RP Log: Niou, Ryoma, Yuuta

[perfect-synch.livejournal.com]

Date: Halloween night
Rating: Just some language and, uh, possession?
Summary: Niou, Ryoma, and Yuuta hold a seance that is a bit more successful than any of them could have expected. (See this post for details!)



Ryoma sighed, finally having been able to slip away from the benefactor dinner, which had been winding down anyway. He'd stopped by the apartment to grab some things and now he made his way down to the Danger Room. He'd figured it would be the best place to hold their so-called-séance, since it was isolated and probably one of the safest rooms on campus - not that he was exactly predicting that anything dangerous would happen, but he'd never held a séance before and it was probably better to be safe than sorry.

Yuuta and Niou should be along in a couple of minutes; Ryoma pushed the door open, leaving it for now, and went to the side of the room where there was a closet which stored a folding table and chairs. He pulled them into the center of the room, then dug through the schoolbag on his shoulder and pulled out a couple of candles and some charms he'd gotten from the local shrine. He wasn't really sure how to do this, but he figured they'd just kind of make it up as they went along. If he and Yuuta were still feeling like they were watched by now, there really must be something hanging around, and if it was hanging around, chances were it probably had a reason, right? And if it had a reason, maybe it'd be willing to tell them.

Ryoma'd never been afraid of ghosts, really, and he wasn't afraid now, as he set out the candles and pulled out some matches but didn't light them yet. He was a bit curious, and maybe a little nervous - more because he had no idea what the hell was following them or what it would say if they managed to talk to it, not because he was really afraid it could hurt them. He could synch Niou after all, and Yuuta... well, Yuuta was pretty much fire incarnate. Ryoma was pretty sure ghosts couldn't hurt fire. Besides, it hadn't done anything but watch before now. Why should it do something different now?

Yuuta, on the other hand, was just slightly more concerned about the... beings or what-have-you that were watching them. Maybe if he were actually oblivious to the constant watching, he wouldn't mind so much, but actually feeling someone's presence while they remained invisible actually creeped him out, he had to admit (but not aloud). Which was why he was currently making his way toward the Danger Room, loosening the tie around his neck. The food was awesome; the tastiest he'd ever had, but God, the atmosphere was so stuffy. And it was boring.

Opening the door to the Danger Room, Yuuta peeked inside, only to see a lovely lady setting things up.

...Oh yeah. And Ryoma was a girl. Okay, so that made things a little more amusing at dinner.

"Hey," he called out, strolling over toward the attractive girl who was actually a guy and... why didn't it bother Yuuta as much as it should have? Right, his girl/boyfriend. It was amazing how living at Ryuhana can desensitize a person. "Anything else need to be set up?"

Niou stepped through the Danger Room's far wall in time to hear the question. Mm~ seemed like he was running late as it was. Lucky he'd thought to pack in advance, and hadn't had to duck back to the apartment.

“F'rgettin' the incense <3”

Turning his tall tophat upside down into a silken bucket with a flourish, he extracted several sticks of the smelly stuff, complete with a foam block to shove them in - and set them down on the table, dusting off his hair. That was his contribution for the evening. Hell if he even knew what a séance really entailed, but burnable pseudo-drugs never hurt anybody's state of mind... Probably.

Ryoma glanced up as Yuuta entered, nodding in his direction. "Not really, 'less you wanna put these up anywhere?" He pointed to the charms on the table, thinking that they seemed to be Yuuta's
department anyway, given what the other had done for the decor in various rooms a while ago. Not that it had seemed to do much, really - not only had he and Yuuta still felt like they were being watched, but it hadn't helped that they'd been the only ones who'd felt it. Even Niou hadn't noticed, despite Ryoma feeling like he'd been watched in the apartment they shared.

Well, either he and Yuuta were both crazy, or something was really up. Either way, they'd (hopefully) find out.

He didn't get a chance to say anything more before Niou appeared, using the wall as a door and offering incense out of his hat. Cute. Ryoma grinned and nodded his thanks, striking a match and lighting the candles, then the incense, before blowing on the sticks so they merely smoldered.

Hopefully Hanamura wouldn't maim them too badly for stinking up the Danger Room. Right?

