thenearshore | [OPEN + closed/semi-closed] a nightingale in a golden cage

Entry tags:

[OPEN + closed/semi-closed] a nightingale in a golden cage

Who: A + B: Shun and you! C: Shun and existing CR, D: Shun and Ren
When: A: July 20th, B: July 21st, Morning, C: July 20th-22nd, late evening to ungodly hours of the morning, D: July 22nd, late evening
Where: A + B: Around the Far Shore, C: Temples of just about anyone Shun knows decently, D: Inanna's Temple
What: Shun having sleep issues and trying to be productive about them ~~by lurking suspiciously around the temples of people he knows at why this in the night/morning~~, testing the surveillance bird Ankh left him, and toting a vulture around with him as one does.
Warnings: Possible minor mentions of murderplot things, prompts C + D will be dealing with PTSD-related traumatic nightmares.

Prompts A-C [2 Open + 1 Semi-Open]

[A: July 20th, Open]

[It's been quite a while since Ankh's disappearance - almost a month and a half by now, and Shun's spent that time on and off messing around with the can bird robot the god had left him. He'd managed to work the thing's transmission method out enough to view the last video left on it by the old owner, but actually making it work to transmit images to the device he has best suited to that sort of thing, namely his duel disk, has taken much more working out. Even so, he still doesn't have a good idea of the distance the thing can transmit from or how well it can actually be remote controlled, so it's time for a little field testing.

As such, people around the Far Shore may encounter a very small, red and silver bird robot attempting to get up in various business, poking around temple gardens and maybe bumping into some heads at its worst. Not too far away in any of these cases is Shun, who might appear to be wearing some kind of oddly designed wrist computer to anyone unfamiliar with the technology. Not helping is the fact that he's returned his cards to their deckbox for the moment, since there are a quite a few people here now that he'd rather not catch wind of him having them at all, and one of them lives with him.

As always, Shun is the epitome of polite company (except not at all), and if the bird happens to be inquiring around anyone in particular, he'll call out to them across the distance with a short nod to the bird.]

Say something to it. [He mostly just wants to know how well it takes audio...]

--

[B: July 21st, Morning, Open]

[As he'd said he would a few days ago to Izuku and Lavi during their late-night discussion, Shun's accentuated his morning patrol with a friend. Specifically, an almost-metre-long, fluffy-headed, brown and white and feathery friend who is presently riding on one of his shoulders. Apparently his coat is thick enough to shield from the claws involved, and having a not-insignificant weight on his shoulder doesn't seem to be bothering him any aside from the times the vulture leans too far into his peripheral vision and he has to look around her to actually be able to see anything.

Having a hand-raised vulture is presenting one or two unforeseen problems, though, the main one being that she's prone to jumping off Shun's shoulder at the sight of other people and hopping over in apparent birdly curiosity. Her size might make even that offputting to some people, though, so it's probably lucky Shun's around to distract her if she decides to inspect anyone too closely.]

Don't bother with her, she just wants food. [Excuse him while he takes a cleanly-wrapped ball of raw meat out of his pocket and holds it out to lure her back in his direction.]

--

[C: July 20th-21st, Late Evening/ungodly hours of the morning OR July 22nd, Evening, Open to existing CR]

[Unfortunately, Shun's particular surge of productivity, even for him, has been born of something else. Namely the fact that his nightmares are coming back in force for the first time since May, and it's getting to the stage where even trying to sleep is a laughable idea, when it feels like so much as shutting his eyes is all the cue his mind needs to pull sounds and images of burning and screaming, combat and destruction out of everywhere from its surface to its deepest recesses. So obviously, the solution here is to spend that additional time on something else useful.

As such, anyone Shun knows and might be inclined to keep an eye on may end up with him lurking in and around temple grounds at what ranges from reasonable but still late in the evening to hours of the morning that should only be known to night shift workers. On one hand, at least he's quiet, so he shouldn't be waking anyone up. On the other...maybe hope your windows aren't available to be stared through, or that you don't run into him by chance. His eyes are a little sharper than they should be in the darkness, owing to the silver bracelet he's wearing with the kind of thick body and intricate lines one might expect to see more on a ring, and his focus turns just as quickly as usual to anyone he notices through it...though perhaps not quite as well as the days wear on, and anyone catching him on the 21st or 22nd stands a good chance of noticing the more pronounced shadows and lines beneath his eyes, those of sleep deprivation rather than his usual faintly worn countenance.

