conversations: human
conversations:  The first thing Ryoma feels is a warm slab of stone against his back, followed by a dry heat bearing down on him and then, a sharp pain in his leg. When he opens his eyes, he sees a clear blue sky overhead, and surrounding him, people clad in breezy uniform robes. The first looks just like him - if he were older, and carrying a hammer. Beside him is a woman who stands apart from everyone else - and he recognizes her as his mother, the man as his father. Around them are other people he recognizes, people from his Soccer Club, Shimabukuro-sensei, other students who've fawned over him, and he can just about make out the forms of Kezui and Rin, though they're somehow dwarfed by the tool-carrying throngs surrounding him.
  
   "I don't believe that got it."  Izuru says, as he looks over Ryoma, who suddenly realizes that his arms and legs have been bound to the stone slab. And the fact that he is laid naked on the slab, completely bare for these people to see. He's brought out of a flush of shame as his father slams the mallet in his hand against his shoulder, sending a pulsing pain through it that makes him cough out a sliver of rainbow-colored bile.  "Aha."  He smiles.  "I think we've found another source." 
   "You've said that the last ten times."  Megan chides his father, as she wipes the bile off of Ryoma's lips with a rag.  "Our boy will never be normal if you keep jumping to conclusions. Patience, dear." 
   "You're right."  Izuru sighs, as he reaches somewhere out of Ryoma's sight and retrieves a clamp that he latches onto Ryoma's shoulder and slowly starts to turn the crank, compressing Ryoma's muscular shoulder tighter and tighter, as he feels more bile building up in his throat, ready to be coughed out.  "I just...he'll never be accepted the way he is. Why is it our son who has to be this way?"  Another turn of the crank.  "Look at all the other parents!" 
  
  It's at this point that Ryoma becomes aware of more than just the people surrounding him, and sees the desert that surrounds him. But more than just golden sand, he sees a dozen other teenagers, a dozen other stone slabs, with similar people surrounding them. But, rather than being hammered at, their bodies put in a vice, they go through but a brief examination before being pulled off the table, presented with a grey robe, and another set of people arrives to make use of their crafting table.
  
   "That's just how it is."  Megan says, as she wipes up another mouthful of rainbow-colored bile that's been forced out of Ryoma's lips.  "But we're all here for him. And if we work hard enough, we'll get these urges out of him, and he'll be able to find a lovely wife. There are so many upstanding girls to choose from,"  She smiles, as she looks over the giggling robe-clad students nearby.  "And the other players won't have to be worried about him doing things to them while they're asleep! Think of what that will do for his career!"  She says, as the soccer club cheers.
  
  A smile emerges on Izuru's face, as he cranks the vice yet tighter.  "He'll be so happy."  He says, as he watches Ryoma spew another mouthful of bile, it gets wiped off, and he finally removes the vice and puts it carefully to the side. Ryoma's mangled shoulder pops back into place, and a quick whack of Izuru's hammer produces no further bile.  "Aha! It seems to have worked this time. We just have the rest of him to check."  He says, as he brings his hammer down on Ryoma's thigh and the boy feels another mouthful of liquid churn out of his guts. Izuru wipes his eye.  "We'll be here all day, if we have to." 
  
  Shimabukuro-senpai, Ryoma's gym coach, suddenly speaks up in his usual soft voice.  "I have an idea."  He says, as a pair of pliers suddenly appear in his muscular hand.  "We tackle where his urges emerge."  He says, and everyone's gaze slides over to Ryoma's exposed privates.  "It's not the source. But he won't need it for marriage. And it'd never work for a man." 
   "Interesting..."  Izuru rubs his chin.
conversations: Hazuki:
conversations: human
conversations:  Ryoma struggles helplessly against the restraints, trying to cover himself. His face is burning red and his chin and neck are slick with the sticky, rainbow bile. The heat is intense, as the relentless desert sun bakes the stone slab beneath him. Soon, it will be hot enough to sear his flesh.   I have to get out of here,   he thinks, panicking.
  
   "How did I get here?!? Let me go!  DAD, PLEASE! "  Ryoma screams at his father, his pleading eyes searching the dark, twisted faces that surround him. They look like his family and friends, but he senses that there's something wrong with all of them. In the distance, the forms of Rin and Kezui start to fade, vanishing like mirages into the sizzling desert air.
  
  At Shimabukuro-sensei's suggestion, Ryoma starts to cry.  "No! No! Anything but that! I'll be good!"  Tears stream down his face, and he sobs, not understanding how or why this all could be happening.
conversations: AtS:
conversations: human
conversations:  "What's wrong with you, Ryoma-kun?"  Izuru says, taken out of his musing by the screaming of his son.  "You never normally act this way. You're such a confident young man." 
   "It must be these urges."  Megan says, as she gently dabs away the bile sticking to Ryoma's skin.  "Look at what they're doing to our poor boy."  As she wipes away a tear, her skin stretches more than would be expected.  "Takeru, please give him some water. He'll shout himself sore." 
  
