nysalogs | (open) back to ordinary

Entry tags:

(open) back to ordinary

Who: mikazuki augus (

sparsity) & various & you!
What: october plot - open prompts, closed starters.
When: various days in october.
Where: olympia & thesa.
Warning(s): violence, probably murder.

I. YOU'VE GROWN OUT OF US

[ All things considered, the events leading up to Olympia's current state are familiar in the way the lay of a skeleton is familiar, flesh stripped from bone, the impression of something once whole. Bare joints exposed, a working order, if not quite... right. Explosions rocking a populated area, terrified people, dubious claims opening up a chasm of blame for anyone free to explore. It leaves too much to people he doesn't trust. Too much like the colonies he saw falsely accused.

Years ago and yet fresh again, for all the subtleties he doesn't understand about it. All he knows is that people are ready to fight.

Mikazuki isn't really the vigilante sort, though he's moving through the streets of Olympia like he is, eyes trained and alert as he glances down alleyways he passes, storefronts and establishments a little too dark. He's most familiar with the marketplace, as much as he's a familiar face there too. All its corners have been thrown with smoke, illness, and shadow. Electricity is in the air, the same sort after the announcement. Mikazuki tastes it as he rounds the bars he knows, looking no where near old enough to enter one and now not marked by Ashti's stone or uniform to signify he's patrolling them, instead dressed in somber neutrals.

His pace only slows when he comes across one of the posters strewn about the city, wide things pasted sideways to the front of a building. Broad daylight, people around, hunters, accomplices. None of that matters. Only the face on it matters, a boy no older than himself, blocky angles and friendly eyes.

Reaching up, he scrapes his nails across its topmost edge and tears it off, crumpling the pieces in his palms. To anyone within earshot that may have stopped in light of his display, he passes a glance to. ]

What?

[ Polite, as always. ]

II. AND YOU'VE BEEN DYING TO GO

[ Every so often, the liveliness of Olympia drives Mikazuki to space. Not because of the noise, but because the conflict this time isn't his noise. It's not Tekkadan, not their conflict, save for those here with him now in the crossfire again. That's the only loyalty he owes, the only allegiance he has. Except this one thing.

Show us we can trust you.

Those words shadow his footsteps as he makes his way through Thesa and into the hangar, the chilly smell of alloy and fuel stinging pleasantly in his nose. He knows his way by heart now, just like he knows his way by heart through the stasis units on Alria to the one he visits day after day. It's quiet up here, compared to the surface below. There's an odd shuttle that takes off or docks in a whir of hydraulics, the natural shift and boom of metal, even at rest. But it's not any of the mass produced training machines that he's focused on as his footsteps thud across the catwalk lining the hangar perimeter, secured in front of the mobile suits. No, it's farther down that he focuses on, where the makes of suits starts to shift. Eventually, he slows next to a hulking white machine, crowned and clawed in gold. ]

Sleeping like usual. [ With no one else around him, he's actually addressing the suit. Hands in pockets, his gaze travels up and up, settling on its clean, quiet face plate. Repaired from that moment he was brought, breathing, to Thesa. ] I wonder what you'd want to do about this, too.

[ ...if there was any doubt that he's legitimately talking to a robot. ]

(ooc. closed starters below, if you'd like something specific feel free to hit me up here, rivalry, or axia#4656!)

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[ Listening to Yamagi feels like swallowing stones. All the details he missed out on sink to the bottom of his stomach and make him feel heavy. This could have been avoided. If he was better, the outcome for all of them could have been so much better.

He can't think of anything to say, so he listens, quiet but staring at him with intensity. His mouth his tight. His shoulders are straight. He has to remember every word of it. He has to take it all in and do better... somehow...

His gaze shifts to the card and he looks it over. He can't read anything on it, but its presence feels foreboding. ]

No... no, you're not. I just-- I'm sorry, Yamagi. I'm so sorry. Because of me-- what I did-- you're stuck living like that again.

I don't want you to apologize for something out of your control.

