last despair calls first hope

[ringwizard]

Date & Time: July 2nd & 3rd
Location: Initiative Library, Room 701, around the apartments
Characters: Haruto Souma (ringwizard), Kousuke Nitoh (ringbeast), Oriko Mikuni (precludes)
Summary: Haruto witches out gets the d(espair) hits his breaking point, becomes despair monster.
Warnings: Upupupupu. Depression, despair, a dickbag monster, at least one fight, Chimaera being a tool, references to mass murders, references to not so mass murders, possibly suicidal ideation, character death. Oriko's sense of priorities.


Haruto leaves the Initiative's Hold early in the morning with a certain spring to his step. He's gotten a little tan--his time in 2050 had done him some good, a lingering scrape on the back of his right hand aside, and it's obvious. Being back in the city again leaves a lingering malaise to his mood, but he forces it away. With things to be done all around, he's got to keep moving forward, right? There's a lot of hustle and bustle outside the Hold with the still-lingering confusion of new arrivals, as far as he can tell, and he steps around people talking as he opens his tablet and messages Nitoh.

Are you still asleep?

Comments

[ringbeast]

No! It's already morning, man. So you're back, then? How'd it go?

[ringwizard]

I thought I'd ask!!

It went well. Where are you? I want doughnuts.

meet u at is code for race u to

[ringbeast]

Heck yeah! I'm out and about, I was gonna get some groceries. Meet you at the bakery!

ah yes the confusing dialect of japanese called 'rival'. haruto speaks it.

[ringwizard]

Last person there has to pay.

Haruto stuffs his tablet and his hands in his pockets and starts off for the bakery around the corner from the Initiative's apartment building. It hadn't weathered the bombings with no damage, but they'd been well on their way to regular operating hours a week ago. He wonders how much repair they've done.

To his surprise, the place looks mostly in order. It needs more surface repairs, of course, but the windows have been replaced, and the door's been fixed. The stubbornness of Exsilium is one thing he appreciates, at least. He pushes the door open with careful hands, looking around to see if Nitoh is at one of the tables already. He better not be.

[ringbeast]

He's not. He bounds through the door and looks around, and as soon as he sees Haruto he dips in an exaggerated mockery of misery. "Aw, come on, man! You know I'm saving up for a bike..."

But he pulls out his wallet, and grumbles. "Fine, I'll order. Plain sugar, right?"

[ringwizard]

"Maybe when you have a bike, you'll win for once," Haruto teases, crossing his arms over his chest and smirking at Nitoh.

He steps around him, toward one of the empty tables. "Two, and a coffee, please," he says, pausing to pat Nitoh's shoulder in a falsely consoling manner before he moves on. "Thanks~"

[ringbeast]

He scowls, but he can't really get too mad about it considering how often Haruto treats him. "You bet I will. There's nothing that can beat me on a bike."

He pays and gets himself a couple chocolate doughnuts in addition. He can't handle coffee, but he's a little better with tea, so he gets some hot water and a teabag as well. He passes the plate over to Haruto with only the barest hint of a grudge. "You got a tan," he comments admiringly.

[ringwizard]

Haruto half-watches Nitoh bustle around ordering, and takes the plate carefully in both hands to set it down before he speaks. "You bet I did," he agrees, "there wasn't much time for lying around, but the suit kind of... attracts attention." There had also been an hour or two where he'd nearly been dragged into filling out one side in a commune soccer game, but that part he leaves off, since he'd begged off in order to coach the ten year olds instead.

"You have fun without me?" he asks, as finishes emptying his third sugar packet into his coffee. He stirs it as he waits for Nitoh to answer.

[ringbeast]

"Haha, I bet. I remember thinkin' it was pretty weird the first time I saw it too."

He takes a bite of his doughnut, once he's given it the requisite slathering of mayo. "I dunno about fun but I'm pretty much back to a hundred percent. Except I'm a little out of shape from being sick all that time." Still, he clearly jogged here and is only a little winded. "I got the place cleared out, too."

[ringwizard]

"Oh, like mine is anything compared to yours?" Haruto has strong opinions about this, of course, (and about Nitoh's food consumption) but he chomps down on his doughnut to avoid getting into some kind of fight not fifteen minutes after getting back.

