reveriemod (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
reveriemod) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
reverielogs2018-08-16 06:29 pm
reveriemod) wrote in reverielogs2018-08-16 06:29 pm
(no subject)
» WHO? Everyone
» WHEN? August 16th onwards
» WHERE? All over the station, and in the Metaverse
» WHAT? Time for the Metaverse and it's fun perks to come into action on Reverie Terminal...
» WARNINGS? violence
A new function has appeared on the communication device for some characters: a strange symbol with an eye, and no obvious use. Do you try to delete it? It might work, for a little while. But it comes back, no matter what lengths you take to get rid of this thing.
If a character chooses to run the app, they'll find that it's called the Metanav, and it speaks to them in a feminine voice: "Please enter a destination." It seems to want a voice command.
Unfortunately, any combination of words you try will result in a gentle error sound and that voice saying, "Conditions have not been met." There's no lock-out or limit to how many attempts you can make, and it will keep rejecting every try.
(As a note of interest, the name Goro Akechi in full, spoken anywhere near a device that carries the Metanav -- a one in a million chance, sure, but coincidences happen -- will earn a victorious chime from the app and a triumphant, "Destination found." But from there it seems to want more keywords...)
A few days after the Metanav appearing for some residents of the station, someone is definitely putting it to use. But Reverie is a close-quarters situation, and not every corner and corridor can be checked before turning on the app. On top of that, some devices are activating the Metanav on their own, without a destination at all -- people are being dragged in left and right.
You feel something strange wash over you, like vertigo. But nothing seems to have happened. You're still in the station, and your surroundings are... mostly normal. Actually, something isn't quite right. It's hard to put your finger on it; the air feels wrong, heavy, and the shadows are darker, the station even more unsettling than usual.
And everyone around you is gone.
You can search for hours, and maybe you'll find one or two other unfortunate souls in the same situation as you, but that's it. The rest of the station's residents have vanished.
If you have the Metanav app on your communication device, you're in luck: using it will bring you right back to the station as normal, like sliding between one plane of reality to another. If you don't have the Metanav... you're stuck. Alone.
Wandering around the strange "other" station is mostly uneventful. Everything about it seems to be unchanged in terms of layout; the same doors are still blocked off, the rooms are in the same locations, the view from the Observation Deck is the vast expanse of space...
But you're not as alone here as you thought.
There are monsters. They come in various shapes and sizes, some of them humanoid and some of them far from it. There don't seem to be a lot of them around, so it's easy to miss them entirely, but if you do run into them, they'll attack without hesitation, and some of them are strong.
If you can fight back: magic is most effective against them in every case. Fighting them physically is a strange case, because if you think it will work, it will, no matter what your weapon. If you don't think it'll work, then it won't.
If you can't fight back, and nobody comes to save you: you're dead. At least you'll wake up in the real world.
There's one more thing populating the "other" station. They come and go at random, sometimes there and sometimes not -- strange, spectral images of other people. Their faces are vague and they don't seem to have any interest in you, seeming to talk to themselves even when you try to get their attention, but they're definitely people. They have enough features to tell them apart, and some of them seem almost familiar.
One of them is you.
It's not a clear image, just enough to be distinguishable, but it is you. Like looking at your own ghost. Its eyes, though -- its eyes are a little bit wrong. Yellowish.
This plot was brought to you by your Persona cast! All players who have signed up can have the Metaverse app appear on their communicators. The Phantom Thieves are here to rescue anyone who wants their heart stolen, and are available to discuss plotting. Once the Metaverse appears on Reverie, it will not disappear.
» WHEN? August 16th onwards
» WHERE? All over the station, and in the Metaverse
» WHAT? Time for the Metaverse and it's fun perks to come into action on Reverie Terminal...
» WARNINGS? violence
0 0 1 » THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT
A new function has appeared on the communication device for some characters: a strange symbol with an eye, and no obvious use. Do you try to delete it? It might work, for a little while. But it comes back, no matter what lengths you take to get rid of this thing.