  Ryoma's little brother steps out of the robe-clad people, a jug in his hand, and is urged on by Ryoma's fellow soccer-players, whose features seem wider, a little more muscular, with every passing second.  "Hey, big bro."  He says, as he puts the jug to Ryoma's lips.  "Mom and dad say you're going to be awesome again when we get all this stuff out of you."  As he speaks, he pours the liquid into Ryoma's mouth, where it feels like acid rather than water, burning at his tongue, his throat, feeling like it's draining only more of the moisture from his skin.
conversations: Hazuki:
conversations: human
conversations:  "Ryoma. Don't listen to them."    A strange, yet familiar voice echoes across the desolate sands.    "It's okay to be different."    The figures representing Takeru, Izuru, Megan, and Shimabukuro-sensei suddenly yell, trying to drown out this new voice.  "Ryoma, we just want what's  best  for you!" "Ryoma, why can't you just be  normal ?" "Ryoma, what's  wrong  with you?" "Ryoma, why don't you  try harder ?" "Ryoma, life will be hard if you don't  change ."  Their voices swell into a cacophonous roar, almost overwhelming the boy with their intensity.
  
     "Be still!"    The new voice asserts, instantly silencing the littany of other urgings. The figures around him fall silent, and the new voice is closer now than ever before.
  
   "Huh?"  Ryoma struggles against the restraints, trying to get a better view of who is speaking.    "I've always loved you, lil' brother. Mom and Dad love you too. We all do. This, all of this... it's all in your head."    Now, Rin reappears, stepping forward out of the crowd, speaking with this new voice that's not her own. Behind her, the darkened crowd of the shadows Ryoma's family and friends melt into increasingly more grotesque forms.
  
  Suddenly, another figure emerges from the mass of shadowy limbs and body parts. Kezui steps forward and reaches out to Ryoma, offering a hand of comfort. In his other hand, he holds a round cactus plant, bright green and vibrant, but covered in small, sharp spines.    "You don't need to be so hard on yourself,"    he says in that same strange, yet comforting voice, gently caressing Ryoma's cheek.    "Here. Drink this, it'll help."    He breaks the cactus open with both hands, revealing a pool of crystal clear, sparkling water inside. Kezui lifts the plant to Ryoma's lips, tipping the water into his mouth.
  
  Parched, Ryoma drinks. And drinks. And drinks. The water quenches a thirst that he's felt for a long, long time. One that he'd always been afraid to acknowledge, to yield, to believe. When the cactus is dry, Ryoma sits up, the restraints gone. Kezui smiles and grabs Ryoma's hand, and the two boys lace their fingers together tightly. Staring into Kezui's bright green eyes, Ryoma leans forward for a tentative kiss. He feels their lips meet, and the rush of excitement warms his blood. He closes his eyes, and the harsh environment of the desert fades. For a moment, there's nothing and no one else but the boy he loves.
  
  Ryoma opens his eyes to a blinding light. Kezui is glowing, a sort of rainbow-shifting hue emanating outward from his skin. He smiles and steps backward, joined by Rin. She shares the same eminence, and Ryoma stares in awe as the two continue to glow brighter and brighter. Eventually, the glow is so bright that he's forced to shade his eyes and look away. When he's able to glance back at them, there's a third figure standing behind them. A tall, lupine figure, with pointed ears and snout, sharp teeth and claws. Despite the figure's fearsome appearance, Ryoma is not afraid.
  
  When he speaks, the three figures speak in unison. Now, it's clear, the voice he's heard all along, that familiar voice, belongs to the figure standing before him.    "I came to you in these forms to give you strength and reassurance. To remind you of your loved ones. To help you. But only  you  can accept who you are. Who  we  are."   
   "W-who we... are? Who I am?"  Ryoma asks, confused.
  
  The figure winks.    "You know."   
   "I-I'm gay."  It's hard for the boy to choke out the words, but he does. He feels how important it is, in this moment, to be true to himself.
  
  A light, airy chuckle fills the air.    "There. Was that so hard?"   
   "I've always wished I could change it. I never asked to be different!" 
     "Liking other boys is not the worst thing that could happen to you. You could be a trickster spirit bound to a confused teenage boy's cognition, after all."    The figure winks again.
  
   "Who are you?" 
     "I am you. You are me. We are Ryoma. We are Mq'ii."   
   "Mq'ii..." 
  
  Suddenly, the desert landscape melts away, and Ryoma's consciousness rushes back into his body, in a disorienting swirl of light.
conversations: AtS: