estoria | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Who:

espersions,

belfire,

moribound,

popsometags, their cr, their cr's cr...
When: Early April
Where: Source Below: Cerealia's most surreal karaoke bar
What: How do you come to terms with death and disappearance? Get hammered and sing about it, obviously.
Rating/Warning: alcohol, hot tubs, death mentions, and j-pop

Ket Whiss is gone for good, and Minato has returned from his PLAYER ONE GAME OVER moment, courtesy of a hungry monster. And there's the residual trauma of everyone's jungle/elemental adventures.

So, well. Why not have a party?

Source Below is Cerealia's most popular — and most surreal — karaoke bar. It features a costume closet, with hundreds of outfits to try on, for that full idol experience. There are themed rooms: one with overflowing candy, another built to resemble the interior of a spaceship, one full of robotic cats who yowl in time with the music, to a pitch-black room filled with pairs of enormous, glowing, slowly-blinking eyes....

But Team Catastrophe's party isn't in any of these, because none of these losers made a reservation. Instead, they got stuck with the only one left, covered in white tile, with a hot tub in the center.

This is a bad idea on so many levels, but it's not as if that's ever stopped anybody.

(ooc: open to any extended cr, feel free to handwave how you heard about it. the more the merrier!)

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[Kevvy. Only a very selected few idiots get to call him that. Kevin can't believe his ears. Or his eyes. Especially his eyes. In a single moment of clarity, he offers a small prayer to heaven, thanking God Almighty for the fact that Master Kazuya and his precious young master have never met. ]

Master Kazuya, sir. You are drunk...and you are...

[Naked. And in danger. All that glass is not okay.]

That is unbecoming for a messiah, sir!

[He kneels on the wet floor and - still balancing the tray like a true pro - starts collecting the gathering bottles. R.I.P Kazuya's fortress.]

Uuuugh...

[Kazuya groaned when instead of "pulling up a hot tub", Kevin was being responsible and Kevin instead! His precious glass fortress, demolished! The drinks balanced on the tray - completely out of his reach! Or, rather, was in reach, but when Kazuya tried to lean up and snag one, his hand missed by miles. Honestly, it was like watching a cat high on catnip trying to swat a mouse toy - pathetic yet hilarious]

You're bein'a squaaaaare. Stop bein' a square, Kevvy, be... be... [He blinked slowly, having to pause all physical motion to dedicate everything towards an appropriately party themed shape] Be an oval.

No, no, sir. You have completely lost your mind. I am not a square, or an oval or er....a triangular. I am quite human-shaped! Or more precisely, angel-shaped, since we came first. [That is a very important point, okay. Meanwhile, now that the fortress is gone, Kevin has a better view of things he would rather not be aware of.] SIR, DO PLEASE RECOVER YOUR UNDERWEAR!

[He delicately pushes that grabby hand away. No, no, no more cheap wine for the Chosen One.]

[There was a brief moment where Kazuya looked horribly bewildered at Kevin's scandalised shout, and looked down to see- oh]

Hey, you can't tell me to put pants back on. [He looked back up, pointing at Kevin unsuccessfully. His finger was aimed just over his shoulder, and he looked almost cross-eyed. There were four Kevins. Four. How dare he gang up on him with his identical twin brothers] I know 'bout aaaaall you guys. Y'all exhibitionists!!

[He pounded his fists on the- oh, wait, no table. Instead he just splashed his palms against the water] Remiel never wears pants! He doesn't wear clothes at all! Aniel an' what's his face! The other angel dude! He don't wear clothes either! None of them do! So I bet you don't either! Your clothes are an illusion!! Don't deny it!

[That was unexpected! It is not everyday that a mortal calls him on heaven's well kept dirty secret:

Naked angels.]

Those are...special cases. Very special. And I would not er...call my clothes an illusion. N-not exactly. [Perhaps it is easier to appeal to Kaz's common sense!] Do I look like an exhibitionist to you, sir?

[Blushing and hoping to avoid this conversation entirely, Kevin turns around to look for the young man's pants, which puts the booze tray right within his reach. ]

Yes. You're a secret exhibitionist. I can teeeeeell~

[Alas, Kazuya's common sense was not currently in service right now. But thankfully, the subject was quickly dropped when his eyes caught on the brightly coloured, alcoholic drinks placed right within easy reach. All thoughts of naked angels went out of the window, and with a pleased noise, he went to pick one up.

...

Well okay, he accidentally knocked one over, and spilt half of another one all of his hand, but he managed to claim a prize of one amber coloured drink, with another tiny shot cup floating in the middle. He knocked it back without hesitating]

Ergh.

[Jagerbomb. Gross tasting, but with a kick]

Wouldn't secret exhibitionism miss the point of exhibitionism entirely?

[He fails to locate Kazuya's pants and ends up coming back with a towel.]

Here, Master Kaz. Put this on... Oh dear, is that alcohol? Master Kazuya, you clearly had too much. Don't you know you will feel awful in the morning?

[Truth be told, like any good butler, Kevin knows one home medicine or two to cure hangovers, but like any good angel, he firmly believes excruciating pain is fair punishment for a night of excesses.]

I am totes fine.

[Kazuya even managed to say this with minimal slurring, but suddenly everything didn't seem so great now. The hot water was a little too hot, and his face felt uncomfortably flushed, everything was wobbling around at the corners enough for him to feel seasick and the jagerbomb had not settled well at all. He was... fairly certain that he was going to be sick in the near future. He decided that the best course of action to avoid this would be to remain perfectly still and not move in the slightest (as this was not the first time he'd been hit with the nausea train, and Bel always did him a solid by stabilising his bodily functions enough that the sickness passed without him revisiting his drinks - though, at the price that his hangover was going to be horrendous, once it actually hit him. Let's face it, he was going to be drunk for two days straight).

In short: Kaz was beginning to look a little green around the gills]

Oof, okay, maybe not totes fine, but... okay. Ish. [He squinted up at Kevin and his towel] Whassat?

[He sees that, and the last he thing he wants is to scrub that bathtub after Kazuya gets sick on it.

Or at least that is what he tells himself as he wraps the towel around Kazuya's shoulders and pulls him out.]

You are most certainly not fine, sir. What God would say?

[He finds a second and a third dry towel, so now Kaz is something between a baby and a mummy. ]

Now, let's find a place away from all those...vapors. Shall we?

Edited 2015-11-21 18:21 (UTC)

[Kazuya suffered through this with little to none protestation - if only because every scrap of willpower was focused on not vomiting all over Kevin's front. He kept his mouth very firmly shut as he was jostled about, and the only sign of disapproval of the whole babying thing was a very weird, ambiguous sounding grunt right in the back of his throat.

This is your own fault, some sober part of his brain muttered. Or, wait, no, that was Bel's discomforting rumble filling all the spaces in his skull, and Kazuya realised, with mounting horror, that Bel wasn't going to save him from the nausea train this time. That dark presence retreated, a mental door was opened and- yup. Abandoned. Bel had wandered off deep into his subconscious and went to sleep, washing his hands of the matter entirely.

Traitor!]

Umm, I don't think... [Kazuya dared to speak at this troubling development, a notable strain to his voice] I should move. I'm... gonna...

Oh no! You will not, sir!

[Kazuya's face: meet the fourth towel. It is high time Kevin flies with the kid out of the suffocating room.

Not literally fly, mind you. That would be bad for business. But he walks quickly out of the door and towards the closest toilet. And he really hopes Master Kaz will feel ashamed of himself later.]

[Sad to say, but Kazuya will most likely not feel ashamed later on - if only because it is highly likely he'd have no memory of this entire night whatsoever]

...nnh...

[That ominous groan - yup, it was coming, and Kevin's rapid extraction to the toilet wasn't helping matters. Thankfully, by sheer willpower, luck, and possible divine intervention, Kazuya managed to hold it in all the way to the bathroom. However, the downside was he didn't hold it in all the way to the toilet.

That's right. The moment the bathroom door opened-]

Hhhurrrrrrrrrrrrf!

[Barf.]

[This is not how he wished to spend his evening.]

MASTER KAZ!

[Eww, humans. Ewww. Bloody hell, better prop the silly messiah against the nearest wall and clean him up first.

Those paper towels will be over sooner than later, he can tell.]

Well...at least you tried. [Rubbing the drunk messiah's face with soap and whatnot, he even manages to smile a little bit at his misery, half because he cares, half because he is a bit of a sadist.] You tried really hard, did you not?

Edited 2015-11-21 20:43 (UTC)

[Kazuya was fairly certain he was dying. Instead of feeling better after voiding the contents of his stomach, he felt worse, somehow. Awful taste in the mouth, that horrible burn in his throat and up his nose (how????), that disgusting smell, his stomach feeling like it was trying for the Olympic gymnastic teams with how it was twisting itself into painful knots... oh God, if you had any mercy, please put him out of his misery right now...]