If a character chooses to run the app, they'll find that it's called the Metanav, and it speaks to them in a feminine voice: "Please enter a destination." It seems to want a voice command.
Unfortunately, any combination of words you try will result in a gentle error sound and that voice saying, "Conditions have not been met." There's no lock-out or limit to how many attempts you can make, and it will keep rejecting every try.
(As a note of interest, the name Goro Akechi in full, spoken anywhere near a device that carries the Metanav -- a one in a million chance, sure, but coincidences happen -- will earn a victorious chime from the app and a triumphant, "Destination found." But from there it seems to want more keywords...)
0 0 2 » ENTER THE METAVERSE
A few days after the Metanav appearing for some residents of the station, someone is definitely putting it to use. But Reverie is a close-quarters situation, and not every corner and corridor can be checked before turning on the app. On top of that, some devices are activating the Metanav on their own, without a destination at all -- people are being dragged in left and right.
You feel something strange wash over you, like vertigo. But nothing seems to have happened. You're still in the station, and your surroundings are... mostly normal. Actually, something isn't quite right. It's hard to put your finger on it; the air feels wrong, heavy, and the shadows are darker, the station even more unsettling than usual.
And everyone around you is gone.
You can search for hours, and maybe you'll find one or two other unfortunate souls in the same situation as you, but that's it. The rest of the station's residents have vanished.
If you have the Metanav app on your communication device, you're in luck: using it will bring you right back to the station as normal, like sliding between one plane of reality to another. If you don't have the Metanav... you're stuck. Alone.
0 0 3 » HERE THERE BE SHADOWS
Wandering around the strange "other" station is mostly uneventful. Everything about it seems to be unchanged in terms of layout; the same doors are still blocked off, the rooms are in the same locations, the view from the Observation Deck is the vast expanse of space...
But you're not as alone here as you thought.
There are monsters. They come in various shapes and sizes, some of them humanoid and some of them far from it. There don't seem to be a lot of them around, so it's easy to miss them entirely, but if you do run into them, they'll attack without hesitation, and some of them are strong.
If you can fight back: magic is most effective against them in every case. Fighting them physically is a strange case, because if you think it will work, it will, no matter what your weapon. If you don't think it'll work, then it won't.
If you can't fight back, and nobody comes to save you: you're dead. At least you'll wake up in the real world.
0 0 4 » YOU'RE NOT ME
There's one more thing populating the "other" station. They come and go at random, sometimes there and sometimes not -- strange, spectral images of other people. Their faces are vague and they don't seem to have any interest in you, seeming to talk to themselves even when you try to get their attention, but they're definitely people. They have enough features to tell them apart, and some of them seem almost familiar.
One of them is you.
It's not a clear image, just enough to be distinguishable, but it is you. Like looking at your own ghost. Its eyes, though -- its eyes are a little bit wrong. Yellowish.
This plot was brought to you by your Persona cast! All players who have signed up can have the Metaverse app appear on their communicators. The Phantom Thieves are here to rescue anyone who wants their heart stolen, and are available to discuss plotting. Once the Metaverse appears on Reverie, it will not disappear.
no subject
[sacred enough, even, that this egregious theft of glitched-out glasses catches the attention of the other two, er. original? Daves, who were in the middle of fighting. and they stop. and they stare.]
[and they start talking to each other.]
[but, yeah, even though Ryuji's managed to get the original Daveshadow to pause for now, his efforts are, ultimately, calling in the Strider cavalry: there's another 13-year-old one, wearing that trademark raglan tee he's always in, except it seems curiously full of bullet holes. he's the one who failed to tell the truth. and there's one more wearing a comfy pair of purple pajamas, who, for all intents and purposes, looks like he actually isn't dead for once. he's the one who failed to stop her.]
[is Ryuji running? he should probably start running — the younger Daves are shorter, sure, but they're no less armed and aggressive. the original, human Dave will just have to figure out how to intervene.]
no subject
FOR REAL!?
[Yeah, he's going to have to book it, unless he can figure out a way to grapple one of these Daves by the feet and start swinging him around as a weapon, and as fucking ridiculous as that sounds, they already start to have the jump on him. He keeps his arm raised upward, protecting the jewel of their collective attention, and takes off.
