001 | voice

[comic_relief]

Hey, wait. Not yet, hold on. You can't come yet, I have to call somebody fir--whoa! _{[A stifled intake of breath. A pleading note.]} Oh, come on, give me a break. Not yet!

<sub>[The message starts with a Jack's voice drifting in and out of range, like somebody caught between talking away from the receiver and turning into it. Urgency threads through the words.

There's a distant squeak of bed springs, another hissed breath.]</sub>

Ohhhh, I see something! _{[That urgency ramps up to something closer to awe and terror of the unknown.]} It's pink in there! I can see it moving around! I forget what I'm supposed to do! I was just getting used to having Eggbert around and now he's falling to pieces on me.

_[Faintly:]

Oh, shit...

_{[Even fainter, the sound of a delicate, barely audible cheep.]}

What the hell is that? You gotta come over and bring the dog food or something-- Wait. _{[Now there's a sudden silence as a perplexed somebody realizes this isn't the private call he thought he was making. Goddamn phones, where's a moogle when you need one?]} This isn't even the right line! Lemme try that again.

_{[That there is the definitive 'click' of a hang up.]}

Comments

[comic_relief]

... Are you not wearing shoes?

<sub>[That's what you choose to focus on instead of the blood-smeared demon using your room as her own personal paint-by-numbers? Apparently it is. Perhaps it's because cleaning a little blood from the carpet is one thing he can do after a morbidly large amount of his life washing opponents' bloodstains from his gear.

But live like a civilian? Take care of a baby animal? If only Ibaraki were hiding an instructional manual under that baggy shirt.

Letting the phone receiver fall to the bed, Jack hops down. If she's going to get close to it, he can't be seen as afraid to do the same. With a sigh, he joins her on the floor.]</sub>

It seems a little small to be a dragon egg. But I do know this one's special, so no making mincemeat of it, 'kay? This one's going to help me fill in the blanks in my memory, I just know it.

_{[Humans are great at wishful thinking.]}

[dehanded]

[ with a flat stare, she extends one leg to set her foot on Jack's leg, toes wiggling, which only makes the inch long claws at the end of each wiggle as well. ]

Human shoes do not work! And unless I have a contract, there is no reason to be wasteful and wear human feet instead.

[ she leaves her foot there (thankfully, it's redness only comes from the natural color of her skin and oni patterns, not any blood like her hands), and grumbles under her breath. ]

Human memory is useless. You will forget again before you die, so why do you care so much...? I am hungry, that is more important...

[comic_relief]

I see your point. Pun intended with those nails. I'm just impressed you don't get frostbite lurking outside people's windows in this kind of weather.

<sub>[Or some blood-borne disease from mucking around with dead animals, for that matter...

Jack searches his memory, but he can't recall a time in Rubrum where he was ever touched as casually as he is here, like some kind of barrier between him and the rest of the world has fallen away (though in Ibaraki's case, it's more that she doesn't care about barriers in general). With the underside of her foot exposed, it's reflex to reach out and gently draw his fingertip along the curve of her arch. Do demon girls get ticklish? We're finding out here and now, folks.

The combination of the tangy smell of blood and something about her words--you will forget again before you die--gets Jack frowning slightly. There's a boulder in his head he's waiting to fall and her choice of words pushes it a few centimeters closer to the edge.]</sub>

That's just the thing, it's the other way around. I'm alive and there are things I have to remember. People I have to get back to. _{[Soon enough that frown turns upside down and he turns back to her, wearing the wry result.]} Didn't you say you have a deer? Mmm, venison! Think of that tasty deer meat!