Anyone who catches him outside from inside is likely to just get stared at until such a time as they might choose to come out. If they're already outside, they'll get a slight nod from Shun as if this is an entirely normal thing to be doing at entirely normal hours.]

You're out late. [Implying he isn't.]

[D: July 22nd, Late Evening, Closed]

[Even with what he knows will be willing help available, it takes Shun a while to swallow his pride enough to take it. But by late on Friday, he can feel his alertness and habitual reactions slipping away like they had done the last time he went without sleep for longer than this, and with things as they are right now, he doesn't want to risk that. He isn't sure not being alone will help, but nothing else seems to anyway, and all that's going to happen if he doesn't admit it now is getting found out tomorrow.

It still takes him longer than it should to actually send the text asking for that help, that isn't even directly doing so. Old habits die hard.]

If you're not asleep, I'll be at your temple in a minute.

[He doesn't really think this is worth dragging Ren out of his temple or even out of bed for, but the text is more a warning for something he was already on his way to doing. It is really only about a minute before he shows up, leaping up to alight on whichever balcony happens to be closest to Ren's bedroom, and then having to lean back against the barrier and press a hand against his face as even that simple motion makes his head swim. He'd been driving himself much less the last time he went this long or longer without sleep, and the additional exertion apparently hasn't been doing him any favours.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'd be even less likely to let you do it alone. [Even if his shinki were helping, Shun's planning to have a lot more numbers than just three whenever the confrontation happens, and hopefully with people more equipped to deal with this sort of thing than Ren. Not to mention that he's starting to suspect a bit more what Ren might be angling for here, and he'd really rather not let that happen when Ren's already having worries about himself.

Once he's gotten past that declaration, though, he tilts his head a bit with what appears to be one of those thoughtful frowns he wears when he's trying to decide how he feels about something on his face. That being the fingers on his back, because while it feels like an odd thing to do so purposefully, it does feel nice enough that he's not sure he really has grounds to question it.

A few moments later, though, he does bring the hand at the base of Ren's spine back behind himself in an attempt to catch Ren's hand.]

We should go back upstairs. [Other than the awkward questions they're likely to get if they get walked in on like this, Shun figures it's best to keep any further debate about handling the killer away from potential prying ears as well, even if it seems they've largely run themselves down on that.]

Oh, right. [Upstairs. He'd kind of forgotten that they needed to go back upstairs at some point. And while it's tempting to be difficult and keep moving his hand out of reach and just stay like this a little while longer, he's definitely more interested in heading back upstairs, so he lets Shun catch his hand without any fuss and starts pulling away so they can get moving.

Then he suddenly looks alarmed and abruptly turns away.]

I almost forgot--here you go.

[And the turns back to hand Shun one of his two owl-shaped mugs of tea, which has probably steeped way too long by now but at least it's also probably at a drinkable temperature.]

[At least Shun probably would have pointed out the tea if Ren had completely forgotten to grab it before they went back upstairs, but since Ren remembers at the last moment, he doesn't need to. He takes the cup with a slight nod of appreciation, but then seems to hesitate for a moment longer as he looks at it.

Once he notices he's doing that, though, he turns away himself, apparently not planning to actually drink the tea until they get back upstairs.]

At least it'll be strong by now. [Says the guy whose coffee strength is fit to probably knock out the uninitiated. He sure does seem to be paying a lot more attention to the cup than he is what's in it right now, though, like he's trying to figure out something about it.]

[Is this really the kind of tea they want to be disgustingly strong, though...Not that it matters since he's going to drink it anyway.

The amount of attention Shun's giving to the mug as they head out definitely doesn't escape his notice, since it's pretty rare for Shun to pay so much attention to something like a mug. Ren spends most of the trip across the courtyard studying Shun just to make sure he's right about that (and a little because he just likes looking at Shun, especially when it seems like he's trying to figure something out).

