[ closed ]

[fussiest]

WHO: kaveh (fussiest), midnight (unreserving) and netzach (unsafety)
WHAT: kaveh breaks down midnight's door. netzach is here to watch the gay drama go down. netzach became gay drama
WHERE: midnight's apartment!
WHEN: waves hands vaguely
WARNINGS: uhhhh we'll warn if there's anything

Comments

breaking down the door.

[fussiest]

[fussiest]

[ anyway, kaveh breaks down midnight's door.

it really isn't as difficult as it sounds, and involves a whole lot less breaking than the description implies. the thing with doors is that they're meant to keep out the most common afflictions to be had against a private abode: smash and grabs, invasions of privacy, enterprising individuals trying to stuff flyers between the crack against your doorjamb, a stiff breeze and the arguments from the person next door. the thing about doors is that they weren't built to keep out particularly determined and somewhat wrathful architects.

and so: what can be heard from the other side of the door, a set of footfalls marching right up to the door proper. the jingle of a toolkit being set down. and then, with gusto, the creaking of a man with neurotic hands and an aptitude for taking things apart when he really should really getting to work. a quirky ten minutes later, and the first door hinge pops off. then, in quick succession, the second. and then the entire door falls backwards, caught only by a scarred, callused hand that holds it in place and lowers it gracefully into midnight's living room.

kaveh's pocketing the door hinges when he looks up like deer-in-headlights. ]

Oh.

[abstractart]

[deer in headlights, meet deer in headlights. netzach still doesn't have any sort of weapon beyond a couple craft knives, and he's spent the time it took kaveh to work the hinges free scanning the living room for anything else he could use that isn't going to be breakable. it's hard to miss the noise, and what is he going to do, leave? through the door? that someone is currently breaking in through? he slept on the couch last night, man. he's right here.

so this is what he finds when he pops the door out of frame: netzach is out here with a craft knife in one hand and a beer can in the other, figuring that maybe it will at least be enough to disorient someone if he can nail them in the face with it.

then 'someone' turns out to be kaveh, and he freezes, staring, before just. uh. casually setting those aside. nothing to see here. good thing he doesn't tend to throw first and ask questions after.]

Uh... hey?

...Kaveh, what're you doing, man.

[fussiest]

[ netzach smooth slides a craft knife and a beercan onto a side table. kaveh looks.

the gaze bounces between the side table and netzach. kaveh takes a moment to look down. he assesses the number on the door. ascertains that it is, in fact, midnight's door. and then, with some measure of confusion and no little sheepishness, his gaze slides back to netzach and remains there. ]

Um. [ says kaveh, at the height of his eloquence. ] I suppose I ought to be thanking you for not stabbing me the moment I came through the door. [ and then: ] What are you doing here, Netzach? I thought Midnight lived here. I'm looking for him, or at least trying to look for him.

[abstractart]

He does. Roland up and ran off on me, I didn't wanna stay at our place.

[that's. fine. it's fine! he's doing Fine about it on top of everything that's been happening already this month. there's a blanket shoved aside on the couch, a pillow and a little plushie of a green creature, evidently where he was sleeping.]

You know if you're trying to corner somebody you usually block off the escape route, not make one, right? What're you looking for him for anyway?

[removing the door is a little more than 'just looking for him', it feels appropriate to read between the lines here.]

[fussiest]

[ wait. wait, wait, wait, there is a lot to process here. now that kaveh's peering in properly, the couch looks slept on. a little plushie sits nestled near a worn pillow. netzach and his beer can and the little craft knife; kaveh has never been to midnight's place proper, but it's clear that the place is lived in in a way that speaks of a temporary guest.

but first: ]

I'd normally open a hole in the wall to surprise anyone trying to make an escape, but we're high up enough in the building that I figure Midnight wouldn't want to jump out the window. And I'm looking for him because he refuses to speak to me, and I'd like to know why. [ kaveh's heart catches in his throat. netzach didn't have a lot, here in this city. roland had been a constant, hadn't he? ] Netzach, Roland is gone? Since when?