Y-Yeah... [His face was scrunched up, taking short, deep breaths to try and make sure Round 2 didn't occur] M'sorry, didn'... mean to... Kevvy, you, amazin'... you dealin' with this, god, m'sorry. You're my favourite angel, y'know, better than Metatron, like, he'd've... drowned me in th' toilet, I think...

[Ah, here comes the semi-conscious, drunken rambling, slightly muffled past the paper towel clean up, but audible all the same. You don't understand Kevin, even if you are one scary sonuvabitch, you're still his favourite angel (next to Remiel, of course)! He just had to tell you this, just to make up for all this disgusting sick business! Yes, right now, in the bathroom, naked sans for towels. He had to tell you right now how amazing and perfect you are and did he mention you were his favourite angel?]

[Okay, as much as all the drunken praises are making him blush, he can't help but smile for real, because Kazuya is just being ridiculous. ]

Master Kaz, you are embarrassing yourself.

[Would his Metatron stoop so low as use a toilet as a torture device? Probably. Oh well. He can't just leave the messiah like that. Once he is certain that no more barfing is happening in the near future, he wraps his own jacket around the youngling's shoulders and carries him to the nearest sofa, right outside the fated bathtub karaoke room.]

Now, why don't you take a good nap until your comrades are...er...finished.

Noooooooo...

[Kazuya whined - yes, whined - as Kevin picked him up, but did nothing else to avoid his fate of being grounded to the sofa. To be honest, he couldn't coordinate himself very well anymore, and the amount of concentration it took to flail his hand in a vague direction to express his displeasure about being babied was embarrassing - also he very nearly smacked Kevin in the face (sorry about that)]

M'not... m'not finished, y'know, about- that, y'know, out of eeeeeveryooooone in Cereals, you're, like, top tier of... of, um, topness. [Not even Kazuya was sure what he was trying to say anymore. It was like there was a direct line from thought to mouth, with no filter in between] You're so nice t'me, even though, like, even though m'an awful, awful Messiah. M'so bad. I- I don't deserve t'be, t'be called... m'so bad...

[He couldn't even protect his friends here, he couldn't prevent Ket vanishing forever... ah, oh dear, here comes the mood crash...]

[Yeah, now that the puking has stopped - probably, maybe - he can offer Kaz a glass of water, sit by his side and enjoy himself in a completely non sadistic manner. See, he is even smiling. Such a utterly innocent butler.]

Master Kaz. Not every one can be a good Messiah. Besides, if you are really bad at what you do there is a chance you will survive your mission...

[Should he be saying that? That was a little heretical, wasn't it? Oh well, it is not like any of his friendly angels is listening or Kaz will remember this conversation tomorrow.]

Though, quite frankly, sir...you should not drink that much. I fear you don't take it well.

[Kazuya just made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a sniffle, clutching the glass of water Kevin offered like it was some sort of life line]

M'takin' the drink fine! It's just... that...

[That, well, at first the alcohol had given him such a pleasant buzz, and the artificial cheer he'd been forcing at the beginning of the karaoke party became actually genuine. It had been nice, and... fuzzy, and... but now, all those nasty thoughts and doubts that had been pushed to the very back of his mind were crowding forwards like a pack of Kobolds, preying, and... try as he might they were just there. Right there. Front and centre. Staring at him, the fuzziness gone and all that pleasant cheer evaporating into something uneasy and unhappy]

I don't wanna be a bad Messiah, Kevvy! [Oops. Volume control? What is that? Sorry, Kevin, looks like you're going to have Kazuya half-wailing down your ear despite sitting right next to you] I wanted t'protect people and- and I can't even do that right! K-Ket died, and, and Minny died, a-and back, back home, Keisuke died and everyone else, and- and I couldn't save everyone, I couldn' even save Naoya or Cain or whoever he really is, e-even though I tried really hard! If- If I was better, or stronger or- or anythin' then, then I...

[Kazuya's next words were unintelligible, because it was at this point he dissolved into hiccuping crying. It was quiet, and he had buried his face into his hand, shielding it mostly from view, his shoulders jerking unevenly. For a moment, he didn't quite know what he was even doing, what he was even going to do next. His emotions felt like they were swinging about in a wild circle, and a near hysterical urge to start laughing at the entire situation began bubbling up.

