Chapter Text
SHIVERS: Somewhere close by a stray dog takes a long drink from a puddle. Someone's grandma fans herself as she leans out her window. A man attempts to kick his blankets off in his sleep but they stick to his skin unpleasantly.
PAIN THRESHOLD: So warm. . . sweat pools in the small of your back. Your leg aches.
BARELY HEALED GUN SHOT WOUND TO THE THIGH: Sorry. . .
YOU: It's okay, you can't help it.
PERCEPTION {Legendary: Success]: Heavy, clumsy, slow footsteps start walking down the hall. In the direction of your flat.
EMPATHY: Someone drunk, coming back from a night out with coworkers.
RERUNS ON YOUR DENTED TV: "Stop! Ricardo you know why I can't kiss him! He's. . . He's. . . My brother!"
ELECTROCHEMISTRY: An ice cold beer would taste so good right now. Imagine how smooth that first drag would feel.
VOLITION [Challenging: Success]: No, you're trying to be sober, remember? You had a beer earlier for your health, any more would be temptation.
LOGIC: Plus that would require walking to the nearest Frittte in this heat.
PAIN THRESHOLD: Your leg still aches.
ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Medium: Success]: Fuck. Fine. Can we at least have some more ice cream?
LOGIC [Trivial: Success]: We ate the last of it. That would also require a walk to the Frittte.
ELECTROCHEMISTRY: I fucking hate this houseeeeeeee.
YOU: Are sitting in your living room painfully awake. The clock your end table burned with 1:37 AM before you gave up on sleep and parked yourself in front of the boobtube. You are still on medical leave, having been born two weeks ago.
INLAND EMPIRE: Living in the apartment of another man. Wearing his clothes. Cleaning his mess.
VOLITION: That other man is you, whether you like it or not.
HALF LIGHT [Medium: Success]: SHH!
HALF LIGHT: Someone is standing right outside your door. . .
PERCEPTION [Trivial: Success]: They just knocked.
HALF LIGHT: I knew we should have burned it all down when we first got here. Jump out the balcony!
ESPRIT DE CORPS: 'is this the right place?" Lieutenant Kim Kitsuragi thinks as he checks the pen scribbling on the palm of his hand for the 7th time since he started the walk to you. He is drunk.
YOU: Kim? He walked here?! HE WALKED HERE DRUNK?!?
EMPATHY [Hard: Success]: He didn't mean to get as drunk as he did. The idea to visit you came to him when he first drove into Jamrock earlier this evening, and solidified when he had heard the bar he stopped at is less than a ten minute walk from your place. He intended to just stop by for a single drink. Then that turned into an additional shot for confidence. Then that turned into three more.
REACTION SPEED: Confidence for what?
EMPATHY [Legendary: Impossible]: To see you?
LOGIC: Four fucking shots? To see you?!
ELECTROCHEMISTRY: And a drink BEFORE.
INTERFACING: At least he didn't drive.
Your living room is not that big but apparently it still took you a while to cross to the door and let Kim in since you see him leaning on the wall, almost like he was nodding off. He straightens up immediately as soon as he sees you.
PERCEPTION: He's wearing a very similar outfit that he did in Martinaise, except a black tank top now. His orange jacket is slung off of one of his shoulders, sinewy arm on display.
ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Trivial: Success]: Oh my god.
PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT: Hmph. Could stand to lift a few weights.
ENCYCLOPEDIA [Hard: Success]: 'Alcohol flush reaction' is a condition that occurs in some people, with a high concentration in Seolite people, where consuming any amount of alcohol causes them to turn bright red in the face. A good example of such a thing would be Kim's face right at this moment.
REACTION SPEED: This could be the only time you ever see Kim blush! You should-
VOLITION [Hard: Success]: You should check on Kim and do nothing else.
KIM KITSURAGI: "Detective." He says, surprisingly steady voiced. He even looks quite pleased. "Harry. Is this a bad time?"
LOGIC: A bad time for what?
ELECTROCHEMISTRY: It's never a bad time for some Kim action.
PERCEPTION [Medium: Success]: He smells like cheap rum, overwhelmingly so.
ELECTROCHEMISTRY: Heh, remember the rum stain you licked on your first birthday? Do you think Kim remembers?
VOLITION: It might be a good time to mention that you answered the door in your underwear.
You look down, which seems to prompt Kim to look away from your face for the first time too, and you both see your pale, hairy, bloated body only covered by a pair of boxers with a repeating lung motif.
YOU: "Sorry, it's just so fucking hot." And you didn't exactly anticipate guests this late at night. Or in general. "Give me a sec, here, sit on the couch."
