{ open } there was this boy who tore my heart in two

[donttelldaddy]

Characters: donttelldaddy and OPEN
Location: Anywhere, everywhere.
Rating: PG-13
Time: December 12th/13th, midnight
Description: Nothing goes the way Lili plans, and Minato goes for a record in making her angry, and she takes it out in inanimate objects. Maybe people.
Notes: Tag in whatever format you like!

Comments

[adiosasshole]

Shinjiro had been patrolling for the night when the flaming pillow landed not too far from him. Some people might have been alarmed, but this close to Christmas Eve he could only expect more drama in the city. Approaching the building to see what the hell was going on, he only came face to face with the rampaging Lili.

It was easy enough to recognize the woman from when he had gotten his stitches removed... but spending part of his teen years living with Mitsuru Kirijo had trained him to recognize a woman on the warpath, and he stepped aside in-case she didn't want to stop.

"You look like hell."

[donttelldaddy]

Lili glared. She knew that, thanks. Her eyes were red, blurry, and puffed, her hair far less than impeccable, and...penguin slippers, as cute as they were, were not meant to be worn outside of the house. Especially not on the streets.

"Thank you," she spat. "Whatever would I do without you, besides roam about the city in peace?"

[adiosasshole]

He didn't flinch away, putting up his best impassive expression, one he used to save for the thugs and harpies in the back alleys back home.

"You might want to think of putting some pants on before roaming the city in peace. And maybe a coffee."

[donttelldaddy]

"I don't like coffee."

Lili didn't bother arguing the point about pants, seeing as it was true. But there hadn't been any time, she had to get out of there immediately. He should be grateful that she's wearing anything on her feet at all.

[pishirogane]

Too late in the Library. She had to wake up for training in the morning. Minato and his ridiculous call had distracted her and set her back at least an hour. Stifling a yawn, Naoto decided to call it an evening and head home. Why did she let the time drag past ten o'clock anyway? This ruined her schedule...

... And why the hell did the Casualty Communal have to be so far away?

Whatever.

Back straight, head forward, hat snug, she just began her march back 'home'.

[donttelldaddy]

Only to have her journey impeded by a hysterical, under-dressed Lili with some alcohol in her system. Her lucky night.

She mistook Naoto for Minato for just a moment, and opened her mouth to scream, but luckily, realized her mistake before the words came out. Still, she was about to speak anyway, so she might as well.

"Excuse me! You're Minato's partner, right?"

[pishirogane]

It wouldn't have been a surprise if she was called out as Minato. Still, Naoto paused and turned. This... couldn't be good for her right now; just stay on guard and don't yawn, it's rude in the middle of conversation unless you actually mean to insult.

"... That is correct."

Why did she have a feeling this wasn't going to end well?

[donttelldaddy]

"Good," she said. There wasn't any reason for Naoto to worry, honestly. Not for herself, at least.

"When you see him. You tell him that Lili said she faked it, that time on the beach. The first time, not the second time. That was...no, don't say any of that," Lili corrected herself, shaking her head, and crossing her arms. She wasn't wearing any sleeves, and the light drizzle had started, dripping tiny beads of water all over her. "What you need to tell him is that I hate him. The next time I see him I'm going to saute his genitals. And feed them to him, after. Tell him that."

[halfcow]

Bloody hands. Ryoki had just came out of the Red Light district after he had his fun and walked back to his room, wherever that was. Right now, he looked pretty satisfied and in his usual trance after beating up someone unconscious and rejoiced with their screams; it was time to go home and remember all of it over and over again until morning.

But when a girl wearing a nightgown and slippers was caught by his eyes, he stopped and was brought to reality. "Aha?" he knew that girl wearing a nightgown and slippers.

[donttelldaddy]

She should have known she would run into Ryoki around here. If she were looking for him, it would be the first place to check, even before his room. Lili didn't want to see him here, looking so weak and pathetic. And that was nothing compared to how she felt. He hadn't said anything to her yet, so she pretended not to see him and kept walking, trying to rub the cold out of her arms.

[halfcow]

But of course Ryoki would talk to her; tact wasn't part of his personality and even if she was upset, he wasn't going to ignore the girl. The Half bull approached her, licking the back of his hand to clean the blood "Lili-chan~ aren't ya cold like that?" which was a stupid question since she was rubbing her arms.

[donttelldaddy]

"H-hello, Ryoki," she choked, wiping her hands over her eyes and sniffling, trying to preserve at least some tiny piece of decency while he was around. "I'm not cold. I'm fine."

