"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?"
Not last time I checked. [He'll give her back another gentle jab before he shifts from sitting behind her, plopping to her instead, absently tugging at one of the strings of his hoodie. Oh is he done with hair-playing... it seems like it.]
[ There's a bit of a surprised pause-- before Yang smiles, pleased, and reaches over to briefly ruffle his hair. That's not a compliment she hears too often. ]
I like listening to you too, even if you don't talk about yourself that much.
I think a lot of stuff wouldn't be that fun to listen to. [It's dark, all of his time in the Vortex World, and even the past's been coloured by that.] Or, the rest of the stuff is just things that're really normal. [From before the Conception.]
[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?
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.
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.]
[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.
[ 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?
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.
[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.]
Obviously, I don't know everything you've been through, but I'd like to think I know you by now. And the Naoki I know is the kind of guy who worries way too much about other people and tries to look out for others. If you don't have an answer, you do what you can to learn it. And you're trying to restore the world to the way it was, even if apparently everyone else wants you to do what they want.
[ She shakes her head, eyes still narrowed. ]
If you were fooled, it wasn't because you were gullible. It was because you were surrounded by a bunch of jerks who wanted to take advantage of you.
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[ Teasing, always the default. ]
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Not last time I checked. [He'll give her back another gentle jab before he shifts from sitting behind her, plopping to her instead, absently tugging at one of the strings of his hoodie. Oh is he done with hair-playing... it seems like it.]
I like listening to you, that's all.
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I like listening to you too, even if you don't talk about yourself that much.
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Well, that's...
I think a lot of stuff wouldn't be that fun to listen to. [It's dark, all of his time in the Vortex World, and even the past's been coloured by that.] Or, the rest of the stuff is just things that're really normal. [From before the Conception.]
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... Normal or not fun, it's still learning more about you, isn't it? I don't mind listening to any of it.
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[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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Like I said, anything. It doesn't have to be anything serious.
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[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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[ 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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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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[ 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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...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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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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[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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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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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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Thanks. Though... I shoulda realised what was going on sooner.
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Your world got destroyed, you were pretty much alone, there were these weird Reasons...
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...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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Hey, Naoki-- [ and she crooks a finger, beckoning. C'mere a bit. ]
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[Immediately leans closer with a confused face like what.]
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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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[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?
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[ She shakes her head, eyes still narrowed. ]
If you were fooled, it wasn't because you were gullible. It was because you were surrounded by a bunch of jerks who wanted to take advantage of you.
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