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[deathscyther]

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Duo Maxwell | #0002a

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early feb; #005682

[hypertoxic]

Duo?
Are you 8usy?

[deathscyther]

Nope, not busy! What's up?

[hypertoxic]

....
I just w8nt to see you. C8n I come ov8r?

[deathscyther]

Yeah, of course.

[hypertoxic]

It's just....
Ugh. Sorry. I'll expl8in when I get there.

[ It doesn't take her long to get over there, either. In fact, she's probably a little quicker than usual. And the sight that will greet Duo when he opens his door at her knock will be ... a pretty sorry one. Her eyes are once again their chill, blank white, though right now they're bloodshot blue, tears drying on her face in the cold.

Miserable and small, with grating heartbreak making her voice hoarse: ]

They killed me, Duo. They brought me back just to kill me again.

[deathscyther]

[Oh boy.

He had a feeling something had happened, but he was trying to play like he wasn't immediately worried when she contacted him. That's just how this place is, isn't it?

Chroma really does enjoying twisting the knife...

He opens the door quickly, already waiting by it, and he only hesitates long enough to hear her words before grabbing her arm and pulling her inside both to get out of the cold and to embrace her.

He might tell her about his own trouble earlier in the week later, but right now his focus is on what she's going through.]

[hypertoxic]

[ He's one of the first people she sees, because he's one of the first people she thinks to tell. So she's still -- a mess, shattered in her core, unable to keep in the emotion that overwhelms her when he tugs her into the warmth of the house and into his arms. It's all she can do to just break down crying, and he won't have seen her like this before. Because she's usually happy around him -- he makes her happy.

But heartbreak this deeply felt is not a quick fix.

She's light as air again, and she's cool to the point of being chill as she curls herself against him. And she just ... sobs, quiet and hiccupy, trying to speak but not knowing what to say. ]

Sorry-- I-- fuck--

[ Her arms tighten around him as she tries to suck in a steadying breath. ]

I hate-- I hate this fucking place--

[deathscyther]

[He doesn't really know what to say, either. He's never been good at comforting words, so all he can hope is that his presence is somehow enough. He's warm, and so is the house, so if nothing else he has that to offer.]

Yeah... yeah, I know...

[Whatever good points it had were so easily stripped away by all the nasty things that kept happening. They had no protection against these things, either.]

I'm sorry.

[hypertoxic]

[ It takes her a while to calm down.

His presence seems to be all she wants; she hardly responds to what he says, anyway, hardly able to between sobs. It's awful to cry like this, she hates it; reminds her too much of how and why she last felt like her heart was broken.

But slow her tears eventually do. Her sobs become simple tears; her grip grows a little less tight. She lets go enough to look at him, biting her lip. ]

Sorry I am such a fucking mess.

[ Vriska leans up into him, nuzzling him gently, her forehead meeting his temple. ]

This is the part where I should probably make some kind of hollow threat to maintain the illusion of bravado, but fuck, who cares.

late may/post-event 23 - action

[lacrimose]

[Late one afternoon, Akira storms home in a mixture of grief and frustration. Ryo is nowhere to be seen, having been left behind at the lake, and Akira has no idea if Duo is around, but right now, he doesn't care. He storms up to his room and slams the door shut, and for a solid fifteen minutes, there are sounds from his room like an inhuman roar and that he's throwing things, hitting something, and generally trashing the place.

Once he's done, he can be found downstairs just laying listlessly on the couch, an arm over his eyes and Tako curled up on his stomach. He's not sure if he feels better or worse for having given into his instincts, so maybe he should just stay put before he ruins anything else.]

[deathscyther]

[As luck would have it, Duo did indeed miss the well deserved tantrum and returned home none the wiser. Someone laying on a couch with a cat curled up on them wasn't anything new here, so he gave it little thought until he bounced up to the bedroom humming a tuneless song to himself.

A song that was cut short upon seeing the absolute mess that had been left in his absence.