That was obviously a lie, what with the goosebumps all over her body, and the shivering.

Sometime after midnight of the 13th

[stalwartcane]

Watson was up late tonight, owing to a persistent aching along his back and thigh, and the restless need to keep himself mobile. It was plausibly an oncoming change in weather -- Watson had always been sensitive to those, ever since Afghanistan, India, and the sea -- or his canine senses instinctively noting something wrong in the air.

(Possibly, it was the smell of smoke coming from the nearby Communal, but Watson had not found the source.)

It was past midnight when he finally decided that he was going to run himself weary if he did not get some rest, even if rest was difficult in coming. And so that dreary night found one old man walking along the darkened streets in an attempt to head back to Death City, where hopefully Holmes would have left some tea, and Nataku would have remembered to keep that magical heater on.

[donttelldaddy]

Dr. Watson reminded Lili of her father. He was all kindness, very traditional, and he wanted to help people. He must have, since he was a doctor. He even looked sort of like her dad. It was pleasant when she was happy, but torture when she was sad. All she wanted in the world was to see her dad again, but she couldn't, and that hurt more than anything Minato could ever do to her. Still, she had to say something when she passed him, anything else would be rude.

"Dr. Watson? What are you doing out so late?" she asked, despite looking ridiculous saying so in her condition. Would she freeze to death if she just fell asleep here, she wondered?

[stalwartcane]

"Miss Rochefort!" Watson hadn't seen her, so preoccupied in his thoughts, but he nearly balked when he did. What an odd mishmash of clothes she was wearing, and completely ill-suited to the weather. Without thinking about it, Watson immediately discarded his coat and reached over to wrap it around her shoulders, his cane momentarily hooked over his elbow.

"I had something of a late business to take care of," he said, though the statement was mildly inaccurate. "Might I ask you the same thing? Are you all right? It's rather cold out tonight," Watson added, without openly asking why she was here, underdressed, and apparently under the influence of alcohol.

[donttelldaddy]

Lili held the coat close, crossing her arms tightly across her chest. His warmth leftover in the fabric was helping, even if her teeth were chattering. She didn't know there would be so many people around, if she did, she would have gone the other way. She didn't want to talk, she just wanted to tear things apart. And sleep...but mostly break things. Now that he was asking, though, she couldn't lie to him. Vague, though, she could do.

"It's just...boy trouble, sir," Lili answered, waiting until she could get her jaw to told still. "I had to get out of there, it was driving me crazy."

[blue_wayfinder]

Aqua was used to being up late by now. It was one of those things she had to adjust to after joining the Watch, with her shift being as late as it was.

So she was still very much awake and moving around outside even at such a late hour. She didn't immediately recognize Lili right away, having only spoken to the other girl a handful of times over the network, and because there was just too much distance between them to make out her face properly. But she was hardly going to just leave whoever it was to wander the streets dressed like that. Even if she didn't meet with an unsavoury individuals, she'd probably catch her death of cold.

"Miss, wait." She called out.

[donttelldaddy]

Lili looked behind her, to see who was speaking, but she didn't stop. She kept walking, although by now it was more like shuffling, slowly fighting through the cold to inch forward. There was no other reason but stubbornness for her to still be roaming around, but she couldn't go home. Not with Minato next door, not with the enclosed space driving her mad, not the way things were now. So, she walked, and she kicked anything along the way that she thought might fly, or even that could withstand it. Like a mailbox. It was a dark blue, so cheating and lying and abandoning must have been on it's to-do list and it deserved to be trashed by a girl in penguin slippers.

[blue_wayfinder]

When Lili looked back, Aqua was close enough to sort of make out her features.

Isn't that...?

Still, she showed no signs of stopping, so Aqua picked up her pace, trying to close the distance between them faster. When she was close enough, Aqua reached out for Lili's shoulder, not only to get her attention but...also to pull the other girl back so she couldn't kick that mailbox.

"Lili, stop." She didn't raise her voice (she hardly ever did), but there was nothing in it that said it was a suggestion.

Worried or not, she was still a member of the Watch, and destruction of public property wasn't something she was supposed to allow. Besides which, she suspected that the kick might hurt Lili's foot more than the mailbox.

[donttelldaddy]

Aqua was ignored entirely, even after the sound of her shoes against the pavement became more frequent, and Lili knew she was chasing after her. Ignored, that is, until she put her hands on Lili. She turned around quickly, mussed hair flying behind her, and slapped the hand from her shoulder.

"Do not touch me," Lili said, pointing at Aqua's face, her tone harsh.