He chews, and swallows. "You look a little better," he agrees, "just keep taking the stairs instead of the elevator and you'll be back in action in no time, huh?" He takes another bite, then after he swallows--"how many doilies did you put out?"

[ringbeast]

"Whoa, I'm awesome! I'm like some kind of lion dude, you're this weird guy with a gem for a face? What even is that, Haruto?" He's got no such compunctions about starting a fight. But his voice is light, he's clearly not serious.

"Thanks, I'm just about done with the antibiotics too." He finishes the doughnut in one bite and chews and swallows. "And I didn't put out any doilies, cos like I said I'm savin'. But I made a lot of tea so the ashy smell is gone."

[ringwizard]

"They match my rings," Haruto answers, snooty. "People who only have one-arm capes shouldn't be talking." He takes a sip of coffee, but when he sets the cup back down he's still snickering.

Haruto polishes off his first doughnut and moves on to the second, holding it carefully between his fingers to look through the center hole like a sugary telescope. "Oriko must be so disappointed," he says, "but as long as it doesn't stink any more, I'm mostly satisfied." The ash and the dust had been the largest issue, besides the broken glass.

[ringbeast]

"Ohh! You getting down on my capes? Thos're fighting words! My capes are super stylish. Plus, if they weren't on my shoulder I couldn't aim them as well!" He points his accusing finger at Haruto, with a half-smile cracked on his face.

He sips his tea. "Well, I told her there wouldn't be doilies and she seemed a little confused. Haha. But yeah it's all cleaned up and smells fresher and everything, so you won't have any problems getting used to it after all that fresh air you got to get."

[ringwizard]

"Of course I'm getting down on your capes, they look ridiculous," Haruto answers, and makes a finger-gun at Nitoh, under the accusing finger being stuck toward him. "Bang," he says, and straightens up. Hopefully this time Nitoh doesn't fall out of the chair reacting.

"Thanks," he says, when Nitoh recovers. "For finishing up the cleaning."

[ringbeast]

He grips his shoulder, not-coincidentally the one the capes manifest on, and grimaces. "Ah--! Wait, no!" He shouts, slapping Haruto's hand away. "My capes are the best and you're just jealous," he says, as if that's the final word on the matter.

"Yeah, no problem. Not like I did much of anything the week before the big bombs anyway. I'm just glad that it was still there, so cleanin' it up wasn't much of a chore." He starts to mayoify his second doughnut with glee.

"So how was everything out there? How was all the... saving people business?" He gestures vaguely, unable to recall immediately the details of the mission.

[ringwizard]

Haruto turns his face determinedly away from Nitoh's plate, looking toward the bakery counter. "There was a lot more sleuthing than I thought there would be," he admits, "I mean, they gave me a dossier with some names to start on, but this place let anybody in. So I did a lot of asking around. Wound up locking a bunch of guys up in one of the storage closets for them to find and hit-and-runs."

He looks back, toward Nitoh. His expression is more open than it's been in months. Before Elmer's world fell, probably. "It was--good. And I think most of the ladies at camp fell in love with me."

[ringbeast]

He's halfway through his doughnut with mayo all over his mouth by the time Haruto finishes talking. "Huh... Look at you, Mr. Detective. Glad you figured it out, though. Saved a lot of people's lives, I bet." He grins.

Nitoh is pleased to see his mood better. He was hoping this little trip would cheer Haruto up and it looks like it has. He punches Haruto's shoulder gregariously. "Good job, man...! I bet you charmed everybody. Wish I coulda been there too!" He pauses for a moment and then adds, "I coulda been your wingman or something. I bet we'd have knocked them dead." He shoves the rest of his doughnut in his mouth to cut off the flow of probably stupid comments about to come out.

very, very early on the 3rd.

[precludes]

It's dark still, and will be for hours.

Oriko spent most of the night ruminating on her last vision - Haruto's despair, the monster. A phantom: She has the name of it now, and she waits in a dark alcove off the corner of the apartment building where the air is still dusty and smells like the bombing. There's not much longer to wait, now, though she's been in the dark for what seems like ages, thinking, planning - what happens this morning? Later?

It seems bleak, like so much else she sees as of late.