Yup.

That was a thing.

A thing that gave a lot more context as to who was on the couch and why Akira hadn't even bothered with a hello at Duo's passing.

Ohboy.

Quietly he returned back down the stairs, settling in behind the couch and resting his arms on the back of it.]

Alright, buddy. What's eating you?

[lacrimose]

[The black cat is the first to look up at Duo with large green eyes, giving a soft meow and hopping down onto the floor. Akira grumbles at being disturbed, like he'd been just lying there in a daze the whole time. After a few seconds he lowers his arm and sits up, blinking at the other teen with a frown.]

Duo...? It's nothing.

[Worse lie ever.]

[deathscyther]

Uhuh. And I'm a purple elephant.

[Your bullshit is showing, Akira.]

C'mon. You don't trash a room like that over "nothing".

[lacrimose]

[Akira sits up properly, swinging his legs off the couch and putting his back to Duo. He runs a hand through his hair, agitated.]

I had a fight with Ryo. [Sort of. He did kind of yell at him.]

[deathscyther]

[Duo moves slightly, draping his arms over the empty space so he can look properly at Akira.]

That bad? The state of that room makes me think it was pretty close to nuclear.

[lacrimose]

It... I...

[They've had worse arguments. Arguments about Ryo wanting to kill people, or animals, or starting wars. In the grand scheme of things, this isn't so bad, but on a personal level, it stings just as much.]

I asked him something personal, something I'd been thinking about for a while. [God, he can't even be vague about this, or Duo won't understand why he's upset. He finally looks over his shoulder at Duo.] I told him I like him.

[deathscyther]

Oh.

[That certainly explains the room. And the kicked-puppy look. Akira didn't just have an argument. He didn't just get rejected.

He got destroyed.

Duo straightens up, making an uncertain face. He's obviously sympathetic, but he can't really decide how to approach this without making things worse.

It's not like the pilots were paragons of good relationships. The one he managed to have became confusing and uncertain after the war was over and Duo wasn't sure what, exactly, he wanted out of his new-found civilian life.

And the one he may have actually wanted... well...]

I'm sorry. That's... really shitty.

[He got up, heading to the other side of the couch to sit properly and not like a weird kid who didn't understand basic furniture etiquette.]

I don't know if it would make you feel any better, but... at least you had the guts to say something. I never managed that.

[A beat, and he sputtered out a sudden apology.]

S-sorry! I'm not trying to make this about me! I just thought... y'know... maybe wouldn't make you feel so alone...

early september - action

[meridio]

[Somnus roams the town, moving from one district to the next as he considers his actions for the future. Circling back to Bluo after a thorough walk around Flavo and Ruga, it's by pure happenstance that he comes upon Duo at the harbor.]

Hail, Duo.

[deathscyther]

[Duo is, as he mentioned in his network post, quite red from the sunburn and wearing loose shorts and a tank top. Today it's cloudy, and while one can still get burned even on a cloudy day, he's mostly working on the inside of the boat or under covered areas.

He looks up, giving a tired wave.

Sleeping when most of your skin hurts like hell is not easy.]

[meridio]

[Quite red, indeed. Sunburn is discomforting most times, but there are moments when they hinder one's way of life. This seems close.]

The burns ail you still. Were you unable to procure the herbs to treat them?

[deathscyther]

Yeah, I guess no one has aloe here.

[Shame, but that sort of stuff is somewhat dependent on what people are able to return color to.]

I'll live...

[meridio]

[Somnus looks around Duo.]

Do you have a drink?

[deathscyther]

Uh, yeah. Hold on a sec.

[He ducks in to the cabin, returning with a bottle of water he had yet to drink from.]

[meridio]

[He glances at the bottle.]

Just this is insufficient. Have you an herb, perhaps?

[deathscyther]

[Why would he have an herb just lying around a boat.]

Uh. No? What am I supposed to have?

[He still hasn't mastered mind reading, okay.]