003 ♦ [action]

[cruelcurse]

[SOMEBODY'S HELLA SICK. Henry's avoiding his dorm to keep himself away from his roommate while he's sick. At first, he also tried his best to stay away from everyone else. But when the fever intensified, he forgot why he had to put in the effort.

It's because his magical talents tend to go a little haywire while he's ill.

He can be found stumbling about in a feverish daze while classes are supposed to be going on, but he's obviously not attending. When he's not doing that, he's asleep somewhere. Wandering around all the time exhausts him. While he's sleeping, he can be found sleeping in an appropriate spot, such as the sofa in the common room or leaning over a table in the corner of the library.

Uh... He can also be found sleeping in a completely inappropriate spot, like the middle of the floor. It happens.]

[WHAT THIS ALL MEANS is that Henry can accidentally curse some characters without meaning to. YOUR CHARACTER WON'T EVEN SEE IT COMING. Contact me here if you want somebody to get cursed. We can discuss details and your character can be appropriately upset.]

Comments

[caincarnate]

[Not struggling was good. Naoya walked the armoured bird to Henry's room, and mentally commanded it to lay him down on his bed. With that done, the demon was recalled. Naoya drew a blanket over the young mage's body and proceeded to tuck him in - hopefully discouraging him from wandering off in the future. Fat chance.

But that was the extent of what he was obligated to do. Still, looking down at Henry as he was, the programmer felt a certain hesitation grip him. He stayed there, unmoving, lost in thought and simply watching the young man breathe. It was hard to tell how old he was, but he couldn't be too far off from Kazuya's age right now...

Nostalgia was such a dangerous infection. Even as he tried to stem the feeling, Naoya could feel it bleeding into the periphery of his heart. How... revolting.

...Maybe he could find a cloth somewhere in this room to dab down the sweat on Henry's face.]

[cruelcurse]

Ha ha... It's hot...

[He wanted to say something about it being winter, but he lost the energy to continue on that line of thought. The sorcerer took a deep breath and tried to get himself together.

That was when he started to notice where he was. His room. A place he was trying to stay away from in case he got his roommate sick, or worse. Henry didn't know how he'd gotten there, but there was somebody in his room. And he could feel who it was with no doubt.]

Naoya...?

[caincarnate]

[Naoya turned around at the sound of his name, but didn't respond - as though not answering Henry would somehow disprove his presence in this room. It wasn't like he wanted to be here anyway. He was still very deeply in denial about what he was doing here.

...Then again, Henry could feel him, couldn't he. So it wasn't like there was much point in denying it. With a sigh, Naoya strode over to his bedside.]

Go back to sleep.

[cruelcurse]

[There was a lot he wanted to say to him. To warn him about. He didn't want him to get sick, but he also didn't want to leave him cursed... Oh, but maybe it was fine. It was all fine. Yeah. He couldn't summon the strength to keep talking much, anyway.

So he contented himself with saying nothing as he stared up at Naoya with a stupid smile on his face. And Naoya might begin to doubt he would say anything. And just when he might think he was right, that he wouldn't speak or had just passed out, Henry opened his mouth to talk about something completely out of left field.]

Will you ever... trust me?

[caincarnate]

[Huh. That was a loaded question all of a sudden - and here Naoya was just about ready to leave. He put his hands on his hips and frowned, looking rather annoyed.]

Why are you asking me such a stupid question?

[Especially when he should've saved his energy for sleeping, the little fool.]

[cruelcurse]

Ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ　Ｉ’ｍ　ｇｏｉｎｇ　ｔｏ　ｃｕｒｓｅ　ｙｏｕ

[Henry had no right to ask that kind of question. He knew, because he, too, had a hard time trusting others. He couldn't think of a person he could trust fully. But after all he'd been through, maybe he wanted to.

But this was Naoya he was asking. Henry couldn't sort out all of his thoughts, so he blurted the first thing that came to mind.]

Because one time... You said that I could understand...

["Only someone like you would understand." He didn't remember the details at the moment, but he remembered that day. He remembered the comment, and he remembered how it made him feel like the world was spinning. He felt the weight of Naoya's curse in the room and its pressure made him feel a lot like he did on that day. The perks of being a dark mage.]

