[open]

[cardfortress]

Characters: Mello, Near, and YOU!
Location: The Clinic
Rating: PG-13 at the very least
Time: April 5th, after the mission - April 8th
Description: The mission wasn't gentle to these two, and as a result, we have Mello in pretty bad shape at the clinic, with his Weapon hovering by and looking rather terrible, as well. Naturally, this means your character should come over and mother and fuss over bother them.


[Pretty much what it says on the tin!

Because of his injuries, Mello is going to have a couple of tubes draining blood from his thorax for the first couple of days, and he will be adequately drugged, so he may be too out of it from time to time. On top of that, the poor guy has a broken collarbone and a few broken ribs, so it wouldn't be a very good idea to poke him just to see if he's awake. That oxygen mask won't make communication any easier, either.

On the other hand, Near has a cut on his lip, and a few bruises on his face, forearms and hands-- but you really can't see his fingers or his palms, because they just so happen to be bandaged. His right shoulder has been bandaged, as well, which is also visible because his shirt (and skin) was ripped by the talons of a particularly vicious bird familiar. Ouch. Someone should bring him a change of clothes: all that dried blood makes everything look a lot worse than what it is.

Feel free to have your character approach one or both of them! Near will be either sitting by Mello's bed or hovering by, but if you want your character to have some time alone with Mello, just pretend Near went to the bathroom / went to get some food. Likewise, if your character just wants to talk to Near, just consider Mello's too drugged or knocked out to be conscious, or pull him aside. Just leave us a note somewhere in your tag so we'll know who you want!]

Comments

[want_the_world]

[Of course that's the answer--the answer Mello's always given to any creeping fear that his best might not be good enough. What do you do? Make your best better. He should've remembered to tell himself that right away; he was gripped too hard by the visceral panic of the nightmare to do it.

The emotions of the dream are receding, leaving Mello to wonder why it was so frightening, when it was something he already lived through (all right, barely, but still). His nightmares are usually both more and less than his mind recreating events, disappointingly blatant from a psychological perspective--foreboding of a threat that never materializes, or finding the flat empty.

Mello does know how strong they can get. The doomed future was averted, but it's proof they can reach Death Scythe status. He doesn't intend for it to take ten years, but is Near really saying he expects both of them to be here long enough to reach that goal, and that he accepts it?

He's fine now, so he pulls his hand away.]

You're ready to commit to that?

[cardfortress]

[Little by little, Mello returns to his usual self, and Near can feel the changes through their resonance, can see the slight changes in his partner’s body language. When the blond pulls his hand away, Near’s hand feels colder immediately after, but the Weapon ignores that and reaches up to twirl a strand of hair.

Right. Moving on, now.

He looks at his Meister and ponders those words, asking himself the same question. Is it a commitment? Near doesn’t see it that way, not really: it’s only a matter of survival. They’re stuck in Death City-- or rather he is, because Mello has nothing to go back to-- so they need to make sure they are strong enough to survive. It’s as simple as that; until BREW decides to fuck things over for them, they need to reach new levels of power, because they don’t know for how long they’ll be in this world. Naturally, leveling up means becoming a Death Scythe and killing the creatures that almost got both of them killed. Can his Meister understand his reasoning if he puts it like that, though? Or is he really expecting-- or aiming for-- some sort of commitment?]

I’m ready to become stronger. I’ve always wanted to do so.

[want_the_world]

Even if it means knowing all the work will be erased if you get sent home?

[He didn't realize when he asked his last question, but the parallels are obvious between stepping up their involvement in the war, essentially saying to hell with the chance that they might not get to see it through, not as they both are now, and getting any closer.]

You haven't seemed willing to consider Death City anything but temporary before.

[He has to stop and catch his breath after that, annoyingly.

Mello still plans to get the two of them, L, and Matt safely back to their world, if it's at all possible, but that has slowly shifted from being something he insists to himself will happen into a best-case scenario where the next-best option is as good: all of them staying here after the war ends.]

Has that changed?