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Nagito Komaeda || 狛枝 凪斗 ([personal profile] luckless) wrote2021-01-31 10:15 pm

[RYSLIG] IC Inbox

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, NAGITO KOMAEDA.

FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 004.28.777.00

*** MrBrightside has joined 004.28.777.00
<MrBrightside> Hello there! This is Komaeda.
<MrBrightside> I'm grateful that you want to talk to me.


Anonymous username(s): < Triple7 > < BlueRam >
knifemonopoly: ([event] you can serve it to me)

[personal profile] knifemonopoly 2023-02-27 01:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[For the demon, playing back was a win-win scenario: either he got to keep flirting, or have the satisfaction of seeing Komaeda blink first.

Komaeda blinked first.

The only way to lose would have been to shy away himself, to cut himself off from an interaction he wanted to have out of some misplaced sense of responsibility for someone other than himself. Ha.

So it's with a peal of laughter that's both wicked and delighted (he meant that! He meant it, "I'd let you corrupt me!" Actually getting to know Komaeda is so great, he's so weird and interesting and fun, and Atem wants to have that, experience that, so much, but not now) that Atem pushes himself to his hooves, standing up and unfurling his own wings, flicking the solar from his tail to his hand and pocketing it.
]

Yep!

[Time to switch gears from flirting to flight: Atem does want Komaeda to learn to fly, and he wants the satisfaction of having been the one to teach him. Atem rolls his shoulders out, then plants his feet in the grass, his wings and tail shifting to balance him against the wind.]

The best way to get a feel for how to fly is by running downhill with your wings out. I can't explain how to hold your wings, or how often to flap them...all monsters are different! Even as a nephilim, flying felt different than as a demon or a bat...but as you run, you'll feel the air catch under you. When you have the angle right, you'll start to feel light...your feet will come off the ground, and then, you're gliding!

Want me to show you first, or just give it a try yourself?
knifemonopoly: (to find the missing lifeline)

[personal profile] knifemonopoly 2023-02-28 05:49 am (UTC)(link)
[Atem has truly terrible amounts of practice turning his trains of thought away from impossible what-ifs. He understands, even in this state of mind, that there's no chance that today ends in kissing and also ends well, so he's resolved to take what he can get: to be the monster who taught Nagito Komaeda how to fly, who reached into Komaeda's heart and put the knowledge there, like leaving a piece of himself in a way it can't ever be removed.

Despite these feelings, he watches Komaeda stumble down the hill with distinct amusement -- a giant angel stumbling like that is pretty funny! But, when Komaeda gets it right at the end, the demon hops back up to his feet and lets out a whoop and a holler of excitement.
]

That's it! You got it at the very end!

[Atem's hands are cupped around his mouth as he shouts to the bottom of the hill.]

Come back up and try it again!
knifemonopoly: ([event] battle for your life babylon)

[personal profile] knifemonopoly 2023-02-28 01:35 pm (UTC)(link)
[It's a good thing Komaeda recovers quickly -- bent over like that, Atem wanted to run a hand through his hair, cup his cheek, look at his exhausted face.

But he's a little too slow to do it, and off Komaeda goes again. (It's just as well.)

He's not slow, however, to spot that Komaeda is struggling and in trouble, and with a leap downhill of his own, Atem's airborne in an instant.
]

Nagito!!

[The difference in their relative sizes is a good thing -- it means it's not impossible for Atem to get above and behind Komaeda's falling form, get hands aroind his waist with claws that prick through clothing, and with a great wing-beat, slow Komaeda's fall and bring him back midair to a position he can fly in.]

Spread your wings out! [he shouts over the rush of wind.] The air will catch you!

[Atem's bat-wings beat again, making sure they still have enough forward movement to support flight. Touching Komaeda is uncomfortable, and not really in the fun way -- they're opposing monster types, and the holy magic Komaeda is made of, the magic that collapses in on itself in darkness, has his palms tingling. But Atem doesn't let go, and won't let this end in an uncontrolled fall.

If Komaeda doesn't get his wings right, they'll tumble harmlessly in a heap into a patch of grass, no harm done.
]
knifemonopoly: ([event] the gnashing teeth)

[personal profile] knifemonopoly 2023-03-02 03:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[And that's why Atem brought them here, and not the roof, where the ground below is asphalt and concrete, and eight stories away.