She intercepts Haruto's return on light feet, deliberately stepping out into better light as soon as he approaches.

"Mr. Souma."

[ringwizard]

Oh, gross. Haruto makes a face, and leans kind of gratefully away with the impact of Nitoh's fist to his shoulder. Everything seems a little more hopeful today, six months of spinning his wheels buoyed up by a warm sense of accomplishment.

"Well, of course I did," he says. He still feels like he works better alone--he knows his own abilities and limitations better than he can hope to understand Nitoh's weird combination of abilities, never mind the mana sharing aspect. "You as my wingman, huh?" He seems to consider it, leaning his chin on the table and eyeing Nitoh up and down. "They wouldn't have stood a chance," he settles on. Fighting alone, that he prefers, but he's grown used to Nitoh's attitude and his upbeat cheer.

[ringbeast]

Nitoh licks his mouth clean of Mayo and then washes down the last bit of his second doughnut with tea. When he swallows, it's to let a broad smile cross his face. "Yeah! Two good-lookin' guys like us, maybe it's better we didn't go together... All the broken hearts we'd leave in our wake, right?" He laughs uproariously.

"You got any plans for the day? I was gonna make a big welcome home dinner, but I dunno what you want... That I can make." He grins. "I was thinking maybe stew?"

[ringwizard]

Haruto is cold, and tired, and a little wet. Dragon is thrashing within his Underworld, still, and he'd like to collapse face-first on his bed and acknowledge nothing and no one for a while. He comes to a slow stop when Oriko moves into his line of vision, his head tipped down toward the sidewalk. He looks up, his reaction time visibly sluggish, and pushes Dragon back, his fists shaking in his jacket pockets. He swallows, to get himself together. "Oriko," he acknowledges, his voice hoarse.

He doesn't know why she's decided to meet him out here. He wonders how long she's been waiting, why she's been waiting--if Nitoh is still following him from two blocks behind like he thought that was stealthy. "Is something wrong?" he asks.

[ringwizard]

Haruto pointedly pulls his eyes away from Nitoh licking himself clean. What was he, a dog? "We'd manage to get ourselves kicked out of the commune," he agrees.

He considers, tapping the lip of his coffee. "I want to hit the library," he says, "other than that, I think I just want to lie around the apartment. Maybe play checkers with Kirika...?" Nitoh's offer to make dinner draws his attention away from his board game plans. "Stew doesn't sound too bad," he says, "or a hotpot, but I guess we don't have the right appliances..." Not for the first time, he wishes there were a place that catered to more familiar cooking.

[ringbeast]

He laughs. "Too hot for time travel," he says agreeably.

"The library? I ran that book that came due while you were gone back for you." He purses his lips. "You want more, I guess. Probably the whole mission thing was way more fun than hanging out here usually is."

At the mention of hot pot, he groans. "Man, that would be awesome. I love hot pot. I guess I could try to figure it out sometime, but stew is probably good for now."

[ringwizard]

"Time traveling heart bandits," Haruto muses. It sounds like a really dumb band name, honestly, and he discards it.

"You can't take any of the history overview books out," he corrects, then--"oh, uh, thanks."

"It was a nice change of pace," he admits. "I wish every mission were like it."

"Right?" he asks, and smiles, ruefully. "We can have a hotpot party on floor seven some other night. Stew's perfectly fine for now." Truthfully, he'd missed when Nitoh was well enough to be cooking. There had been a lot of sandwiches in the weeks before the bombing.

[ringbeast]

He laughs. "Probably we'd ruin history if they let us."

He gets it. "Oh, you wanna see what happened to all those people you met, right? Wow, it's kind of weird to think about the fact that they all grew old and stuff since then, huh?" He muses quietly, leaving off the 'and died' part of the equation. "Well, I'm game."

He wonders if he can take a mission for himself one of these days. The Initiative is working on a mana solution with what meager resources they have to spare at the moment, but he doesn't expect the full-on answer will come anytime soon. "Yeah, stew'll be good. I been trying to figure out curry without the roux, now that I'm out, but it's been harder than you'd think. Most curry around here's real Indian, yellow curry not brown."

He shakes his head. "Anyhow, I'm ready when you are. I wanna see if we can read all about the mysterious man who saved the day."