Ryuji's still not into the idea of hurting any of them, after all, since even if they are little hellions that have been summoned from the aggressive bowels of Poseidon's mighty asshole, they're still parts of him. Unresolved or not- and why the fuck does one of them have bullet holes in them? Who the hell shoots a kid!?
Anyway, if the metaverse had a soundtrack for this absolutely fucking ridiculous escapade, it'd be that iconic song that stokes the image of a circus. And as much as he might have been an excellent runner back in his hay day when he won medals like Oprah giving out cars, he can start to feel the old injury in his left leg start to cramp up.]
C'mon, dudes, can't. We. Like... TALK THIS SHIT OUT. Or somethin'!?
[He's guessing that's a no.
Also?
Nice purple pajamas. Nerd.]
no subject
[and, he just goes ahead and does the first thing he can think of on instinct, and why the fuck not? this fight is already completely idiotic as it is, may as well throw in some more Homestuck mechanics for the fun of it.]
[he captchalogues Ryuji. well, Ryuji + shades.
2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 2 = 17, /10
they go into card 2. unfortunately, he also had some completely flavorless popcorn/rice cracker balls that Minato taught him how to make in his Sylladex (Cronch Balls™. guess what else adds up to card 2? guess which fucking idiot keeps forgetting to turn on hash collision?).]
[the Dave in green takes a barrage of terrible snacks to the face.]
[this is the most goddamn stupid fight ever.]
[anyway, Ryuji probably doesn't even get the pleasure of comprehending that something weird happened, aside from maybe the first dulcet note of Elevatorstuck, because Dave realized last minute that he had also captchalogued the thing his younger Shadow selves were trying to get back, and in another brilliant moment of improvisation, he stopped time to buy the chance to get as far away as he possibly could.]
[so, it probably doesn't seem any different than whenever Dave stops time usually. one split second you're standing in the middle of a multi-mini-Dave strife, the next split second, you're being unceremoniously plopped on the floor somewhere completely different, safely away from that hot mess of a Shadow.]
no subject
He didn't even get to see Green Dave get pelted in the face with hilariously shaped, yet highly nutritious snacks.]
'Sup.
[Yeah, that's. About appropriate for a response to all of this. And he doesn't know if the shades have a natural tracking beacon on them, like they're this cursed item that will draw his shadow back here, and he doesn't want to really stay a whole lot longer to actually find that out.]
Dude, can I call this field trip the 'verse over?
[By instinct, and by virtue of the fact that he's in his thief's attire, he reaches down into his pocket to grab his cell phone before realizing that it's not... there, right, and looks to the watch on his hand.
He activates the app, as a soft, mechanical voice begins questioning.
Target?]
The real world.
[With Dave's close proximity to Ryuji, the app begins to activate as everything around them begins to ripple into wave like distortions. Looking too closely at these things has always made Ryuji a little motion sick, so he tries not to pay too much attention to it, but almost like a cloth being dragged over a dirty lens, everything is back to normal as the dull hues of the station return to their surroundings. Ryuji's mask is gone, and the entire costume he was wearing has returned to his normal threads. No Mo Rules, yo.
Everyone's in one piece. Check.
No structural damage. Check.
Shades, check.
Wait. Shit, he brought back the shades. He'll just hand them over to Dave as he gets his bearings straight.]
So... uh. That's what I was dealin' with for the last 8 months before gettin' dropkicked off the cosmic taxi that brought me here.
no subject
[really, a casual greeting was probably the only way to diffuse how completely stone fuck bizarre that was. like a hey ron, hey billy sort of moment.]
[in any case, he flops down on the floor next to Ryuji as he gathers the both of them for the bus ride back to the real world, as Superman ditches the superhero getup for his usual No Mo Rules shirt. did they learn anything on this field trip? honestly ... yeah, probably. or, at least, Dave's leaving the experience with a lot of questions.]
[but Ryuji starts talking before he can start asking, and suddenly there's a pair of glitchy as fuck sunglasses in his hands, and ... god, this may very well be the worst item he's ever beheld in his entire life. which is saying something. this is the same kid who created a skateboard so incredibly shitty that it flew away on its own volition.]
[he's going to try wearing them.]
[later.]
That's what you were talking about when you said you could snatch hearts?
no subject
And as dumb as it is now to look at a pair of pilfered shades that were scooped up from inside it, there's nothing that actually discounts the threat of a horde of Daves could do in the place, especially when turned hostile. Sure, they... kind of managed... in a really weird and highly unorthodox sort of way, but it could've been a lot worse.]
That's basically the... gist of it, yeah. You saw your shadow in there, so I guess you kinda know what it is. That's the kind of thing that I can steal from you. Like. The real you. The you sittin' here next to me.
no subject
[Dave subjected himself to that idiotic phrasing, so now Ryuji has to endure it, too. but he pauses, turning the shades that are still somehow warping in a way that doesn't jive with reality over in his hands.]
Don't really give a shit about that, though. I mean, you saw how rapidly he multiplied with just the slightest little provocation. That's ... what it looks like when someone's willing to use time travel to fight.
[his Shadow is dangerous, even if it isn't particularly strong. Dave himself is dangerous, in the exact same way.]
I'd really rather just make sure he doesn't hurt anybody. Is that what stealing does?
no subject
It's uh, it's not just a "you" thing, I mean. Everybody's got shit. Closets full of shit, just waitin' to be scooped up.
[Leaning backwards, he lets his hands balance the top weight of his body as he blows out air from his mouth. He can't really tell if Dave doesn't care about the shadow self because of what those other forms of him were- some of them obviously in mid transitions of death- or that it's just... they need to deal with the present danger first.
But lucky for Dave, Ryuji's good at being blunt about these sorts of things. Because both of those problems? They're actually the same thing.]
I think you kinda have to give a shit about the repressed bullshit baby. He's part of you, y'know? So even if he's dangerous, it's not like dealing with that or dealing with you is really any different.
[But stealing his heart?
Ryuji shakes his head.]
Hell no. That's off the table. The only heart stealin' I'm doin' with you is out here in the real world. [This is actually the worst possible time to flirt, Ryuji, stop.]
How you feel about time travel is pretty much how I feel about this stuff. Stealing someone's heart who doesn't even have a palace... it's taking their own free will away from 'em.
[Maybe it would be a different conversation if Dave were out here, actively trying to hurt other people; then he'd have a decent reason to, but this doesn't look like that at all. If those repressed feelings were what they looked like, he can guess that the only person Dave is hurting is himself. But... if this is free will, the aesthetic Ryuji cares about the most---]
You really want that? Like. An easy mode button that just knocks all your feelings right outta you.
no subject
[but he thinks about the idea of having the emotions he doesn't like yoinked right out of him, and while that may sound like a good idea — fucking fantastic, even — on paper ... Dave's sort of already endured 13 years of someone attempting to do that to him. make Dave as emotionless as he was.]
[it hadn't worked.]
Dude ... did you just hit on me? [hang on, let him focus on the flirty ribbing for a second, because he has enough information now to take a guess at what he's supposed to do with a repressed bullshit baby, and it doesn't really sound like it'll be an easy subject to broach.]
[he even elbows Ryuji in the arm lightly. flirting acknowledged. flirting accepted.]
But, I'm not gonna ask you to do something you wouldn't want to do. When you put it that way, it suddenly makes sense to me how you understood right off the bat why I've got all these misgivings about time traveling.
[he doesn't really need specifics. stealing someone's heart sounds like it could have a lot of different outcomes, and "completely backfiring" has to be one of them.]
What exactly do I need to do instead? Like, I dunno, sit down and have a chat about feelings with him?
no subject
[At least he's getting better at it? Maybe. The light ribbing in return only makes his power grow stronger, and he's sitting there, a half smile and a sense of accomplishment away from doing that shit again to him, but there are things they ought to be focusing on. Right.]
