so I guess the fortune teller's right ((canon update and open rp))

[righteous-pen.livejournal.com]

It was the first thing Teru had done in - too long. Months. He'd told himself that nothing was wrong, that in a school full of demonic psychopaths it was only sensible to keep to himself. But that wasn't why he isolated himself, and he knew it.

Humans shouldn't know the day they'll die. He'd let himself despair over it, let himself stagnate, become one of the very things he'd wanted to see the world cleansed of. And there was only one thing to do.

So, he went to the popcorn room, dressed in the clothes he'd worn the day he arrived, Masuyo in his arms. He set her down on the floor, gently, stroking behind her ears. She mewed up at him, worried.

"It's all right," he murmured. "I won't be gone long. And if I'm not back soon the elves will take you to A or Yukimura and give them the letter I wrote, and they'll take good care of you, a-and I'll always -"

Pop.

Five minutes later, by Hogwarts' standards, Teru reappeared, lying in a pool of butter, his suit now replaced by a grey prison uniform. For a few moments he lay motionless, as Masuyo watched anxiously from under a popcorn case - then sat up abruptly, gasping for air.

Memories flooded back into him. This was - he'd been here so long, years, seen it all before it happened and forgotten, had to live it and forget again...

...but it was over now, he told himself, clutching at butter-drenched hair. All over. Near couldn't have him any more.

Comments

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

Being almost 100% sure he hadn't seen Mikami's name on the plaque a few days ago, seeing the young man tumble out of the popcorn room had been more than a little shocking. Kurama's one visible eyebrow lifted, and he put his head to one side.

"Mikami? What on earth happened to you?" There was genuine concern in his voice, too. They may not have gotten along well as adults, but one magically induced day of childhood friendship stuck with you.

[righteous-pen.livejournal.com]

Teru blinked up at him. ...Kurama, right. Who'd found him here once before, covered in blood instead of butter. He didn't quite register the missing eye, at first - there was too much to take in at once, and what struck him most was that Kurama didn't have names any more.

"Popcorn," he explained. "I had to go back. It wouldn't be over unless I went back."

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

Ah. "That was brave of you," he murmured, offering a hand. The prison uniform he recognized; he was pretty sure the end hadn't been good for poor Teru. He looked as if he'd aged, years weighing heavy in his eyes.

"And now you are here again. Has it changed things for you?"

[righteous-pen.livejournal.com]

He shook his head, pulling away - couldn't touch anything, not coated in yellow slime like this. Masuyo had come over to him now, but hesitated at the edge of the butter, not sure what to do.

"I wasn't brave, not enough. I waited too long."

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

Kurama ran through that statement a few times, and knelt so he was at eye level with Mikami.

"You were brave enough to go back and live a life you know would be very difficult. No one would have blamed you had you decided to stay here forever instead. Now you have ended it, Mikami Teru is beholden to nothing and nobody." He reached out and scratched under the confused kitten's chin. "Aside from Masuyo, that is."

[mello-n-choco.livejournal.com]

"New fashion statement?" I ask, leaning against the door jam. This is probably the last place I expected Mikami, and looking like that.

[righteous-pen.livejournal.com]

Teru flinched back, letting out a hiss. "You go away."

[mello-n-choco.livejournal.com]

I raise an eyebrow. "Why? Don't you need help?" I ask, letting my voice drip with sarcasm. "You really look like you could use help, Teru."

[righteous-pen.livejournal.com]

"Don't you touch me!" They weren't supposed to have him any more, not now. He'd escaped, done what was right.

[iam-beowulf.livejournal.com]

A glad Geat appears!

"SACK JOE," boomed Beowulf, holding out his brawny arms in hopes of a buttery embrace. "HOW FARE YOU IN THESE CHILL AND DWINDLING DAYS?"

[righteous-pen.livejournal.com]

Teru winced, covering his head with his hands. "Leave me alone."

[iam-beowulf.livejournal.com]

"SURELY SACK JOE JESTS! AH, IT IS GOOD THAT YOU GRACE OUR HALLS WITH YOUR GREASY FORM. DRIP YOU WITH BUTTER, SACK JOE, OR WITH SUET OF ROAST BEAST?"

[righteous-pen.livejournal.com]

"It's popcorn butter," he snapped. "Haven't you seen it before?"

[ringo-raver.livejournal.com]

Peals of laughter rang out.

Honestly, Ryuk had almost forgotten that Mikami was here, but now, seeing him like this...seeing him with no lifespan was just hilarious.

[righteous-pen.livejournal.com]

"...you. You - shut up!" Teru curled up tighter on the floor, hands over his eyes. Beneath the popcorn case, Masuyo hissed.

[ringo-raver.livejournal.com]

"No way. This is too hilarious." Ryuk lounged in midair. "So how'd you do it?"

[righteous-pen.livejournal.com]

"I -" He frowned, looking up. "Don't you know?"

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

A often passed the Popcorn Room on the way to the kitchen and was used to the occasional buttery arrivals, but he was surprised to see Mikami in such a state. He never knew just how to feel about Mikami. In some ways they had gotten on so well, but he'd been a follower of That Yagami, and that was just not even remotely okay.

He didn't just look buttery, though. He looked distraught.

"Are, are, are you..." He blinked, not sure what to say. "I didn't realize you'd gone."

[righteous-pen.livejournal.com]

"...A?" He'd trusted A, as much as he could anyone. A had hated Kira but so did Teru now, maybe, it hurt to think of it all over again and so much more now that he'd watched the end for himself but - he'd planned to send Masuyo to A, if he'd never returned. That was something his mind could hold on to. "I didn't - go, not for long, it can't have been long. Not here. But I had to finish everything."

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"I don't think I understand." It had been finished, hadn't it? Near had won. That Yagami had died, broken. L had been avenged.

And A had learned enough social skills by now to realize it might not be the best time to point that out.

[righteous-pen.livejournal.com]

"I -" He swallowed, which was a bad idea because now he could taste the butter and it made him feel sicker. "They showed me. How it ended. But I had to ...I had to live through it for myself. Well, not - not live, I suppose."

[beastsouled.livejournal.com]

Once they had been allowed to leave the stone room where they had arrived, Firekeeper and Blind Seer began to travel the halls with the intention of finding an exit as quickly as possible. Wolves were not meant to stay indoors, and while Firekeeper may have been human in form, she was a wolf in heart and soul.

But this place was riddled with passages and trails that put Thendulla Lypella, the Earth Spires of New Kelvin which was practically a city unto itself, to shame. Even Blind Seer's nose was eventually confused and lost, though he would not admit it.

"Pride, sweet hunter, does not become you," said Firekeeper, padding lightly down yet another hall.

Blind Seer growled in response, increasing his speed. It did him no good; Firekeeper could usually pace him. They turned another corner, and his nose twitched violently, causing him to sneeze.

"I smell it too," Firekeeper said. Even her dead nose could discern something that strong and rancid, and she wrinkled it in response.

"Like heavily salted butter, and yet none that I have smelled in our travels," Blind Seer said, trying to catalogue the heavy stench. "An oily smell. It is... oddly compelling."

"I thought butter did not agree with you," she said, chasing after the suddenly hurrying wolf.

"A scent this strong must have an interesting source," he replied.

The source was interesting indeed. Blind Seer ignored the man, going straight for a puddle on the floor, to sniff, inspect, and (in a most undignified but perfectly practical manner) get some of the substance on his own coat. Firekeeper ignored the wolf, cocking her head at the man. "You roll in it, too?"

[righteous-pen.livejournal.com]

A large wolf suddenly bounding at him wasn't even the worst thing to happen to Teru that day, for all that he screamed and tried to scramble out of the way. There was a corresponding yowl of fright from Masuyo, as she disappeared behind one of the cases at the far side of the room.

Shivering, trying to get himself under control, he looked up at - at the woman. Whose name he didn't know. He'd spent so long with the shinigami eyes, grown so used to them, that now the space over her head seemed empty, unnatural, and he had to look away again.

"It - it happens when you come back, the butter," he heard himself try to explain. "I just came here again, I don't - this isn't normal."

[beastsouled.livejournal.com]

Blind Seer continued to ignore both the man and the cat, shuffling his pony-sized bulk through a puddle of fragrant butter. It was not a practical mask, like the scent of a deer corpse or rabbit spoor, but a decorative affectation--the wolf equivalent of putting on a feather boa and spinning in a mirror. His blue eyes rolled in ecstasy.

Firekeeper's brown ones rolled in good humor. "He not hurt," she said. "Unless threatened." She examined the man inquisitively, moving in to look closer. Her nostrils flared out of habit, though nose-dead as she was she caught no scent other than the reek of butter. "No door out, then?" she asked, plainly disappointed and almost physically wilting. She didn't want to have to get covered in butter just to get out of this stone prison.

[righteous-pen.livejournal.com]

"Just the popcorn. There are doors, doors everywhere -" in contrast with the cell they'd kept him in, with no way out and everything exposed for them to see "-but none out of this world."