Who knows what’s right? The lines keep getting thinner

[makejapangreat]

Who: Shido Masayoshi and whatever unfortunate soul decides to approach him (Open)
What: Shido is working himself to the bone via self-inflicted punishment
When: Early May (like 5/1 ~ 5/12 or thereabouts)
Where: Various
Warnings: Lots of badbrain stuff going on with Shido rn, including self-deprecation, possible thoughts of suicide


[Library]
[Off in the corner sits a man, pouring over a manner of books. The more the days go by, the more that energy and health is sapped from him. The bags under his eyes have been persistent since day one of arriving here, but the noticeable changes are that he does seem to be losing some weight, and perhaps becoming a bit pallid... Yet a fire burns behind his eyes as he reads at the library like clockwork, occasionally extending a hand, fingers tensing, trying to press themselves down on some invisible object. Very occasionally, if one just happens to be around at the right time of day, they might hear a singular "pop" of air in his direction. It's also possible, at times, to find him completely slumped over on the table he's at, asleep, often grunting and twitching in his sleep— it's clearly not very restful...

On a brighter now, later on in the week you might see a henohenomoheji drawn on the back of Shido's head? He doesn't seem to be aware of this...]

[Library - 5/7 (Closed to Izunia)]
[There's more than just a pop today. Today? There's an outright crackle and snap of electricity.

Followed by an agonized yell and the clatter of a chair.

Shido lays on the floor, breathing heavily, one arm desperately clutching at the other that spasms from the surge of electricity that had torn through it. And then something peculiar happens.

Shido laughs. An unsteady sort of laugh, but nevertheless.

Maybe he electrocuted himself so badly he fried his brain...]

[Outside]
[If you get extra lucky, you might catch Shido outside. Particularly, the spot he chooses to go is north, to the top of the Skyclimb Cliffs, where he looks out to the ocean. It seems, well... somewhat of a precarious place for someone to be, really. He seems to be awfully close to the edge at times, no sign of fear or wariness in his body. You might catch him looking down, as if considering something, but for the most part? His gaze remains on the endless blue.

And then, after about thirty minutes of this, he'll quietly turn and head back.]

Comments

Outside

[dragonmouth]

[ As he heads back, he'll likely run into Tali, practicing her sword either on some unseen, imaginary enemy, or using it to cut off whatever plants happen to be in the area. A bottle of water and a large, cut-open and smelly fruit wait off some feet away, offending the noses of whoever passes by.

Look, she was told to take the durian outside. ]

[makejapangreat]

[Ah, he recognizes this lady. The one who had a rather alarming number of sharp things stuffed in her clothes. She didn't seem to take too kindly to the reveal of who he was.

Needless to say, he's giving her a wide berth. The durian gets a distasteful nose wrinkle, but mostly? He's just aiming on getting back to the station without a new wound, thanks.]

[dragonmouth]

[ She doesn't quite notice Shido just yet, so she goes over to her water bottle and chugs it before taking a piece of the smelly fruit and chewing on it, delicately. Then she almost turns to head back to the station, before...

oh shit son is that a giant enemy clam GIVE HER THAT

She picks up a nearby sharp-looking rock and aims for the opening in its shell. It makes a sweet-ass land into the "mouth", preventing the clam from fully closing up, but not before a burst of electrified water is released in all the clam's clammy dismay.

Yeah she's gonna try to dodge that, and... mostly succeeds? Although now that there's an opening, she's charging like hell. ]

you know it

[founderinglight]

[The sudden burst of sound draws attention from the library's other occupant - who was on the edge of a nap at the time, mind. Izunia is certainly awake now, though, and he feels the electricity in the air -

Which perhaps makes it surprising that he approaches, hands out, and catches the last few tingling sparks.]

Much as that sounds like success, do be careful.

[makejapangreat]

[He glances over at Izunia, breathes a moment, then slowly pulls himself to a sitting position, still grimacing a bit.]

