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 Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 7:48 am
Asch didn't move but he did snort, reacting very little to the prodding. "You're such a liar..." he muttered. "This isn't for anyone but you. To make you feel better." And he wasn't going to participate in anything that would make Izaya feel better. He hoped the man wallowed in misery for the rest of his life.
"Fine. Ask Natalia. But you can't have the bird." He would just have to find a way to get it to the Duke himself. Its not like Izaya couldn't. He was a guy who liked to know everything about everyone... he could find a way without bothering Asch.
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 8:00 am
The grunt was silent for a time. When he spoke, though, it was with a weak laugh. "What is there to feel better about telling the man how I killed his sister? Even if it was indirect, the fault was undeniably mine. I just thought he should know, since I doubt you would have been the sort to elaborate on what, exactly, happened."
"Despite how much you seem to despise me, your professional manner would forbid you from assigning the blame on a particular individual. You likely made your letter very vague and formal. I just want to put the fellow at ease a little; let him know what happened from the viewpoint of someone who was there."
He leaned forward on the bed, leaning his arm and elbow on the edge of it while resting his head in his palm. "Mmm...? You confiscated it? Do you even have the authority to do that...?" he questioned. "I didn't hear anything about her leaving that pokemon to you."
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 8:07 am
Asch said nothing to any of what Izaya said, until he started questioning him about the bird. "Since it can only understand French, it was left to me," he said, still making no indication that he planned to cooperate with Izaya. After all, a bird that understands only French would be rather useless to most of the people in HQ. It made sense and so Asch was allowed to keep it.
"You're an information broker, right? Figure it out yourself. Don't bother me or that bird with your pathetic attempts at easing your conscience. Now go away."
With that he closed his eyes again, acting as if he wanted to just sleep.
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 8:20 am
"Haha. If I had a conscience, Asch-kun, do you think I would be where I am today, having done all those things to you and my fellow Rockets...?" Grunt Nakura asked, laughing darkly.
"Unlike you, I'm not so sensitive as to make the mistake of being sentimental. I don't hinder myself with the past, so unlike you, I can keep moving forward and get things done without running my emotions raw in the process." Though the statement might have had a few flaws, Izaya highly doubted Asch knew enough about him to point them out. He stood up.
"Very well. I'll leave you to wallow in your own self-pity and selfish, personal grudges. You're right; I didn't really need you to contact him in the first place. I just thought you might have wanted a part in it. Maybe keep in touch with him, since it's what Aila-chan would have done. But then, I should have expected this." He smiled tauntingly down at the emerald-eyed young man.
"After all, you just end up turning your back on anyone or anything that causes you emotional distress. Perhaps if you reached out and did something instead of just shutting them all away and blocking them with your wall, you wouldn't be so lonely. Like me." Waving a hand, he pushed past the curtain. "I can handle being alone. But obviously, you can't."
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 8:39 am
Asch might have had some angry retort for this sort of thing, usually. But the red head said nothing and just continued laying there, waiting for Izaya to leave. But instead he kept running his mouth.
However, as the man did started to leave, the red head spoke without so much as opening his eyes.
"Keep telling yourself that. It takes one to know one."
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 8:49 am
"..."
Since Asch's eyes were still closed, he likely wouldn't have seen the spiteful man take a small box of apple juice and open the top portion of the carton. He also wouldn't have seen the grunt pour the liquid over his lower region and crotch area, but it would have been hard to not feel it.
Crushing the box in his fist, he tossed it into the nearest trash bin. Soon after, Izaya's voice could be heard calling cheerfully, "Nuuurse~! Asch-kun wet the bed. Maybe those restraints weren't such a good idea after all." He crossed the room to sit beside Alba instead and stare at the man while he rested.
The informant was still turning over in his mind what could have brought tears to the red-head's eyes. He knew Aila and him had been close, but he doubted they'd been that close, despite what he teased. What could that dream been about...?
