cancry | [open] What a way to start...

[open] What a way to start...

[Well... okay. Dead. That kinda sucks, sure, but he's been down here long enough to kinda know how things go. Some cute little girl thinks she can just wrap everyone around her finger because they don't know any better. Just using everyone around her. It's disgusting. He's absolutely horrified that he's spent who knows how long practically worshipping this girl.

But that's okay. The man is nothing if not confident.

Which is why anyone that's been keeping an eye on the rooftop stage may find an unfamiliar redhead chatting up the specter guards, all bright smiles and casual charm. Insisting, of course, that he knows a guy.

After getting insistently removed from the area enough times the mask drops a little, amber eyes going hard as he stares at the nearest screen. What the hell makes her so special, anyway? Like she's entitled to everyone's adoration. All he needed was one chance and he could ruin her. All this desperate need to be seen and adored at all times meant one little slip was all he needed.

A moment later the smile is firmly back in place and he's strolling out of the mall proper, heading for the housing district. If she's not at work... then she's gotta be at home, right?]

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...We can find you a scarf, something stylish to cover it. [Distressing that it was clearly recognized, and more than that, but something negative in Ruin's past life.]

We tend to take to a park a few levels above here as a training ground, should you wish to test out your abilities.

Having it symbolically around my neck is bad enough without making me wanna claw my skin off.

[Like it's sweet you guys wanna make it less traumatic for him and all but... he doesn't like things around his neck. Something something vulnerable.]

Abilities? See, now that is definitely more interesting than shitty tattoos. [Hah! Yeah definitely. Mmmhmm... Hi Chiron, if he doesn't flirt he's legitimately going to freak out at this point. So he's just going to offer his arm like a proper gentleman, even if the wink is anything but proper.] Lead the way~

[ He might be trying to brush it off now, but Rei still looks a little guilty. There's no point in harping on about it, though. ]

Ah, there's a train we can take to get us up there, so we won't be going anywhere dangerous just yet...

[Chiron can see through the attempt to dramatically change the subject and appear Okay, blatant as it is, but he will delight in it nonetheless. His golden eyes light up, a smile curling on his face as he takes the arm in proper response. Pats Ruin playfully about the bicep.]

I'll show him the way, Rei, not to worry. I'll make certain nothing terrible befalls our new friend. There is, after all, only so much trouble we can find between here and the station.

[He's sloppy and out of practice. It's fine.

It is actually fine because Chiron is indulging him and he can't help leaning gratefully into the contact. Yeah, see this? Is fantastic.]

Yeah, it's fine. Don't worry about it, Teach. We've got this~

[Well she might be tiny and adorable but she is leading them and teaching them things so, it's fine if he calls her Teach, right?]

[ Despite everything, Rei giggles a bit. ]

You'll be in good hands with Chiron. He always takes care of the rest of us, so I'm sure he'll take care of you, too.

You positively flatter me, my dear. Just make certain not to sell yourself too short. Well, shorter than you already are. [chiron]

You'll see we're hardly anything as fancy as a cult at all, Ruin. Mostly, hm...ages are a difficult thing with the dead and amnesic of us, but if I had to guess, mostly teenagers running amok and trying their best. Most of the time.

[Chiron indeed. Ruin nudges him a little and glances back at Rei, half expecting her to be ready to destroy the other man. Small white haired girls make him nervous okay. ]

I dunno. If you've really got teenagers trying their best that sounds pretty impressive.

[His chuckle is a nice rumble in his chest.] It would be a feat to stop them at this point. The real problem, at times, is...focusing them. Getting them on the right track. Not to act out on a whim.

[Oh... a very nice rumble indeed. Don't mind him leaning in a little closer...

Only to flash a sheepish look up at Chiron and chuckle awkwardly, free hand coming up to ruffle his own curls. Wow. He's definitely not a teenager that just does whatever he wants anymore. Definitely more mature than that. For sure. Haaaa]

I dunno, sometimes you've gotta follow your gut...?

[Listen, in Death, anyone here could be 4 or 4000. He ain't necessarily gonna judge how old anyone looks on sight. But Ruin definitely looks like he skews older than the majority of the girls.]

Oh, certainly. But the impulsivity of youth is...sometimes at odds with longer term goals. I can hardly blame them, of course. I don't remember my youth, but no doubt I was a little shit all the same. Honestly, I don't know where Rei gets such seriousness from. It's a little, hm, sad, if I'm honest.

Which means I delight in every moment she's blushing red.

It... is always a shame when the young don't get to enjoy it, yeah. Does that mean Mr. Protective [A grin and a little nudge where their arms are linked.] is going to be cool with attempts to get her to lighten up?

[He's not the prankster, he's usually the assist in such matters but he'll make an attempt for her sake if he can.]

Oh, I am certainly all for that. Believe me, as much as any who threaten the children have to fear from me, I'm afraid it isn't me to watch out for.

