No shit, you can't! Damn . . . that sucks. I mean, playin' video games for a living ain't for me, unless maybe it was tournaments or whatever. It sounds like the kinda thing a shut-in would do, right?
[Some days here he spends mostly inside playing video games--not ViViD, but the games that had come with him from home, normal old-fashioned things you hold in your hand instead of being immersed in--and he never actually feels better after those days. The idea of doing something even more immersive on the regular is definitely not an appealing one. He makes a face imagining it, and that's without the whole CERES issue . . . but all of this only makes the whole thing taste even more sour.]
Maybe they're takin' advantage of people like that. Who knows, man? It's suspicious as hell no matter what! They're gonna end up chasin' everyone out of it permanently the more they fuck up, and then what're they gonna even do? It's like they ain't even pretending anymore they're not evil.
[He gives a sort of non committal grunt in response to the shut ins thing. He can think of one person who would absolutely be all about ViViD and he doesn't like the idea of lumping her in with shut-ins. Even if she...kind of might actually have some of those tendencies, bless her little gamer heart.]
Well clearly they have ways of forcing us in here, even if we don't want to be. I sure as hell wouldn't be here right now if I had any say in the matter. Here's some good news though.
[He points a few feet away, to the set of stairs leading upwards that they've finally reached. Kuzuryuu was so absorbed in the conversation, he hadn't even noticed how close they were getting until they were almost on top of them.]
Looks like you were right, this was the right way.
He'd also been absorbed enough in the conversation to not notice, too; it's a lucky thing he hadn't tripped right over the bottom one and fallen on his ass! Fuck yeah! He's so relieved that he pumps a fist in the air--and then turns on his heel to flip off his shitty doppelganger back there for good measure. It's so easy to be brave when you're two steps away from running up the stairs to safety.]
Screw you, CERES! You can force us in here, but you ain't gonna keep us down forever!
[Kuzuryuu is polite enough not to call Leon out on the fact that he obviously had no idea that this is the right way. However, he is not so polite that he doesn't roll his eye once the other boy has turned his back.]
[He doesn't offer so much as a glance at his tiny, still near-tears doppleganger as he trudges up the stairs after Leon. But there's still one last tiny and feeble "You murdered them," all the same. But that's the last one it manages to get in, of course. Because he can't follow them up the stairs and back into the hospital.]
[It's only when they're both safely upstairs that Kuzuryuu finally looks back. Just at the doorway leading to the stairs to make sure there's nothing there.]
Finally. Fucking glad that's over with and we can get on with our lives. Watch your step from now on so you don't get stuck down there again. I dunno if it was the same for you but I fell through a trap door...
[Maybe he should have lied and pretended that happened to him too. Too late now. But "let's get on with our lives" sounds fucking awesome. Yes good plan! Leon takes a few overly-long steps away from the doorway, as if making a point of putting it behind him; even though he'd been managing to tune all that crap out near the end there, there's still a palpable sense of relief when the doppelgangers are gone for good, strong enough that it surprises him a little.
He looks back at Kuzuryuu, not the door, mildly embarrassed.]
I went in 'cuz I was getting chased around by those freaky nurses with the needles . . . they got me once, I wasn't goin' through that again! I've seen the weird stuff they can do to people with those! So I got in there, figurin' I'd go upstairs, but then it led downstairs instead, and I just went with it.
no subject
[Some days here he spends mostly inside playing video games--not ViViD, but the games that had come with him from home, normal old-fashioned things you hold in your hand instead of being immersed in--and he never actually feels better after those days. The idea of doing something even more immersive on the regular is definitely not an appealing one. He makes a face imagining it, and that's without the whole CERES issue . . . but all of this only makes the whole thing taste even more sour.]
Maybe they're takin' advantage of people like that. Who knows, man? It's suspicious as hell no matter what! They're gonna end up chasin' everyone out of it permanently the more they fuck up, and then what're they gonna even do? It's like they ain't even pretending anymore they're not evil.
no subject
Well clearly they have ways of forcing us in here, even if we don't want to be. I sure as hell wouldn't be here right now if I had any say in the matter. Here's some good news though.
[He points a few feet away, to the set of stairs leading upwards that they've finally reached. Kuzuryuu was so absorbed in the conversation, he hadn't even noticed how close they were getting until they were almost on top of them.]
Looks like you were right, this was the right way.
no subject
[(No he hadn't.)
He'd also been absorbed enough in the conversation to not notice, too; it's a lucky thing he hadn't tripped right over the bottom one and fallen on his ass! Fuck yeah! He's so relieved that he pumps a fist in the air--and then turns on his heel to flip off his shitty doppelganger back there for good measure. It's so easy to be brave when you're two steps away from running up the stairs to safety.]
Screw you, CERES! You can force us in here, but you ain't gonna keep us down forever!
no subject
[He doesn't offer so much as a glance at his tiny, still near-tears doppleganger as he trudges up the stairs after Leon. But there's still one last tiny and feeble "You murdered them," all the same. But that's the last one it manages to get in, of course. Because he can't follow them up the stairs and back into the hospital.]
[It's only when they're both safely upstairs that Kuzuryuu finally looks back. Just at the doorway leading to the stairs to make sure there's nothing there.]
Finally. Fucking glad that's over with and we can get on with our lives. Watch your step from now on so you don't get stuck down there again. I dunno if it was the same for you but I fell through a trap door...
no subject
[Maybe he should have lied and pretended that happened to him too. Too late now. But "let's get on with our lives" sounds fucking awesome. Yes good plan! Leon takes a few overly-long steps away from the doorway, as if making a point of putting it behind him; even though he'd been managing to tune all that crap out near the end there, there's still a palpable sense of relief when the doppelgangers are gone for good, strong enough that it surprises him a little.
He looks back at Kuzuryuu, not the door, mildly embarrassed.]
I went in 'cuz I was getting chased around by those freaky nurses with the needles . . . they got me once, I wasn't goin' through that again! I've seen the weird stuff they can do to people with those! So I got in there, figurin' I'd go upstairs, but then it led downstairs instead, and I just went with it.