synflux | ( open ) may catchall

Entry tags:

( open ) may catchall

WHO: ryoji + you!
WHAT: post-surgery wuh-ohs, ducks, and some gardening
WHERE: around base
WHEN: first couple weeks of may
WARNINGS: cw for discussion of surgery, needles, etc.

a. post-op glitches

[ So, as it turns out, the only thing worse than signing up for two enhancement procedures at once is dealing with the aftermath when your brain is fried.

No matter how approachable and grounded Ryoji is, even he can't escape from his hubris, and having never experienced significant pain in his human form, he didn’t…think it would be all that bad. Uncomfortable, maybe, inconvenient, yes…but he completely did not anticipate the way that the pain fully overrides any other cognitive thought in his brain. It hurts, to move, to think, to simply be conscious, and he has only stumbled out of the medbay for a few moments after being released that the impact of the double surgeries fully overloads him at once.

For a few long, untenable moments, it’s like he blacks out completely – and when he comes to again, staring at the hands that caught up, it’s like he doesn’t recognize them. Are they his own?

A simple question carrying a lot of weight, when he can’t remember anything about who he is or what he’s doing here. All he really seems to recall is that he was going somewhere, and given he just received a nice teleportation upgrade, well.

In attempting to find his destination by testing out this new power he can’t even remember how he got in the first place, he may just wind up in your room, looking half-dead (ha) and delirious. While he's usually in his human form, he may appear as a Shadow instead, without consciously making the effort to change. Whether you’re awake or asleep or even just heading back to your room yourself, he hardly seems to register another’s presence, instead muttering to himself: ]

No, this isn’t right…

[ He needs to go to…the top level of Tartarus, right? So why can't he remember how to get there? ]

b. duck tales

[ Well! Those were events that sure transpired, and while Ryoji is still feeling out some of his new abilities, he’s at least recovered enough from the surgeries that he’s back in his right mind and up and about again. Whether or not he should be, strictly speaking, remains to be seen! But whatever, it’s fine. Violet needs walkies.

Around the base, Ryoji can be encountered walking…a duck. A beautiful, newly acquired mandarin duck, wearing a jaunty little bow around her neck. Since Outsiders aren’t, you know, supposed to keep pets, strictly speaking, Ryoji has taken great care to plan routes for them that will hopefully avoid crossing paths with LILITH officers. However, Violet is as inquisitive and independent as her owner, and also a duck, so when she catches sight of your shoelaces or anything shiny you may have dropped on the ground, she waddles right over to pick at it with her beak, chirping with enthusiasm.

…Or that’s how it sounds to Ryoji, anyway. ]

Ah, hello there. I’d love to chat, but we have a schedule to keep…oh, but if you’d like to join us, you’d be more than welcome!

[ Who wouldn’t want to walk a duck?? And Ryoji is there, too, I guess. ]

c. flower gardening

[ At various points during the month, Ryoji can be found in the greenhouse, tending to some flowers. It’s a curious hobby that he’s picked up, one he didn’t expect to find himself so captivated by, and one that’s perhaps a bit ironic for him, all things considered – yet even given his proclivities, there’s something so captivating about the way life can bloom from a seed, with just a little sunlight and water, a little currency of time...

...and whatever mutant fertilizer they use in here, but that’s not important.

Whether you’re enjoying the plantlife independently or have approached to peek at the flowers that he tends to, Ryoji swiftly plucks one of the blossoms, sweeping down into a bow, and offers the flower to you with an outstretched hand. ]

Please, take this. You deserve it, as the only thing here that eclipses its beauty.

[ He’s feeling back to his usual self, it seems. ]

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Whoa-

[so maybe he doesn't have the best reaction time on a good day... but also, it's impossible to avoid bumping into someone who literally just appeared right in front of him. oops!

on the upside, he's sober at the moment, not wobbly enough to tip right over; netzach reaches out to try to steady him after that brief impact, his brow furrowed as he looks him over.]

Hey, man, you're not looking so good.

[ what the fuck

akechi blinks, looking up from the bed he’s lounging on to the shadow in front of him.

the fuck? where did it come from, why is it— whatever. no matter what, this can’t be good. ]

Fuck off. [ he murmurs as he stands up, assuming a position to summon his own persona. ]

---Ryoji!

[ yeah, he just blacked out in front of hunter's salad. in human form. and he wastes no time in rushing over to prop him up and support him. despite their height difference and hunter's general scrawniness, he's a surprisingly sturdy support. ]

What happened? Did someone hurt you?

[ there's an edge of panic to his voice. he's seen enough surgeries that he'll put two and two together pretty quickly, but for the moment, he doesn't clue in, just scanning ryoji from head to toe to look for!! injuries!! ]

[ Fern has taken to visiting the greenhouse quite a bit since her arrival a scant week or so ago... of all of the places on base, it's the most comforting to her, the place that reminds her most of the world she was torn away from.

