bluh bluh huge ball

[thalassino]

Characters: Vatheon
Location: That Castle
Time: Evening, on Sunday
Style: Any
Status: OPEN. Threadjack, threadhop, spam away!

[ Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen of Vatheon— whatever your newfound stature may be, Prince, Princess, Knight, or Peasant, you will all receive a message on your SFC on the eve of Saturday regardless:

You are cordially invited to the castle for this evening's ball. In addition, you are all welcome to try and solve the riddle if it fancies you. It just may break the curse!

The invitation is unsigned, but its intentions are clear. Maybe you hadn't quite noticed the sizeable castle in the distance of the city that had sprung up, but this message would surely garner your attention toward it now.

Should you arrive at the castle, plenty of attractions await you:

Ballroom ❧ A very large and beautiful ballroom is lighted up, complete with a playing violin orchestra. While the curtains will be drawn during this event, there is a windowed view and exit on one side of the ballroom that leads to:

Smee's Rose Garden ❧ A broad and colorful spanse of a garden, complete with many paths and turns. Plenty of roses are arranged in great arches, which provide perfect little places should you need some privacy with your sweetheart. Anyone familiar will even tell you that the garden was purposefully designed for just that sort of thing.

The Riddle ❧ There is an inscription located on a noticeable plaque set in one of the garden's benches. It reads:

Two are necessary to break this curse
Riled up, upset, what kind of love?
Only this kiss will stop it from getting worse.
Look for a winged one is push comes to shove,
Look for a glance slightly dark,
Search for a pair in reluctant love.
One answers a call; that's your mark;
One longs for patria though adverse.

Dining Hall ❧ Connected to the ballroom is an extremely long hall that stretches as far as the eye can see, elegantly arranged as the dining area. Expensive and exquisite cuisine seem to be on the menu— try something new? Chances are you won't be eating from a selection such as this again anytime soon!

Dais ❧ There is a noticeable raised dais that is easily visible via any area within the ballroom. It's locked off from guests, though— what is it for...?

Do enjoy. ]

Comments

[a_violent_end]

Shizuo hadn't expected that Izaya would grab the dagger from him, let alone plunge it into his own chest. Hadn't Shizuo already hurt him, there? Why would he want to hurt like that again? He opened his mouth, wanting to protest, to tell him to stop, but no words formed. Instead, he watched wide-eyed as Izaya cleaned the dagger with his lips. A dark, sinking fear reestablished itself within Shizuo, because this wasn't going to be an ordinary kiss. This was going to be the kiss. He knew it before Izaya even grabbed his face. He was asleep, and this was going to wake him up.

There was nothing he could do about it, though, because Izaya's move was sudden and intense, and they were kissing in a way that stung and yet felt so incredibly right. Shizuo tasted the blood and felt as though he could taste the anger and violence, too, but he matched Izaya's vigor. He wanted this kiss more that he had ever wanted anything - he knew that now, as Izaya's tongue met his, as everything blended together between the two of them. Shizuo responded to Izaya's body by moving his own so he could hold him, arms around Izaya, passion matched.

And then it was gentle. Perfect. It felt, to Shizuo, in his final moments in the mind frame of the huntsman, that this was what should have happened a long time ago. Lips became gentle, their tongues moving together tenderly rather than with force. And with the final peck, an awareness settled onto Shizuo - slow, like a ripple throughout his mind. There was no crashing, no sense of sudden awareness, just a subtle awakening. His felt felt foggy and he tasted blood on his lips, and Izaya was pulling back and -

Shizuo was himself again.

Only he wasn't. He'd never be the same again, and he knew it. This curse had changed everything.

His expression was tender, at first, but began to change into clear, bright fear. Shizuo brought a shaking hand to his mouth and wiped. Pulling it back, he looked at it. Blood. There was blood on his lips and on his chest - from his chest - and Izaya was bleeding, too - and oh god, he had sliced Izaya's chest days ago, hadn't he? The memories wouldn't stop resurfacing, one-by-one, with an awful slowness. Shizuo stared at Izaya and felt so openly vulnerable and broken that if it weren't Izaya who had been facing him, Shizuo could have cried. Everything hurt in a way he did not understand. His chest, especially. Oh god, his chest - and not the cut. He didn't even feel that.

