[OPEN] I Still Haven't Lost My Fight That Haunts Me In My Sleep.

[bitemefightme]

WHO: Orion and OTA
WHERE: A Sweet Bonjour; Mobile; Park
WHEN: All throughout November
WHAT: Someone got a very rude gift from Retrospec. Also, cute things.
WARNINGS: TBA.


[ A Sweet Bonjour ]

Nice thing about November - it's cold enough to get away with a scarf around your neck. Not so nice thing about November - indoor places are heated. Even with his jacket off, Orion feels uncomfortably warm. But he's adamant about not removing his scarf. What's he going to do when summer comes? Geez...

Look, Orion's totally not stalking Biffy. But that's sure not going to stop him from buying things at this little bakery once in a while just to have an excuse to see him.

Still, he's reclining in his seat, with a barely-touched slice of cake in front of him and a half-drinken cup of coffee beside it. He's not huge on sweets, forgive him. He probably should have bought a more savoury bread. But where does his brain go when he talks to Biffy? He has no clue.

He can be seen constantly rubbing his neck, readjusting his scarf, and prodding his fingers underneath it to feel at the new collar he's hiding, looking like he's trying to understand something he's just falling short on, his lips tucked in a frown. And he'll give the occassional wince from the light throb that reminds him that this is an implant in his neck.

Feel free to break him out of his reverie and sit acrost from him, or strike up any form of conversation. He could really use the distraction.


[ Call Me Maybe (choose your prompt) ]

The spotty reception doesn't stop Orion from trying to contact a few people anyway. In fact, he doesn't like this spotty reception. It gives him the illusion of being ignored and might make him a little more paranoid than usual.

Voice/Text Prompt options:

[DATE] - This one is supposed to go to Biffy. He's tense, like he's been working up the courage to say this all week. So when you pick up, he doesn't even wait for your voice before blurting out, "Do you want to go on another date with me?"

Help him. He's trying so hard.

[COLLAR] - Initially intended for Iwai, but you might instead receive the message that says:

I need to talk. Now. I got some insane implant and I don't know what to do anymore!

Go easy on him or don't, he doesn't usually recognise when he's talking to the wrong person via text.

[MEDS] - This one is for Fai and/or Baren, since they have keys to his apartment. (Not that Baren ever uses the keys. Nerd.) The first thing you might notice about the message is that it's titled, URGENT!, then the contents are as follows"

I forgot to take my meds this morning. Can you grab them off my bathroom sink and bring them to me asap? I'm at work.

He's trying hard to be better, he promises.

[WILDCARD] - End up texting/calling him instead. I'm available at Tseil if you want to plot anything specific.


[ The Park ]

"SHIT!"

Well, this is a fine situation he's gotten into. He'd only rubbed his neck under the cloth for a second (okay, maybe a minute) before the wind caught his cover. Orion's hand flies up to the back of his neck to cover the collar as he tries to recapture the runaway scarf. Where that gust of wind came from, he doesn't know, but it's blown the scarf into a tree branch and....

"Great... Just great..." He huffs a sigh, glaring up at the branches containing the scarf. And it looks like he'll have to climb the tree if he wants it back. But he's clearly hesitant to let go of the back of his neck, even if parts of the collar are visible through his fingers because he can't possibly cover it all.

The implant, for those able to get a closer look, appears to be particularly painful with the way it's literally lodged into his skin, and appears to be fastened there.

Since he doesn't want to climb the tree, what does he do instead? He's trying to jump and grasp it with his free hand.

And totally failing miserably. Assistance please?

Comments

Park

[strawberrypunch]

He'd really just intended to visit the park on a walk, but...

Well, it's easy enough to figure out the story of what happened here. He walks up to Orion, eyes on the scarf currently dangling from the tree, an idea popping into his head immediately.

"Is that yours?" He points at it helpfully, just to be sure. You know, because you'd totally find someone alone trying desperately to retrieve a scarf that isn't theirs.

[bitemefightme]

Orion instantly stops jumping and his other hand goes to cover the back of his neck, too. He totally wasn't expecting someone to be here (Orion, why wouldn't you?). His eyes are wide and he looks every bit like he wants to hide right now. This stupid collar is such an inconvenience.

"Yea," he utters as he looks back up at the tree, and his expression changing to something clearly not impressed. Is his life just meant to be this cursed. It wouldn't surprise him if Retrospec were somehow in on that gust of wind trick. This company just lives to piss him off.

"This just isn't my lucky day." Or week, or month, or ever since Retrospec got on his case. He hates this. Can you tell he hates this?

[strawberrypunch]

...Interesting reaction. He takes note of it, even if he doesn't visibly react to the sight.

