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Tweak says, "THE FIST ARE BACK!"

Euphemia li Britannia (friendly_fire) wrote in marinanova,
@ 2016-05-23 11:29:00

Entry tags:

aidan reilly, euphemia li britannia, lelouch vi britannia, suzaku kururugi

Day 377 Closed Roommate Mingle
[This three-bedroom apartment in Sector 4 has passed through many hands already and it might be getting more crowded now. Too crowded?]

(OOC: Open to Euphemia, Lelouch, Suzaku, Aidan, and anyone they invite over.)

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well it's not like it'll go away.

whiteknightmare
2016-05-30 10:34 am UTC (link)

[ Suzaku tilts his head a little. Then his eyes dart toward Euphie's room, and he takes a deeper breath, moving to pour himself some water. He doesn't mind to the idea of keeping a distance from Lelouch. For the sake of both of them. But he knows whose orders he will never not follow, and he knows what she would want of him. Not order him, not about this. But want. ]

How are you... finding this 'prison' so far?

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	<3 imperious 2016-05-30 08:35 pm UTC (link)
	[ Are you trying to make smalltalk? ...You seem to be. Slowly, he closes the refrigerator door. ] Fine, I suppose. [ How is he supposed to assess the prison itself? How is he supposed to see past Euphemia being alive, and Suzaku... being like this. And with what Kitty told him... His gaze flits to Suzaku's face. Watches him pour the water. ] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Muuuch back

whiteknightmare
2016-05-30 08:53 pm UTC (link)

[ ... no? He's actually asking. With that answer, something in Suzaku's face just shutters back down. There is no glare of accusation, though, it's just what he deserved. His fingers are white-knuckled tight around the glass, but he drinks slowly, measured. Careful.

Then he shrugs. ]

It does stretch the limits of what should be possible. [ No wonder or outrage or any emotion, really. ]

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imperious
2016-05-30 09:54 pm UTC (link)

[ A noncommittal sort of mm noise. It's the lack that gets to him, really. She said you seemed more social before. She was -- surprised, he thinks, to hear you were risking yourself so unnecessarily. He's still not sure when you were from before, but... ]

If you can control time and space, a lot of impossible things become possible.

[ There's a lot he still has no intention of telling Suzaku. But. Maybe he should make one small exception. ]

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whiteknightmare
2016-05-31 07:11 am UTC (link)

[ Lelouch, you know how good Suzaku can be at being part of a group, when he is given half a chance. How even the students of Ashford Academy got to accept him, not once, but twice. He can be very social. He can pretend so well.

But he's not in a mind space when he can, now. ]

Because controlling time and space should be possible. Of course.

[ Dry, so dry. Yet, on the other hand... despite everything, he's missed talking with Lelouch. Just - discussing things. Not their ideologies, not fighting. Talking.

Neither of them had ever had many people to match in both intelligence and interests as they fit together, after all. They shouldn't. But they did, and possibly still do. ]

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imperious
2016-06-01 02:46 am UTC (link)

[ Dismissive hand flap! ] Once you've accepted that it's somehow possible, then the outer limits of what else could be 'possible' naturally expand.

[ ...It's not so unfamiliar, for his half. The last three months... haven't erased any of the damage they've done to one another, but. Through necessity, they'd learned to work together again. And through learning to work together again, they'd...

The fingers of his lifted hand clench slowly; unclench, even more slowly. Lelouch watches them move, then says: ]

You didn't. --If it matters.

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	whiteknightmare 2016-06-01 04:08 am UTC (link)
	[ Suzaku hums and shrugs. Yes, that is the case. That doesn't mean that he wants to accept it. then the last bit comes and he blinks over his glass, saying, eloquently, ] Huh? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

imperious
2016-06-01 10:04 pm UTC (link)

[ Still... studying his hands. The veins beneath his too-pale skin; the lines in his palms; the fingernails he took such especial care of, the night before what should have been his last -- evening them out and buffing the nail beds and thinking morbidly that if nothing else his would be a clean, well-groomed corpse. It had seemed terribly important at the time, somehow. ]

Nunnally. [ Little huffing breath, almost like impatience. ] She's still alive.

[ And with that, he pushes himself away from the counter. Fully intends to retreat to Euphie's room. ]

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	1/3 my turn whiteknightmare 2016-06-02 04:35 am UTC (link)
	[ Maybe Lelouch gets to stop because of the sound of the glass Suzaku had been drinking water from shattering on the floor. Because that is a thing that happens. ] (Reply to this) (Parent)

	2/3 whiteknightmare 2016-06-02 04:36 am UTC (link)
	What... (Reply to this) (Parent)

	whiteknightmare 2016-06-02 04:36 am UTC (link)
	[ No, Suzaku still hasn't realized that he's even dropped the damn thing. ] What do you mean-- how-- Lelouch? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

imperious
2016-06-03 03:02 pm UTC (link)

[ He does stop, but he almost just runs, which is a terrible plan. What would he do after that, try to lock the door?

Still, he almost -- runs.

A shiver of suppressed movement, followed by lifting his head and saying airily, ]

Did you not hear me? Was there a problem with the translation program? [ He rips off the incomm, tries it again in smooth Japanese just because he fucking can: ] Nunnally is still alive.

