Collapsing [Taiki, Eridan and open]

[isnotagiraffe.livejournal.com]

Characters: Taiki, Eridan anyone who wants to come visit Eridan or sick Taiki. (Willow, Sollux, Dualscars since you all said you wanted to meet the two of them together!)
Setting: Room 2-18, after Eridan is released from the infirmary
Format: You pick!
Summary: All this blood finally gets to Taiki, he gets sick.
Warnings: mentions of blood

Taiki was relieved when Eridan could leave the infirmary, the place smelt of blood and pain even worse than the rest of the tower. They went down to get the lift up to the dormitory floors, Taiki managed to last long enough to arrive in the coridoor before he collapsed.

It was all too much, all the blood, he had gotten blood on him, blood had been all around them. He had continued going because he had to save Eridan, because he didn't want to leave Eridan but his body couldn't cope any longer and he fell to the ground trembling, his eyes rolling back as he lost conciousness.

If Eridan touched him up he would be burning to the touch.

[A day or two later] Taiki finally started to recover, though he had no strength at all he was able to stay awake for a few hours at a time, and was well enough to recieve visitors, if anyone cared to come and see him.

Comments

[guiltapalooza]

[O-Oh he's so affectionate, which really presses all of her buttons. Willow loses her self-consciousness and her expression blooms into a wide smile at the gesture.] Just because you haven't seen it yet doesn't mean it doesn't happen, [she says teasingly.] Just wait, my next one will be a doozy after all this built up karma. [It's so much easier not to take this too seriously, and get overwhelmed with self-doubt, when she has someone right there with her.]

--Oh, yeah, all of the gods do have names. There might be a couple exceptions somewhere, but none exactly spring to mind. Are yours all nameless entities?

[notagiraffe]

[Taiki sympathised with the messing up thing, he did it a lot and he smiled at her again before nodding.]

Tentei has a name.... but I am not sure about the others... [They might do, Taiki didn't know that much]

I was still learning...

[wwaterboy]

[Eridan's not really interested in gods, and he returns to his seat on his sleeping rectangle, listening quietly while fiddling with his ring. It doesn't feel any different on his finger, which is almost disappointing, but he hopes it'll work when push comes to shove]

[guiltapalooza]

How come you were learning about them? [she asks curiously, getting herself up off the floor and joining Eridan on the edge of the bed without asking.

She doesn't want him to feel left out despite the turn of the conversation. She subtly scoots closer to him until the line of their bodies are touching, as if there wasn't plenty of space to sit on either side of them.

[notagiraffe]

[As Willow goes to sit with Eridan Taiki slips onto the floor, taking the blankets with him and wraps his arms round Gohran who changes forms, becoming a small puppy and sitting on Taiki's lap.]

I'm a Kirin so I should know all those things already, but I was lost for a long time, so now I need to learn them so I can serve my king properly... [He looks sad, because Gyousou was dead and Taiki had failed and he had no idea how he was supposed to find the next king whilst being stuck here.]

[wwaterboy]

[Oh, she's up against him a little. He blinks at her, then smiles and leans a bit, quietly slipping his arm around her, and tries to focus on Taiki rather than the girl next to him.]

Wwhy wwere you lost?

[guiltapalooza]

[...What an adorable little puppy. No, there was a topic here, Willow.

She hesitates for a moment, but decides what the heck and leans into Eridan a little. Unlike him, she's more than used to carrying on conversations with other people while doing the subtle flirting thing.] Yeah, I've never heard of a Kirin before, so I don't think I'm really following.

[notagiraffe]

Oh [Taiki looks down, feeling bad that he had confused them, he is still totally oblivious to the two of them flirting] Sorry... I was lost because my Ranka... that is uh... the fruit that people from the Twelve Kingdoms are born from... got blown to earth so I ended up being born there...

and uh... a Kirin is... a creature of the gods... there's one of us for every kingdom and we have to find our King, or Queen... and then serve them... and uh I'm a Kirin... so that's why I'm ill...

[wwaterboy]

You're so wweird. [Eridan is continually amazed by Taiki, seriously.] You're born from a fruit? You mean an egg, don't you?

[guiltapalooza]

Sounds like a creation story. [Willow just takes in this information sanguinely, and okay, it's maybe a little strange but it's not the strangest she's ever heard. If she can accept the sea-dwelling alien insect next to her, this is cake.]

And also like you're probably pretty important, aren't you?

[notagiraffe]

Sorry... [Taiki studied the floor] It is an egg... and also a fruit... it grows on a tree... I guess I am a bit weird...

[He looked at Willow a bit confused, he had never thought of himself as important as well] I guess... Kirin are important... for the world... and to keep their kings kind...

[wwaterboy]

[Taiki, why are you so cute? Now Eridan feels a little bad for mocking your weird egg fruit thing.]

Wwish wwe had things like you on Alternia, evven if you'd all probably get culled for bein' so wweak. If it actually wworked, I mean, to keep leaders kind.

[guiltapalooza]

That does seem like a good idea, [she agrees.] Even if you've had some problems with it, you're fulfilling an important function. It's not really that weird; I've heard of spirits doing similar things before.

[notagiraffe]

If... if they didn't cull us we... we would all die of Shitsedou... I don't think your leaders would care enough... for us to be useful...

[He looks up at Willow's words] Really? There are other creatures like Kirin?

[wwaterboy]

Oh, you mean they havve to cooperate? Wwell, yeah, that wwouldn't go so wwell, probably.

[guiltapalooza]

I don't know if they're exactly like Kirin, but I've heard about all sorts of things. I used to-- I mean, back home, I'm big into the supernatural research. We had a different thing attacking us every week and we needed to stay on top of it.

So at least the Earth I'm from, yeah, we do get spirits hanging around helping kings and queens sometimes.

[notagiraffe]

[Taiki nodded] When our kings our cruel or unjust the Kirin gets sick, it's meant to be a warning but if they continue being unjust then the Kirin dies, the king dies sometime after so... er... it would mean they would have to care... er... about a kirin dying... for it to work...

[He looks to Willow interested] I erm... sorry I think you must be from a different earth than the one I know but that sounds similar to kirin erm... [He realised how much he was talking and fell silent with a blush] Sorry...

[wwaterboy]

[Eridan is just listening now. He doesn't know much about kings and queens, and he feels like he's already contributed what he can to this conversation, at least so far.]

[guiltapalooza]

Oh, yeah, we probably are from different Earths, [she says agreeably, trying to reassure him with a smile.] I haven't met anyone from mine yet, so I don't really expect it.

[And didn't that hurt. But moving right along, seriously.] You don't have to apologize-- I think it's interesting to hear about.

[notagiraffe]

[Taiki gave a small smile, reassured] What is your earth like... if it has spirits in it...

[wwaterboy]

Seems like wwe spend half our livves here talkin about our wworlds. [Eridan's not complaining, though, and sounds agreeable] I wwouldn't mind hearin more, Wwill.

[guiltapalooza]

--Oh, um, okay. I guess I could describe it. [Suddenly her turn for story time. But she doesn't mind, really.] It is neat to hear about everyone else's.

So let's see... There's kinda two layers to my world. There's the surface, human-y layer, and the deeper demon-y layer. There's something like seven billion people, all divided up into different countries, and depending on where you live, things are really different. I'm from America, which means I mostly live a pretty cushy life in terms of food, shelter, technology, and the ability to participate in how the country is governed.

Most people, make that almost everyone, have no idea that beneath everything is a whole society of demons that prey off of us. I don't mean demons as in religious demons, like they're evil and opposing humanity-- I just mean they're non-humans from different planes of reality. Some of them aren't hostile, but I tend not to hear about the ones that aren't, because I grew up on a Hellmouth. Which... is a portal to a hell dimension.

[notagiraffe]

[Taiki agreed, having grew up believing there was only one world, and then finding out their was two and he belonged somewhere else entirely, to them find out there were many more than two was fascinating.

So Willow had grew up somewhere with a portal to somewhere like the yellow sea. The idea of such portals wasn't strange, after all sometimes worlds touched, like the Earth Taiki knew and the Twelve Kingdoms, with Hourai, or Japan being the area most who were thrown through the storms ended up.]

So did you have to stop them? From hurting people I mean?

[wwaterboy]

[Wow, Willow's life sounds exciting] Sounds like things'd be pretty dangerous livvin so close to a portal right to wwhere the demons come from.

[guiltapalooza]

Yes and yes, to both. Me and my friends have been fighting the monster of the week since I was fifteen. --Um, like seven sweeps, I think? And I'm twenty-two now, so it's been a while.

Some times are more dangerous than others, but for the most part it just seems... normal to me. I can't leave them to deal with it on their own, so it's not like I have a choice.