seragaki aoba (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cosmo_call) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
starhuevalley2018-08-27 08:32 pm
cosmo_call) wrote in starhuevalley2018-08-27 08:32 pm
Entry tags:
action/text
Who: aoba and you, everyone's favourite children's tv show~
What: general settling in catch all.
When: augustish. you may think i've been in the game a month and done nothing but you'd be wrong, i was merely biding my time... watching... waiting... (i was being a flake, but shh)
Where: all over town!
Warnings: none, but aoba's got a permissions post here if you wanna check up on what he's capable of and opt out as required!
first impression.
[ After everything that's gone on there's this air of needing to sleep about him, like he's been awake for a week, or seen too much in too short a span of time, which is probably not the best look for someone just about to start a holiday to have.. but here we are. Perhaps this is the perfect place for a guy who looks like he does, to finally disconnect from everything and take in some fresh air, some fresh faces, some new scenery.
He steps off the bus with a bulging messenger bag slung over his shoulder, a bag that looks like it's weighing him down as he navigates himself through town and toward his new house with the air of a guy who's not entirely used to following maps without any outside assistance. He turns it around once or twice after he realises that he's following it upside-down, eventually setting it right and continuing on his journey. Perhaps you run into him here, maybe help him with that bag of his, though he'll offer a poor first impression if you do.
Probably best to wait till later, when he's had a nap that feels like it lasted a week (and for all he knows, it might have) and emerges from his abode with a whole new aura; he looks refreshed, energised, and even though there's a hint of trepidation loitering in his movements, he seems ready to take this new life with both hands. ]
shopping trip.
[ Eventually he'll get used to it here. Once or twice he finds himself falling into a rhythm, his feet stepping in time with everyone elses, his day-to-day lining up pretty well with the sunlight and the habits of the other residents... but more often than not Aoba looks and feels the outsider he is.
This particular occasion has him staring up at the signs above the stores in central Pelican Town, his eyebrows knitted together just slightly in the middle, his mouth muttering as though he's talking to himself... though the large pink headphones over his ears create the impression that he might be murmuring along to a song he knows. Without warning he moves off from his spot having seemingly decided on a target, but of course goes wheeling into someone's side as they pass a little in front of him. ]
U-Uwah..! [ He can't really blame them - because really, who expects a blur of blue to come shooting out across the road? - but nevertheless he's rubbing his side where he collided with the stranger as his expression goes a little sour, as if on impulse. ] Ooi! Look- [ Then he seems to catch himself, like a child does when they're trying to act grown up, and his face goes from angry to apologetic in no time at all. ]
Ah... Sorry about that. [ He takes his headphones off next. ] I wasn't paying attention.]
[ That much is obvious. Hopefully whoever he bumped into is forgiving.... ]
pick me up.
[ After a week or two, though Aoba thinks of and misses home a fair amount, it becomes easier to think about it. He's even managed to be able to think about Granny for longer than a few minutes, and has made a determined effort to raise a tomato plant like she has on her windowsill.. to no success as of yet, but still he tries.
On his way to pick up some fertiliser in the hopes that it'll get the fruit to grow beyond the size of Aoba's thumbnail, he's distracted from entirely amateur gardening thoughts by a soft doof of feeling to his lower leg. Looking down he sees an energetic-looking border collie puppy with it's teeth in the plush fabric of his oversocks.
Rather than reacting in anger at the iminient destruction of his clothes by this little weilder of terror, Aoba delights in the sight of the dog and is instantly crouching down to pick the puppy up. ]
Hello, where did you come from? [ He asks, but the puppy merely yips happily at him, wriggling it's legs as if it's trying to swim through the air to get closer to him. There's no collar that Aoba can see, so instead he brings the dog closer as he stands, looking around for anyone who might look like they're looking for a dog.
He taps the nearest person turned away from him on the shoulder, right as the puppy starts gnawing on the cuff of his coat. ]
Ah, sorry. But, do you have any idea who's dog this is?
network post.
hello, out there..
[ His awkwardness is readable, isn't it? He would have made this a video, only Aoba really doesn't fancy seeing if his phone-trick works over video cameras too. If he still.. has his phone-trick. But that's an issue for another day. Right now, Aoba is sitting somewhere - maybe at home, maybe outside, maybe somewhere secluded or maybe he's in the middle of a crowd - trying to figure out how best to word this to the public at large, in a way that doesn't make him want to dig a hole for himself in the ground. ]
so, basically.
i'm really bad at this growing crops thing. i gave it my best shot, i tried to do what i've watched my granny do for years, but she makes it look easy. and i can tell you all right now, that for someone with very little experience in organic things, it definitely isn't easy.
sometimes i work with technology, back home, but it's mostly poking around in things i don't entirely understand. i've got enough knowledge to make it work, but nothing like some of the more
[ Pause. ]
extreme people out there.
[ Another pause. ]
what i'm trying to ask is, does anyone know where i could maybe get a job, or something like that? i work in a store where i'm from, i answer phones and do deliveries, i'm quick and handy and i guess i'm pretty strong? and..
... haha, jeez, it's been years since i had to sell myself like this for a job, and even then it was a five minute phone interview followed by me sending my work history over in an email.. this place sure is different from what i'm used to.
wildcard.
[ feel free to wildcard me something between these prompts, or something new entirely! aoba will be wandering around trying to find his feet for uh, a lot of the first month he's here, so he'll be around looking lost should you need him.
if you'd like to hit me up, i can be found atmirobug or by pming this journal o7 <3 ]
no subject
[ He feels good to talk like this-- mostly because it's been.. weird. And then Noiz reveals he wants to hear about the weird, and Aoba is surprised in a way he can't really place. It's good, because Noiz interacting is something he only has limited experience with, and like a child given candy for good behaviour he can't help but want more. It's bad.. because Aoba isn't sure what to tell, how much, or if Noiz might regret being told and get closed off from asking any more questions because of it...
He pauses, shifts his arms so he's kind of hugging himself. The action looks comforting on Noiz, that's all. ]
I remember almost everything you remember, like I said. The tower, right up until what I did. [ Swallow. It's hot in here, right? ] But that's when.. I guess our paths branch?
[ He's squinting, frowning like he's trying to see through fog because.. well, he kind of is. ]
With you I failed, but I think I remember succeeding. I came into a room where hands tried to stop me from seeing you, tried to change my body, but I pushed through and found you and you were in chains.. All on your own. You spoke about.. about the way the world made you feel, about what you deserved and how you planned to stay alone, but it made me mad to hear you talk like that. You spoke as if I wouldn't care if you died or got hurt, but I'd already shown you that wasn't true. So I didn't listen, I told you I cared and that I wouldn't let you be alone, and then I.. I destroyed that world. I got you out.
[ He exhales, long and slow, he flexes his hands on his arms. He's aware he's rambling, but the good thing about Noiz being a guy of so few words means that it's easy for Aoba to just keep going. Which, in a situation like this, is probably the only way it'll all come out. ]
I saw what I was capable of, too. And I really thought I was going to implode, so I told you to leave me there. I figured that.. as long as I helped, it was fine. But you wouldn't let me. I.. hurt you, you felt it, you even protected me later like you forgot, like it wouldn't hurt-- I ended up having to carry you out of there in my arms. [ He laughs, then feels immediately embarrassed for doing so. ] We got out, and the tower fell. Everything worked out somehow.
[ He looks at Noiz then, expression teetering between tentative happiness and outright uncertainty. ]
It feels like a dream to me. There was a lot of pain, both of us were really hurt by the end of it, but it still feels like everything went right.. as good as it could have gone. It's blurry around the edges in my head, but.. But being close to you makes it clearer, I think. That's why.. I don't think you and the Noiz I experienced that with, are totally different people.
/2
Another team. Larkspur.
[and he might say more about that, but now it's Aoba's turn to talk, and so he's going to listen.
Aoba's description of the Scrap matches up with Noiz's memory, mostly. he remembers that room, he remembers those chains. he remembers the way they talked - his silent questions, hanging in the dark...
can I stop now?
this Aoba must have said No.]
no subject
and then he can't focus on the rest of what Aoba's saying, because:]
I felt it?
no subject
I- shit, I'm sorry. This whole time I've been thinking about myself and how it's making me feel, because I remember all of these things.. with you, with everyone else, I've been so confused and I-- [ He looks at Noiz, expression lost somewhere between desperate and scared. ] When I broke you out of that world, I destroyed that part of you too. I didn't realise I'd done it, I didn't ask..
You felt it. You felt-- me. I hurt you when I pushed you away. You broke nearly every bone in your body protecting me. You were in hospital for weeks...
[ He exhales heavy, looking at Noiz as if waiting for the answer to an unasked question to be broadcast on his face. Really he should know better. He's honestly just waiting to see if Noiz will react good or bad to this revelation. When he looks at him he can see a fuzzy memory; Noiz sitting up in a hospital bed with a magazine held idly in front of his face, and Aoba almost takes the impulse he has to reach out and touch Noiz's face-- stopping himself at only the last second with his hand weirdly raised between them. ]
no subject
he felt it. he felt pain. he felt pain, because Aoba destroyed the part of him that couldn't - the part that held him apart from the world.
the part that made him like her...
but - then, that means he's not like her. her numbness is physical. his - his was just in his head? this entire time? could it have, somehow, broken without Aoba's help, if only anybody had known how to get in?
he's--
angry.
he's angry. the connection he has with the girl from Larkspur, that shared barrier - he could have it fixed for himself, now, if he wanted. if Aoba broke that other Noiz, he could break him into wholeness. the girl from Larkspur doesn't have that choice.
that's not fair.
it's not fair that he wants it so much and he can finally have it, if he just asks, but she can't.
it's not fair that now he can have it, he'll have to lose something else in exchange.]
[he doesn't say any of this aloud.
but there are furious tears welling up in his eyes.]
no subject
The outstretched hand lands on Noiz's face and somehow Aoba's brain thought he'd feel cold but he doesn't. He's warm in the cheeks and it knocks the breath out of Aoba, making his stomach feel tight-- he feels sick, then he feels scared, battling with the part of him that wants to draw the hand back to avoid jumbling things up even more. He doesn't, not until words claw their way from his mouth. ]
I'm sorry. [ The hand comes back and Aoba clenches fists on his lap instead. He misses Ren more than ever in this moment. ] I.. It must be hard to hear something like that.