"Dunno f'there's really anything else t'do - I tried t'read on how t'do this, but it's kinda... a hard subject to find anything on." In Japanese or English. Ryoma took a rather unladylike seat (crossing his legs was not second nature, but it wasn't like anyone could see anything under the table anyway) and pulled The Book of Séance from his bag - it was the only one he could find, in some tiny little shop uptown, and it was in English, though it hadn't mattered. "Think we just basically join hands an' ask the spirits to show up. I c'n try scanning telepathically, though I dunno f'that'll do any good." Not that the book had had anything about mutant séances, though they shouldn't really be different, right?

"Aw man, this better work or 'm gonna feel like an idiot," Yuuta sighed when he heard what they'd have to do. He then shook his head as he placed the last charm up on the wall. "Maybe we should've brought sweets or somethin'... y'know, get their attention." Even though he knew that spirits couldn't exactly eat... but maybe his growling stomach had something to do with the idea.

"I gotta Tootsie Roll Pop, if y'want it," Niou chuckled, comfortably sliding into one of the three seats around the table. He pulled the lollipop out of his pocket, placing it on the table. (Momo'd insisted he take one or three, way back when. He'd tried one, and that'd been enough -- hopes were that he'd be able to pawn this last one off onto someone unsuspecting, this Halloween...)

Hands free and expression innocently earnest now, he rested his elbows on the table and held his palms up to the two other boys (..ish) in the room. All the better to make Yuuta feel like an idiot with. He beamed at Ryoma. "Shall we begin? <3"

Ryoma snickered quietly at the both of them. "I'm sure they'll come just for the candy," he put in, sliding one hand into Niou's and waiting for Yuuta to sit down and take the hands that he and Niou offered. Sure, this felt stupid - but hopefully it would work, and it would get rid of that "I'm being watched" feeling, because it was getting kind of weird after so long.

He didn't feel particularly "watched" right now, but that could change at a moment's notice (and had, before). Ryoma took a breath, feeling a bit stupid but realizing he was going to have to lead – he'd offered, really, and he was the only one who'd read the stupid book - and he closed his eyes.

"Guess we'll start," he said quietly, realizing this would be a bit harder than he thought. Synching Yuuta and Niou at the same time was a bad idea, so he couldn't extend his traditional shields around them all - even if they were at an all-time low, as evidenced by the fact that he was a girl (he'd been hoping he'd had a couple more shield-drops to go before that happened, but he was determined to learn to screen Akazawa out by next month). Instead, keeping one layer of shields around himself, so he wouldn't synch anyone, he tried to just extend his telepathic sensory range instead, so he could pay attention to the whole room at once. If that would even work.

Then he took another breath and, still feeling stupid, said quietly, "To the spirits that have been watching us, we've noticed and we want to talk to you. We won't hurt you. Let us know if you can hear this." He sent it out mentally as well - not so that anyone conscious (and living) could hear, but along the bit of the astral plane that he could connect to with Hanamura's powers, in case that was a better way to contact the spirits. Or whatever the hell they were.

Ah geez, Niou's hand was cold, was all Yuuta could think of when he sat down with the other two. Obviously, he'd never done a séance before, but he'd seen enough Western horror movies to know that séances could be... well, kinda scary, he supposed. Of course, he wasn't going to admit that aloud. Instead, he kept his eyes peeled, ready to inflict some serious heat stroke on a scary ghost-- ...and at that point, he realized he really needed to work on making fireballs or something more threatening. And God, he was feeling stupid already just listening to Echizen talk.

You sound really stupid saying all that, remarked a voice that was barely audible to Yuuta's... ears? He stiffened. Did he just hear someth-- Yuuta suddenly gasped as if he was taking his first breath of air, and he bent over the table, coughing.

"H-Holy fuck. Did I...?"

Holy fuck you just about burnt my hand-! was what Niou wanted to say, fingers abruptly phased and back away from Yuuta, as the boy's temperature shot up from his surprise. But the phaser held his tongue. He had no idea what the Junior was talking about, but bets on that Ryoma probably had more of a clue. Maybe.

Ryoma felt Niou jerk a bit, catching the tail end of that and suddenly realizing maybe holding hands wasn't a good idea. He was about to apologize when suddenly that weird feeling of being watched popped up in the back of his head and Yuuta coughed.

