At loose ends ((Open RP, Mello, Halls))

[mello-n-choco.livejournal.com]

So, that samurai has canceled our lessons without explaining anything as to why. I know damn well it's not because he's satisfied with my progress. Something's going on here. I have a couple of hunches, but without sufficient evidence, none of them is any more likely than any other.

Whatever. Now, I have three hours a day that aren't scheduled. I could practice, but I already spend more than enough time practicing already and he's already bitched at me about practicing wrong when I practice on my own.

So, for now, I have decided to examine the paintings along the walls. It's not like I have anything else to do and maybe some of them will be at least mildly diverting.

Comments

[mello-n-choco.livejournal.com]

"It's not that simple," I say. "You can't kill him here, which is the only thing that would really end the threat." I slip my wand up my sleeve. "That and preventing his soul, or whatever the hell it is, from leaving his body so that it rots as well."

[prettypendulum.livejournal.com]

"Do you know how to do that?" he asked, an odd light appearing in his eyes. "Help me find a way. This can't keep happening. Our people are getting hurt and he's not been touched yet." And just thinking about what he'd done to Kuronue's mate made his instincts go just a little crazy.

He wanted to hunt him down and hurt him, kill him. Make him suffer as Kaga, Yukimura and Kurama had suffered. The countless others he'd affected too. They deserved their revenge.

But he would be the one to do it, even if hell froze over.

[mello-n-choco.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I'd trust him as far as I can throw him the way he's looking now, but better him than Karasu free. "I know it's theoretically possible. I don't know if the no kill spell affects it or not. I know it requires wards. I can't draw wards; I've tried, Kusu said I was hopeless and to focus on things I could do." I hate being told I can't do something. "So, we'll need either Kusu or maybe Matt." I haven't seen that hacker in a while, either... "There's a few more things I'll need to know and that you demons are fond of lying about."

[prettypendulum.livejournal.com]

Kuronue gave him a blank look. "I can't use wards. I'm kind of a demon myself."

He sighed. "But I stand a better chance than anyone else. I can deal with the pain better than anyone else, psychologically or otherwise. If the peddler or Matt can word around the ward thing...well that would be great."

He slipped his hands into his pockets. He didn't want to answer questions, especially if Mello thought he would evade them straight off. "What do you want to know?"

[mello-n-choco.livejournal.com]

"Kusu's a demon and uses wards," I point out. "Though, I think I'd rather talk to Matt about the wards. I'm not sure if Kusu thinks I'm an idiot or blood thirsty and Matt knows me better."

I look around, sliding my hands in my pockets. "I'm sure you don't want to go far," I say, since we're in Slytherin hall, "but, do you really want to talk here?"

[prettypendulum.livejournal.com]

Kuronue paused. "Kusuriyuri is kind of a freak," he said, as if that explained everything. Still he said it with a very small bit of respect for the demon. "But he knows a lot. We can ask Matt."

He looked down the hall, back to the common room. "Well...I want to give Yukimura a bit of time to himself, since I know he's going crazy with me being around all the time so there is out. We can go to mine or whatever, depends on how quiet you want it to be."

[mello-n-choco.livejournal.com]

I raise an eyebrow at him. "Matt knows how to get information he needs, too. And, I'll go to your room on the grounds that I don't see that look in your eye again." Watch him be an idiot and ask 'which look.'

[prettypendulum.livejournal.com]

Occasionally Kuronue could be a pretty nice guy. He placed a hand over where a heart should have been. "I promise I will not jump you while we are in my room, Mello." He grinned.

"It's this way," he said, leading Mello down the hall towards his room. He was curious as all shit about just what exactly Mello wanted to talk about, though the feeling in his gut said he already knew, just wouldn't admit it.

He opened the door for Mello when he reached his room, left it open for him. Miyako fluttered down to his side from the top of his four poster bed. He kicked the box that was poking out from beneath the bed a little further under until it was out of sight.

[mello-n-choco.livejournal.com]

Figures this guy's room would have a bat. "Thank you," I say dryly. I look around for a place to sit and start toward the chests under the window. He may say he's not going to do anything, but I'd rather not sit on the bed. I hike up my leg, catching the heel of my boot on the edge and wrap my arms around my leg. "You do realize that avoiding my questions will result in delay as will false information."

