suddenlybees | || IC INBOX

[ Toki has way too much trust in him. When he gets back, the door is closed. But it's unlocked, and the door opens to Shuuya sitting on top of the desk, ankles crossed and legs swinging idly over the edge. ]

Hi, Nii-chan!

[ Talking in a little kid voice is a pain, but his auditory illusion is convincing enough without very much effort. Toki gets some closer, Kano gets chocolate milk, it'll work out. ]

[Toki returns with chocolate milk, dropping the bottle to the floor upon Shuuya's greeting. He wasn't really expecting this. He picks the bottle up, its contents now all bubbly and frothy, and hands it to Shuuya.]

A-are- is it okay!? With Kano!? Is it okay to exist just this much?

[Everything about Shuuya's "existence" continues to confuse him, but wants to know that in the end, if he's not happy, he's at least content. That he's not sad.]

[ He half jerks forward off the desk to catch the bottle, but reflexively acting doesn't mean physically being able to react fast enough to do anything about it. At least it doesn't break, or he would have had to pretend to cry. ]

Mm, just this much, it's okay! 'cause I get to sleep as long as I want, and if I want to— oh! If you see Héctor later, tell him he's right!

Okay. But if it's ever not enough anymore, tell me. I'll find a way to fix it.

[He's satisfied for now, and it stops him from telling Kano was he was going to. Not if Shuuya's still around.]

I'll tell Héctor~!

[Héctor... might be a problem. After their only real conversation, Toki's pretty sure the man thinks he's some degree of psychologically disturbed. He wasn't planning on talking to Héctor again for a very long time, but now he has to.]

I want to tell you that I'm sorry it worked out like this, Shuuya! Everyone tried their best for you! It just... wasn't enough.

[ It's some dangerous power, the way Toki promises to do whatever Shuuya wants, and if Shuuya were actually Shuuya and not Kano, it wouldn't be so dangerous. He could do so much with this... if he could stop the burning in his chest at the memory of everybody trying their best for him, because he remembers that. How could he not remember that? Taking care of him, and playing with him, and even now Toki is getting him chocolate milk just because Kano asked, without question. ]

It's enough... You did everything you could, right? So that's enough. I'm here, aren't I? I got to see you again, so isn't that enough?

[Toki smiles, but he feels like crying. He's not sure why.]

It's enough. I'm glad I got to see you again! I have go now, though! Enjoy your choc-

[Horrible timing... Darkness. Laughter, low and from every direction. The eyes open, spiral irises rotating in a hypnotic rhythm.Painful bright light piercing through from the pupils. Everything's white. It fades to a reflective surface like mist dissipating. A mirror. The eyes are his. Both of them... Toki screams and abandons any thoughts of Shuuya to run into the bathroom and check to make sure his eyes aren't all daemony.]

[ The chocolate milk clatters to the floor again as Shuuya runs after Toki, because 1) watching him have a vision will never not be terrifying, and 2) doesn't Toki know that the most dangerous place in a house is the bathroom?? ]

To— Nii-chan!! Hey!

[The mirror reveals his eyes are fine. He examines the red one more closely, just in case. Okay. Crisis averted; somewhat. He grips the edge of the sink too hard and tries to breathe deeply.]

It's fine, it's fine, it's fine.

[He can feel it watching, and it's very tempting to slide the curtain open in the shower just to make sure the daemon's not in there. It's a ridiculous and panicked thought. Shuuya's there. He can't completely lose it in front of this kid.]

It's okay. Just go back and drink your milk.

[Which may be leaking out all over the floor, but whatever.]

[ "Go back and drink your milk" might be the single most condescending thing Kano's ever heard in his life, before he remembers that he's Shuuya and a kid and yeah. That's right. He's Shuuya and not Kano right now, so that means he can flip the lid closed on the toilet and stand on top of it, making himself a bit taller and able to stare Toki eye to eye. ]

Does it hurt? There's a trick to getting rid of pain... Gimme your hand.

No, it's- not much?

[Does it hurt? He can't tell if he still gets migraines with the visions; if he does, they never go away after and it's a new baseline. Who knows? So many things got messed up with the orichalcum. Does panic count as pain? That constricting feeling in his chest, like the beginnings of a heart attack?

He doesn't think it's going to make any difference, but Shuuya wants to help somehow. Toki holds out his hand.]

[ Not much is still something, and not much is just about what he can do too- he doesn't understand enough to heal very well, but pain and numbness are things Kano has an intimate grasp on.

He presses his hand to Toki's palm to palm, then shifts to lace their fingers and squeeze gently. ]

Alright. Now, count down from three, and scream as loud as you can.

[ Whereupon he will do his best to make his numbing fey magic work. ]

Edited 2019-05-03 20:20 (UTC)

What!? How is that going to do anything!? Is it left over fey magic from Wist!?

[Then he thinks about for a minute. It's technically Kano's body, Kano's existence and Shuuya is just part of it. So, he should have access to what the giraffe gave Kano.]