He reaches for Komaeda's hand. Prickling or no, getting a grip on it matters more -- he's going to wrap his fingers around Komaeda's hand, pressing their palms together, hard. It's something else to focus on, something grounding -- and, more selfishly, Atem wants to hold Komaeda's hand right now. How could he not, with that look on Komaeda's face? He's trying to be brave, but...
]

You did fine.

[A squeeze of their hands.]

Even though you were scared, you caught yourself, and you landed without getting hurt. That's what's important.

[He's not in any rush to push Komaeda into another attempt; his body language is relaxed, his hooves planted in the ground where he is. Komaeda can take his time; he's attempting something really hard for him.]

If you had gotten it right away, I would have been really surprised!
knifemonopoly: (through the end of the world)

[personal profile] knifemonopoly 2023-03-03 04:42 am (UTC)(link)
[Hmm, that face...Komaeda's spooked. He's not going to be ready to try again for a little while -- not until he's calm.

Atem makes sure not to let go of the hand. Even as his free one goes to his collar, where the Fog cloak rests lightly in gray gauzy folds, and he flips the material carelessly woth his fingers, he keeps holding Komaeda's.
]

You don't have to worry about me, Nagito. I'm very hard to hurt, these days!

...but, that said...

[Regarding the mention of a favor specifically:]

...you know all you have to do is ask.

[The mischief in that is slight; it's predominantly sincere, very slightly playful. The offer is meant: whatever Komaeda wants, he only needs to name it.]
knifemonopoly: ([event] they haven't seen the best of us)

[personal profile] knifemonopoly 2023-03-03 01:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[That's it...?

Atem lets out a little heh!

He doesn't give a single damn what is and isn't out of line, and the only reason he didn't reach for Komaeda before was that Komaeda was literally mostly out of reach.

But Komaeda lowers down, and Atem, after only a moment of warmly wry eye contact -- silly, of course I will! and huh, it's cute that he's kneeling -- wraps arms around Komaeda's shoulders. The side of his face presses against the side of Komaeda's head -- luckily horns are at an angle that doesn't make this impossible, and soft membranes of blue batlike ear-wings brush against hair or skin or feathers -- and he murmurs:
]

Remember the counting game? Try it. It's good for when you feel like your mind's trying to take you somewhere else!

[It's a little prickly, being in this much close contact with a holy monster, but it's not impossible to endure. He just hopes he's not hurting Komaeda back...but, if he is, the guy will either say so, or decide like Atem that it's worth it. It might not be so bad, since Atem doesn't have any powers active and isn't quite so ethereal as Komaeda, but either way, it's not an impossible obstacle, not by far.]
Edited 2023-03-03 13:22 (UTC)
knifemonopoly: ([event] bodies moving like a sculpture)

[personal profile] knifemonopoly 2023-03-03 09:11 pm (UTC)(link)
[He can tell Komaeda is backing away from taste, and has one or two guesses why. He gives a low, carefree laugh, but doesn't press the matter. Atem is terribly shameless in this form and doesn't mind laughing while Komaeda has his face buried in his shoulder.]

If you're sure! Heh heh.

[But he'll leave it there. It is something else how fast Atem can switch gears, from teasing to talking business in an instant. ]

Do you feel better enough for another run, or just well enough to make it home without stumbling?
knifemonopoly: ([event] this is gospel for the fallen on)

[personal profile] knifemonopoly 2023-03-06 04:11 am (UTC)(link)
[He lets Komaeda pull away with a touch of regret, but no real resistance. There's still a touch to arms, and that's nice (mostly, it's still tingly, right on the edge of painful).

Once again, there's no hesitation in the reply.
]

Of course we can! Actually...

[He pauses a moment, thinking.]

If we wait to try again tomorrow, then there's another approach we can take. Instead of being there to catch you if you start to fall...I could possess you as a shade, and show you how to fly from the inside.

[He'd offer to do it like this, but they wouldn't mesh well...if just touch is prickly pain, possession is much riskier.]