Mm, I'll have to inform Beast. Tall fellow with wings. Isn't there some saying, to beware the quiet ones? He's terribly soft about Rei, and I have little doubt he will put an end to someone who so much as gives her a papercut. Lion is much like a big brother to her. Kingslayer another, and they will attempt to fight you at some point. That...is just how they say hello.

Or react to any inconvenience.

I promise we're not so bad once you ingratiate yourself to us; we're just terribly eclectic. [And traumatized! Haha but don't talk about that one.]

[Chiron will most definitely feel the way he tenses at the mention of someone being a "big brother", and instinctive little flinch. Which... might explain part of why he's so wary around Lion later.]

Eclectic sure is a word for it. Sounds like one big happy, complicated as hell, family.

[The concept of a brother...hm, it doesn't always sit well with Chiron, either, but--so far as any of them know, none of them are related by blood. So clearly it can't be that bad, whatever that twinge is, right?]

The alternative is to each attempt to go our own ways, and I'm afraid not only would that be ill-advised for the sake of surviving, but it would also be terribly boring to be surrounded by people so unlike oneself, unable to relate to your feelings about death.

yeah... I'm pretty sure I'd go insane without anyone to really talk to. It makes sense, like attracts like and all that.

[Though he can't quite resist winking at Chiron when he says it, smile turning a little salacious and leaning a little more heavily against him.]

Unruly redheads with a penchant for making girls blush for fun? Mm, you may be on to something there, given how I wandered to you without any solid proof you were one of us. Though I wonder how much you would want to be seen as alike to me given I seem to be one of the seniors of our little group.

Oh who says it's only girls I make blush?

[It's just girls that he actively uses that's all.]

And you're not that much older than me! And neither one of us are old. Is everyone Rei's age or something?

Oh ho, I can't wait to set you loose on Phoenix and see if you can't get him to lighten up or redden up a bit. Gods know I've tried.

...But, er, yes, I would say that...many of our number are somewhere around her age. Not everyone, of course! I suppose I've just gotten used to the girls commenting on how old I seem to them. Adulthood would seem old, but they hardly seem to make comments of the sort to Beast or Phoenix or Lion...

Phoenix? Oh? You must have quite a thing for this Phoenix if you're going to talk about him when you have me on your arm~

[A sly grin. Come now Chiron, he's draping himself all over you and you're going to bring up another man? Rude. The "old" comment has Ruin shifting, though, releasing Chiron's arm to move in front of him, stopping him for a moment. One hand comes up to brush the back of his fingers along the taller man's jaw, cocking a brow.]

Do Beast or your darling Phoenix have nearly so much scruff? Because I'm pretty sure kids would take that as a sign of age.

Ah-? [First the insistence that he has a Thing for Phoenix, and then stopping him in his tracks and...touching him. Goodness, but Ruin is straightforward and at times baffling.]

Well. No. [He pouts.] But surely that doesn't make me look old. [He reaches up to gently take Ruin by the wrist, pull the hand away.] And certainly you've jumped to some conclusions about myself and Phoenix. I only mean to make him less dour. Honestly, I couldn't tell you if that confounding man likes me or hates me.

[Made more complicated by them apparently knowing each other, before, but...he sighs.]

You know, sometimes I think youth is wasted on the young.

[There's a mix of protesting too much to be convincing and seeming to be rather concerned with what, exactly, this Phoenix thinks of him. All in all it only makes Ruin more sure there's something there but also...

Well it's very much not what he was going for and there's a flash of something dark in those hazel eyes again. Whether it was just having the upper hand in the conversation by flirting or actually having someone's attention all for himself didn't matter. The point was, neither of those were happening and he felt rather put out by it.]

Ah, well. It's a saying for a reason isn't it? [And if he's not going to be permitted to touch or tempt or distract himself then he's just going to take his hand back, stepping aside, gesturing dramatically.]

Sorry about that, you're meant to be in the lead.

...Ah. [He has offended, in some manner. Chiron is much more awkward now, if only because he's trying to suss out just what happened in the past few seconds, before nodding and moving on ahead.]

Don't get me wrong, your attentions are downright flattering. And we are dead, so perhaps I'm being...terribly old school about this. But of the few memories I do possess, one involves a woman I very deeply love. I see nothing so amiss with a little flirting, of course. It seems to me only a natural manner of humanity. But...

[He doesn't Know For Sure, but. He's taken? Kind of? Sort of. He thinks. He hopes.]

[Oh. Well then. It's far worse than he thought. A thing he won't admit about this Phoenix person and he's fallen victim to some greedy woman's scheming. Disgusting.]

Mmm no it makes sense. I mean you don't know what the situation is so why would you... [An awkward shrug, hand twisting in his curls for a moment as thought there's any chance of taming them.] I figure nothing else makes sense so-

[So fall back on what's familiar. Flirting and tempting and yeah, sure, maybe it's a little manipulative but it gives him some sense of purpose, some feeling like he's accomplishing something. Like maybe he's important.

What a joke.]

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[open] What a way to start...

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I'm so sorry y'all

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