Do not, he heard, and frowned, trying to figure out who – or what - he was hearing. He blinked, and -

He blinked. And gasped, feeling lightheaded, before he felt much better than he'd felt in a long time. Not tired or burned out but healthy and -

"Shit, why am I a girl?" he muttered, not entirely sure what was going on, but regardless of his current physical standing there was a warm hand gripping his and that would be Yuuta. He turned, trying to make sure the other was all right, not sure what had just happened but very sure, a moment later, that it had been something good when he saw Yuuta sitting next to him for real, and all right, not how it had been the last time, angry and desperate and... explosive...

"Yuuta! Are you okay?"

But there was a third person in the room - the one whose hand was much colder than Yuuta's, who was sitting right next to him and Ryoma frowned, pulling his hand away and turning away from Yuuta to see…

"... I know who you are." Not that he was happy about it, that was for sure. Except for the small part of the back of his mind that seemed to be adamantly insisting that this person was to be trusted. More than trusted. Though Ryoma couldn't for the life of him figure out why.

... Since apparently he had a life now. Or... something? What was going on?

Another cough as he tried to get this breathing thing down. "Yeah... I'm fine. I'm--" he suddenly paused when that hand pulled away from his.

Wait a second. That voice. Could it be--?

Yuuta's head snapped up, and what he saw was someone who couldn't possibly be anyone else than his boyfriend.

"RYOMA!" he shouted before tackling the other mutant out of his chair and onto the floor, where he kissed him fervently.

Needless to say, Niou's jaw was hitting the proverbial. Several times over.

Even if he didn't see the future like that Tezuka bastard, he did tend to be able to see what was coming, generally speaking -- but this? He could hardly remember being so blindsided in his life. Bad enough that Ryoma'd just given him a death glare (slight exaggeration only) -- Yuuta... Junior -- that kid had just gone and...

If his brain wasn't so suddenly (irrationally, except it was the only logical option?) convinced that they were completely different people right now, he -- actually had no idea what he'd be doing. So as it was, he just sat back and watched the show. For the moment, anyway...

Being confused suddenly seemed much less important - kissing Yuuta took precedence, given that Ryoma felt like he hadn't in far, far too long. He didn't much care that he'd been unceremoniously tackled out of his chair, only that he was here and Yuuta was here and the other person in the room (Niou, was his name?) could just... wait.

Ryoma grinned up at Yuuta when they finally pulled apart, feeling giddy for a number of reasons, though all needed addressing. "You're here - " he started, running hands through Yuuta's short hair; "An' I'm here - " as evidenced by his lack of breath and the very real feeling of the floor against his back - always up against something, he thought with a chuckle, though it wasn't as though he didn't enjoy it.

But there were other things to be considered. "What happened? I thought - I thought I... we..." He frowned. It was hard to remember. "I killed us," he said quietly, because suddenly he did remember that - there had been no choice, he'd reached out and torn their thoughts away... and then there had been some kind of limbo and he'd thought Yuuta was there, but it was... much different from being here. "But we're not dead."

The kiss did, indeed, feel very real, and Yuuta then realized how he'd taken everything for granted. Just the feel of Ryoma in his arms, his lips, his kisses. He pressed his forehead against Ryoma's, and he smiled wide and brightly and he couldn't help but laugh aloud.

"We're not dead! You and me... we're okay!!" But wait-- why was Ryoma's hair so long? And his voice was a little different... and was he wearing padding? Yuuta blinked, suddenly realizing that Ryoma was wearing a dress.

"...Wait a sec. Why're you a girl?"

Niou decided that this was as good a time as any to butt in. Before the other two (whoever the hell they were, because they sure as fuck weren't the Ryoma and Yuuta he knew) made him nauseous with their gaiety. He was a little disturbed by how... happy they were, seriously. If he were a girl, he'd probably feel glad for them, but he wasn't. Ryoma was.

"He's been lowerin' his shields, 'n synched Akazawa on the sly," he said, keeping his tone chipper as he tipped his chair back onto two legs with a casual air. He'd heard from Shiiba that he was supposedly some cold-blooded badass in at least one other dimension, and given the way "Ryoma'd" reacted to him... well, he wasn't going to risk sounding serious.

Ryoma frowned up at Niou, fingers tightening a little in Yuuta's shirt, not really caring that he was still pinned to the floor. "How would you know that?" Lowering shields? Why would he want to do that - and why would he accidentally synch anyone? But something else wasn't making sense, here - Niou'd said he, not you. Which only made sense if...