[Yamagi's tone is direct and blunt as it's always been, malice never having a place in it whenever he's trying to get a point across.]

What's done is done. You've screwed up and every one of us is going to screw up in the future. We'll just keep on living. Whatever we're going through right now doesn't hold a candle to our brief hell back on Mars. Everyone's alive--isn't that great? They're safe in their pods... Which is more than I can say for everyone we've lost back then.

[He's rambling again and his hand trembles slightly, naked without its glove as it rests on Shino's cheek. He's glad for it, fingertips brushing along the faint scruff at his chin and jawline. He directs Shino's furtive gaze to his own.]

I don't need your regrets. I need you to be strong again. For me.

I could've said no, though. I let that guy trick me. I thought I was stopping an attack on this place, but I just helped out those assholes.

[ He wants to just keep listening. Yamagi's trying to hard to comfort him right now, but he just feels compounded guilt. Like maybe he's no good for Tekkadan. Like maybe things would be better if he just didn't come back if things will be this way with him around. He brings his hand up and cups it over Yamagi's, only looking at him because he's being held in place. ]

After all this, how can you need me at all?

[Being tricked by people with less scruples than themselves has been their doctrine before. History does repeat itself when there is everything to lose, and equally, everything more to gain.

Life's always been more vibrant for them with everything more to gain.]

Don't you get it? I've never given up on you.

[The look in his eyes is unguarded for once, sheer want, his smile both a tremble and trick of the dim light.

Perhaps he does need to nag Shino to shave as much as eat, the thought is quick and brief in his head when he seals Shino's lips with his own, the slight prickle grazing the side of his mouth as he brings their heads closer. It's not the chaste peck from before, innocent and affectionate. There's little innocence in this at all, down to how partly wishes to silence Shino's words with this kiss. He can't play fair all the time.]

[ He doesn't get it. His once clear vision has been clouded up with the fear and pain of mistakes and guilt. Maybe if he were a little older, he could understand how Yamagi's seeing so clearly. Right now, nothing seems as obvious as it is to the older boys.

He almost speaks, but Yamagi gives him too small an opening when he's struggling to decide what words would even be right here. Yamagi's on him and he's... surprised. He'd thought about every ounce of Yamagi's old feelings as a ghost of their past selves. He had no expectations. After all, they were family first and foremost and Yamagi deserved to learn he should have so much more than a guy like him.

But Yamagi's on him and he feels needy and selfish. He wraps his stronger arm around his back and holds him tight against his chest, only letting a few beats skip before he's kissing him right back. This? This is easy and it's as honest as he could possibly be. ]

[Well. He hasn't thought past this.

The aching, burning urge to quell Shino's doubts and words once and for all has been his main motivation, a lip lock to put an end to all of his hesitation and bare his own feelings to him. He hasn't expected Shino to kiss him back.

A small noise escapes him, swallowed in the warmth of Shino's mouth and his free hand travels down to his neck, fingers alighting at where he can feel Shino's pulse. Alive and very much thudding with blood.

His fingers press down enough for Yamagi to tilt his head and let teeth and tongue scrape against Shino's lips. I'm alive, too. I'm alive, and here and have been waiting for too long.

He can't keep killing his own heart over and over.

Fingers sliding down the back of a shirt worn for too many days in a row, they bunch in the back, not far from where the protrusion of skin and spine is, gripping a handful as if to deny Shino the whim to change his mind.]

[ Again, they're clinging to each other for dear life. They're trying to keep each other real. Shino knows he feels himself slipping into being something intangible as his stomach sinks further down. Right now, though, he's finally focused front and center on the way Yamagi grasped his shirt and pulls at his lips with his teeth.

While his arm cradles him close, his other hand smooths over his hair, getting a feel for the length of it. It's a sign of the years between them and something he hasn't quite come to terms with until now. It's no longer obscuring his face, hiding him shyly from the world. Now it's long and pretty and pulled back to show off a smile he'd only just started to see more often before he left.

