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((Gaia's being odd.... OMG, I can't find my last post anywhere! Now I'm completely lost. Someone fill me in please!))

(( Repost ))

Madam Usagi

The Madam got the message loud and clear. Don’t pry into Solera’s health anymore. Got it. She smiled to show her understanding. Of course she was accustomed to little tip-offs like the one the man just used, as some of her Companions of the past and present tended to act that way as well, namely Sonnen. He didn’t like being fussed over, either, though he put up with much of it since she never could quite squash that maternal instinct over her children.

“It’s quite all right,” she reassured Lorentz. Besides, she could tell the younger blond hadn’t really been paying attention to the act on stage when he’d fled. It seemed he had more interest in watching the pianist instead of the main act, which she noted in her mind. Perhaps he wasn’t impressed by shows of physical prowess. Well, she supposed she could rule out another certain Companion, then, she thought sadly. Oh well. Dancing and contorting wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, even if the Madam was amused to no end by Tel and Cherub’s shows. The Madam also compared Lorentz’s tastes to Othello’s, who had the habit of paying more attention to Sonnen than most other things. Of course she knew of the times the seer would be spying on Sonnen as he practiced or rehearsed, even if the musician didn’t realize it himself — she was the madam of the household, after all, and Levant as well as the main security team kept her up to date with the locations of her performers. It was kind of adorable, she’d always thought, how he’d tail Sonnen like a puppy after a particularly juicy bone. She had a feeling Lorentz would be requesting Sonnen, though, if his reaction was anything to go by. She couldn’t quite tell what the other blond would be doing, though; he seemed amused, if not a bit crass, about Sonnen’s performance, and apparently sick to the stomach at Tel’s. Troublesome.

…Or maybe not. Well, she could honestly say she hadn’t expected that. Solera looked as if he were awaiting judgment, and his brother’s eyes seemed sad for a moment. Oh dear. This had never been a problem before. Well, it wasn’t like she could deny Solera’s request, nor Lorentz’s. She had a feeling, though, that Solera’s choice was based on something else besides amusement. His reasons seemed a bit empty — no, not empty: hollow. Not to mention most people didn’t decide on a Companion right away, especially after seeing only two. And, of course, he had to pick the one Companion she knew wouldn’t like him. Sonnen didn’t take well to being mocked, even if that wasn’t the intended message. Oh, this was worrisome. Not much to do for it now. Maybe one or both of them would eventually realize they couldn’t stand the other, and make a mutual separation. It wasn’t unheard of at Guilty Pleasures, though it was uncommon. It was just human nature that some people simply didn’t get along with certain others. Nothing wrong with it. But, until then… “If that is your choice, then of course. I’ll have one of my secretaries deliver his file to you, and then you can set up a meeting to get acquainted,” she informed smoothly, almost mechanically. This didn’t bode well with her, but she knew Sonnen was a big boy now and could take care of himself. As for Lorentz…

“Of course you may. Please, follow me, boys. Oh, and good day, Emerald,” she tacked on at the end as the tall man took his leave. What a succinct personality, she thought. No b.s., that was for sure. She admired that, as she tended to get a bit long-winded herself. Ever the hostess, the Madam led the two Clients out of the Globe, though she noted Heresy and Levant seemed to be heading in the same direction within its confines. Oh boy. Looked like Braedin was making more Canadian jokes. She sighed inwardly, wondering how such a childish person survived by them self. No matter. Once they were back in the foyer of her mansion, she arranged for a few things to be done. One, she had Lily, her sweetest secretary, bring out the file for Solera. Then she contacted security through her headset on the whereabouts of her other performers. Matthias, Globe (which she knew). Tetsuya, dining room (and she knew he was feeling ill, so knew not to bother him for the time being). Teddy (the nickname she gave him in her mind), dining room with Tetsuya. Oh, perhaps they were making friends. How sweet! Hikaru, study room three. Oh, good, he had his headset back then. Earlier all they’d found was his headset, and without it he couldn’t be found. Maybe Braedin gave it back to him. And finally, Sasha, study room three. …Uh oh. She hoped something bad wasn’t happening there. She asked to check the security camera in study room three to see what they were doing, and was told it was just a tarot reading. Oh, how perfect! Maybe Sonnen and Othello were getting along then. That would certainly make her life easier. Well, as Levant seemed to be busy, Tel and Sonnen were taken for the moment and Aya was ill, she supposed it was the best time to showcase Othello’s talents. Hopefully Lorentz would approve.