This was the Danger Room. And he was himself - girlified or not - but there was black hair falling into his face, and whether or not his stature was a girl made him weaker than as a boy had no bearing on the fact that he felt healthier than he had for years. Coupled with the emotions he could feel coming from Niou (edgy confusion that was in no way mirrored in his face or voice) and the fact that there were candles, incense, and charms on the table, he came to a very disturbing conclusion indeed.

"... I think we are dead," he murmured to Yuuta - well, when all the options that made sense were eliminated, what was left had to be true, right? "Or... at least I don't think we're us." But Yuuta looked like Yuuta, down to the way his skin felt just the right side of too-warm as Ryoma smoothed hands along his back.

"What? How can you say that?" Yuuta asked aloud in disbelief, sounding almost desperate. "You're definitely alive; we're living and breathing and we're together-- isn't that proof enough?" He caressed Ryoma's face, but he hesitated when he brushed aside a lock of dark hair. "...This must've happened when you synched Akazawa," he murmured, trying to reason everything out.

He saw something shift out of the corner of his eye, and he snapped his gaze over, narrowing his eyes at Niou. "Who the fuck are you?"

"The chaperone, Junior," Niou said mildly - though not without an edge of acid. Aww, cute/hot/sympathy only stretched so far: the phaser had a possessive streak as wide as the next man, after all -- it just happened to be buried a little deeper. This Yuuta was doing alright at digging it up, though... "That happens to be my teddycat you're straddlin'."

"Well, yeah, but..." Ryoma didn't exactly want to argue with Yuuta - there was definitely something significant to be said for being living and breathing and close to him when it felt like it had somehow been a long time since that had happened last. But something just wasn't adding up - and that was made even more clear as Niou spoke, some of the emotions he was hiding starting to become evident in his words - and in the way the niggling thoughts at the back of Ryoma's mind seemed to somehow verify this story even without his realizing it. Though how the hell any form of himself anywhere would've gotten into a situation where someone like Niou was calling him a teddycat was beyond him at the moment. Even if some small part of his brain was very possessively confirming that statement.

He slid up a little, helping Yuuta into a sitting position on the floor, though he wasn't exactly willing to disentangle himself from his boyfriend just yet, because touch was comfort he needed right now. He looked up at Niou, then over to Yuuta. "He's right. I think." Another glance at Niou, then back to Yuuta. "But then something weird's going on. What's the last thing you remember?" He remembered being frightened and desperate, and he really did remember... had that been dying? There had definitely been nothing substantial for a long time after.

Yuuta looked at a loss as he sat down with Ryoma, he, too, refusing to even let Ryoma out of his grasp. He pulled his boyfriend into his lap and wrapped his arms rather possessively around him. He frowned at Ryoma, then scowled at Niou. What the fuck was a teddycat? Whatever it was, it sounded way too personal in his opinion.

"I dunno," he grumbled aloud, his scowl reverting back into a frown with a hint of a pout. What did he remember? "You were gonna blow up an' I found you," he recalled, thinking back and trying to dig up something-- it was like trying to remember a really bad dream. "And then... shit," he mumbled, holding Ryoma closer.

They looked, Niou thought, like they could do with a fireplace, blanket to share, and two mugs of cocoa. Which wasn't to say he was back to feeling sympathetic about their plight, but... y'know. It probably did suck to be dead. (The current pair were just damn lucky that he was best friends with a guy like Hirochu and didn't care about what people looked like, so long as they weren't... whatever.)

The phaser spoke slowly, putting two and two together with a little more care than he was accustomed to. "Since you guys ain't from our world. And y'dead." (Whatever Yuuta didn't want to believe aside.) "And y'blew up. And y'Echizen Ryoma." Pause. Collect. "Y'probably..." (The cause of...? Nah.) "What happened when all them AU guys flipped over here." Fuji. Shiiba. The kids. He pointed to Ryoma's foot. "This one passed out'n dreamed 'e was dyin'."

Niou seemed to have a... relatively reasonable explanation, when Ryoma thought about it. It would've seemed completely off the wall, except there had been an alternate universe, and people had gone between the two. That was an established fact. Ryoma's frown deepened - so he wasn't himself right now, he was the Ryoma who lived here? Who was obviously healthier... and not with Yuuta. At least Yuuta seemed all right, which was a relief. "So's this... shit, what did Momo call it... Ryuhana?"

He looked around the Danger Room, but in the candlelight it looked exactly the same. But there were differences. Starting with the Niou who was here, and the people he could feel on campus. Mostly the same, but different nonetheless. He leaned back against Yuuta's chest, tilting his head to speak to him. "He might be right. We might not be in the right place. But then I still don't get why we're still here." Dead was dead... wasn't it? "F'I did kill us, I guess I did a crappy job of it." Somehow, that was kind of funny. But only because he had a conscious mind to consider it funny now, he supposed. But then that begged the question: what were they going to do now? If they weren't in their own bodies, they couldn't very well pretend they were. That was... stealing? Murder? Something else?

"Can't say I'm not glad for the crappiness," Yuuta mumbled with a deep frown. "But whatever," he said, straightening with a determined look on his face. "We're here now." He glanced down at Ryoma, meeting his eyes. "And we're staying."

"My fuckin' ass you are," Niou interjected, not-so-smoothly. "Bodyjackers."

... Well. This was going to be an interesting debate, Ryoma could tell. He slid an arm up and around Yuuta's neck, running fingers through his hair briefly before gently extricating himself from the other's warm grip and standing, feeling the need to move around a bit, even if he didn't really want to move away from Yuuta.

"Well, s'nice t'feel healthy," he muttered. "It must be nicer here than where we're from - Momo said Dad was still alive here." Briefly Ryoma wanted to see his father - or, well, this other Ryoma's father - and apologize, somehow, but that... well. Wasn't likely. He walked around the table slowly, noting the book. Séance? Seriously? What the hell was up, here? He picked up the book, thumbing through it. "F'these aren't our bodies, Yuuta, we can't keep 'em." The voice at the back of his head firmly agreed. "But I dunno how t'go back t'bein'... dead." And he really didn't want to.

Yuuta shot an angry glare at Niou, hand clenching into a fist, his area of the room growing pretty hot pretty quickly. "Shut the Hell up," he growled, standing in a threatening stance. "It's not our fucking fault we're fucking here. And now that we are here, I say we fucking stay." He scowled at Niou, glanced over to Ryoma, then went back to glaring at the phaser. "I'm not about to fucking die again for anyone's benefit."

"'cept we ain't gonna be killin' you, Junior," Niou drawled, three curls short of a sneer. Doing that would just about have to be the Pinnacle of Counter-fuckin'-active.

He hadn't been worried about his Ryoma and this world's Yuuta going anywhere, because frankly he hadn't thought this séance would lead to anything in the first place. Sure, he believed Ryoma when his teddycat said he felt like he'd been watched, although Niou hadn't felt it. And Yuuta's enthusiasm with the common room talismans and crap sort of spoke for itself. But, goddamn. Not even Niou's hyperactive imagination would've thought it was the fault of dead kids from the other side, and that they'd actually possess them.

And now he wasn't so much worried as just plain annoyed. 'Cause ghosts couldn't really die a second time anyway, and what were they gonna do? He had a feeling they weren't going to just sit tight while he googled up Insta-Exorcisms.

Ryoma glanced over at Yuuta. Synching him took more effort than it usually did - somehow on this side it involved shields and a whole lot of extra work. And extra factors, including proximity. But he managed it after a minute, gaining immunity to the heat on the other side of the room and setting the book down to move back over towards him, in order to prevent Yuuta from getting much hotter.

"Well he's gotta point - f'we're already dead, we can't die again," he murmured to Yuuta, slipping one arm around his waist to help calm him, though he honestly wasn't feeling too calm himself. He turned to Niou. "I c'n kinda hear your Ryoma, I think - he's all right, but I dunno f'I exactly know how to... leave." And honestly, he was kind of with Yuuta on this one. He didn't want to leave. There had to be something they could do... if they'd been dead, he didn't want to go back to that. He'd wanted to live so badly... "What if there's somethin' else we c'n do about this? You gotta let us try." His voice was firm - he wasn't asking, he was telling.

Yuuta obviously had no qualms about taking this Yuuta's body (he had as much right to live as this world's Yuuta), but if finding another way of staying alive would make things easier for them in the long run... he wasn't such a fool to turn down such an opportunity.