Upon this visit, however, it seems there's company - and company she doesn't feel quite so comfortable with, after their first meeting. The sight of Ryoji turning himself into something so monstrous hasn't left her, and though she understands, deeply, that he's an Outsider just like her, and that she only managed to defeat that monster because he was there... She still has so many questions, and she's none the wiser to the Events Transpiring for his part.

At first, she thinks to simply leave him to his own devices and to go about her own business, too, but it seems he has other ideas. Rigidly she stands when he sweeps into a graceful bow, her gaze falling to the proffered flower, but her arms remaining firmly pinned to her sides.

Her expression pinches. ]

What did you just say?

[ She doesn't look impressed....... ]

[Hell yeah Raidou wants to join you on your walking a duck! You have a duck, Ryoji. Raidou can't help but give them both a smile.]

I'd be glad to. You know, if Malkuth-san catches you with this, she may get jealous.

[ ... mostly since the only person that Generally spooks her with teleportation is kaito, and ryoji he is not. well. the shadow is also not human ryoji, but at least malkuth recognizes him. the suddenness makes her jump, the sudden crowd to her room knocks mauve's duckbed off her nightstand along with some plushes, and

malkuth is just thankful that citrine's roost is beside her cup of pens, blissfully unaware, though mauve dives under her desk with a trill. her hand presses to her chest, just as it had just not so long ago, and she exhales the startled jitters out of her heart; her foot rests back against the duck comfortingly, it's okay. it's okay. ]

You're awfully dressed up today, Ryoji.

[ in a way... but as ever, malkuth remains unafraid as she turns her seat around and studies him. it's hard to tell but. he seems a little lost, in a way, his soft mutterings only adding to it. so she'll hold out her hands for him to take, palms up.

no, it doesn't matter how he suddenly appeared in her room. what matters is why. ]

Did something happen? We haven't been called on a mission, as far as I've heard...

[ aaaaaaaand he seems himself again. though she'd known he was better when he'd come to collect violet, there had still been something a little... unsteady, in a way; malkuth's cheeks warm as she squats on the ground, setting her camera aside to take the blossom from him and twirl it between her fingers. ]

The more lines I get from you, the cornier I realize they are.

[ but that's an affectionate tease, sincere as his compliments ever are to make others smile. they always make her brighten up, biting back a grin. ]

Got a back-up plan for March? You know she'll shoot you down.

[ Oh, hello duck. Despite Ratio's appearance and personality, he does have a few quirks, such as a propensity for rubber ducks in the bath. His fondness for them also extends to real ducks, of course, but this is a personal preference he rarely shares with others.

But still, a duck on base. And accompanied by someone he presumes to be its owner. Last he checked, pets weren't allowed on base, so he raises an eyebrow at the teen. He does not, however, comment on the foolishness of the idea. Rather, he is intrigued. At the invitation, he stands up from his seat. ]

Very well. I shall accompany you for a short time.

[ There's a look on his face that suggests he's curious about Ryoji's plan to keep the duck hidden. ]

[ March is groggily falling asleep, actually, but even she's not that blind enough to miss a sudden presence right by the bed and she hasn't actually seen him in this form before, so as he appears and she jerks awake, her bow is forming in her hand and she's letting out a panicked shriek, scrambling backwards.

Amazing. ]

[ The greenhouse is also one of Winter’s favorite haunts, a little slice of green and life in a city made of neon and steel. He’s probably glimpsed Ryoji around a time or two, but they haven’t strictly crossed paths until…

Well, he appreciates a good line, but he won’t be taking that flower. ]

You’re not wrong, but perhaps you ought to save that for someone else.

[ Yesod was admittedly curious about an Outsider busying himself with caring for the plants in the greenhouse — or a specific section of it, apparently. A closer look may have been a mistake, however, and there was no chance of it answering any of his questions to begin with. Now he has one of those flowers held out to him, for some inexplicable reason. Its beauty won't last long; it will wither.

He doesn't reach for it, arms crossed instead. ]

Perhaps you should confirm the recipient's identity first.

[ Before more flowers are sacrificed needlessly. ]

[ Sometime after the Outsiders have checked in for their stay at the hotel in Vegas, and well after they have settled in for the night, and well after they should be asleep...Ryoji is not asleep. Shadows don't need to sleep, even if he finds something novel and human in doing so. Tonight, he's on high alert, in an unfamiliar city, and...

In an unfamiliar circumstances. The time he spent inside Minato's soul notwithstanding, he has never shared a room with another person before. It's not something he minds — truthfully, he's become so hungry for company that that keeps him awake, too — but it keeps his mind racing, buzzing, eager to dissect it and see what it's all about.

Which means...standing over Hunter and watching him sleep. Or...presumably, he's sleeping. If he's not, he'll find a pair of eerily blue eyes gazing at him through the darkness. He doesn't speak, he's just...there...watching...

In some ways, he has been so poorly socialized, and this is one of them. ]

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a

a.

let's start with a as promised

a............. haha no it's c i'm sorry

it's B time

a i'll tag you on another one too i'm greedy

c twirls hair

b as a man with the username rubber ducky he is legally required to be here--

a just kidding I had to

c-b combo-wombo