“Please, follow me. I have one boy in particular whom I think you would like.” Okay, so it was sort of a half-truth. She had no idea if he would like Othello or not. Hell, maybe Lorentz thought the whole seer, third-eye, see into the future stuff was a load of crap (much like Sonnen’s opinion), but it was worth a shot. Maybe this would get the young boy out of his slump after finally getting his first Client. Well, she could always hope. It made her sad, too, when one of her Companions felt like they didn’t meet the bar, or they were falling short. Still, she led Lorentz to one of her favorite rooms, the entertainment parlor. It was the room the Companions went to be entertained, and contained nostalgic things like a pool table, mini bar, some video game systems. The TV, though, was what she wanted Lorentz to see. She took a seat on the settee in front of the television, patting the cream-colored cushion next to her own for the boy to sit upon. She quite liked this settee, as it was a gift from an old Companion after they’d moved out and made it in another world outside Guilty Pleasures. The frame was gold-dusted wood with ornate swirl patterns, and the cushions were a cream shade with small sakura blossoms printed randomly. This Companion had known her tastes very well. But she was digressing, and once again contacted security to reroute the camera in study room three to the television in the first-floor parlor. A few seconds, and the screen illuminated with a perfect angle of Othello. He looked completely submerged into that little world he went into when he worked his magic, almost like an entity from another universe. It was fantastic to watch the transformation from normal Energizer Bunny Othello to Serious Business Othello.

“Othello has the gift of the third eye,” she explained as the half-Japanese boy on the screen flipped another card and started reading it off. She wished they could be in that room with them, but knew that disrupted the boy’s aura and she didn’t want to show him messing up or getting anxious. Here he was in his natural seer state, unknowingly being watched. She looked to the blond for his reaction, hoping she wouldn’t have to later hide the fact from Othello that he’d been watched and turned down — again. She couldn’t bear to disappoint him anymore.

Sonnen: Voltaire

Sonnen could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, and felt — holy crap, how could this be happening? — Othello’s aura pulse. It was almost like, if he had a special pair of glasses, he’d be able to see Othello’s aura swirling and radiating. He could imagine it, though; it seemed like it would be dark purple and grey when he got all serious, and would turn lighter when he projected happiness. He could feel the subtle changes affecting his nervous system somehow, or maybe it was all in his head. Either way, he felt a faintly ill, but wasn’t quite bothered by it. When he studied Othello, he wasn’t unaffected; his auburn hair looked almost affected by static electricity, and he felt the sudden urge to smooth it down. He held himself back, of course, but it niggled the back of his mind. The next card had him dreading slightly. One half of his mind was going ‘nononononostop’ but the other half wouldn’t be able to go on living without knowing. ‘Card three, your image of yourself, Lovers. This represents two paths: The path of love and the path of work. Work has always been something that took preference over being in love, so this leaves you wondering whether you should continue the path you’re familiar with or take a risk and try something new.’ These cards. They could definitely read his mind. He felt the need to start suddenly apologizing to every deity whose name he knew for whatever he did to deserve this, when he remembered he went along with this willingly, and was not inflicted upon him. Crap. He had no one to blame but himself. Blame? Thank? Whatever. He wasn’t sure whether this was a good idea or not, but definitely couldn’t stop listening now.