But eventually, he leans over to smile cutely up at Shun.] It's cute, isn't it?

[Apparently, Shun doesn't have much of a filter when it comes to what drinks should or shouldn't be disgustingly strong.

Ren studying Shun doesn't go unnoticed for long, and eventually he glances over like he's wondering if Ren is about to point something out he's missed. Which...okay, he kind of does, but it's also not the sort of thing Shun is apt to admit, and he lets out a quiet huff.]

It's a mug. I wouldn't know. [Yeah, about that not drinking any tea until they got back to Ren's room. He's just going to drink some now and pretend Ren didn't pretty much nail what he'd been trying to figure out.]

[That pretending isn't going to do him much good. Ren's smile turns more sly and knowing anyway, since he's just going to take that lack of saying anything as an agreement, whether he meant it to be or not.

After all, it's an objective fact that the mug is cute and since it's a bird too even Shun should be able to see that.]

I have another one with an owl on the inside where it's hidden until you've drunk enough to see it, but I thought this one was cuter.

[At this point, Shun doesn't really expect it to, but he can at least try to preserve some of his dignity. However little that tends to work either.

At least he gives up on the drinking tea instead of answering part, though he seems thoughtful again now.] I didn't know you liked owls that much.

[...And he still has an owl plushie that, among others, he needs to get rid of at some point. But for now, he's going to incredibly subtly switch topics a bit so he stands less of a chance of embarrassing himself more.] I haven't seen the rest of your cats today.

[He already had a couple when they first met, and he did mention wanting more when he contacted Souji, so he's been kind of expecting more than two.]

Oh, well, these were supposed to be a gift. [He shrugs to say it's complicated and he doesn't really want to talk about it and he probably wouldn't even have said that much if he didn't think Shun would ask why he made a face.] But I think they're cute too. There are a few owls in Vanguard. Not in my clan, though...

[They're fierce predators that hunt at night and can be cute and also spin their heads around to a disturbing degree. What's not to love?

he's more than happy to move on to the other cute things in the house, though, and he pauses at the bottom of the stairs to tap his chin and glance around the room for a moment.]

I think a couple of them were already asleep on the couch...they don't always come to bed with me--oh, there's one.

[He unnecessarily points to the kitten that just came clattering along the edge of the fountain, chasing after one of the fish inside.]

You'll definitely see them all in the morning, though. They know when it's time for breakfast.

[Given Shun is well aware of who Ren might've wanted to give something with a cute animal design to once upon a time, he doesn't ask, instead just moving on to respond to what he says next.] I have a few in my deck, but that's to be expected.

[With the kind of theming Shun's deck has, it was pretty much a given he was going to have owls in it somewhere. Not that he really considers them "cute", because that sounds too soft for his monsters.

As Shun hears the sound of one of them running along the edge of the fountain, his attention immediately turns that way probably a little before the pointing. As soon as Ren mentions the morning, though, the knowing look of someone who has experienced a similar struggle crosses his face as he turns back.]

I know that much. I've had to open up at the cafe a few times, and we've got a lot more than five, or however many it is you've got. [Getting mobbed by a dozen or two cats is not a new experience for him.] I suppose I figured they came to bed with you more often with the pictures you've taken.

[Ren waves an open hand to agree with Shun's estimate of his number of cats.]

But you're already awake when they start telling you it's time to eat.

[Granted, it's not actually that bad--only the two newest kittens haven't figured out that making a fuss isn't going to get him out of bed faster--but Shun can find that out for himself in the morning. For now, he's just going to start heading up the stairs.]

Some of those I took during the day. Some of them are from after taking a bath--nobody was there when went upstairs but somehow they were all there once I was out of the bath...

I'd probably be awake by the time they start doing it here as well. I don't sleep in often. [Preferably, he doesn't sleep in at all, but there have been times he was so exhausted he couldn't help it.

Heading up the stairs as well, Shun takes another sip of his tea. He already started it even though it was mostly as an excuse not to answer, so he might as well keep going.]

