antwort | 001 // audio & action

001 // audio & action

[ Do you hear that Luceti? ]

A-AAAAAH!

[ That's the sound of your peaceful evening being interrupted by a yowling new feather. And a lot of splashing. ]

I don't want to die! [ The book slaps down wetly against the rim of the fountain. Anyone lucky enough to be in the square is greeted the the sight of a red-eyed, sopping wet new feather trying to scramble out of it, brightly colored wings flapping uselessly behind him. He's not having much luck of it. ]

W... where am I?! Konatsu? Lt. Hyuuga? [ A beat, and then a slightly higher pitched, more distressed. ] Teito? This isn't funny! I-it's a really bad joke! This is too far, even for someone like you!

[ And then the panic dies down a little, replaced instead with a terribly confused silence. Any who were fortunate enough to witness it are greeted with a baffled stare, his eyes moving slowly to the wings. ] Where... Is this...?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Eh?

[ That... voice...

Coming from the book...? Yes, from the book. He grabs it, nearly knocking the book into the water in the process. This is all too surreal, and all too familiar. ]

Obviously! [ With all the arrogance and self importance he can muster. ] Who is-?

[ About then he realizes the strangeness of talking to a book and stops. Stares for a minute, rubs at the dark circle under his eyes and wonders if perhaps he had drunk far, far, far too much that night. ] I've had this dream before... Wake up, Shuri.

[ Holy crap ] Hah. Ah, I doubt it's a dream, Shuri-kun.

But it's... [ Impossible, isn't it? But this happened before too. Going home, coming back. He remembers being here and being greeted by someone impossible... right?

There's a heavy splash as he hauls himself out of the fountain, nearly slipping and heaving a groan as his unsettled stomach disagrees. Having nothing but wine was a mistake. The night is a blur. There was an explosion, and then... the smell of something sterile, was that here? And... ]

Who are you?

A man known as Masaomi Kida. You probably don't know me though.

[ A little sheepishly. That was his bad ]

[ It... sounds familiar. But if Shuri's being honest, he's met so many people the past few days and he scarcely remembers any of their names. Just the fake sympathy in their voices and the demands they'd been bold enough to give.

Ugh. ]

Maybe. I don't know! [ He shakes himself off, pausing to stare at the wings and then sits heavily down on the edge of the fountain, pinching the bridge of his nose. ] I had... I had a house? Here. It was small, but it was here. [ No... no. That house was gone. He'd left it because... why would he leave a house for an even smaller space? ] I have a headache.

Then maybe you should go and get yourself some aspirin. [ He's concerned, in spite of himself. Shuri was a .... well he guesses that "senpai" was a friend of his. In light of that, Masaomi gets up off his seat so that he can take the journal in hand and walk off to meet up with the guy somewhere ]

Or if you're in a rough spot, I can help you.

[ There's something. A quiet concern in the back of his mind, but he's never been good at listening to that. Or anything that wasn't immediate satisfaction. And he's cold, he's tired, and he's still grieving.

And honestly, the fountain wasn't a fun reminder of that. So anything, anyone, has to be better than trying to figure this out alone. He'd even take Teito at this point. ]

I'm at the fountain. [ It's definitely the fountain and not a fountain. ]

'Kay. Try to keep dry.

[ It won't be all that long, honestly. He just needs to get on out of it. ]

[ He's totally just going to be grooming his gross soaking feathers. Flapping his wings. He has wings. He might be dead, he's not sure. All of this is terrible and surreal and he hates it. ]

Shuuuuri-kun? [ Masaomi's calling that out in a borderline singsong tone, looking around for the guy. It's just surreal to get a memory of that distant of past like this. He's got a towel now and he'll of course also bring the aspirin - or well, no, he'll just take him to the Convenience Store they should have some there. Oh, there he is. First things first, let's toss the towel at him ]

[ He's surprised at the familiarity of this. The voice, this place, everything. He's... he's definitely been here before.

He is, however, unprepared for the towel and catches it in the clumsiest, most ungraceful way possible. Up close, he stinks of stale wine and on top of the hangover, looks like he hasn't had a decent night's sleep in a while. The towel is put to good use, scrubbing off his face and hair and the wings. Then and only then does he turn his attention to Masaomi, perhaps a little awkwardly giving him the once over.

This is really surreal and he doesn't like it. ]

... Hello.

