Waking the Dead 2.0 || August 19, 2063 || Friday

[icarusalsoflew]

[This one disappears for about thirty minutes, and returns as quietly as he left with two briefcases. He doesn't explain where he went, but from how he ducks into Hikaru's room for about fifteen minutes after that, it can probably be inferred that he fetched a few things from Falner.

Looks like he'll be staying at the Tower while he has taken control of his Brother's body. You're usually going to spot him hovering around, smoking, working through a glass of rum, eyes crimson-ringed and glowing oddly in all lights (or lack thereof) watching... who knows what he's watching? And that suit he's wearing - three-piece, black, pin-striped, with ghostly faces and smoke occasionally moving over the "fabric" - is pretty nice, creepiness aside.

Please excuse him if you find him suddenly popping in on you. It's just what he does.]


OOC Notes:
+ Drop starters as you please! I'll have Death haunt you accordingly. ♥
+ Feel free to do other stuff among yourselves here as well.
+ Do note that Makoto's out and solid for this evening too, so you can bug him or ping me if you want him to come around and bother you.

Comments

[larue]

[ .............. ]

W-wait. What?

[ Just this face, really. ]

[icarusalsoflew]

You may use me as you see fit.

[Evenly and patiently.

Perhaps he was not clear?]

[larue]

[ There's is not much room to back up into but he will put a bit more distance nevertheless??? ]

No-- [ okay, maybe that protest was a little loud? Joshua, really, remember you might actually insult him -- but that then begs the question: can abstract beings be insulted to begin with? ] --I mean.

No. Jesus. Why would you even offer that?

[ Yes. Same body. Different entity. Big difference. ]

I went twenty-eight years without sex, I think I can wait a week.

[icarusalsoflew]

[Blinking. No, he's not insulted in the slightest. Intrigued, though... yes. That.]

You feel that it would not be the same?

[He'll tackle some other points that he is concerned with later.]

[larue]

[ He is opening and closing his mouth like a fish. He is aware.

Finally, though, when he finds his voice again: ]

No, it wouldn't. [ It really wouldn't. ] It won't feel like him.

[ He is having a strange moment of deja vu only back then it was Jessiah Vice trolling him jokingly about a threesome with Ginko to which he had also answered a resounding NO, he is a one person-man, thank you. ]

I know that you are both essentially one, but-- [ IT'S JUST DIFFERENT, DAMMIT. ]

It'd feel like cheating.

[icarusalsoflew]

We are one.

[And the slight shift of emotion on his face and cant of his head might tell you that he is not quite sure what the problem is.]

How is it "cheating"?

[Yes, he is honestly asking you that.]

[larue]

[ Here's a sigh from Josh and a lifted hand as he asks for a moment to gather his wits, because this is not how he thought he would be ending what has actually been a pretty long day.

After that moment though, here's Josh coming over to sit down right beside Brother Death. ]

I know you're one and the same... in the sense that you share the same body, that you learn from him and whenever he comes back... so will you.

[ Seriously. How is this a thing. ] But you're also... not. You're not Hikaru. [ Is he even getting this right? ] He's your vessel. You've called him that.

[icarusalsoflew]

[And he waits obediently enough, and does not move or look particularly bothered by the fact that you shift closer. Why should he be?

...Anyway. Now he is beginning to understand.]

Fair enough. Nevertheless, are you certain that you are fine with waiting?

[larue]

[ The chuckle that leaves him most definitely sounds relieved that Brother Death seems to have accepted the way he's laid it out.

To that question: ] I am.

[ He really is. It's not like he and Hikaru haven't spent time apart. And he understands that Death needs to be around, and that it means Hikaru can actually take time to properly recover. ]

He's worth waiting for.

[ His gaze falls away at that, down to where his hands are resting on his knees. ]

[icarusalsoflew]

[And all of that is reminding this one why you intrigue him.

Perhaps he will tell you that later. Time to be honest.]

There is another reason why I offered, Joshua LaRue.

[larue]

[ He's tensing at that.

And then he remembers the pack of cigarettes that he'd pulled out -- he's lighting up first before he finally speaks. ]

Okay.

[icarusalsoflew]

I am curious. Sex, human desire and the correlations between them are experiences Brother Wolf cannot show me, or explain effectively.

[They also had a bit of a rule with that sort of activity. Call it a metaphorical sock on the door, and - out of deference to his vessel - Death did not bother trying to break it.]

I had hoped to fulfill two objectives by offering: learning yet another aspect of human life while providing you with a service that I had originally deemed necessary in light of his temporary absence from your side.

[larue]

[ Forgive this one, Brother Death. He can't quite wrap his brain around the idea that... hum. ]

So you're telling me that you're curious about... [ Buck up, Brennan LaRue. It's only the subject of ] ...sex.

And everything that goes with it.

[ Wow, this is so awkward. ]

[icarusalsoflew]

Yes. I understand that it is important for your survival and that your species takes pleasure in the act, but my knowledge is purely theoretical.

[Unlike many other experiences that he gains as a result of riding with Hikaru Shinta. Dying being born again were at the top of that list.]

People have sex because they "love" each other, yet there are also people who simply want to have sex, so much so that they will resort to violence to satiate themselves. Still others claim to "love" each other more after intercourse, and yet another demographic believes that sex is only essential for procreation. It appears to be a little more paradoxical than many of your other actions.

[He also knows nothing of the act itself, beyond a rather good idea of how things are supposed to go down. He knows what it is like to eat or drink, to feel refreshed or tired, and other things. Not this.]

[larue]

[ Ah. Well. That... is an interestng way to go about the subject. ]

Well. Um. [ This is not his forte. Talking is fine but talling about... this. It's kind of mind-boggling. ]

I'm not exactly... the best source for information on this. Truth be told.

Before Hikaru... there was no one else.

[icarusalsoflew]

That point is debatable. He fell in love with you, did he not?

[In Death's eyes, that automatically makes you incredibly intriguing. The Blade King does not love easily. Compassion is something he feels often, but love? From what Death knows so far based on his conversations with his brother and the lurking he does at the back of his brain, there is a subtle but significant difference between the two.]

Besides, the first step to understanding usually requires doing it for one's self. Hence, my offer.

[larue]

[ It's subtle, the way Josh is starting to relax, even if the tells of him shying away from the subject of that suggestion ( because he doesn't feel like he's out of the woods just yet ) are still around.

Listening to Death talk however, has made him curious in turn. It's evident that Brother Death is asking these things because he's got questions to ask and wants to know things... but the thing then that comes up is: ]

Why do you want to know all about this? [ Willing himself to relax now. ] Have you spoken to any of the others before?

[ And by others, he means the ones who came before him. There must have been opportunities or occassions. He's not the first that Hikaru will fall for, and he certainly won't be the last. ]

[icarusalsoflew]

No. Circumstances with those ones were not conducive to discussing this topic without great difficulty, or the possibility of it being damaging for either party.

[Liandrin, from what Death could tell, was a chapter in Hikaru's life that was effectively over, and neither of them had the need to add more lines to it. His vessel had only started to get back on the same page with Alistair Mordechai. As for Aria...

"Complicated". That seemed like the most effective word to use.]

And I want to know because I want to understand.

[His own expression becomes a little more human at those words: softer, pensive, hopeful? This one's not even aware of it.]

[larue]

[ It's a little unsettling how the slightest change in that face makes him think of Hikaru, but the rings around those eyes are still there. Even the way Brother Death speaks is different, even if the voice is more or less the same. ]

So, you want to understand what... desire and love are like?

[ Josh shifts back into the bed at that, legs folding beneath him. He's allowing himself to quietly study that expression on his companion's face in the hopes of figuring out how to handle this... "conversation". ]

What... exactly do you want to know? And why not ask Hikaru directly? I mean... he's your vessel, after all.

[icarusalsoflew]

Asking him only constitutes one half of the experience. I hoped to approach the other party in a relationship that he has engaged in to get a better sense of it.

[Squaring his gaze up now to your face.]

And I wanted to experience the physicality of it. To see how the emotions blend with the sensations, and process it for myself.

[larue]

[ ... ]

...Oh.

[ There's a part of him that thinks that this conversation merits booze but he's... going to forego that to ensure that his head is clear. ]

I don't... it's not a good idea. [ He looks incredibly apologetic even if he's not sure if that's the right way to go about it. ]

I can't speak for him. But if the situation were reversed... [ he trails off unexpectedly and yeah, those ears are definitely pink. ]

It's just not a good idea.

[icarusalsoflew]

[There's a bit of a delay before this one responds, and it's mostly because he's studying your reaction.]

I see. I apologize, then, for making you uncomfortable.

[Apparently, Death wears disappointment, guilt and concern in exactly the same way that Hikaru Shinta does: in the purse of his lips, and the downward turn of his gaze.]

[larue]

[ Wow, please, don't. It's eerie and all sorts of creepy in ways he doesn't want to think about how so much like his boy you appear right now. ]

I... I'm sorry. It's just that, [ fumbling for words now ] it's different for everyone. Sometimes, people get into sex just becayse it feels good. Other times you have to care about someone so much, love them -- before you take the step towards... that kind of intimacy.

[ He's taking a moment to figure out how to say this next part. ]

I think I can safely say that Hikaru and I are the second category. And... you might share the same body, but sleeping with you would be like sleeping with someone else.

[ It really would. ]

I don't know... how he'd take to that.

And even if I did know... the answer would still be no. But that's because of my principles.

[icarusalsoflew]

Understood. I will not press.

[He is definitely picking up his vessel's tells. Shorter sentences, not quite meeting the other's gaze, longer pauses... the works.

Few know of this simple fact: the "drift" that exists between Hikaru Shinta and Death works both ways. While one comes to understand things in a less "human" fashion, the other gains human experience. They talk often because neither of them have the words to explain their respective sides, at least not until they hash it out. They often don't realize it when they're becoming each other's mirrors.

Much like now.]

[larue]

[ He'll chalk it up to moving a certain way around Hikaru and getting tripped up because where earlier it was easy to tell the difference... it's harder now.

He knows this is still Brother Death, but it's hard, watching the tells that he's starting to be so incredibly familiar with where it concerns Hikaru. And especially since the last four? five weeks? that he and the Blade King have been together-together haven't exactly been smooth sailing.

This is a hand falling over yours, Death. ]

You look pretty lost.