Shino sighs a breath out of his nose, clinging to this kiss for as long as he can. Breaking away would feel like a betrayal and, now that it's started, he can't stop dancing around this thing between them. It's back in the present and he's loathe to let it slide back out of reach again. ]

[This time, it's different.

Shino's ruffled his hair into something resembling a bird's nest, affectionately, many times in the past. The way his large hand glides over and into his hair to cradle the back of his head is something new altogether. His breath catches in his throat and stumbles, a soft choking noise. Almost a whimper.

He may not see Yamagi's eyes when the flutter open, softened by something raw and warm at once. They take in every part of Shino at this new, negligible distance, soft spots that can pass for freckles across sun teased skin, and what parts of his face is suffused with color at their proximity.

It's a luxury he's never imagined being afforded before.

Yamagi's the one to break the kiss, leaving the faintest of distances between them, close enough for his own ragged breath to tickle Shino's lips. If he's ever doubted, himself, how ready he's been to cast Shino back into the past... Now, he knew.

Not at all.]

Don't say anything.

[It takes all his courage and well power to parse that as anything more than a plea, arms shifting to rest behind Shino's neck. If he were braver to voice his desperation, it would have been Don't leave. Pride be damned.]

[ There's no fuss when Yamagi pulls back, though he almost tries to speak. He almost takes the opportunity to speak, to ask if this is really okay, but Yamagi shuts him up before he can even breathe and he listens. For once, he's silent.

He brings both arms down to wrap around his back and hold him with care, looking at his face and the small flush that's lingering there. He keeps his head close and watches him, trying to read what he might want, might need from him. How he can make this all up to him, just a little bit. ]

[Yamagi doesn't trust himself to speak.

He'll stumble on his own words, for sure, and falter when Shino inevitably asks. He's never been good at talking when it's his own feelings on the line. Not knowing quite exactly what Shino's studying in his features, he flushes some more at how bruised he's left the other boy's lips.

When he kisses Shino this time, it's with careful gentleness, small doses of affection in little pecks against his lips, the corner of his mouth. It's the space he leaves for Shino to respond, if not verbally. This time, Yamagi's fully loathe to stop this measured confession.]

[ They both agree to silence and Shino is happy with that for once. He opts to lean back into a kiss with him, content despite the swelling of his lips. Yamagi had always been so reserved. As cute as he is when he's holding back, Shino can't help but appreciate this aggressiveness that makes him feel wanted here and now. He needed it more than he realized.

He offers sweetness for sweetness, stroking the back of his head and peppering his mouth with small kisses in return. He wants to give as much as he's getting. He doesn't want to think about anything else for right now. There's too much waiting outside of that door for him to come to terms with. This affection is far easier to stomach. ]

[Yamagi carries between his ribs a gentle secret; he's not had the chance to display this particular tenderness with anyone else--with anyone, for that matter. Softness comes with vulnerability he's not often willing to expose. Vulnerability comes with hurt.

Their noses bump and Shino's shy stubbles scratch him, eliciting a choked giggle from Yamagi. Tilting his head so Shino's fingers lose their grasp on his head, he lets them sink and run into his hair, his own lips pressed at Shino's temple, ghosting down to tickle the pulse at his neck.

And then a shove, pushing the bigger boy down against the bed.]

I want to do this with you ever day.

[It's an artless confession, as straightforward and honest as Yamagi's ever been.]

[ Yamagi's so cute, it's painful. Even if he's older now, he still maintains this sweetness to him in spite of his responsible personality. His smile and his short laugh ring in him strangely and nearly push out all his self-flagellating thoughts. He combs his fingers through his hair and lets the strands loosely tangle around the joints of his fingers.

He falls back easily and looks up at him, hands sliding down to his shoulder and his hip. He rubs his thumbs against him, putting on a smile just for him. ]

Every day? You sure?... You promise?

