impheired | Voicemail (Cerealia)

I need you to come over if you can asap

[Just like with Gundam, he realizes belatedly that Kuzuryuu doesn't know where he lives, so he painstakingly types that out too in a second text, which comes a bit after the first. It's the same building and floor as Naegi and Kirigiri.]

[Well this is unexpected, but alright. After slipping his shoes and jacket on, Kuzryuu heads out to Leon's apartment, sending another text as he goes:]

Yeah sure. What's up?

I just need you to look at something 4 me. Youll see when you get here maybe

[Maybe. That's the whole problem.]

[Oh goddammit. His eyesight's been back to normal ever since they were dropped into that weird code place. Please don't tell him this shit is starting back up again.]

Alright.

[In any case, Kuzuryuu gets there soon enough, rapping sharply on the door.]

Oi, it's me.

[After a pretty brief moment of footsteps headed for the door--he evidently wasn't far from it--the door swings half open.

Leon looks . . . slightly wrecked, but otherwise normal. He's pale-faced, dressed down from his usual jewelry and accessories look, and his hair is down, unusually; it flops into his face and around his eyes rather than being slicked back. His eyes are red-rimmed, like he might have been crying recently. But that's in the past! That is definitely not on the horizon! Nope.

This is embarrassing; Leon regrets texting a little as soon as he opens the door and peeks out. Dammit, could this get any more uncool? Could he look any more like a fucking mess right now? But Kuzuryuu's the one person he knows who feels as strongly about CERES and all the rest of this as he does. They're not close, but he at least knows Kuzuryuu's the kind of guy who won't jerk him around. He'll understand, right? He's sane about this stuff.

Leon makes eye contact with him and asks immediately:]

--Can you see me?

[Kuzuryuu eye does a very quick glance over, taking in all the little details of Leon's current appearance. Man...what the hell did they hit him with to land him in this state? Or is this because of something he saw in that weird space? Ah, no...if he's asking if he can be seen, he's willing to bet it's the shit that happened before that.]

Yeah, I can see you. My eyesight's been back to normal ever since they dropped us in that place with all the broken buildings. [And strung up bodies, but somehow that seems a little too morbid to bring up. He's sure Leon remembers that aspect of it just fine.] Why? Who couldn't see you?

I couldn't see me!

[OH THANK GOD. He's so relieved he could cry again; he opens the door wider to let Kuzuryuu in, gesturing to usher him inside, but it serves the added purpose of temporarily hiding Leon from view. Like he doesn't look stupid as hell enough. He doesn't need to be seen fighting back tears, too, even if they're happy tears.

Thank fuck. So that creepy experience had turned him back to normal after all; the whole thing had been so fucked up that he hadn't been sure if he was crazy, or even real anymore, when he'd gotten out of it and gotten home and been able to see himself in the mirror again. His voice shakes with so many different emotions that he's not even sure how many of them he could place himself.]

They--they made it so I couldn't--first it was just in the mirror, I looked all messed up and smudged or whatever, then it was like, I'd hold up my hand and it was like I was all fuckin' smeared out, then I didn't even get that! You're sure I look okay?! I ain't blurry, I'm not see-through, I'm really here?!

[Kuzuryuu moves inside when invited, looking a little bit stunned because what the fuck, Ceres. His own selective blindness had been annoying enough, but not being able to see yourself?? No wonder Leon's such a mess, that's enough to drive anyone crazy. But especially someone who...probably shouldn't exist at all.]

Goddamn, and I thought I my blindness was bad... But yeah, you're fine. You're solid and clear, promise.

[You've already seen the description of his place, so enjoy that decor.

Not that that's important right now. Leon closes the door behind them, then immediately strides over to the couch to flop onto it. It's a little beyond him right now to be a good host, or to even think about being a good host; he just tips his head back against the cushion and rubs his hand through his hair with a groan. Lately, his entire life feels like a constant loop of being thrown into something incredibly fucked up, only to find out later it wasn't just him and he's completely sane.

For now, anyway.]

God. Shit! What the hell! What, your blindness? What blindness?! So they screwed with you too! All this stuff that's been goin' on is just CERES screwin' all of us around!

They screwed with everyone, far as I can tell. Not all the same ways though. Seemed like they were fucking with a different sense for each of us, y'know, sight, touch, so on. But it wasn't just...outright loss or anything. I could see most things just fine, but anything I associated with my family, even a little looked either blurry or was flat out gone, even though everyone else could see it just fine. Same as you, it got worse as the days went on.

[Eventually, he'd completely lost sight of Peko which had been a trip and a half, let him tell you. It was one thing when it was just objects. But to not be able to see people?? Hella disconcerting.]

They'll probably tell us it's another glitch in the system, but who the fuck knows what it actually was.

Well it's their fuckin' fault for puttin' us in a system that never works right!

[He thumps his feet up onto the coffee table. It's his own coffee table and he can do that if he wants; that's the cool thing about having your own place. At this point, it's either that or get up and punch a wall a few times; the coffee table's more likely to survive.

What else do you even do?]

Did they even say anythin' about it? Any warnings or anything? If we were payin' for this we'd totally have gotten our money back weeks ago!

[He sighs. There, that's that outburst out of the way. He doesn't feel much better for it, but it was something. When he speaks up again, it's more normal and conversational:]

. . . Anythin' you associated with your family, huh . . . so yakuza kinda stuff? I don't get it. I could see everything fine except, y'know, me . . . I thought I was goin' crazy. Or maybe like I was really--ah, whatever, forget it . . . but it sounds like they just picked random stuff people would hate, to screw with them.

[Kuzuryuu's still standing a little ways from the door, arms crossed. He took his shoes off at least, but apparently he's too polite to just make himself comfortable without Leon saying something first? Who would have thought.]

They haven't said anything that I've heard.

[Does CERES ever do press releases? It suddenly dawns on him that they really should. A good company would SAY something when shit goes wrong. Aside from when Bellona took over though, he's pretty sure he's never heard anything out of CERES before.]

But it sounds to me like that's exactly what they were doing, from everything I've heard. Ran into one girl who couldn't see anything red. And judging by the way she was dressed, I'd guess that's her favorite color. Even had her tips dyed. As for me, it...started as distinctly yakuza stuff, yeah. First it was stuff like my family symbol, pictures of my little sister, dragons...y'know real obviously had to do with the Kuzuryuu family. But it also affected perfectly stuff that just...reminded me of 'em. Watermelon, coconuts, mascots, swords... [What...a very random list there.] Nearly everything in my apartment was gone or blurry because I tried to style things like my house. And on the last day, it started affectin' people too...

[That's quite the list. The swords he can at least guess at; he's met Pekoyama. Watermelon? Coconuts? Leon has a brief imaginative foray into "yakuza family summer vacation" territory. Tattooed men beating watermelons with lead pipes on the beach to split them open. Gangsters using pistols to shoot coconuts out of trees. Pekoyama in a bikini . . .

Save that one for later, maybe. He's not quite hopeless enough to get distracted by that now, when everything else in their lives is intensely fucked up.

And he's reached the same conclusion Kuzuryuu has:]

Shit, man . . . and they didn't say anythin' about any of that? 'Cuz it ain't just us! Larry was walkin' through things like a friggin' ghost! Togami almost choked to death! You couldn't even see whole people! Did they think we wouldn't notice or somethin'? Like we're just that stupid that no one would figure it out, when suddenly everyone's completely screwed up and it's all their fault?! They're just tryin' to make it worse by freaking us out!

[He grimaces at Kuzuryuu, who is . . . still standing there. Ah. Leon definitely hadn't taken him for the type to just stand in the doorway. He makes another face: it's some combination of still being really fucking mad, and feeling a little sheepishly amused.]

. . . Hey, man, you can sit down.

Edited 2015-08-09 19:05 (UTC)

Voicemail (Cerealia)

text; 2/14 ic; evening

text; 2/14 ic; evening

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