Hm... yeah, I ain't that great at thinkin' about stuff that I don't kinda already have context for. It just made sense when you started talkin' about your thing, I guess.
[It wasn't like he was actively trying to hide any of this, either, it's just... he had no way of actually utilizing the metaverse here before. It was an extreme what-if sort of situation. He thought this thieving days were straight up forced into retirement. Why bother harping about something he couldn't even do any longer?
Still, there's a bunch of unresolved things here, relating to Dave and all the reasons that shadow was so incredibly hostile to him. He had an inkling of why that was, but if they're going to get anywhere with this, then, some things are going to have to be faced. And nobody wants to go through that- nobody wants to see the feelings that they've put away, tucked tightly inward, be so put on for show and used against them. Backfiring wasn't even the worst outcome that could possibly happen. Making Dave lose his sense of self, undergo a shut-down... that's the thing that's at stake, here. He needs to impress that upon him in a decently useful way.]
I ain't gonna lie to you, here. If you have to kill your shadow, there's gonna be nothing left of you out here left. If I have to go 'n steal your heart, you're not gettin' any real closure, you're just gonna change and lose a part of what makes you, you.
[He sucks in air through his teeth, complete with the annoying sound that comes with it.]
But if he ain't gonna talk to you, then it's gonna be useless. Which means... that until that happens, I can't go in there without havin' to hide from him comin' after me. [He realizes what he's saying here, and, yeah... okay, maybe it's a little flustering to know that your boyfriend's inner self will stop at literally nothing to protect you? It's cool. Really, he's kind of touched over the whole thing.]
So... I guess the first step's changin' your own cognition of yourself out here. If you let down your defenses, the you that's in there might be more receptive to you. [That's a really weird fucking statement to make.]
But that might take time, too. I mean. That was... uh. There were definitely some... dead... versions of you in there? Sure, 13 year old you was kinda a dick, but like. Shit, that's rough to see. It's probably not something you can even come to terms with over one conversation. And if that's the case, I can wait before goin' back in. The other thieves can handle this stuff.
[He's talking way too much, and he knows he is, but he also doesn't have a solid plan here, other than dragging a baby by the cape and making them apologize to each other.]
Or I guess we could take an extreme route and you could like, take me hostage until he talks to you, or something. [Don't let him call the shots.]
no subject
[he knows he's overprotective, and that he's being so here. that's not really the distorted part of him, the repressed desire that needs addressing. it's more the fact that he's failed at it so many times that he can't bear the idea of it ever happening again. maybe he's started taking baby steps toward accepting where he is now, that he'd fucked up a lot of shit over the past three years, but he still hasn't really given himself a chance to mourn what he's lost. to find peace with it all.]
[boy. admitting all of this shit out loud and trying to figure out how to work through it so the Metaverse isn't haunted by a horde of violent Shadows of himself is going to be ... fucking awful.]
I ... yeah. Sorry you had to see all that. [all those tiny dead Daves, he means.] I mean, it's not the sorta shit you bring up in casual conversation, and I'll admit I didn't really want anybody to find out, either.
Which I guess is why it's front and fucking center in there.
I trust you, though. And if you say that it'd be better for you to wait while I, uh. Deal with this? Let my guard down enough? Then I'm just gonna have to sign my selfish permission slip again and say I'm cool with that — with you staying safe. Even if it's staying safe from me.
no subject
But, also, since their usual cadence of conversations runs the gamut of weird to wonderful, it stands to be said that all of this happening right now? Expectedly unexpected, for the most part. How is he supposed to sit down and tell someone that- yeah, it's cool if you died a bunch of times, still gonna support you and try to help you figure this shit out? He doesn't even know if he's got the right equipment to tackle this on, or even if Dave really... wants the help here.
Either way, he looks at Dave, searching for some of that guidance, somewhere.]
It's cool. I don't really blame you, man. How do you even go about that sorta thing? 'Hey, so just so you know, I'm like... a mega overlord cat with way more than 9 lives. Lemme just tell you all about how I've died a bunch of times.'
[He didn't want to burden Ryuji like that, right? Hurt him by letting him know about these things.]
But uh, I mean. It's whatever. It's a part of who you are, and like. Maybe you don't see yourself that way, or somethin', but... for what it's worth, I can't imagine... that those versions of you from the past weren't tryin' their best to keep the people you care about safe. And maybe you messed up along the way, and you gotta get through some of that, but at the other end of everything... it doesn't have to tell you who you're gonna be.
[Sitting up, he reaches over and drapes an arm around his shoulder. He's been through this before. Not with the added consequence of dying a bunch of times, but he's come to terms with a lot of failures and fuck ups in his life. He thinks back to the track team he was a part of, and even though he would never reconnect with those old friends, he at least thought he was in a position to say... okay, it's time to chart a path I want to follow.]
So I guess I'm sayin... take as much time as you need. You're more important to me than anything that world's got to offer. I'm cool with just bein' Ryuji of Guy, over here.
no subject
[Dave's shadow has some pretty fucked up ideas on how to protect someone, but Dave himself thinks he's on the right track here. even if he doesn't necessarily like the path it's gonna take to fix this (which, it keeps occurring to him, is the point, isn't it?), he'll walk it if it ultimately results in Ryuji's safety.]
[and maybe by the end of it he'll figure out how good it'd be for him, too.]
[but, on an equally important measure:]
Mega Overlord Cat. [......] Y'know, I kinda like that title. Maybe even better than immortal god of hamster Valhalla.
[what the ... hell, Dave. of course he'd like the idea of being a cat, his fursona literally has the surname "Purrmusk," whatever measure of sincerity he actually meant with that. but he breathes a little sigh, feeling some of the tension of their conversation topic dissolving.]
Thanks, though, dude. For everything. [honestly, he feels pretty damn lucky here. like, Ryuji could have gotten a load of all that excessive baggage in the form of a horde of dead Daves and just straight up left, but ... he didn't. he stuck by him.]
[not that Dave expected him to bolt, that's not the kind of person Ryuji is, he just. well, okay, the fear's always there in some tiny, irrational form. where's the line between "messed up" and "too messed up," and how do you know if you've crossed it?]
[honestly, the fact that they are here, arms around each other in the middle of the hallway, is enough evidence that he's not anywhere near that line. and that he is, in fact, about ready to start walking away from it.]
no subject
What the hell is hamster Val--- oh. You musta met Gundam.
[The hamster thing should have pinged him to clue him on where this was going, but his brain caught up to it after he began, which put him exactly where he was; cutting himself off mid sentence to come to that weird as shit revelation. And god, if having a fursona named Purrmusk isn't questionable enough, he hopes that Dave never finds out how much he actually gets a kick out of being turned into a werewolf magically. Fucking wolvaan spell... there weren't any personas he knew of from his timeline that could do that, so did it die off by natural selection? Things he doesn't want to know.
But, more importantly, it's not like Ryuji doesn't come with his own baggage to begin with. And he's way, way too determined to just say screw it, this is too weird to give up on Dave. As long as he has a place by his side, he's going to keep doing this. Keep wrapping his arm around his shoulder, telling him that the weird shit is okay. The tough shit, too. Whatever else.
He's been in the Metaverse almost all day trying to figure out why it was even in the station. That's another question that'll have to be figured out later, but there's always a side effect that lingers on Ryuji whenever he uses his persona to kick ass- he's got some residual electricity running through him, and it's... funny to see what it can do to things like hair and dryer sheets. So, he'll move his head a little closer in Dave's direction to see if he can pull off the magnetism thing on him. Ryuji chuckles like a doofus, and accepts Dave's gratitude in the way he knows how.]
Yeah, no problem. You don't gotta even thank me, you know? It's just sorta natural. Like you've got this kinda static thing goin' on that just pulls me right... to you.
[This is a pretty serious moment, and all, and Dave will have to come to terms with himself at some point or another, but there's no rush. It's not like he has to pull off his shades in a giant, bloody mess to jump into battle and force his way through cognition via brute force. And wherever, or if ever, Ryuji can help... he wants to be there for him.]
no subject
[if Ryuji's goal was to pull something like a living static balloon trick, then he's in luck, because Dave's hair is pretty much the perfect consistency for it. and he can feel all those strands of hair lifting and escaping his carefully curated coiffure.]