KIM KITSURAGI: He raises his head slowly, blinking his eyes like he's breaching water when he finally stops staring at your legs-
VISUAL CALCULUS [Legendary: Failure]: Was he staring at your legs? Or something else?
KIM KITSURAGI: He walks into your living room slowly and deliberately, trying his best to look just barely tipsy.
You dart to your bedroom to grab a robe - an old one that was already here, with a green and brown tartan lining and a couple of off-color stains that won't come out, and you rush back out to Kim.
KIM KITSURAGI: He was standing in the middle of your living room, looking off in a seemingly random direction. But as soon as you walk back in his eyes lock on you and he smiles. "Harry." He greets again.
PERCEPTION: His eyes practically sparkle behind his glasses. He looks more loose then you could have ever imagined.
INLAND EMPIRE: While in the shower. While cooking. In bed. Cleaning. Staring out your window trying desperately not to feel like you're stuck in these four walls as punishment for everything you did pre-Martinaise. And while jerking off.
SAVOIR FAIRE: Heyo!
SHIVERS: Two men separated by distance, connected by telephone poles and plastic cords.
This is the first time you are seeing Kim in person since you two closed The Hanged Man, but you did keep in touch.
COMPOSURE: You were surprised when Kim called you first. You were even more surprised when he said you could keep his number.
YOU: Why didn't he tell me that he was in Jamrock?
HALF LIGHT [Hard: Failure]: He didn't want you to know. He wanted to catch you off guard.
EMPATHY: For Dei's sake, get this man something to drink!
AUTHORITY: Why should we? He shows up drunk out of the blue and, what, he's expecting you to take care of him?
ELECTROCHEMISTRY: And he didn't even bring enough to share!
EMPATHY [Challenging: Success]: Did you think for a second that maybe something is wrong? Or what he needed four shots of confidence for? On a work night at that!
YOU: "Coffee?" You try to smile back at him but you feel your face twitch unnaturally at the motion. "Water? Something to soak up all the booze?"
KIM KITSURAGI: "I'm okay, Harry."
INLAND EMPIRE: It's like now that he's saying your name, he can't stop himself.
VISUAL CALCULUS: He waves your offer off and the movement is clumsy, like all his other movements currently, but he still has a sharpness to his features.
ESPRIT DE CORPS [Challenging: Success]: It's taking every bit of his concentration but he's still guarding his emotions. He doesn't intend to let it down for a moment.
YOU: "Why did you come here, Kim?"
KIM KITSURAGI: "Khm." His smile drops and he looks away. He pauses, seeming to collect his words.
COMPOSURE [Medium: Failure]: "Is everything alright?"
KIM KITSURAGI: "I'm fine, Harry. It's just-"
ESPRIT DE CORPS: 'I wanted to see you. I wanted to make sure you aren't a hallucination that I made up because I got too fucking lonely.'
KIM KITSURAGI: "I don't know." He looks suddenly very unsure of himself.
EMPATHY: It is not the first time he considered that you possibly wouldn't want to see him, spending a considerable amount of time trying to keep that thought at bay, but now he's regretting being so impulsive.
YOU: "Not that I don't want you here!" You exclaim, unintentionally making Kim flinch. "It's so disco that you showed up. It's just three in the morning. And you're drunk. And you walked here. Is everything okay?"
KIM KITSURAGI: Strangely, another soft smile grows on his face. "You found that out in that unique way of yours, didn't you?"
LOGIC [Trivial: Success]: I mean, anyone could have guessed that? Since he didn't drive his MC into a pole?
COMPOSURE [Impossible: Failure]: The gentleness to his voice, how relaxed he looks, how his smell is progressively filling your space and making it harder to concentrate, it all has you losing track of your words. "Um-"
KIM KITSURAGI: Suddenly he snaps out of it. His walls get a little bit more reinforcement and he stands up straight. "Harry." He adopts a serious look on his face. "How have you been?"
LOGIC: What.
VOLITION [Hard: Failure]: I don't know.
SUGGESTION [Medium: Success]: He is talking to you as casually as he can. Yielding the tone of colleagues who bumped into each other in the break room.
DRAMA: He's showing his hand, sire! He came here on a whim, no plan at all.
AUTHORITY: He's drunk, floundering, and in your place. The lieutenant has, recklessly, given you all of the power.
YOU: "No worse than when we talked last night." Your attempt at matching his ultra casual tone failed. Landed with a dull thud, only successfully highlighting that you've noticed he isn't in complete control of himself.
VOLITION: For a man like Kim, that's like realizing he completed an entire work day while completely naked.
KIM KITSURAGI: "Ah, right. Khm."
