militia | twenty-nineth • audio

[ action for 07-ghost house ]
[ Shuri had started doing laundry. Not started, attempted. But after the machine had begun to bubble over and it began making angry, congested sounds, the young noble decided it might be better to get someone more suited for the job. ]

Mikage! Come over here, I need some help with the laundry. [ no reply. ] ... Mikage? [ ... ] Mikage, don't you ignore me! This is your job, be grateful that I'm doing it for you! [ Huffing, he stomps on into the living room.

There's no cheeky grin waiting for him. No put upon sigh. ] ... Mikage?

[ ... The rest of the house is thoroughly searched. Nothing. No sign, no trace. The magazines that once sat on the table are gone. ] Mikage, this isn't funny! Come out here and help me!

[ Nothing. Gone, gone, gone.

He's half frantic. By the time he gets to the other teen's room, he already knows what's happened. ]

[ voice ]

... Uh.

[ Shuri clears his throat. The snapshot shows bright blue, bloodshot eyes. He sniffles hard, presses the heels of his hands into his eyes, and tries to compose himself. ]

[ His lower lip trembles. ] Mikage, he... He promised. This isn't fair. This isn't fair at all... I...

[ He flings the journal shut with one hand, taking deep, shuddering breaths to compose himself. It's not right, it's not fair, he already had to deal with this once why does it have to happen again? After they made everything better, and...

Eventually, after much stifled tears and muffled sobbing, Shuri brings the book back to him. He doesn't look at it, instead his gaze is set to a fixed location just under the book. ]

Mikage Celestine has gone home.

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I never bothered with things like this until I came here. My cousin - [ who is also gone, he remembers and tightens his grip a little on the the armrest of the couch. ] - ran away from home to become a priest. I know most of what I know because he was obnoxious and pushy about it.

[There's no response from Kurt. He is just. Trying to take it all in. This is his second time dealing with a death. Only this time, it's someone who wasn't his crazy terrorist mother, but his friend.]

[ Shuri's a little calmer now. Still trying to put everything together in his head, still trying to figure out how he's going to live here if his butler is gone. It's dumb, dumb, dumb - he focuses on all the things he has to learn rather than the fact that he won't be able to walk by his room without flinching.

But he doesn't know what else to talk about now. So he just drums his fingers against the arm of the couch. ]

[When Kurt finally notices what Shuri's doing, he takes it as being impatience.]

... I'm sorry. Maybe I should just... go.

[ He stops the drumming.

Now there's an awkward look passing across his face. His teeth catch his lower lip. ]

You don't have to. [ The house is big and empty and he doesn't want to drag the Princess into all of this sadness and pain. She didn't know Mikage, after all... ]

[Wow. Um. Maybe he should stick around. Shuri looks like he could need it. And to think. Kurt isn't even that close to him...]

I guess I can stick around awhile.

[ Shuri's always been bad with people.

It's easy at home. Or at school. He has a position, he has power, he has the ability to sway people with pretty words and speeches because he's been raised all his life to say exactly what people what to hear. But when school's out and the wars are won, money can't buy the sort of friendships he's always wanted.

Teito and Mikage. They had it. They had everything, everything he'd always wanted. Everything he couldn't buy or bribe. Even when he bullied them, even when he pushed and prodded and slammed every button to try to bring about an ugly side that would send Mikage back to his side, he always failed. They were so close, two pieces to a puzzle he'd never noticed he was trying to do. What a fool, what an idiot he'd been. Everything he did only made them closer and left him freezing out in the cold with people who really only wanted him because his signature read Shuri Oak and his pockets jingled with money.

Mikage would never remember that they had made up. When he went home he'd forgotten it all, like Shuri had. He'd never remember the times they laughed together, all the times he was obnoxious and made Shuri cry. He'd never remember being in the tunnels, clearing up things that never should have been said in the first place. Reaffirming a friendship that society would have never approved of.

He bites his lip a little harder, blinking his eyes to banish the tears starting to form. Because he's good, it's all good, he just lost a butler and not the best friend he never had. ]

I think... I'll go get some snacks for us.

Edited 2011-12-13 06:04 (UTC)

[It is not difficult to see how much Shuri is struggling to maintain his composure. Sure, Kurt was not above harassing the guy a little. He was an easy target. He and Mikage had done it a few times. He'd done it solo once or twice.

But right now... what Mikage would want was for Shuri, his friend, to just be. Happy. Or at least, not like this. So...]

... you know, there was something I never did tell you or Mikage. Do you remember that one game we played, with the bears and the closets?

All that noise... the stuff falling. That was me. [He's not sure why he's even fessing up to this. But maybe it's better to reflect on the memorable moments.]

[ Wha-

He stops and turns. ]

You did that?

[A small shrug.]

It was my first time pranking Mikage.

[ 8( ]

I thought there were kors after us!

... are kors like monsters?

They're like... [ he wracks his brain for a proper explanation. ] Evil. Just, pure evil. They steal your soul and turn you into something wrong!

[So. Demons. He's been called that before.]

I didn't think it would freak you guys out so much. I figured you'd just leave the closets to look!

I have better things to do in life than to sell my soul to a Kor over a stupid game. Don't you people have something like that?

[... he's not sure how that relates, but. Okay.]

It was Mikado's game, not mine.

[ right you people are weird. ]

Well, whatever. I can't bother keeping track of all of the different traditions. [ aw yeah let's default back into being an ignoramus to deflect emotional pain. ] But weren't you worried you'd be cursed?

No way, man. I don't believe in that kind of stuff. That's why I didn't bother staying in the closet. [It was easier to just mess with the two of them.]

You don't?

twenty-nineth • audio

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