neverplaysfair | Game 049 [Written/Voice]

Game 049 [Written/Voice]

[ Sometime in the early afternoon, the following question goes out over the journals. The camera is covered, and the handwriting is disguised. ]

Let's have a thought experiment. Say you were dying, and the only possible way to save yourself is to get help from someone very close to you. However, you don't know for sure that this help will indeed save you, and whether or not it does, there's a chance that it will damage the one helping you. Trying to help you might even kill them.

Do you ask for their help anyway? Would you accept their help if they offered it?

[ Later on in the evening, Joshua makes a separate post from the previous, this one voiced and not anonymous. ]

[ Filtered to Neku, 100% ]

Hey Neku, are you busy tomorrow?

[ /Filter ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It's probably very hard to tell what Neku is even painting at this point, since it's mostly an outline. There just a lot of lines right now and no noticeable shape yet.

...his painting might take a lot of time, actually. Fff, oh well. Neku continues on for now.]

[ Joshua returns to his painting, and though his own is starting to take shape (a city, always a city, this time the sun setting in the distance above what are currently the preliminary sketches of some buildings), he soon pauses.

High up near his shoulders, two familiar burning sensations have returned. ]

Neku, care to take a break?

...hmm? [It takes him a moment to respond, but when he does he stops painting and looks over at Joshua. But hey were just getting started!] Er, okay?

[ Yes, but do not want to fall in paint.

Joshua stands up and walks over to his bed, then sits, a small, wry smile on his face. ]

Hey, Neku. When I told you that by winning the Game against Megumi you had ensured Shibuya's erasure, how did you feel?

[He... Wait, what? What kind of question is that? It's a terrible question that's what, and Neku looks uncomfortable and uneasy as he's suddenly having to remember that day. And having to remember how it made him feel. He stares at his canvas for a long moment before turning to Joshua, looking a little on the angry side now. How could you ask something like that.]

Why the hell are you asking me that?

[ Joshua simply stares back, expression unchanged. ]

It might matter.

To what?

To Shibuya.

Or maybe to me.

[He doesn't get why or how this question is even relevant right now. It's one of the most jacked up questions he could have been asked and it makes him angry that Joshua is asking him to answer it. Just. Screw you, man. But if you want the damn answer then fine.]

...like a failure. Like I had just helped kill millions of people and I didn't even know it. Like—[Fuck this is hard. Yes, FUCK. Neku's hands clench in his lap and his ducks his head down. He hates you so much right now for asking this.] Like I had let everyone down. Like I had betrayed everyone... just like you betrayed me. [That's it. He can't say anymore.]

[ That's good enough for him.

Joshua's gaze remains level. He'd betrayed Neku once for Shibuya's sake. And he could do it again.

Even though he already knew that was the decision he was making, this helped it sit better with him. ]

Thank y-- [ But the words were cut off as the burning heat suddenly raced straight down his back. Dammit, he thought he had a bit more time than this--! ]

Nngh-ah!

[ He can't hold back his shout as pain races through him. If there was one thing his Ascension had done for him, it had made him more used to pain, so this time around the sudden onslaught was catching him by surprise. He practically crumples where he sits, collapsing forward and supporting his upper body with his arms on his knees, breathing suddenly heavy.

On his back, the decay has resumed bleeding. ]

[The shout of pain gets Neku's attention and he looks up at Joshua in alarm. The anger from a moment ago is quickly gone, now there's just confusion and concern. He hates Joshua for some things, but Neku still considers him a friend, so if something is wrong then anything else can be put on hold.]

Josh?

[ Now that he knew what to listen for, this time he could hear it. His Music was souring, a few notes at a time, and if he left it like this there was no telling how bad it would get before he'd lose himself. ]

Neku... come here.

[ His voice is strained and more than a bit desperate. ]

[Neku is a little unsure here, but he still steps closer to Joshua.]

What's wrong? What can I do?

Come here.

[ His voice breaks with the pain, and it startles him just how fast his Music is falling apart. And the more it does, the harder it is for him to hear it.

Without even thinking he reaches out a hand towards Neku. ]

[Okay that startles him and makes him move. Just like that Neku is there, standing right in front of Josh and grabbing onto his hand.]

Here. I'm here.

[ Joshua grips Neku's hand and suddenly pulls him close. The moment he makes contact he's pulling Neku's Music, for the moment not even caring what damage he's doing. He doesn't have the luxury of caring. He needs Shibuya, honestly needs her, and this is the best he will be getting like this.

He might completely tear out Neku's Music and he knows it, but his own is fading fast. ]

[That earns a little disgruntled huff from Neku but otherwise he's keeping still after being pulled. Jeeze. He figures Joshua is after his Music, though he's still not exactly sure what is happening.]

...

[ Joshua cringes again, trying to press himself against Neku as best he can. The horrible, sickening feeling that he or Shibuya or both are dying is slowly creeping up from the pit of his stomach, a distinctly cold sensation to go with the pain shooting through him, and he starts shivering a little. He's scared, scared for Shibuya, and at this point both he and Neku are only afterthoughts. As long as he's tied to Shibuya he doesn't know which of them is dying and he can't risk it being the city.

He's pulling more desperately now, clinging to the similarities to Shibuya that Neku refreshed by going back. Let this work. Just please let this work. Sanae isn't around any more. This is his only option. ]

[He would probably give another irritated huff but he's starting to feel... weird. That's never happened before and it's a little worrying. Mostly because it's coupled with the way Joshua is acting right now.

Neku tries to push him back, but it's a weak attempt. Okay this is probably not good.]

...J-Josh. [WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING.]

Edited 2012-02-21 04:25 (UTC)

Neku.

[ He clutches tighter, or tries to at least. His grip is weakening and he feels it not so much as hears it. He needs what he can get of his city and so he's pulling. Joshua closes his eyes and fights to stay lucid as the world spins around him, and he clings to what little of Shibuya he has, pressed against him in the form of a fifteen-year-old boy.

He can't slip now. If he lets go, he's lost. ]

[Neku is very slowly starting to go slack against him. The more Joshua pulls at his Music the more out if it Neku starts to feel.

His head droops down and comes to rest on Joshua's shoulder. Still conscious for now, but he won't be protesting anymore.]

[ There's a moment where Joshua registers what he's doing to Neku, but it doesn't make him hesitate for even a second. This was his decision, and for better or worse Neku is along for this ride with him now.

It's not as bad, he thinks, if he's remembering correctly, as it was last time. At least, he can still hear his own Music. Barely. He leans against Neku a bit more, trying to slip into the pieces of Shibuya that Neku still has his connection to.

It still hurts, and he's still not sure he won't die from this. ]

[Despite what Joshua is doing to him, Neku still trusts him. And Neku keeps repeating in his head 'I trust you I trust you I trust you..." because he wants to think that Joshua wouldn't seriously hurt him.

And this doesn't hurt, just makes him feel weird, so Neku is okay with leaning against Joshua more in return.]

[ If Neku had any idea what Joshua was doing, he probably would have psychologically registered it as hurt, anyway.

That's why Joshua didn't tell Neku what he was doing.

Well, that and having no other hope of saving Shibuya if Neku said no.

Suddenly his vibe reels, and he's abruptly older, no longer such a good match for Neku by height. He grips Neku closer with a new found strength, urged on by panic because he remembers what comes after this, and the fact that he doesn't have his Noise form this time doesn't do anything to ease his mind because it just means he doesn't know what's going to go wrong next.

With the lifting of some of the restrictions on his power, he pulls Neku's Music even harder, trying to wrap himself in it and pull it into his own.

Please don't let this be for nothing. ]

Nngh...

[The lightheadedness comes on full force with that stronger pull. He can feel himself starting to lose consciousness and at this point, Neku's not even sure he wants to fight it. Just, ugh.

He sure hopes you know what you're doing.]

[ action ]

[ action ]

[ action ]

[ action ]

[ action ]

[ action ]

[ action ]

[ action ]

[ action ]

[ action ]

[ action ]

[ action ]

[ action ]

[ action ]

[ action ]

[ action ]

[ action ]

[ action ]

[ action ]

[ action ]

[ action ]

[ action ]

[ action ]

[ action ]

[ action ]