If you don't mind being possessed, that is.
knifemonopoly: (a stinging trophy)

[personal profile] knifemonopoly 2023-03-06 01:14 pm (UTC)(link)
[Atem is perfectly relaxed about it. By now, he's been in and out of a lot of monsters' minds...it's an ability that comes naturally, and he's very used to learning a new body quickly while working alongside another mind.

So...if there's trouble Komaeda foresees, it's on his end. Atem's brows furrow a moment, and his head tilts.
]

Is there something I should be worried about?

[Besides the obvious, of course -- the crush, the emotional extremes, the hells they've both been through, he knows about that. Is there something else he should be told about before he goes in?]
knifemonopoly: ([event] they haven't seen the best of us)

[personal profile] knifemonopoly 2023-03-07 05:08 am (UTC)(link)
I wouldn't.

[Plain, straightforward, simple -- but Atem won't leave it at that. He'll show his work.

A hand grips Komaeda's shirt and pulls downward, wordlessly telling Komaeda to crouch again, because Atem wants to have this conversation at eye level. Komaeda can refuse, of course, but if he does, Atem will unfurl his wings and float up to eye level with wing-beats, ones too slow to achieve the hover he's in with pure physics; there's magic at work here.

Either way, whether Komaeda goes down or Atem comes up, though, two clawed and scaly hands are going to take the sides of Komaeda's face, and he's going to hold Komaeda's gaze, keeping their faces close.
]

You're not like you used to be...but, it's your friends who are helping you stay that way, right? So, even if I see something terrible, something worse than what I already know...I know that staying with you is the best way to keep the things you don't like in the past.

[He's not going to kiss Komaeda. That's too far, even for Atem's demon-self. But he is going to hold Komaeda on either side of his jaw, gazing into Komaeda's main set of eyes with his own red-on-black ones, his face too close and his touch too tender to be entirely chaste.]

Even if I saw the worst thing in the world, I wouldn't leave you...I would want to keep protecting you from it, and stop it from coming back.

[They absolutely will not kiss, but the way the words are said, with Atem's breath ghosting over Komaeda's face, is about as close as you can get.]

You can trust me with your memories.
knifemonopoly: ([event] locked away in permanent slumber)

[personal profile] knifemonopoly 2023-03-08 07:30 pm (UTC)(link)
[An earlier Atem, a more brazen and foolish one, might have said something about choosing that for himself, being willing to shoulder anything, insisting on his own fearlessness and endless reserves of strength.

The Atem of today knows that's not true.

So, he has a different answer, that he gives with his fingertips feather-light on Komaeda's cheeks, his claw-tips just barely brushing skin.
]

Then, if it gets bad, I'll look away.

If I see something that feels like too much for me to bear...I'll leave your heart for a little while, so I don't have to endure it all.

If it's something that's in the past, and there isn't an important reason I have to understand it...if looking won't change anything, and will only hurt me...then, it's okay to turn away, and not let it in.

[A scaly thumb shifts just a little, almost imperceptibly, in a small, reassuring touch.]

I'll also protect myself. I know that's important, too.
knifemonopoly: (through the end of the world)

[personal profile] knifemonopoly 2023-03-08 09:37 pm (UTC)(link)
[It's easier to work with somebody who will accept and assist your efforts to protect them, instead of fighting over who gets to throw themself into the jaws of danger. A mutual desire to protect the other at any cost...they'd be working against each other.

This way...they're working together. They're both important. They're both worth protecting, they should both get to feel happy and safe...

Atem watches Komaeda's head turn into his touch with a fondness that's tinged with greed. It's a little like a cat...and a little like holding the reins of a quiet, still horse. Komaeda is bigger than him, with magic Atem is weak to, just the touch prickles and stings, and very likely, he'd be Atem's match, if he has the speed-power -- but he's docile, trusting, with no sign of that tempestuous temper or wild impulse that means Komaeda's someone to worry about.

It's sweet, and it's dangerous, and he doesn't want this feeling to end.

He holds them there for a moment longer, taking it in. But then, Atem lets go and wraps his arms around Komaeda's shoulders one more time, giving a tight, affectionate squeeze.
]

Mhm. It will!

[They're back to safety -- back to a hug between friends.]

I'll meet you in the hallway tomorrow. Okay?

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