sweetdevil | 19th ♫ | for I must die for what I've done

19th ♫ | for I must die for what I've done— a twist of fate, a desert sun

Yuuri Wakasa CMO
(... Airlocked CRAU @ LifeAftr edition)

A CMO for Yuri Wakasa from School-Live!, soley for the purpose of dicking around in the LifeAftr setting with hypothetical future CRAU apping and to hopefully cONTAIN MY THIRST UNTIL SUCH TIME

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[The desert side of Monsun was...well, it was what it was. For a human it was barely managing to be habitable.]

[Luckily, Ardyn Izunia was not human.]

[He spent most of his time at the camp; the canopy of the open tent was enough shade against the bright desert sun, and the mana pool made it easy to see who was coming and going. Today he was sitting a bit off to the side in a particular shadowed corner, a basketball-sized (and shaped) black bird happily munching on some dried seaweed he was holding out to her.]

[ It's hot -- so hot that Yuuri feels sick.

Her clothes probably aren't helping much. Her pajamas, her stockings, her cardigan -- perfectly reasonable coming from winter but perhaps less so in the middle of the desert. She could get rid of the cardigan, pull off her stockings but they're the only things keeping her protected from the glare of the sun. And even through her stockings, her feet feel scalded with every step she takes. So they stay on.

She has no idea how long it is she's been walking when she sees the camp in the distance. It might be a mirage. Her brain certainly feels baked enough for it. But it's also the only anything she's seen this entire time. So it becomes her new destination.

It could be an hour or it could be five minutes by the time she finally drags herself to it. She has no way of telling but what she does know is that she's hot, sore, covered head to toe in sand and she's having a terrible day. She swallows (not that it does much good, when she doesn't have any saliva left in her mouth) and calls out, squinting into the shade of the tent, which seems like an unimaginable gloom after the glare of the sun and the sand. ]

Hello...? [ her voice cracks and croaks. not the best of first impressions. ] Is there anybody here...?

Oh--dear, you poor thing. [Ardyn got to his feet in an instant, walking over to Yuuri and offering a hand with a welcoming smile.]

Please, come in and rest. You must be terribly exhausted.

[ Something in Yuuri's chest jumps at the sound of that voice. A voice she knows just as well, even better maybe, than the back of her hand and she's already smiling as she turns to face him. She shouldn't really be surprised, should she? Because if she's here, then it makes perfect sense for her to expect to see the others too. ]

Exhausted is definitely one way of putting it, yes.

[ She looks worn to the bone but she's beaming as she slowly makes her way towards him (she doesn't have the energy to move as much as drag herself) and reaches to take his hand.

She'd rather they both be at home and not in the middle of this awful heat but Ardyn being here... that's countless times better than being alone. ]

But once I've got some rest I'm sure I--

[ And then she takes his hand and the very instant she does, Yuuri stops talking very abruptly. The smile doesn't leave her face, exactly, but it fixes in a way that makes her look like a deer in headlights.

Cold. Ice cold. no, she knows better than that -- it's corpse cold. But that hardly makes sense, does it? his hands haven't been this cold since...

Since...? ]

What's...?

[Ardyn trailed off, smile fading to unmistakable confusion, then recognition as yellow eyes fell to their hands. He carefully but quickly pulled back, adjusting his gloves and laughing uncomfortably.]

Ah--do forgive me, I keep forgetting about that. It's nothing, so please--do make yourself comfortable, you look ready to collapse.

[ Something about this is all wrong.

Yuuri stays stood where she is, regarding him with a look of mixed concern and confusion. This man looks like the Ardyn Izunia she'd met on the Fantasy Sweet but he talks like Tenmyouji Ardyn. In fact, it's only the chill of his hand and the fact that his hair is messy and loose rather than pulled back from his face that has her hesitating before she goes and embarrasses herself.

She opens her mouth -- and she's not even sure what she's going to start with so instead she just purses her lips tight for a moment before giving a nod. ]

Yes-- yes, of course, I just... I'm sorry. [ she forces a smile. ] I just-- I was just a little dizzy, for a moment. I think it's the heat.

[ The lie is as transparent as her discomfort but she feels like she needs to excuse her reaction somehow. ]

I'm sorry to ask as soon as I get here but there isn't any water anywhere, is there...? I haven't been able to find any for myself.

Ah--there should be, and if we're out then the river's just nearby, I could...

[Ardyn trailed off again, faltering in what he was aware was an awkward situation without understanding why.]

I'll go see to that right now; would you be so kind as to look after Hresvelgr for a moment? She's quite friendly, you've nothing to worry about.

[The large spherical bird (definitely a chocobo) at their feet did, indeed, seem quite content to just sit there and watch Yuuri.]

[ It's the stupidest thing in the world but when Yuuri glances down and sees the little round bird there, she feels her heart sink. Because, cute as this little bird is, she's not Luscinia. And if this were the Ardyn she knows then it seems ridiculous to consider that he'd have a feathered companion with him who wasn't Luscinia.

She looks back up at Ardyn Izunia and forces a hasty smile. ]

I'm sorry to start making requests as soon as I arrive but-- well, thank you.

[ And she takes that as her cue to finally let herself sit down. ]

Think nothing of it, my dear. Back in just a second.

[He turned on his heel and was gone in a second, Hresvelgr crawling right into Yuuri's lap and cooing softly in a way very unlike a pigeon.]

[As promised Ardyn himself returned a moment later, settling in to sit down near her and holding out a canteen of water with a smile.]

Here--you needn't worry about sparing any, the river's seemed safe enough and I doubt it's about to run dry.

[ She feels like a bit of a traitor just letting this bird up onto her lap, but it's not this little featherball's fault that she's not Luscinia. So Yuuri goes ahead and pets her while she sits there and tries to puzzle out just what she's done to deserve all this.

Her smile's not quite as forced when he returns (after all, she's had a bit more time to prepare it and the water he's carrying is a welcome sight) and she takes the canteen with a little nod of her head. It's probably bad manners to start knocking back this water before she's thanked him properly but her throat is so dry she just can't stop herself.

She's swallowed a solid third of the canteen before she can make herself stop drinking and has to take a hard breath before she can speak again, wiping stray water from her mouth and chin as she does so. ]

Where... where is this, anyway? It's not just all desert, is it?

No, actually--across the river the island becomes more of a forest.

[Ardyn looked a little uncomfortable at the mere mention, smile turning awkward.]

I'm afraid it may be safer over here, even if the weather is a bit more oppressive.

[ ... oh, well that's concerning. ]

What's wrong with the forest, exactly? If the desert's preferable, then it must be more dangerous but... surely, it's more habitable?

I'm sure you'll find it hard to believe, but this island has a strange influence upon a person's mental state. The forested side...well, it has the alarming tendency to bring out the worst in a given person. For some, the concept's not quite worth the resources.

... I see.

[ She's suddenly very, very happy she'd run into him here, in the desert then. She doesn't even want to imagine the worst brought out of Ardyn Izunia of all people. ]

So we're stuck here in the desert...? There has to be somewhere else a little more habitable...

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19th ♫ | for I must die for what I've done— a twist of fate, a desert sun

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