002 | ❝Behind a darkened lens...❞

[pitiedthefool]

Characters: Yu Narukami(?) and Izanami...
Location: The Art Gallery (Floor 22)
Format: Action.
Summary: [backdated to mid-collar event] Yu loses control of his personae due to collar getting bumped down to orange and Izanagi emerges. Shenanigans occur.
Warnings: ...is Izanami's presence enough of a warning?


[An art gallery... the silence it provides after assisting in others' problems that the "emergency check ups" is greatly welcomed,especially after so many blackouts he isn't truly sure what even happened before he realized he was elsewhere like someone else had done the steering... What was going on, and why was it that the true moments of clarity only came when Izanagi was at the forefront of his mind-? This had never happened before.

Yet he feels the control slip away once again as he gazes at the artwork. Some styles were what he could call familiar, others not so. "Yu" remains standing there however, gazing with a transfixed look of restrained outrage at one in particular- a world eclipsed in thick, heavy fog. One that he recalls its creation, of watching over it and ensuring lives even after the curses that were beget during that fateful parting...

Once-cool grey eyes glance away from it soon enough as the red sets in. Playing with not just the human child's greatest fears, but his own as well? Perhaps for the time being, he could shield the one who sought truth from this pain. However, it wasn't just the artwork he might be protecting "himself" from...]

Comments

[thousandcurses]

He is quite likely surprised I'm even alive.

[There is a chuckle as she fondly recalls that battle. She had been disappointed at first with how she had been found, and even challenged. the latter especially, because if they did not heed her pleas, well... She would have had to drag them to Yomi. But things had turned out well, and she had been quite glad with the results--even if it meant having to, well, fake her own permanent death.]

Indeed. But perhaps it was because we, too, were more lonely than even we realized.

[pitiedthefool]

[He chuckles as well, recalling it as well from a view behind Yu, within his ego, and silently piecing together the strength to overcome the thousand curses. The human child may have been ignorant as to where he had tread with such confidence, yet he had a good head on his shoulders and remarkable friends that lent him the strength he had needed.

There was something illogical about killing a deity who had already passed away some time ago, after all. Yet the comment earns a shake of the head. He had known all too well, and with the ones she had picked...]

Thine choices in representatives the past several times made thy loneliness obvious.

[thousandcurses]

As have yours.

[She'll keep that smile, remaining calm and quiet, reserved. Desires... She had once tried to gauge humanity's desires, and ironically hadn't been able to understand their contradictory wants. But now, she thinks, she may be understanding because of her own. She desires to reach out to him and touch him, but at the same time, there are things that need to be said first.]

...You left me.

[kotodo]

[He knew that struggle far too well, having struggled with his own for far too long. Seen and experienced so many humans' desires during the course of his choosing to lend power to those she'd selected. So many rejecting his aide entirely, others corrupting it... Yet remarkably, it was a child who understood pain and carried many others struggles that had unlocked the full potential of humanity as a whole.

Humanity's desire to choose - whether it was to live in denial, to face the truth, or even indecision... He knew it well, even so soon as sealing the Yomotsu Hirasaka.

There is an ache behind his neutral expression, a deep regret and sense of remorse. Seeing how he had let fear control his actions, when a mere human child had faced the one he loved so...]

...I know.

[thousandcurses]

[Perhaps she is shaking, she can't be sure. She is, however, clenching a fist because there are many, many emotions she is currently feeling.]

I waited.

[kotodo]

[He can see her trembling, the many emotions in her eyes. He had let her down, both back then and as he he stands there, wracked by the same emotions he had millenia ago.]

I know. [-was all he could say, words he wished to say unable to leave him.]

[thousandcurses]

[Is that all he can say? She feels frustrated. She isn't sure what to say anymore. Finally, her shoulders just drop, and the sadness becomes apparent. She shouldn't hide her emotions from him.]

...Why?

[kotodo]

[He's silent for a brief moment, gaze falling before he gently places a finger against the frame of the picture before them. Of curses and farewells, fear and broken promises. All he's ever done since the moment of her death was mourn, try to guide humanity from making the same mistakes...]

Because I could not face the truth. [-he admits quietly, sunken eyes falling as he pulls his hand away from the depiction of their last true meeting. Izanagi hesitates, taking a few steps closer. But then, did he truly have the right to after what he did?

One thing was certain, however- he was not about to run in fear again. He'd decided that when he witnessed the child- Yu's resolve firsthand.]

