19th Rise of the Phoenix ஜ Voice

[uccellodifuoco]

[He always thought that his worst months, the ones he hated the most, were August and September, to be exact the last half of August and the first half of September. But this year Ikki is realizing that he hates February even more. He feels like a caged furious tiger, knowing that something is up, that something is going to happen and that it probably will happen to him and totally unable to do anything to avoid it or escape from it. All he can do is pace in his cage, glare and growl, acting all tough, while inwardly praying to every deity for things to remain fine after the month ends.

He hates to have his feelings played with, he specially hates it when because of that women are hurt once the experiment ends and they realize it was all fake and even if it wasn't his fault he hates it and blames himself for it. But mostly, he hates the idea that Kotomi may be affected again, that come the 14th she may be wandering around the village again, a chocolate box in her hands, ready to give them to someone else who isn't him. And with that hate comes the fear that it may actually happen. That even once the experiment is over she may come to realize she doesn't love him that much or just that the other man is better than Ikki and so he won't just lose her for a few days but forever. But there's nothing he can do to avoid that, to try to ensure that doesn't happen, at least nothing that isn't downright cruel and probably illegal.

Any other day he would convince himself that even if that happened it would be for the better for both of them. But this month he finds himself unable to fool himself as easily as the rest of the year. He may lose Kotomi and not just because it was meant to happen but because a childish so-called scientist thinks that playing with people's hearts is a good experiment. He definitively can't accept that. So rather than just sit and lay low, uncaring for the world, Ikki finds himself more restless than ever. And he realizes it's worrying when he actually grabs his journal and makes a post, hoping that despite some people's strange behavior there will be some left normal enough to engage in conversation and distract him for a bit.]

Hey, Luceti... How many of you have actually ever gotten anything "good" from all the crap the Malnosso put us through? Experiments, drafts, kidnappings, you name it. Do you even bother with trying to find a positive thing to some of those things? Make the best out of it or however you want to say it.

And how many of you have got things downright ruined, or at least damaged enough, because of those thing? Even if you managed to fix things up later on or if you still are dragging along the luggage of that disaster. I'm not asking for details, I'm just curious as to how many chances do I have to not end this month wanting to kill everyone in my sight who looks like a scientist with a weakness to play with people's feelings.

[Private to Kotomi]

I love you.

[Normally he wouldn't say it so openly -even if this is private for just her-, but it's the most direct way he can think of checking if Kotomi has been affected by an experiment or not this month. The day she doesn't answer or answers anything different than showing that she still loves him he's going to have a heart attack.]

Comments

[Voice]

[fierybluebird]

Did something happen?

[As Marco goes STRAIGHT to the heart of it.]

[Voice]

[uccellodifuoco]

No.

[Pause.]

Not yet at least.

[Voice]

[fierybluebird]

Ah. The good old, worried that it will happen, stage.

You just have to trust you both that no matter what happens from a shift, you'll get through it afterwards together, eh?

[Voice]

[uccellodifuoco]

[He would make this private if it wasn't because he doubts Kotomi would even look at anything else but her own conversations with him. So he assumes it's safe to not bother with it.]

Easy to say and do when it's not shit related to changing our feelings. I can deal with shifts normally, but this month is when they like to pull out that crap of making people fall in love all around regardless of their previous own feelings, isn't it? It's not just us forgetting we're dating or anything like that, it's that she may fall in love with some other guy and discover that there are better people than me, or she may just love him more or something like that.

[Voice] / Private about 60%

[fierybluebird]

[That's okay, Marco kindly privates it to block out everyone else.] Ikki, you spent hours standing outside hugging each other.

I love Robin more than I've ever loved everyone, and we still wouldn't be able to do that. It's simply impossible, no matter how much they messed up Kotomi-chan's feelings, the minute she was back to normal, she'd probably cling to you forever and just be worried that you were mad at her.

Although, if you're still worried, why don't you ask her to spend the next week with you? I bet she'd keep her promise even if she was shifted, and usually it's a "first person you see" thing, right? So if she always sees you first you protect her and be the first person she sees.

And if she was going to suddenly realize she wasn't in love with you and it was just Malnosso playing around with her mind, she'd have done that months ago. It's not like this is her first shift.

voice;

[etudes]

[ .. Ikki's never that direct. At least, not over the journals, and not as the very first thing he says. Not that it makes Kotomi realise something might be wrong - it's Kotomi, after all, but when she spots just that private message for her over the journals her face lights up, even if it's with her usual blank expression as she grabs the journal with both hands to answer, obviously happy. ]

Hee.. Good day, Ikki-kun. I love Ikki-kun too..

voice; /assuming this happens in the morning btw

[uccellodifuoco]

[Get used to it, Kotomi, it's going to be his customary greeting for this month. He sighs in relief, smiling a bit when he hears her voice and her answer. She's still herself, she still loves him, everything is just as it should be.]

