He's not dead yet! [Closed]

[chokmahemperor]

Who: Peony and Jade
Where: Their apartment
When: RIGHT NOW
Style: I adapt!
Status: Closed

His head was swimming.

With a groggy, almost ailing noise, the emperor managed to flop a numb arm up over his eyes. Everything was too bright, and it just fueled his brain towards a headache. Ow. There was pressure everywhere, it felt like; nose, temples... Man, this was completely unpleasant. After a bit of experimenting, Peony got his jaw working enough to try and call out.

...and got instead an utter lack of sound, like his voice forgot its cue.

Well. He tried again, then.

...and just got hoarse, scratchy noises for his efforts. It's like he hadn't used anything in weeks. It'd explain why his head hurt so much and why his body was so slow to start responding. Limbs didn't want to do anything right now. Lifting his head was out of the question, especially since he didn't want to aggravate his headache.

Which left Peony with just lying there, waiting for the feeling to return to various limbs, waiting for everything to stop feeling so heavy, and wait for his eyes to adjust to the lighting. While he waited, he tried to sort through wobbly memories, separate dream from reality. So long without conscious thought made that an adventure, that was for certain. A place underwater, trapped... Jade and Anise, Gailardia and Luke... Zelos, Ioder, and Zelda, starfish, changing into something nonhuman--had that happened? Meeting those people and all of that...

Jade's nightmare.

That had definitely happened. A chill ran down his spine at the memory.

Peony managed to slide his arm away from his face and roll over, trying to plant a hand against the mattress to push himself up.

Flop.

Nope, forget that. Time to just wait, since his voice was still refusing to cooperate with him. He croaked again anyway, just hoping to catch anyone's attention. He couldn't tell if he was still in the apartment he shared with Jade and Anise, or if he'd been moved somewhere else. That still wasn't registering. Wherever this was, he kind of hoped Jade was the first he saw, hoped he was alright. Peony obviously hadn't been for a while.

Comments

[chokmahemperor]

"That's probably for the best." Because if anyone knew, that might make things way more awkward for Peony to have to consider. He liked Jade, and Jade was his in name and in duty, and he was his best friend. "My" was appropriate, in a way, because there were other people named Jade in the world, too, so it was like he was specifying which. But that was just all rationalizing the habit, which didn't really require any. Jade was just "his Jade" and that was pretty much that.

For all of Peony's flirtatious habits, he'd been very particular about who he let close. Between the opinions of his council and the attempts on his life, it was necessary. The council didn't worry him entirely too much, but when anyone could potentially be an assassin? Much as Peony was loathe to do so, that required caution. Not to mention, he had very, very particular principles in regards to romancing potential partners. Imagining Jade in a position like that? Was fairly alien. But they'd been close for nearly their whole lives, so maybe it followed. He certainly cared about Jade more than enough, just in a different way, he thought.

Really, no point thinking about that too much. It just sounded ridiculous.

Almost as ridiculous as Peony's childish habit of crawling into bed with Jade on account of the fact that Peony was a cuddler and now used to it. And maybe, somewhere under that, it was a comfort. Having come in on the edge of a nightmare, experiencing Jade's worst fears with him, just as much reasserting his presence for Jade as for himself. But only at night, only when there weren't other things they needed to be doing. Backing off was doable if necessary, even if he'd whine about it.

"You'd probably tell them something horrific in answer, anyway~"

[bootsweremadeforcasting]

"Wouldn't want untoward rumors floating about, would we?" To be honest, Jade was more upset about a rappig being named after him. He'd become so used to the added possessive it only registered when someone else pointed it out. In those cases, it was simply 'A jest His Majesty never gets tired of'. Anyone else would be taught to address him differently or be punished in that unspecified way that always got others' gusto to deflate. Peony was Peony and did as he pleased to a point.

Being the Emperor wasn't an enviable job, Jade was more than sure of that. If offered the title, Jade would not only laugh, he'd probably choke on his own laughter and die of that. After all, Jade could barely stomach the thought of being promoted to General, much less anything above that. No, he was a servant of His Emperor and he was happy with that. Truth be told, under different circumstances, he'd be in a far different position, but he wasn't much a fan of hanging onto the past; at least not anymore.

The nightmare was proof some things didn't just leave.

"It would be an obligation at that point, Your Majesty."

Part of him never would let go. That part of his life meant so much to him that no matter how far he ran, no matter how hard he tried, it would always come back. It just kept stewing in the back of that brilliant mind, festering forever and feeding off the guilt and shame of his days as the Necromancer. Something Jade would never tell Peony (Or even himself) was how large his part was in separating the him that he was now from the Necromancer he had been. He'd reminded him of what he had, what he could have; what he had become and what he would continue to be if he stayed the course of the Necromancer. After the nightmare? As much as Jade protested, all he could have asked for was a hug from Peony, reassuring him that he was still human and had long since given up such a hopeless dream. It was childish, silly, and emotional; a response for kids who still thought monsters lay under their beds, waiting to gobble them up when they closed their eyes. For Jade, the monster was behind his eyes and remained there.

"It's my duty to remind others that His Majesty has obligations." So he can't fall in love with a male, much less someone with such a torrid personality~