[thousandcurses]

Face the truth?

[In that moment, she ceases to look as she had before her death. The rot and decay that had overtaken most of her body, that she had hidden with her own fluid forms, becomes quite visible, her skin becoming taught and wrinkled, completely melting away in some places, though the worst is unseen and hidden by her robes.

Izanami is angry and hurt all over again.]

Could you not face that I was no longer the beautiful woman I once was!?

[kotodo]

[He visibly stiffens as the illusion of her former form vanishes, returning to her true appearance. He was trembling, yes, but not just in fear- but frustration and anger aimed only at himself.l He deserved it, "had it coming" as the children of man would say, but no amount of mental preparation would truly prepare any being, deity or non, for seeing a loved one in such a state.]

No. [He stops in his tracks, gaze not leaving hers. It hurts to admit truth,yet he had opened his eyes at last. ]

I could not face that I hath failed thou! [With that outburst, that admittance, he had to glance away. Izanagi knew the child felt the same for another, it was a matter close to them. Perhaps that is why the child was the only one who had been able to tap into his true power, but as of now that was of little importance. His beloved was before him, just as she had been in Yomi...]

[thousandcurses]

[The outburst is surprising on its own. Izanagi had never been one to let his emotions rule him save for very few incidents. But what he says is something else. Immediately, the illusion resumes. Her shock is written all over her face. She had taken his reaction to her to be one of rejection, of despising her physical state. Not of feelings of failure.

Quietly, she moves closer and reaches out, cupping his cheek and turning him to face her.]

...So long as you still love me despite the decay my body has gone through, then you have not failed me at all.

[kotodo]

[This just happened to be one of those incidences. Izanagi has been waiting for the moment of their meeting for many centuries, building the courage to face her once more after what he had done. He hadn't rejected her, but was horrified and later repulsed by his own cowardice. But not anymore; he had matured even more since then - birthing Susano-o perhaps assisted with that.

Then he feels her hand against his-their-his cheek - cool as the corpse she now is, but loving as it had always been. A hand finds itself resting over hers, a pained smile playing at the corners of his lips as he let the silence stretch for that brief moment...]

[kotodo]

[-before embracing her, much like he had all that time ago, and briefly dropping the formal speech.]

I have never ceased in loving you. [He won't lie and say that it felt like he had failed her when he sealed the entrance to the Yomotsu Hirasaka, when they parted ways. Yet there was a layer in which he could not forgive- how ready she had been to return everything to the void they'd given life to their world from all due to one representative's flawed logic. He understood the reasoning, but it felt like the very same boulder that had separated them.

Yet he still loved her...]

[thousandcurses]

[Years of pain and anger and resentment and confusion all melt away in a moment, releasing in the form of tears as she returns that embrace. But they're good, healing, happy as they carry away all of that. Perhaps now, she can admit that her demands that he return or she would kill one thousand people a day was her own fear of being left alone forever. Perhaps that is why she had decided to do what she could to help humanity, even if she didn't understand their true desires.

But none of that matters at the moment. Here they are, together, and the truth is now plain to see. It is... Relaxing. Izanami can rest well, now. The years until she can finally be reunited with him will be easy to bear.]

[kotodo]

[He only continues to hold her tight, not letting go for the world even though he felt his-their-his shoulder being soaked by her tears. It was alright, for he has shed a few himself. Whether she admitted them or not, they would carry their shared burden together. Thousands of lives, tens of thousands more, indeed... though maybe now all it would take was one more lifetime. He wouldn't need to lend another his power now that the cycle of deceit and pain has come to an end.

Just... one more lifetime. Who would have thought it would all be possible due to another meddling with their souls for him to be able to say the truths he'd kept hidden for so long?

It would be nothing compared to how long they'd lied to each other.]

[thousandcurses]

[She does not let go, either. Not when it's been millenia since she held him last. She was alive, then, and not a walking, animated corpse. But it's strange how little has actually changed between them, but perhaps that is good.]

...I will wait. One more lifetime isn't too long for a goddess who has lived forever.

[kotodo]

It is not. [He smiles faintly, sparing a nod before pulling away only slightly to cup her cheek in his hand. When Yu regains himself once this is over, it will be yet another parting for them... yet he minds not. At least this time, it shall be on good terms.]

Though with the nature of this tower, it may not be long before our next meeting.