Hey. [ It is weird. He's not sure if it's that he's older, or that so much time has passed (or both, actually, the two are connected) but Shuri somehow seems so much lesser than he recalls. And he didn't even necessarily think he was great then. Maybe it's just because he's hungover. But... ]

You really aren't looking hot.

Mm...

[ He hesitates, rubbing at his face a little more with the towel because he would really rather not start crying or making a show out of himself. Not until he's figured all of this out. ]

My father just died, [ which seems to be a little too personal for a stranger and starts off a little too meekly, but everyone knows and it's not as if he's ever been particularly good at minding his tongue or keeping a stiff upper lip when times get tough, he slings the towel over and spreads his arms and you can practically see the sparkles as he regains his footing. ] and I was just kidnapped from courting the Princess and becoming King! How else should I look?

[ His dad died? ... That is really heavy, yeah. The whole princess thing is sort of an afterthought (though is it a reminder as to what sort of world that Shuri comes from, in both the literal and the figurative sense) as he frowns a little. He considers how sympathetic he really should be to that - well no, but how much sympathy he ought to show in an overt display. ]

Nothing else, that's harsh. C'mon, I got aspirin and a shower.

[ With a motion to follow him, first to the Convenience Store, and then back to his apartment, he'd decided ]

[ There are so many ways this could go wrong. And, again, that little voice in the back of his heads warns him as such. But if nothing else, Shuri figures he has zaiphon at the ready.

The fact taht he'd probably freeze up and not use it is totally ignored.

So, okay. He's following, keeping his arms folded over his chest, staring at the back of Masaomi's head intently. Like... he's trying to remember something. ]

[ TO THE CONVENIENCE STORE. They come in (light jangle) and he motions for Shuri to sit down wherever it seems best for him to go and sit. He'll go and find some aspirin. He doesn't actually talk about it ]

[ And so he does. First he pats his pockets down for money, though, since it seems like being in a store like this one should probably buy something - if only for appearances. ]

Oh, but.. [ But there's no money here. Right. He pauses, glancing down, then over at the displays, before finally taking a seat furthest from the window. One hand rubs at his temples. ]

Yeah, don't worry about it.

[ He says this while two isles over and crouching down to get aspirin. Specifically, just rather weak stuff because he's not 100% sure how aspirin mixes with alcohol in one's system. He's pretty sure there's no problem, but... yeah He assumes that Shuri was going to ask about either money or him doing this, so. ]

You got any tried and true hangover methods?

I've heard that water and bread is a good cure, but... [ Honestly, who knows? He'd heard it from Konatsu, but at the time Konatsu had been yelling as loudly as possible while banging both of his hands on the desk to teach Hyuuga a lesson in responsibility.

Or something like that. He rubs the back of his neck.

There's an awkward pause, Shuri clears his throat and debates how to word something more heavily on his mind. An Oak should always be good at remembering faces and people, you never knew when that would come in handy, and he's never been great at it unless they've been at least a little important.

So... ] Did your... hair used to be a different color?

[ Masaomi pauses, as he is getting his hands on the tylenol. He puts three of them into his hand, but then pockets the rest of the package. He goes to get some random bottled water from the wall, after allowing himself a moment to freeze in clarity. Oh.

So he might remember more after all? Or it's coincidence. ]

Yeah, I used to dye it blonde.

I see.. [ His brow furrows. There was definitely something else. He doesn't know, something important?

This headache isn't really making thinking terribly easy. ]

If you actually do remember me, it's possible I was a tiny bit shorter too... maybe a bit less muscle definition, but if you say that I'm just being arrogant.

[ He prattles on about this, making his way back to Shuri to crouch down in front of him and open one hand with the three pills in it while the other offers the waterbottle ]

Mm, well... [ A half-hearted shrug. He eyes the pills a little doubtfully, but true to idiot son form, doesn't really think too hard on it and downs them. ]

None of it feels real.

[ Right. It's just tylenol though so he should be fine probably ]

So, bread and water, right?

Right. [ Maybe the people of the 07GHOST world all have horrible tylonel allergies!! Who knows. But he's gonna drink that water extra fast too. ]

[ Voice ]

[ Voice ]

[ Voice ]

[ Voice ]

[ Voice ]

[ Voice ]

[ Voice ]

[ Voice ]

[ Voice ]

[ Voice ]

lights, camera, action!!

this was in the director's cut

extended edition, now seven more hours of tag time

good lord, this is some Peter Jackson shit then

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject