Phoenix Ikki

[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.]

[Ikki has never been a man to really care about those festivities, he never had time for them before and now he has no reason at all to care. Maybe, had Esmeralda lived longer, had them met under other circumstances at another place away from the cruelty of Death's Queen Island... Maybe he would have celebrated Saint Valentine's Day with her, maybe by his own will or just because she wanted to celebrate it and he didn't see a reason to upset her over something so small.

But Esmeralda is dead and he's a warrior, a soldier whose live belongs to Athena, for whom he will fight and die as many times as he has to, until his Cloth moves on to another warrior. So this day has no meaning for him. Neither was he present for previous experiments so for him it's all a normal day, there's not even the feeling of something missing. He had planned to maybe ignore the world during the day, for no other reason than being himself, but... Hyoga's habit of eating his footwear is starting to annoy him.]

Oi, anyone here is good with animals? I can't seem to get my wolf to stop eating my footwear.

[A pause.]

And no, books so far haven't helped with it.

[ooc: First tag reserved for manmade_angel, please wait. Done.]

Uhm... Smoker, uhm... I was wondering, could I move in with you? I know how to take care of myself well enough to not be a bother.

[That will reach him, right? Whenever he checks the books, hopefully soon. Ikki is inwardly dying due embarrassment for asking and hesitation. He can be alone quite well but... He doesn't like it that much to be always alone. He likes the marine well enough even if he has only met him once, may as well ask him first before asking in general if anyone would take him in as Giles had suggested.

After a moment the kid talks again, just for the sake of it.]

Hi, Luceti... Anyone there?

[He's not messing up, right?

Meanwhile he will be exploring the town, eventually ending at the Seventh Heaven to get some food and something to drink.]


[ooc: Ikki is still affected by the event and a kid, he's from right when Pandora was trying to kidnap Shun, so he's fairly young and without the anger issues he has when older. And will remain this way till the end of the event. Tags will come from flameschanged]