Mayoi Ayase | 礼瀬 マヨイ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rottencactus) wrote2022-08-18 05:48 pm
rottencactus) wrote2022-08-18 05:48 pm
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[The voicemail greeting is just 20 seconds of breathing and a shriek at the end before it beeps]
[The voicemail greeting is just 20 seconds of breathing and a shriek at the end before it beeps]
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[Besides, it's not every day that someone offers to tell him a secret. Trust is nice, especially when it isn't born out of something as pragmatic as a contract. And if this is about one of Hiiro's friends, of course Rinne would like to know.]
Hit me, Mayoi-chan. Everything you got, I'll take it.
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[…Well, it’s now or never, isn’t it? He swallows, and nearly blurts out a hasty never mind! But he holds it back, collects himself and turns so that he is facing the night sky, foggy as it is.]
Once upon a time, there was a little monster. He lived under the ground with a family of other monsters. It was not a terrible place to live, though dark dreary, but the truth was they had no choice, as they were exiled many hundreds of years ago by their defeat of another, stronger clan. They were weak and their only place was their hole in the ground.
The little monster did not mind this, for most of his life. It was all he knew, after all. Who was he to question things like the life above? Or the terrifying stories the other monsters would often tell. Ah, but of course …one day something changed.
The little monster heard singing from above.
[Mayoi raises his hand up, reaching for the moon itself. He grins, though Rinne may not be able to see it from where he’s standing. However, there is a lilt in his voice now, something fond.]
Fufufu… to say he tried so very hard to ignore it would be a terrible lie. The singing was enchanting, intoxicating, he wanted to stop and listen every time he could hear it through the walls. Like the whispering of faeries from that forbidden world above, he felt the pull more and more every day until he could not bare it any longer.
Through the dark, dirty tunnels of his home, the little monster clawed his way to the surface, and found himself face-to-face with a brilliant star-filled night sky for the very first time.
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In his need to know what happens next, Rinne forgets to act.]
So what'd he do after that? Did he find the fairies?
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He did, and they were as bright and wonderful as he expected, perhaps even more so. They shined such, it was almost too hard for him to look.
Ah, the little monster was still a monster, and the bright people of the surface did not know what to make of his hideous visage, so he was forced to hide away again, back in his hole, while the surface whispered of the strange thing they had seen.
It did not bother the monster, to be spoken of that way, because for a moment it had felt like he was apart of that same word, even if just through whispers.
[Mayoi’s voice grows quiet.]
But now that he’d tasted the surface world, he longed to return. He had a dream now— to stand with the faeries and be heard. To announce that he, too, was here. He wanted to return.
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[It was about belonging. Rinne knew. It was the joy and thrill of being acknowledged for something other than your lineage or hideousness for once, existing as something completely different the moment he got on that stage.]
... Could he return? Sounds like everyone else back home was scared of the surface.
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It …was not easy to convince them to let him go back. They were worried of course. There are a lot of reasons to fear the surface, and those that walk upon it. As monsters that had once been banished, they all feared discovery.
[He shakes his head.]
On the surface, it was a crime to be a monster, even now. To be discovered would mean the imprisonment or death of his clan down below. His dream was so close but he had to be careful.
And so …it was that another monster in his clan gifted him a disguise. With it, he was able to return.
With all the years of practice and singing, the monster, now disguised as a fairy, sought out their stage and auditioned fervently. He was allowed to join, but …ah, it was very difficult, adjusting to a life like this, while harboring such secrets. Of trying to fit in with the fairies when you know yourself to be a monster.
One day he was summoned before the court of fairies, and he knew with dread in his heart, that surely he’d been found out.
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Ah, Rinne envies this monster.]
Well shit, did he escape?
[Rinne would have if it didn't mean having a stain on the record they'd have to make.]
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No ...He found that he was brought together with three others and made to stand before the Emp- ah, King of Fairies. With contempt he said that all four of them had failed to live up to his expectations among the fairies. He would have rights to execute them all if he chose, but that he was not unmerciful, and that he would give them a second chance: Join together and perform in a months time, and they will be spared.
I-It was a terrifying event! B-But ...the monster was relieved it was not what he thought. And now, as he looked upon the three others who his fate had been tied to, he started to notice that ...there was something familiar about them all. Were they also wearing disguises...? Regardless, through their shared ordeal the little monster came to love them like his own family. They worked tirelessly to try and escape their fate, with a performance that loomed ever closer for them.
[Mayoi pauses here, falling silent for a period of time that seems too long for dramatic effect. He looks up and there is an apologetic smile on his face.]
I'm afraid that's as far as I've gotten. The ending ...is something I am still working on. There are lots of different ways such a story could go, after all.
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That's fine. When everything has yet to be set in stone for Rinne, maybe that's all he needs to hear. And when someone puts effort into — no, trusts them with their life, Rinne ought to pay them back in kind.
So he pats Mayoi's head.]
It's a good story.
[His voice is quiet, but warm.]
That monster must've had it rough, lying to everyone like that. That shit ain't easy.
... I'm real glad he could tell somebody.
[He ruffles Mayoi's bangs.]
Give him a happy ending, yeah? I'm seriously gonna cry if you don't.
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[Ah, the pat on the head catches him off guard. Another little eep! that Rinne is probably used to now whenever Mayoi is startled. He looks up at him with wide, surprised eyes, but- then. Ah.]
[There is a weight he's been carrying all this time that lifts at Rinne's words. He hadn't told a soul this story, not in all his time on the surface, and even though it's heavily embellished, he knows Rinne can read between the lines. Overwhelmed, his eyes well up with tears, but Mayoi crying is probably the least surprising thing that could be happening now. He's a weepy guy, always has been.]
[He nods, scrubbing at his face.]
I-I will try. I have one in mind-- and if it works, I will finish the story for you. Ah-
[He tries to pull himself together, offering Rinne a small smile.]
Thank you ...for listening to my story. I-If it isn't too much of a burden ...I would like for you to hold it close to your chest until I return from speaking with Sparrow, so that I might tell Hiiro-san.
[...]
If I do not return ...it would mean a lot to me that the little monster's story not be forgotten.
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He settles for rubbing the back of his own neck. He doesn't want a repeat of the last time he tried something weird... ]
... Hey. How're ya supposed to win if ya got losing on your mind?
I ain't telling nobody about that. If you wanna tell Hiiro, tell him yourself. Maybe you're sick of working with me, but I ain't in the mood to let anyone go.
[ So don't go! ]
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Ah ...it is my nature to think that way, Rinne-san. To plot out the worst outcome and prepare for it. I'm sorry, it ...it makes me a bit of a pessimist, but that does not mean I intend to do a poor job of want you ask of me.
[But, now it sounds like Rinne might be wanting to back out of it? Ah, he cannot let him think his trust is poorly placed, not after he's made up his mind to do it. He offers him a smile.]
Do ...Do you think Hiiro-san will like it? The story?
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Rinne grins.]
Mm. Yeah, I think he'll like it a lot. Fiction totally puts him to sleep, though. [Rinne sighs and shakes his head.] He's such a boring guy.... So you oughta change the names when you're done. Gyahaha!
He won't stop being your friend for that. I bet he'd really hate to lose ya. You guys were his first friends ever, you know? He's never gonna forget that. I'm speaking from personal experience!
[With Hiiro, that is.]