estoria | Just a memory, memory now [OPEN]

Entry tags:

eiji hino

Just a memory, memory now [OPEN]

Who: Eiji (

notsogreeedy) & you
When: IC 7/19 - 7/23
Where: Their apartment, cafe in shopping district, gardens
What: Dealing with memories, whether you want to or not.
Rating/Warning: Some nasty memories about medical experimentation, likely ones involving death and war too. Please see permissions post.

[It starts with dinner.

Eiji's cooking something that is most definitely not poultry of any kind, Ankh, when he realizes that a pot is starting to boil over on the stove. He's quick to pick it up and move it, but it does splash and make a mess.]

Too late...

[So you do what any normal person would do, right? Turn down the heat and try to wipe up the mess with a sponge.

And that's when it happens.

He's careful not to touch the burner directly, but that sponge is warming up fast as he tries to wipe it up.

That's all it takes, and suddenly...]

[And he's strapped to a bed in the nurse's office, fighting all he can to break free, but a needle jabs into his neck, and he starts to lose his mind. His skin is burning, painful blisters breaking out, and he looks over to see his arm opened up and prodded.]

What are you...stop...

[And then a glint of silver, and he sees a scalpel in front of his face. A gloved hand turns his face so he's facing straight up, into the nurse's face, and he realizes exactly what's going to happen. His heart is pounding faster and faster, and he can hear machines beeping wildly, but the knife comes closer.]

No. Please. Stop, just stop!

[And suddenly he's frozen, breathing heavily, completely unaware that his hand is way too close to the burner for comfort and that sponge is most definitely starting to burn.]

[During break time, Eiji can usually be found at a small cafe not too far from the department store. Aside from a couple of bandaids on his fingers, he's doing okay...at least until his hand strays away from the protective sleeve around his cup and he touches the warm paper.

Whatever it is he sees, it takes a couple of minutes for him to snap out of it, and he quickly moves his hand down away from his drink. Of course, that's when he sees the warning on the sleeve.]

"Contents may be hot"? That's not funny.

[There is a little fox following Eiji.

It's funny, since his candroids haven't noticed it, nobody around him has ever brought it up, Ankh certainly hasn't said anything, but it's there. Looks kind of like white smoke, and definitely hurt.

Eiji's tried to get it to come closer to him, but it keeps backing away whenever he looks at it. And that makes sense, if it's some kind of wild animal. But it's hurt, and he can't quite leave it alone.

So he brought a bento box with him to the garden--because if there's one thing that he knows about skittish animals, it's that they respond to food. Not that he exactly knows what foxes eat, but if it wants to share his lunch, then fine. He'll just sit here and work on sewing together some fabric. Totally not paying attention to the little fox as it starts to come a little closer. Absolutely not paying attention.

Okay, so the thing he's not paying all that much attention to is his lunch, so if you want to help yourself to some of it, don't let this guy stop you.]

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[Ankh is aware when Eiji goes to deal with the mess on the stove, but he isn't paying terribly much attention at first. It's the smell of something burning that makes him look over to find Eiji standing perfectly still while the bottom edge of the sponge he's holding catches fire.]

Oi!

[Well, Ankh is paying attention now. Eiji definitely isn't since he doesn't react at all, even when Ankh closes the distance between them and has to physically pull his hand away from the stove.]

What are you-

[He doesn't get farther than that before he's also affected.

And Ankh, too, is in a moment close to death, but his is less traumatising. Fighting alongside Eiji, knowing that medal is going to break, probably any second - but he'll make the most of the time he has left. Make it enough, because it has to be.

And whenever Eiji wakes up, he'll find Ankh a lot closer than he was a moment ago, and holding onto his hand. He's completely oblivious to everything, and the look on his face is... complex, but not displeased. The sponge has fallen away, thankfully landing in such a way that it's not likely to catch anything else on fire, but it's probably leaving a nice little scorch mark on their kitchen floor.]

[The memory finally stops, if only because that's where Eiji passed out, so there's nothing else for him to remember.

Everything comes back in a very confusing burst--first pain from heat against his fingers and he knows something is wrong, but he's shaking all of a sudden.

Then he realizes Ankh is right there, holding his hand, and looking at him like...well, he's not sure, honestly, but he's not mad at least.

Just give him a second before he's ready to talk.]

[For Ankh, the memory ends as the medal breaks. And from there, nothing makes sense, because he's still halfway caught up in it, ready to go say some last things to Eiji before he completely fades away except... he's solid. He's in the kitchen, and he has Eiji's hand in his, and Eiji's hand is shaking, and it's not until he sees the charred sponge on the floor that he even starts to remember what just happened.

It takes him a moment to let go.

Once he does, he takes a small step back, and he would ask Eiji what the hell he was doing standing there with his hand in a fire, except after what just happened to him, he's pretty sure he already has the answer to that. So maybe the better question is the one about why Eiji was shaking when he came out of it.

In the end, he just looks at Eiji, his expression a little guarded now.]

Memories?

[Simple confirmation that it's the same kind of thing that just happened to him. That's easy enough.]

[Eiji nods and starts running his fingers under cold water. It hurts, but it gives him something else to think about for a moment, enough to try talking.]