He had no desire to crush Izaya's windpipe. No desire to send him flying halfway across Vatheon, or even across the garden. He had no desire to touch Izaya at all, because if he did, Shizuo might be violently ill. He put his head in his hands, which became fists in his hair, and groaned, body shaking.

He was awake. Painfully, terribly awake, and all Shizuo wanted to do was go back to sleep.

[kingwithnocrown]

Izaya knew the moment that he saw Shizuo's expression that it had worked. His entire body was tense- ready to spring back the moment Shizuo threw a punch. Yet it never came. That loathing, fear-inducing rage never roared out of Shizuo like some wild animal. Instead, something a whole lot worse happened. A whole lot worse. That look of realization- that look, that look, that God damn look. Shizuo remembered it all and Izaya was smart enough to figure that out just by that look. He felt this cold sinking sensation because no.

Nothing would ever be the same again.

Things had been warped and ruined before but now everything was obliterated. He had shown too much. He had let too much go and let too much be revealed. Shizuo remembered it all. Izaya stood up at once, his whole body rigid. He didn't know what to do. He felt like he was found out without having been found out and all he could really do was stare at the mess that was supposed to be the Strongest Man in Ikebukuro- but was now just this ruin of a creature that was making these sounds.

What was so tragic anyway?

"You're a monster. Start acting like one," Izaya hissed at Shizuo, angry at his display of hurt emotion. "What the hell are you groaning about? There's nothing for you to be hurt over. Stop it," he said, and with his right foot, he brought it up and rammed it into Shizuo's side. It was a spontaneously violent, useless act of hate that really was just the equivalent of a five year old stomping their foot and pouting because they just didn't understand.

"You don't have a God damn heart for any of this. But if you are hurting..." He smiled sweetly, that bittersweet smile of his, and put his arms behind his back and bent over to look icily at the blond's head, his mouth a wicked smile. He had shoved that fortress back up around himself because there was no way- no way in hell he was going to stay on his knees and break more than he had to.

"I hope to God it breaks everything inside of you. And I hope to God you have nightmares about this for weeks. I can only dream of you feeling even an ounce of pain that-" He stopped himself, his tone slightly crazed. He straightened up and put his hand back over his face, laughing quietly behind it.

"I can't believe..." He shook his head and turned away from the body guard. Away from the man that, essentially, Orihara Izaya was in love with.

And he walked away from the gazebo, his eyes hardened and his mouth fixed. He didn't know if Shizuo would follow. He didn't really care. This night changed everything in an eternal way and Izaya didn't want to stick around for the repercussions so he did what he did best- run away.

[a_violent_end]

The most painful part of waking up was the realization that everything Shizuo had felt throughout that encounter - all of it, the longing, the desire to see Izaya smile, that open, pure love - none of it had faded. It all brimmed at the surface, torn open by the curse and left to bleed. Waking up hadn't meant peace of mind, had not offered him that familiar sense of rage that so effortlessly drowned out everything else. There had been a deep sincerity in everything that had transpired between him and Izaya, one that lingered even as Shizuo's full consciousness tried to bury it back down, and it fucking hurt.

He wanted to hate Izaya just as much as Izaya wanted him to become that monster. He tried, in those moments, tried really hard - but he hadn't had the time to process, to reassert himself, to shove everything back down into something quiet and misunderstood. He wanted to say something. Might have, even, but Izaya didn't let him. Instead, Izaya kicked him, and of course he hardly felt it physically - but mentally. Emotionally. Izaya kicked him while he was down and so incredibly lost that it hurt more than any other physical slight Izaya could have ever taken against him.

Shizuo hated him. He hated him so god damn much that he wanted Izaya to die, because Shizuo fucking felt for him. He fucking -

Shizuo held his breath as Izaya came close, pointedly did not look at him, refused to look at him. And those words. Shizuo wanted the rage to respond, wanted to make Izaya pay for ever wishing such a terrible curse on him, but it was too soon, too fresh. He was too vulnerable. Unlike Izaya, his own fortress had not yet been shoved up. There hadn't been any time. Shizuo was too slow.