[dude. dude! that's his 'do!]
[though, this sort of cements something more than it draws hair away from one's head via static. you know — the fact that bird types are weak to electric types.]
[it also cements the fact they're going to be all right.]
Are you for real right now?
no subject
This is some cute shit, he has to admit. And he's about to confirm that, yes, he was messing with him, before Dave blurts out two words that Ryuji knows really, really goddamn well. In fact, so well, that it's burrowed its way into his top ten list of phrases, snuggled somewhere between "This is BULLSHIT!" and "Goddamnit!". For real. The shit eating grin on his face right now is unbearable and victorious.]
Yeah. I'm pretty forreal.
[And maybe Dave's used that phrase a ton of times before, but he's going to take the idea of "rubbing off on him" to heart as he just slides a few fingers into the back of his hair, lifting it upward and watching it try its best to cling. With a little bit of rough shaking, he pulls back, not realizing how intimate it is to just... rifle through a dude's hair like that... and see it stand on end in all the wrong directions.
Ryuji audibly sighs.]
Color me effin' shocked.
no subject
[yeah, this is completely and utterly forreal, isn't it? Dave's hair barely even resembles a sort of bird anymore, it's a lot more like one of those cartoons where a dog jumps out of the water or something, shakes off and immediately puffs out into an unrecognizable giant ball of fluff. except a lot more ... shocking.]
[and honestly, he doesn't read much into the hair ruffling at first either, aside from the fact that Ryuji's found a brand new way to be obnoxious and is currently basking in it, judging by the pretty fucking impressive shit-eating grin he's sporting. any other connotations it might have don't really hit him until after Ryuji's stopped, and there's the way the nape of his neck is still sort of tingling from the touch, and not at all from the static.]
H-hey. [did he just sputter? did Ryuji just accidentally stumble on a weak spot?]
[yes. yes to both.]
You just earned yourself a triple-decker revenge for that.
[no, he didn't forget about those earlier transgressions, which ... also included a hair ruffle, actually. and yes, he's pretty obviously blustering a bit, not really putting any bite into this threat of revenge, as he lifts both his hands to try to smooth down his hair. it only sort of works.]
no subject
Still waiting for the first and second deck, dude. Can't serve me dinner without workin' on the breakfast and lunch of revenge, man. Don't even get me started on just desserts, either.
[And then it kind of settles in- like the whole part about Dave getting slightly flustered was amusing at first, and, yeah, he wanted to chase that high for as long as he could, but the second wave of recognition was a resurgence of things that he's coming to realize and get a little bit better at accepting in general. The part where Ryuji is steadily becoming more chill with the idea that it's okay to do that stuff to begin with. Like... how nice it would actually be to just chill lazily with his fingers in his hair.
Which, well, okay, that's a thought that's going to be stuck in head way too much from here on out.]
Hey, leave it like that. It looked cute. Had that... just woke up sorta thing goin' on with it. And I gotta admit I'm kinda weak to it.
[Oh god, what?
He let those thoughts just go straight to his mouth, and he bites the inside of his cheek to shut himself up for a second. They were just... dealing with his dead bullshit baby repressed versions, and now this. Ryuji, you're a fucking mess.]
Er.... Eh, screw it, not takin' it back. You wanna get outta the hallway?
no subject
[and ... well, fuck it, they've managed to be goofily flirty in much more serious situations before, and he's not gonna get it back to the preened bird shape it was earlier. he lowers his hands, his hair in a state of not completely out of whack, but still pretty ruffled and fluffy. you win this round, Ryuji.]
Okay, don't think for a second that you're escaping a five-course, Michelin Star round of gourmet revenge here. It's still gonna happen, and I'm still not tellin' you when.
But, yeah, all right. I wouldn't mind zoning the fuck out for a little while.
[hell, maybe Ryuji will get that scenario he's picturing sooner than later. and honestly, what exactly they just experienced, and the reality and full gravity of what Dave's going to have to do to handle it, won't hit him until later. when he's alone with his thoughts, probably. and it'll probably take him a while to not completely blank out on a way to approach it.]
[for now, though? chilling it is.]
no subject
Is he that mean? Hm, hard to really tell.]
Yooo... potty mouth.
[Ryuji doesn't mean anything behind it, since he wouldn't mind zoning the fuck out for a while either, and considering this was the kid that was introduced as "vulgar boy," his argument doesn't stand much weight in this court of law. Between Hajime and Dave dropping f-bombs left and right though, Ryuji's found himself doing it way more often than he usually does. He's starting to realize that just because he heard that word a lot when he was a kid doesn't mean it has to hold the same weight now, over a decade later. Is that improvement? Probably not- coming to terms with adding a new curse word doesn't really seem that therapeutic to begin with, but Ryuji's a weird kid.
He eventually uprights himself and offers a hand to Dave to help him up, regardless of whether or not he actually needs it.]
People are gonna think I'm dating some punk ass delinquent if you keep that shit up.
[Here comes that embarrassingly obnoxious smile of his, but he offers a respite for a moment and lets Dave know that he's on board with it too:]
Seriously though... I'm pooped and my leg is startin' to cramp up like crazy. I wouldn't mind zonin' out either. [And then, eventually, he knows Dave will have a lot of stuff to sort out on his own. He probably can't help much there, but, c'mon. He just saw a bunch of dead versions of his boyfriend, he could absolutely use some time with Dave to just be with him and block out the actually kind of messed up trauma they both stumbled onto.]
no subject
[it's, you know. irony. and it's the kind of irony that gets a smile, albeit a much smaller one, out of Dave.]
Takes a punk ass delinquent to know one. Is there something you can do for the cramping?
no subject
[It's spoken with so much bravado and confidence, Ryuji sticking to this absurd imagery to make his point, which was, namely- that whatever Dave says will bounce off of him and stick back, like he's hopped up on the good elmer's shit.
But, otherwise, Ryuji does the Ryuji thing where once he's up, they're there, side by side, his arms crossed as they start heading off to zone the fuck out, if only to stop himself from slinging an arm around Dave casually and hanging off of him like he's wont to do.]
Maybe eat something with a ton of potassium. Like bananas. Or.... [He hums, smiling, before turning to stare at Dave and deadpan.] Banana milk.
no subject
I don't know shit about lawyers or lawyering, so as the judge here I'm ruling your argument invalid.
[that's ... well, Dave's proving his point about not knowing how the law works. but he just finds a smirk, jamming his hands in his pockets, completely pleased with his brilliant comeback.]
Wait, that actually has bananas? I figured it was just like. Some weird sorta drink that's vaguely banana flavored, but not actually, because nothing banana flavored actually fuckin' tastes like bananas.
no subject
[He wasn't ready to have his defense stricken from the record so easily and the door nailed shut with a gavel, but here he is, and Dave's got the final say in the matter. Ryuji has a pretty vague understanding of parliamentary procedure, and doesn't even know if you can appeal a ruling or anything like that, so he assumes that his judgment is final and everything else is NULL AND VOID.
Which, of course, earns the dude a shove as they're walking. No, you're out of order. Bailiff, take him away.]
Nah, it's mostly just sugar, I think. But you could probably make a killer protein shake with 'em. And it doesn't taste like a banana at all. Kinda has that... uh, super artificial thing going for it? Y'know, the type that kinda coats the top of your mouth and the back of your throat?
[He pauses for a second, considering...]
Man, why the hell do I even like that shit.
no subject
Everybody’s got their weird food vices, I guess.
[he says that in such a little shithead way, too. like, it sort of implies that he’s the exception. Dave’s taste buds are immaculate, obviously. who the hell doesn’t like apple juice, burritos and Whataburger?]
[this is ... a major tonal shift from the horde of dead Daves they were fighting earlier, but it’s exactly what he needed. they haunt him plenty enough as it is.]