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tampered2008-05-25 09:47 pm
98over40.livejournal.com) wrote in tampered2008-05-25 09:47 pm
Log; complete
When; Morning of Sunday, May 25th
Rating; PG?
Characters; Usui Naohiro (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
alienetiquette), Sasazuka Eishi (98over40)
Summary; Re-establishing their roles the morning after role-reversal curse over breakfast.
Log;
It was one of the many variations on an old dream, one he'd had for years. This time, it wasn't his sister's voice on the phone, something making her voice sound twisted and distorted on the line, but instead echoes of a now-familiar, dangerously lighthearted boyish voice behind each word, echoing, lingering.
And the world spun, shattered and fell apart in blood-streaked shards, just enough left in each piece to see fragments of that unforgettable scene...
...some noise jerked Sasazuka out of his restless sleep and back to conciousness. He opened his eyes, squinting a bit at the way the early morning light came in through the window, falling directly across the sofa where he'd been sleeping for the last couple weeks.
Like every morning, the alarm clock woke him up sharply at around 8 a.m. As strange as it was not to have a police station to report to nor an office with his name on the door, that was no excuse to slack off on his duties, and he wasn't about to let the lazy idiot he was living with do so, either. Tossing off the covers, he slipped out of bed and into his slippers, feeling groggier than usual. With all the stress of the recent 'Mirror city' nonsense and that last cur- …and he just remembered every little detail that occurred yesterday. "Sasazuka!!!!!!"
"Nh?" Oh, right. His superior... was now his roommate. Not exactly an ideal situation. Sasazuka had been hoping idly that Usui would get his own place soon, even if there was that ticking to live with... well. Maybe he could get a pet or something.
Completely forgetting about yesterday's events, still groggy and only half-awake, Sasazuka sat up enough to stare at the coffee table, shaking off the last remnants of the dream. Why did he have a headache again...?
No answer. He should have figured. Sasazuka was definitely ignoring him, and he wasn't going to stand for any further insubordination. Pulling a robe on over his pajamas and sliding his glasses in place, Usui stumbled out of his room, hair sticking up all over the place in a disarray, only to point an accusatory finger at the other man. "You! Don't think I forgot about what happened yesterday! How dare you disrespect your superior officer?!! I'm under no obligation to deal with you here! I only do it because you're occasionally useful! Occassionally."
Yesterday... They'd been cursed. Right, now he remembered. Not that it was anything new to this situation, but this was probably the first time he'd been cursed with something so blatantly obvious. And loud. Well, that explained the headache.
"...sorry," he apologized, staring blankly at one particular piece of hair that was standing straight up at the back of Usui's head. "But... well... it's not as if there's much that can be done about the curses..."
Sorry wasn't good enough. There had to be a way to get rid of these curses. Usui refused to be continuously put through this kind of torture and humiliation. To be ordered around by someone who was CLEARLY inferior offered a new brand of shame. "Start finding possible solutions," Usui snapped, dragging the blanket further away from Sasazuka. "and get your ass off the couch and make me my coffee!"
"Ah...... sure," Sasazuka said, giving in easily as usual, and finally shrugged off the last folds of the blanket. Heaving himself up off the sofa, he left the pillow and blankets in in a mess as he wandered across to clatter around the kitchen in his boxers, pouring water and measuring out the coffee. Menial tasks, but he wasn't about to argue.
The living room was beginning to look like a sty. Even out of the station, they still had to maintain a professional appearance. Did he think they were playing around here?! Usui wasn't his maid. "And clean this place up once you're done. I also want a formal, written apology for even entertaining the thought that you were better than me for one second."
Times like this, Sasazuka sort of missed the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Things there at least kept them busy -- and here, dealing with the police department just kept setting Usui off... ah, well.
"Shouldn't I finish getting ready first?" he reasoned, glancing at Usui while he picked up his pack of cigarettes from the countertop to light up and waited for the inevitable tirade, coffee maker gurgling in the background. It was, technically, his apartment. But that was just another argument he didn't want to make. He'd arrived in the city first, had an easier time getting along with the established police... it made things more awkward......
Usui snatched the cigarette pack before it was opened, tossing it over his shoulder. If they were going to live together, he wasn't going to allow this type of unsanitary habit to persist indoors. He didn't want it on his clothes or in his coffee, and he most certainly didn't need Sasazuka to be distracted by anything further. "Finish getting ready and then prepare my coffee! And none of that plain shit again!"
"........." The look of mild surprise that crossed Sasazuka's face as the package was snatched right out of his hands was about as far as emotion ever got most of the time, these days.