He nods at Orion's explanation, expression more or less the same - mild. But he understands; Retrospec is A Lot for people to deal with, and his own nature of rolling with every single punch sent his way, no matter how painful, isn't exactly the norm. So at the very least...

Maybe he can help this guy and give him a little reprieve?

"I'll get it for you." His expression softens to a smile as he says as much, and he positions himself under the tree, eyeing the scarf. He's still not great at judging distances, but...

Well, what better time to practice? After a short moment of consideration, he springs into the air - far, far higher than any ordinary human should be able to achieve. It gives him plenty enough height to snatch the scarf...

...Except he actually overshoots it, and you can tell by the look of mild alarm as he continues to rise a bit before he drops. When he lands, it's with a stumble, but the scarf is firmly clenched in hand.

S...uccess??

[bitemefightme]

Holy shit! Of all the things he expected, this was not it. And with the look of alarm on Tatsuma's face, Orion figures he's going to have to catch him. But when Tatsuma lands with only a stumble, some of that tension eases off. But, at this point, Orion's almost totally forgotten about the scarf. That was one Hell of a party trick.

"Are you out of your damn mind? What if you got hurt pulling that stunt?" His voice is tense, but not shouting. Seriously, if some... kid? got hurt for him over a stupid scarf, he'd have to relive Guilt-R-Us all over again. Let's not give him a repeat of that.

He sighs and runs a hand through his hair, keeping his other hand firmly over his collar.

"Seriously, you need to be more careful."

[strawberrypunch]

There's a slight wince as he stands up again, scarf crushed between his fingers, but it's mainly from the jolt of the landing. When he looks up at Orion, it's with a faint smile.

"Sorry... I'm not used to it yet." It's one thing to use it in a fight, but he's been having a hell of a time adjusting otherwise.

[bitemefightme]

For a moment Orion just stares at Tatsuma. He's not used to it. This kid either has really good luck or is an accident waiting to happen.

"Are you hurt?"

The least he can do, if you're going to go jumping crazy for him, is make sure you're okay.

[strawberrypunch]

If it's any consolation, he doesn't seem to be at all concerned about the fact that he just jumped inhumanly high into the air and could have, you know, broken his neck or whatever.

"Nope. I messed up the landing, but it doesn't hurt."

...And then remembering why he did that in the first place, he somewhat awkwardly holds out the now-rumpled scarf. Don't worry about it Orion, everything's fine.

A Sweet Bonjour

[dandyofawolf]

It had actually been super cute to find out that Orion stopped by the shop now. Sure Biffy couldn't be in all the time because of classes but it was still really cute because he knew why Orion was there. So of course he smiled at the guy when he saw him come in again, waving goodbye to his customer before turning his attention to him with one of his winning smiles.

"So what'll it be today, handsome?"

He even gave him a playful wink. It had been awhile since he'd looked at someone closer to his age but damn if he didn't like Orion and find him fun.

[bitemefightme]

Of course, Orion's cheeks flush a bit with the compliment and the wink. He glances at the pastries available, but he doesn't really see them. Honestly, he'd rather look at Biffy.

Still he points at the first one he sees - some blueberry type of cake.

"I guess that one." Erm... "Has it been busy today?"

[dandyofawolf]

"It has. But that's good for us so I can't complain."

Packaging the cake up, he leaned back to get a better view of the clock. Was that the time? Well then...

"I am on my break now. Want to eat this together?" He winked at him again and then actually didn't charge him. This one was on him. Biffy even went to go get them some drinks to go with it as well as a couple of forks.

Mainly because he was already sure Orion was going to say yes.

[bitemefightme]

Did he just...???

"I uhm... erm... Yes. I mean, okay? If it's okay. I'm okay with it." Of course it's okay. Biffy's the one who offered. He's just going to go red in the face for a moment and rub his face in his hand. He can tell he's definitely not smooth at this. Much less on Biffy's level of smooth.

When they go to the table, Orion pulls out the chair for Biffy and waits for him to sit before taking his own seat. How lucky was it that he would get Biffy on his break today?

First things first, though.

"Thank you..." For buying the cake. "You didn't have to. I wouldn't have minded paying for it."

[dandyofawolf]

What a gentleman. Biffy let himself be spoiled and opened the box up to make it easier for them both to get to. "And miss out on treating a cute boy to a cake? No, I think I had this one under control."

He laughed and took a bite of the cake. Of course it was good. His boss was really good at things like this.

"Plus you're really cute when you blush. I couldn't miss out on the chance to see it again."

[bitemefightme]

"I do not blush." It's not adamant, just plain and simple denial. He doesn't think he's cute either, but trying to deny that last time didn't work out so well. Biffy's got a silver tongue.