[abstractart]

A week ago? He's not gone gone, we think, but he isn't showing up or answering us, either.

[a little half-shrug, there. it's Fine. he's making it.]

...which I guess is a problem with more than just him, but... without the disappearing act. Something happen?

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[ netzach shrugs. there is a beer can still next to him. kaveh looks. guilt pools somewhere within him, like a murky, stagnant sea. ]

Something like that. [ kaveh says, slowly. there's apology there as he enters the apartment proper now, stepping around the very much flattened door. ] Most of the story isn't mine to tell, actually. But I'm glad that you're living here right now, Netzach, both for yourself, and for Midnight.

... how has he been?

[abstractart]

Okay enough, I guess? He let me stay for a bit, so I've been trying to help out a little... one of my coworkers said I have a good voice for getting people to sleep.

[he's discovering asmr, he just doesn't know it's asmr... there might not be much he can help with, but if he can at least make resting easier, he feels like midnight maybe needs that. go the actual fuck to sleep.]

[fussiest]

[ kaveh's lips quirk. ]

Oh, good. Despite what he calls himself, I can only imagine that he sleeps when he has no other choice but to do so. What is it about your voice, though. Is this a special ability?

[ ??? librarian magic??? ]

[abstractart]

No idea, man. Yesod just said it 'has a soporific effect'.

[no magic, just a naturally low, soft tone and easygoing manner of speaking. yesod may have been drunk, at the time.]

I figure if he really wanted to avoid people he wouldn't be staying where they know he lives, though. You could've knocked a couple times.

[fussiest]

[ it would be, kaveh thinks, quite a useful thing for when insomnia decides to rear its head again. this, kaveh doesn't say - but instead looks. it follows logical sense. if one wanted to avoid someone, they wouldn't stay where they are.

kaveh smiles. ]

Perhaps. Though there is an argument for staying in the same place - after all, this means someone who knows you well knows exactly where not to go to avoid you, and you know exactly where you ought to be to avoid them. [ alhaitham and kaveh had, after all, existed in sumeru city for years after their fallout. there had been a stall that served the best pita in the city, an older auntie with a knack for getting the char done just right; kaveh had spent years after avoiding her stall in its aftermath, because he knew that it was where alhaitham got his on the daily.

it was the little things. the little shards and fragments that gather to form the grief and the sorrow. kaveh shakes his head. ] No, I doubt he would have answered. He hasn't replied to any of my messages for days. Though - [ and here rue returns o kaveh's expression, ] perhaps I ought to have, just in case. I wouldn't have surprised you, at the very least. Though if I had, then I wouldn't've had an excuse to take the hinges off his door.

[abstractart]

...guess he worried you pretty bad, if you were ready to go this far.

[he observes quietly, glancing over to the door lying on the floor.

it'd be easy to say he must have pissed kaveh off pretty badly, instead, but if it were just that-- he went this far to get in, not to just cause damage.]

midnight's room.

[fussiest]

[unrequite]

[ Photo taken moments before the disaster:

Midnight is literally, just like, chilling. Actually he doesn't know how to chill, so what he's actually doing is dusting down all of the surfaces in his room with a dustcloth. It's actually a pretty enjoyable process for him, and if he hadn't done the same thing yesterday, and three days before, it probably would have been very handy. What it's doing right now is making his descent into absolute raw delirium inevitable, but for him, it's quite literally a Tuesday.

Also Netzach's out there, probably leaving beer cans all over, but that's fine. It's nice to have something to actually clean versus just searching for tedious nothing to do. ]

[fussiest]

[ what brews on the horizon of a nearby singularity: something to do, or, if not so, then something that soon will be done. possibly to midnight. kaveh opens the door. he steps in. the jaundiced red of his gaze falls upon the tableau present: midnight, duster in hand, dusting a room that is devoid of dust, in a city where dust doesn't settle. the little sharp intake of breath is one part surprise, one part hurt.

slowly, kaveh enters. he closes the door behind him. he leans back against it. kaveh looks. ]

Midnight.