Maybe they wanted to surprise you. [It's hard to tell if he's serious or not, but he does still remember his conversation with Kaneki way back when about cat motivations. And then he shrugs.] Or maybe they were waiting for you to come back because you'd be warmer to sit on after you came out of a bath.

[There's the pragmatism.]

Oh, so are you going to make me breakfast in the morning too?

[Since, if Shun's going to be the first one up, he gets to be the one who feeds the kittens too...it might help if Ren actually explained that thought process, but he's pretty sure he doesn't have to.

(He may or may not be kidding.)

Shun's assessment of his kittens' reasoning is pretty spot on and Ren laughs a little.] I bet it was both. Oh, and it looks like they wanted to surprise me again.

[Having reached the top of the stairs, he can now see into his room and the bed in his room, where three kittens are now laying in various places.]

I owe you for helping. If you're actually going to let me make breakfast. [If Ren didn't think Shun was going to take that request 100% seriously given the situation, he was very wrong about that. Obviously if Ren won't let him help tonight, he can make up for it in the morning.

Shun's halfway through another sip of tea by the time they reach the top of the stairs, though he lowers the mug pretty quickly with a bit of a raised brow once he notices the kitten-filled state of Ren's bed.] Looks like they're covering their bases on not leaving you any space.

[...Well, they're kittens, so they don't take up that much room, but lying down straight would still be a bit of a challenge.]

Of course I'll let you make breakfast. [After all, that'll be after Shun has slept a little. Or at least laid down for a few hours.

Ren finally takes a couple sips of his own tea as he crosses the room, and then sets the mug down on the bedside table so he can have both his hands free to shift the kittens around to just one side of the bed.] Too bad for them, I'm just going to move them~

[Luckily, although the kittens sound pretty put out and cling to the bedspread when they get picked up, they're pretty happy to resettle on top of each other when Ren sets them back down again.]

So do you want to sit or lie down?

[Well, that's something he can do, at least. For the moment, Shun just figures he might as well finish his tea before he isn't really in a position to do it anymore, so he does that as he watches Ren move the cats. While he isn't quite smiling when the kittens resettle themselves into a pile, there's definitely a somewhat soft look on his face.

The question distracts him, though, and he sets his cup aside for the moment.] Whichever one works better. I've never had this done or seen it done before, so you'd probably know that more than me.

[Obviously he has the general idea of what it looks like, but he genuinely doesn't know if posture makes a difference.]

Hmmm... [Since he hasn't actually done this before either, he also isn't sure which would work better. Which he's not going to mention, although his thoughtful humming is probably suspicious enough.

He definitely knows which option he'd like better, though, and he hasn't exactly been clearing the bed with sitting in mind.]

I think we should try lying down first.

[While it is pretty suspicious, Shun's not really in a position to call him out for it right now. As long as he doesn't manage to completely screw it up, they're probably fine. Still, he does give Ren a bit of an aside glance just for the principle of showing it didn't fly right by him.

Lying down on his front isn't really something Shun's that prone to doing, though - as a sleeping position, it adds another vital second or two to the time it takes to get up and face any potential sneak attackers, so he doesn't do it. While he gets onto the bed without objections, the unfamiliarity probably shows in the somewhat awkward way he lowers himself down on his hands until he's finally lying prone.]

I don't know if I'd do this if it wasn't you asking. [Or maybe one or two others. There's very few people Shun would trust to be that close to him while he's in a position like this.]

[He looks so awkward lying down, it almost makes Ren wonder if this is actually going to accomplish anything. On the other hand, Shun is pretty cute when he's feeling awkward and he always likes seeing shun ushing himself a little out of his comfort zone for him.]

I know. That means a lot to me.

[(Also his bare back is just as nice to look at as his front and he gets to look at it on his bed, so as long as Shun seems okay with going along with this, he's definitely going to push his luck as far as he can.)

Shun is not the only one feeling a little awkward, though, so it takes Ren a moment to actually climb onto the bed with him. Still, it's only a little and he's definitely never let that stop him.]

I'll have to be on top of you.