Orion tentatively takes a bite of the cake which... yea, is definitely sweet. But the blueberries make it kind of worth it. And, well, sharing it with Biffy totally makes it worth it. So he'll eat without complaint or face-making.

"So... when will you graduate your classes?" Are music classes easy?

Collar

[geckoman]

Iwai was in the middle of modding a gun when he heard the phone notification. Looking up, he grabbed it carefully since his hands were dirty and saw it was a message from Orion. Using some careful maneuvering he managed to call the kid and get the phone to his ear.

"Yeah, kid? I'm at my place. You need to come over?"

Because this sounded serious.

[bitemefightme]

"I'll be right there in a moment."

And the call disconnects right after. The invitation was all he needed. He knocks on Iwai's door a handful of minutes later. Then he doubles over to catch his breath. He clearly ran here.

Yup, this is definitely serious.

[geckoman]

Iwai had enough time to get his hands cleaned up before Orion came over. His sleeves were still rolled up to show the fresh tattoo on his arm. He waved the kid in then closed and locked the door.

"What happened? What's this implant?"

[bitemefightme]

Well, the tattoo is... a surprise. Orion can't help but stare for a moment as he enters the home. And the question jars him back to why he came in the first place.

Right. Fuck.

"Retrospec sent me some weird ticket with a number on it. It said, something to give you a backbone. I got the box from some new mailing system they installed. And when I opened it, it was..."

Terrifying is the first word that comes to mind. It was what made him touch it in the first place.

"It looked like a spine attached to this thick, metal band. And when I touched it... Next thing I knew, I was in pain. ...Fai tried to get it back off. But."

Well... Orion takes off his scarf, revealing the embedded metal collar in his neck.

"It hurts alot of the time. Aches. It hasn't caused any damage other than this and some blood but..."

His head lowers a bit, and the fear he felt the first night he had it sinks back in. It's going to hurt forever, isn't it? And there's nothing he can do to make it go away.

[geckoman]

"Sit. Lemme look."

He wasn't going to try to get it off since that would be stupid but he could at least take a closer look at it. See what was going on. He was no techno mind but at least he could maybe figure out something by looking at the injury. Or at least maybe get a better idea of what new horror was going on here.

"I won't try to get it off because I'm not good for that."

Sometimes it just helped to better see what was going on. That was all.

[bitemefightme]

Orion does as he's told and plops into the nearest seat, leaning forward and dropping his head. He gives a frustrated huff.

"For a second, I thought the spine might have been Lilly's. That this was some sick, disgusting joke from Retrospec. I mean... I guess it's still a sick joke, but at least it wasn't... that."

A more pained sigh.

"There's no denying it's real, either. Fai could see it, you can see it. And my hallucinations don't involve physical pain. I don't know what to do. How's it gonna make me look at work? What will I do when it starts getting warm? I can't hide behind a scarf forever."

Park

[wordcarvings]

Koutarou was focused on a sketch, but he looks up once he notices a whole lot of movement at the corner of his eyes, and he looks over to see Orion trying to reach the scarf in the tree. ...Why won't he simply climb it to reach it..? And why is he holding his neck like that?

"Do you need any help with that?"

[bitemefightme]

Orion gives a glance to Koutarou, his hand gripping a little tighter to the back of his neck. Then he huffs a sigh as he throws a glare back up at the scarf. This is so frustratingly stupid, and he knows he probably looks ridiculous.

"Probably. You any good at climbing?"

He's not so proud that he wouldn't ask for help when offered. Especially when he's not so inclined to do the climbing himself right now.

[wordcarvings]

For a few moments, Koutarou peers up at the scarf. Then he looks back at Orion and smiles at him.

“I have some experience, at least.” Which is an understatement. He easily slips up into the tree and drops back down to the ground with the scarf in hand.

[bitemefightme]

Orion just observes Koutarou while he climbs, waiting as patiently as he's able.

When Koutarou returns, he holds out his free hand for the scarf, trying his best to keep the collar on the back of his neck covered with his other hand, though it might be a slightly vain effort. Some silver pieces of the collar inevitably peek through his fingers.

"Thanks. I appreciate it."

[wordcarvings]

At least it doesn't take long for him to land back on the ground.

He returns the scarf to him, as he peers at him in slight confusion.

"No problem.. Did you get an..inconvenient...something from retrospec...

[ Just going out on a limb here.. ]

Haa, limb.

[bitemefightme]

[Orion blanches a bit at the question.

He's been found out.

.....Great......]

Yea.... Something stupid in the mail. It attached and won't let go.

[His hand doesn't drop from the back of his neck, but it loosens a little, probably making the bolted parts of the collar to the sides of his neck.]