I don't know why it happened all of a sudden.

[Ankh glances to Eiji's hand as he goes to put it under the water. The burns aren't too bad, at least. Could have been a lot worse, considering. It's more coincidence than anything else that leads his gaze up that arm to where stitches are still trying to heal-]

You lost the bet.

[A casual observation, and then he moves on to Eiji's face. Maybe someone else wouldn't be able to tell just how haunted he is by whatever memory just chose to find him, but Ankh knows him. And he's going to regret this, but he asks anyway-]

What was it?

[He scowls very slightly. Yes, because that's so important and...okay, really, he just didn't want to lose.]

Yeah, guess so.

[He shrugs and gestures at the scar on his arm.]

This. And what I remembered about my eyes.

[Pretty good reasons not to want to talk about it.]

Mm. [is about all he can come up with to say to that. He already knows what happened, more or less. Eiji implied enough back when he was in the forest sounding crazy.

He finds a spot on the counter to lean against, idly kicking what's left of the sponge with his toe. It's burnt itself out, but there sure is a noticeable scorch mark on the floor. Lovely. What is it with them and fire?]

It's too bad I never got to go kill whoever was behind that.

[Yeah, Eiji's going to clean that mess up, at least after he gets a couple bandaids on his fingers.]

I know, I know. I'm just glad we got out of there.

[He appreciates the sentiment, but retributional homicide is never going to sit well with him.]

Still, it's weird that happened. You didn't see anything, did you?

[He will resist any temptation to point out that Eiji had been talking the same way at the time. Mostly because Eiji talking that way in the first place was kind of creepy. As for the other question-]

You didn't notice?

[Ankh is pretty sure he spent a minute there completely zoning out like Eiji had been.]

I kinda wasn't paying attention.

[Unlike how right this second, he's paying a lot of attention to those bandaids.]

You didn't see what I saw, though. So was it something you remembered?

Yeah.

[He's not going to volunteer exactly what, though.]

[Eiji stops to think for a minute, glancing at the burner. Still probably hot--too hot--and he doesn't want to risk hurting himself again.]

Can I see one of your feathers?

[That is... not a question he was in any way expecting.]

Huh?

Your feathers--your impostor could take on TaJaDor's flames easily. So your feathers have to take on a lot of heat. I want to see how well it'll work against the burner, without burning myself this time.

[Oh, come on. All this time, and you don't understand Eiji logic?]

[Considering Eiji logic is sometimes not logical at all? No, not really. And he will admit there was some logic in that but excuse him if he was not expecting you to try to use his feathers to clean up a mess. Something he is going to give you a bit of a look for, by the way.]

...tch. Fine.

[But okay, here, have a feather.]

[And Eiji waits until he has it in his hand and away from Ankh's before he admits the part Ankh's going to regret giving it to him for.]

I'm going to try it again. Both of us saw something when we touched something hot. If it's something like that, we can avoid it. But if not...

Eiji...

[Not pleased. Not pleased at all. But he can't argue with the reasoning, so he's not going to stop him, either.]

It's either that, or it's us.

And I really don't want to be losing my mind right now.

[He holds the feather over the burner, warming it up.]

Just...move me, if it looks like I'm going to get hurt again.

Tch.

[As if he wasn't planning on doing that, anyway. At least the feather really doesn't seem as inclined to catch on fire as the sponge.]

[Once he sure it isn't going to burn him, Eiji places his hand on the feather and he...

And he places a party hat on Ankh's head, even though he knows Ankh wants nothing to do with this birthday. Chiyoko plays the guitar, and he joins Hina in dancing around like a fool.

But after all is said and done, Ankh picks up the hat and puts it back on, so maybe the party wasn't a total loss after all.]

[It takes a minute to snap out of it, but this time, it's like waking up from a good dream.]

That's right. We missed your birthday.

[When he's a little less out of it, he sets the feather down and nods.]

It's the heat, definitely. Looks like any kind of memory can come back too.

[He watches, not sure what to expect when Eiji touches the feather. Sure enough, he goes completely still and oblivious again - Ankh even waves a hand in front of his face to make sure. He doesn't seem as distressed this time, and Ankh is noticeably relieved when he smiles.

Which is quickly replaced by a raised eyebrow at the comment that follows. He can guess the memory from that, but what does he mean about missing it?]

That was the detective's birthday, you know.

[He only got stuck with it because they needed an excuse for Hina being sentimental. He just gives a vague nod to the further comment. Anything warm enough having that effect seems like a pain, but at least it should be mostly avoidable.]

Oh, good point. I guess I should have asked you first...

[Oh great, look what you did, Ankh.]

Well, what about the day you appeared in Inugami? I mean, it already passed, but still...

[Do you see him rolling his eyes, Eiji? He is very clearly rolling his eyes.]

Why do I need one at all?

Because I'm glad you were born.

[It's the simplest and most honest way he can put it--with everything he went through to bring him back, he can't say anything else.]

[Well, that answer throws him a bit. Eiji, how do you just... say things like that. He crosses his arms and glances off to the side.]

Do what you want, then.

[Because Eiji is an unrepentant sap, of course.]

Fine. I'll have to figure out a present for you too.

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Just a memory, memory now [OPEN]

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