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[flaredo]

"Heeey, you've reached Yang! Well, actually, you didn't reach far enough, 'cause I'm not here right now! But don't yang up! Just leave a message on this baby, and I'll get back to you soon enough, okay?"

[ Please specify VOICEMAIL, TEXT or CALL. ]

Comments

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[masakados]

...

[Some parts of it he minds saying, he's not sure if he can. But, if she wants to hear about the other things, then maybe someday he can tell her the rest...

He doesn't know. But he shakes those thoughts out of his mind for now.] Was there anything you were really curious about?

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[flaredo]

How you met your demons, how you got turned into one, your own Romance Hour-- [ she holds up a hand, ticking off the items on her fingers. ]

Like I said, anything. It doesn't have to be anything serious.

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[masakados]

I'm gonna tell you in advance, I don't have a Romance Hour.

[Naoki gives her side a gentle prod with a smile.]

But... hm. [Since how he met his demons can actually go on for a while depending on how many he lists--] It was right after the Conception happened that I was changed. These two... people held me down while they gave me this thing called a magatama. It's like a parasite, and it's the pure essence of a demon, so it can turn even a human into one.

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[flaredo]

...

[ Her eyebrows are going to knit together as she ponders this, and the more she does, the more bewildered she looks. ]

So the world ended, you got jumped by two people, and they stuck a parasite in you without even bothering to ask, and it gave you tattoos and a horn?

[ ... ]

Without even bothering to ask??

[ YEAH THAT PART BUGS HER. ]

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[masakados]

[That's the part that bugs her, huh--

But Naoki nods and he absently runs his fingers across one of his eyes, remembering the pain of the magatama.] Yeah, they didn't bother to ask. It was a "special gift" one of them wanted to give to me.

[If he'd had the choice, he would've preferred to stay a human, but. It did save his life. Even if he knows what the purpose was behind it, now.]

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[rollin]

[ Yata hums in thought. That's right, Mikoto never chose who'd take the helm of HOMRA...

But wait. ]

Then who's your team leader?

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[flaredo]

A 'special gift' could have been like... a new outfit, or a weapon, or a puppy or something, not-- a parasite.

[ Now she just looks disgruntled. ] I mean, that's kind of a major thing, and you didn't even have a choice...

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[flaredo]

Ruby!

[ Are you surprised, Yata? ]

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[rollin]

[ He nearly falls out of his seat. ]

SERIOUSLY!? [ But she's also so... so awkward. Not leader material. He can't say that in front of Yang, though. ] Uh, I mean...! Why?

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[masakados]

[Naoki reaches over to her, twisting the ends of some of her hair. He hesitates giving the full story but after a moment or two of watching her disgruntled face...]

...He was interested in me, but more like what use I could have to him.

If he could get me to collect his candelabra from the Fiends and bring them all to him, then what he wanted would happen. [He rubs a piece of her hair absently in-between his fingers.] He would be able to make a new demon of chaos and raise an army of demons.

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[flaredo]

[ Naoki, if you are trying to make Yang any less baffled, it's not working. ]

Fiends are also demons, right? So he... sent you to get a bunch of candlesticks and that would make you more of a demon and then there'd be an army? Was this a Reason too?

[ SHE'S SO CONFUSED. ]

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[flaredo]

Because she's Ruby! She knows how to keep her head in a crisis. And out of everyone, she's always known what she's wanted to do, and why.

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[masakados]

Nah. As far as I could tell, he was serving his own agenda.

[SORRY YANG.] He-- Lucifer originally gave the candelabra to the Fiends himself, and me bringing them back was actually more like a test. But he and the woman lied and told me they were stolen by the Fiends and that if I could bring them back to them, I'd be able to get my questions about the Vortex World and why things had happened answered...

A demon, Beelzebub, told me the truth... Lucifer's planning on waging a war on the force, the "Great Will", that causes things like the Conception to happen. 'Cause the Conception happens in a lot of worlds, not just mine.

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[flaredo]

Okay... I think I get it. [ except she's rubbing her forehead. ]

So he basically turned you into a demon so he could raise you into something super strong that would fight for him.

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[rollin]

[ He stops and thinks—for a second. ] You mean that's not you?

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[masakados]

[It's complicated he knows... He looks at her sympathetically and nods.]

That's basically it, yeah. --but, I wasn't about to go and give up on bringing back my world, so I stopped bringing him any more of those candelabra.

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[flaredo]

Good for you! [ emphatic, maybe? No, definitely. ]

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[flaredo]

... I thought I knew. [ she smiles, vaguely, down at her plate. ] But someone questioned me on it, and now... I'm not so sure.

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[masakados]

[So emphatic... Naoki laughs at it and slips his hand away from her hair, leaning his arms against his knees.]

Thanks. Though... I shoulda realised what was going on sooner.

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[flaredo]

You had a lot on your plate, though, right? [ she draws her knees to her chest, resting her cheek there as she looks at him. ]

Your world got destroyed, you were pretty much alone, there were these weird Reasons...

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[masakados]

[Naoki looks down at his hands, absently tugging on the sleeves of his hoodie with one of them.]

...Yeah. But I let myself get fooled a lot. I was gullible.

[He says it... like he's heard that quite a few times from others.]

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[flaredo]

...

Hey, Naoki-- [ and she crooks a finger, beckoning. C'mere a bit. ]

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[masakados]

... Hm?

[Immediately leans closer with a confused face like what.]

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[flaredo]

[ She won't speak until he's closer, when she can stare into his eyes for a good few seconds--

And flick him on the forehead. ]

You didn't have a whole lot to go on, did you? That doesn't make you gullible, dummy.

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[masakados]

Ow--

[He flinches (in surprise more than anything), bringing his palm up to his forehead and leaning back.

But, he wants to say, but he should've, he should've realised, especially how everyone was using him, down to Hijiri, and he opens his mouth but takes a second look at Yang and stops himself.]

You really think so?