LOCKED TO blazingspirit

[diamondo]

[He doesn't remember much about his execution.

Oh sure, he remembers the lead-up to it; he remembers how the others looked on as he was led away and sure, he remembers Ishimaru's screams. He doesn't remember the death cage nor does he remember the sudden pain before it was all over.

It made waking up here incredibly confusing.

"Here" must be some sort of afterlife, but Mondo hasn't been able to figure out what it is, exactly. It's obviously not heaven (he's killed two people, he doesn't belong in heaven), but it doesn't seem to be hell either. Things are monotonous, yes, but they're not bad.

That leaves the option of purgatory, which Mondo is more or less fine with. It's better than spending an eternity suffering. It's probably not right for him to stay here instead of moving on to hell, but he doesn't know how or when that will happen. He's content to leave it at that for the time being.

This place is a rather large city - half of it is full of native English speakers, whom Mondo tends to avoid (his English is atrocious, after all), the other half is full of Japanese speakers. The city itself doesn't seem to be anywhere Mondo has ever seen, but it's large and spread out, with plenty to explore and do. Mondo hasn't seen everything there is to see though; he's only been here for a few weeks, and he knew if he wanted to make ends meet, he'd need a job first. Exploring could wait.

It's convenient that there's a carpenter's shop just down the road from the apartment Mondo woke up in. It might not technically be his, but he's been staying there until he can afford to properly rent it out. No one has complained so far, so he figures it's fine for the time being. The carpenter works him to the bone and he's never been so exhausted in his life when he comes home, but it's a good kind of exhaustion that means he's doing something productive. He can't make up for what he's done in the past, but he can help out here.

He's off work for the day, lounging around in what serves as the living room of his apartment, flipping through the newspaper. The dates here are all screwed up - it's almost winter here and he knows he'll have to put some money away toward buying proper winter clothes. That's only a minor concern though, because he has much bigger things to worry about.

In a city this large, it's possible that he's just missed seeing the others. He hasn't been looking very hard, admittedly. He's not sure what to say to them when he does see them. "Sorry" simply won't cut it for Fujisaki. He doesn't really want to see Kuwata, Enoshima, or Maizono either. He's sure it's only a matter of time before one of them finds him, or before someone else shows up here.

All he can do is hope that it won't be Ishimaru.]

Comments

[diamondo]

Yeah! I'm glad you can experience it now!

[Hair-ruffles, hair-ruffles forever!!]

And of course you can make me happy! Just having you here's good enough for me, but naturally you go above and beyond expectations!

[blazingspirit]

Ah, yeah...?

[W-Wow, he doesn't know what he was expecting but it wasn't that, hang on.]

I...I'm really glad to hear it, then!!

[why is he so flustered oh god oh man]

[diamondo]

[omg cutie]

As you should be!

[But he'll eventually settle a bit, not that he's moving from hugging Ishida any time soon.]

I'm really glad to have you here. I was starting to get lonely, y'know?

[blazingspirit]

[...good. That'll give him some time to calm down, asshole.

That said, though, he just kind of nuzzles Mondo again once that last part's out there. Come on, don't get like that on him.]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I mean, obviously I had the others in our class, but I didn't...I don't know, I didn't really want them.

[diamondo]

Why not?

[That's strange, Ishimaru seemed to care so much about all of them before. What changed?]

[blazingspirit]

I just didn't, okay?! I didn't want them to fuckin' die or anything, I just didn't want to deal with them!

[He can feel himself getting defensive over it; it's a bit hard to stop once it's started, though.]

It's not like they gave a fuck, anyway. It's fine.

[diamondo]

I'm sure they cared in their own way.

[But he doesn't exactly want to ruin the good mood they have between them, so he's content to leave it at that.]

Well, you don't have to see any of 'em here. It can just be the two of us.

[blazingspirit]

[...O-Oh. Well. That's...]

...you mean it?

[diamondo]

Yeah...?

[Is this a trick question?]

I mean, I figure I'll need to seek out Fujisaki to apologize to him once I've figured out what to say, but otherwise we don't need to see any of the others.

[blazingspirit]

[That...actually seems to relax him a hell of a lot; he's quick to resume that cuddling from earlier.]

I'd like that, okay?

[diamondo]

[Well that's... a bit unexpected. Wouldn't Ishimaru insist on having them all meet up together every so often?

But then again, Mondo doesn't really want anything to do with them, so maybe Ishida got that from him. Somehow. Through "spiritual possession" or whatever.]

Yeah, 'course.

[He'll just nuzzle Ishida a bit there.]

'Sides, this place is pretty big from what I've seen, I doubt we'll run into 'em anywhere.

