Game 037 [Action]

[neverplaysfair]

[ Today you might stumble across Joshua as he's out and about. He's walking around with an alert look on his face, wandering all over the village. He doesn't seem to be searching quite so much as expecting. The particularly observant might notice the way that the light seems to fall strangely on him, as if there's another light source on him that's completely independent of the cloudy sky overhead. If you get close enough, or spend enough time near him, you may find yourself subject to a mysterious headache that will fade if you move away.

His vibe is up and he's trying to attract some sort of attention, but unless you're familiar with his world, it might be confusing as to just whose attention he's trying to grab.

After combing the village which results in a distinct lack of sudden assault by crazed mathematicians, particularly of the Taboo-infused variety, he'll head back to Kat's Kradle. ]

Comments

[action]

[soundfrequency]

[Well hello there Josh. Neku here runs into him sometime during his little... stalk around the village. Seriously, dude, you kind of remind Neku of a territorial cat or something right now.]

What's with you?

[action]

[neverplaysfair]

[ Meow~

Josh gives a grin in response, but it's clear that he's still very much alert. ]

Oh, just making sure an old friend isn't going to show up without warning.

[action]

[soundfrequency]

...Pi-face? I haven't seen him in a long time.

[Unless he's talking about someone else, but that's the first person that came to mind.]

[action]

[neverplaysfair]

[ Nope, that's right. ] Ah, but it's the New Feather cycle.

[action]

[soundfrequency]

[...huh. Head is starting to hurt a bit.]

Right. So, what, you do this every cycle?

[action]

[neverplaysfair]

Would you believe me if I said yes? [ He giggles. ] Maybe I felt like being cautious today.

[action]

[soundfrequency]

[Raises an eyebrow.]

I didn't think you'd be worried about him.

[action]

[neverplaysfair]

I'm not particularly.

[godbent]

[Because I know you wanted them to meet, I am tagging here. Haruhi, who is actually just... well, more killing time than anything after school. Happens to spot from a distance a... ball of light. No, that's just a person, and adult sort of thing. With rainbow wings. Somehow it really pisses her off, but she can't quite figure out why.

So she settles for glaring at it]

[neverplaysfair]

[ I WAS GOING TO TAG HARUHI'S POST but Josh falls asleep in the chronologically last thread on this post SO HE WOULDN'T SEE IT BAWW anyway

After a few moments he'll notice her, and... well, that's a familiar glare. How about having that adult strolling right up towards you, Haruhi? gdit I keep typoing that as Haruki ]

Hello there.

[action]

[soundfrequency]

Then what's the deal?

[godbent]

[Oh.

It came towards her.]

...Hi.

[action]

[neverplaysfair]

It can't hurt to be careful. [ Well, it can hurt all the people around him, but that's a much more temporary thing. ]

[neverplaysfair]

Should I be saying "It's been a while", or "A pleasure to meet you"?

[nattocat.livejournal.com]

[ Sanae can be found chilling downstairs when Josh returns, feet propped up on the table, a mug of coffee in one hand and his journal in the other. If Joshua is still tuned up when he comes in, he'll look up sharply, alarmed; if not, it'll just be a lazy wave of hello.

Cafe's closed for the night. It's just them. ]

[neverplaysfair]

[ Sharply and alarmed it is, then. When he sees the expression, Joshua's vibe drops, all the way back to nearly-RG levels. The light and pressure all completely vanish from him, leaving him almost normal as he looks levelly back at Sanae, waiting to see the others' reaction. ]

[nattocat.livejournal.com]

[ It earns a moment of steady silence, a raised eyebrow, and finally a book and coffee cup set down on the table. The wariness is all too clear in Sanae's face and voice. ]

What's up?

[neverplaysfair]

If you do anything other than what I ask, I'll never even so much as consider granting you forgiveness.

[ Because he knows that what he's about to do will make him more vulnerable to Sanae than he's ever, ever been before, and any physical threats aren't just worthless, but downright laughable. ]

[nattocat.livejournal.com]

[ Yeah, that wariness? It just doubled. Tripled, maybe. ]

... let's hear what it is, first.

[neverplaysfair]

I'm tired. [ He takes a few steps towards Sanae, no threat in his motions. ] It's not worth it to stay like this any more. I can't pass her along even if I wanted to. It's impossible.

[nattocat.livejournal.com]

[ That trips him up, brings in a new edge of surprise and relief. And confusion. ]

You want me to try fixing it, then? Altering you?

[neverplaysfair]

Make me a Composer again. [ It's a command. A command for his Producer, for the one he's trusted the whole time to do the things Joshua's needed done and couldn't do himself. ] Do anything more than what you have to do, and I'll never consider forgiving you.

[nattocat.livejournal.com]

Understood.

[ He doesn't bother arguing it, pointing out his lack of motive, just stands and eyes Joshua. Sizing him up, wondering what's in his head right now.

Relief is now the strongest emotion in how he speaks and holds himself. ]

I've never seen this attempted under circumstances like these -- there's a hell of a huge risk to it, you know that, don't you? That I'll need total cooperation?

[neverplaysfair]

I know.

[ He's trying to keep the genuine worry out of his tone, out of his body language. He knows that this can be fucked up all too easily, but if there's one thing he trusts, it's Sanae's skills. And really, this is something he probably should have done a long time ago, but broken trust is hard to rebuild. ]

That's why I'm warning you not to do anything funny.

[nattocat.livejournal.com]

[ He snorts at that, and it's brief and harsh with little humor to it. Sanae's still relieved, but a large part of him is very clearly anxious about this. He doubts it can be worse than manipulating his Music while bleeding heavily, but... ]

Why would I wanna make it that much trickier by trying something funny? It'll be enough of a pain to pull off right without complications.

You won't hafta worry about it.