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]

[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?

[blazingspirit]

...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.

[diamondo]

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?]

[blazingspirit]

[...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.]

[diamondo]

[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.]

[blazingspirit]

[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!

[diamondo]

[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.

[blazingspirit]

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.

[diamondo]

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.]

[blazingspirit]

No fuckin' idea. Like I said, you know the place better than I do.

[...]

I'll...see what's out there this afternoon, maybe. I don't have anything better to do, anyway.

[diamondo]

Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm sure you'll figure something out!

[blazingspirit]

Y-Yeah, of course!

[...may god help anyone who ends up wanting to hire this idiot.]

[diamondo]

You don't need to be nervous, kyoudai! I'm sure things'll work out great!

[...hopefully...]

[blazingspirit]

Who's nervous?! I have no reason to be!!

[...orz]

[diamondo]

Yeah, I know. So don't get so worked up about it, alright?

[blazingspirit]

I'm not!!

[Keep screaming, Ishida, maybe one day it'll make it true.]

[diamondo]

Hey, hey, calm down! People are starting to stare...

[Not that there are many people in the restaurant to begin with, but you know.]

You can always wait until I'm done with work. I can come with you, if you'd like!

[blazingspirit]

So?! Let the sorry bastards stare, if they don't have anything better to do!!

[Despite his words, though, he's quick to close his eyes, clearly trying to focus on calming himself down; it takes him a moment, but he seems to be successful, to some extent - he's still clearly uncomfortable and breathing harder than he should be, but at least the volume has come down.]

...Sorry. About that.

[diamondo]

[Mondo waits until Ishida has calmed himself down before speaking. He reaches out to awkwardly pat Ishida's arm. Look, he's trying.]

Hey, it's alright. I know it seems pretty fucking terrifying to begin with, but I can promise you, it won't be that bad. You'll figure out what to do and it'll get easier.