[ He's not used to asking things of people, but for once, he wants to know for certain. He wants something he knows he can believe in and Yamagi doesn't lie. ]

Every day. Today. Tomorrow. [It's not the sheets he'd bullied Shino into washing and folding that his elbows rest on. Nothing here is theirs. He wants to make things his again.]

Right now.

[Yamagi's never quite understood Eugene's melancholy for love. Love bruises and scrapes until you're left raw and your heart at the mercy of everything around it. He doesn't understand just yet, but for the first time, the notion doesn't fill him with abject and naked fear.

He feels safe.]

Wouldn't you want to?

[ His heart's too tender right now and Yamagi's simple, earnest works sting him. Usually, he can just laugh things off and keep it all easy and childish. His palms flinch against Yamagi's body before curling and holding on tight. ]

Course... And I do. And who wouldn't? I don't plan on being an idiot again.

[ It'd be such a waste of this second chance. Yamagi really means this. ]

And it'd take a real idiot to tell you no.

[Yamagi's not a coward by nature, but it takes all of his remaining courage to sink down onto Shino's body, elbows resting in the space between arms and body, his own arms folded over Shino's chest.]

You'll let me get you food, for a start? [he adds quickly before he allows understandable wariness to flash in Shino's eyes] Not my own cooking, I mean. We need all the strength we can build up to last through this.

[ Shino relaxes under Yamagi's weight as he nestles on top of him comfortably. For the first time in days, he's not thinking about his screw up at all.

He... pauses at the idea of Yamagi trying to cook for him, but looks half-contented again when he explains himself. ]

Yeah. I'll eat. Promise.

You'll shower, too? We don't get this sort of water pressure back home. It'd be sad to waste it.

[Not that Shino smells that alarming (yet), but hygiene is a hard luxury to let go of.]

Shower? Ha? Do I smell that bad?

[ Every bit of him is sparked by an urge to be ornery and distract himself from his sinking but lingering worries, but Yamagi looks to cozy for him to be mean.

Not right now, at least. ]

I'll wash up if you really want me to.

I'm not sure. Let me check, first.

[It's all the warning Yamagi gives before shifting just enough to bury his face in the crook of Shino's neck in what can be interpreted at sniffing. But the gesture lingers a touch too long, something slightly different than being comfortably draped on the person you've devoted your life to.]

What do you really want?

[ His breath tickles his neck and he huffs with a short laugh, moving his arms around his back to hold him. This feels a little too self-indulgent but Shino's metric for being self-restraining has never been great even with his heightened sense of responsibility. Yamagi's just too warm and kind. ]

I don't think I could ask for more than this, could I? Nice bed. Got my friends outside. Pretty guy loungin' around on me. I'm pretty set, huh?

[ Somehow, he's this lucky despite being such a screw-up. This karmic turnaround was almost too sweet. ]

[And their newest world may be falling around their ears once more despite Yamagi's most reassuring words. If this is what it's going to take to carry some of Shino's misgivings, then he's gladly shouldering that weight.

He might have blushed at the easy flattery once. Now, he mostly feels greedy.]

I think you've successfully just talked your way out of a shower. Congrats.

Hehe, I'll do it. Eventually.

[ Before he smells too bad for Yamagi's grown up nose to stand, at least. Right now, he wants to be greedy just as much as Yamagi does. He's exhausted himself. ]

Think you can afford to be lazy a little while longer here with me?

[All they have is time. Enough time to feel cooped up and panic, their well accumulated neuroses getting the better of them. The fact that he feels Shino's body relaxing underneath him puts him at east for the time being.]

It's not like I have anything else to do. [No job to go back to, not after his most recent bout of borrowing. He's armed Mikazuki already and sent him on his merry, destructive way. All he can do for now is wait, himself.]

You're not allowed to get sick of me, I'm afraid.

Yeeah, your schedule is pretty open now, huh?

[ Well. More Oops...

He lets out a short laugh, feeling some humor coming back into him. He moves his hand to rub his palm between Yamagi's shoulder blades. ]

I'm not gonna. I'd never get sick of anyone in Tekkadan, but especially not you.

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