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[dollmaxing]

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Hiiii! You've reached Ichinose Kuon, head of AI research and development. Leave a message and I'll get back to you!

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[takutomaruki]

How do you say those things so easily?

When this entire place says otherwise?

The boop on his nose makes him focus down on the gesture, not particularly expecting it but pleasantly happy from it anyway.

He reached out for the hand, not allowing it to retreat as his fingers cradled her wrist.

A pause. Or two.

"Kuon...if we are doing this, I need to let you know I don't want this with us hurting each other because believe me, many of my patients go through something similar and walk away heartbroken." His heart will always belong to Rumi. Her memory. Her love.

And Kuon didn't deserve to become the victim of his shallow emotions. Whatever those were.

"I don't know if I will be able to satisfy you." He admits with his heart pulsing with Azathoth's rhythm.

[dollmaxing]

"We won't know if you can or can't until we try," Kuon replied smoothly, sliding her wrist down slightly so she could wrap her fingers around his. So insecure, so worried...

"I know your love belongs to your former fiance, in that ring you wear around your neck. I'm not looking to be anything like that for you."

But she's gone, Kuon thinks. And until she returns, he needs a companion - he's far, far too lonesome now. Almost lost. Until she gave him hope.

"I don't want romantic love from you. All I want is your support and camaraderie."

[takutomaruki]

He feels bare again. Hair still slightly damp, face recently washed, with no glasses to hide away how obvious the circles under his eyes were.

"...!"

He lets go of her hand, deliberately to hold on to that ring. To think he completely forgot about it while talking to Kuon...guilt surfaces on his face for a moment before he finds himself sadly smiling at her.

As if he were holding up Rumi's dead corpse in his hands, and Kuon was the only one to witness him burying her before her eyes.

And yet. She wanted his support.

His words are caught in his throat. Suddenly, there's so much to notice. So much to realise. About himself and Kuon.

[dollmaxing]

With the same tenderness and care as the attempt to comfort him on the bench, somewhat unpracticed but at least well-intentioned, Kuon sat up, scooted closer and gently brushed the damp locks of hair out of Takuto's face. Gently cupping his cheeks. But not going in for anything, not yet - let him cling to his ring, his heart needed it.

"What do you say? Do you have any rules? I'll follow them without question."

[takutomaruki]

He straightened up when she came closer, instinctively pulling away before pausing in his tracks as he felt her hands cupping his cheeks.

For a moment, he closed his eyes, feeling his insides disintegrate.

Then, when he opened them again, he unhooks his fingers off the ring to cradle her hands in his own. "Rules...?" He blinks away the confusion in his eyes.

"I-"

A rule. What could be the rule that would be specific to him and his happiness of being taken care of in such a hospitable way? What kind of rule could he assign to himself that wouldn't be defined by the world?

One that could drive Kuon's proposition off the water.

"You would tell me if something goes wrong, right? If I did anything which made you...want to pull away."

[dollmaxing]

"Done. And you do the same for me - fair is fair," she agreed, nodding. His hands were warm... a little clammy from the scramble, the shock from just a minute or so ago, but that didn't bother her.

"Ah, how about this one: we each ask if we want to try something new. That's a useful one."

[takutomaruki]

He is...nervous. So nervous, actually. The more he thinks about what could happen in a few moments, the more anxiety threatens to bubble up. it is not something he would have ever predicted in a different setting.

But it feels right somehow. To talk about this with her.

"Experimenting...if it makes you happy, I will follow through, or bring it up- depending on the circumstance," he nods slowly. Just a friend. She's just a friend. "It's not so different from our usual work, honestly."

His gaze flickers back to her. "Anything else?"

[dollmaxing]

"Hmmm... oh! Azathoth is allowed to come out to play. But no drawing blood, he has to be gentle," she giggled, amused at the thought.

[takutomaruki]

Oh.

Oh.

Takuto spasms almost, eyes widened in actual surprise.
"Huh...didn't know my persona became your type. You don't find him strange?"

[dollmaxing]

"He's you. Powerful, but gentle and kind."

That speaks for itself, in her opinion!

[takutomaruki]

Not rotten.

No. Now that he has full control over Azathoth this time, it's exactly what it needs to be. Gentle and kind for a world that wouldn't spare a glance at you.

And Kuon sees it. She sees the progress.

Somewhere even Azathoth, dormant behind the veil of his soul, curled around protectively.

Not rotten.

Not monstrous.

Not ruined.

She said it so plainly, like it was fact. Like he was fact.

His hands tightened gently around hers as if grounding himself. Kuon's presence, light and persistent, existed as if she could tether even something as far-gone as him back to the real.

