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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 >
gitanes: (♘ my god i'll say it again)

[personal profile] gitanes 2021-05-01 06:04 am (UTC)(link)
[She believes him about the big things because she believes him about the little things. The little things, for her, are the most important. For someone so unwilling to trust, it's a shock every time she recognizes her own effortless belief in Komaeda's honesty.]

[She believes that he's telling her the truth now. But it's a painful truth to hold, new and raw and sensitive. Nobody's ever told her she was special before. Not . . . just the words. The simple words mean more, she learns, because it doesn't feel like a con. The truth at its most stripped-down and basic is the truth she can most easily trust. No meaningful glances or important words hidden in sentences hidden in paragraphs hidden in speeches. Clumsy truth, and that's it.]

[Maybe it's okay for her to be a little clumsy, too. Even if she hates not being perfect.]


yeah. me too. i'm glad i met you too.

[Mm. She can't . . . talk about all of it. She's tired and sad and still kind of scared. She thinks he probably is too. But there's this one thing.]

can i tell you something kind of weird?
gitanes: (♘ with their nine-inch nails)

[personal profile] gitanes 2021-05-01 09:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[Man. She's really going to have to talk to him about not calling her Lila-san after she's had her tongue in his mouth.]

[She wants to tell him everything, as much as she's ever wanted to tell anyone everything. It occurs to her that it might actually be easier if he'd seen Cassel before, even if she would have hated it too. It would be a starting point. But — no, this is okay. Maybe better. She can make her own starting point now, the way she decides to, centered around what's most important to her right now. Something she can't articulate without explaining the big picture.]


you remember i was wearing gloves when you met me? and i kept wearing them until after the first fog, when it got hard to like. stay solid.

everybody wears those where i come from. there's magic where i come from, magic that can destroy people, but somebody has to touch you with their hands to do it, so everybody covers them, even people who don't work — have magic. not wearing gloves can get you arrested. it's like walking down the street naked but worse. big taboo.

nobody here does that or even seems to have heard of it. it really freaked me out at first. i — there was a protest i went to once where people had their gloves off but besides that i've never seen that happen. you were the first person i saw other than that crazy cult guy, and your hands weren't covered either. so i should have been freaked out and i was a little but


[She's holding her breath, as though she's saying all of this out loud and just needs to get it out as quickly as possible.]

i still touched your hand.

i still don't know why i did that. it was really stupid. but it felt like i should and you needed it so i just didn't think.

and i wanted to tell you. i wanted you to know. and just



thank you. for not proving me wrong.


[Again.]
gitanes: (♘ i could say i'm done with it)

[personal profile] gitanes 2021-05-02 06:12 am (UTC)(link)
oh my god

[Her first instinct is to be exasperated, but again, it's Komaeda. She doesn't immediately bite his head off, because it's Komaeda. What she does is lean back and stare at the ceiling for a minute until she realizes that . . . this is actually hilarious. This might be the most normal thing Komaeda has ever said to her. This is him just running facefirst into his own impulsivity and having to backpedal when he realizes he's shoving his foot in his mouth. Boy shit.]

[Crazy that he's backpedaling. Crazy that it's not even bad backpedaling. Crazy that it's taken this long, and somehow she's not even mad. Although it probably is time for a tactical strike.]


you're lucky you're cute.

[Ah.]

just ask first. don't just grab me. it's not that i don't like it, but don't surprise me with it. got it?

and don't, like, manhandle me.


[A pause. She's thinking.]

unless i change my mind. i'll let you know.
gitanes: (♘ to keep yourself believing)

[personal profile] gitanes 2021-05-02 06:48 am (UTC)(link)
[Something's . . . off.]

[She doesn't know what. Just something. Making the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Like the last hour hasn't happened. Like she's slid sideways into some other world.]

[She's too tired to keep having stupid feelings. She needs to move.]


are you at home?
gitanes: (♘ she's drinking herself blind)

[personal profile] gitanes 2021-05-02 07:02 am (UTC)(link)
not really.

you have sixty seconds to meet me at your door. after that i'm gonna start making noise.


[She doesn't respond on the laptop again after that. At forty-five seconds she is, in fact, standing in front of his door. She doesn't look angry, exactly, but frustrated, yeah. Tired, as much as it shows on her face anymore.]
gitanes: (♘ survive if i leave)

[personal profile] gitanes 2021-05-02 07:22 am (UTC)(link)
Hi.

[Her gaze slides to the closed door, calculating. She's here to make a point, and that point isn't getting caught. Glancing down the hall, she takes Komaeda by the elbow and marches him down the hall and just around the corner, out of sight of his front door. The look she gives him when they still is calculating, too.]

