tampered | [log] [ongoing]

Current Mood: anxious

[log] [ongoing]

When; April 18, evening; before here
Rating; PG
Characters; Jowy [

bright_shield]
Summary; On the way back to his apartment, Jowy - armed with books of questionable topics - meets Riou on the streets. Slight embarrassment ensues. ♥
Log;

Silently, Jowy questioned the Black Sword if this was its doing.

He stared, for a very brief moment, unable to do anything but stare at the scattered books he had borrowed from the library on the street pavement, a very familiar pair of boots in very plain view, not to mention a voice that he could never mistake with anyone's else in his ears. "Riou-" he said curtly, giving his (once?) best friend a short glance before bending down to collect the books on the floor. People stumbled into each other, and certainly, he had acknowledged the slim chance of stumbling into Riou on the streets, but not literally doing so.

Easily, as soon as his mind was sure this was really Riou in front of him, he slipped on that quiet and unyielding mask. Still though, how could anyone not be anxious (Jowy was slightly so) in the situation he now found himself in?

Sex Between Men. Was that the Black Sword laughing at the back of his mind?

He could almost imagine the thoughts running through the Bright Shield bearer's head.

How could the King of Highland sink any lower?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Riou shook his head slightly as he stumbled groggily through the streets on his way back from the Hall of the Missing. He had fallen asleep. Again. He had put it off, in the beginning, to overexerting himself that one weekend during the Red God ritual rescue. But-- this couldn't be normal. To be fine one moment and then the next---

Riou was rather rudely knocked out of his thoughts as he plowed into a wall that had not previously been there. He staggered back and a pulse of warmth flared up from his right hand, a wave of heat that pushed back the weariness that had been lying so heavily upon him. It was just enough to keep him from toppling over entirely.

Riou blinked and gave his head another shake as Bright Shield continued to send pulses of energy throughout his body. He then blinked again as his brain finally began to register the familiar figure standing before him. Not a wall but...

"...Jowy?" he said, rather stupidly, as the other boy continued to stare down at the dropped books that littered the ground around them.

Oh, that would have been fantastic. Literally walk into Jowy on the streets and precede to collapse at his feet. Bright Shield seemed to react to that particular thought with a particularly strong throb of heat.

And now you think I ought to be energetic? Riou chided his rune.

"Fancy... meeting you around here, Riou-" Jowy began quietly, carefully avoiding Riou's eyes when he looked up promptly, and ignoring the pulsing in his right hand. Little wonder the Black Sword would be delighted to see it had met its brother again, personally. "You need to-" he said as he balanced the books on his arms and hoped he hadn't missed any on the floor, "-watch where you're heading better next time."

"Yes, we need to stop meeting like this," Riou replied offhandedly as he watched Jowy carefully gather up the fallen books. He would have helped if he wasn't still half afraid that bending over might send him sprawling over unto his own face instead.

'Fate' something whispered at the back of his mind.

'I won't accept that' something closer to the forefront whispered back.

"Finding True Love in a Man-Eat-Man World: The Intelligent Guide to Gay Dating, Sex. Romance, and Eternal Love (http://www.amazon.com/Finding-True-Love-Man-Eat-Man-World/dp/0440506891/ref=sr_1_17/104-7332569-0055962?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176954930&sr=1-17)" Riou recited from the cover of one of Jowy's books.

Riou blinked and waited for his brain to wake up from its nap as well. He seemed to be doing that quite a bit lately. But no, that's really what it said.

. . .

...Oh well, he'd seen much worst in his own searches of the library. How looking for information on the city, on ways of escape, and on runes could bring up so much graphic porno...

"I see the library has been giving you that kind of stuff as well," he continued.

Jowy had frozen at the sound Riou's voice reciting a very familiar title. By the time Riou had finished his little commentary though, the blond realized Riou had given him an opening. "...yes," Jowy said, a bit too guiltily at the comment about the library giving him that kind of stuff, as Riou put it.

What are you waiting for? the Black Sword hissed at the back of his mind. Jowy naturally ignored it.

"But I don't think there's any hidden meaning to those books," Riou said and leaned his right arm against a nearby wall. "I studied them but-- I'm no scholar or anything, but I didn't see any secret messages or codes or anything in all those books."

Bright Shield continued to pulse and Riou was torn between being grateful that he was alert and energetic for once and being worried that the half rune would try to instigate a certain duel to the death at any moment. And what was Black Sword doing at the time? Riou casually --if warily-- eyed Jowy's own right hand.

"You studied them?!" Jowy was unable to keep an impassive face at that. For a while anyway, and there was only a tiny hint of the surprise on his face. Didn't someone say he had been unlucky--? He cleared his throat discreetly and shifted his weight from one foot to another. "It's not like you were any good with reading to begin with..." He trailed away and, aware of the impatient rune hissing and slightly burning on his right hand, began positioning himself to head off briskly to the direction of his apartment.

He wasn't armed, but goodness knew both of them were decent, if not good, in hand-to-hand combat.

Riou tilted his head slightly at Jowy's sudden outburst. Of course, he had studied them, wasn't that what Jowy was planning to do with his own books? Wasn't it a logical thing to do when a mysterious magical library started shoving books at you? Even if they were rather graphical romance novels. With pictures. Of men. And--

Right. He wasn't going to think about that right now.

As it was, it looked as if Jowy was about to bolt for it, which was rather wryly amusing considering how it had been Riou who had been doing all the running up to this point. But there had been something Riou had been wanting to ask the other boy for quite awhile now...