Path of love, path of work. Keep thinking, and you won’t go insane. That was the key. Focus your mind on something, keep it working, so you wouldn’t dwell on the slowly rising need to start sobbing and crying for Mama. Love, work, love work. Did love exist? He wasn’t quite sure. He’d had ‘lovers’ but couldn’t really say he cared about them. In bed, yeah, but otherwise, not so much. Sonnen couldn’t even remember most of their names, he was ashamed to admit. Well, except one: Sterling, his college roommate, but they had been friends before the whole ‘sleeping together’ thing. They were still friends to some extent, even though it had been like, three years since he’d seen him. Sonnen was pretty sure Sterling was still in Washington, anyways. He was probably as close to ‘romantically loving’ someone that Sonnen ever got. Okay, so he loved his friends and his mama. That was different than the romantic kind of love, though. He’d just never understood how someone could care so much about someone else so selflessly. Work was simple. There were specific boundaries and rules set out, and you followed them. As long as someone didn’t cross a line, then everything stayed in working order. That wasn’t really how it was in love. There were unspoken rules, and it was hard to determine a cut-off line, or to know when you went too far. It was so… complicated. And then Othello had kissed him. Did Othello love him? No, that was too sudden. Othello hardly knew anything about him, and had only known of his existence for three months. He could say with ninety nine percent surety that Othello did not love him. Othello just kissed him for… some other reason. A moment of pure insanity? Sonnen knew those quite well, and could understand that. Been dared to? Lost a bet? He smirked at that thought, thinking it wouldn’t be below Heresy to dare Othello to do something like that just to see him flip out. But none of those thoughts seemed to fit Othello quite. He didn’t seem the type to toy with people’s feelings like that.

Image of themselves? …Wasn’t this his tarot? Why was he suddenly talking about someone else? Sonnen pursed his lips and studied Othello as he read the rest of the card, wondering who this person was that felt this way. Well, Othello himself had expressed such woes before, according to Heresy. Well, it seemed to hit home for him; the boy seemed to sag slightly, and Sonnen could feel his aura changing somehow. He couldn’t put a finger on how it changed, only that it was a subtle augmentation. It seemed to beckon him somehow, making him feel the need to reach out and pat his shoulder or… something. As soon as the change happened, however, it was gone, and the next card was being read. Repressed emotion, fear of being hurt. He sounded like the typical romantic cliché. Young man, having been hurt in the past is afraid to love again! Will –insert other romantic figure’s name here¬– be able to bring young man out of his shell? He almost smiled at that. Yeah, he suppose he had been surrounded by shallow people most of his life. His dad, his ‘lovers,’ even the Madam was shallow to some extent, though he wouldn’t consider her a shallow person. The only people he really talked to were Anya, Sterling and the Madam. His mother was busy and he didn’t really have friends in other places. He occasionally emailed Sterling and Anya visited sometimes, but both were busy often as well. He felt like he complained too much to Usagi, and he tried to contain himself as often as he could, but was troubled by it. Okay, so he was repressing emotion, but that’s because he didn’t want to burden someone else with it. Why would someone else care to listen, anyway? Oh, right, that ‘love’ thing. People who loved each other were rumored to listen to the other’s problems and help go about dealing with them, or just let them vent a lot; of course this was reciprocated, and he guessed they cared about the other being happy, and maybe that was why they put up with so much of it. Or so he’d read in books. He’d never quite experienced that level of intimacy himself.

The last card, something about that other person again. Feeling like they couldn’t perform like someone else? Wow, those two cards about this ‘other person’ were basically holding a huge, neon arrow pointing at Othello. And if the heartbroken look on the boy’s face was anything to go by, he would say he wasn’t wrong. For a rare moment, Sonnen looked on Othello with something akin to sympathy. He didn’t like Othello being depressed; it was like a… sad bunny. Bunnies weren’t sad, because, well, they were bunnies! It wasn’t in their nature! It just… wasn’t right. But then Othello looked away, and started packing up. Oh, right, that was the ‘final card.’ It was over. ‘I’ve had my first tarot reading,’ he thought bemusedly. The room still felt tense, though, and something about Othello still seemed kind of off. He was spinning on his feet and looking perky, but he still didn’t seem quite normal. Apparently this tarot reading wasn’t emotionally jarring for Sonnen exclusively.

‘Did I like it?’ he asked himself mentally. Obviously Othello performed perfectly, but whether that was a good thing or a bad thing was still a mystery to him. Did he need to hear these things? Probably. Did he want to? Uh, thanks, no. Though it did teach him a few things about Othello he hadn’t before realized. He’d always just seemed like a bubbly kid with no rational thought or, well, any thought at all, really. Saying Sonnen was wrong was a horrible understatement. Terrible, almost. Othello was still Othello, but he couldn’t look past that twinge of pain in the other’s eyes. And he didn’t like it one damn bit. But how to fix it?

