pokebox | LOCKED TO blazingspirit

LOCKED TO blazingspirit

[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.]

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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.

[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?

[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.

[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.

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?

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

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

[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.]

[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?

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?]

...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.]

[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?

[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!

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.

...toast might be okay.

[......]

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

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.]

[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.

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?

...yeah, of course.

[He's a little apprehensive about taking the toast, but he does so anyway, trying to get himself to relax a bit more.]

I'll need to get clothes later, but that can wait; otherwise I'll just...I don't know, entertain myself here, I guess.

You sure? There really isn't much to do here. Well, I guess you can come visit me if you get really bored! It's just down the street, on the corner! You can't miss it!

[With that, Mondo rushes upstairs to get dressed and do his hair. It doesn't take him very long to take care of that, surprisingly, and then he's back down the stairs and cussing again.]

Fuck, I'm so bad at keeping track of time...! I'll see you later, kyoudai!

[And with that, he rushes out the door to go be a responsible adult. Aren't you proud of him?]

[...uh...sorta.

That said, Mondo was right that in there is literally nothing to do here; sleeping is out of the question, as is trying to eat anything, and after a while he gets sick of it and decides to venture outside.

...naturally, he has no fucking idea where the key is and doesn't realize this until after he locks himself out, because of course he does. Oh well, Mondo will be home later that day and can let him in; until then, he has a city to explore.

He doesn't stray too far, for fear that he won't be able to find the apartment again if he gets himself lost, but thankfully this area is a bit more straightforwardly laid-out; he manages to find a street with a reasonably good selection of shops, anyway, and he spends some time poking around there without purchasing anything (because, again, nonexistent money). He keeps an eye on the time, however, and around midday he figures that surely Mondo has to have some sort of lunch break eventually and so dropping into that carpentry shop won't be too much of an issue.

He finds it with little issue, though it's not quite as straightforward as Mondo had mentioned it being; he can't really complain, though, because the shop is warm and there are things to look at, and he's pretty content to just...kind of wait around until something happens, really, because what is socializing can we eat it.]

[The carpentry shop is a cozy little place; there's a front shop manned by an older gentleman who can be quite the pushy salesman, but he means well. The back is a workshop run by the man's son, and that's where Mondo is, if the loud cussing is anything to judge by.

It doesn't take long for him to appear from the back, dusting off his pants and grabbing his coat from the hook.]

Ah, hey, kyoudai!

[He looks incredibly pleased to see Ishida and immediately approaches, steering his friend toward the door.]

Fuck, I'm starving. Let's get something to eat. What are you in the mood for?

[Other than not pancakes.]

[Oh thank god, he seems to have been giving the older dude there a serious case of the wig; it's probably the eyeflames...

He brightens up immediately when he sees Mondo, however, his grin easy as he allows himself to be led; he kind of shrugs at the question, though hopefully goddamn pancakes are completely out of consideration at this point.]

I was doing some exploring earlier, but I think you'd know this place better than I would! Surprise me or something, I don't fuckin' care!

[Mondo laughs at that and leads the way to a rather small hole-in-the-wall restaurant.]

I come here all the time; it's cheap, pretty fast, and really fucking good. Hope you like Italian!

[They're seated quickly and Mondo flips through the menu, still very obviously pleased to see Ishida.]

Glad you decided to come down and visit! I'd show you the place, but the boss's pretty strict, I doubt he'd go for it.

Hey, it's no problem! It's kinda boring just staying in the apartment, you're right, though I should...uh...

[...wow, this menu is fascinating all of a sudden.]

I don't know, I should try to find a job or something, if I'm going to be here for a while. I kinda don't have money, and you aren't going pay for fuckin' everything.

Do you have any idea where you wanna work? I can try to help you find something after I'm done for the day!

[He's still going to help pay for Ishida's clothes, that's a given.]

LOCKED TO blazingspirit

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