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]

Oh c'mon, you chatted her up and didn't even get her number?

[Mondo clicks his tongue against his teeth in disappointment. Not that it really would have mattered since they don't have a phone, but whatever.]

I'm glad you've calmed down a bit though! Are you ready for your interviews? Or did you wanna go buy clothes first?

[blazingspirit]

Well, I set them up for tomorrow so that I actually can figure out what I'm going to...say and shit - dealing with all of that right now won't end well, you know?! So let's just get some fuckin' clothes and be done with it!

[At least he's more excited than he is nervous, but dear god honey the yelling...]

[diamondo]

[Yes, well, you're getting hair-ruffles for your effort!!]

You'll be fine, kyoudai! But yeah, it might be good to get a decent idea of what you're gonna say. Alright, let's get you some fucking clothes!

[He'll let go then and start off in the direction of one of the large clothing stores; it's pretty generic, but they have cheap clothes and that's really all Mondo can afford right now.]

[blazingspirit]

[Oi, come on - he just kind of laughs a bit at that hair-ruffling, though, and he follows easily after Mondo once he's let go.

Ishimaru was never really one for clothes, and Ishida isn't either; really, he's just looking for something that can be considered presentable until he actually starts getting some sort of damn paycheck. He takes his time with it, though, checking the price tags on literally everything he picks up and seeming to run some sort of mental calculations before either setting it down again or taking it with him; it's a surprisingly meticulous process that results in him setting down way more than he's taking away, and it's obvious from the certainty with which he does it that he's used to this sort of thing on some level.

Though doing this in silence obviously isn't his idea of a good time either and he talks to Mondo a bit while he does so.]

You know I'm paying you back for all this shit, right?

[diamondo]

[Mondo watches the process, tipping his head a bit to one side occasionally as Ishida goes. He recognizes what he'd doing, of course - he had to do the same thing back home when money was really tight (which it often was) - but he never would have expected it from Ishida. It isn't possible that he picked that up from Mondo, simply because he hadn't known about that. So Ishimaru's family must have had financial difficulties as well. That made sense though; Ishimaru's grandfather had been the Prime Minister and from what Ishimaru had said, he'd done a terrible job of it. So maybe the family was in debt or something like that. He supposed that made sense, but he never would have expected it from Ishimaru.]

You don't have to! I've been tucking money away just in case, y'know? So don't worry about it!

[That money was actually being saved up for a bike, but he figures that's not important! Ishida's much more important than any motorcycle he could get his hands on.]

[blazingspirit]

I'm paying you back.

[And that is final, goddamn it.]

I make a point of not owing people money; it pisses me off that you have to do this in the first place. So just let me pay you back, okay?

[diamondo]

[...Looks like he was right...]

You know I wouldn't hold it over your head or anything. But alright, you'll pay me back then.

[blazingspirit]

...yeah, I know you wouldn't.

[He falls quiet then, though he's clearly still bothered by it; he works for a while longer in silence before speaking up again.]

Look, I appreciate what you're doing but I hate relying on other people like this. I'm not trying to say I'm fucking ungrateful but paying you back just makes it marginally less humiliating, all right?

[diamondo]

No, I know you're not ungrateful. It's alright. I get it. Owing people anything fucking sucks. You don't have to consider it humiliating though. I mean, shit, you showed up here without any money. What did you expect would happen? So don't worry about it too much, alright? I know you'll pay me back.

[blazingspirit]

Good.

[He doesn't address the rest of it, he just leaves it where it is; he's got a...decent clothing selection going, at least. It'll work for now.]

...I'm also going to need a watch, mine apparently decided to fuckin' break on arrival - it hasn't been working since I got here, it's been pissing me off. Then I think we're good.

[diamondo]

[He's content to let the rest go without addressing it; he knows Ishida heard him.]

Alright! You sure that's all you need?

[blazingspirit]

...kyoudai, I wear my fuckin' uniform 24/7. This is already more clothing than I know what to do with!

[He doesn't seem bothered, though; while the speed with which it happened might be a bit strange, clearly he's over whatever awkwardness was bothering him before. Now let him go pick out a damn watch and we'll be good, okay.]

[diamondo]

[Mondo laughs at that, it certainly is true. He leads Ishida over to where the watches are, glancing at a few of them. He has no intention of buying one; he doesn't like things sitting on his wrist. Besides, the watch would probably get broken working in a carpenter's shop.]

See any you like?

[blazingspirit]

I don't need anything too nice, just as long as it tells time I'm good!

[He manages to pick something out eventually, though; actually paying for this is going to be awkward, but all things considered he's actually pretty content.]

I'm guessing we're going home after this?

[diamondo]

Yeah. There's plenty of other shit to do out here if you wanna go exploring or something, but we need to drop your shit off at home first.

[Mondo doesn't see anything too awkward about paying for it! It really isn't that big of a deal, but he's sure Ishida will be happier once they're out of the store.]

[blazingspirit]

[Yes, yes, he will; it's almost alarming, how quickly he relaxes once they're outside.]

I'd like exploring for a while, but I don't really care what we do - I just want to spend time with you, you know?

[...he also apparently has no shame in admitting that, good lord.]

[diamondo]

[O-Oh well that's... kind of embarrassing him for some reason...]

Y-Yeah? Well you'll get plenty of time with me when I'm not working!!

[Just ignore how loud he's getting...]

S-So let's go home and put your shit away!!

[blazingspirit]

[What the fuck, kyoudai...]

...You going to be okay? You sound like you're going to have a fuckin' heart attack before we even get there!

[diamondo]

I'm fine! I just wasn't expecting to hear that, that's all!!

[...orz kyoudai...]

[blazingspirit]

Well, you'd better get used to it, because it's true!!

[...he's a little late to the party, but he's starting to understand the awkward, um.]

[diamondo]

Y-Yeah well...! I wanna spend time with you too so consider that returned, alright!?

[Why is this so awkward, kyoudai...]

[blazingspirit]

Good to know, because I'm not gonna leave you anytime soon!

[This is so dumb.]

[diamondo]

Good!!

[Oh hey, we're back at the apartment. How convenient. Mondo unlocks it and heads inside, moving to the bedroom to shove all of his clothes to one side of the closet.]

There should be plenty of room for your shit in here. I think I've got enough hangers, but if not we can always pick some up on our way back from... wherever we're going.

[At least he's calmed down some and isn't bright red? He might still be a little pink though.]

[blazingspirit]

We're also going to need to pick up another fucking key sometime soon, kyoudai, unless you happen to have spares.

[He's fine with hanging things for the time being, though; he doesn't have a lot of it, anyway, just enough to last him for the time being. It won't take him very long, and he's being ridiculously brisk and efficient in doing it - clearly something he picked up from Ishimaru, for the most part, though he isn't being quite as finicky about it as Ishimaru would have been.

He finishes in short order, locating that watch from among the things they'd purchased and buckling it on easily. He hesitates for a moment once he's gotten it fastened, though; he rubs at his wrist absently, his expression shifting a little before he seems to shake it off.]

Where are we going, anyway?

[diamondo]

Oh yeah, that might be a good idea... I don't have a spare, no, so I guess we'll have to visit a locksmith or something.

[Or maybe this world's version of Home Depot, that could work too.

Anyway, Mondo sits on the bed, absently watching as Ishida puts away his clothes. He's quick, so he probably got that from Ishimaru. It's weird to think that he pulled personality traits from the both of them to create this alternate persona, but Ishida's really not that bad.]

Good question! I figure we can just explore around until it gets really dark out, then we can head back here.

[He gets up off the bed and starts toward the door.]

...Unless you had something better in mind?