No event / BYO aphro

[green_eye_demon]

Once, the green-eyed man had been a familiar sight around the hotel. Always polite, always smiling, he usually had a softly murmured greeting for people he passed in the hallway. If once caught him in the bar, he would smile that placid smile of his and offer nothing more than a simple game of cards, and even if he lost, there was that soft glint

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[despero_mihi]

[ The room was dark -- no, dim, that was the right word -- and the woman's pale bloated body swam in the shadows like a corpse beneath the surface of a lake. Seated on the bed, she gestured for him to enter, and close the door.

If the room looked familiar, it wasn't by accident. This was the bedroom of that tiny house just outside of Chang'an, and the bed she sat on was the one where Hakkai -- not Hakkai then, not yet, but no longer Gonou -- had laid as the wound in his belly knitted.

But all the little details that has made the room a home were gone. The television and the pile of unboxed pornographic VHS tapes, the clothing that never seemed to manage to get all the way into the dresser drawers, the hairbrush and the empty packs of cigarettes and the half-full glasses... everything that he had touched, gone. The room was bare, save for the bedframe and the old striped and stained mattress. And the woman.

If she really was a woman. ]

I've been waiting for you.

((ooc: CR only with this one! I never play sex with her.))

[green_eye_demon]

[Hakkai's eyes drifted towards the still open door and for all the world, he looked like he was in shock. Slowly, he caught his breath and looked away from the door, and away from Gojyo as well.]

... I don't think it poses us any harm now.

[gojyo_saaama]

No harm?

[ Panting, he ran a hand through his hair, combing it back out of his face and drawing a deep breath in preparation to fight. ]

You didn't see that thing, it was...

[ There aren't words to describe it. Lovecraft was right about that bit. Gojyo can't even remember it clearly -- how big it was, what color, what shape -- but that doesn't really matter. ]

It ate her.

[ Shakujou is in his hand before he's finished speaking. ]

We've gotta stop that thing before it kills anyone else.

[green_eye_demon]

[Before he can will himself to move, his hand snaps out to curl around Gojyo's wrist, but the expression on his face hasn't changed. it still looks stunned and shocked and more than a little ill.]

And did you happen to see where it went? What we'd be looking for?

[gojyo_saaama]

[ Shocked and ill is par for the course when you've just watched a woman (who you swear you knew) get devoured by... something. Something big and dark.

Gojyo shakes his head, trying to focus. It just disappeared -- poof -- but before that, it was... it was... ]

It was... big. And... shadowy, it moved like...

[ No, he can't remember. Some things the mind isn't build to process. ]

I don't know. Fuck, I don't know.

[green_eye_demon]

... close the door. Please.

[For once, Hakkai had no desire to face what could be out there. Would he be able to smell her blood? Would he- no. He shook his head a little, as if to clear it before his hand dropped away from Gojyo's wrist.]

[gojyo_saaama]

What?

[ There was no way he'd heard that right. ]

Hakkai, did you miss th'part where it just ate some girl?

[ So what if he didn't remember what it looked like? He'd sure as hell recognize it when he saw it again! Tightening his grip on shakujou, Gojyo headed for the door. ]

I'll go right, you go left.

((ooc: Ah, fuck, I'm mixing time tenses all over the place. Sorry about that!))

[green_eye_demon]

I know what it did. I heard it happening, but I couldn't....

[He trailed off, glancing away, clearly uncomfortable. The last thing he wanted was to have Gojyo go running off after something that had been his doing.]

[gojyo_saaama]

[ For the first time Gojyo noticed the blood on Hakkai's hands, the red creases along his nails where he'd clawed at the door.

So the Hotel had wanted to keep them apart while the thing was attacking. That was good, right? That meant it was scared of what they could do together! ]

Yeah, but now we can! C'mon, let's...

[ His voice trailed off as Hakkai's hesitance finally registered. Shakujou vanished in a flash as Gojyo -- still unwilling to turn his back to the door -- approached Hakkai from the side, frowning in concern. ]

What's wrong?

[ Hakkai wasn't joining in the fight. That meant things were deeply fucked up. ]

[green_eye_demon]

[His gaze drifted back to the open door, looking for shadows and old memories and other things he had no real desire to see.]

... you're wanting us to go after something that just ate someone. Neither of us knows what to look for and if you'd take a moment, there have been no fresh screams since it... left. Whatever did that to... whomever it was, it's done. It's gone.

[gojyo_saaama]

[ There was something very wrong here, and Gojyo couldn't quite manage to put him finger on it. Slowly, he turned to Hakkai. ]

You sound pretty damn certain of that.

[green_eye_demon]

[He couldn't meet Gojyo's gaze, or even turn to face him full on. His own eyes were still locked on the open door.]

... I would like to think I am, but... perhaps it would be best to make sure. You won't be looking on your own, though.

[gojyo_saaama]

[ Hakkai didn't want to go after the thing. Why didn't Hakkai...? ]

What happened here?

[ And why was "here" his old house? Stripped bare, sure, even more empty than when he'd first moved in, but still recognizable. How long had Hakkai been locked in here, and fuck, what kinds of things had the Hotel been showing him?

His voice was a little gentler, then, but still urgent. ]

What the hell is going on?

[green_eye_demon]

It might be best not to ask, Gojyo.

[Sighing, he stepped away from Gojyo and crossed to the still open door. His hand rose to slide along the gouges he'd dug into the wood, but they didn't... couldn't seem to close it. Perhaps he didn't want to...]

What do you remember?

[gojyo_saaama]

[ "What do you remember?" Always a terrifying question to be asked.

Gojyo kept a wary eye on the open doorframe as Hakkai approached, ready to respond if anything came through the doorway. But Hakkai didn't seem too anxious about it... and that was setting off all kinds of warning bells that Gojyo didn't even know he had. ]

I remember...

[ The thing. The big, dark, impossible thing. ...Shit, no, okay, before that. Waking up this morning. Remember waking up. ]

I remember th'Hotel, and then... it was dark when I woke up. Like, pitch-black, and I couldn't move. And then the black was...

[ God, she screamed. ]

The black was what ate her.

[green_eye_demon]

[Those slim fingers curled around the edge of the door and for the first time, he finally noticed the drying blood streaking his hand. Frowning at the sight, he glanced back to Gojyo, but was careful to keep his gaze casual.

After another long, silent moment, he closed the door.]

You're back in the Hotel. You were... gone.