I hear the angels talking talking talking now I'm a dead man walking walking walking

[yellowcopycat]

Who: Ryouta Kise and you! Also Xanxus.
What: Ryouta can't keep his head in the sand anymore
When: After "Ankh" posts to his twitter account
Where: Virgo HQ, Vista City Park, the beach (Xanxus only)
Warnings: Heaving emotional turmoil, a breakdown, and in the Xanxus locked thread; Xanxus and all the issues to go with him.

Ryouta hates his home.

He hates it so much. He wants to move. He just doesn’t know how.

Aoba’s gone, Kaworu’s gone, Tsuna’s gone, Nia’s gone. It’s just him, Momo, and Ankh.

Except Ankh isn’t Ankh. He knows it isn’t. He’s too happy, doesn’t twitch as much. Just everything is off. And ever since he learned to copy things by just watching the amount of visual information he’s processing has increased so he knows Ankh has been replaced. He can’t prove it, but he knows.

So he spends all of his free time outside of the suite. In they gym, in the cafe, anywhere but his suite, where he only goes back to sleep at night. He wonders what will happen. Last time it was down to the three of them Nia and Tsuna came, but… He just doesn’t know what’s going to happen to Surviving Friday.

Which means the second album he’s been working on is going to be trashed. And he hates that. He’s been planing on releasing an EP, like Genos and Roy have, he can salvage some of his Generation of Miracles concepts for his EP. He’s has “Dead Man Walking” recorded (Xanxus had helped a lot with that). “Irresistible” has Ankh singing, but he can replace that with his own voice. He has demos of other songs made along. It’s just a matter of piecing it together now.

If he can make his brain work that is.

He’s so scared. Flowers over Bones is gone, which means Luce is gone. And Luce was his go to person for comfort, and the Doctor was pretty cool too. And Ivan. And Sora’s gone. That hurts a lot too. Sora was his best friend. Rarity’s gone too. He didn’t have much interaction with her, but he had wanted to get to know her better.

Why is everyone disappearing? He knew something was weird, with all the weird memories and stuff, but he ignored it, hoping everything would turn out okay.

Obviously, that didn’t happen. He had his head in the sand for too long and now he doesn’t know anything. He’s scared, hurt, and confused that it takes all his well to not cry in the middle of the hall.



Prombts Below

Comments

II - Vista City Park near the Basketball Courts - OTA

[yellowcopycat]

He’s watching a game as he eats a sandwich. It’s some teenagers, younger then him, middle school students probably. They’re laughing and having fun and Ryouta is jealous. He misses playing basketball with people regularly. He’s just so busy with music that most times he just played with them once and then never again.

He slumps against the bench he’s on.

He feels so tired. He feels better now that he had had the break down. It wasn’t healthy keeping all that bottled up.

But even though it’s out of his system he doesn’t know what to do.

[fantasyseal]

It's been a rough time with everything happening at once. Between the Tour and everything else...but there is still time to head outside and be social. There are others who have it worse and Reimu knows it. SO when she sees Ryouta sitting there, She joins him, sitting quietly for a moment. If anything it takes a moment to even think about what to say as she still didn't know many others outside of her band.

"...It's been a long month I take it?"

[yellowcopycat]

"Yeah..." Ryouta took a drink from his water bottle. "Feels like everything fell apart."

He looks over at Reimu, offering a little smile. "How are you doing?" She lost a band mate too, hadn't she?

[invisiballman]

You know what's great when you're feeling down? An adorable dog. Fixes everything, right?

Well.... regardless, there is in fact a dog. They'd been out for a walk in the park and Nigou had gotten a little ahead of Kuroko and was pleased to see a familiar face. He hops onto the bench next to Kise like he owns the place and his tail gives a cautious little wag. Oh... but Kise looks so sad. Licking his hand will probably help. That always helps. His owner will be along in a minute.

[yellowcopycat]

"You're Kai's aren't you?" Ryouta lifted his hand and rubbed at the dog's ears. He remembered this dog from Kai's work...

But he remembers meeting this dog before. It had peed in Midorimacchi's rickshaw. It had eyes as blue as Kai's...

"Where's your human?" He looked around, trying to see if he could find Kai before Kai snuck up on him.

[invisiballman]

Success! The dog leans into the touch and his tail wags happily. As if in answer to the question, Nigou turns his head yips in the direction he came from. Sure enough, his owner comes walking around a bend in the path, scanning the area for his pet.

Kuroko's steps pause for just a moment when he sees Kise. They haven't spoken since the Fairy Trial reception, and he's sure that this is going to be awkward. Helpfully, his mind supplies the memory of Kise's lips on his. In case he forgot. But this is no time time to worry about things like that. Eventually he'll have told himself that enough times for it to become true.

So he walks over to the bench and picks up his dog.

"It's been a while. I'm sorry if he was bothering you."

[yellowcopycat]

"Hey Kaicchi," Ryouta said brightly. Well, as brightly as he can, considering, but the dog and seeing Kai does make him feel better.

"Nigou was just saying hi," he began and then trailed off. How had he known the dog was called that? He hadn't looked at the collar. "I like dogs. Some have even compared me to be big golden lab puppy before."

He looks up at Kai. He also remembers the kiss, it was a nice kiss. They hadn't really talked about it had they? Would they need to? "How's your day going?"

[invisiballman]

So Kise remembered Nigou. Interesting. Kuroko makes a show of tilting his head thoughtfully and considering the comparison carefully.

"A golden labrador... Yes, I can definitely see the resemblance."

He joins Kise on the bench, keeping the dog on his lap.

"So far I can't complain. We usually come to the park when I have a day off."

Both to give Nigou a chance to run around and in the hopes of maybe joining a pickup game. Something in Kise's tone, or maybe it's the look in his eyes, or maybe he's just known him too long... Whatever it is, something tells Kuroko that things are not as well on his end.

"Are you alright? You seem... troubled."

[yellowcopycat]

He does. More memories about the puppy now. Playing with basketballs, Kagamicchi being scared of it.

"Just... a lot of stuff going on. Half my band has been fired, and I don't know what's going on with Momo or..."

He paused, looking at Kai. "I think a pod person replaced Ankhcchi."

[invisiballman]

Now that he's learned what to look for, Kuroko can actually see the flash of memory in Kise's eyes. He wonders which memories they were.

"A... pod person? That sounds complicated."

Kuroko actually has some guesses about that one. The rescuers aren't in constant contact, but rumors do get around. Honestly he feels really bad for Kise. Piecing all of this together when you're missing so many memories is probably an exercise in frustration.

"Would you like to talk about it? I don't know if there's anything I can do to help, but... at least I can listen."

No. The guilt surges up again. There is something else he can do. But... is now the right time? Will it help or make things worse?

[yellowcopycat]

"I guess."

Kise sighs. "I'm not sure what else there is to say about it. I just can tell he's different. It's my eyes... I can just take in so much more now."

He touches the skin under his right eye. "Ever since these turned yellow... I just don't know what's going on any more."

[invisiballman]

Kuroko falls silent and his gaze drops to the ground in front of them. Well.... this might be his best chance. When he finally speaks, his voice is hesitant and unsure.

"Do you think... it would be easier if you did understand? Or... would you rather everything go back to what you were used to?"

He keeps his gaze on the ground, not wanting to meet Kise's eyes at the moment.

[yellowcopycat]

"What are you saying?" Ryouta doesn't like this. On one hand he's tired of burying his head in the sand but on the other hand...

On the other he knows knowing more would be dangerous.

"Kaiichi," he begins, voice shaky. "Kaiichi, you know something. You... lied to me when we first met, didn't you?"

[invisiballman]

Kuroko sighs. There's no denying it now.

"Yes..."

He pauses, then adds quietly...

"I'm sorry...."

It's only now that his gaze finally sweeps back up to look at Kise again.

"Would you like to know the truth?"

Honestly he needs to know. But... Kuroko doesn't want to force it on him either.