...it seemed Kevin's assessment was correct. Kazuya really didn't react well to drink. All those repressed emotions and trauma issues were exploding up to the surface in an unstable mess, like a volcano of pure crazy erupting all over Kevin. Sorry about that - he wouldn't blame you if you fled back into the hot tub party of debauchery to escape the potentially awkward situation]

[Fortunately for Kazuya, Kevin is way better around crying younglings than debauchery. He carefully extracts the glass from the messiah's hands so it won't break, and envelopes him in his arms. It is alright to cry on his tie too. Hyoubu has already ruined it anyway.

Congratulations, Kaz. You're being comforted by a bona fide angel.]

As long as you have regrets, you will be fine. [Ket is dead? Dear Lord, he keeps doing that...

[Kevin should probably ask about Cain later. But first, better offer poor Master Kaz a handkerchief.

And he adds after a second thought:]

Naturally, I can always punish you if that makes you feel better.

[Kazuya almost froze up when Kevin pulled him into a hug, briefly bewildered by the sudden contact. It was enough to jolt him out of his sobbing, and for a moment he just sniffled unsteadily, embarrassedly wiping at his eyes before he realised that Kevin was offering him a handkerchief]

O-Oh, thanks...

[he took it awkwardly, though he didn't use it. Instead he clutched it tightly between his fingers, staring at the stitching with red-rimmed eyes. Even that small bout of crying was enough to... dislodge something. Emotionally, he meant. He felt like something heavy and sharp had been removed from a tender area - still hurt but... there was a bit of relief too]

Um. [He broke out of his blank staring when Kevin's next words sunk in, and after a pause - laughed. It was thick, half-hysterical, and sounded like he was half a step from crying again, but it was laughter all the same] N-No... no, thank you. M'not into that kind of, um, scene.

Eh?

[He doesn't get what Kazuya means by "scene". Punishment is a good thing when one is a sinner, right? Well, at least the messiah is no longer tearful, though that is definitively a sad smile.

He gives him the glass back, now that he seems a little more stabilized. Here, here, have a headpat too.]

It is all right to cry.

...

[Kazuya ducked his head at the headpat, but didn't fully move away. He knew it was fine to cry, but at the same time, he felt like he couldn't. All through the lockdown, Atsuro and Yuzu looked up to him, and he had to be the strong one. He couldn't cry, he couldn't show weakness, he had to keep pushing and going forwards! It got even worse when Keisuke joined, and then Midori, and then Keisuke died and everyone had been so upset and traumatised and Kazuya couldn't... cry. He had to...

But right now, he was a very very drunk teenager sitting naked on a sofa with only towels and Kevin's jacket keeping him decent. There was no one relying on him, no frantic situation that took priority over his own trauma, no angels staring down at him with judgement in their eyes. He was simply... Kazuya Minegishi...]

Y-Yeah. [His voice wobbled, and he used the handkerchief at last, wiping at his wet cheeks] I-I know. It's just, I, I was never allowed to cry, y'know. H-Had to stay strong, and all, so... I keep feelin' like... like m'doin' somethin' wrong when I... [Deep breath] God. M'such a mess...

[Kevin is not surprised by Kazuya's woes. That is, after all, how martyrs roll.

And yet, it costs him nothing to help. Not to mention that he likes the kid. It is not every day that he has a chance to...not be cruel.]

Well sir, I have it on high authority that it is fine to be a mess now and then. Haven't you heard? Even angels cry. Those tear ducts were created for a purpose.

[He holds him closer. No judgment is coming from this angel, it seems.]

Huh. I didn't know angels could cry...

[Kaz wouldn't have expected it, what with their weirdly doll-like demeanour. Then again, Kevin wasn't like that - in fact, he seemed so incredibly human that if Kazuya hadn't seen his wing with his own eyes, he would've disregarded his claims of angelhood outright]

B-But... you're right. It's fine to... it's fine. [Kazuya took another deep breath, relaxing into Kevin's hold as he felt exhaustion begin to creep in. From the alcohol or the emotional rollarcoaster he got strapped on, or both, he didn't know] ...thanks, Kevvy. I feel... I dunno. I'd say "better" but, I still feel sad, but... not... not bad sad, if, if that even makes sense.

Well, to be fair, some of them are more likely to throw tantrums.

[Oh, Michael.

He can understand the idea behind not bad sad. That was part of how he felt when he found Solomon's soul after three thousand years. But only part.]

I did nothing. You, however, will regret your excesses tomorrow. Hangovers are one of God's fiercest punishments.

Edited 2015-11-29 01:34 (UTC)