[ SEMI-CLOSED ] with your demons and mine, i've been yours from the start

[kaientai]

Who ⬤ Sakamoto Ryouma + various
What ⬤ A horrible time to have a curse + some fun in the sun
When ⬤ June~
Where ⬤ All over!
Content Warnings ⬤ It's raining blood! Violence! Corruption! The baseline assumption here is that a lot will come up but I will specifically content warn for anything particularly noteworthy that wouldn't fall under the horror umbrella of the event itself. Beach-related prompts probably involve alcohol, stupidity, and assorted shenanigans. Will also warn accordingly!

[ ooc; if you'd like a custom starter and wanna plot something out, hmu @ koutenko or pm this journal! ]

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[harimaya]

(He follows Ryouma in silence. He doesn't mind it when no one speaks. If anything, he's someone that really values quiet... but it isn't quiet out here. The rain is pouring and there are whispers in the shadows. Sometimes he feels like he can feel that dreadful feeling that signals the arrival of an enemy and at other times, he feels like the shadows look more like tears in the world around them...

A voice cuts through, sharp but sweet, distorted but clear. Like the electric feeling one feels in the air before a storm but also close and familiar like it could have been from inside your own head: "Give it up. A swo̷̰̱͂rḑ̸͙͛ doesn't need a h█▓▒░." The voice breaks and becomes a chorus of sighs and cries. Sad, desperate, angry, wild, empty, screeching and banging like metal being dragged and struck.

Hizen pays it no mind. He doesn't need an ominous voice to make him wonder about why he was summoned. Why he was summoned like this. Thinking is fine. It's when you give up or give into those thoughts that you can become... He stops himself.

He copies Ryouma once they arrive. He sheds his coat, letting it fall to the ground heavily and ventures inside, bowing his head just slightly when he crosses into the threshold. He knows he should announce himself. It would be the right thing to but it's like he's forgotten how to talk. Or just lost the ability to. If he was himself, he'd mock and tease Ryouma for his living space if only to give him a difficult time but he barely registers any of it beyond a small realization,

Ah, he thinks, it's the same. As pitiful as his own apartment. As impersonal and empty as his own space. Not really a home. Just a place to come and rest. A place where one doesn't really live but just exists.

Standing in the entryway, not even taking his shoes off yet, it's probably more obvious in the white fluorescent light of the apartment than the streetlit dark outside; he's covered in blood. He'd taken off his hoodie at the shop but it's obvious that the rain had bled through. His arms and face are smeared with it, his hair is matted and tinged with it and he just sort of... rubs at his arm. What he needs is--)

... A shower.

(That's what he wants. To wash the blood off of him. To at least look cleaner than he feels.)

[kaientai]

Bathroom's all yours. There's clean towels and everything.

[ his one real creature comfort because he has come to appreciate a hot shower and a nice, fluffy towel once in awhile. ]

I've got something you can wear. I'll set it outside the door, yeah?

[ so hizen doesn't have to wait on him digging around for something. he doesn't mind waiting around for the room to be free; he can at least change out of what he's wearing in the meantime. ]

[harimaya]

(It's amazing what a nice, warm shower will do for a soul. It washes away the blood and grime and it feels like he's washed away a significant part of the weight keeping him down right now. It clears the mind and makes him feel more refreshed. And while he still feels like shit he doesn't feel as shitty as he did moments earlier.

He tries to hurry with his shower, not wanting to impose more than he already has. When he finishes, he wraps a towel around his waist and stops to look in the mirror. He wipes at the fog, sees that obvious line across his throat, and looks down at the sink where his bloodied and dirtied clothes have been tossed aside. The bandage is disgusting. Already worn and dirty before the rain even started, it's not a brown from dark blood and he knows he can't wear it again. He wipes down the counter and where ever there might be smears of blood and dirt. If anything, he's a considerate guest. One that doesn't want to cause trouble.

He wraps a towel around his neck before he reaches out to take whatever clothes Ryouma has set out for him and get dressed. When he finishes, he finally steps out, the towel wrapped carefully around his neck, a hand holding it in place and covering part of his face as he avoids looking at Ryouma directly still.

To his credit, he does look better. Ryouma should find some comfort in that, at least. But he's still awkward and miserable.)

... Finished.

(So Ryouma can go ahead. He wonders if he can find something around the apartment while Ryouma takes his own shower.)

[kaientai]

[ the clothes ryouma left out for hizen are nothing special, just a t-shirt and some shorts he picked up at one of the thrift shops. something that's comfy for sleeping in because that's exactly why ryouma owns that sort of thing.

while hizen was showering, ryouma changed out of his own bloody clothes and tidied up a bit. the trash has been taken out and the futon pulled out properly. he didn't risk getting blood on the bedding itself, so that's all still folded up. ]

Lookin' better already!

[ ryouma says this more cheerfully than he has any business being right now, probably. but he's still trying. ]

Won't be too long, but if you get hungry or ya need anything, help yer self.

[harimaya]

(He isn't hungry. He doesn't think food can fill the hollowness he's feeling.

While Ryouma is in the shower, he rummages around quietly. He hadn't seen anything in the bathroom he could use but he wonders if there's something like a first-aid kit he can rifle through for a new bandage or something to really cover his neck. He keeps the towel in place in case Ryouma comes out and he's always careful to make sure to put everything back exactly as he'd found it.

There aren't many places to look and after giving up, he settles down on the couch and... just sits. Awkwardly, thinking about the rain and everything that's happened. He wonders where Izo is. He hasn't answered his messages or reached out to him since...)

...

(He replaces his phone with his sword, setting it down in his lap and looking down at it. He should get it checked after all of this, he thinks. He can feel the exhaustion weighing down on him and he wonders how much of that is physical fatigue and how much of it is spiritual. Until then, he'll keep fighting, he thinks. He'll rest because his body is telling him to but he'll make sure to get back to work later.



When Ryouma comes out, Hizen has already gone to sleep. Even if he has the entire sofa to spread out, he curls up tightly in just one part of it, holding his sword close as he sleeps. With all of the space he could take, it's like he's trying to take as little as possible. While sleeping, he's kept the towel around his neck but it's since slipped just slightly to reveal the jagged scar that goes completely around his neck.

He sleeps until early morning when he wakes himself up, picks up the coat they'd taken earlier, and slips away silently to resume his patrol.)