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 9:05 am
Feeling something wet, Asch's eyes snapped open to look down and then up at Izaya with a scowl. Just in time to see him crush the box and throw it away. "b*****d," he muttered, but that was all as the older man called the nurse and disappeared to the other side of the curtain.
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 9:27 am
I have a NAME, damn it! Nurse, trainee, hey you - she'd joked before that she would respond to just about anything anyone said that could get her attention, but it was quickly getting old to have her personal designation all but completely ignored. It wasn't as though she hadn't expected to run into this sort of thing when she'd started medical school, since doctors and nurses were often referred to as just that, but she was still just a girl in her early twenties. It would have been nice if a few more people would recognize her as her person instead of her rank. Oh well.
"Hmm?" The bright-eyed woman appeared from behind the curtain, leaning her head around the barrier. Her eyes went to the bed's damp sheets, to the sheets' occupant, and to the occupant's visitor. "Hmmmmm?" she said, her tone more sly. "Has someone been eating their lunch in here? It sure smells like it." Eyes lingered on the visitor, one she recognized for his habit of teasing, with a smile that could have been knowing, mischievous, or disapproving. She moved to the bed, kneeling to draw out the extra sheets stored under it. "I'm sorry about this, sir. Just a moment," she said with a voice that was cool and level, as if the words were practiced, as she worked to replace the linens.
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:01 am
Asch was looking a little annoyed when Arcadie appeared, although recognition quickly flickered over his expression. He remembered her from a conversation in the hallway. He was also silently glad that she was smart and picked up on the fact that he had not been responsible for this mess.
"Au moins une personne a un cerveau." He spoke in French, knowing that it would probably annoy the man on the other side of the curtain who would likely be eavesdropping. Asch shot a glare in Izaya's general direction. Plus it was oddly comforting to be able to speak to someone in his native language.
He could do nothing but lay there as Arcadie went about replacing the sheets. He hated feeling so helpless and... tied down.
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:24 am
She responded to the French with a sympathetic laugh, "Est quelque chose de mal? Les gens ne vont habituellement pas jeter jus sur les draps..." Her inference was that they'd had some sort of disagreement or argument. Either way, it wasn't exactly recommended that visitors provoke or otherwise make uncomfortable the infirmary's residents. As Arcadie finished replacing the linens, she noted the restraints with a visible pout. How inhumane. But it wasn't within her level of authority to change his accommodations. Really, it was barely within her level of authority to change the sheets. It was frustrating, and she hoped she wouldn't be locked into her low rank much longer.
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:46 am
"Cet homme a été me tracasse et n'a pas aimé ce que j'avais à dire. Sensible idiot." Again another irritated look was sent in the direction where Izaya sat on the other side of the curtain, although there was the slight sign of a smirk. Asch realized he must have been pretty close to the mark if he'd reacted in such a way. After the hair cutting incident, it seemed that he was starting to figure this guy out. Or at least what was bothering him. If Izaya was going to push, Asch sure as hell would push back.
He then looked back to Arcadie to see her pouting as she looked at his restraints. "Qu'est-ce?"
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:58 am
"Ah, je vois..." She glanced in the direction of the curtain as well. "Je ne devrais pas être surpris. Cet homme est terriblement étrange." She didn't know exactly what it could have been, but there was just something about him that was... off. Maybe that was how he normally behaved, though: in a constant state of off-ness. When she thought to his behavior at the memorial service, though, it seemed obvious that there was indeed a cause for that off-ness. "Il ya de meilleurs moyens de faire face à perte," she added quietly.
There was a questioning "ah?" followed by a more knowing "ah" at Asch's word, and she gestured to the restraints with a frown. "Je n'aime pas cela," she explained sourly. "Ce n'est pas une façon de traiter quelqu'un qui est blessé."
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 11:44 am
"Ouais. Il tente de soulager sa culpabilité sur moi, et a fait cela pour mes cheveux." Asch sighed in both an irritated and dejected manner. He was more than sick of Izaya and wanted nothing more to do with him. But the man persisted on bothering him, even after what happened recently. However, Asch just didn't have it in him at the moment to be extremely angry as he probably normally would. He was tired, in pain, restrained, and his moral was lower than usual.
"Moi non plus," he continued in regards to his restraints. Of course he wouldn't. Why would anyone enjoy being strapped down. Asch's frown then deepened a bit as he remembered something Izaya had said. "Je pense que ce salaud avait quelque chose à voir avec cela."
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 9:04 pm
Contrary to Izaya's assumptions, Alba was, in fact, not asleep. With only a curtain between the two patients, it had not been hard at all for him to hear plenty of the conversation (if it could be called that). His eyes were indeed closed, though, and Spook, wedged between Alba's right side and arm so that she was again between him and the chair, eyed Izaya suspiciously in her human's place. If this stranger got too close to Alba, or if she saw any reason to view him as a threat, the infirmary would have a very angry Chingling on their hands.
The older Rocket knew that he was being watched, and quite frankly he didn't appreciate it much. Maybe he should've asked Claire to come and help him leave sooner, instead of another hour or so away. Or maybe this Nakura person would get bored and leave if he feigned sleep a little longer...
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 12:12 pm
Orihara knew a great deal about names. He knew how to use them, both against and for people. He had once even stolen a man's and ruined his reputation to the point that the former Nakura had to change his appearance and his legal name just to escape the informant's slander. However, he had purposely avoided calling a specific nurse in the hopes that it wouldn't have been Arcadie, because he needed to talk to her on his own. It was a shame she was the closest and most attentive of the medical staff at the time, and so Asch was the lucky recipient of her attentions instead of Izaya.
He smiled cheerily in response to Arcadie's own, not offering any explanation for the apple jucie with which he could condemn himself. But the instant the trainee turned her back to the informant, he sulked as he settled in the chair near Alba's bed. He would just have to wait for her to be done with Asch before he talked to her himself.
Crossing his slender arms over his less-than-impressive chest, Izaya watched as the red-head shot him several looks throughout his French conversation with Arcadie. The glare didn't phase him, and though the French did appear to bother him as expected, Orihara chose to hide his annoyance by distracting himself with his laptop.
He flipped it open and began to type, looking up something on the internet before taking out his phone to compare and check some unknown information. The grunt had turned so the only part of the laptop visible to Asch and Arcadie, even with the curtain drawn partially to the side, was the back of the monitor.
When Asch threw Izaya his second look, complete with a hint of a smirk, the black-haired man peered over the top of his computer to stare at the teen nonchalantly. Because only his eyes were visible over the top of his screen, it was unlikely that anyone noticed the info-gatherer's mouth. For some reason, instead of a frown or scowl, it had suddenly adopted a particularly devious grin.
The word 'idiot' was mentioned, so the older man took a moment to discreetly and quietly lift his head over the screen to stick out his tongue at the red-haired teen, expressing his distaste. Of course he made sure to do this while Arcadie's back was to him, knowing that if Asch chose to complain about it, it would only make him seem that much more like a touchy, whiny baby.
At last, Izaya turned to regard the pokemon that had been eyeing him so suspiciously since he had sat down beside her trainer's bed. He smiled at the psychic-type's apparent closeness with Alba, both physically and emotionally, waving a few fingers at her over the top of his screen. He wondered if, as a psychic, she had a mental bond with her Rocket as well, and if that helped to strengthen their relationship as human and pokemon at all. He wondered if it aided in their communication with each other as well.
"Hello there," he spoke to Spook, readopting his usual, emotion-concealing smile. "You like your trainer very much, don't you? Or is it just because he feeds you and gives you a place to stay?" Despite guessing the Chingling probably wouldn't talk back or even understand his words, Izaya could never really keep his mouth shut for long. Especially when the talk between Asch and Arcadie was starting to make him feel left out.
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