Teenagers Scare the Living Shit Out Of Me etc. etc.

[dyingtohealyou]

[Characters passing by the bulletin board may notice a new message tacked to it!]

Drinking party at the bar at 8pm. Under 21 only. Adults will be persecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Fun and games included, party hats optional. Don’t be late!

[Sure enough, there’s a gathering of teens (and maybe some not-so-teens?) to be found in the bar! While the posting mentions this is a teen only event, adults are in fact allowed as long as they are cool. OOCLY please be aware there are going to be teens drinking alcohol and possibly smoking! Also additionally, please let the teens/players have fun; again, adults are allowed but only if they’re cool enough to play along without snitching them out!

All party game top levels are going to be made under Ahito’s account but please assume ICly that Akira instigated/explained them! Once the game toplevels are up you can also post your own toplevels to mingle freely if you like IDK IT’S A PARTY HAVE FUN]

Comments

[shortleash]

( Would that he could bleed so Ginger would never have to.

But this isn't what this is. As much as it is - both their proclivity, to split themselves open and spill themselves out for the other, is it what either wants? It's a hard pill to swallow. It's so fundamentally against Mika's nature to refrain - and Ginger's, too.

So he understands, too, when Ginger says he'd kill for him. It flatters the worst part of him. But it makes him feel a little pale, too, nested in the warm beat of every one of Ginger's loving words. He feels like he's tinged Ginger's well with something bitter in a way he can't articulate - maybe he's done something wrong, again. And yet, even now, Ginger wraps him up with care - elevates him more than he's ever been, before Ginger.

He releases Ginger's face, and he slips his wrist through Ginger's hold to take his hands - fingers interlocked, the both of them intertwined. They bleed, together. )

... Have you ever killed, before? ( It makes Mika happy. It does. But he's guessing... he's just guessing - that Ginger hasn't. ) ... Please don't. Not for me. Not— for anyone.

( Is this selfish to ask? It's already too late for Mika. The worst of the worst, a blood sucker and a monster, a killer and a failure - but Ginger loves him, despite all that. He wouldn't want the same for Ginger, too.

... Maybe if he... )

... Please don't let... anyone else bind you. Not with a pact, or a promise, or a vow, or— anything. Not with their blood on your hands, or their memory.

( And that is selfish to ask. But he thinks... this conveys his meaning better, to Ginger. Because: )

... I want it to be just us. I don't want anyone else... weighing on you.

( Whether it be their ghost, or obligation. And if it's only the two of them, then - maybe, maybe, maybe... Mika can protect Ginger better. He still doubts if he can do right by someone, but he - Ginger wants him to want, so he - he wants to take care of Ginger himself.

He doesn't know if he can entrust him to other people. (And perhaps that is the catch: the moment he begins to think other people can be relied upon to look after Ginger, that will be the moment Mika will come to think that maybe he really shouldn't be with Ginger at all.) )

/2

[lustro]

[ He goes quiet for so long, it’s as though he’s forgotten Solomon entirely. He’s thinking, and every option he comes up with is tossed out by way of an immediate rejection. (I’m persistent, devoted. Is he though? Not to Rum. Doesn’t count.) ]

[lustro]

[ And the fact that none of those other options work - isn’t that just proof that his inner demon is correct? If it’s this hard to find one thing, kindness has set him up to fail. ]

As a person, I can… I’ll be there when no one else can be. Does that work.

[revengier]

Death can hit anyone. Skill doesn't always have anything to do with it. I think you've demonstrated that you are good enough to be on the field to the rest of us.

[foresightis2020]

[ Jing Yuan looks amused.

Has he caught on? Well, either way, he simply speaks again, playing along? ]

Ah...is that so?

I suppose that may the case. Or rather, if I seize the chance during a certain kind of game [ t or d ] I may have the opportunity then.

[impacter]

[He stays patient under that deliberation, though the longer it goes on, the more his gaze tinges with sadness.]

Partially. I think you could compliment yourself a little more than that.

You strive to be devoted? Reliable? Even if a situation might seem difficult?

[fellheart]

If you speak those words in sincerity then know I am a reasonable being, and can rightfully hold nothing against you for taking part in what you thought was simply a single round of a silly game.