As Izaya straightened back up, Shizuo slumped against the gazebo and started laughing. There was nothing of humor, joy, or even mild amusement in that laugh. It was broken, raw, and emotional. Shizuo might as well had been crying - but there were no tears, just dry laughter.

"It will!" he called out at Izaya. No, he wouldn't - couldn't, in his condition - give chase, but he could yell at him before it was too late. "It already has, Izaya! But it's fucked you up, too! You're broken, I can see it! And you're running away like the bastard you are, you fucking flea."

And Shizuo laughed and laughed.

[kingwithnocrown]

Izaya could have walked away. He should have walked away. It would have been easy. He had always been very good about controlling his emotions with absolute immaculate perfection.

The problem was that Shizuo had never been an ordinary case. Shizuo had never made Izaya feel normal and he had never made their situation any easier. It complicated things. And had Shizuo been anyone else, Izaya might have been able to keep on walking. But he had always had trouble walking away from Shizuo and ignoring him.

This was one of those times.

He stopped in his tracks and stared out into the darkness of the garden. This sacred place that promised love and romance and praised for it. It was ironic.

Then just like that, he was inexplicably back in front of Shizuo. Moving as fast as ever, he was right there, crouched down in front of Shizuo and in his face like the aggressive side of him tended to get. That wild smile was back in place and his eyes were screeching something furious. There was a brilliant shine of hatred in his eyes- but more than that, there was another emotion. Something a lot different but at the same time- not such a far cry from hate.

"You can see it now?" he asked, tilting his head almost entirely to the side. "Congratulations, Shizu-chan, I'm so glad you're not that blind. Maybe it's because you're not wearing your stupid sunglasses right now," he snarked lowly before he threw his arms out to either side of him and stood back up.

"Not running away now, Shizuo. Am I still a bastard? I bet I am, you son of a bitch. But you're a bastard for not getting up and chasing me. Say, if you mock me for running away, then what would you like me to do, Shizu-chan? Gut myself and spread out my organs for you to poke at?" he asked because he could only feel an unleashed rage. It was a hurt that he hadn't felt in a very long time.

The worst part was the fact that it was from Shizuo admitting that it was fucking him up. From the fact that Shizuo wasn't really denying anything.

[a_violent_end]

Shizuo was still laughing when Izaya was suddenly, quickly in front of him. There was no stifling it, it flowed like a broken tap, and his shoulders shook with the effort. He felt exhausted. This whole week had been exhausting, even the parts that hadn't involved Izaya. He shouldn't have egged Izaya on, because maybe Shizuo could have slipped into a coma right there, in the garden. Maybe it could be his turn to sleep - really sleep - like Izaya had done. Like Shizuo had interrupted. All those memories, poking their way through at the right time. He could have smashed something, if only he could stop laughing.

Still, he stared back at Izaya, met that hatred. There was nothing tender in Shizuo's face now. It was dark, accusatory - and his own familiar, twisted grin began to take over.

Izaya asked him what he would like him to do. One more short laugh, and then Shizuo was on him, quickly and forcefully shoving Izaya to the ground beneath him, twisted grin still on his face. He didn't know where the original dagger went, but the thing about being a huntsman, you always have a spare. Shizuo slipped it out from his boot. This one was smaller, but it would serve its purpose just fine.

"You know what you problem is?" Shizuo asked, a mock laced in his tone. "You're a coward. The high and mighty Orihara Izaya is nothing but a fucking coward." Shizuo used the dagger to slit Izaya's suit, shirt, and tie all in one go - just as he had his hoodie a couple of nights ago. There - both the stab wound and the healing slash across his heart. Shizuo put his free hand over them. Pressed.

"I asked you to give me your heart." Shizuo brought the dagger to his own slash mark, but only traced it in the air, without contact. "Then I told you you could have mine. And you didn't believe me." He then slit his own shit downward, similarly. "You think I'm the idiot?" He forced Izaya's hand to grab the knife and made it press into his chest, pricking it.

"Take it, you asshole. You fucking worthless flea. I'm not like you. I don't go back on my promises." He pressed harder. "Take it."

[kingwithnocrown]

This is the part of Izaya's life that he liked to refer to as the Unpredictable Part. Also known as the force that is Shizuo. He could feel the wind knocked right out of him as he was brought down by the monster and he felt a flickering moment of runrunrunfuckingRUN but it was far too late to flee from this. He was trapped and it was by far the most horrifying predicament he'd ever found himself in. He laid flat on his back and almost tried to lay flatter- like maybe it would finally allow him to sink through the ground and deep into the earth. That, of course, did not happen.

Instead, he could only stare up at Shizuo, his eyes wide as Shizuo pulled out another blade and started to talk. He flinched as his clothes were torn and he listened- oh did he listen. His teeth were grounded together, like a feral animal trying to defend itself but knowing that it's already losing ground. Just like that, the white king had made his move and declared the ultimate check mate. And Izaya was fucked.

The knife in his hand was useless. It wasn't his knife. It wasn't the situation he had created. This was all unpredicted. It was out of his control. And for once in his life- Izaya was rendered speechless. The knife in his hand trembled, the tip bumping harmlessly against Shizuo's revealed chest.

"I'm not worthless," he said coolly, his grip tightening and becoming firm as he finally found his footing. "And I'm not a coward. I'm not anything you think I am. You don't know me whatsoever," he said and he pulled his hand back and then plunged it out, driving the dagger straight into Shizuo- all the way inside of him.

Except. It was right through his chest. Just one inch away from where his heart actually was.

"I don't want your heart," he spat, using the knife as leverage to lift himself off of the ground, using his elbow in support as he crashed their foreheads together. He twisted the knife in Shizuo's body.

"Not like this."

And then pulled the knife out. He lowered himself back away from Shizuo, a spiteful look on his face as he glared at the one man who knew just how to destroy everything about him.

[a_violent_end]

Shizuo was close to being physically indestructible, but he was not. In fact, he was a lot further from it than people seemed to think. There was a difference between hardly feeling pain, having extremely sturdy bones and actually being invincible. He could bleed. Being shot by those punks had been enough to render him useless, if only for a few brief moments before he woke up in Vatheon. Shizuo could be hurt. He could black out. He just usually wasn't, usually didn't, because he was pretty damn strong.

His eyes communicated some surprise at being stabbed, but his grin didn't falther - not as Izaya used it as leverage to lift himself up, not as Izaya twisted it. Only when Izaya pulled it out did Shizuo have an oh shit moment where his hand went to his chest and was instantly soaked with blood. He coughed and tasted blood, too. It was a damn shame Izaya hadn't actually hit his heart - but then again, neither of them could ever deliver that final blow. They had determined that weeks ago.

"Ahha," Shizuo half-laughed. "This actually hurts a little," and there was hint of admiration, there. Izaya had made him feel something. Izaya always managed to make him feel things.

He forced himself to stand and - ah. He legs were weak. He hadn't felt like this since - since getting shot and waking up in Vatheon. Yeah, he could walk, and yeah, he'd live, but it was interesting to be rendered weaker. Not too far off from being run over by a truck, he supposed.

"You've rejected me twice. Maybe I don't know you." He patted his outfit trying to find his cigarettes, but they weren't there. "I'm pretty oblivious to a lot of things, right? I am an idiot." He had owned up to that before, more than once. "But. Now I have your heart and you don't have mine."

A pause.

"I don't know Russian, but I saw the way you looked. You won't take what I have, so I have more than you." Of course he knew. It had been obvious, even to an idiot like him. That smile. The one that made him promise himself to make Izaya smile like that again. It was laughable now, a sick joke. All of it.

He shrugged then. "I'd hit you with a street sign if I could, but there aren't any here and I'm bleeding." He touched the wound again and held it out to Izaya. "You remember what you did, when you bled?" He moved forward and took Izaya's hand, pressing his thumb against his palm.

"Only I'm out of promises."

He wasn't sure he was making sense. His hands were shaking, again, and he wondered if it was because of how he felt or if the stab wound was losing too much blood. The ability to quickly replace lost blood wasn't one he had. He'd have to get to Shinra or the clinic or. Zelda. Zelda could heal. He'd find her, because she'd understand - she always did.

But Zelda couldn't heal emotional wounds.

"Nnn. I don't remember what I was saying. But I still think you're a coward, even if you say you aren't." He started walking, albeit slowly, toward the dining area, where Zelda had gone some time before.