Only took me a full week of nearly non-stop practice to do it. [He shakes his head, grinning triumphantly.] Might've been the wrong target, but that doesn't matter. [Shido. It. Kind of matters if you don't want to end up killing yourself?]

[founderinglight]

Given your background, I'd say that's commendable. Though perhaps pushing a bit hard.

[He considers a moment, then pulls a blue-glowing bottle from his Armiger, handing it off to Shido without a second thought. The walls of the bottle are thin and fragile, ready to shatter at a touch.]

But you'll also do no good if you manage to give yourself permanent nerve damage on your first attempt, and lightning is more vicious to mistakes than most magic. Break it, don't drink it.

Library

[letsplayer]

[Marla finds him asleep in the library as she sips on an ice coffee and reads Atlanta Nights, peering over at him as she holds her book up in front of her.

There's also some snacks she brought because she totally is the inconsiderate fuck who brings food and drink into a library.

Welp. Time to release a large blue jellyfish from its Pokeball and plop it onto his face. Don't worry, the Frillish won't eat his soul or anything like that.

Then she snickers a little and proceeds to take his picture.]

[makejapangreat]

[He makes a little disgruntled noise, hand coming up to swat whatever off his face—

to find it to be much larger than some pest of a bug, and immediately he jerks away, both hands coming up to immediately grab at the jellyfish and tear it off his face.]

GAH!

[letsplayer]

[ The monster jellyfish bounds against a wall and gives a disgruntled gurgle, while Marla, sitting at one of the tables nearby by the time Shido's gotten up, quietly takes out another Pokeball and recalls the beast.

Then she takes a sip of that iced coffee and a bite of... oh god it's one of those pink onigiris filled with live spiders.

Upon closer inspection, she seems to be alternating between reading a book and writing things down on small squarish pieces of paper, which are now being dotted with the occasional live spider that falls from her snack. ]

library;

[promittere]

[If there's any consolation, Ignis can't actually see how ragged Shido's managed to run himself. He can't see him at all, actually, which is a bit of a problem.

It's just poor luck that Shido's table is where Ignis is drawn to, books in braille tucked under his arm as he pulls out a seat to take. Or, he would, if said seat was not already occupied by someone who was just trying to sleep.

It's probably not the rudest awakening possible, but it's certainly mortifying.]

[makejapangreat]

[For once, Shido actually seems to be in a rather deep sleep.

This is rather unfortunate news for him, because he does not immediately wake when the chair is pulled. Instead, he just slides off the table...

And hits his head right on the corner of the chair. With a startled yell, he jerks his head away, only to bang it into the edge of the table.

The result? He clutches at his head, groaning in pain.]

What the hell?

[promittere]

[He feels...Well.

He feels bad, mostly. He recognizes the voice of the other man - kind of hard not to what with the Everything that's been going on - and it's just.

Awkward. Mortifying. Et cetera.]

I didn't mean to wake you.

[Or, you know. Hurt you. He's not Goro, after all.]

Outside

[foolishjustice]

[As he's turning to leave, Shido will hear a loud splash down below. If he looks, he'll see that Goro's decided to hit the beach again. Unlike the times they'd talked, there's a grin on his face as he swims around...a much more natural one than any of the expressions he shows on television. In fact, even from a distance, it's kind of obvious he's genuinely enjoying himself here.]

[makejapangreat]

[Shido does indeed glance over, and even from a distance, he immediately recognizes who he is.

... he looks happy. Ever since Shido had gotten here, ever since he'd had his heart changed, his soul has been in unending torment.

Except for now. Just briefly, just while this sight lasts and he can see Akechi genuinely happy, he feels a sense of... peace. And yet also a strange sense of... longing?

. . .

He supposes he can watch. Just for a little while... after all, he is alone out here. What if something were to happen?]

[foolishjustice]

[Something like, say, Goro diving under the water and not coming back up? Because, at some point, he decides he wants to check out something underwater, and not needing to breathe removes his motivation for coming back up.

...Yeah, he's going to be down there for at least a few minutes.]

