#azureblitzed

[ouroborius]

@azureblitzed {What Sleepless, Horrifying Nights will Do to a Guy}

There isn't a better person that recognizes that something had been on Takumi's mind than the one who had claimed her rightful title as an equal. In fact, even without looking at him entirely, Hiruko could tell that he sounded out of his sound mind. Battles like this certainly had taken a toll on the whole team, but it looks like that toll had been saddled so much upon her team leader that Hiruko had to step in.

Not that she minded. In fact, she preferred to be the one to place herself between him and potential danger. Strength, power, brute force, she was all of it. A slight stark difference from before in the past, where she would simply scold at such weakness. Now, her attention shifts to Takumi while he struggled to answer at first. The look of a lost hazy glaze noted by her when he looks back at her at long last.

"You don't feel good to the point where your attention nearly dented our defense here, team leader. If you weren't feeling good, then you should've stepped out of the way and let me take care of it."

A sigh, her annoyance shifting when she takes note of just how utterly exhausted he looks. Certainly, there had been a lot more on Takumi's mind as of recent, and chastising him wasn't going to help anyone. If he was truly going to hide behind being tired, then Hiruko was going to have to be the one to pull him through to regain his bearings in the midst of his exhaustion.

"Sumino. Look at me."

It wasn't a question. It was a demand, and she keeps her stance up while her crimson eyes stare into him. Adrenaline still fresh in her system, even after the invaders were all dealt with.

"Tell me what you need. If you collapse, I need to know what can I do to help you."

[hamaartia]

“The hell is with these people picking Takumi apart? So what if he’s a bit scrawny and average-sized and he doesn’t have a lot of muscle meat on him. He’s still good at what he does!”

[wouldhope]

✉ @azureblitzed said: "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm… I'm not very good at being good." / gives you takumi having a mental breakdown for Darumi

Ah, shit. Darumi's never been good with comforting others - hell, up until this exact moment, she can't think of a time where she's ever been the person someone vented to or sought support from... Probably because she's never had any real friends before. Even at Last Defense Academy, she tended to keep people at an arm's length with her outlandish personality - but then there was Takumi. He actually bothered to save her, of all people, despite her being such a lowlife... At the cost of so many others. She can't blame him for being so down on himself... He had to make all the hard decisions as the leader, and now he was blaming himself for the war's casualties. It feels impossible for an idiotic good-for-nothing like her to say something, anything of value in this moment, but... She has to try, right? She owed him her life, after all. It's the least she could do for him.

"Hey, hey, don't say that... I mean compared to me, you're like a saint, right?" She tries to laugh, but it falls flat - okay, not the time for jokes. Let's try that again... "Er - what I meant is... You're doing the best you can. Maybe the others think what you did was a mistake, but that's easy for them to say when they're not the ones who need to make split-second decisions like you do! And for what it's worth... I'm glad you saved me. You're a good guy, Takumi - the best guy I know, actually. Which, like, the bar is in hell, but - argh, I keep fucking this up, don't I?"

She sighs in frustration, before she decides to just suck up her awkwardness and make her point clearer by taking words out of the equation entirely - she pulls him into a tight hug, lightly patting him on the back. She's not used to physical contact like this, but that's supposed to make people feel better, right...? Maybe this way, even someone like her could cheer him up... "You're okay... you're good..."

[muses-galore]

@azureblitzed confined from here: X

"I know and that's why I'm doing this. I was planning on respecting your decision but we're at a point where we both know this is how it has to be."

*Eito really had been keeping his word and not administering any painkillers or any such medicine to Takumi. However seeing the fever return and the other's inability to even rest it was the final straw. It had to be done and so as he injected it into the bloodstream a hand would clasp around him.

It still looked as putrid as ever but for now it was not slapped or adjusted in any way. Instead Eito reassumed the role as doctor, a role he had no desire of pursuing but once again desperate times called for desperate measures and wiped down his body to try and stabilise the temperature with the remaining hand.

Once the painkillers did their job maybe it would be beneficial to check the wounds again. In between taking care of Takumi his free time was used to read up on the limited amount of medical journals that were in the library. As such his knowledge of the area grew. After all there was only so much you could learn as a patient.*

"Seems we won't be able to leave here just yet."

[azureaped]

". . ."

[electricea-arc]

@azureblitzed

after how needlessly difficult they made it to contact support (i had to do it via mobile and even then, it seems like support options are limited to being hacked - since they made me answer questions about 2FA and regaining access to my blog) and on top of that, having an automated and canned non-answer dispensed to me, they'll be lucky to see a penny from me. not thrilled with tumblr.

[wishfinder]

Even if Takumi has decided to stay in his room today, that wouldn't prevent Nozomi from leaving a small present on his doorstep : a gift basket with a mix of sweet and savory snacks along with a small photo album of all the shared moments between the SDU. She hopes that he enjoys the mementos and food!

@azureblitzed

[wouldhope]

☆ @azureblitzed / starter!

Darumi has never been the heroic type - quite the opposite, actually. She considered herself to be a coward, the type to just lie down and die whenever she felt like giving up on this whole 'war for the sake of humanity' thing... And she almost did exactly that, the first time the true enemy showed their face. She was ready to just give up and let V'ehxness absorb her until suddenly Takumi had swooped in and saved her, at the cost of the Second to Last Defense Academy students. She remembers all of it, that strange feeling in her chest at the idea that someone had actually cared enough to save her of all people, though she couldn't imagine why, the rift that formed between the students over Takumi's decision and feeling like it must be her fault, too, for having the audacity to survive... She remembered the good times, too - the late nights spent in the library together, searching for some way to bring them back, the long days spent exploring underground tunnels in search of the Retsnom, the catastrophic way it ended... And most of all, she remembers Takumi's kindness as he granted her last requested and let her die at the hands of the only person she ever managed to truly call her friend...

And then, somehow, the hundred days had started all over again - and while her memories remained, it didn't seem like Takumi remembered any of it. Back to being strangers - she supposed it was better that way, nothing good ever came of befriending her, the last timeline was undeniable proof of that... But she kept a close eye on their team leader from a distance. He kept her safe once, after all - she'll pay him back by doing the same for him. It's the very least a useless girl like her can do, after all...

That's how she ended up in a crazy situation like this, standing over the slain metallic body of their commander in a room that looked like it was straight out of a sci-fi horror movie. It had become increasingly clear over the last few weeks that something was very, very wrong with Takumi - and while the rest of the team seemed to chalk it up to trauma, assuming the horrors of war had simply driven their leader insane, Darumi knew better than that. Takumi had remained himself till the very end, even when an insatiable monster had killed each and every one of their comrades - there's no way he would lose himself so easily this time, and seeing the machine he was hooked up to now... Sirei really had been messing with his brain, forcing him to become mindless and compliant. She feels rage boil up inside of her at the thought, pale fingers still shaking with anger and adrenaline, but she has to bite back the scream that tries to claw its way up her throat - there's no time for that now. She still hasn't finished rescuing him, her one and only friend.

"Takumi? Takumi! Wake up!" She rushes over to him, lightly smacking the side of his face a few times before fumbling to undo the straps holding him in place. She just has to pray that he'll go back to normal now that she's put a stop to this, otherwise she's going to have to figure out how to use this machine somehow... "Can you hear me? Come onnn, I know you're still in there somewhere..."