With DramaticalBlue, Continued

[powerofvoice]

powerofvoice: [He's quiet, but was that new? A lot of his answers took more thought. Maybe conversation in general did. By the time he had accepted Desire as part of himself, by the time he started to have conversations with him, it had been a while since what he'd said had mattered. It would be too easy to just lapse into silence.

He would have without Desire.]

They'll know you. They realize how different I was then, how different I am now. [He doesn't add that it was the 'back then' that had most likely drew their interest. That would sound like it was placing blame on a man that had no blame in this.]


dramaticalblue: Yeah. I know.

[ Desire sighs again. There'd definitely be no helping that. Their captors if anyone, would immediately know who he is. He wonders what their reaction will be. Will they be angry that they've lost their compliant Aoba, or will they be excited to break him all over again? Maybe the latter, seeing as it had been him who had caught their interest in the first place. Either way, none of the options are appealing in the least. ]

Maybe it'll caught 'em off-guard.

Comments

[powerofvoice]

We're wearing clothes, right?

[It feels like a silly question, but it had been a long time since he had worn anything other than a chain. Or masks. Or whatever torture device they had that day. None of them counted.

But obviously Desire had gotten clothes somewhere. Did he have to go out in the nude?]

[dramaticalblue]

Yeah. They'd kept your old clothes. Found 'em in a closet. [ He remembers something then and makes a face. ] Shit, I'm still wearing Plaid's fuckin' chain-collar. Couldn't get it off...

[ He'd put the hoodie on his jacket up to hide it, but still... And yes, Plaid is his 'nickname' for Trip. He prefers not to use their actual names if he can help it. ]

[powerofvoice]

[They kept them? While it was good they had something to wear, there was something creepy about that. What were they planning on doing with them? Or, what had they already been doing? Momentos from the old Aoba?

They were sick.

Idly, a hand comes up to touch his own neck. The chain doesn't follow him in so of course he touches nothing but the smooth skin there, but he still recalls how it feels. He used to wear his headphones in that spot.]

Think we have anything at home we can use to get it off with? [What was the chances he could get it off without anyone seeing? He'd fight over his right to keep his hood up.]

[dramaticalblue]

[ Desire hadn't even thought of how weird and creepy it was that they'd actually kept Aoba's clothes, but it definitely was. They hadn't thrown his Coil away either, or his bag. All of his things had still been there.

He shrugs. ]

I dunno. We might need someone's help... [ He's not exactly thrilled about that prospect either. ]

[powerofvoice]

[He was quiet for a few beats, trying to absorb it all. At the end, they were going home so any hardship with that was worth it. Still, he wished he could have kept whatever was left of his pride.]

Yeah. Maybe Koujaku, if he can. He's probably gonna know anyway, huh? How about the clothes? I know we lost alotta weight. How bad do they fit?

[It would be how they used to measure him as soon as he got home.]

[dramaticalblue]

Yeah, maybe. [ Provided Koujaku didn't completely freak out about everything... ] They're like a fuckin' tent, to be honest. People were starin' at me while waiting for the plane. [ He snorts softly. ] I probably look shady as hell.

[powerofvoice]

[Aoba smirks. Good, let them look dangerous. The truth was much worse and danger kept people away.]

That's gonna change when we get home. I miss Granny's food.

[dramaticalblue]

Yeah. Me too.

[ Eating's gonna be difficult though. He knows that. Food's been a source of torment for so long, and that's not even taking into account how badly damaged their stomach had to be from starvation. ]

We'll probably have to make do with soup or some shit to begin with though...

[powerofvoice]

It's okay. [His voice is soft. He's tired, he even knows he's probably broken, but they were free. That would allow some freedom for hope, even if it was going to be horrifying with them out there.] Granny's soup is pretty good.

[Food was used against them, especially sweets, but it's something warm and home. He doesn't know if he can handle it when it's actually in front of him.]

[dramaticalblue]

[ Desire smiles. ] Yeah. [ He gently squeezes his other again. ] If we help each other we can eat and get our strength back, yeah?

[powerofvoice]

[He takes another breath. There is one thing that's bothering him, something he doesn't want to hide. If he's going to make it out there, he had to let some things go.]

...But it's still pretty scary. They know where I live. [They'd been there, in his house, near Granny. They were helping them, but Aoba hadn't known what kind of people they were.]

[dramaticalblue]

[ The smile vanishes from Desire's lips as he tightens his arms around Aoba. ]

Yeah. They're not gonna get us though. I mean, d'you think your friends' gonna let that happen?

[powerofvoice]

I dunno if they can stop them. [It's a real fear, one he keeps trying to push back with optimism, but they both knew it could happen.] They can't be with us at all times, not forever. They'll wait or do something stupid and attack them too.

[Another deep breath.] What are we supposed to do?