Library

[superstylishsquid]

[At some point while Shido's asleep, someone drags in a blanket to drape over his shoulders, along with dropping a bowl of cashews and a bottle of water on the table next to him.

If he looks around for the culprit, he'll find Alastor sitting nearby, studying a turtle shell carved with runes. There's no proof it was him, but he is munching from his own bowl...]

[makejapangreat]

[He does jerk awake at some point, breathing a bit raggedly. The blanket... comes as a source of confusion. And... are those nuts? And water?

He does look around and see the devil boy not too far away. It's... a little surprising, really. He hadn't expected this kindness from anyone after what had been revealed about him, even though there were already at least a few that seemed to insist otherwise...

Nevertheless, give credit where credit is due.]

Thank you. [Oh boy, his voice is drained. He blinks, then brings a hand up to roughly rub his face.]

library

[meowna]

[Human ears might not be able to hear it, unless they're practically right next to Shido. Morgana, though? He hears that soft snap of static as clearly as though he were sitting right there on the table.]

Hmmm? Something wrong with the lights?

[Morgana pokes his head out from the bookshelf he's been walking along, peering around. The lights don't seem to be flickering or buzzing like anything's wrong with them..... Oh, but there's Shido at one of the tables?]

[makejapangreat]

Curses.

[He swears under his breath, sweat dribbling down his forehead as his fingers strain in the air, trying to replicate what he had just done. Something more powerful than that.

But nothing happens.

Through gritted teeth:]

Come on...

Library!

[caduceusoncall]

[Angela is in the library nearly every day, herself. Unfortunately she's an observant person, perhaps to a fault at times. She can't help but notice Shido, and his rapidly declining health. Which sucks because she's read the network posts. She knows this man is objectively evil.]

[Or was. He seemed plenty remorseful in his own reply, for what that was worth.]

[But her instinct is to help him, no matter what he's done. It's her duty. With a sigh, she closes the book she's reading and gets up. It isn't her place to judge him, she reminds herself as she makes her way to the kitchen - only to heal the injured and ill. And Shido was certainly looking ill. When she returns with water and an orange, Shido has dozed off again.]

[She sets the items down on the table and gently places a hand on Shido's shoulder.]

You would rest better in a bed, you know.

[makejapangreat]

[The touch is unfamiliar. It's not often that Shido's actually touched in such a compassionate, even if politely distant, gesture, and he stirs with confusion.]

...Kishi...?

[... haha. Of course it's not Kishi. He blinks, then rubs a hand down his face with a groan, not even taking the water and orange into account yet.]

What time is it?

Library (late week)

[kingshaming]

[Most people wouldn't know the sound of an electrical snap when they heard it just once. And honestly, consciously, Xander doesn't either, even as his slightly pointed ears turn towards the sound as he browses the books. But having fought both mages and, more terrifyingly, Ryoma's electrified sword - he knows the sound like a baby bird knows the shadow of a hawk and is on edge at once.

Or was, until he turned towards the noise and saw the back of Shido's head]

... shouldn't it also have glasses?

[makejapangreat]

[Shido doesn't immediately realize that he's being spoken to, but at some point he does look up and spot Xander looking directly at him.]

... sorry?

Library (Around 5/8)

[notjustahacker]

...Just what are you trying to do, exactly?

[ She'd heard the noise and realized it'd been coming from here, peering around the nearest shelf to look at him and now she was hesitating. A part of her didn't wanna be here but yet, something else made her stay and so she didn't back off. Even coming a bit closer to him to try and get a better look, but it was clear she was wary about him at the moment. ]

Also has anyone said you look like you're related to death himself?

[makejapangreat]

[Ah, that voice makes him completely stop what he was doing and look over.

God, it's so uncanny just how much he's reminded of Wakaba every time he looks at that girl.

I'm trying to summon electricity. [... he doesn't answer that second part, though he does rub a bit at his face, as though this would somehow help with the pallidness and baggy eyes.]