CONCEPTUALIZATION: Why did he drive all this way out to Jamrock just for a couple of drinks?
HALF LIGHT: Why did he come to you?
ELECTROCHEMISTRY: If you drop to your knees right now, would he let you suck his dick?
KIM KITSURAGI: "You get this look in your eye," He says suddenly, slowly stepping closer to you until you could practically count how many hairs his pencil mustache has. "when you get lost in your thoughts. How did you phrase it? 'Communing with the furies'?"
COMPOSURE [Challenging: Failure]: Um-
PERCEPTION: He smells of smoke, under the rum. Chestnut scented, yes, but also a different brand. More tar like. He also is a lot sweatier than you thought.
LOGIC [Hard: Success]: Not just from the heat, or if it is then he's been out far longer than just for a couple of drinks.
ELECTROCHEMISTRY: [Formidable: Failure]: You neeeeed to know his drink of choice. What brand of rum? What was the first drink he had? Preferably by sticking your tongue in his mouth and chasing the flavor.
When was the last time you felt the touch of another person? You haven't had any visitors while on medical leave, and you haven't been able to make it to the Frittte as often as you want because of your leg. Have you really been in the presence of another person in the two weeks you've been back? Besides small talk and eye contact?
KIM KITSURAGI: "What goes on in that mind of yours, Harry?" Kim asks, stepping even closer. As if he's pulled by a string tying your chests together. You can feel his breath hit your face now, and he doesn't stop looking at you. Eyes tracing all over your face, as if wanting to make a note of every detail. "What is it that you see that makes you such a 'can-opener', huh?"
VOLITION [Challenging: Success]: You have to stop him. He's not acting in his right mind.
COMPOSURE: [Legendary: Success]: It is only by the grace of God that you don't do anything stupid. The trade-off is that you're stuck standing there, staring at him with no-doubt a stupid look on your face as he continues to talk.
ENCYCLOPEDIA: 'Rubbernecking' is a term for a the phenomenon of bystanders slowing down or stopping when they pass by a traffic accident. It is very dangerous behavior, often leading to the distracted driver getting into an accident of your own. Drivers who defend this behavior usually claim that they 'just couldn't look away'.
INLAND EMPIRE: He is staring at you like you are the most disastrous accident he's ever seen and he doesn't want to miss a second of it.
KIM KITSURAGI: "Sorry I didn't call ahead." He winces apologetically. "I didn't plan on any of this."
DRAMA [Trivial: Success]: Told you.
YOU: "Who were you out drinking with tonight, Kim?"
KIM KITSURAGI: "My new coworkers." He smirks, clearly finding what he said to be a little funny.
DRAMA: I don't think you need me to tell you that he isn't going to be good liar right now.
LOGIC [Easy: Failure]: "You got a new job?"
KIM KITSURAGI: "I officially put in my transfer to precinct 41 today." He finally lets his jacket fall to the ground, but otherwise makes no other movements. "Got caught by a couple of officers leaving Pryce's office, they invited me out for a celebratory drink."
ESPRIT DE CORPS: The rare times in the past he was invited out for drinks he'd decline, and it didn't take many declines for the offers to dry up.
SUGGESTION: Trying to butter up the gears for a promotion, or sincerely wanting to turn a new leaf with his coworkers?
HALF LIGHT: He's trying to win over your old friends and replace you.
ESPRIT DE CORPS [Hard: Failure]: Currently that would not be hard to do.
-1 MORALE
YOU: "Anyone I know?"
ESPRIT DE CORPS: 'Probably all of them, as they're also your- Ah, right, the memory loss.'
KIM KITSURAGI: "Surprisingly Vicquemare joined us."
LOGIC [Challenging: Success]: "You bummed a cigarette off of him?"
KIM KITSURAGI: "I asked him about you, and I already had a couple of drinks." He shrugs. "I figured an extra cigarette is a good price to pay to get him talking more."
SUGGESTION: He played it off as just wanting to know how you've been doing, to which Jean said you were doing 'fucking fantastic'. How he would know is anyone's guess.
ESPRIT DE CORPS: About forty minutes ago, Jean Vicquemare starts walking in the opposite direction of Kim. 'God help him,' He lights yet another cigarette before he finds the late night bus home. 'He's already being dickwhipped by Shitkid.'
DRAMA: A drunkard's confidence is flowing through him. Right now he's convinced he covered his tracks perfectly.
EMPATHY [Challenging: Success]: To be fair, Vic already thought this of Kim. He's convinced that anyone that has a positive opinion of you has been manipulated into it, somehow.
ELECTROCHEMISTRY: Wait wait wait, didn't we smell Vic's smoke on his breath?