Did you sleep well, Kotomi-chan?

that's cool!

[etudes]

[ Hey, it's not like it's a bad thing! It's a good thing, it makes her happy, it's just surprising. And she doesn't even realise his intentions behind it, so she just thinks he randomly decided to directly say it for once.. ]

Hmm, I did. I dreamed about reading lots and lots of books.. what about Ikki-kun?

voice;

[uccellodifuoco]

Are you sure it was a dream? Maybe you just stayed up all night reading all those books.

[It's a joke... But also a legit question because he doesn't put it pass her to forget to sleep actually.]

Me?

[He dreamed of returning back to his world, meeting again with his brother and the others, saving Seiya and then telling them about Kotomi because he remembered her. And then they searched for her only to find her with some guy he couldn't see but whom she called "Tomoya-kun" and her not having any memories of Ikki, thinking that he was a bully as soon as she saw him and not wanting to even talk to him once.]

I dreamed that Hyoga kept eating all my shoes while Smoker laughed and cooked a million of rum cakes planning to use that as our only food source for years.

[i_speak_softly]

[Don's not really the sharing-personal-information type, so he thinks about this a while before replying.]

I got something... very good.

[uccellodifuoco]

[True to his word, Ikki doesn't bother with details, he himself doesn't like to give them gratuitously. So whatever it was that this guy got, or how much "very" actually amounted for, he leaves that for the guy himself to know.]

Do you still have it?

[i_speak_softly]

I do.

[uccellodifuoco]

That's good.

[He's sincere but even though he doesn't want to pry there's something else he needs to ask.]

Don't bother with answering if you don't want to, but for how long have you had it?

[Voice]

[song_princess]

Yes, they did. They gave me wing feathers of my beloved family.

[Voice] - guess this means I'll have to throw another char to your post since you came here yourself

[uccellodifuoco]

[That's a nice thing to get, he has to admit. Most he got were plushies of them which seemed more a mockery than anything else. Still...]

So you have wings even in your own world?

[He makes a humming sound.]

You're lucky, I guess that's one of the best things they could give you to remember your family. Ignoring that the most lucky thing would be to be sent back home, of course.

[Voice] Oops! Sorry about that!

[song_princess]

[Yes it is.... At least she will never forget their scents now.]

My clan as well as other bird clans have wings in my world.

[She smiles at that humming sound.]

I guess that I am lucky within that aspect. But what of those who do not have a home to go back to?

[Voice] Why sorry, this means I don't have to feel bad about spamming you with two chars! :D

[uccellodifuoco]

Hn, if you belong to a bird clan I would have been surprised if you didn't have wings.

[He chuckles a bit though her question makes him go serious. As a man who is unable to remain dead and has seen a lot of death around him, with or without meanings, he can't help to think that dead people should remain dead for everyone's sake. Even if it's horrible and tragic, people are bond to die and those who are left alive have to struggle to find a reason to keep going on, find some sense in the insanity that is to lose someone dear.

Luceti takes that away, it allows those who died to go on living, but he thinks it's worse that way because they will always know for sure that once they return it's all over. And it allows those who lost someone dear be with them again but then it only helps to revive the pain and make everything harder once that miracle ends. He's aware that his opinion isn't shared by many, pretty much he doesn't think anyone would agree, but he doesn't care.]

I suppose then that's not the most lucky thing to happen to them. But I can't see how being stuck here forever can be a good thing, no matter what.

[voice]

[rashness]

Ikki, even if some stuff gets messed up, you shouldn't be killing people, man.

[voice]

[uccellodifuoco]

[That almost makes him laugh, mostly because back at his world it's basically all he does whenever he shows his face around.]

Not even the Malnosso?

[voice]

[rashness]

Yeah, even them. [But that just makes him screw up his face a little. IT reminds him of Silver]

[voice]

[uccellodifuoco]

[Ikki snorts at that.]

Anyway it's not like they make it possible so even if I want to do it I won't do it.

[Action] [Backdated like whoa]

[justicereigns]

Are you done worrying yet?

[Action] [Backdated like whoa]

[uccellodifuoco]

Is February done yet?

[That would be a no.]

[Action] [Backdated like whoa]

[justicereigns]

Isn't it it my job to worry this month and get drunk?

What's wrong? Nothing's happened to her yet.

[Action] [Backdated like whoa]

[uccellodifuoco]

I didn't know you had the monopoly of this job. And you should do that every month anyway.

[He has to admit it, the Malnosso bother him in February, but they have a soft spot for Smoker all year round.]

That nothing has happened yet doesn't mean nothing will.