[unrequite]

[ The intrusion into his room is something he doesn't mind; Netzach's been very polite company, but he told him that he was free to come in if his attention was required, or for a chat, or just for anything. He likes Netzach, the easy kindness in his offer to help him sleep, the low, simple conversations. He's welcome.

The second voice is only unwelcome in that it scares the daylights out of Midnight. He freezes, but doesn't jump; what he does instead is turn around, pink eyes round, dustcloth hanging from his grip, a pictureframe in the other hand.

(Catapult hugs Popukar to her side in this one, their grinning teeth blue with candy stains. They're both laughing at a joke he made that Midnight doesn't remember anymore.) ]

Hello, Kaveh. I didn't hear you arrive. What's the occasion?

[ He doesn't know that his door is currently defunct, but even if he did, his reaction would be exactly the same. As though Kaveh's popped by with a plateful of samosas and he hadn't had the chance to freshen the place up. ]

[fussiest]

[ with the door safely behind and a pair of door hinges in his pocket, kaveh straightens. there's silence in the hush that follows as kaveh observes midnight from where he stands. midnight seems well. he seems fed. dusting the air aside, the way midnight's entire body flinches at the sound of kaveh's voice sends guilt spinning into the very pit of kaveh's stomach. it lodges there, like stone. kaveh's gaze dips to the photo in midnight's hands. two girls smile up, teeth grinning blue. siblings? though the resemblance isn't quite there. midnight has their picture. they are a part of midnight's life, just as much as anything is.

kaveh breathes in. the quirk of his lips, if a little helpless, is wry. ]

I don't know, actually. I only had two guesses, given the silence: I wasn't sure if this was to be an introduction or a goodbye.

[unrequite]

[ ... An introduction? Midnight ponders over this for a moment. ]

Well, given that I hadn't intended on seeing you again so soon, I'm not sure what's to be expected of this meeting, either.

[ ... Midnight had a plan, of course. This one usually worked in this way: he leaves, no one follows.

His tactical skill was ranked average on his testing battery. He doesn't have another plan. ]

I'm supposing you need something from me. How can I help you?

[fussiest]

[ midnight looks to him the way one would a stranger. the guilt pools. there had been the piece of a shattered diadem in a pocket, there had been a mall, there had been a darkened tunnel and a plea. kaveh looks. ]

Midnight. [ he says, soft as dust. ]

[unrequite]

[ There were several messages on his terminal. He left them unread.

Yoru, please come home. ]

I don't have anything to give you, Kaveh.

[ Midnight returns the softness. It's the core of the argument. ]

Perhaps an apology for the circumstances surrounding our last meeting. I do hope you're feeling better.

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[ it builds, like a flame. like a storm. kaveh looks. the red of his gaze meets pink. ]

Oh, so you do remember that we had a last meeting. I'd wondered, considering we started this conversation as if meeting for the very first time. I wouldn't be blamed for thinking that memories had gone astray, and the time we've spent together had merely been washed away.

[ kaveh's head cants. ] And? Do you remember anything else from our last conversation? There are two things.

[unrequite]

[ ... Welp. ]

You're about to hit me, I know that. The other... I'm entirely responsible for my own condition. Those I've solicited for help besides yourself... Well. I like to keep my demand for their generosity a very small part of their lives. The fault for my habits lie solely with myself.

[ He remembers these things perfectly well. In the moment, he can't really recall how to brace for a strike. Does one relax as one turns with the hit? It's been too long. Spot is right to call him a bit of an idiot. ]

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[ midnight looks. kaveh advances. his steps carry across the room; the distance melts beneath it. ]

That sounds like a recitation. How many times have you apologised in such a way without any input from the person you're apologising to? I was promised answers, not platitudes. Not wanting to burden others is one thing, even if food is hardly a burden. How could you let yourself starve?

[unrequite]

[ Midnight stands there, because there was never any other place to go.

(He does put his girls face down on the desk. They don't need to see this.) ]

I think I'll need that hit first, Kaveh.