[Then she backs up against the wall, pulls him with her, and, grabbing his hand, places it on her throat. Lightly. She looks calm, and in this moment, now that she's gotten where she knows she needs to be, content.]


Look at me.

Do I look disgusted to you?
gitanes: (♘ you built up a world of magic)

[personal profile] gitanes 2021-05-02 08:04 am (UTC)(link)
Komaeda.

[She's quiet, ducking in an attempt to catch his eyes even as he averts them, expression open and honest but unforgiving. He's not going to get away. Not now. Not after all of this.]

I don't know what happened. You were right there with me, and then you went away. I don't know why. But you need to come back, okay? Don't leave me here by myself when we got so far.

[Her fingers clench in the front of his shirt, unclench, find a better grip. A little fussy.]

Do you think I'd have told you any of that if I didn't want you to touch me? Tell you why it matters just so I could laugh about how you can't anymore? Do you think I've told anybody else anything? Nobody knows shit but you.

[All of the talking just seems like too much and not enough. They've talked so much, but things fall between gaps in the sterility of text, and she can't afford that. Not that kind of misunderstanding. Not now, not with him.]

[The fingers of her other hand wrap around his wrist and tug, gentle but firm, until she can push his palm flat over her heart. Surprisingly, there is a beat in there, steady and strong. It kicks up slightly when he touches her, but not much. Not enough to be panic.]


I'm not disgusted. I'm not scared. Whatever other shit you think I am, throw it out and look at me. See me.
gitanes: (♘ feeling super super)

[personal profile] gitanes 2021-05-02 08:43 am (UTC)(link)
[She. He says it the same as he did the first day in the cabin, when he saw the wrongness of the cultist's arm and panicked. He said it like he hated her, like he would rip her throat out if he could, whoever she was.]

[So this is confirmation. A name to a pronoun and an emotion, and one extra puzzle piece whose shape she doesn't understand. Tipping her head, she tries to catch his eye again.]


You think I'm used to it? I have no idea what I'm doing. The last time I gave a damn about anybody, I got stabbed in the back from about ten angles. Just—

[She clicks her tongue, struggling with the words, and reaches up to touch his face, trace the edges of it like she's committing it to memory.]

Just tell me. If I say something that feels bad, tell me. Don't get stuck in it like you deserve it. I'll call you something else. Or nothing. Whatever.

[He's offered up easily as much flexibility to her. She can try, at the very least, to return it in kind.]
gitanes: (♘ so one day he found her crying)

[personal profile] gitanes 2021-05-02 05:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[She realizes a lot of things between one moment and the next, from the last word she says and Komaeda's hands laying gently over hers, insect-light. She abruptly understands how much easier this was for him when they were high, with all his fear pushed down and away and only instinct and want to guide him. She understands that she doesn't like Hajime Hinata and doesn't like the way he calls her Junko-san and that there is more to that story, to both of those stories, than he's willing to say explicitly. She understands that she wants to chase them out of his mind, to kiss him enough that she's the only person he can think of, ever ever ever, because he's hers. She understands that she shouldn't.]

[She understands, when he touches her and her eyes slide closed for just a moment to process the always-overwhelming sensation of his hands, that they really are . . . broken in a lot of the same ways. He's afraid of touching, but he craves it. She's afraid of being touched, but she needs it. It's messy. They're messy.]

[Nothing in her life has ever been neat, though. Especially not the things that were worth it.]

[When she opens her eyes, she smiles faintly, carefully disentangles their hands, and grabs him by the belt loops to pull him against her. It's for a very specific reason, though: he's tall, and she's really not, and this way if she leans up on her toes she can rub her cheek against his jaw, tuck her face against his neck, and stay, just stay, for just a moment.]


I believe you. You did the opposite with me, right? You made it so I can't help but trust you. Understanding's harder, but—

[Her arms creep up behind his back, tentative and awkward. It's a hug. Just not a great one. She has limited practice.]

You make sense to me . . . and I like you, so . . .

[That's all she was trying to say, really, with cute. That you're lucky I like you. But it felt like too much, so she balked. If she has to be honest to keep him hers, though — at the very least she can try.]
gitanes: (♘ that doesn't make you jesus)

[personal profile] gitanes 2021-05-02 11:39 pm (UTC)(link)
If you call yourself ugly again, I'm gonna bite you.

[This lightly sullen from what's quickly becoming her hiding place at the crook of his neck, only slightly mollified by the touch at the back of her head, tentative and so gentle but still — but still. He doesn't really get it, does he, why it's important, not quite. Maybe she can explain it better sometime, how every touch is fear and shock and desperate longing all at once. How his is slowly becoming less of that, but she doesn't know how to make it happen faster. This is nice. She asked for it, and even though she startled him, he gave it to her.]