[yellowcopycat]

"Why?" Kise stands and paces in front of the bench. "Why have you been lying?" It hurts, being lied to. He hates it. He hates it so much. It's why he's so picky about his friends...

He clutches at his head. Takes a breath.

"Fine," he said after a moment, voice clipped. "Tell me the truth and why you lied."

Re: II - Vista City Park near the Basketball Courts - OTA

[possessedbygreeed]

Shingo is seeing the world with new eyes. He's always seen this stuff, yet why does some of it seem so new? It was confusing, and mildly aggravating. He frowned a bit as he lazily strolled through the park. He's watching the people engaging in the activities, not so much those just sitting quietly to the side. He has a hat stuffed on over his hair, and sunglasses on. They're red, a little flashy. He was also wearing a hoodie, even if it was decidedly too warm for most people.

He has his left arm folded across his chest, and his right, covered in a glove, resting against his cheek. Nia was gone, shouldn't he be more concerned about that? He knows they spent a lot of time playing together, and yet... And then there was the matter of Kise. He was acting weird. He couldn't quite put his finger on why, though.

He had hoped some outside air would help clear things up. But walking around like this only gave him more questions. "Tche." Okay, he needed some ice cream. He scanned around the vicinity for a cart and headed toward it, inadvertently in Kise's direction.

[yellowcopycat]

Ryouta was taking another bite of his sandwich when he saw "Ankh" and he shrunk in on himself. Well, as much as a six-three teenager could.

He looked away from him, hoping he wouldn't be noticed. Which was like wishing it wouldn't rain when it was already raining. Kise was... Noticeable. How many people looked as good as him? Very few. People liked pretty things.

He hunkered down and took a giant bite of his sandwich.

[possessedbygreeed]

He went and bought his ice cream and found someplace to sit. Unfortunately, that was right next to Kise. He watched the bodyguards attempt to look inconspicuous out of the corner of his eye on his right, but some women seated together on a bench a few feet away were already whispering and pointing. What a pain.

So he skimmed through his phone while he ate his ice cream, perched on the back of the bench, with his feet on the seat, without even asking if the seat was taken.

[yellowcopycat]

With a sigh Ryouta took another huge, and noisy bite of his sandwich. "So," he said after swallowing (he wasn't rude, he made sure to chew with his mouth shut and didn't talk while chewing).

"How's the hand? Still twitchy?"

He knew it wasn't.

[possessedbygreeed]

He glanced over when he realized he was the one being spoken to. Honestly, it wasn't all that surprising to see who it was. He huffed and went back to his ice cream. "What business is it of yours?"

Ankh had lately been exclusively using his left hand, not in a way that meant the right was useless, but just as a matter of habit. No, it wasn't twitchy, but it did itch like hell. Why did these tattoos feel recent when he'd had them for ages? But he decided something like that didn't matter.

[yellowcopycat]

"Because we're friends," Ryouta said.

He pouted/glared at "Ankh" for a moment. This man was so similar to the real Ankh, physically, but something was off.

He knew because he can take in so much more information visually now. This guy didn't move like Ankh did.

[possessedbygreeed]

He frowned, but didn't make any further reply. Things felt wrong, in ways he couldn't put his finger on, in ways he didn't always think about.

"I guess I miss Nia," he answered. Maybe that was the explanation. Maybe he just needed some time or a few good shows to lay it all out on stage and patch up some things.

[yellowcopycat]

"I miss her too. And Tsuna, and Aoba, and even Kaworu. He was so weird."

He looked at "Ankh" still not sure what to make of this imposter.

"I'm taking one of the songs I wrote for the next album on my EP. It's not like we can put out an album without a full band."

[possessedbygreeed]

"We're sure going on tour without one," he said derisively. "We'll find a way. Blanche probably has some people itching for an opportunity waiting in the wings. Let's just hope they can keep up."

[yellowcopycat]

"Where are they then?" Ryouta asked flapping his arms.

He's tired of all of this. He's tired of not knowing what's going on now that he can't stick his head in the sand anymore.

"Where's Tsuna, where's Nia, Aoba, Kaworu? We haven't heard from them in ages, it's like they fell off the planet!!"