[Maybe he should have lied about that. Oh well. He keeps leaning against the wall, more relaxed now; it's a relief to not be hiding in that closet or under any weird effects anymore, and he's going to take advantage of the breather while they've got one.
Plus, he just got hugged by Kirigiri. Score.]
Truuust me! But I know you'd punish me if I tried anythin'. Besides, there's no fun in anythin' if the girl doesn't want it. That's getting into creepy territory!
[The first thought that pops into his head--though to his credit, it's passing, and the incongruity of it twists his own stomach too--is shit, I don't have anything lined up for Valentine's Day. He'd half forgotten about it, in fact, and that says a lot about what kind of week this has been.
He's surprised to see this kind of reaction out of Heung Soo. And unfortunately, Leon's not the right guy to deescalate the emotion in any conversation, most of the time; seeing all of that on Heung Soo's face just works him up even more, until he's arguing, without even quite knowing why he'd argue:]
That's--I dunno about anyone else! Maybe they're all out of their friggin' minds by now! But I don't know what to do! Actin' like anything's normal in this place pisses me off, but what the hell d'you even have left if you take that away, huh? Am I just supposed to sit every day and think about how I might almost die next? Or what other messed up thing's gonna screw with my head?! What d'you even do when it's like that?! You either act crazy by actin' normal or you actually go crazy! So what do we do?
[It's not even Heung Soo he's arguing with. He's been having this argument inside his own head for weeks now, and what he really wants is for someone to fuckin' settle it for him once and for all. The question's real: what do we do?
He's being loud enough right now, his voice strained, that they'd be garnering a lot of attention in any normal hospital. But this isn't one--that's the whole problem, isn't it? And if they did, he wouldn't notice anyway. He makes eye contact and keeps it, face flushing with emotion, lips twitching.]
It's not the time. [ For better or worse, he agrees immediately, in a firm voice. ] At least not to explain everything. All you need to know for now is that I'm from later in time than the others.
[ He still feels kind of uncomfortable with that, but he's going to have to get used to it pretty quick, since it's inevitable that he's going to have to explain this to everyone from Hope's Peak he'll meet. ]
[ These situations aren't anything new for him. It's why he honestly doesn't pay much attention to their surroundings right now. Sure, it might be a weirdass hospital where no one even cares that they look five seconds away from a fist fight, but even if it wasn't, he wouldn't care. He's stood often enough in corridors yelling like this, gathering attention from all over the place.
It's why he doesn't drop the eye contact with the other guy either. ]
Keep your eyes open. Don't let it lull you into some false sense of security. [ He might not be yelling anymore, but his tone is certainly still tense. Compared to how it usually lacks emotion beyond faint exasperation, it's already a lot. ]
That's not that hard to do, is it? We'll have a chance to figure out what's really going on here, but these people are just going to let it pass by.
[Mostly in an unsettling context, up until now. He shrugs, jerky, as he considers whether to explain--but why not? It's not like he's expecting any awkward sympathy here from this guy of all people.
And maybe if he's a total asshole about it, it'll feel good to fight about it some.]
When I got here, they kept askin' me what the last thing I remembered was, like it was gonna be somethin' besides . . . all that bullshit. It turned out they thought I was maybe from the past or whatever. Anyway, I've been hearin' all kinds of explanations of stuff I don't really get about how it all went down, but yeah, later. Whatever!
[By the way, that whole thing's still peppered with hiccups, but they're also definitely easing off by now.]
[That actually comes out more aggressively than he'd meant. It's starting to catch up to Leon, again, that they're mostly agreeing here; why's he causing a scene? Dammit, this is so embarrassing! Sure, he wants to punch someone's lights out right about now. He's been itching to do that for the past few weeks. But it's not even Heung Soo's fault . . . even if the guy is insufferable.
Which he kind of is, but he's also kind of one of the few people who makes sense right now.
But he wasn't kidding, either, about going crazy if he ended up as paranoid as him, and maybe that's some worthwhile advice too. Leon lowers his voice. It's still tight; he hasn't relaxed much. But there's more control in it now, like the light is visible at the end of the tunnel of his tantrum.]
--I'm not gonna just let these people walk all over me, got it? I'm not that kinda guy! But you, maybe you oughta lighten up some too before you snap! Don't you ever feel like you're gonna friggin' snap if you stay wound up all the time, just waitin' for CERES's next move? You gotta keep one eye on them and one eye on yourself, if you ask me!
Hey, there's way worse fates in the world than hugging me.
[But he's not offended, for once, and his tone is light; he's smiling as he pushes away from the wall to check out the door.]
You think we oughta try it? But there's way worse fates than bein' stuck in the closet with you, too. . . . Actually, I can't think of any better ones, 'specially when you're in a hospital. It can only go downhill from this!
[But it's important. Okay, it's not important right now. There are better times to flirt with Kirigiri. Probably Leon should make a point of setting one of those times aside, when no one is trapped in a closet, or almost dying in ViViD, or having horrible shared nightmares, or any other sort of crisis at all. Note to self.
He creeps up to the door and turns the knob, trying to be silent about it. He doesn't push the door open yet, though.]
You ready to make a run for it? Or a walk for it? Whatever!
[Chihiro jumps and cries out in shock at his shouting then just slinks back against the door silently, trying to make himself as small as possible.
He's not sure whether or not he should reply as he doesn't want to set Leon off again but then he figures Leon might be even angrier if he doesn't so... in a very small and tentative voice, he replies...]
O-okay... [And he bites his tongue before he says 'sorry'.] I'm glad you're normal. I... Eh? [And that question confuses him quite a bit because no one has told him yet...] I'm fine. Why... wouldn't I be?
[ No need to worry, Leon. There's plenty of time for that after they get out of this level. There aren't any guarantees he'll be more successful though. ]
Of course I am. [ She moves over to Leon's side, opening the door just a tiny, barely noticeable amount. The coast seems clear for now. ] Let's go.
[He flashes her a quick grin--right, later, gotta set some time aside later!--and opens the door the rest of the way to scoot out into the hallway, wordlessly. Back into the fray it is.]
[Hhhhuh. Leon has no idea how to explain that one away. He still barely understands all of this timeline crap anyway! And whatever happened to Fujisaki--well, Leon wasn't alive for that, so there's only so much he could offer anyway. As it stands, he can't offer much of anything insightful.
He shifts awkwardly, his manner changing; at least he seems to have calmed down. Not talking about his own brutal death is a help there.]
I guess that's somethin' we gotta ask the others about whenever we find 'em.
[ He's curious about what "explanations" he's talking about, but now that they've mutually agreed it's not the time, he can't really ask about them. So, time to focus their efforts on getting out of here, so maybe they can finally continue a conversation in a more appropriate location for once. ]
So how do you propose we escape from this place? If this is virtual reality, are we able to access a logout or shutdown menu?
Normally yeah, but it ain't workin' right now, 'cuz CERES is screwin' us around again!
[It's nice getting mad at CERES. It's not like Leon likes that CERES keeps doing things to get mad at, but having a direction to be annoyed in--one that isn't complicated by his own world and past at all--is pretty great in comparison to everything else he could be dealing with. He huffs, arms crossed on his knees, and casts a glance around the dark closet. Not that there's much to see.]
I was hopin' if I stayed in here long enough it'd let me log out before anyone else found me or I had to deal with any more screwed up crap, but I've been in here like fifteen minutes and nothin' yet. If we run for it we probably ain't gonna find an exit until they want us to. See what I mean about these bastards?
[ She soon joins him in the hall, slowly closing the door behind her so it only makes a quiet click as it closes.
The hall is still clear, and Kyouko looks for another room they could go into. It may take a while, but if they're careful, they can find a way out... She spots what looks like another supply closet further on down the hall, and points to it making sure Leon knows their destination.
Without waiting for a response, she starts to quietly make her way down the hallway. ]
... [Leon's reaction does make Chihiro feel a little uncomfortable. It's like the other is trying to hide something from him...] ... is something wrong, Kuwata-kun...?
I suppose so...? [Then he falls silent for a long while before adding.] The door seems to be stuck, Kuwata-kun.
[That's for the question; "is something wrong?" Everything's wrong! He might even have explained that, but he's immediately derailed by the bomb-drop of them being stuck in here. Leon strides over to the door, eyes widening, and yanks on it to try and get it open. All of his care about being quiet in here (or as quiet as he gets, anyway) flies out the window; this is more important than not being found.
And of course, Fujisaki's right.]
--Shit, I didn't think I closed it that hard! You didn't do somethin' to it?! I can't believe this!
[But he's at least less angry, and more just shocked, for the moment.]
[He only nods, wordlessly, and follows her. It's a good thing she's here. He's pretty torn between running for it (fast, but really damn obvious), sneaking around (subtle, but obvious if you get caught at it, and slower) and just walking normally like he's not doing anything suspicious (probably a good choice, but what would he do if he got stopped? He's still in scrubs, dressed up like a doctor!). It's hard to resist the urge to run, which feels the most tempting, but since Kirigiri's not doing that, it's easier to keep a lid on that.
What are they going to do in there? He's curious, but now's not the time to ask. For the moment, he just follows along with her as casually as he can manage, though he's clearly wary, keeping an eye out for any nurses or anything else approaching them again.]
[ The moment they make it to the supply closet, Kyouko hears footsteps coming from the other hall and headed towards them. She quickly pulls open the door, grabbing Leon's arm and pulling him into the closet before quietly shutting the door. ]
We have to figure out a plan before we go any further. We have to know where we're going first.
[Sneaky. Leon feels a little bit like one of those first person stealth games in the arcade right now. (He's never been very good at those; there's so much patience involved! It's a lot easier in real life when it actually matters. . . . And when you don't have an inventory of guns.)
He leans against this wall too, much in the same spot he did in the last closet, and keeps his eyes on the door.]
Uhhh, crap--we're in ViViD, right? So they ain't gonna let us out that easy. It's not like we can just find a door that says exit and go through it and be outside! I think, anyway. Sooooo . . .
[This is too much thinking for one day.]
We've just gotta get somewhere where they wouldn't think to look! Or maybe somewhere they wouldn't wanna look?
[ He crosses his arms, considering their situation from the perspective of it being a "game". Make no mistake, he is pretty mad at CERES, but a situation like this requires playing along with their desires in order to escape. It's not like he knows any back-end shutdown commands here, after all. He can't get around the system.
Even though he's had quite enough of being a piece in someone else's game, he doesn't have much choice right now... ]
If waiting it out seems unlikely, perhaps there are victory conditions to be found in directly confronting those who are coming after you.
So we just hang around until they fix whatever's not lettin' us log out? I guess you might be right . . . I mean, they don't usually trap us in here, right? So it's probably a mistake of some sort. If there's an objective I don't even know where to start with that!
[This is way too confusing an environment to come up with a short list of things they might need to do in it. Leon frowns at the door, as if he could see through it and see where the answers are. Of course, there's nothing to see.]
They were tryin' to get me to do doctor stuff, I guess, but if that's really the objective I'm a hundred percent screwed.
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