this place is so messed up [closed thread]

[desolatory]

WHO: Sakuraba Neku [desolatory] and Misaki Shiki [styletastic]
WHAT: Upon arriving, Neku decides to go find Shiki, mainly for the freaking out from the blood craze going on.
WHERE: Near to the Crimson Dragon.
WHEN: Late evening, after this.

Comments

[styletastic]

Shiki looked around at all the people walking by. You could say she was used to the crowd, Shibuya was filled with way more people than this, but this was a different setting. The buzzing of conversations were different, the air was different, the sounds she usually hears around her were different.

"Well Nyan-tan," she said holding up her kitty plushie in front of her. "We survived the Reaper's Game for a week, we can survive this one right?" She flipped her pink cellphone and looked at the picture of her and Eri, her best friend. "After all, I have to get back to the RG. I have to tell Eri I'm so-"

She felt a tap on her shoulder and jumped up. "Ahh!" She turned around to face her tapper and a huge smile formed on her face. "Oh Neku! Don't scare me like that!"

[desolatory]

Despite the resolve not to smile, at Shiki's reaction to the simple tap, that normal would bug the hell out of him, the smile properly formed and seemed to stick to his face. "Sorry. I see Nyan-tan's with you," he pointed to the black cat that he'd first insisted was a pig. (Well, in some ways, it did look like a pig...)

Moving back onto the subject at hand, he continued, "I won't. I'd rather not have you freaking out." Over me, he added mentally. If Shiki decided to hate him, then... well, he may as well go find that nice, secluded corner right now to spend however long he would be spending here.

[styletastic]

"That's fine!" Shiki replied shrugging. "And of course Nyan-tan's with me! He follows me everyone I go. Didn't I tell you that already?" she said jokingly. For once, he didn't make a comment about it looking like a pig.

"I'm okay~" Shiki replied. Now that you're here, she wanted to add, but that'll be... awkward. Talking about awkward. "Hey Neku... did you really mean it? That I was your... price back in the game?"

[desolatory]

"Probably did," Neku shrugged nonchalently, digging his hands in his pockets for a moment. Just that, this place is so weird, it might start nabbing our belongings next, was what flitted through his mind, but he didn't voice the thought. Surely a blood craze topped something like that.

"Good," he nodded once, before he inwardly winced and his face fell fractionally. Objective one of the day; avoid that subject; failed. Realising he'd been stood in silence for a few moments, he shifted his feet awkwardly before nodding. "I wouldn't lie about something like that. They gave me back the price for winning the first one, and took away what was the most important for me..." he paused. For once, his usually secluded mental thought came out as a spoken one. "It drove me crazy that I could put you through that."

[styletastic]

Looking at Neku's facial expression while he answered the question, Shiki could tell that he wanted to avoid the question. She couldn't help it though. She was curious.

"I know... But, I was just curious," she started to reply. "I'm glad you think of me like that though," she finished with a smile. She remembered the first time they met and the couple days after that. It was a rocky partnership. With Neku not listening and not trusting her, but as the days go by, that changed. Shiki was glad.

"Do you still hate the world?" Shiki said lightly with a laugh.

[desolatory]

Neku didn't reply to her comment about the way he thought of her. She was special, obviously, but... he wasn't really sure what to think on that front, so he just nodded slowly, his eyes on the floor.

For her question, though, he took a slightly long moment to answer it. "... depends," he said eventually. "... yes and no. Not all of it," he stole a glance at her, meeting her eyes for a prolonged moment, as if trying to say 'because of you' but the words didn't come out. "Maybe I've changed."

[styletastic]

Shiki laughed slightly. "Maybe you did. That's a good thing. You can't go on for the rest of your life alone. You need friends by your side!"

She extended her hand. "Now that we're not partners anymore, friends?"

Shiki's mind drifted back to the blood and the journal. "Um... what are we going to do about the blood?" She asked. She really didn't know what was going on in this world. It seemed like the two of them appeared in the middle of a... war? battle? rebellion? "And where are we going to sleep?"