[blazingspirit]

[That nuzzling just gets him to laugh a bit before he returns it; clearly, if there's anything wrong here, Ishida isn't aware of it.]

That's fine by me, really! I'm fine as long as I have you with me.

[diamondo]

You won't ever lose me. You're my brother.

[Like that explains everything. To him, it does. He'd die (again) to protect Ishida, though he doubts Ishida would appreciate that.]

But shit, I really need to get some sleep. Or at least try. You gonna be okay?

[blazingspirit]

[He really wouldn't, no...]

Yeah, I'll be okay. Get some sleep, kyoudai, I'll see you in the morning.

[diamondo]

[He manages to get to sleep after that, and he doesn't wake up again with nightmares.

At promptly seven in the morning, Mondo is up and about, not dressed properly nor is his hair done up yet, but he's downstairs cooking, occasionally humming to himself.

Guess what's for breakfast today, kyoudai? Pancakes.]

[blazingspirit]

[Ishida actually manages to sleep well for the first time in several days; he still jolts awake at seven, more through habit than anything else, and he flops back down against the pillows upon realizing that whatever he's hearing from downstairs, it's not that fucking morning announcement. He makes himself get up eventually, though, and takes a moment to get dressed before heading downstairs, thinking irritably that he's going to have to actually get new clothes soon (with his...completely nonexistent money, he's probably going to have to fix that somehow, uh); as usual, he takes the stairs two at a time, jumping the last few and landing easily on the lower floor.

...your neighbors are going to love him, Mondo.

That aside, however, he stops at the door to the kitchen, leaning up against the doorframe and watching for a moment.]

Cooking too? God, you are way more domestic than I would have thought.

[He's not entirely serious, at least.]

What're you making, anyway?

[diamondo]

H-Hey, someone had to do it and my brother was usually busy!

[Ugh, shut up, he is not domestic at all!!]

What's it look like? I'm making pancakes. Take a seat, they'll be ready in a moment!

[He gestures to the couch in the other room, since he doesn't exactly have a table anywhere. Oh well, the coffee table will do, right?]

[blazingspirit]

...Pancakes.

[The word comes out strangely, and he flinches back a little without realizing it; he closes his eyes for a moment, trying to catch his breath. Come on, Ishida, you have this, it's okay.]

I'm, uh, not hungry, kyoudai, it's okay. You don't have to make me anything, I'll just...

[...go...back...upstairs, maybe, try to get the burning out of his throat and some of the tension out of his system, and when he comes back downstairs he'll pretend he can't still hear the electrical crackling of that damn cage.]

[diamondo]

[Mondo realizes there's something wrong even before he turns around to look at Ishida.]

What is it?

[There's definitely more to this than Ishida not being hungry. Mondo finishes up the pancakes and sets them aside. They can wait. He follows Ishida upstairs, leaning against the door frame when he gets there.]

You alright, kyoudai?

[blazingspirit]

[To his credit, Ishida manages to keep his composure for the most part, even after he's returned upstairs; he's currently pacing the length of the bedroom and being thoroughly pissed at himself when Mondo finds him.

He manages to make himself stop; tries to act like everything's okay. Kind of fails, but at least he's not sounding overly upset.]

Ah...yeah, everything's good! Just, um, kind of had a rough night, you know that. I'm not really in the mood to eat anything, that's all!

[diamondo]

You don't have to lie to me, y'know. If something's really bugging you, you can tell me.

[Once that's out there, he tips his head a bit in thought.]

Sure you don't want anything? I can make you some toast at least.

[blazingspirit]

...toast might be okay.

[......]

Dry. Completely. Don't put fucking butter on it.

[diamondo]

No butter...?

[But that's just weird!]

Alright. It'll be done soon, okay?

[Maybe it is just best to leave Ishida alone for now... He'll just head back downstairs and prepare that toast for him, then.]

[blazingspirit]

[Just. Give him a moment, Mondo, he'll be down once he's gotten a grip on himself. Because this is fine. It's fine, it's nothing like that fucking school, and everything will be okay and there's nothing wrong with the food here and he is not going to have some sort of aneurysm over pancakes of all goddamn things.

It takes him a moment, but he manages to make his way back downstairs; he's a bit less...loud about it and decidedly more subdued, but he's down here.]

Hey. Sorry about that. Like I said, it was a long night; guess I'm kinda jumpy or something.

[diamondo]

Hey, it's alright, don't worry about it.

[Mondo's practically done with the pancakes by the time Ishida comes downstairs. He offers his friend the plate with toast on it, then absently glances toward the clock mounted on the wall.]

Shit. I'm already running late. Hey, you gonna be okay on your own here?