“Well,” he started conversationally, if not a bit shakily, “you managed to dissect my entire being in one fell swoop. Congratulations.” This was said calmly, almost deadly calmly. He still wasn’t sure how he felt about Othello knowing so much about him without any effort at all. Was a tarot reading supposed to leave the victim/receiver with a feeling of self-contempt? It was like Sonnen’s life was previously a snow globe, with all the little plastic flakes nice and settled at the bottom; and then someone thought it would be funny to take that helpless snow globe and shake the crap out of it whilst laughing maniacally. Othello was anything but maniacal, but Sonnen had a theory he was some sort of sadist. Well, he supposed that made him a masochist, then. Sonnen stood, head down and palm flat on the table. He was unsure how to react, and was caught between fleeing and — he chuckled, actually chuckled — ‘grinding his bones to make his bread.’ Why this quote seemed so funny to him right at that moment, Sonnen had no idea. Maybe his sanity was taking a vacation with his common sense. But what Othello had mentioned before about Sonnen grinding his bones and whatnot seemed like the funniest thing in the world to him at that moment, and found himself unable to stop giggling. Othello probably thought he was crazy. Crap. He’d never actually laughed in front of someone at Guilty Pleasures, except the Madam. He’d broken his façade. He had absolutely no idea what to do with himself now. He hadn’t laughed that hard in a long time. Probably not since the last time he’d hung out with Anya. Sure he’d politely chuckled at some things before, but… damn.

Well, if common sense and sanity were going to the Bahamas, then logic might as well too. There was no other excuse for what he was about to do except pure insanity. It was only what he deserved, Sonnen figured, for not only breaking down his wall of lies and denial, but also making him laugh himself to tears. Yep, pure insanity, because the normal Sonnen would never crawl across a table or suddenly reciprocate a ninja kiss or anything. No, only tarot-hypnotized-no-brain Sonnen would do something like that. Which was why this was the position he found himself in, kneeling on the table with Othello’s face clamped in his grip and thoroughly kissing the life out of him in every way he knew how. He briefly wondered if this was truly the correct thing to do, and noted that his laughing tears were kind of smearing on the other’s cheeks, but was somehow unable to care. He hadn’t been able to do this in so long and god, he missed it. He almost felt like his old self, back when he was in high school when his three main food groups were coffee, cigarettes and sex. He was even falling back into old habits, like noting how Othello’s mouth tasted like tea and his pulse was right under Sonnen’s fingers and how he was warm and smelled nice and crap, what had he done? Sonnen somehow found the self-restraint to pull back, almost breathless, to look questioningly/guiltily/ashamedly into Othello’s strangely blue eyes. He always found that odd, having never met an Asian with blue eyes before. Or red hair, for that matter. He didn’t let him go, however, keeping one hand buried in the fine red tresses and the other cupping his cheek. Othello could scream and kick and cry and burst into flame for all Sonnen knew, but goddamnit he wasn’t running away again.

b]H i k a r u - G a l i a n d e r


Halting His merry spinning, Othello looked over at Sonnen when he heard the statement. He had a rather confused look on his face. He glanced away for a minuet with a small, "Oh...". Now Othello didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing but the calm nature in the boy's voice made him worried, more worried then he normally would have been. He watched the man as he seemed to ponder about what he had learned from the tarot. He didn't mean to derail the boy's world and toss it around like he was accused of doing. He wasn't a sadist, far from it. He hated inflicting pain on people, he was more of a lover not a fighter. Course pain was something he didn't enjoy...So he wasn't a masochist he was Othello. But Sonnen seemed more like a sadist then anyone else Othello kn-...Laughter? Othello's eyes widened for a minute as he looked towards Sonnen. Sonnen could actually laugh? Well of course he was human but the boy had never heard the boy laugh once in his life. He had really began to believe that Sonnen was unable to find any joy in the world and that made Othello sad sometimes. While he felt he was having a blast with life Sonnen on the other hand seemed jaded, and being jaded was a terrible way to move through life.

A wave of joy washed through the boy's veins at the sweet laughter that was coming from Sonnen's mouth. Of course he would have loved to be in on the joke but it seemed that would kill the enjoyment that Sonnen was getting out of whatever it was he had thought of. He smiled slightly his face as bright as Christmas lights. Being a Shinto he didn't believe in Christmas but....That wasn't the point. The point was Othello was as radiant as the energizer bunny Lithium. He was just happy to see Sonnen laughing. Tears...OH My God....Tear. Othello's brain blew up slightly, What had he done? He made Sonnen cry. Othello felt like he had just kicked a baby in the head and punted it half way across the football field. He walked over to Sonnen with his hands out slightly like he was approaching a beast and cooing it. He watched as Sonnen continued his little laughter rage of tears and felt majorly confused. Was this a happy laugh with tears or was this a "I am laughing because it hurts so much that I can't do anything but laugh..." he was confused. Greatly confused.

