open; THE GRAND PHANTOM HEIST

[wingstosee]

» WHO? Anyone and everyone!
» WHEN? 5/24, possibly going into the wee hours of the morning.
» WHERE? The bar, Deck 3.
» WHAT? Venus has a convoluted plot to get everyone into a room and drinking.
» WARNINGS? Hopefully, nothing past alcohol consumption and discussions/drinking games!


[ the announced day has come, and the hour draws ever closer. in mere hours, everyone on the station will come to know...

THE WRATH OF THE PHANTOM THIEF.
by which i mean, the station-wide drinking party venus has been wanting to throw since she got here. let's keep things friendly, everyone!


ooc: top-level prompts posted as headings below! feel free to post your own top-levels under the headings! ]

Comments

[hopefragment]

Sorry. Next time I'll just give you unlabeled bottles without trying them for you first.

[Deadpan, but also,]

I'm glad you're having a good time, Mishima.

[bu773rfly]

[She sputters into a laugh at that, sharp and abrupt, spitting some water. It ends up on her arm, which she shakes once to clear it of droplets, sloshing some of the bottle's contents right onto the floor.]

-Sorry! Sorry, here. [She tries to give it back...]

[hopefragment]

[Oh... she laughed. That's kind of cute? Usually she has her emotions so tightly under wraps that they're difficult to see, so hearing her laugh is... nice. Immediately, he makes a resolution to try to make her laugh more often.]

Whoa!

[But he jumps a little when there's water spilling on the floor, reaching out to steady the bottle so she doesn't accidentally overturn it or anything.]

No, it's fine. Do you want me to put it in a glass instead? There's some pretty fancy ones back here that I don't think are broken...

[bu773rfly]

It's easier to spill a glass than a bottle.

[She thinks...her problem....is that she's standing up. Any focus spent on standing is focus not spent on something else. Cut processes, improve performance. Logic! So hang on while she sits down on the ground.]

[hopefragment]

[She's just... bypassing the bar stools completely, huh? Just sitting right there on the floor.

Hajime huffs a quiet laugh through his nose and takes another look behind the bar, looking for something else. Maybe he should stay away from the colored stuff? That's probably stronger. The littler bottles are p...probably beer? He doesn't know what beer tastes like to be sure, but he takes one of those and the bottle of dusty water before joining her on the floor. Water for her, mystery liquid(tm) for him.

It's not weird to sit on the floor if they're both doing it, right?]

So what other games do people usually play at parties? [he asks, because Erika seems comfortable enough right now that she must have done this kind of thing before, right? He twists the cap off the bottle with a grunt and tries for a sip. It's... not worse than what he was drinking earlier, but it's not much better, either. A little bubbly, making him cough with surprise.] Maybe we can play some.

[Logic being that it'll encourage Erika to drink more water, and also maybe have fun at the same time. Flawless.]

[bu773rfly]

[the floor is comfy.]

I don't know. [Said like, why would he ask her? That's weird. Ask someone else. She tries again with the water bottle and yeah actually it goes better this time. SCORE ONE FOR LOGIC.] That's, mm, that's what Venus knows. I think, according to manga, King's Game. But that would be silly. And telling ghost stories, maybe.

[hopefragment]

Oh... yeah, she seems like the type who would know.

[He'd just thought Erika might. Also know?

He moves to bring a hand to his lips to help him think, and bonks the bottle against his lips instead. Oh. Right. He was holding that, huh. He takes another sip and rests the bottle on the floor between his crossed legs.]

I've never played King's Game, but... you need cards for that, right? And I don't know any ghost stories.

[...Hang on. Maybe he does know one.]

I mean, you've heard the one about the Ghost Chicken of Hope's Peak Academy, right?

[bu773rfly]

Ghosts aren't real, but go ahead.

[She puts her elbows on her knees and leans forward to listen.]

[hopefragment]

...He was a real poultry-geist.

[bu773rfly]

[Erika goes from silent to frowning to whipping Toto out of her pocket and beaning Hinata in the face with it in 1.5 seconds.]

[hopefragment]

Whoa!!!!

[He holds both hands up to try to block it, but it's too late. He's been Beaned.

But he's laughing. That kind of reaction is kind of funny, too? He can't help it.]

[bu773rfly]

[She calmly takes another drink of water and then deliberately flumps over onto the ground, mad as hell that she had to hear that.]

Can't believe...

[hopefragment]

[Well, Operation Make Erika Laugh failed miserably. But it made him laugh, so maybe that's okay.]

Sorry, sorry... you don't like puns, huh?

[Filing that away for future reference. He knew it wasn't a good one, but damn. Tough crowd.]

[bu773rfly]

[She rolls over enough to moosh her face on the ground.]

I'm not talking to you.

