(merged dream) won't explain or say i'm sorry (week 31, day 6)
Who: a sternitfortem and a red_handed_jay
Status: Closed
Style: Third-person, present
Where: dream: Dream Gotham City aww yee / real world: Mizusato (though they're in different locations)
When: Week 31, Day 6 (slightly forward-dated)
Rating: PG-13/R? depends on internal monologues probably lol
Warnings: Violence, swearing, horribleness
[ Shut your eyes. Now open them. Did the world disappear in the moment it left your sight?
Or did you? ]
The world rearranges itself between blinks.
Or perhaps Juudai has simply opened his eyes for the first time in a while, broken out of the over-ripe paradise that is Kannagara stamped on the backs of his eyelids. Kannagara, a world where dreams are more real than reality. There is no difference there between the symbol and the substance, between the thought and the action or the dreaming and the waking. (He remembers thrashing awake from fever-dreams, begging Shou over and over again, Don't let me fall asleep. Don't let me fall asleep. Don't...) It feels real here. Doesn't it?
He blinks. He's still here.
"Here" being a darkened city - like Domino only realer, somehow; grittier, more tangible. The real is shades of brown and black, with the dead-red sky of city light pollution illuminating the back alleys in grays. In the real world, everything is colored in grays and darker grays. There are no true thresholds. Juudai grips his shoulder for a second. He'd dislocated it jumping from one of the skyscrapers, as it exploded beneath his feet. (He remembers that vividly - except he can't quite remember what building it was or why he'd needed to jump.) Even now it sends white-hot spikes of pain shooting up his neck when he jars it. The pain reminds him what's at stake. What he's doing. It sharpens his thoughts.
(But he should be careful - because pain takes away as many things as it gives - takes away empathy and warmth, takes away the broader picture, takes away a world outside yourself. He remembers thrashing awake from fever-dreams, begging Shou over and over again, Don't let me wake up. Don't let me wake up. For God's sake, never let me wake up.)
[ Shut your eyes.
No.
He's still there.
You know this. ]
Juudai's Duel Disk is activated on his arm. His field is empty. He has two traps lying face down. No monsters in his hand. Three thousand life points. He bleeds from the attack he just took, from three gashes on his forehead that drip blood into his eyes.
"My turn," he says. His voice shakes. With what, he doesn't know. It could be fear. Could be anger. Could be exhaustion or pain. (It could be the rush.) His opponent's field is invisible. Juudai stands in an abandoned city street, all blues and grays and blacks, little lights in the high-rises standing in for the stars he can't see. Smog. Light pollution. So many reasons. The end of the street is bathed in black, in shadow that pools like water. Whomever Juudai is dueling cannot be seen.
He repeats again, more strongly: "My turn." His fingers rest on the top card of his deck; he wills his next draw to be a monster - or he's done. "Draw!" The card scythes out of the holder, slices the air. Please. He checks his card.
A tiny, tight smile.
"In attack mode, I summon - " He slaps the card down onto his Duel Disk. The hard light system gleams. " - Elemental Hero Jason Todd!"
Status: Closed
Style: Third-person, present
Where: dream: Dream Gotham City aww yee / real world: Mizusato (though they're in different locations)
When: Week 31, Day 6 (slightly forward-dated)
Rating: PG-13/R? depends on internal monologues probably lol
Warnings: Violence, swearing, horribleness
[ Shut your eyes. Now open them. Did the world disappear in the moment it left your sight?
Or did you? ]
The world rearranges itself between blinks.
Or perhaps Juudai has simply opened his eyes for the first time in a while, broken out of the over-ripe paradise that is Kannagara stamped on the backs of his eyelids. Kannagara, a world where dreams are more real than reality. There is no difference there between the symbol and the substance, between the thought and the action or the dreaming and the waking. (He remembers thrashing awake from fever-dreams, begging Shou over and over again, Don't let me fall asleep. Don't let me fall asleep. Don't...) It feels real here. Doesn't it?
He blinks. He's still here.
"Here" being a darkened city - like Domino only realer, somehow; grittier, more tangible. The real is shades of brown and black, with the dead-red sky of city light pollution illuminating the back alleys in grays. In the real world, everything is colored in grays and darker grays. There are no true thresholds. Juudai grips his shoulder for a second. He'd dislocated it jumping from one of the skyscrapers, as it exploded beneath his feet. (He remembers that vividly - except he can't quite remember what building it was or why he'd needed to jump.) Even now it sends white-hot spikes of pain shooting up his neck when he jars it. The pain reminds him what's at stake. What he's doing. It sharpens his thoughts.
(But he should be careful - because pain takes away as many things as it gives - takes away empathy and warmth, takes away the broader picture, takes away a world outside yourself. He remembers thrashing awake from fever-dreams, begging Shou over and over again, Don't let me wake up. Don't let me wake up. For God's sake, never let me wake up.)
[ Shut your eyes.
No.
He's still there.
You know this. ]
Juudai's Duel Disk is activated on his arm. His field is empty. He has two traps lying face down. No monsters in his hand. Three thousand life points. He bleeds from the attack he just took, from three gashes on his forehead that drip blood into his eyes.
"My turn," he says. His voice shakes. With what, he doesn't know. It could be fear. Could be anger. Could be exhaustion or pain. (It could be the rush.) His opponent's field is invisible. Juudai stands in an abandoned city street, all blues and grays and blacks, little lights in the high-rises standing in for the stars he can't see. Smog. Light pollution. So many reasons. The end of the street is bathed in black, in shadow that pools like water. Whomever Juudai is dueling cannot be seen.
He repeats again, more strongly: "My turn." His fingers rest on the top card of his deck; he wills his next draw to be a monster - or he's done. "Draw!" The card scythes out of the holder, slices the air. Please. He checks his card.
A tiny, tight smile.
"In attack mode, I summon - " He slaps the card down onto his Duel Disk. The hard light system gleams. " - Elemental Hero Jason Todd!"