[dramaticalblue]

[ He understands Aoba's fears, he really does, because he has the same ones. He doesn't want to make that obvious, though, because he wants to be strong for his other. ]

Well, we can't sit around and be scared that they'll come back all the time. That ain't any way to live. [ He sighs and manages another smile. ] 'm sure your friends' gonna help you feel safe again, though.

[powerofvoice]

[He knows they'll try, he knows Desire's trying, but he can't help but think his other half holds the same fear. They weren't human, they would sit and plot and wait until it was time. Aoba knew who they really were, knew about their connections.]

Yeah... but maybe we should look into getting better at fighting. [He turned his head up. Desire was considered the scary side of him.] Koujaku, maybe Mizuki and Noiz, maybe they can teach us more. I don't want to have to depend on them forever, either.

[dramaticalblue]

[ Desire knows they'll probably come after them again, to reclaim their "toys", but he doesn't want to think too much about it. He wants to be hopeful and optimistic, even if it's not exactly something he's used to being. ]

Yeah. 'm sure they'll help us out if we ask 'em. [ He snorts softly, adopting a more light-hearted tone. ] But since we got muscles like some grandpa right now, we gotta focus on gaining weight and building up enough strength to even think about learnin' some self-defense.

[powerofvoice]

I know, I know. Soup and exercise first. [It's easier to think about that Aoba, the Aoba who's well enough to worry about getting better than normal, not the Aoba who has to work to keep down soup.]

We'll start out slow. I think it's okay to depend on them for a little bit. [Until he could protect himself.]

[dramaticalblue]

Sorry. I'm startin' to sound like some overprotective parent. Heh.

[ He gives a loop-sided grin. ]

Yeah. 'm sure they gonna be hovering over us whether we like it or not, anyway.

[powerofvoice]

[Aoba gives a low chuckle, the sound almost strange to hear. There hadn't been a lot to laugh for a while. How long? He supposed he'd find that out.]

S'okay, you're lookin' out for me. I get it.

Granny sounded okay? She's getting old. I was worried how she'd handle it. [He wondered if his parents knew. They didn't check in but for a few years so maybe not. He'd prefer that.]

[dramaticalblue]

Considering the circumstances, she seemed to be doin' okay. She was happy to see me, but I didn't really have the time to talk for long. We just focused on gettin' us the fuck outta here. [ He kind of regrets not talking to her more, asking her more in detail about how things were with her, if Toue was still around, if they had Ren.... things like that. Oh well. If something had been really wrong back home, surely Granny would have told him? ]

[powerofvoice]

Yeah, she's probably been worried. Knowing where we went, everybody probably thought Toue had us. [Considering what Aoba was and what he could do, it was a safe assumption.

Though, as long as they got out, maybe it would have been better if he had them over Virus and Trip.]

I'll call her after we rest a little bit.

[dramaticalblue]

Yeah.

[ Being with Toue would not have been better. Toue had wanted to use their powers to control the minds of people - had that succeeded it would have had terrible consequenses on Midorijima, possibly the rest of Japan and maybe even the world. He would have grown weak from experiments, too. Weak and feeble and sick, like Sei...

Sei. The thought of his brother makes his heart ache. He hasn't thought of much at all during their captivity as his priority had been Reason, but now he remembers. They may have never met Sei, not directly anyway, but Desire had been somewhat aware of his existence, that he'd suffered his whole life.

He bites his lip, but doesn't say anything about it to Reason, not wanting to dampen the mood or make him feel guilty over not being able to help Sei. ]

Mmm. Yeah. That's probably best. So she knows we got on the plane okay.

We know different because of Clear's ending. Poor guy.

[powerofvoice]

[They knew where Toue was, or so Aoba reasoned. If he was inside of that tower, maybe there was some kind of chance he would have been saved instead of used. The others were still out there and knowing what Aoba could do, maybe...

No, he really wouldn't want them to have risked their lives, he wouldn't have wanted to be used against anyone. It just seemed that rescue would have been easier if they had been closer.]

Soon. I wanna talk to you a little bit more. [He didn't want to see all of those people yet. Somehow, he doubts they're on a plane alone.]

haha yeah :((((

[dramaticalblue]

Alright. [ He smiles. ] What do you wanna talk about?

[ They're of course not alone on the plane, but they've got an entire row of seats to themselves in the fancier section of the plane. It would have been pretty cool and interesting under other circumstances. This is after all his first time on a plane. Or well, the first time while conscious since he has to assume that Virus and Trip got them to Germany by plane in the first place. Probably not with a commercial plane, though... ]

[powerofvoice]

[That's not the picture he has in his mind, though admittedly even a coach seat would be a nice view should he be able to enjoy it. Flying was a new experience for them; it was a shame they couldn't enjoy it.]

I dunno. I won't be able to come in here as much when we get back. They'll be watching me a lot and if I just stop movin', they'll think something's wrong. I'm glad to be back, but I just wanna be with you a little bit longer.