[Threat made, she's quiet for a few heartbeats — his or hers, she's not sure which she's feeling — before peeking out over his shoulder at the opposite wall.]


You don't get it, do you.

[And she does it again, like she can't help herself, turns her head to rub the other cheek along his shoulder before curling back up against his neck. Her voice sounds somewhere between uncertain and embarrassed, although it's hard to know for sure with her face hidden. Without question, it's not a version of her anyone else has seen.]

I don't care about that. I didn't come up here to get in your pants. I don't like you so I can get in your pants. I'm — I came up here, I like you, because you make me — I don't know—

[With a huff of frustration, her claws tighten fractionally in the back of his shirt.]

Just like a person. Just normal, for once. Like I don't have to be perfect all the time to be okay. You don't have to be perfect, either. Actually, you better not be, you'll make me look bad.
gitanes: (♘ her garden blooms)

[personal profile] gitanes 2021-05-03 08:09 am (UTC)(link)
[She's just merciful enough — barely — not to look up when he starts babbling, not to meet his eyes deliberately at the absolutely stupid bullshit that keeps falling out of his mouth. She's not merciful enough to pretend she's not laughing. Her shoulders shake, and her laughter is silent because she wants to keep listening to whatever comes next, stupid or important, because there's no way of knowing — but with her face pressed so close, he can feel the shape of her grin, wicked and wide, and the silent-quick breaths of her laughter.]

[It's hard, wanting to have a serious conversation instead of exploit the fun vulnerabilities she knows he has now. How embarrassed he gets about sex, apparently, or touching at all, or any of this. She could wreck him. She kind of wants to. It's just not the thing she wants the most. Not right now, anyway.]

[And for once, restraint ends up being the right choice. As he scrambles to compose himself, he reaches for her, pulls her close, and holds her. This time, the breath she lets out is slow and gentle and relaxed; her smile eases into something simpler and happier. With him holding her, she doesn't have to stretch so much. She can let him do some of the work.]


You don't have to flatter me, but it's a nice touch.

[After a moment, she lets her hands fall from their fretful position at his back and lock easily around his waist. Possessive but secure. The things that were scaring her when she gave him that sixty-second ultimatum aren't anymore.]

. . . That's pretty much why I like you, though. All of that you just said. Sometimes you're dramatic and over the top or you shove your foot in your mouth but then you say something I would never have thought about and then you call me amazing or something. You're a lot of things at the same time, but they add up. They make sense to me.
gitanes: (♘ of flower from grade 4)

cw eye gore imagery

[personal profile] gitanes 2021-05-06 05:50 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, I'm definitely crazier than you.

[That much is easy, although she doesn't agree for the reasons he's thinking. She's grimly aware of the more basic difference between them: that Komaeda regrets what he did to harm people, and she doesn't. She regrets not doing more. She doesn't blame him for what he's done not because she doesn't think he's responsible, but because she can't make it matter to her. All of those dead people she doesn't know might as well be paper dolls on fire. If she could sink her brand new claws into a few familiar eyes from back home, she'd do it, and she'd do it here so they could come back and feel her in their heads down to the knuckle all over again.]

[Maybe the two of them would do the same bad things, but she wouldn't regret them, and Komaeda probably would.]

[When he moves, she responds, unwinding herself so that she can look up at him, watch his face when he speaks to her. Watching for lies. She does so idly with him these days, because he's passed a lot of tests. Now as before, he's not lying to her. She likes that he knows she's not likeable. That he likes her anyway. Whatever he sees in her, it's in more than one dimension. Like she's a real person.]


If you hadn't been acting weird, I would have given you a minute and a half. [Absently spoken, as she arches up slightly one more time under the reach of his wide hands. What is it with tall guys? A power thing, probably. If she can take somebody that much bigger than her and make them eat out of her hand — that's all it is. That's all.]

[The thing is, Komaeda's . . . better. She can't explain it to him, not now, but sometime — and for now she can't leave him with nothing. Or maybe it's less than she doesn't want his hands empty so much as that hers are too full.]

[Fussing with the hem of his shirt, she lets her head lean back on the wall, gaze thoughtful on him. Not good, not bad, just taking all of him in.]


. . . Hey. Guess what? . . . Before you, nobody ever said that to me. That they like when I smile. When I'm happy.

[Not just like that. Not without the undercurrent of her weakness, her incapability. Not Cassel, not like this, with no baggage, no implication, no strings, no sad dark eyes hanging on her every wicked word. Not her family, because the way she smiles was never dignified enough for her mother, and her father saved praise for crueler things. She wouldn't have asked it of him. But that does mean she didn't know—]

It feels good. [She sounds surprised, because she is.]

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