#angelbrought

[devilbring]

“Kyrie... if you could live anywhere you wanted, have any house you could... where would you wanna live?” Spoken while he stares absentmindedly across the room, tossing his phone in a flip up and down in thought.

( It’s purely hypothetical, @angelbrought​. )

[devilbring]

It’s probably one or two in the morning, and he expects her to be asleep. Which is why he anticipates this going straight to voicemail. Head and body braced against the wall, he stands by the locked bathroom door so Deb can’t stop him from making bad, drunk decisions. Whether or not the voicemail message goes off, he doesn’t notice.

“Kyrie... I love you a lot. I mean it, y’know... I don’t think there’s anyone in the world I could ever love more than you. I just... wanted to make sure you knew that. I’m gonna do better... about making sure nothing like that happens ever again. Okay...? And I’m gonna do better about... about being there for you. You’re always tryin’ to put on a smile, but... I know that you know that I know that you just smile no matter what.” He pauses, losing his train of thought, and sniffs. “This place... it’s really a lot, and... I can’t take us home, not yet. But I’ll be there for you, Kyrie. Always. Because... you’re my home. I don’t need anything else. As long as you’re there, and you’ll let me be there with you.”

There’s another pause, as he tries to put the rest of his thoughts together. “And I’ll tell you all this again, and again, and again, when I’m sober. Promise. I love you.”

( If you’re listening, @angelbrought​, you probably have a second or two to say something before he hangs up. But if it truly is a voicemail, well... you’ll get to listen to all this with him dead asleep beside you, the beer still faint on his breath. He’s at peace, though. For once. )

[devilbring]

He wants to just grab her by the waist and rest his head against her shoulder from behind, but with so many eyes in the room, he’s far too sheepish to do such a thing. Instead he leans his rear against the counter, resting his sound hand against her arm to give it a soft squeeze and a tender rub. “Don’t know about you, but I’m gonna sleep well after all this,” he says, quiet. There’s a pause before the familiar doubts begin to pour out, subtle as they are: “It’s not too much for ya, is it? I’ll be honest, I didn’t think this many people’ll’d show up...”

( Oh, but how his eyes shine, @angelbrought​. To love and be loved -- he feels it so much tonight. )

[devilbring]

Wherever Terra and Griffon brought them, he’s not far from V. Half-collapsed in his seat, swatting away anyone who tries to come over and tend to his wounds. He won’t go anywhere-- not until he knows she’s safe.

And when he does see her, he can’t help but spring from his seat, even though his injured thigh brings him crashing back down. Nothing will keep him from her, and he clamors for the nearest object to support himself and uses it to force himself back to his feet. “Kyrie--!”

His leg gives out every time he tries to stand on it, tendons torn, denying his natural demonic ability to mend, but it doesn’t matter. He’ll fumble his way toward her and wrap his arms around her like a lifeline before he starts to fall again, shifting his weight so that he can fall against the wall and use it to keep them both upright while he holds her close, burying his face in her shoulder, breathing in her scent to find comfort where there is otherwise none. 

“It looks worse than it is,” he says, quiet, already having convinced himself of the lie. “I’m sorry... that you were worried.”

( Maybe his lie would be at least a little convincing to you if his breath wasn’t shaking, @angelbrought​, and his grip wasn’t so tight that it might actually hurt a little. )

[errantkatana]

@angelbrought

Zero sits solemnly in their hiding spot, a building a little more solid than the others in Yesteryear. It took every inch of his willpower to stay, to protect Kyrie and not just thrust himself into the flames. He won’t say it. He wishes Kyrie was in someone else’s hands or simply not here at all, so he could be there for Nero. 

For a long moment, it crossed his mind to simply kill her, to release her to the numbing limbo to free his own hands to save the others. Where, no doubt she’d be safe, to wake wherever her assigned home was. 

Nero would never forgive you for doing such a thing. 

As they both traveled before, Zero continued to doubt his own ability--own stability, even--to carry this out. Despite outward calmness, he found it difficult to respond, to talk. To even fake any emotions as he usually does. 