PERCEPTION: No, not necessarily. We just smelled it on him. Vic's cigs are so strong that it could have easily just stuck to his clothes.
LOGIC [Hard: Success]: The second cigarette being another one of his own.
VISUAL CALCULUS: Consider that a case closed.
ELECTROCHEMISTRY: So the chances that they both got sloppy drunk and started making out like shy lesbians is really low?
VOLITION [Easy: Success]: Sincerely what is wrong with you?
PAIN THRESHOLD: Your leg is going to give out, by the way.
YOU: Thanks for the heads up.
PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT: The dull throb that you had been able to ignore in the face of extenuating circumstances makes itself known and you have no choice but to buckle suddenly. You got shot, man, take it easy.
KIM KITSURAGI: He tries to catch you but he ends up just cushioning your fall and you both end up on the carpet, a good amount of your body weight pressing right into him. It causes him to burst into laughter.
AUTHORITY [Easy: Failure]: Who the hell is this Bino laughing at?
LOGIC [Trivial: Success]: Probably at nothing, calm down Schroeder.
ENCYCLOPEDIA [Easy: Success]: 'Schroeder' refers to an action movie from '47. Jacoby Schroeder is the protagonist, a man who works as a hired killer but intends for this to be his last ever assignment. He screws up and accidentally kills a child and lets the mark go free, and after two decades of killing the scummiest men that society has to offer, it breaks him and he goes on a killing spree of every person convicted of heinous crimes that he knows.
YOU: Is laughing a crime?
AUTHORITY: When it's laughing at us, it should be.
KIM KITSURAGI: "This is so stupid!" He's laughing so hard that sentence almost didn't make it out.
SAVOIR FAIRE: Okay, ouch.
KIM KITSURAGI: "This is the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life." He chokes out in between his raucous laughter. "I haven't done anything this reckless since I was a teenager!"
YOU: Reckless?
KIM KITSURAGI: "Oh wait, merde, you're probably in pain and here I am selfishly enjoying the moment." A little more slurred drunkenness slipped into his voice at that. You freeze as he attempts to wriggle out from underneath you.
YOU: Enjoy?!
ELECTROCHEMISTRY: Oh my god, he came here to fuck you.
VOLITION [Hard: Failure]: No he didn't, shut up.
KIM KITSURAGI: For some reason he doesn't get up from the ground, or really separate that much from you. He turns on his side to face you, close enough that his breath hits your face, and he smiles loosely in your general direction.
PERCEPTION: Giggle. Was that a giggle that slipped out? Does Kim giggle?!
EMPATHY: You're in love with him, by the way. In case you weren't aware.
YOU: Roll onto your back when the eye-contact starts to feel like too much and into a position that is a little more comfortable for your leg; flat on your back, injured leg held at a slightly awkward angle, and you stare up at the ceiling.
RHETORIC [Challenging: Failure]: Wait, that idea you're thinking about, don't- !
YOU: "Sorry I pushed you to this." Your voice is so quiet, so achingly sincere, it's embarrassing.
PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT: Shut up. Shut up now.
YOU: "I should have left you alone after we separated, but I'm a selfish bastard and I'm -"
EMPATHY: Scared that you're going to ruin him?
ESPRIT DE CORPS: Certain that he is going to be chewed up and spit out by the same place that did that to you?
ELECTROCHEMISTRY: In love with you and can't let you go?
YOU: "I'm sorry." Your voice cracks. Despite yourself, you turn your head to look back at Kim. "I should have left you be after Martinaise, not dragged you into all my bullshit. And now-"
AUTHORITY: What was that? Is your voice wobbling? You're going to cry over this?
EMPATHY [Challenging: Success]: Kim might need you to look over right now.
KIM KITSURAGI: At some point he had sat up as if to get a better look at your face. His eyebrows are pinched together and when you make eye contact, he's already staring intensely like you're a particularly difficult puzzle.
INLAND EMPIRE: It's a look you've seen before.
KIM KITSURAGI: He breaks the eye contact and fully sits up. He's. . .
PERCEPTION [Trivial: Success]: Fiddling with his hands?
KIM KITSURAGI: "So this was a pretty bad idea, okay." His voice sounds so different from just a few moments ago. Suddenly he sounds unsure and nervous. "It was a lot, I agree. I won't ask - I won't do this again. Anything like this."
LOGIC: What's happening?
EMPATHY [Hard: Success]: Something you just said deeply hurt him. It rung a part of him that he keeps locked up, as hidden inside of him as he can keep it, something he foolishly thought was long gone by now.
ESPRIT DE CORPS: You've gone and fucking done it now, Kimmy-boy. Kim, though it doesn't sound like his voice, cruelly thought to himself. You fucked up. Again. Even fucking Harry Du Bois is sick of you.
YOU: "Wait, wait wait-" You need a second to process the sudden change in Kim, but he starts to rise to his feet before you can get the words out.
KIM KITSURAGI: "I'll get out- oooough." He attempted to stand up very quickly, and just as quickly he stumbled and fell back to the floor. His skin took a greyish-pale complexion around the parts that were still flushed.
ELECTROCHEMISTRY: Oh yeah, you know that look!
EMPATHY: Seeing it on Kim's face gives you sympathy nausea.
YOU: "Alright, come on, let's get you off the floor." You struggle to stand up and then the two of you clumsily hobble towards the bathroom.
SAVOIR FAIRE: Someone looking in wouldn't be able to tell who's the drunk and who's the cripple.
YOU: You help splash some water over Kim's face, offer him one of your shirts that was already in there (clean, worn once or twice. Or three times. It's clean though!) and help him feel a little fresher. He doesn't throw up, thank Dei. You make it to your bedroom and drop him on the bed.
PAIN THRESHOLD: I know my whole job is around handling pain but could you PLEASE start acting like you have a GUNSHOT WOUND in your thigh? I would really appreciate it.
YOU: "Ah, okay, you can sleep here for the night. I just need to- to sit for a bit and then I'll sleep on the couch tonight." The bed squeaks underneath your weight and you start massaging your thigh so you can leave Kim be as quickly as possible.
KIM KITSURAGI: The earlier . . . emotional outburst? seems to have taken a lot of energy out of him. He didn't fight you in the process of you getting him ready for bed and now, still in the exact same position you dropped him in, he wordlessly pats the space next to him.
YOU: "Oh no it's fine! You're worse off than I am, honestly- not to imply you're really bad off tonight don't worry-"
KIM KITSURAGI: "Don't be ridiculous." It sounds like he's barely able to keep himself awake. "You got shot, I was the idiot. Sleep here." He points to the exact spot for you to lay down next to him, just in case you didn't know what he was referring to.
HALF LIGHT: You need to insist. You can't just share a bed with him.
PAIN THRESHOLD: This is fucking AGONY and you think you can sleep on the couch?
ELECTROCHEMISTRY: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE-
HALF LIGHT: You can't!
YOU: "Okay." Your whisper could barely be heard over the silence of the room, but Kim lets his arm rest anyway. You eventually sink into the bed, under the covers, as far away from Kim as you can possibly be while not seeming like you're avoiding touching him.
HALF LIGHT: This is so fucking terrifying.
PERCEPTION [Medium: Success]: Eventually your heartbeat decreases. Your body untenses. You start to relax.
KIM KITSURAGI: "Harry?"
SAVOIR FAIRE [Easy: Failure]: You didn't jump when he broke the silence. The bed just. . . moved, I don't know!
KIM KITSURAGI: "Sorry," he reaches out to touch you and you think he reached for your arm, but when he noticed it was your hand he didn't pull back. He lays his hand right on top of yours where it was on your chest, trying to give him more room. The contact is so warm.
YOU: "I wasn't scared." You give him a cool smile before realizing that between the dark and the fact that you left his glasses on the bathroom sink that he can't see a damn thing.
KIM KITSURAGI: "And sorry about coming over." You're not sure if he registered what you said. His voice sounds like he's actively fighting sleep to get this out. "I've been told. In the past, that I can be kind of. A lot."
YOU: "You? A lot?" You try to scoff humorously. "I know none of those people met me. Trust me Kim, you're so cool. You're fine."
KIM KITSURAGI: "You have to tell me if I'm being too much." He says surprisingly firmly. "And I won't - yawns - I won't do something like this again, I promise. I'm sorry."
ELECTROCHEMISTRY: Fuck, we're getting to the Emotional part of being blackout drunk.
EMPATHY [Hard: Success]: This sounds like some deeply buried fears of his. What is he getting at? If you tell him that it was fine and he has nothing to worry about it will bounce off of him like rubber.
YOU: Somehow the words flow out of you. Maybe the possibility that he won't remember any of this tomorrow makes it easier.
YOU: "I wouldn't be mad even if you actually did throw up on my carpet. I would still be your friend even if you did more damage.
LOGIC: You're talking to the ceiling, not Kim, but that's nebulous details.
KIM KITSURAGI: He's silent for a long time. So long you're certain he's just passed out, but then suddenly he reaches back out for you again.
HALF LIGHT: STOP HIM!
KIM KITSURAGI: He moves close enough to you that you can feel his breath on your skin as he curls a bit around your bicep. You two fall asleep like that almost immediately.