It’s quiet here.
It’s all become smaller. No escapes. No land of the dead to go cry to my mother in.
No sister, for all the good -and- ill she had towards me. At least she was someone to talk to, even when threatening me.
No more Glass & Steel. That door is… stuck.
The library key is lost, another locked door.
Once we had… endless universes. Flitting through time and space for the joy of it.
Yet he remains frozen while the rest of us are in a frozen land, where I fear we will scatter like snowflakes…
Again and again I come here, as if I wait for the spring. -Will- there be a spring? Once we had to fight the world to prove our love should exist. Now we’re just left fighting each other…
The sofa remains. I run my hand against the soft fabric, pressing down to the padding.
Once…
I close my eyes, and sit down. My cheek against red, wishing, -aching- for it not to be the cold indifference of upholstery but instead the man who brought me to this sofa, warm and…
Is he warm, where he is? Does he dream of me, long for me? Or has another taken my place, the one I -let- in?
I wish I had a familiar calloused hand to reach for.
It’s been to long since this place smelled of smoke. Ah, the wisps I smelled, that morning, in Aizu – did it mean anything? Or have I just started going mad?
I’m… fairly certain I’m sane.
A song plays, from somewhere. Once that’s been in my head. It’s funny… a song giving me some semblance of hope? But it’s that… I can’t accept that we’re broken.
Denial. Hope?
Just give me a reason, just a little bit’s enough
Just a second we’re not broken just bent, and we can learn to love again
It’s in the stars, it’s been written in the scars on our hearts
We’re not broken just bent, and we can learn to love again
Broken me? *smirks* Not me. Maybe -him-.
*comes from behind the sofa and sees her head resting on the arm*
“Here’s your library key.” *tosses it to a non-descript coffee table that just suddenly appeared* “Sorry I stunk up the place but I stayed away from the alcove.”
*moves to go in front but doesn’t sit down and instead lights up another smoke just like he always does everywhere else.*
*head jerks up as she hears someone else*
*leaves the key where it is* *realizes which one this is*
*looks up at him, sitting back up* I like your smell, I -miss- it. I thought I smelled it in Aizu, it… *smiles a bit* made my heart feel things.
*pats the sofa* Sit down, and put your smell here. I probably won’t bite.
“Hmm? Won’t bite?” Looks to the side pretending to scoff but slightly grins and sits down anyway to her right.
“You better put that key away before you lose it again.”
*leans back on the sofa and spreads his arms across the sofa back but keeping his cig all the way past the sofa’s right arm and ashing it cooly*
“It would be cold in Aizu so a perfect time to smoke, for most men. Maybe you smelled Kanbee.” chuckles.
*feels the give in the sofa as he sits down*
Thanks for the key, but I think it was a gift to you? Didn’t my sister suggest we have a date night there? I thought… *pauses* we’d go and I’d tease you about the fanbook section, or the versions of you where you had a bald head. *smiles a bit, looking at the table*
Kanbee smoked a pipe, but he was generally too… vigilent, I think, to smoke much. *closes her eyes as she inhales not just the smell of cigarettes, but of -him- even if they’re not sitting -together-* *opens them again, to look over* Pipes smell -nothing- like your Midnights. *leans over, closer to his chest, inhaling* Yes, Midnights… nothing like them.
“She did give the key to me, didn’t she but I had no interest to go there.” *lies, he was just there last night but doesn’t take it from the table* “No idiot would want himself to be setup like that.”
“As for Kanbee well he’s still a provincial boy, not a city one like me who has graduated from pipes. Too much upkeep.”
*sees her leaning over inhaling the smoke* *looks at the cig stub he’s holding and decides it’s probably best… reaches into his breast pocket and fetches a fresh cig.
“Wanna smoke?” Unlike that guy who only gives leftovers, he’s actually one of the more generous sort. “Don’t worry. In another decade or two, it will be the “in” thing I heard.” *grins*
*notices that he leaves the key* Ah, an idiot? I figure the teasing would eventually lead to more… mutually fun things.
The attraction in the smoke is… smelling it on you. Watching you smoke, when you puff away in frustration, or a languid way when you want to relax. *takes the cigarette, lights it for him in her lips but hands it back over* I’m attracted to -you- smoking.
The years we were gone *voice has gone soft* I used to fancy ideas about lighting one up as something like incense, I missed you so much but… besides it being a little macabre, I could also imagine you making that -tch- sound about the waste. *grins a bit* The tobacco habits of city men costing more than a countryman’s pipe.
*shifts over, closer* You know I’ve missed you. *looks up at him, into his eyes.* -You-. All of you. *Knows who she’s talking to, sitting here with*
*grimaces a bit when she mention fun things. it hasn’t been fun with the idiot*
“Attracted to me smoking? You have a weird taste in men Hide.” *Tosses the cig butt of the spent cigarette on the floor and takes what she offers* “No smoke for you? Ah your lost. Though if you like men who smoked…” Looks up thoughtfully, “Kondou-san, Hijikata-san, Shinpachi did, Itou did and ah… Okita would’ve -loved- to smoke but he hacked right after and he didn’t was us seeing. Todou and Harada though didn’t.” *looks back at her* “so those two are definitely not your type.” *chuckles and takes a drag*
*watches as she leans in again and moves the cig away. returns back her stare. smiles just slightly as she tells him she missed him. wonders if he should take a crack of a joke but decides to take a hit at his cigarette instead. thinks, how useful a cigarette is most times especially now*
“Well hopefully you’ve got your fill. I’ll be going away again as usual.” grins, “why not give me a kiss for old time’s sake and I’ll be on my way?”
*sees the expression at “fun things” knowing they were becoming more and more rare, before…*
*listens as he lists the Shinsengumi captains by tobacco preference* Guess I do have a type. *grins a bit, looking at him*
*her heart skips a beat as there’s the barest hint of a smile on his lips as she confesses how she’s missed him* *wonders if she should make a speech, but she said what she needed to say to him*
Yes, I heard… distant journeys. Be safe. *smiles, a bit, wavering*
*again her heart jumps as he -asks- for a kiss*
*moves to his lap, wrapping one arm around his shoulders, her other hand touches his face, and brushes his bangs back before going to rest around his neck* *moves in but pauses, just a breath away* For old times? For that…. and the future. *leans in, at first, soft, gentle and longing as a wish but deepens it, her tongue darting out to taste his lips before they part and it becomes more heated and hungry, as she drinks him in, like as if she’s found an oasis after the desert, feeling both a fire start to kindle but something else, an aching tenderness to be -his-* *slowly breaks the kiss, resting her forehead against his, panting a little* Have you had your fill?
He responds to her kiss as ardently as she deepens it. Touches the nape of her neck pulling her in until the kiss ends naturally and let’s her go.
“My fill? It would have to do for now.” *thinks he can’t say much about the future. He’s not been that successful in getting the ahou to do his bidding.*
“Well then.” Looks at the table, stands up and pockets the key. She wouldn’t take it. She’s waiting for him after all to take her there. He’ll just have to try harder when opportunities presents itself. Besides he plays to -win-. “Nothing will be gained by just staying here.”
Tilts his head staring at her seriously for a moment but catches himself and returns back the grin. “Do you still like songs? I found one I like but I don’t have time to tell you what it means.”
Shrugs and leaves a song, walks away.
https://youtu.be/4RbYoBGMJj0
(Ooc wolf exits)