If he was the type to sigh, he might've at this point. Instead, Usui got the same blank look as usual followed by a slow "...should just be a couple minutes," before his retreat to the bathroom for the usual routine, shower included. He'd just have to have a smoke later, after breakfast. Outside.
It was too early to be this aggravated. Where was Tsukushi when you needed him? He was the only presence that didn't annoy him … as much. It didn't matter. He'd deal with the insubordination later. For now, he would sit down and enjoy his cereal before checking the network. There had to be some way out of this place. Was it just that those police officers got lazy and gave up?! The thought alone made him crinkle his cereal box as he poured the sugar-filled breakfast item into his bowl, sneaking in a few seconds to admire the adorable, smiling bear on the box. "…don't let anyone ever tell you you're not cute…," he whispered.
It only took a few minutes to get showered and dressed, and so Sasazuka was back out before Usui even finished his cereal. The sight of his superior downing colorful sugary breakfast cereal with apparent joy -- until he showed up anyway - wasn't worth commenting on either.
Wordlessly, he got a single slice of bread from the loaf on top of the fridge and stuck it in the toaster, staring into the slot as it slowly toasted, waiting patiently.
The sudden intrusion made Usui jump up in his chair a bit, a look of embarrassment in his face which he quickly covered up with a scowl. It definitely wasn't the same without Tsukushi around who didn't give him those patronizing looks while grabbing his pathetic slice of toast from his pathetic toaster. "You could have said something before walking!" he snapped, face just slightly red as he added milk to his cereal. "Enough of this silence business. Am I going to have to put a bell on you?! "
"...sorry," Sasazuka said again, bringing two mugs of coffee over to the table along with his single, unbuttered slice of toast. He supposed he should at least try making some kind of conversation, but Sasazuka's supply of small talk ran dry very fast. And getting into a discussion about work with Usui was a little bit troublesome, even if he was a bit less threatening sitting around in pyjamas. Still...
"Ah... I was thinking about going over the informaion we've got again," he commented. "Maybe see if there's some clue that could help... for getting out of here." He wasn't too hopeful on that account, but the recent curse had been unpleasant enough to warrant another look. Not to mention that Mirror City business... if Usui thought this apartment was messy, well, it was a good thing Sasazuka had been very vague on the details of what had happened with Higuchi. That had been a bit worrying, too.
Swirling his cereal around in his milk, Usui had no reason to complain about actually doing work, even if it was at the breakfast table. It was good to see that poor excuse of a detective making some effort. The question of the sources of these curses was also starting to nag at him. Some claimed they originated from 'deities,' but Usui had yet to see proof of any of them around. For all he knew, this could be something similar to the electronic drug. What the city interprets to be a 'curse' could, in fact, be a virus over the network. However, that would mean they would all be equally exposed to it at the same time, and considering last curse, only Usui and Sasazaka had been selectively chosen without Higuchi being affected, his virus theory didn't hold much weight. "It doesn't make sense," he muttered, trying to figure out if there was some plausible way this network virus could selectively infect people.
Sasazuka sipped his coffee. "Well... I don't really know that much about some of the stuff going around here but... whether it makes sense or not, we're going to have to deal with it somehow......"
Not that much of it surprised Sasazuka. Fairies, vampires, dragons... it wasn't much of a stretch to go from the bizarre events that unfolded at the Eshiya household to this. Less surprising, in a way, since at least here the stranger inhabitants seemed less murderous. On the whole.
All of which only led him to thinking about getting at the police records in the city. Sasazuka had considered asking Seras but... that might just prompt more questions that he didn't want to deal with. On the other hand, if he'd been here... there was a chance, however small....
"I will not 'deal' with this if I can help it." Being at someone else's mercy didn't sit well with him, especially one that everyone claims to have god-like status among them. A criminal was more than likely, but criminals tended to have a pattern. As of yet, none of the curses he'd witnessed bore much in common except for the general rule that they last twenty-four hours, and there is no way to end them before the day is over. That 'Mirror City' business was apparently an anomaly among curses, which in itself meant that the criminal responsible must have been getting bored. "Have you heard anything about recurring curses ? The same one repeating themselves ?"
"Hmmm. Yeah... somebody mentioned that for the flavor one," Sasazuka remarked, leaving his train of thought for now, focusing back on matters at hand... like the serious business of finishing off his toast.
That complicated things further. Usui didn't know what to make of it. Looks like he'd have to demand some sort of recording of all the curses that have occurred in this place within the last couple of years to get an adequate comparison. He would speak to that Seras woman about it later. "I see. I'll have to investigate this further. You, on the other hand, still have a whole kitchen to clean and leave spotless. Get to it!"
Cleaning duty again? That was, Sasazuka decided, probably a step down from driving him around. This prompted another quiet look, but he picked up the plates and empty mugs anyway. When Usui went out... maybe he's have a look through the network and see what he could find, too.