"Wait, about that night in the forest..." he began.

"What is it?" Jowy asked, trying to keep the impatience from sipping out in his voice. He'd really rather not stay here right now and see what the runes would drive them to do or worse, have Riou realize just why he was lugging books about sex around.

"You never did say what happened..." Riou paused, glanced at Jowy, and realized the other really was about to bolt for the hills at any given moment. "I carried you the entire way back, you owe me at least that. It didn't have anything to do with your rune, did it?" he finished in a rush.

Jowy stared at Riou quietly. A moment. "I don't think it is," Jowy finally said, "but it could have been. It was just him, mostly, and the Beast Rune. Is it draining you now?"

"...him?" Riou frowned a bit at Jowy and then-- "And the Beast Rune?!"his voice rose a few magnitudes in volume.

And he was just going to ignore that last question. For now, at least. Until he was sure.

Riou had been surrepticiously monitoring --stalking! a part of him shrieked before it was batted down-- Jowy since arriving in the city and he didn't think the Black Sword bearer was having the same symptoms as he. At least, if he was, no where near to the same degree.

And that would make sense-- Jowy seemed too content to walk the path of destiny that ended in that death duel; the real current obstruction to that fate was Riou, himself.

And the only reason that Riou's condition was yet undiscovered was how carefully he had been conducting all his in-person visits and-- confessing that he was passing out at random intervals to the Black Sword bearer first was probably not the wisest of actions.

In fact, this entire conversation was probably pointless. Even if Jowy was being affected, Riou would probably be the last person he would admit it to. Better chance of Frey or Lyra or Kamui knowing...

"Forget I asked," Jowy muttered and shifted his weight again. "When it happens to you, it might make you start thinking harder about what the runes really do." It had been difficult, Jowy thought to be honest to himself. His health had probably been a major catalyst for Highland's downfall. Those last few months, it was a battle to put up a facade of good health, he remembered, and after Leon's strategy had failed against Riou's strategist's, he'd thought his fate was sealed. Whether or not they won, it was doubtful if he could have lived long enough to secure stability and peace between the remains of Jowston and Highland. "I better be going back to Kamui--" he trailed away and rolled his eyes at himself for letting that slip.

If you keep thinking that way, we will lose. Black Sword. Jowy continued ignoring it and its quiet protests for its will to be followed.

When it happens to you, it might make you start thinking harder about what the runes really do.

Oh, I don't think that would be any more possible...Riou thought to himself. He wanted to laugh but instead frowned slightly. What was Jowy going on about then? Him and the Beast Rune?

"...are you talking about back home then and not here?"

Speechless, Jowy stared at Riou and then rolled his eyes. He laughed slightly. "You're so dense," Jowy muttered before returning to his previous tone. "On that day, I saw him; Luca Blight. And the Beast Rune. It was--" almost too real, he continued in his head and then spoke again, as if he'd never said the last several words. "As for the drain-" He began walking briskly and then stopped to continue with his back against the brunet. "It was killing me before. Don't use too much, Riou." Like I did.

Riou's eyes narrowed slightly at the dense comment, but it was something he was rather used to. He knew he really was dense at times, but perhaps not as often as some people believed. Sometimes it was very good to be underestimated.

"I saw Luca Blight too that day--" --he wouldn't bloody leave me alone!-- "and about half the Highland army as well, it seemed." -- and Genkaku who sent me out there to rescue you--

"But that doesn't explain why you were passed out in the woods. Unless-- were you trying to fight them? They weren't really physically there..."

Riou gazed at Jowy's retreating back. "As for Bright Shield, it doesn't really drain me when I use it, at least if I'm not doing something exhorbitant like fighting off another true rune."

No, it didn't really drain him when he used it, or when he was in danger, or if he was doing anything important or something that would put him at risk. It was just those other moments-- all those other moments...

He wasn't lying precisely, just not telling the whole truth. And even so, he had gotten rather good at the lying during the war... pretending to always be confident and full of hope and optimism and assuring everyone that everything would be all right when he knew no such damn thing and didn't have a bloody clue what he was doing.

"Bright Shield is the healer, after all." And Riou slipped on a small, soft smile that he had grown used to over the past year. That smile-- wasn't exactly a lie either. Not that Jowy would see it anyway.

"He stabbed me--" Jowy thought out loud, though keeping his voice quiet, perhaps not quite audible for Riou. Luca Blight had said many things too and even if he were a figment of his imagination, it still haunted him sometimes, the words the Mad Prince had said. "Forget it," he said finally. "Take care, Riou. You might not want to be outside too much if it is draining you-" And Jowy strongly suspected it, he just refused to admit it and worry for Riou here. "We'll see each other around, not stumble... next time." And then he was walking away and making a mental note to start looking for a way around their runes harder.

The phantom of Luca Blight had been able to touch Jowy then? Had stabbed him?! Then those wounds...

Luca Blight. A shiver of foreboding worked its way down Riou's spine.

But it seemed Jowy would be all right as long as he didn't use his own rune. That at least was a relief. Riou sighed and carefully watched Jowy's retreating back until the other was out of sight.

Dangerous

And with one final throb, Bright Shield quieted and fell still upon his right hand. All warmth seeped out of Riou's body to be replaced by a rising tide of numb weariness. Riou braced himself against the wall as his legs buckled underneath him and he fell to his knees.

He laughed softly, a bit darkly to himself. "One battle at a time, eh?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[log] [ongoing]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject