BETRAYAL AT THE HOUSE ON THE GAME TOWER - END

[idolpro]

Who: Traitors and Survivors, Exael
Where: The Game Tower, and leaving it
When: Day 25, morning-- it appears that game lasted the bulk of day 24 into the night.

[ Abruptly, the nightmare ends.

You, in the rooms you kept restarting in, awoke. Before you can even panic, before even despair, the elevator doors were open in front of you to take you downstairs again. It could be a trap, sure, but your head is quiet— those fucking ghosts are gone. You also appear to be wet like someone dumped, perhaps, a bucket of holy water on you while you were asleep. All your wounds are gone, and you have been left bereft of any physical damage from your ordeal.

Unless you choose to take some with you. Nothing prevents you from taking any of your spoils downstairs with you, if you wish it, though all revolvers will have no ammo.

On the screens as you descend back to the lobby, Exael is clapping on screen, broadcast showing her in the mansion's entrance hall. "And so close the gates to this forbidden garden, and so closes this chapter of our story! Just as—" her hologram flickers as she doesn't seem to notice, chattering still to the cameras, "so too will—" fzzt, fzzt. Static, flickering, and then back into focus, "So give them all a hand! Everyone, you've done well! You stand before us still, ready to present us all with more marvels after having survived such grisly wonders with—" "—in the balance!"

As she speaks, she doesn't notice a figure approaching behind her. He's in a slick suit with both hands in his pockets, and you've seen him before— his portrait is in the foyer. His shoes are utterly silent as he walks across the marble floor, till he's right at her back.

"Audience and actors alike, we've been blessed with—" Her hologram doesn't flicker this time, but she stops speaking. Her eyebrows furrow as she tries to figure out what's amiss, and only belatedly begins to slowly look over her shoulder.

"Exael," he says with a friendly hand on her solidifying hologram shoulder, the effect spreading beneath his touch, "We need to have a chat about your requisitions paperwork."

She tilts her head, eyes wide with a finger tapping against her cheek as she thinks, "I didn't do any!"

"Yes," he agrees, smiling with all his teeth. "I know."

The broadcast cuts. The doors open to let you leave. ]

Comments

[dragonheartedgirl]

Okay.

[ That sounds--so pitiful, and so stupid, but.... What... should she say, if she can't say she's sorry? If the only words that come to mind only seem to cause him--is that pain? She moves her free hand and--unless he stops her--she's going to touch his face, brush her thumb against his cheek. ]

[hashtagaesthetic]

Okay.

[he echoes her, just as pathetic, and nuzzles into her touch when she reaches for his face this time. lifts a hand to press over hers and keep her there.]

I've already spent a hundred years mad at you about it. I'm too tired, now.

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ A hundred years. So him too; AlcheME--the spirits possessing AlcheME....

She can't imagine what that must have been like, to spend a hundred years feeling that way, the way he rightfully deserved to. She was sad, too, as she should have been--but not for the right reasons. Not that she could consciously understand; everything was scrambled up in her head, a complete mess that was a poor and broken imitation of the person that she is now and was before everything. If she had spent the entire weight of her guilt for a hundred years--could she have survived that?

She could try to tell him what was there-- but he's so tired, and she has no right to burden him with her troubles after everything she's done. So she won't today, and not ever, unless he asks her too.

She uses the hand he's pressed firmly to her face to guide him down to her, close to her neck, so she can move the hand still in his possession to cradle the back of his head. ]

You don't have to talk about it anymore, Shuten. You don't have to think about it anymore.... if you're tired. You can rest.

[ Like this, she can brush her face up against his, too, savor the feeling of soft cheek against cheek. ]

Just rest, now.

[hashtagaesthetic]

[it only takes that little bit of encouragement for him to wrap her in his arms, predictably touch-starved. he presses his face to hers, breathes in her scent shakily, desperately confirming ways in which she has to be real.]

.... Then. You too.

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ How about the way her heart is beating frantically in her chest, is that confirmation enough? If not, then-- maybe gust of air expelled from her mouth next to his ear, or maybe the eager way she presses back into his hold, tightening her own hold, mirroring the way he's breathing her in with a deep inhale. ]

Okay. Okay.

[ she might be relaxing too much, though; her legs feel like they're giving out. ]

Shuten. Please--talk to me.

[ she doesn't care what he says? And she know she has no right to make requests? But ]

I want to hear your voice. I missed it.

[ she missed everything, really, but if she can only see the back of his hair then she wants another sign that it's still HIM, that it isn't a cruel trick. ]

[hashtagaesthetic]

[he huffs a soft, shaky laugh. it's a sound he hasn't made in a long, long time.]

I don't really know what to talk about, dear.

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ What a soothing sound that is. Feeling, too; pressed up against him this way, every time he speaks (or laughs) she can feel the vibrations of his chest resonating with her own body. It's so good, so nice.

She closes her eyes briefly, to think, to submerge herself a little further in the touch and sent of Shuten as she absently pets his hair. Anything would be fine. Anything, but... okay. give a man something to work with. ]

What do you want to eat first?

[hashtagaesthetic]

...Something hot. I can't really think of something more specific, but I want to eat something warm.

What about you?

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ Something hot does sound nice... She buries her face deeper against his shoulder, nuzzling her face against him in a way that--two days, 100 years, several lifetimes and one truly horrendous nightmare ago--she would have found mortifying. ]

Soup. Or maybe stew.

[ Something that stays warm well after it's your belly and fills you without being too heavy. ]

... If I made you soup, would you eat it?

[ It's a simple enough question, at appearance, but at the heart of it is a desire to understand just how broken down things have become. ]

[hashtagaesthetic]

[he lifts a hand to stroke through her hair, gently. he pauses, but does end up answering, however tentative.]

...Yeah. I think I would. That sounds good.

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ The hesitation... hurts, honestly; silence feels like a vice squeezing her heart and mind anymore. But it's fine. She'll take it, whatever he'll give her; his answer is more than she deserves. Her grip on him tightens, squeezing until her arms ache, but she finds the pain is not unwelcome. ] Okay. I'll make something. If you decide you don't want it, then that's fine too.

[hashtagaesthetic]

[well she clearly took that badly for some reason. slides the hand in her hair to cup her cheek, try to catch her gaze.]

Hiryuu. Look at me?

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ He'll find her chin tilts up readily enough. It's a reasonable enough request; he could make much more unreasonable ones and she would throw herself on them. Although having to be seen like this is--a sort of punishment in itself; her eyelids are puffy and swollen from crying and her eyes themselves are still brimming with unshed tears and reddened besides. It's not a good look, and she is FULLY AWARE OF IT, as well as the fact that having her face tilted up by him makes her heart pound and her face heat up in a way that, given the situation, is at least ten different kinds of inappropriate. ] Yes? [ She bites the inside of lip and sets her mouth in preparation for--whatever comes next. ]

[hashtagaesthetic]

I don't hate you. I won't hate you.

[stroking her cheek, gently.]

I'm... having trouble with feelings, right now. That doesn't reflect on you. It isn't because of you. Okay?

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ WELP. GUESS TODAY IS JUST FOR CRYING. But. Honestly it's not bad crying? She's. Smiling this time at least. A very heavy weight just got lifted from her shoulders, even if there's a feeling of--a lack of deserving. ]

I see.

[ she. laughs? it's a shuddering shocked sound, not that there's anything funny, but with that oppressive weight gone, she feels like she's vibrating with lightness ]

I see. I'm--

[ she laughs again; and this time she moves his hand one of her own so that together they cover her eyes. ]

I'm sorry. I'm not laughing at you. I'm just... I'm so relieved to hear that I'm--not--hated.

[ Tears flow one after the other down her cheeks until they finally reach his palms, burning hot still. ]

I'm sorry they took away your precious feelings.

[ She's not sure if she's allowed to say that or not--but she is. Shuten--should be able to be himself. To be able to enjoy being free and himself again. ]

[hashtagaesthetic]

[aaaaaah. wiping at her tears, gently.]

I don't... quite remember what was so precious about them. But. A little time, I think, will help. If this is real. I'll remember what I was like before all that anger, or try to find that me again.

[kissing her forehead.]

I hope to be the Shuten you know, eventually.

[dragonheartedgirl]

I suppose, maybe, they wouldn't seem so special to you. However, to me... They were precious because you are precious.

[ She--really wants to kiss him right now; to stand on her toes and to make him duck down so that it's not her forehead, but her mouth. She should not, she definitely should not, and she will not let herself because--she doesn't want to scare him just to suit her own selfishness. And she doesn't want to taint an obvious gesture of kindness.

So instead--she takes his hand, still wet with her tears, between both of her smaller ones and presses her lips to the pulse point directly beneath the heel of his palm. ]

... It's not up for me to decide, but if you asked me, I think you've already shown me you're still that same person. Gentle, and kind, and patient. But you, however you are, whether you're the "same" or "different" than before--your importance to me is still the same.

[hashtagaesthetic]

[yes good call on not initiating an actual kiss at a moment like this. he takes her kissing his wrist well, a flush spreading across his cheeks as he smiles fondly at her.]

...That's comforting, at least.

[dragonheartedgirl]

You're comforting.

[ And on that note, she is leaning back against his chest again, and rubbing her cheek there. She still has his hand too. IT'S. It's definitely not normal behavior what's "normal" anymore. ]

... When you breathe, I can hear the air going in and out. Your heart too.

[ Between that and the warmth... She could fall asleep here, honestly. ]

[hashtagaesthetic]

[normal has been lost to both of them, probably. only touch-starved tactile sadsacks now.]

Good. I'm here. I'm real. You're warm and I can feel you.

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ touch-starved tacticle sadsack life is a trip

Can he though? That is... he's barely touching her. Or rather, right now, she's doing most of the touching. ]

... It was lonely in there, right? You can touch me more, if you like. I don't mind.

[hashtagaesthetic]

You don't mind, hmm...?

[well. then.

picking her up in a goddamned bear hug.]

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ SQUEAKS ]

Sh-Shuten!?

[ THIS WAS NOT WHAT SHE QUITE HAD IN MIND?!


... but she still doesn't... mind mind, she's just. red as a tomato, crushed up against his chest and, you know, hanging onto his neck now in case he lets go ]

[hashtagaesthetic]

[at least he's showing some decency and not, like, getting her to wrap her legs around him for purchase. like he'll assist if she does but.]

You said I could. Should I not?

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ I mean on the one hand that's so LEWD but on the other what DOES she do with her legs they're just


dangling there. ]

No, it--that's fine. You don't have to stop.

[ She just. She wasn't expecting that? Her cheeks feel like they're on fire and her heart is going very, very fast, like she just had a good run. She has to figure out what to do about her legs though, what DOES SHE DO ABOUT HER LEGS gonna. gonna just try to at least get the one out of the way, sorta, hhhhhhhhhhhhhhfffffffff ]