Why was Sonnen on the table? Walking over he placed his hands out and rested them on the boy, what had he done? "Are you alright Sonn-" then he was Ninja kissed as Sonnen called it. His heart skipped several beats and he felt dizzy because of it. He couldn’t believe his lips were locked with Sonnen’s. His heart rate was increasing and if he was in an anime his face would have been bright red and smoke would be seeping from his ears. Now in reality his face was as bright as a pepper and he was taken back by it. Why was Sonnen kissing him? Sonnen didn’t like him like that; Othello knew that better than anyone else in the world. So why was he being kissed so out of the blue like this. Feeling his fingers weave into his hair and rest against his neck he hesitated as he reached up and rested his hand on the side of Sonnen’s face. His eyes fluttered closed as the kiss continued and he breathed weakly through his nose. He was shaking slightly hoping that this wasn’t some kind of sick Sonnen trick that was going to crush him. He didn’t want to be crushed. He had already been crushed enough and he didn’t need that doubled. He shivered feeling the tears drip onto his face he felt a small amount of cringe in his stomach.

Why was Sonnen crying? Othello opened his bright eyes as the kiss slowly started to end. He slipped his hand off the boy’s face and rested it on his shoulder. Having his eyes meet with Sonnen’s worried him. He felt self conscious…Sonnen had never been this close to him before, what if he had snots in his nose or a gross pimple he didn’t know about. His eyes were shaking as they followed Sonnen and all the expressions that trembled through the boy’s eyes. He was really beautiful, or course in the case of Sonnen’s pride handsome was a better word. If you compared and contrasted Sonnen and Othello’s youth’s if you will, they would be total opposites. Othello was trained to be the heir to the throne in his Mother’s family. He was a Prince of sorts trained against everything Sonnen was able to experience. This in the reality of things was one of his first kisses. His first real kisses. He felt like a child compared to Sonnen. He was a man who had experience in everything he was taught against.

The gentle flutter of his stomach made him feel weird as he looked face to face with the man who seemed to have a total personality change in a matter of minutes. He felt the hand still on his face as his labored breathing eased and he started breathing normal He looked towards Sonnen and reached out and placed his hand on Sonnen’s, his heard pounding against the boy’s hand that rested there. He looked up at him his large blue eyes shined as he looked worried at the man, ”Sonnen….Are you alright?” he asked as he resisted the urge to lean in and kiss him again. He was still a boy…He had needs but there was no need to take them out on Sonnen.

((Oh... and in response to Nilergwen DoUrden (Sorry, I can't find the post so I can't quote it... gonk ) It's supposed to be "shini" since it's Shini Teishi. Shini, as you probably already know, is Death. So yeah... I thought it would be cool to put "Death" right before his name for no real purpose what-so-ever....))

(((OOC:

But "Shini" isn't death.
"Shi" is death. (死 - し - death)
"Ni" is a particle, usually in reference to time or place (Watashi wa yuubinkyoku ni ikimashita. - I went to the post office.). Granted "Ni" also means "two" and "Shi" also means "four"... but yeah.
"Ni" works in the particle form for... destination, location, indirect object, time, and purpose.
You could use "Shine" (しね) for basically if someone was yelling, "DIE!".
Take "Shinigami" for example. Everyone knows it means "God of Death", but the "Ni" is acting as a particle for the purpose. In this case "Shi" is meaning "death" and "Gami" (which should technically be "Kami" (god) but if you say it "Shinikami" it sounds like "Shinigami" and so the word mutated linguistically) is meaning "god". The "Ni" particle literally makes the word to mean "God for the purpose of Death" or "God of Death".


OH... and... yeah... I didn't save any of my posts. I mean, I write them in word in case gaia eats it or my internet crashes... but I don't actually save them... gomen...)))

((((is gaia fixed yet? i can't tell....))))