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Entry tags:
( CLOSED ) shoujo confessions or nothing
Who: Makoto Tachibana (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cordated), Vietnam (hoasen), Rei Ryugazaki (theoreitical), Zack Fair (reenacted), Oona (mermaiding), Miles Edgeworth (prosecutory)
When: POST EVENT 20.
Where: Various locations around the colony.
What: Makoto's solicitations are met with varying degrees of success and failure. Life goes on.
Rating/Warning: None.
(Individual starters in the comments below!)
cordated), Vietnam (hoasen), Rei Ryugazaki (theoreitical), Zack Fair (reenacted), Oona (mermaiding), Miles Edgeworth (prosecutory)When: POST EVENT 20.
Where: Various locations around the colony.
What: Makoto's solicitations are met with varying degrees of success and failure. Life goes on.
Rating/Warning: None.
(Individual starters in the comments below!)
VIETNAM
it's no more than twenty minutes later that he's making headway into the gym's entryway, duffle bag slung over one shoulder, scanning around for his friend. when their eyes invariably lock, he strides forward, climbing the last few steps to wrap (or potentially crush) vietnam in a seizing bear hug. ]
Vietnam-san! It's really good to see you. I'm so glad you're alright.
[ so this is happening. visibly retracting, makoto's smile on drains in proportion to his self-consciousness, already lifting the door out to her. ]
Well, I figured we could swim first. Would that be okay?
REI RYUGAZAKI
while largely unacquainted with the topography of the immediate region, he's familiar with the tangible shape of it, at least. the impression of it, as it stands, since he did get previously arrested for private trespassing back when rin and kisumi were rendered missing in the cerevice.
he doesn't have more than a peripheral recall of rei's schedule, but his hunch pays off for once when he's finally greeted by the familiar sight of his friend exiting the facility. there's no thought to his advance, just wide, wide strides and a hand outstretched in a half-wave. ]
Rei! I was hoping I'd catch you here.
[ his smile's genuine enough, if his disheveled look doesn't offset it, like he hasn't gotten enough sleep in a long, long while. ]
We need to talk. Just the two of us, if that's alright. Is there somewhere we can speak in private?
ZACK FAIR
there's no denying that cutting through the gardens is a largely self-indulgent move on his part. he can't pin a name on all the colors of the wind, but the air isn't so rarefied and mechanical as it is through the metropolitan districts, so it's easier to breathe. for a time, makoto (uselessly) wanders about, stringently avoiding anything that even coincidentally reminds him of water with pressing absorption.
it's in this convoluted meandering that he finds zack doing squats in an open clearing for no discernible reason.
makoto comes to a standstill, slightly weirded out but mostly confused when he eventually speaks up. secondhand embarrassment has nothing on his current state of mind. ]
Er ... Zack?
OONA
the evening is languid, rippling dark and sharper at once, feeding into the lights festooned overhead. the atmosphere is companionable enough, but it doesn't register correctly in makoto's psyche. only a sickening lurch in his frazzled composure, which isn't fair at all to oona, who shouldn't be afflicted with hang-ups of the dispassionate variety.
it's a date, like he promised, but it isn't really a date, as makoto hasn't spoken a word since exchanging initial pleasantries with oona. he's burned a hole through his credits to give her free reign to every menu item, but it doesn't void his own order laid out beneath the gleaming lamp, conspicuously untouched.
although oona's sitting just across from him, as open and honest as ever, he can't even angle a glimpse up at her, scrubbing at his cheek before evading her eyes. ]
I really messed up.
[ a manner of inflection. ]
I'm sorry. I'm causing you trouble like this, aren't I?
MILES EDGEWORTH
it comes to him as a bit of a delayed realization, once the shock's worn off in lieu of complete disconcertion, that his CYbuddy is gone. and while haku was far from the most stationary cat, often wandering throughout tellus for periods of time, it's been a while since he's been home in any capacity.
it's the catalyst of his search, in fact, striding around the residential district and calling out for his poor feline in meek intervals. he's all but resigned himself to tearing through the shopping district next when he's stopped in his tracks by a peculiar sight: his cat snagging its claws into one of edgeworth's trouser legs.
incredible. ]
Wh — it's Haku!
[ frazzled as he is, he manages to snatch his yowling cat from terrorizing his friend with minimal damage. unfortunately, in the process the gym bag he's carrying gains a huge gash, revealing all that aforementioned samurai paraphernalia to the world as it unceremoniously dumps on the ground. ]
... Ah.