[prettypendulum.livejournal.com]

He petted Miyako's head as she crawled up to his shoulder and lounged there, sniffing in Mello's general direction and watching him with glassy eyes. "Just what do you want to know, then I will see about your answers." He was making Kuronue nervous, after all.

He moved around to the bed, sat on the side closest to the window, facing Mello. "He should know better than to try and trap a thief, hm, Miyako?"

[mello-n-choco.livejournal.com]

Also figures he can talk to the bat. "I'm not trying to trap a thief," I reply blandly. "Though, in this case, it would be easier than figuring out who's cheating in a mafia card game."

I look at him. "How aware of dying were you?" I ask. Why not start off easy?

[prettypendulum.livejournal.com]

Kuronue blinked and looked to Mello.

He stared at him for a moment, flicking back through memories. "Very aware. I remember every bit of it. And all of my time between dying and appearing here."

His actions while dead had been no more great than in life. Fucking the enemy had always been something he managed to walk right into. "It takes a long time for a person to bleed out," he added sombrely, keeping his eyes on Miyako.

[mello-n-choco.livejournal.com]

"Makes a heart attack look simple," I say flatly. "Do you remember exactly the moment you left your body, how it felt, everything about it?"

[prettypendulum.livejournal.com]

He looked up. "Yes, why?" A subtle evasion.

Miyako crawled under the collar of his jacket. His wings twitched every time she shifted and made noises at him.

[mello-n-choco.livejournal.com]

I frown at him. "I told you what I want to do and you're asking stupid questions."

[prettypendulum.livejournal.com]

He tilted his head. "No, you haven't told me anything. You're just asking me weird questions about dying. Floating isn't as fun as it seems by the way, especially when you're trying to run from fairy girl who want your soul." Ayame hadn't been all that bad though, not really. Kept him company.

[mello-n-choco.livejournal.com]

I scowl at him. "Let's put the pieces together for you, then, since you can't add." I hold up a finger. "Wards are capable of trapping a demon as well as enforcing certain states," so Kusu says, anyways. I hold up a second finger. "We have an idiot we want to trap in a state that will allow him to experience a fate worse than death." I hold up a third finger. "Said idiot is a demon." I hold up a fourth. "We need to be sure we're designing the ward to elicit the proper state."

[prettypendulum.livejournal.com]

His head went further to the side. "You want to make a ward that creates...pain while he's unconscious? Eternal pain kind of thing that he can't wriggle out of?"

He thought on it. It was too dangerous. Any of his allies could simply come along and remove the wards. There was no end to troublemakers at the school, not to mention the school itself. It was a good idea, however.

[mello-n-choco.livejournal.com]

Why do I bother, I wonder sometimes. "No, I want to create a ward that simulates death of the body without allowing his soul to leave his body. I think, maybe, if he doesn't fully die, the no kill spell may allow him to be trapped that way. But, without fully knowing the limits of the no kill spell and exactly what we're trying to recreate, it can't be done. I think we'll have to just work around the first."

[prettypendulum.livejournal.com]

He waved a hand. "If he has allies they can easily be removed, the wards I mean. That's the only concern I have. Sleeping beauty has to be hidden."

He sighed and rested his hands in his lap.

[mello-n-choco.livejournal.com]

"That we can deal with once we have the ward properly constructed," I say, waving my hand. It is a valid concern, but there has to be a way, some how.

[prettypendulum.livejournal.com]

"Do you remember dying?" he asked, looking up and over to Mello. Since they had the opportunity he thought it was worth asking.

[mello-n-choco.livejournal.com]

I frown. "I died of a heart attack. I remember feeling a heavy weight on my chest and pain. The next thing I remember is being here." I shrug.

[prettypendulum.livejournal.com]

He chuckled. "No afterlife for you, eh? It's not all that bad." He flopped back on the bed, rested his hands behind his head.

He was silent for a moment. "Karasu took him off school grounds, you know. It took Kusuriyuri two days to heal him, and his mind....well, we'll see." He'd been concentrating on keeping him safe, he hadn't really had the time to talk with Yukimura just yet.

[mello-n-choco.livejournal.com]

"You do intend to tell him?" I say. "He tends to...disapprove of not telling him things." A fact he's made very cogent to me in a few of our lessons.