And have a cigarette, too.
Rating; PG?
Characters; Usui Naohiro (
alienetiquette), Sasazuka Eishi (98over40)Summary; Re-establishing their roles the morning after role-reversal curse over breakfast.
Log;
It was one of the many variations on an old dream, one he'd had for years. This time, it wasn't his sister's voice on the phone, something making her voice sound twisted and distorted on the line, but instead echoes of a now-familiar, dangerously lighthearted boyish voice behind each word, echoing, lingering.
And the world spun, shattered and fell apart in blood-streaked shards, just enough left in each piece to see fragments of that unforgettable scene...
...some noise jerked Sasazuka out of his restless sleep and back to conciousness. He opened his eyes, squinting a bit at the way the early morning light came in through the window, falling directly across the sofa where he'd been sleeping for the last couple weeks.
Like every morning, the alarm clock woke him up sharply at around 8 a.m. As strange as it was not to have a police station to report to nor an office with his name on the door, that was no excuse to slack off on his duties, and he wasn't about to let the lazy idiot he was living with do so, either. Tossing off the covers, he slipped out of bed and into his slippers, feeling groggier than usual. With all the stress of the recent 'Mirror city' nonsense and that last cur- …and he just remembered every little detail that occurred yesterday. "Sasazuka!!!!!!"
"Nh?" Oh, right. His superior... was now his roommate. Not exactly an ideal situation. Sasazuka had been hoping idly that Usui would get his own place soon, even if there was that ticking to live with... well. Maybe he could get a pet or something.
Completely forgetting about yesterday's events, still groggy and only half-awake, Sasazuka sat up enough to stare at the coffee table, shaking off the last remnants of the dream. Why did he have a headache again...?
No answer. He should have figured. Sasazuka was definitely ignoring him, and he wasn't going to stand for any further insubordination. Pulling a robe on over his pajamas and sliding his glasses in place, Usui stumbled out of his room, hair sticking up all over the place in a disarray, only to point an accusatory finger at the other man. "You! Don't think I forgot about what happened yesterday! How dare you disrespect your superior officer?!! I'm under no obligation to deal with you here! I only do it because you're occasionally useful! Occassionally."
Yesterday... They'd been cursed. Right, now he remembered. Not that it was anything new to this situation, but this was probably the first time he'd been cursed with something so blatantly obvious. And loud. Well, that explained the headache.
"...sorry," he apologized, staring blankly at one particular piece of hair that was standing straight up at the back of Usui's head. "But... well... it's not as if there's much that can be done about the curses..."
Sorry wasn't good enough. There had to be a way to get rid of these curses. Usui refused to be continuously put through this kind of torture and humiliation. To be ordered around by someone who was CLEARLY inferior offered a new brand of shame. "Start finding possible solutions," Usui snapped, dragging the blanket further away from Sasazuka. "and get your ass off the couch and make me my coffee!"
"Ah...... sure," Sasazuka said, giving in easily as usual, and finally shrugged off the last folds of the blanket. Heaving himself up off the sofa, he left the pillow and blankets in in a mess as he wandered across to clatter around the kitchen in his boxers, pouring water and measuring out the coffee. Menial tasks, but he wasn't about to argue.
The living room was beginning to look like a sty. Even out of the station, they still had to maintain a professional appearance. Did he think they were playing around here?! Usui wasn't his maid. "And clean this place up once you're done. I also want a formal, written apology for even entertaining the thought that you were better than me for one second."
Times like this, Sasazuka sort of missed the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Things there at least kept them busy -- and here, dealing with the police department just kept setting Usui off... ah, well.
"Shouldn't I finish getting ready first?" he reasoned, glancing at Usui while he picked up his pack of cigarettes from the countertop to light up and waited for the inevitable tirade, coffee maker gurgling in the background. It was, technically, his apartment. But that was just another argument he didn't want to make. He'd arrived in the city first, had an easier time getting along with the established police... it made things more awkward......
Usui snatched the cigarette pack before it was opened, tossing it over his shoulder. If they were going to live together, he wasn't going to allow this type of unsanitary habit to persist indoors. He didn't want it on his clothes or in his coffee, and he most certainly didn't need Sasazuka to be distracted by anything further. "Finish getting ready and then prepare my coffee! And none of that plain shit again!"
"........." The look of mild surprise that crossed Sasazuka's face as the package was snatched right out of his hands was about as far as emotion ever got most of the time, these days.
If he was the type to sigh, he might've at this point. Instead, Usui got the same blank look as usual followed by a slow "...should just be a couple minutes," before his retreat to the bathroom for the usual routine, shower included. He'd just have to have a smoke later, after breakfast. Outside.