[caincarnate]

[Naoya's frown softened, but it wasn't quite gone. Instead, it took on a more contemplative air, almost perplexed. With the state Henry was in, it was likely he was near delirious - so the fact that he could recall those words meant that it'd been something he'd been holding close to his heart. Why, though?

Henry wanted to understand him? Henry... wanted Naoya to trust him.

On reflex, the programmer's face was seized with disgust, repelled by the very concept. To wish for one of the two was already a pipe dream. For both? Impossible. Especially considering that if... if Henry was indeed cut from a dark enough cloth to empathize with the kind of man Naoya was, then there was no way he could trust someone like that. Like himself.

So that was why the dark mage was so keen on him. How disappointing - he had hoped Henry wasn't tainted by such soft notions, but it seemed like at the heart of it all, he was still a sentimental fool.

And... and he couldn't let that sentiment infect him any further. It had to be nipped in the bud.]

Too naive. You could never hope to be anything to me.

[cruelcurse]

Mmhmm...

[Henry kept smiling with his eyes shut. He wasn't sure if Naoya's remark cut him or not. Whether it hurt him or not. What he did recognize is that Naoya's remark could have hurt him. He was just slow to feel pain. That was a physical attribute of his, but it worked both ways.

Maybe he didn't mean it. Maybe he just couldn't trust, like him. Maybe it was hard.]

Too bad...

[His head felt tingly and warm if he ignored the painful stuffiness. It felt interesting. Sort of the feeling he got when he was laying a curse.

(That was exactly what was going on here. Here, he'd asked Naoya if he'd ever trust him. The very next moment, he was accidentally cursing Naoya. He'd begin to notice in under a minute, surely.)]

[kidcarnate]

[Naoya huffed. Well, that'd be the end of pointless questions about trust and other similarly silly concepts, he hoped. Sternly, he told the sick sorcerer:]

Stay where you are. I'll be back.

[...Then acting in complete contradiction to what he'd stated, Naoya headed to the kitchen to procure some liquids for Henry to subsist on. He didn't have the time or ingredients at hand to make a broth, so juice would have to do for now.

Then, taking one of the cleaner tea cloths at hand, he ran it under some cool water to bring back to him. It was strange, the counter seemed to be... higher than it normally was?

Naoya blinked. That couldn't be right. He would've assumed it was all in his imagination, but looking down at himself, his clothes had suddenly become just a little too big for him. His kimono was dragging on the floor. This all took a moment for him to process, but eventually, all signs pointed to...

HENRY.

The door to BE-01 burst open and a much younger-looking Naoya stormed inside (with juice carton and cloth still in hand, of course, if he left it behind then he would've made the whole trip for nothing).]

What have you done to me!?

[cruelcurse]

Huuuh...?

[Henry did his best to sit up, considering the urgency of Naoya's voice, and he stared at hm. He was still a bit dazed, so it took him a moment to figure out what he was talking about.

Ah. He should have trusted his thoughts earlier that told him to be left alone, but he was too far gone for that. It couldn't be helped now.]

Whoops~ Yeah, I must've done that~ Sorry. I wanted to tell you earlier... About that...

[Explaining was exhausting. Henry began to sink backwards. He knew his body wanted to lie down again, but he had to sit up to talk to Naoya. He definitely wasn't going to be happy with him. He broke their promise.]

[kidcarnate]

[Naoya strode over, grabbed Henry roughly by the collar and yanked him back up. The sorcerer wouldn't be lying back down, not before he undid whatever spell he cast.

With pure venom in his eyes, the twice-cursed programmer hissed:] What is this, your little idea of revenge?! The idea I could ever trust you makes me retch - and I was not wrong for it.

Turn me back...! Turn me back before I forget the meaning of mercy.

[cruelcurse]

Ah-!

[His hands reflexively touched against Naoya's hands, but he didn't try to pry him off. He was right to think he'd be upset with him. Maybe he'd never want to talk to him again. Henry wasn't sure how he felt about that.

For now, he had to try to see if he could fix it. That's what he wanted, so that's what he had to try.]

If I want to try dispelling it... Can you let go of me? I'm not sure if I can do it right now, but I can try~. I can't really control my magic when I'm all sick and stuff...

[kidcarnate]

[Henry wanted Naoya to let him go? Fine. The now-teen shoved him away - even if his strength had decreased drastically, it was still the gesture that mattered. He wanted the sorcerer to understand how deep his loathing went at this moment.]

Just do it.

[cruelcurse]

[He pulled his body out from under the sheets and sat, folding his legs under him. The dark mage focused on Naoya with a weak smile.

He knew how this usually went. It wasn't going to work, but he'd would give it his all.

Henry brought his hands in front of him and mumbled a few words. They were almost incoherent, and with each word he seemed to lean over just a little more until his body threatened to topple over. But it didn't. He stopped talking and stared ahead absently.

Just then, Henry's bookshelf exploded into a mess of wooden shards and broken panels. The wood and the books stored on the shelf collapsed into a heap. Instead of being able to dispel Naoya's curse, it just worked to curse something else into destruction.]

Ha ha... Not yet...

[While Henry usually had no trouble at all working with his spells, today was no picnic. Doing something like that tired him out drastically.]

[kidcarnate]

Ngh--!

[The younger Naoya covered his face the best he could as the bookshelf burst - though he should've been more thankful that it wasn't him that ended up exploding instead. Fine, no magic for now.

Breathing deep, he forced himself to regain his cool. Regressing back to a teenager, ultimately, wasn't too much of a hindrance. It wasn't like he was going to keep getting younger and younger with each passing day yes he was. Henry had to recover before he could do anything about the curse, so there was little point in throwing a fit right now.

Displeased as he was, Naoya plunked the carton of juice on the nightstand and pushed Henry back down on the bed.]

Imbecile. You're less than useless right now, aren't you.

Get back in bed.

[cruelcurse]

I'm sorry~.

[Henry lacked the strength to fight back, so he let Naoya do as he pleased. From his position flat against his bed, he looked at Naoya's face and noted that he had to turn his head further to meet his gaze. And he'd just get smaller, wouldn't he?]

When I'm better, I can help. Not now... It won't work.

[Ha ha he totally fucked up. He could only hope Naoya would take it better when it was all over with. But he probably wouldn't. Henry took a deep breath and sighed.]

[kidcarnate]

Hmph.

[Naoya said little else for the moment. He slapped the damp cloth over Henry's head to help with the fever a bit more indelicately than he should've.

Maybe it wasn't really Henry's fault. It seemed like the curse was more a result of idiocy than it was of malice. The end result was still that same though, wasn't it? It was still proof that he couldn't put his trust fully in the young man.

He glanced over at the broken bookshelf - it made for such a mess. Too bad it wasn't Naoya's problem to deal with.

Coldly, he looked sternly back at Henry.] Stay hydrated. And stay in bed.

[Then he turned to leave.]

[cruelcurse]

[Henry didn't need to give any response to that. He'd try, unless Jock came back. Then it would just be dangerous, and he didn't want to expose Jock to any danger. Or else he'd end up like his bookshelf.

Would Naoya return? He hoped he would, even though his magic was completely off the handle. He wouldn't ask, though, because...

Because he had a vision at that very moment. Divination was a finicky thing, and it had to happen just then.]

Ah...!

[Henry gasped. Naoya was already out the door. Death was an eventual fate for everyone, and Henry did more than embrace death. Normally, he'd be just fine with this future. Even if he knew him, it would be fine.

But he had an awful feeling for Naoya, and he couldn't put a label on it. An awful feeling that made him feel like he was being smothered. He cared, and seeing that image made his head spin. He could kill him himself? It would be his fate anyway, and if he did it, it wouldn't have to be in front of a bus. He could make it quick and painless.

He thought about how the other people he knew dealt with fate. Fate could be changed, and Naoya didn't have to die if he knew it was going to happen. If he tried, he could help Naoya. Could he truly change Naoya's fate? He could try.]

Naoya...

[It was a quiet call, not enough to summon him back. He'd have to go after him. Henry jumped to his feet. But it was too much for his body to handle: the blood rushed from his skull, and his heart rate was too slow for that sort of demand.

He was out cold the moment he landed on his feet.]