Instead his face is blank, eyes dull and forward. 

The calm waters high above boiling trenches, dug deep and dark. Seeds of paranoia, a jungle even higher. Canopy choking out every inch of the sky’s light. And for the moment, as they quietly sit, Zero’s back to Kyrie as he gazes out the broken window, he is lost again to his thousand yard stares. 

[devilbring]

@angelbrought​​ sent: a birthday gift (when really your arrival was a gift enough)

whether or not her gift is put to some manner or use, or if it simply serves as a reminder of how much she loves him, kyrie doesn't mind. nero was always so pragmatic, but she recalls with a giggle that he isn't opposed to showing off sometimes. placing a small, neatly wrapped gift in his palm, pure white paper embellished by a silver bow, she pushes herself up on the tips of her toes to lay a gentle kiss upon his cheek.

❝ happy birthday, nero. ❞

when he opens the gift, he will find a silver trinket box, embroidered with filigree at the corners. embossed upon the lid is a seat of beautifully detailed angel wings, and beneath them, his name, engraved in cursive. a little note on a decorated piece of card awaits within the box, simply bearing the words---

❛ i love you. ❜

perhaps it is not as practical as she might've hoped. it's only small, and seemingly won't hold much, but if it brings him a happy memory or two in his darkest times, then that's more than enough.

Cheeks flush ever so slightly, and he takes the box in mechanical hand as his sound hand rises to brush against the ghost of her kiss. “Kyrie... you’re always goin’ above and beyond, you know that?” He says, not straying from her side as he moves to open it right away. Fingers trace the embossed decorations; really, this is all just the cherry on top. Being acknowledged by so many people, his friends, his family, in a sense...

“I was thinkin’ about getting a jar or somethin’ to put my rings in at night,” he says, glancing at the blue glass band on his index and the chunkier ring on his ring finger, “But I gotta admit, this is a lot more elegant.”

He opens it up to see how much space there is, whether there’s a foam insert, and he’s met instead with the card. His heart flutters, ever and always spurred on with the simplest of gestures, and taking the card out of the box, he shows it to Kyrie, asking, “Hey... isn’t that a funny coincidence?”

It’s in his bloodline to defer to humor when emotions run high. It’s either this, or smile and laugh like a dolt. “I love you, too,” Nero adds, then leans in to pull her closer with his mechanical hand so he can brush aside the hair from her brow and offer her a kiss of his own, basking in her scent while he’s at it.

[devilbring]

          “Hey, Kyrie, your phone’s going off!”

He beckons her from the cafe table to hurry back from the washroom. It would be a lie to say the ramblings of the people in the streets didn’t fuel the fire for this sudden scheme. When she checks the screen, she’ll be met with a notification:

Electronic Transfer: Nero has sent you 100 Dust! It has automatically been deposited into your account. Message attached to transfer: kissing both toll

( He’s behind her now, to turn her gently and give her a smooch on the lips. And you best believe he’s going to laugh shyly, blush, and divert his gaze the second they stop, @angelbrought​. )

[salfxsher]

@angelbrought​

Sal hadn’t really been going out that much since he arrived in Spirale. Outwardly it looked like he was complacent to his fate within the city; but inwardly he was suffering. He struggled to accept the fact that he may never see his friends and family again. It wasn’t an easy pill to swallow; to say the least. The depression and anxiety that he suffered through before being taken here had only been amplified by the situation, but...he knew that he needed to try; for himself. 

So, he decided to go out in the early morning to visit one of the markets in Cotes. Perhaps the sun and smell of fresh produce would help improve his mood! It was nice to see bright colors and other people rather than the same 4 walls and dreary lighting for a change. Perhaps he’d even pick up something healthy for himself to eat. All that junk food in his system couldn’t be helping.

Sal browsed through one of the fruit stands. They had plenty of options, but there were two types of fruits that caught his eye specifically. The peaches and nectarines.. He picked up a peach in one hand, and a nectarine in the other. “...What’s the difference? These two look exactly the same.” He even brought each of them up to his prosthetic face so that he could get a whiff. 

“They even smell the same.”