"We're not leaving until we find a way," Yuuta confirmed, eyes narrowing at Niou as he wrapped his arms around Ryoma possessively, calming enough so that the room's temperature wasn't rising any longer.

Niou shrugged. "Fine by me." Wasn't like he could force them to do anything anyway, right? It worked to nobody's advantage to get on their bad side -- given they effectively held this universe's Ryoma and Yuuta's bodies hostage. (Though if they took off and did their own thing, Niou thought, he'd track them down and make their lives so much hell they'd want to be exorcised; Yuuta's hellfire be damned.) "On the condition that I'm with you."

Because snuggles and kisses were theoretically fine. But too much further, and he might have to castrate a bitch.

Ryoma supposed that was reasonable - especially with the way the voice in the back of his mind that he was quickly coming to associate with this world's Ryoma was adamantly agreeing that Niou needed to be involved. He nodded, glad that Yuuta seemed to be calming – the temperature wasn't rising anymore, at least. "Done," he agreed with Niou, before glancing around the Danger Room again.

"Not that I got the faintest idea where to start... wherever our bodies were, f'I really did lose control then they're not there anymore," he put in, glancing up at the ceiling, though it didn't give him any answers. "Th' only thing I c'n think of it t'get new ones - but damned f'I have any freaking clue how to do that." Ryoma sighed - it was so nice to be aware and alive again, he didn't want to spend it worrying about how to stay that way. But that seemed the only fair thing to do, what with the way Niou was looking at them.

"S'nice seein' you again, though," he couldn't help but say after another moment, running one hand down the side of Yuuta's face, aware Niou was watching and the back of his mind was protesting, but not caring overly much. "You shouldn'ta stayed, y'know." Though he was honestly glad Yuuta had stayed, now that he had time to actually consider what had happened, the guilt was coming back thick as ever. "Even f'I'm glad you did."

Yuuta scowled darkly at Niou-- couldn't he and Ryoma just get one freaking minute alone? But before he could even answer, Ryoma had agreed, much to Yuuta's dismay. He growled something under his breath, but his attention turned back to Ryoma when he felt his hand smoothing over his face. His anger and frustration dispelled when his eyes met Ryoma's face... even if he looked like a girl, he was still Ryoma, right?

He didn't know why, but his hand was shaking when he pressed it against Ryoma's and finally entwining their fingers. Slowly, slowly he was calming and his smile was soft and fond. "Didn't wanna be anywhere else except with you." And then he remembered, how scared Ryoma looked, how thin he was, and his soft smile shifted into a frown as he caressed the other mutant's face. "Couldn't save you," he murmured.

Niou abruptly cleared his throat, classic Rude Guy style. He wasn't really feeling like being a bastard right now, but the whole deal was enough to make his mind vaguely nauseous. And the sheer... sap leaking from every pore across their skin wasn't helping. At all. Pushing back from his chair to stand, the phaser suddenly felt kinda very tired.

"Medames~u missieurs," he drawled out, in a butchered attempt at French. Ladies and Gentlemen, "Your residences are this way." Folding into a flat 90-degree bow, he extended a hand (and tophat) in the direction of the faculty apartments as the crow flew. "If you would be so kind... Follow me."

He went through the wall, with a vaguely sardonic glance over his shoulder in Ryoma and Yuuta's general direction. There wasn't any sting behind it, though.

"Doesn't matter now," Ryoma pointed out quietly; he was interrupted by Niou as he cleared his throat a bit pointedly. The phaser went through the wall - Ryoma glanced at Yuuta a bit wryly, but he suppressed his first-instinct urge to just take Yuuta's hand and follow Niou through the wall - the way this Ryoma synched people wasn’t at all what he was used to. He didn’t seem to be able to use things the way he had before – it required re-synching every time. At least he didn't have a problem sending a short burst of warm thanks over to Yuuta empathically - this Ryoma seemed to have that as well.

"Let's go," he murmured, squeezing Yuuta's hand and leading him out the door to follow the phaser. The idea of actually spending the night like they'd used to was appealing - even if that had usually meant Ryoma was passed out cold next to Yuuta under the covers. At least he wasn't as exhausted as he usually was - this Ryoma, for all that he was currently a girl, was much healthier than he had felt in years. And he didn't want to sleep right now - even if they just laid around - or hell, ate something - it would be nice, he decided. Figuring out how to stay "alive" outside of these bodies could happen tomorrow.