[ solomon, however- robin has to wonder if the man has, ever once, tried to meet anyone halfway. does he fear his convictions to become compromised if he ever should, even in something as innocuous as this?

or is he a coward who makes himself an island, brandishing all of his flaws up front and making no effort to correct them, only claiming that it's only to be expected when the hands outstretched to him fail to reach him, when he fails to reach back out? ]

I will be stepping outside for a moment before I say something that more than one of us may regret.

Then maybe we'll see about the rest of this dare of yours.

[dadsandals]

That's very kind of you. You're a nice guy, Syr.

[ What a caring person. Then again, none of this surprises Yamato in the slightest. ]

[lustro]

[ Strive is not the word he would use. ]

It doesn’t make a difference if a situation is difficult since I carry these thoughts all the time. I can only be myself.

I’ll still be here when nothing else is. Is that devotion?

[dadsandals]

...I'll ask the same thing of you, then.

[ Two can play at that game. ]

[lustro]

That guy will come and collect you way before that.

[ Everyone who pisses Ginger off = that guy. ]

……… Alright, but since you got an amended truth option, you have to dance with me.

[chronosynthesis]

I won't ask the circumstances if you aren't comfortable sharing them. [But he can't quite assume the worst knowing what he knows of Khun's family now.]

[chronosynthesis]

[He's a very caring workacholic who keeps people are arm's length. It's simply the burden you bear when the weight of the world is on your shoulders.

His lips quirk with a smile.] You flatter me, but thank you. Now I think... I am supposed to turn the question back around on you?

[foresightis2020]

Very well. I see no reason to doubt what you say.

[ For a moment, as that unsettling feeling remains, Jing Yuan ponders what it is Solomon is capable of.

Indeed, perhaps, in the most oblique of senses.

If he is a man who cannot acknowledge his wrongs, then what he glimpsed before may have naught but an illusion. Indeed, if he shies away, he will be forced to accept that the man he thought was brilliant in his bravery is someone dishonorable in his cowardice. ]

That said, I understand completely.

...I shall see you later, then.

[ Keeping it short, figuring it will suit them both (and everyone) best, Jing Yuan makes his way back to Solomon. ]

[foresightis2020]

[ At this, Jing Yuan chuckles, because he certainly isn't finding himself startled by the idea; if anything, he doesn't mind at all, that the other man is asking him. ]

First, Solomon's deep kindness for others; we've spoken at length on certain subjects, yet his words and actions are truly indication of how much he desires to ensure others remain safe. How much he deeply cares.

[ That concern for the young ones cannot be falsified, and even beyond those, based upon what else he has witnessed. ]

He is a talented man who can match me in wit and intelligence, even if admittedly I don't foresee him overtaking my victories in chess.

[ Fufu. ]

Lastly...is there ever quite like the kind of feeling one receives upon conjuring the laugh or smile from a beloved one? His expressions of joy and that wonderful laugh of his is enough to make my heart go aflutter.

[ Kyaa, he's so embarrassed talking about it...it is almost like he's a young maiden experiencing one's first spring...! ]

[lighthaus]

That's because you are. [ sorry not sorry he's committing more PDA in the form of a flurry of kisses. he should stop but he doesn't want to. he doesn't care if all the wizards in the entire world see, let alone the ones in this room. ]

[lighthaus]

You— [ ahhh there's a lot he wants to say that he either can't fit into words or can't fit into words here. he squeezes tatara just a little, he can't just do nothing when they're up close like this. ]

...I didn't know I was capable of that before. So yeah, it's because of you. If you liked it...then in the future—[ he won't hold himself back. it won't always be as sharp as that purple, sometimes it will be a deep blue instead. heavy in different ways.

he lets out a sigh full of longing, wishing they were alone, but he'll be patient. ]

You make me feel like I can be myself. All of me.

[lustro]

[ As though their darkest desires only ricochet to each other and each other only, Ginger feels a deep sense of satisfaction.

It starts off like purr, a faint rumble of wants vibrating into place - Mika’s hands stroke the beast so lovingly right where it’s most dangerous, by its hungry mouth and devouring eyes. Thoughts of Solomon evaporate into nothing; it doesn’t matter if anyone else was caught in the crossfire. (Goodbye, goodbye.) His fingers that curl between Mika’s do so with no intent of letting go. Here’s his something, his everything.