Do you really want me to scream?

[The entire building will hear that if he actually tries to be loud.]

[ Maybe screaming is a bad idea. There are guards outside the room, after all, who could kick it down like a paper sheet even with it bolted shut. ]

Yeah. Sometimes you feel better when you scream?

[ Better than keeping everything bottled up inside, anyways. Sometimes a good scream helps. ]

[The guards might do just that, thinking someone's being murdered.]

That's true. Okay.

[Toki attempts the loudest scream he can. It may burst Kano's eardrums, and will most certainly alert the guards.]

[ It certainly does hurt, and there's a split second where he almost lets go of Toki's hand so he can clamp his hands over his ears before he goes deaf, but then he remembers what he was supposed to be doing, and he lets the magic surge through him and into Toki— numbing, but not exactly calming, the feeling of full body anesthesia, and all-or-nothing attempt just as the guards kick down the door, brandishing spears crackling with electricity. A stun gun of overkill proportions, pointing at Toki at first, then Shuuya, back at Toki.

Which one of these kids is the more dangerous one?? Maybe they should just taze them both. ]

[He knew this was a bad idea. He can barely feel Shuuya's hand anymore, but he's still holding it. The scream dies in his throat and there's a tingly sensation all over. He feels nothing physically, and it's weird. He slowly turns to look as the guards appear. Shit.

Toki can't explain the situation, even if he could form words. The most he gets out is some drawled 'neh' or the like before the guards decide it's best to use the taser spears.]

[ -—Yikes! He ducks behind Toki before he gets stabbed with the spear, because that would definitely break the illusion and he hasn't practiced yet whether he can numb himself sufficiently to keep pain from being able to break it. ]

Waitwaitwaitwaitwait!!!! It's okay, don't kill—-

[ Too late ]

[It doesn't really hurt, but it feels like his body is vibrating. There's little sparks of light behind his eyes. He briefly wonders if it may be a terrible idea to use a taser on someone whose brain consistently short circuits, but too late now. Everything goes black. Good luck with the guards, Shuuya.]

[ Hey, you know how ECT can sometimes work miracles on people? Maybe Toki's brain will be fried, but there's also a chance that it'll reset and be less... what it was. It's the only bit of optimism Kano has for this scenario, letting Toki's body crumple to the ground because there's no way he can hold up dead weight, whether that's in his child body or in his regular one.

Hands up in the air! ]

Aah, it'd be bad if you hurt somebody who already surrendered, wouldn't it? Toki, too, Nii-chan wasn't posing a threat to anybody, but you still got him! Haha, how cruel~ I wonder what your boss would say, to that sort of abuse of power~?

[ Hands up but also inching back towards the window... His """fire escape""" is right there, and if there was ever a time to use it, it'd be now. He'll be back, Toki, maybe. ]

[If and when Kano returns, it will be to an empty room except for the lizard; the guards having dragged Toki off to wherever it is they keep the problem children when use of force is deemed necessary. Maybe it's a cell in the Citadel, maybe some soundproof room the basement. No one knows.]

[ Kano is on the run for two days and the guards have to drag him back kicking and screaming out of a sewing shop in Soleil, so by the time he's back, Toki is gone and he expected as much. At least... maybe the whole "Shuuya" thing hasn't been betrayed, so that's good.

That night, there is a drilling sound coming from inside Toki's closet. ]

[Toki isn't asleep. He doesn't sleep for more than five minutes at a time any more. Yuya, however, is in the midst of nightmares and whatever like usual. He won't wake up unless it gets too noisy.

Toki sets Kuroko down on the floor and heads to the closet to investigate. He hesitates a second before opening the door, wondering if Doreen has some squirrels spying on him or something.]

[ No squirrels, but there is a power drill, and the drill point gets dangerously close to Toki's head that ISN'T SUPPOSED TO BE THERE, it's lucky for him that Kano takes that moment to pull back and lean forward and blow the sawdust out of the hole and into Toki's face, that isn't supposed to be there either.

It's not a big hole yet, as he's just getting started. The plan is to perforate a couple of holes in the shape of a circle and then kick the floor through. ]

[Oh my god, that's a drill. The closet is no longer safe. After the drill bit and the sawdust are gone, Toki tries to peer up through the tiny hole, standing on his toes. He's an idiot, and hopefully Kano isn't intending to use the drill again right away.]

Kano, what are you doing!?

[He wants to know less of a what, and more of a why.]

[ If he was going to use the drill again, at least it would be a bit to the left, in the middle of Toki's forehead instead of mutilating his eye for the 2304985th time this month and the last. It's smart of him to speak up before Kano starts the drill again, and it saves Toki from a hole through the forehead.

Kano leans down and stares down into the hole. It's really no larger than half a centimeter across, so he can't really be sure what it is he's looking at, but he can tell from the voice. ]

Hmm... Go back to sleep, Toki.

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