[He says while in the middle of climbing on top of Shun to sit on his legs, so it's less of a warning than it could have been and Shun undoubtedly knows that anyway, but at least he tried.]

[Shun turns his head a bit, shifting to try and find a slightly more comfortable way to rest himself. It's an unusual position for him, but that's not enough to actually put him off any, which probably isn't too hard to tell given he's trying to settle himself in better.

After a few moments of rearranging himself, he just ends up propping himself up very slightly on his elbows, forearms still lying on the bed. Almost out of reflex, he tilts his head back very slightly - it doesn't do much, but it does hide that little bit more of the scarred area at the top of his back.

The fact that Ren takes a moment to get onto the bed as well gets a faint snort out of Shun, as if to cover his own previous awkward moment, but he doesn't remark on it. For the moment, at least. And thankfully, he does have some idea of the position Ren needs to be in for this to work, so he doesn't do more than tense briefly when Ren starts climbing over his legs.]

I know. I'll manage. [Not that it's the weight that's the real issue anyway, but he also doesn't present any reaction more overt than a slight colouring to his cheeks.] If I was uncomfortable with it, I would've said it earlier.

[And he trusts that Ren isn't going to go out of his way to make him uncomfortable (or at least uncomfortable enough that he'd have to stop), so at this point he doesn't really mind what's done.]

[Shun might be hoping to hide his scars a little bit, but all that bit of movement really does is draw more attention to them. Especially since Ren already has his attention there since that was where he was thinking of starting. And since he's also just very interested in them already and how Shun got them.

He still thinks it's a little too forward to just ask, but once he's situated comfortably straddling Shun's legs, he can't help reaching out to trail his fingers over them instead, for long enough that it's obviously not accidental. It's tempting to just forget the massage and just keep running his hands over Shun (maybe until Shun got frustrated with it and flipped their positions), but that wouldn't exactly be relaxing. Which is kind of the point of all this.

So eventually, Ren's other hand joins his first, and he transitions to a combination of squeezing Shun's shoulders and digging his thumbs along the base of his neck to start trying to get him to relax.]

...It might be easier for you to relax if you lay with your head on your arms.

Edited 2017-07-27 17:19 (UTC)

[As usual, Shun twitches slightly at the contact, and he bites down on a sharp breath so he doesn't make Ren think it actually hurt. The scars have been there as long as he's been here, so they're not still fresh enough to be painful, but there's a bizarre numbness to them that almost feels sensitive of itself, and he doesn't quite know how to respond to the feeling...other than that it actually feels nice, once he gets past the conflicting signals.

He does let out that breath when Ren actually starts digging his thumbs in, but it's more surprised than anything. This is definitely something he's never done before, and never even done anything close before, so before he can relax properly, he's going to have to get used to it a bit.

Given his lack of knowledge here, though, he does take Ren's suggestion, laying his arms over one another and bringing his head down to lie sideways on them.]

I think it's going to take me a minute to get used to anyway. It's...different. [But he'll just keep one eye on Ren's hands as he works, don't mind him.]

[Ren pauses just long enough the let Shun get settled and then goes back to work, rubbing small circles into Shun's skin with an intense look of concentration.]

Just let me know if it hurts. I don't really know what I'm doing either.

[But he's already on top of Shun doing it, so it's too late to back out now! Not that Shun would have much difficulty in throwing him off if he wanted...

Still, even without really knowing what he's doing, even he can tell how tense Shun's muscles are. Whether he'll actually help or just end up giving Shun some bruises remains to be seen, but he'll do his best.]

[Well, at least it's on the table that neither of them know what they're doing here. It gets a faint snort out of Shun, who just keeps watching for the moment.]

I figured that out as soon as you couldn't tell which position was better. It'd take a lot to hurt me anyway.

[So Shun seems confident that Ren at least won't do him any damage. Probably. His muscles are definitely extremely tense, though - even the small circling motions are enough to get them feeling a little strange, the particular working of the muscles unfamiliar compared to what he usually does with them.

It doesn't take too long for him to adjust, thankfully, and eventually he gives a quiet, appreciative hum at the continued motions.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[OPEN + closed/semi-closed] a nightingale in a golden cage

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject