evowhisperer | IC Voicemail

*There's nothing but a long silence after the ringing stops. If the caller's been looking at their screen, there are plain black-and-white letters on display:*

Please leave a message after the beep.

*Beep.*

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

evowhisperer

What do you want?

From:

callmeryuzaki

[Silvery laughter.]

I wanted to see who.... sorry, how you were doing. Isn't an old flame allowed to check up on little bits of fond kindling?

From:

evowhisperer

No, it's not.

This isn't a good time for you. Goodbye, and please don't message me.

From:

callmeryuzaki

Oh wow. So stoic. So tough.

You're taking the announcement of the twins' due date even harder than I would have thought. Oops. Probably should have kept that quiet, just in case they decided not to tell you...

From:

evowhisperer

Whata re you talking about?

What twinsS?

From:

callmeryuzaki

There I go, running my big mouth. Never mind. Try not to think about it.

From:

evowhisperer

*Cesar switches to video immediately. It's after sundown, and a night sky with a background of orange-lit trees is visible behind him. The shadows cutting his image into harsh relief have never seemed so deep.

{Tell me what you meant. Now.}

*Send. Wait, what if he ignores that? What if it's too demanding and he just starts to tease?*

Edited Date: 2015-09-20 04:52 pm (UTC)

From:

evowhisperer

{Please.}

*Send. Fuck--now he has his hat in his hands. There's nothing he can do about it now, especially when he means it: he doesn't care what else Ryuzaki says, he has to know.*

From:

callmeryuzaki

It hurts to be replaced. It does. I know.

[Understanding, sympathetic smile, more natural and less gaunt than Lazarus' has ever been and might ever be.]

I'll tell you all about it provided you let me keep you company. It's always better with company. Be at a little bar in Gateway called "The Devil's Den" in 20 minutes.

From:

evowhisperer

*Cesar squeezes his eyes shut and pinches the bridge of his nose. He's in no mood for fucking--except he would be, if it were Lazarus. Or maybe he wouldn't. Would he be, if Lazarus were right there? Fuck. The pain is a bleeding wound, and there's no clear way to stop the flow.*

*Mission as accomplished as it's going to be, he switches back to text.*

I'll need at least 30 to get there. Don't get your hopes up for physical 'company', this isn't a good night.*

From:

callmeryuzaki

I understand, of course. It's got to be the last thing on your mind right now. I'll buy you a drink and you can talk to me. I'm such a good listener.

From:

evowhisperer

*A good 'listener'. Of course. Cesar is in no mood for arguing over his bullshit, and he doesn't address it.*

I'll message you when I'm there.

From:

callmeryuzaki

I'll be at the bar. I'll give you a little wave when I see you, how about?

From:

evowhisperer

*Cesar doesn't bother to reply; he'll text if he doesn't find him on his own.*

*The Devil's Den is neither 'little', nor a bar. It's a nightclub in a shady part of town, and Cesar can feel the throbbing music in his chest before he reaches the sidewalk outside. The bouncer doesn't look at his ID. Smiling women call out to him, but he doesn't look their way.*

*The smell of sweat, urine, and something tangy assaults his nostrils as soon as he's in, and the music is strong enough that his already-alcohol-loosened mind wants to shut down and just numbly take in the experience for a while. A few people pass him while he stands there, and after a few seconds he shakes himself, looking around.*

*The dance floor takes up most of the club. Flashing lights don't show much, but there's just enough for him to know that the dancing is frenzied, pitching and heaving with a violence that he doesn't think he could safely navigate. A bar that's lit from below is squeezed against the far wall, and platforms with strippers dot the area like posts in a pinball machine. Cesar keeps close to the wall as he approaches it, unable to keep himself from watching people as he passes. Two forms twining amorously in each other's arms. Three forms sitting or leaning docilely against the walls of a corner, apparently in a haze.*

*It's more or less the sorts of place the doppelganger had always implied he enjoyed, but Cesar had never really experienced the reality of it until now. He feels unsteady, like a drunk man suddenly pushed to stand in a rocking canoe.*

*He's at the bar. Where's the man he's here to meet?

Edited Date: 2015-09-20 06:01 pm (UTC)

From:

callmeryuzaki

[Ryuzaki isn't at the bar when Cesar does arrive. Rather, he's in one of those corners, but he notices the familiar silhouette quickly, approaching from behind and laying a hand across his shoulder and turning him.]

Welcome home.

[He grins, leaning in close until he's almost nose-to-nose with Cesar.]

Oh? You were pregaming. You drank to come here. I like that...

From:

evowhisperer

*His gut wobbles and his chest aches, nose to nose as he is with two of his ex's faces at once. The difference in health between the two is more obvious than ever, now that Cesar can see the fullness of his face from mere centimeters away. It looks good on him; he looks better than before.*

*Cesar misses him.*

*He pushes his hand away.*

{I'm not in the mood for this. Let's talk. Where--bar?}

Edited Date: 2015-09-20 07:54 pm (UTC)

From:

callmeryuzaki

[He tilts his head down when his hand is knocked away, peering up at Cesar through his shaggy bangs. The hairstyle is the same, unkempt and dark, but it looks more on-purpose than Lazarus' has ever been at any given time.]

OK. I want to hear about your mood, so yeah... bar. Let's go. You still like whiskey? Or is it more of a tequila kind of night?

[He turns, moving with a sauntering sway as he heads back toward the bar.]

Two shots of whiskey, and two of tequila. Put it on my tab.

Edited Date: 2015-09-20 08:01 pm (UTC)

From:

evowhisperer

*The doppelganger has turned away, and the hands Cesar lifted to reply drop back to his sides. He didn't want anything--except he did. Tequila. Whisky. The doppelganger orders both, and maybe he could use a shot right now after all. It wasn't as though he was buying, or that he couldn't leave at any time.*

*Cesar slips onto a stool that's a few places away from an obviously under-the-influence couple, and he turns away a little so he won't have to see them. It conveniently has him facing a stool he's expecting the doppelganger to take. He waits.*

*The bar tender pours four shots with a skilled flourish, placing them on the counter one by one. They form a perfect line; the shot-glasses shine with light from the counter's glow. Cesar reaches for a glass--tequila, probably?--and holds it in his hands.*

*His eyes flicker in the doppelganger's direction, and that's all he needs to knock it back without preamble.*

From:

callmeryuzaki

[Shots make everything better in Ryuzaki's warped, wanton world. He grins has he takes one of the tequila shots; his eyes glitter when Cesar glances his way, and he downs his shot alongside the other man.]

Already better, right?

Do you want to start talking, or shall I? You probably have so much on your mind right now.

[He practically has to shout to be heard over the pulsing bass.]

From:

evowhisperer

*Cesar's face tightens, then relaxes: it was whisky, and he can feel the burn all the way to his stomach. It leaves him warm, and he lets out a sigh that breaths out tension, leaning against the counter.*

{I'm not here to have a heart to heart. You said you would tell me about--twins. Your original's. Please finish the subject.}

*'So Cesar can hurry up and leave' goes unsaid. Cesar avoids his gaze, unwilling to be friendly but unwilling to actually leave yet. Is this how pathetic he is, now? That he's crawling back to his ex-lover's copycat for trace morsels of the man's life when he won't even ask the man for them himself? It's shameful. Cesar reaches for another shot.*

Edited Date: 2015-09-21 01:38 am (UTC)

From:

callmeryuzaki

Oh, all right. So... Misa and Lazarus are pretty serious. Back when they thought I was gone they talked a lot on the Network, and it seems like they started dating pretty quick after you left, actually. When Lazarus was...

[He twists a finger at his temple, whistling in a "cuckoo" intonation and widening his eyes exaggeratedly.]

I think she helped Tony out a lot and their love blossomed. They started fucking pretty shortly thereafter and when you're humping that much, because you're out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by farm animals, well... accidents happen. And sometimes, they're accidents that young fertile people just get ecstatic about.

They're going to be crackers, you know. Completely crackers. Poor kids. Good thing you got out in time.

[He nods toward the remaining shots, taking the other whiskey one.]

Well, drink up, you must want to.

From:

evowhisperer

*By the time Ryuzaki is done Cesar is hunched on his elbows at the bar, staring stonishly at the now-empty shotglass in his hand and fiercely regretting everything. He regrets coming here. He regrets demanding to be told. He regrets not buying more shots, and he regrets being somewhere that he doesn't feel comfortable getting well and truly knock-out smashed. He'd probably get robbed, or drugged, or worse, hook up with the clone.*

*Cesar puts the glass down, nodding once and rising to his feet. Oh--hm. Two shots taken on top of a system that was already well on its way to intoxication hasn't done anything for his coordination, and he knows he's probably going to sway the whole way home. Oh well.*

Edited Date: 2015-09-21 03:19 am (UTC)

From:

callmeryuzaki

[Ryzuaki tilts his head, the very portrait of sympathy.]

Let me remind you that you wanted to know this stuff. It sucks, but... with the way she was throwing herself at him I guess you can't blame him. He's not like us. He's barely even a person. He takes all his cues from people who he assumes know better.

[He presses down on Cesar's shoulder when the man staggers to his feet.]

Sit, stay. Just where do you have to be, anyway?

From:

evowhisperer

*Cesar has just enough time for the memory of Lazarus straddling him behind a hedge to come to mind, face flushed with the absurdity of an adventure gone ridiculous, and of Lazarus touching his wrist with his fingers in his mouth, changing a silly thing into one that was unmistakably arousing. Snippets of time, both of them Lazarus-driven--*

*Cesar sits back down heavily, not really having the balance to fight the push. He shrugs at the continued touch, sending the copy a hooded look as he starts rising again. The instant he's up he turns to sign.*

{I'm not here for you. You're a copy. Shouldn't you be ashamed of yourself to be so hungry for your original's castoffs?}

*...Hah. Cesar doesn't even care how much that was a self-effacing dig at himself. At this point he just wants to hurt the clone enough that he lets Cesar leave without further cajoling. Cesar's mouth curls in a little sickle of a smile, and his teeth glow in the black-light.*

From:

callmeryuzaki

[The doppelganger's goofy smirk fades, darkening into something vicious. Cesar's crossed a line, exploited his one truly sensitive area.]

Don't forget. I got there first, and you're here now because I told you to be, and it's Ryuzaki. Not "copy." Don't forget it.

[He stands, now, pressing closer, looming over the seated Cesar and fingerspelling the name.]

R-Y-U-Z-A-K-I.