And from the back of his mind—no, not the back—from above, below, within—Azathoth stirred with something that felt suspiciously like approval.

"The priestess speaks with stars on her tongue," the voice echoed through him in a dreamlike pulse, its tone layered and harmonic, like light folding through water. "She sings not of worship, but of acceptance. The court of the blind dreamer kneels to his dearest Eve."

Takuto's head dipped slightly. A laugh—quiet and stunned—left him, not at her, but in disbelief that anyone had ever spoken of him that way, much less his Persona. The faintest glow shuddered somewhere beneath the skin of his collarbone again, a light that briefly made him look less human and more divine.

"You're..." He swallowed down the knot in his throat. "You're honestly unbelievable."

He meant it.

The air between them had gone strange again. Tenuous. Not tense, not sharp—but suspended. Like the inside of a cocoon, soft and folded in starlight. Even seated across from her, Kuon felt close—far too close—and he wasn’t sure if it was physical or psychic or... something Azathoth was amplifying between their linked minds.

The bed was still a mess, his shirt half-buttoned, glasses hanging off at the foot. Her fingers warm against his wrist.

He glanced away before he said the next part, voice a bit lower, like he had to push it through shame:

"...I can't have you kiss me, for example."

The words hung there.

Just a sadness. A small apology curled behind his lashes.

"I never liked it when the others did " he added after a pause, quieter this time, folding a piece of himself away. "After her- it always felt like I was giving something up. Or being told to lie with my mouth."

He rubbed his thumb over the edge of her knuckles. Not as a way to ask her to leave. Quite the opposite. He still wanted to stay. Still wanted her here. Still wanted this.

"I hope that’s alright."

[dollmaxing]

"I can guess why," she hummed. It was a more intimate gesture, wasn't it? More romantically inclined. Though... how far does that go?

Settling in even more closely, Kuon slid her hands away from his face to drape them over his shoulders, leaning into him more, close as they were on the bench before.

"Is that kisses anywhere, or just on the lips? Could I, say... kiss along your neck, or the inside of your wrist?"

1/2

[takutomaruki]

Takuto blinked. Once, then again—slow, like he hadn't quite expected her to stay.

He had made that statement not just as a boundary, but... a quiet invitation for retreat. For her to call him difficult. Dramatic. Too wounded to touch. Too complicated to untangle.

But Kuon didn’t pull away. Not even slightly.

Instead, her presence became closer. His pulse fluttered just beneath his skin.

He didn’t flinch. But his eyes lifted to hers with a subtle awe, wide and unsure in a way he rarely let anyone see.

Just that same calm curiosity.

[takutomaruki]

He should’ve expected it. Kuon was nothing if not direct in her gentleness. But still, the question knocked softly at the walls he had built, and he wasn’t sure how they were supposed to hold anymore.

His gaze lingered on her mouth—not with desire, but with a strange, analytical fondness. Then, slowly, as if realising he was doing it, he looked down at the place her hands met at his back. One of his own moved, shifting slightly from her wrist to cradle the side of her waist instead—fingers curling against the fabric of her clothes with careful reverence.

He was blushing. Not just in his cheeks, but to the tips of his ears.

And yet—he nodded.

His thumb lingered on her forearm again, drawing soft, unconscious circles like he was memorising her presence one inch at a time.

Then, quietly—soft but with the smallest upward lilt in his voice, like a smile that hadn't quite reached his lips yet—he murmured:

"...If I start getting greedy with how nice that feels, you’re allowed to scold me."

A flicker of something warm passed through his eyes. Embarrassed, yes—but not hiding anymore.

[dollmaxing]

The hand on her waist was pleasant, a closeness and warmth that was always enjoyable welcome in how it flooded through her body. She trotted her fingers along the back of his shoulder, not quite touching the eye, just shy of it...

"Scold you because I mean it? Or scold you because you like being pushed around for a game?" Kuon asked, breathed, in his ear.

If she pressed any closer, she'd squish him against the headboard. Slowly, trailing her fingers along his skin so he knew she wasn't withdrawing for good, she sat back to start unbuttoning her own top... taking her time, in case Takuto still lost the nerve.

Fade to black (1/2)

[takutomaruki]

He hadn’t expected her to get that close.

The breath in his ear—that breath—shot straight through him like lightning drawn by ritual, and Takuto let out a small, involuntary sound as he slapped a palm to his ear in stunned embarrassment.

"Th-That’s not fair play, Kuon," he muttered, voice cracking just slightly as he tried not to bury his face in her shoulder. He could feel the heat blooming across his chest, trailing down his torso, right to where his half-buttoned shirt hung like a flimsy afterthought on his body.

And yet...he didn’t pull away.

He had no need to.

[ooc: continuing here]