[desolatory]

For a moment, Neku seemed to concider taking her hand. Being 'friends' with someone seemed to go against his life's parole - though, he knew he was already wanting to be 'friends' with her in a way. It was just the confirmation part that slightly bugged him. Friends got you hurt

[styletastic]

Shiki frowned a bit. "Neku, that's what friends are for. They watch your back." She remembered what Neku said about friends. They hold you down. They hurt you. And for some parts, Shiki wanted to believe that, but she knew that it wasn't all true. "Friends get you going through the good and hard times," she said to him.

She thought for a bit. It was true that the blood didn't affect them at all unlike some of the other people here, and Shiki felt lucky. "It looks like it hurts," she muttered silently. "But, you're right..."

"Okay then! Let's go find us an empty house~"

[desolatory]

Neku wasn't sure on that point. From friends they had seem, they dropped you on a whim, and even if arguing kept a healthy relationship, he doubted that. Still. "... 'spose," he shrugged, hands back in his pockets. He'd probably just had one experience, whilst Shiki had had another, more positive experience with 'friends'. Guess I have something to learn about that one, he mused. Of course, he would never admit it.

"Yeah," he couldn't argue with that one. "The journal people seemed freaked about it... but there's not much we can do," he said, trying to see it from her perspective.

He paused on the last one. "... us?" he muttered. Not that he minded. He'd prefer if they were close for reason's sake. Didn't stop it from being sort of embarassing and that he wasn't good at these things. "... shared, right?"

[styletastic]

"Right again," Shiki replied. "I don't want to get in trouble... with the Queen, or whoever runs this place." She didn't like the idea of a queen ruling over them, much less a CHILD as a queen.

Noticing the hesitation in his voice, Shiki waved her arms. "W-well, we don't have to share if you don't want to- If it's awkward with you-" she started. "We can always find a place with two rooms."

[desolatory]

With the Queen, the part that seemed to bother him most was that even if she was a Queen making them automatically subject to her whims, he'd have thought she'd have had some compassion. A little. "We should keep a low-ish profile," he said, folding his arms for a second. Low-ish profile would probably translate to blending in, by changing clothes, which wouldn't be really much of a problem. "See what we can do with or without pins."

At she waved her arms, that just made him all the more nerved, causing Neku to cast his gaze momentarily to the ground, before he breathed in once and his face evened out. "I mean... two rooms for one house is fine," he muttered. "I'd rather be near where you were than miles away."

[styletastic]

She nodded. "We should try to find ourselves some new clothes," Shiki said looking around. "Um well, for the pins part, I heard that magic won't work here. Would the pins go under that category?" Shiki wasn't really sure if psychs was part of magic or not, but from what they tried, scanning people didn't work.

"Hehe, okay then! Let's begin our search!" Sticking together was a good idea. "We should probably make a few friends while we're here too."

[desolatory]

"Could you make some?" Neku asked, raising an eyebrow in curiousity. Well, she'd need a base to go from, obviously, but, he was pretty sure Shiki could make just about anything. Fairly sure. "... magic..." Neku folded his arms. "Well, I'm pretty sure it was telekenisis or something for most of the psychs. A lot of the Jupiter of the Monkey ones are slashing, though, so they might work..." he fumbled in his pocket, pulling out a couple of pins.

"Right," he agreed, half turning on the spot and indicating the direction he'd come from. "I went through part of it to get here--" he broke off, hearing here last few words and his face clouding fractionally. "--if we must," he said through slight gritted teeth and with a sigh.

[styletastic]

Was that a challenge? "Of course I can! We just need to get some fabrics~" Shiki said excitedly. She was practically bouncing when she said that. "Um, listen- I'm not really good in designing them - Eri is better - but I'll try my best."

"We should probably hurry, it looks like night is going to come soon." She started walking toward the direction where Neku came from.

"Come on Neku, it won't be that bad!" Shiki was determined to get Neku to like people again, even if that means dragging him around.

[desolatory]

"All we need to do is fit in," He reminded her. There was no need to go over the top with designs when the locals had just about the walls you really needed when they went past. But he couldn't help smiling, if only fractionally, at her enthusiasm.

"Right, that'll be tomorrow's objective then," he nodded, casting a glance at the slowly darkening sky, starting off after her. Just like old times, then. Except they seemed to be walking more in pace than before.

He still wasn't too sure about her last statement, his hands back in his pockets and his face half hidden. "No. It really won't. It'll be worse," he muttered, though it seemed half hearted.