ic contact

[garrotting]

Hey, what's up? Not much, how're-- okay, okay, you got me. Leave a message and I'll get back to you when I can!

Comments

8/3, early evening or so.

[labyrinthos]

[Well, Kaworu isn't all that familiar with "leaving a message," so his message is simply a pithy greeting:]

Aloha.

[garrotting]

aloha!

[She responds pretty quickly. Haruki remembers him, and fondly, though they'd only spoken once. Well, he'd spoken-- she'd just texted.]

's good to hear from you. how's it going, kaworu?

[labyrinthos]

As of yesterday morning, I've been in the City for an entire month. [Of course, thanks to something of a nervous breakdown, it took him a few extra days to make himself known on the network...] I wanted to see how everyone who initially greeted me is faring. I haven't forgotten the words we shared - yours, especially.

So, what have you been up to?

[garrotting]

wow, that long?

[She's touched, not accustomed to that amount of reaching out. It's different, gentle. There's a short pause before she sends the rest of the message, mulling it over in her head first.]

heh, you were the one that had cool things to say! i'm not great with words or languages... but that's sweet. 'm doing good. i got out of the apartments finally and moved into a townhouse. how about you? has your first month been all right?

[labyrinthos]

Yeah.

[Without Shinji-kun's stars, it has felt like an eternity and then some.]

My first month has been very engaging. Many new people to meet with. Many new things to learn about. That includes learning new things about myself that I wouldn't have guessed. Admittedly, I'm not sure how to feel about some of it. The colorful water is strange. [...] But I'm glad to know you're all right. You seem settled in yourself.

8/15

[allbite]

[ She didn't want to do this, but she needed to be sure. Frühling needs to know she isn't attacking herself with more missing names. ]

Miss Sagae. Presuming you and Miss Inukai are colleagues, I'd like to ask if you have seen her recently. She hasn't come in to work the past two days, and I have not received any messages from her.

[garrotting]

[This is Isuke's boss, isn't it? One of them. Haruki'd mulled over asking for a job over there once Grimmjow had disappeared, taking with him her income, but she'd never gotten around to it. She's grateful at least that Fruling's texted her, though it confirms exactly what she's suspected over the last two days. She's not up for talking right now.]

i was going to come by and ask you or maya. yeah, we... we're roommates. i haven't seen her, either.

[allbite]

Then she is gone. Her name is removed from the chip directory.

[ Troublesome. Very troublesome. Haruki isn't the person she needs to talk to about it, but this thread of conversation remains open while she sorts out the paperwork. ]

[garrotting]

that's what i thought.

[Haruki's silent for several minutes, long enough that it probably seems as though she's cut off the feed, then--]

it's okay. she had a lot to finish up on back home.

[allbite]

[ Frühling has suspicions of Haruki's current emotions, but the club manager is interested in getting other things out of it. ]

Did she leave you with much?

9/2, midday.

[labyrinthos]

[Kaworu has spent all morning debating whether or not to send this message:]

Did you actually want to hear about how I'm doing?

[This is so new. And weird. And Kaworu doesn't know if he can do this, seriously, because it's so out of the norm for him. It's more extreme than being forced to have sex to preserve his free will. He's just going to ask first, and if Haruki has changed her mind, that's fine with him. Perfectly fine.]

[garrotting]

[She's a little surprised, but by no means disappointed, to hear from him this way. She'd meant what she'd told him, absolutely. He seems so cautious about it, so unsure, but her message back is bright as usual.]

i sure did. what's been going on?

[labyrinthos]

[He has to say it. He just has to say it. A month ago, he had no issues admitting to the anniversary of his arrival, but now everything feels different for some reason. It feels... more permanent, somehow, and that's terrifying. He's genuinely terrified of that. He just has to say it and then at least he won't be alone in his terror.

He doesn't say it. Not yet, anyway.]

First, can you tell me how you've been? I often see you at work but I haven't had the time to talk.

[garrotting]

[He never seems to think about himself. Haruki's noticed that. At first she thought it was just that his compassion for others outweighed his own self-interest, but now she's slowly starting to wonder if he has much self-interest at all.]

s'okay! i've been all right. feeling kinda like i'm spinning my wheels, i guess. i get a little antsy sometimes. not enough to do here, y'know?

but what about you?

[She bites back the urge to ask again if he's okay, because it's dawned on her, over the course of their meetings and talks, that he's definitely not okay. But she'll do whatever she can to try and relieve his burdens, even if it's just for a few moments at a time.]

[labyrinthos]

[Haruki's analogy about wheels is a bit mysterious, but Kaworu can understand the essence of it.]

You're feeling restless. That's not a surprise. It's my preference to have too little versus too much, I guess. My life is less complicated that way. Fewer things for me to focus on. [Fewer opportunities for him to thoroughly fuck up...

He's fidgeting a lot right now, too, not that she can see him. He keeps sifting his fingers through his hair again and again. It's starting to grow out to a noticeable degree, but he doesn't feel the urge to shear it back. Not feeling that urge is terrifying in and of itself. Complacency is his greatest enemy.]

As of this morning, [he writes carefully,] I've been in the City for two months. [There. Got to start somewhere, right?]

9/8, early morning.

[labyrinthos]

[As soon as Haruki checks this message, she receives an automatic deposit to her banking account from Kaworu Nagisa. It's a decent chunk of money--more than enough to pay for one, two, three, even four nights at a respectable hotel. Tips for the beleaguered cleaning staff included.

The message reads:]

Thank you for everything.

text

[garrotting]

[Haruki is startled. It strikes her as odd-- his words more than the payback. Like a goodbye.]

that's too much. you didn't owr me half that.

text

[labyrinthos]

You don't want it?

text

[garrotting]

no. i mean i'll take it. but... i'm just surprised.

text

[labyrinthos]

?

Why are you surprised?

10/5, late at night.

[labyrinthos]

[For whatever reason, it has taken longer than expected for Kaworu to receive the "cure" to the otherworldly disease. Maybe it has to do with his genetic makeup being so alien all on its own. Maybe it has to do with the confusing properties of particle-wave matter. He doesn't know. He doesn't know, and he doesn't really care, because right now he's nearly exclusively focused on--]

Haruki?

[His lungs feel weird to him: too dense, almost hot, beginning to cramp. Outside the re-education center, he has to take a moment to stop and breathe and not panic about his life.]

[garrotting]

[The answer he gets is immediate. Haruki jerks bolt upright out of bed, a bed she'd only reluctantly collapsed into a few hours before. She couldn't find him, not anywhere. They'd been separated; she'd been cured, and he...]

[He wasn't anywhere. Not in the garden, not hiding out in one of the dingier corners or on top of any of the apartment complexes. Haruki hadn't dared to look at the chip directory, not wanting confirmation of what she was afraid of.]

kaworu?

where are you?

[labyrinthos]

On my way to you. Where are you?

[At home, hopefully. Having memorized the City's layout, Kaworu knows which of the trolleys to board to get him there as soon as possible. He just has to collect himself first. More importantly,]

Are you all right?

[garrotting]

'm fine. i'm fine. i went looking for you but i couldn't find you. i thought.... i was scared that they'd killed you. i was so scared.

[She'd been such an idiot while she'd been infected, so stupidly cavalier. Just thinking about it makes her feel sick. She gets up, flipping on the light switch and scrambling to turn on the rest of the lights in their place for him.]

they didn't, did they? you're okay? i can come get you if you need me to. i'm sorry.

[labyrinthos]

[Haruki's apology is so startling. It actually causes him to laugh out loud in bitterness, jarring his thoughts--he ends up replying with his voice instead. There's a wet remnant of laughter left behind in his words:] What are you apologizing for? Why? Haruki...

[His lungs lodge a protest, but his legs propel him forward. No more time to waste, he thinks.]

I didn't die. I'm right here, and I'll be with you soon.