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Babel; [Ask First; Closed to Charles, Hanako, Aleph, Eri]
Topic Started: Dec 20 2013, 12:19 AM (627 Views)
Czernobog
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Naoya hunched down when Kyo tried to comfort him. It was almost as if her touch made him uncomfortable, but that wasn't quite accurate. He almost enjoyed it -- human contact was rare enough that a pleasant instance of it was always welcome, -- but being revealed as weak, as someone in need of assistance irked him.

"I...really, uh...really hate when this happens," he managed.

His eyes were more focused, though he looked as weather-beaten and pallid as he had beforehand. His skin was going gray, and the shape of his skull could easily be seen through his face, contrasting sharply with the dark blue hat he wore. Her hand could easily feel the fever-heat that wracked his body through the material of his shirt, though even then his skin would be dry. He hadn't released so much as a drop of sweat since he had awoken.

Still, even though his brain was working again, he couldn't relax.

The last two times this had happened, the yellow-eyed bastard had appeared, after all.
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The One True Nobody
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
Warm. Hot. Fever? Was that a symptom, too? Never mind, Shin would do something about that when he showed up, probably. Kyo withdrew her hand, wincing a bit sympathetically, not at his condition but his present discomfort. She pulled her hand back and clasped it with her other between her knees, clamping her mouth shut and waiting until Naoya finally spoke.

"Yeah, I can sorta imagine," she said in a passing attempt at a light tone. "God knows I've been hauled away from shit enough times by now either, either two week t' move or with my legs not workin' or somethin'. It's not the same but, well, I can imagine."

Naoya was still tense. Kyo couldn't help feeling a prickle on the back of her neck as she sat there, as if something were creeping up on her. She glanced backward, over her shoulder for a moment. But all that was there was the rooftop border fence. Exhaling a short breath, she shrugged.

"Well, you're fit again, that's what matters," Kyo said, shrugging a bit. "You're a bit--" --warm right now, was what Kyo meant to say: then she remembered the whole arson prediction thing. Figuring Naoya could do with a little less tension in that regard, she changed tracks mid-sentence: "--pale, though, maybe y'oughta rest up a bit n' come back t' your work later. Y'won't be able t' remember this stuff when exams role 'round if ya work yourself t' exhaustion before they happen."
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Czernobog
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Naoya rubbed his forehead.

"This was just me gettin' ready for stuff. Liberin' up m' brain, y'know? 'S no good if I snap cause o' th' basic stuff," he looked off into the middle distance and grimaced.

"M' health's goin'. Shadow's doin' it. 'T this rate, I'll be a skeleton 'fore much happens, exams-wise," he laughed without humor, and then looked at Kyo. "Been tryin' t' prepare, but I think 'm dead in th' water, this time 'round. These're th' first exams I didn't have when I went through last time. Big anniversary's comin' up, y'know? Just a week 'r so, 'n' it'll be more'n a year."

He felt something tickling at the back of his head. A feeling like you get in your throat before you vomit, but wholly ethereal.
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The One True Nobody
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
Kyo's expression flattened, and she nodded. "Well, yeah, I getcha," she said. "Still, it ain't like you're likely t' screw up, you're smart n' stuff. Just study up n' you'll be fine. Me, I'm--" Kyo paused, then grinned, and shrugged. "Ah, I always wind up talkin' 'bout me. It's like a trip-wire my brain sets across everythin' I ever get talkin' about."

The girl frowned a bit, tilting her head to the side and looking Naoya over. He looked horrible, flat-out horrible. She had only one suggestion, but she hesitated, knowing Naoya wouldn't like to hear it. "Maybe it's best if ya keep yourself low-activity 'til your Shadow's outta your hair... that'd mean y'can bounce back all the quicker when it's over and y'get better, right? Do more once you're back to a hundred and ten."

She hoped that last idea would overshadow the stop and don't do anything prospect, because she knew Naoya would be instinctively resistant to that. Hell, she herself would be resistant to that. But it was the obvious thing, whether she liked it or not... there wasn't any skating past it.
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Czernobog
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"I got th' same problem, some 'f th' time. Lotta th' time," Naoya said. "'S important t' know what experiences 'r' shared, though."

He stopped. Rest up, come back at 110%. Could he do that? He had difficulty just resting when his body was broken: he had spent the day reading after the Reaper had turned him into hamburger. As far as he knew, he was incapable of getting more than five hours of sleep a night. Rest had to take a different form for him: the things that rested his mind usually exhausted his body, and the reverse was just as true.

"Said it before, 'll say it again...wish m' brain came with an on-off switch," he muttered, dipping his head forward.

He felt the rancid energy rising. Putrescent fingers running along his spine, starting at the coccyx and working up through the lumbar, his hunched thoracic vertebrae, finally digging in to the cervical vertebrae. He gave a start, a shiver passing through his body.

Naoya's eyes bulged and went unfocused. Wherever his mind had gone, it was no longer here.

A bloom of yellow appeared in them and spread through his iris like the ripple left by a stone cast into calm water. The color persisted, and then he straightened his back. Naoya glanced over at Kyo, and then leaned back, a look of irritation on his face.

"He's excited and it isn't what I was looking for, he's calm and it isn't what I'm looking for. You'd think his physiological reactions would be easier to interpret."

The shadow tilted Naoya's head back and squinted at the sky, but didn't make as if to move from its position.
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
Kyo twitched. Winced. But, one thing that might have surprised Naoya, perhaps, was that she wasn't surprised. Instead she drew in a slow breath, and exhaled it. Then, she closed her eyes.

Her mother had mentioned this, you see. Or rather, "Penelope" had, when Kyo had sent a private message to that user to ask what exactly had happened in the warehouse with Naoya and Jiro Takenaka. Kyo had been insistent. She had pressed Penelope for as exact an account as she could, and she knew more or less exactly what had happened.

So, she opened her eyes. They both glowed yellow.

"It's oh so very rude to take the wheel without asking," said a cheery voice, smiling with Kyo's mouth, and shifting into a more feminine stance, crossing her leg over the other, looking toward Naoya's Shadow with a knowing smirk and leaning on one of her hands, holding her chin with her elbow on her knee. "Not that I'm one to talk. I tried to Charm 'my' boyfriend against her will once, you know. Just to prove a point. Not sure if it got across. Our real minds are so dense, aren't they?"

...Nevan. Did you have to open with THAT?! Kyo snapped from inside her own mind. This was the contingency she'd come up with, but she wasn't comfortable with it at all. Not even slightly. It was, for one thing, the first time she'd voluntarily given control to her Persona since ascending. Morrigan had been trustworthy. Nevan was not.

Hush, love. It takes one to know one, and I am your Shadow.

Sort of, kind of, maybe thirty percent or so.

No one's counting percentages, sugar~

...Right... just make sure you--

Stay close and stop him if he tries to mutilate his own body again, right, right...
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Czernobog
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Naoya's shadow swiveled the body's head to look over at her, the face slack and expressionless. It blinked twice, the eyelids moving very slightly out of synch with one another.

"Oh? So she handed the reins over to the slattern. Very cute, taking cover like that."

He remained leaned back, sprawled carelessly across one end of the bench, and made a noise in his throat.

"You are right about one thing. He is incredibly dense. He thinks I'm his enemy."

It let out a single bark of laughter and shook the body's head.

"It's painful, being forced to live by and for someone so undeserving."
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The One True Nobody
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
Nevan snickered a bit, half-giggled, even. "Oh my, if I'm the slattern don't even tell me what she is," laughed the Leanashe. "But you know, she used to do this for Morrigan every now and then. Let her take control. Because someone wanted to talk to Morrigan, because she needed to disguise her voice, once or twice... just for the hell of it. Did it during the Ghostbusters movie for a lark, scared Kira almost out of her pants, that time, mm-hm-hm~"

The Persona closed her eyes, apparently losing herself in her fondness for this memory, and then she sighed.

"Then she stopped trusting herself, stopped liking herself, stopped pretending not to see... moment she did, the enemy she thought her inner self needed to be popped out and became me. Funny how that works, eh?"

...Nevan, why can't I hear--

"Because you don't want to," Nevan snapped aloud, her face going serious for a moment. She paused, smiled apologetically to Naoya, and made a one moment motion before tapping her head and mouthed talking to myself, sorry. "You can't hear what I'm saying because don't want to be told point blank what you're doing wrong, so I won't tell you. Figure it out your own stupid self if it pleases you. That's all it's ever been about, doing what you please, right? Now, where was I--"

Nevan put a finger to her chin, adjusting her stance so that she felt more comfortable. "You could say I sympathize, almost," she said. "I get the feeling we're the same. You and me, just chains built by our own minds, holding us back, holding us down, dragging us down into the dark... so, you just showed him a vision, right? Or maybe you're still showing it. Did he get the point this time? I'm curious. After all, the better he does, the happier you are! Or, well, the less shitty you feel, I suppose. It amounts to the same thing in the end."

Nevan, why can't I hear what you're saying? Answer me, damn y--

Because spoilers, sugar... now settle down, I have this under control~
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Czernobog
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The shadow watched as Nevan spoke through Kyo, holding a conversation with the human she had imprisoned in the body's backbrain. Its face was mostly blank, though a hint of amusement showed around its eyes. It raised the body's right hand and jammed the smallest finger into its ear, apparently clearing out a blockage.

"He's doing as well as he ever does" the shadow said. "The point is as much to delay him as anything else. If he were to break on through now, it would be rather messy."

It considered her. It had no interest in conversing with this...thing. She was attempting to get on its good side, to convince it of...something. The shadow didn't know her angle, and so didn't trust her.

"It's immaterial, though. The fuckhead never gets the point. That's why he's the fuckhead and I'm stuck wearing his meat suit for a few minutes. He's tearing the damned thing to shreds."
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
"Oh, I see!" Nevan said, snapping her finger and smiling brightly. Abruptly, Kyo could hear the words her own mouth produced again. The Persona felt its mouth muscles attempt to move downward into a frown, but they didn't budge and gave no outward sign of the attempt--Kyo's honest reaction to the sudden shift. "So this possession isn't really a possession, it's more of a safeguard. Not many of us would look at it that way, though. Shadows are dangerous. They all probably think that if that prophecy ever comes to pass it'll be because you gained control--"

Nevan hopped lightly to her feet and then turned around, clasping her hands behind her back and leaning forward so her face was on-level with Naoya's. "But that's not right, is it? If that prophecy comes true, it'll be because you lose control... ha!" And then, suddenly, Kyo's mouth moved on its own again, and the Persona's words didn't seem able to penetrate her own ears, even though Naoya's Shadow could hear them clearly. "You see, I knew we were the same. Unhappy little bundles of self-loathing that only want to keep the people we're born from in one piece... because when they get worse, we get worse. And well, because there's nothing else to do? Because it just what we do. Because we have no other choice. Because as much as we hate it, we also need it..."

What are you doing? Sit back down! I said stay close--

Hush, you, I'm 'you.' I know what I'm doing.

Nevan straightened up and tapped her forehead, her smile fading. "This is all stuff the 'real' me thinks of. You'd think she'd be able to figure herself out a bit better if she can get that far, wouldn't you? Nope~! Too busy puzzling out everyone else..."
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