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	1/3 whiteknightmare 2016-06-03 03:08 pm UTC (link)
	[ Oh, he heard. But that is not the same as processing. Not at all. ] (Reply to this) (Parent)

	2/3 whiteknightmare 2016-06-03 03:11 pm UTC (link)
	[ Then he sort of does, and his shoulders hunch, hands covering his face in a very untypical display of actual weakness. And he sobs, just once. ] (Reply to this) (Parent)

	whiteknightmare 2016-06-03 03:16 pm UTC (link)
	[ Then he pulls himself back up, swallowing the rest of the sobs, as well as his first... Comment? Question? Along the lines of 'you say that as if you wouldn't be surprised' because that has brought fire back into those eyes which have been dead for weeks. ] Did you always know that, Lelouch? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	1/2? imperious 2016-06-03 03:29 pm UTC (link)
	[ That broken sound stilled him, and for a heartbeat Lelouch regretted everything -- everything -- but then Suzaku recovers from it, and oh... The words land like a slap, startling at first; and the implication in them, what exactly Suzaku is accusing him of, follows like knife. Like a sword. For a few seconds, Lelouch can't even breathe. ] (Reply to this) (Parent)

	2/3 imperious 2016-06-03 03:43 pm UTC (link)
	[ Why did he ever imagine there were depths Suzaku didn't think him capable of sinking to? (And the inner critic hisses: as if you haven't done your damnedest to convince him otherwise.) Why did he even try? (But you didn't, you were too afraid to really* try.) ] [ He aimed* for an explosion, he shouldn't be able to still be so hurt by the shrapnel. ] (Reply to this) (Parent)

	imperious 2016-06-03 03:43 pm UTC (link)
	[ He's so glad he didn't turn, isn't facing Suzaku. So glad. Because it means he can just be angry, without that stricken moment giving away the game completely. ] I think using my little sister as a weapon is more -- your speed, really. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

whiteknightmare
2016-06-03 03:49 pm UTC (link)

[ Well. There goes the fire. Suzaku flinches, then sinks to his knees, starting to gather the pieces of his glass in bare hands. Stupid, so stupid. Not having done one horrible thing, somehow, through no merit of his, doesn't take away all the other horrible things he did do.

He doesn't seek out getting those cuts. He just doesn't care. Doesn't deserve that care.

His voice is quiet and dead once more. ]

Yes. I guess it is.

[ 'Sorry' doesn't mean anything. Nothing means anything. ]

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imperious
2016-06-03 04:07 pm UTC (link)

[ --and damn him, damn you, that's not what he wanted, either. Lelouch stiffens again, hesitates again. Second- and third- and fourth-guesses himself, again.

...He didn't even really notice the fire until he'd already snuffed it out.

There's another beat where he doesn't say anything, just stands there rigidly listening to the sound of glass shuffling across the floor, and then Lelouch turns on his heel.

He had half a dozen things planned to say, depending on what Suzaku's expression was when he finally saw it -- some of them further cruelty, just in case this was a horrible mistake and he needs to shore up his armor again -- but words desert him completely at the sight of Suzaku picking up glass with his bare hands. ]

You.

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	surprise 2/3 sorry! imperious 2016-06-03 04:11 pm UTC (link)
	[ What are you doing, you complete fool? ...What happened to you, between that battle and Kamine Island? (What did he clumsily make worse?) ] (Reply to this) (Parent)

	imperious 2016-06-03 04:25 pm UTC (link)
	[ And then he's closing the distance between them, getting a dish towel and snapping, ] Stop that. You're going to cut yourself. [ and trying not to be perfectly aware that Suzaku might know, might not care. ] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

whiteknightmare
2016-06-03 05:15 pm UTC (link)

[ See, part of the problem is that for somebody as actions-and-consequences focused as Suzaku is, the six weeks or so he's been here have only made things fester. Too little to do - not nothing, because there is Euphie, and there are people to protect and all the things that the Wardens make happen to them, but none of it goes anywhere. None of it.

Back home, in this time he made mistakes and learned from them, maybe.

Here... well.

Suzkau does stop, when Lelouch's words come. He hesitates, then he turns his hands up. One of his palms has a small cut, a bigger one across two of the fingers of his opposite hand.

Then he curls his palms closed. Looks up. His voice is soft, not just quiet and hard, but actually soft. His mouth is almost smiling, even if his eyes are bright with tears he won't let spill. ]

You don't have to, Lelouch. I - thank you for reminding me who I am. You don't have to help me, especially after what I said. I am... I'm very glad that Nunnally is alive. She didn't deserve to be caught in that.

None of them did.

[ So mild. So empty. ]

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	imperious 2016-06-03 05:27 pm UTC (link)
	[ Already kneeling down to collect the glass with the dishtowel. Brooking none of your nonsense. But -- but oh gods, what Suzaku's saying... he stiffens, gaze jerking up to Suzaku's face involuntarily. You don't-- You can't mean that. ] Suzaku. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

whiteknightmare
2016-06-03 08:16 pm UTC (link)

[ More or less this face, sans makeup.

After a long moment of feeling the familiar gaze on him, Suzaku finally raises his eyes to meet it, though there is no clash. There's no steel left in Suzaku's eyes. Not even elasticity. It's not... it's not dead, the way it was after he'd watched Euphie die, but Suzaku turned all that anger and strength against himself and...

He's not that resilient. Not without a cause to keep him going.

After a moment, he just tilts his head to one side. Yes? What's the matter?

There's not even a shred of isn't this what you wanted? because that's not what Suzaku thinks. Just. Quiet curiosity. ]