It was too early to be this aggravated. Where was Tsukushi when you needed him? He was the only presence that didn't annoy him … as much. It didn't matter. He'd deal with the insubordination later. For now, he would sit down and enjoy his cereal before checking the network. There had to be some way out of this place. Was it just that those police officers got lazy and gave up?! The thought alone made him crinkle his cereal box as he poured the sugar-filled breakfast item into his bowl, sneaking in a few seconds to admire the adorable, smiling bear on the box. "…don't let anyone ever tell you you're not cute…," he whispered.
It only took a few minutes to get showered and dressed, and so Sasazuka was back out before Usui even finished his cereal. The sight of his superior downing colorful sugary breakfast cereal with apparent joy -- until he showed up anyway - wasn't worth commenting on either.
Wordlessly, he got a single slice of bread from the loaf on top of the fridge and stuck it in the toaster, staring into the slot as it slowly toasted, waiting patiently.
The sudden intrusion made Usui jump up in his chair a bit, a look of embarrassment in his face which he quickly covered up with a scowl. It definitely wasn't the same without Tsukushi around who didn't give him those patronizing looks while grabbing his pathetic slice of toast from his pathetic toaster. "You could have said something before walking!" he snapped, face just slightly red as he added milk to his cereal. "Enough of this silence business. Am I going to have to put a bell on you?! "
"...sorry," Sasazuka said again, bringing two mugs of coffee over to the table along with his single, unbuttered slice of toast. He supposed he should at least try making some kind of conversation, but Sasazuka's supply of small talk ran dry very fast. And getting into a discussion about work with Usui was a little bit troublesome, even if he was a bit less threatening sitting around in pyjamas. Still...
"Ah... I was thinking about going over the informaion we've got again," he commented. "Maybe see if there's some clue that could help... for getting out of here." He wasn't too hopeful on that account, but the recent curse had been unpleasant enough to warrant another look. Not to mention that Mirror City business... if Usui thought this apartment was messy, well, it was a good thing Sasazuka had been very vague on the details of what had happened with Higuchi. That had been a bit worrying, too.
Swirling his cereal around in his milk, Usui had no reason to complain about actually doing work, even if it was at the breakfast table. It was good to see that poor excuse of a detective making some effort. The question of the sources of these curses was also starting to nag at him. Some claimed they originated from 'deities,' but Usui had yet to see proof of any of them around. For all he knew, this could be something similar to the electronic drug. What the city interprets to be a 'curse' could, in fact, be a virus over the network. However, that would mean they would all be equally exposed to it at the same time, and considering last curse, only Usui and Sasazaka had been selectively chosen without Higuchi being affected, his virus theory didn't hold much weight. "It doesn't make sense," he muttered, trying to figure out if there was some plausible way this network virus could selectively infect people.
Sasazuka sipped his coffee. "Well... I don't really know that much about some of the stuff going around here but... whether it makes sense or not, we're going to have to deal with it somehow......"
Not that much of it surprised Sasazuka. Fairies, vampires, dragons... it wasn't much of a stretch to go from the bizarre events that unfolded at the Eshiya household to this. Less surprising, in a way, since at least here the stranger inhabitants seemed less murderous. On the whole.
All of which only led him to thinking about getting at the police records in the city. Sasazuka had considered asking Seras but... that might just prompt more questions that he didn't want to deal with. On the other hand, if he'd been here... there was a chance, however small....
"I will not 'deal' with this if I can help it." Being at someone else's mercy didn't sit well with him, especially one that everyone claims to have god-like status among them. A criminal was more than likely, but criminals tended to have a pattern. As of yet, none of the curses he'd witnessed bore much in common except for the general rule that they last twenty-four hours, and there is no way to end them before the day is over. That 'Mirror City' business was apparently an anomaly among curses, which in itself meant that the criminal responsible must have been getting bored. "Have you heard anything about recurring curses ? The same one repeating themselves ?"
"Hmmm. Yeah... somebody mentioned that for the flavor one," Sasazuka remarked, leaving his train of thought for now, focusing back on matters at hand... like the serious business of finishing off his toast.
That complicated things further. Usui didn't know what to make of it. Looks like he'd have to demand some sort of recording of all the curses that have occurred in this place within the last couple of years to get an adequate comparison. He would speak to that Seras woman about it later. "I see. I'll have to investigate this further. You, on the other hand, still have a whole kitchen to clean and leave spotless. Get to it!"
Cleaning duty again? That was, Sasazuka decided, probably a step down from driving him around. This prompted another quiet look, but he picked up the plates and empty mugs anyway. When Usui went out... maybe he's have a look through the network and see what he could find, too.
And have a cigarette, too.