Minutes To Midnight (Zoisite)

Minutes To Midnight (Zoisite)
Date of Cutscene:	15 December 2023
Location:	Dorms
Synopsis:	Zoisite engages in some rare introspection about all that has happened over the past couple years, and where it has all brought him.
Cast of Characters:	Zoisite
Tinyplot:	Midnight Tokyo

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TXT from Hematite to Zoisite: i'm going out for a bit please feed the bakeneko for me thx <3

There were even odds that the text message came from the bakeneko herself, instead of Hematite, but Zoisite was there regardless. Floating in the air above Mamoru's bed, ignoring the possibility of Mamoru's room mate coming back, and also ignoring the monster cat that sat on the bed, breathing heavily, and staring up at him.

Occasional 'Mrrts' also went unremarked upon.

Two years ago, he was the whipping boy for a homophobic father who thought his son too effeminate to be seen in public let alone permitted to take over the business. He and Jason had been peripherally aware of each other at the time, as members of their respectively affluent families, with financial ties to Obsidian. Funny, that.

Zoisite had power now - loads of it - and he could have gotten revenge on his father for being a terrible excuse for a human being, on the rest of his family for standing by and tacitly endorsing the abuse, on just about anyone he felt had wronged him. But once he had all that power in his hands, he found that he just... Didn't care anymore. His blood relations were irrelevant. To 'get back at them' would be lending importance to the harm they had done him, acknowledging it had actually hurt him.

So he just moved on. He became Zoisite full-time, as though he had stepped right out of the dark and shattered past and into the present without ever being a human boy in between those two points. Being Zoisite meant freedom. It meant having control over his own life, and his own destiny. He could express himself however he chose, and he wouldn't be judged for it, because he was already hanging out with the most terrible people on the planet, and was one of those same monsters.

What his human family had done to him?

It was nothing now.

The devil in his mind and soul made that very clear. Humans were just trash to be discarded. They were limited, helpless, myopic, hopelessly backwards creatures, and there would be a whole lot less of them very soon.

That thought, more than anything else, brought a smile to Zoisite's lips as he played around on his phone, looking at the news about the damage to Crystal Tower.

Zoisite could be or do anything now.

As a slave to a manifestation of pure evil, he had never been more free.

The cat fussed at him again, and Zoisite rolled over onto his belly, floating above the feline, with his hands beneath his chin in a heart-shape. "Oh, does the little furball want to eat? And you don't have opposable thumbs? What a tragedy! Perhaps you should go out and evolve some so you can get a job and afford to feed yourself." Zoisite made kissy faces and noises at the youkai that was making more and more perturbed cat noises.

Amusing though this was, Zoisite had been asked to take care of something.

His smile faded away without him even realizing it. Slave to a demon, but the one who made Zoisite feel bound to obey was the boy who politely texted him to feed his cat.

What a long, strange trip it's been.

Zoisite had not been terribly involved in this whole Midnight Tokyo thing so far, but Nephrite had insisted it would be wise to put everything he valued on the other side, within the fortified living space that had been constructed inside of the walls that would one day guard the actual city in the Dusk Zone. Something major was going to happen soon. The Astrologist was certain of that, though he couldn't say what, where, why, how, or even precisely when.

Zoisite snorted as he teleported down to get the fish fillet from WcDonald's out of the bag and unwrap it for the cat, and then some fries for himself. He had it on good authority (Pyrite's) that bakeneko do not, in fact, like fries. Or maybe they're just picky like every other cat in existence and want them sometimes and not others. He's not a catologist, he has no idea.

Was there anything Zoisite wanted to bring with him from Earth to the Dusk Zone? Any of the luxuries or amenities he had accumulated in his apartment? His movie collection? His wardrobe? The hot tub he had installed in the floor?

"Nothing," he said out loud, hands on his hips, looking out the window. A cold, quiet, but sunny world, with trees, and grass, and animals, and people, and all of the things that made Earth a place for things to live, and a home to come back to.

"There's nothing I want to take with me." he confirmed after thinking about it some more.

After a few more seconds, and a few more fries, Zoisite reached out to ruffle the bakeneko's fur while she ate, and then he disappeared.

Zoisite may have only just now vanished from the face of the Earth, but Yoshi Zaibatsu had already been gone for a very long time.