[So, no.]

[hopefragment]

[Opens his mouth for a "Hi 'I'm not talking to you,' I'm Dad," but swallows it with difficulty. He already knows jokes won't work for her, dON'T make it worse, Hajime!!]

Okay, sorry. I won't do it again, promise.

I don't know what people have spilled on the ground though, so...

[Maybe pick your face up. Please.]

[bu773rfly]

[Yeah okay sitting right back up. With a bit of a wobble.]

Ugh.

[God now she's thinking about it.]

People might have died in here.

[thanks]

[hopefragment]

...

[Yeah, thanks. He makes a face, a kind of really? that's your first thought? kind of face, which he tries to hide behind a sip from his mystery alcohol. That sure is... a sobering thought, alright.]

Maybe not. [He doesn't sound convinced, though, just taking another sip.] I mean... there's still so much we don't know about this station. We shouldn't jump to conclusions.

[bu773rfly]

People died somewhere. [She's too fucking drunk for it to twig that this is a bad stream of consciousness to be narrating.] It'd definitely be better here with people than alone in a room.

[hopefragment]

...

[Unlike Erika, he's not drunk. He's pretty sure he's barely even tipsy, staring into the neck of the beer bottle with a quiet hum of assent. She's... not wrong. If he were to die, if he were to disappear, he'd... want to be with someone.

That claws at his heart, sinking icy talons right in. Disappear. Die alone. His jaw clenches, and his fingers tighten around the bottle as he looks anywhere but at her. That's... all too relatable, and he doesn't like it.]

Mmm.

[He just hums, trying to shake off that sinking feeling, but not really succeeding.]

I guess I agree with that.

[bu773rfly]

[She follows the train of thought down a deep and winding road, silent in long contemplation. Down to the surface of a deeper notion to pluck at its stitches and feel the warning sting.

Back up again, spooked into flight, the ache nipping at her heels. She frowns and downs another mouthful of water, hands unsteady. It's bad. Feeling floaty is the opposite of the antidote to this; she scrubs her palms over her knees to feel the texture of the jumpsuit, and stares at Hinata's face, studying him carefully to decipher his expression.]

[hopefragment]

[It's not a nice expression. His usual countenance is usually fairly steady, either a familiar smile or an exasperated grimace. This... is what some might call hopelessness.

But he knows that Erika is looking at him, just like he knows that he doesn't want to be the kind of person who she can't rely on. So he forces a smile and glances back up to meet her eyes.]

Well... I know if it was me, I'd be happy other people we having fun in such a terrible place. So... maybe we shouldn't feel bad about things we can't change. Right?

[bu773rfly]

[Fake. There's something he's not telling her. (Of course there is - they barely know each other. Pretending they're fast friends doesn't make it so. And friends hide enough things as it is.) Whatever it is, she needs to unearth it, but she can't, and upset blooms under her sternum.]

That's really all you can do... [Her gaze wanders away. Ahhhh, wait, there it is.] I said something weird.

[hopefragment]

[He hums again in agreement, lifting the bottle to his lips to take a longer drink. The longer he hides his face behind the bottle, the better his chance of being able to think of something to distract her away from such a morbid thought. And hopefully himself, too.

But she's talking again, so he pulls the bottle away, blinking at her and trying to pretend like his throat isn't burning from carbonation.] Huh?

[Oh, yeah. She sure did. He just laughs quietly and shakes his head, giving her a more genuine smile.]

Maybe a little, but... that's okay. It's good that we can talk about all kinds of things, right?

[bu773rfly]

[Can they?

The upset puts out seeds.]

That's not "good". All that is is...

[Forgetting completely about the comment on the floor that got her sitting up again, Erika goes to lie back down on the floor, then pops back up to sitting out of frustration.

It's what? All that is is what? A platitude? A lie? What does Hinata ever talk about? What does she ever talk about? If they did talk about all kinds of things, would they even understand each other? Would they stand each other? How do normal people even deal with these half-baked, just-started friendships?]

I don't believe you. [She sighs it out like a weighty confession.]

[hopefragment]

Mishima, the floor...

[It's said a little weakly, because there she is, laying on the floor again. Hopefully nothing questionable gets stuck to her face.

She sits back up almost immediately, though, and he breathes a quiet sigh of relief, though his shoulders are still tense. The way she'd trailed off... it makes him feel like he's said something wrong.

And then that second bit, I don't believe you... He doesn't know how to answer that.]

Um... sorry. [The apology slips out before he can stop it, a reflexive apology for not being able to give her what she needs. He doesn't know what that is, exactly, but if he were someone reliable, like a talented protagonist, then he could...]

You don't have to believe me, but... I'm glad we're friends. Sometimes that means saying weird stuff, and that's okay.