He shakes his head. No, he’s never - but - there’s the please. ]

… Alright. Yes, Mika. [ The words go together, a want to please and a want to love. ] Just us. I want that, too.

[ If it’s Mika’s wish, he’ll even try to get rid of these hurt feelings caused by someone else. He won’t let anyone else bind him, even with this.

But - he has something to add. He presses his forehead to Mika’s because their world lasts only the span of an hour and the rest is shared with the chaos of calamity. ]

… If I ever had to - if there was no choice… love me more for it.

[ Love him enough so nothing else binds him, so that the blood on his hands might as well be water for all it’ll matter then. ]

[lustro]

[ nepeta is super cute tho, girl was a mood and a half ]

Oh, Red - yeah I suppose he’s a cat, too.

[ Ginger should… ask about his ears and tail sometime. When it’s not creepy or publicly frowned upon. ]

Can you hear as well as our vampire friends meow - I mean, now?

[lustro]

Oh - ack, sorry.

[ He casts Ithaqua an apologetic look, but he doesn’t take back anything he’s said. ]

Back to sincerity?

[shortleash]

( Ah - relief. Relief, and a heart that'd skip a beat if it could. He should not like the truth charm that reassures him now that every syllable is genuine, nor how he is sometimes granted window into Ginger's feelings - it's not as if he doubts it when Ginger says these things; but it's like the thin division between them grows smaller and smaller, and they come that much closer to sharing a singular heart. (He still feels a little guilty when this magic allows him to peer in, but Ginger has reassured him, and so - it is a guilty pleasure, and one he's been permission to indulge.)

Just them. Ginger means it. And that makes him so awfully happy.

With the soft brush of Ginger's forehead against his, Ginger murmurs an ask, but to Mika it sounds like a fear. Could he love Ginger, with blood on his hands? Mika wouldn't want that for him, but it's not even a question.

He presses his lips to Ginger's own - true to his word, he isn't thinking of anyone else; it's just them, and he doesn't care if anyone hazards a guess what's going on behind Ginger. He kisses him, and he kisses him deep. )

... I would love you more than anything. ( A kiss, again - lighter. Emphasis. ) I'd drink your hands clean. I don't want... trace of anyone else on you.

( But can you kill without burden? Especially since Ginger has never - wouldn't that invite into his house a ghost, their ghost? Mika's already ghoul enough. Ginger doesn't need another. )

... But I'd be really scared for you. I'd be really worried. Killing someone is... hard on the heart. I might get upset - I might even try to stop you, if you tried to - had to - kill anyone.

( His lips part a moment before he manages what he says next, wondering - is this wrong to say? He hopes not. He just wants Ginger to know. Even if Mika argues, it's not because he doesn't love him. )

... But I'd still kiss you like this... after all that. I've never had anyone who'd kill for me before, or even - talk about me, thinks about me... the way you do. I couldn't love you any less, even if you had to kill everyone here.

( Please don't actually, but as an example, )

[shortleash]

( If only confidence were infectious...

The remark about appearance draws the faintest arch of a raised eyebrow - but it does not negate the rest. While none of those are qualities Mika cares for, it suggests more than enough on what Ithaqua values about himself. It is a greater quantity of things than Mika could list, if asked of his own advantages.

However, he is curious: )

Are those things that make him happy?

( These are things that Ithaqua likes about himself. They may even be things that Urianger likes, too. But do they do his heart good? )

[impacter]

If you're choosing to be wherever it is? Then yes. I would call that devotion.

If not? Then I would call that resilience.

[Even if one stayed while everything else left against their own will, to be able to have the mindset to carry on regardless was still a strength.]

[revengier]

Is that your... assistant? Friend?

[ Actually, what the hell does Jing Yuan even do? ]

[revengier]

You're definitely not kind.

[ A little smile. There's bits of kindness in there for Khun, but that's only reserved for people he actually likes, of which Kurapika thinks are few and far between. ]

I'm glad it's mutual. I would have been embarrassed if it wasn't.

[ Not really, though. He's secure in how he feels, at least. ]