd been quite tiny back then.
"Alright then." Sitting down next to him again, the boy pulled a small book out of the jacket he was wearing.
"What's that?" Neku asked, sitting up a little.
"Some works by Poe," Joshua said simply, flipping it open.
"Poe?"
"Edgar Allen Poe. A 'dark' Romantic poet and short story author from the United States."
Neku paused. "Sounds... depressing."
He giggled. "A bit, yes. But a very good writer."
"Oh." He huffed, then sunk deep into though. "What was it like being me?" he finally asked after a few moments
"I felt very Poe-esque," he replied. The smirk seemed to indicate that he was joking, but with Joshua it was hard to tell.
"What's that suppposed to mean?"
"Some people joke that Poe was the official founder of emo, dear."
Neku spluttered. "I'm not emo!"
Joshua giggled. "Which is why it was a joke, dear."
"You should make it more obvious that you're joking, then."
He shrugged. "Just because you couldn't tell doesn't mean it wasn't obvious."
There was another sulk for Joshua.
He didn't seem to care. "Why do you ask~?"
"Just curious. Is it so bad to want to know what other people think about me?"
"No, just wondering." He shrugged. "It was a learning experience, to say the least~"
"like how?"
"Well, it's not like I got to see in here." He tapped Neku's forehead with a smirk. "But I did get an idea of how you felt about things. Pity I didn't come across Ms. Shiki very much, that would have been interesting..."
Neku turned bright pink at that statement. "Uhh...."
That got him to laugh. "Anything you want to share about being me while we're on the topic~?"
"Besides that you're a cryptic asshole and apparently enjoy it?"
"What, you didn't know that already?"
"Well... I didn't want to believe the enjoying it part."
"Oh? Why not?"
"Just... it's weird."
"That doesn't really explain anything, dear."
Neku rolled over, as though he was pretending to ignore Joshua.
"So uncooperative," Joshua sighed with a shake of his head. "Oh well."
Neku let him get back to his reading, and even dozed off for a bit, before hesitantly asking, "Joshua?"
"Hm?" He looked up from the book again.
".... Are you gay?"
Joshua raised an eyebrow at him. "...Did you just figure that out recently as well?"
"Well, I mean... I kinda thought THAT was all part of the act too."
"Hmm, nope~" he chimed, "Not an act."
There was another long pause, as Neku curled up slightly and mumbled "oh."
The teen looked at him oddly for a moment before returning to his book. Perhaps now would be a good time to leave him alone...
Finally, in the warm afternoon sun, and worn out from so much training, Neku finally dozed off, snoring quietly in Sora's front lawn