idolpro | Nemesis Heart

[Sounds like a plan. The door's open to go on up]

[Plucking up one of the top ones to unfold and read and see what all of this is about, exactly.]

[ oh, hi everyone

actually she's going to bustle on through and try and catch Nero, the bike still tucked under her arm. ]

Hey, Love. D'you have a moment?

[Nero brightens to see her, giving her a kind of doofy smile. "'Course, honey. What's up?"

He pauses. "...Weren't you just over there?"]

Oh, I realized I had to take care of something, but it's done, now...

I know you have some repair tools, though, so when you have a bit of time later, could you help fix up Nem's bike for her?

[On one: 'start thinking and grow up'

A different writer: 'You know what you are! Worthless! Pathetic!'

A third: 'Do what you want. I don't care.'

...Seems to be as it says on the tin]

[He blinks up at her, confused. "Since when did Nem have a bike?"]

Apparently it was left with some people who really weren't taking care of it like they ought to.

I think Hurricane has a motorcycle, but also I just thought it'd be nice to do, you know?

["Sure. Anything for you, baby." He beams up at her. "Anything else you need?"]

Well, it's just nice to see your face.

[ and kisses him on the cheek. like okay this is clearly some kind of dream but she's still going to be saccharine at him, obviously. ]

I should go finish my tea, though.

[Sounds uncomfortably like her own inner voice. She sets it aside with a soft huff, leaving the box emptied and papers scattered right where they are.

Maybe she'll check out her room...]

[He blushes, deep; perhaps not in a particularly Nero-y way but in a pleased way nonetheless.

"Well--if there's anything else you need, you know I'm here for you, right?" He goes up on tiptoe to give her a peck on the cheek as well, though doesn't try to keep her as she's a badass warrior who don't need no man]

[There are more doors down the hallway than you might expect--Harpy's and Kestrel's and a bunch more that currently are just smooth stone hallway.

The door to your room, if you try it, is locked. Though as always, the door to Nemesis's room is unlocked.]

[ ...aw.

well, she's going to take a look at the things spread out on the far table. ]

[The table has a scattering of items. Someone (Amaranth? Ace? Who even knows that stuff?) has left an impressive ikebana arrangement on the table, bright zinnia and hollyhock matched with muted purple columbine and viburnum blossoms.

The rest of the things seem more random--dynamite and hands and battered swords and pasta noodles and Taisho's clothes and fancy cakes.

At one end is a box, marked 'suggestions' in neat handwriting; it has been pried open and half the contents scattered over the table. There are a stack of pens and leftover copies of Shrike's survey, though paper is paper, and you could write whatever you wanted.]

...what is it about flowers...

.........and also hands.

[ maybe she should. put the hands somewhere, who knows. that's a little weird.

although it's interesting that her survey is present here? maybe she should fill it out? she starts tidying things into... collections... as she thinks about what she should write down. ]

[What is it about flowers??? You feel a little self-conscious if you touch them--needy, maybe, when you should leave well-enough alone.

The collections, however, feel a bit different--the swords carefully neutral, the food slightly fond (though in no way hungry), the hands a mix of guilt-accomplishment-camaraderie. There are other things too; a scattering of different animal stickers, particularly favoring birds and cats (melancholy-jealous-resentful); the folded papers (resigned), the clothes, including ruffly pantaloons you just know belonged to Shu (petty spite).

The surveys are also carefully neutral, like unfinished thoughts]

Need I remind you that I'm not a hero? . . . I didn't think so.

[But he takes the lead anyway, glancing behind every once in a while to make sure Req is following.]

[ maybe

she should just like, throw this bouquet out, actually? in fact, she goes to do that, just... removing the flowers to toss, and dumping out the water in the kitchen so it can be re-used.

and then she thinks about what she should put in the suggestion box.

I'm here if you ever want to talk. Or not to talk and just exist quietly together. It's okay if you feel like you're inconvenient or troublesome; I feel that way all the time too, honestly. So I want to make sure that other people have the space they deserve. ]

[You know where to go, and tug open the door at the end of the hall--the only door that matters.

Inside, someone's turned this empty corner of an empty city into a home. There's a table with two chairs; a cordless electric kettle; and two mugs filled with black tea, spiced rum, and honey. A small feast spills across the table: a pair of bento with disposable chopsticks, conbini riceballs, and snacks both sweet and salty.

Along the back wall of the tiny apartment, someone's made a blanket fort, draped in soft things and lined with fairy lights. The glow of them is warm, but more than that - this whole place is warm, soft in a way that pulses against the inside of your chest and makes you feel safe.

Hurricane is here, freckled and rosy-cheeked and engaged in that one phone game he never seems to win. A flower crown woven of cheerful orange kalanchoe, purple astragalus, and pale green ivy is set on his sandy hair. He does a double take when you come in, bobbling his phone.

"What--what's going on? How'd you guys get here?"]

[She shrugs, but continues to follow behind you, if lagging a bit.

You step past the threshold and into a breezeway, four slightly dented metal doors in weather-worn concrete on one side, the other side open to the street.

There's absolutely nothing notable about the look of it at all--it could be any building on any Tokyo-F street. Across the way is a building just like this, and there's another one next to it, and another one next to that.

But you can feel the change in the air as you walk down the hallway, though: something warm, and soft, and terribly fond.]

[You could return to the castle gate, or continue.]

[The flowers are dumped and the suggestion is noted! Or at least you assume so.

You feel like you've probably seen everything there is to see here in the dorm, though there's certainly nothing stopping you from continuing to hang out. But if you wanted to head out to the lobby, you could do that as well.]

[That's fine. He'll continue to pet the dog and talk to it. Why not? Sometimes it is soothing to talk to someone or something that won't talk back.

He does look at the other parts of the room to see if anything else is amiss.]

[Nothing that you can tell. You get the feeling that the room is not the most meaningful of places, comparatively--a house but not a home, perhaps.]

[ hm, well—

maybe she will go to the lobby, then. ]

Nemesis Heart - R1

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THE HIDEOUT

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