[ makoto can only stare dumbstruck, trapped between a rock and a hard place. talk about bad timing. ]
no subject
If he was well, she hopes to raise his survival levels! If he isn't, well, as long as she could see him, she'll take it from there.
She didn't expect to be grabbed and crushed in his arms with a slight oof. That being said, she rolled with it and hugged him back.] I'm glad to see you are well too, Makoto! You definitely are healthy. [MEANING HIS HUG. She clears her throat and shifts when he pulls back.]
That would definitely be okay, let's go swim. Lead the way. [Stepping through the entry after he holds open the door, she waits for him on the other side so she can follow.]
no subject
She tilts her head. Trouble?] No.
[Because she's honest, and it's not a trouble to her. But clearly it's troubling him.]
You are quiet. Something is wrong? Not with the date, but something else. [Because despite what anyone else might thing, Oona isn't stupid. She observes carefully, reads body language quickly, and most of the time people just don't bother to ask her about anything and assume she knows nothing because of it.
Even then it doesn't take a genius to figure out his thoughts aren't on the food or the girl in front of him.] What is it?
no subject
[ the real question: she'll coach him to an eye of the tiger?????? they'll have a music video montage devoted to reinventing peppy exercise videos and resuscitating the dying 80s training aesthetic in these dying halls. warn the presses! pop culture is on the rise in cerealia.
he swallows the worst of his consternation, grin edged soft, warmth transliterated into his complexion when he trails after her. basket case of insecurities and a clinical defeatist attitude aside, chilling with vietnam is bound to cure even the worst of his dejection, since he's got the blues bad.
outwardly, that shouldn't show. in fact, he's still smiling in the corridor splitting between the locker rooms. ]
Guess we should go get changed. I'll wait out by the door after, so don't get an early start without me, alright?
[ since he already has swim trunks on, he's just gotta' take off his shirt (whoa), but details ............ ]
no subject
[ as luck would have it, makoto has a track record for ruining dates before they even reach the appetizers. with his inability to fill in the silence, it's like he's miming derision — a quiet disconsolation that speaks volumes about his offhanded capacity for ruining something good. glancing sidelong, makoto stares morosely at their silhouettes as pinned to the wall, dark and blotching, spiderwebbing the plaster. it's like this, the blackening dialectic of a friendly reunion-slash-pity party, that all the tinny issues of the heart jumble up in his throat. accepting things as they came used to be infinitely easier.
makoto brushes one hand heavy across his knee, chin ducked, gaze skimming along the curving line of the plate. ]
I made that promise that we'd all be able to swim together someday. I did mean to keep it. The offer's still open even if it's just at the pool instead of the outside like you wanted. The place you came from before all of this must've had a really wide ocean too, right?
[ thoughts abating, coalescing in the deluge. the slow comprehension. he smiles in a very slight way at the slipshod light gleaming in oona's hair, the petaled blue of her irises. ]
Haru and Rin are gone.
no subject
Haru and Rin are gone.
Her first thought is, 'gone where?' The pool? An arcade? Her second thought is, 'he means gone' and the grief hits her in a dull blow. She had been dealing with the losses--for there were always some, people just disappearing and sometimes later reappearing--with just not acknowledging it. If someone was gone from the city, she pretended they didn't exist, tried not to think about them again or talk about them or anything like that. It was easier to pretend she didn't care, easier to act like it didn't hurt or that a small hole had opened in her life.
She puts her utensils down and her hands on her lap, fingers curling and uncurling in her clothes. Her expression has gone carefully blank, eyes darting about as she processes the information.
Oona can't ignore or pretend when it's brought to her face just like that.]
But I...did not give Haru new earrings yet... Or race Rin again... [it's all she can think to say, a weak protest as if somehow the gods (or CERES) would hear her, realize their mistake, and bring them back.]
no subject
His expression relaxes into one of relief when the CYbuddy is reunited with its owner at last, but he lets out a yelp of shock when the gym bag Makoto is carrying reveals its contents. Edgeworth's eyes are now far wider than they were when Haku attacked him.]
Th-that's... [Edgeworth quickly clamps his mouth shut but it's too late. He can't just let Makoto walk away with his samurai stuff. No, he needs to get that back and swear the teenager to secrecy.
So, in a more subdued voice dropped so only Makoto can hear:]
Where did you find those?
no subject
AND YES? She will? Eye of the tiger, or ever Call On Me because why the hell not. Everyone watch out when Makoto gets his headband on.
After reaching the locker rooms, she turned to speak to him. She didn't really know how much he has gone through since they last saw each other, having been divided, but she wouldn't be at all shocked if he had been hanging on lately. They say a workout will help.]
Alright, I am sure you will be able to go first, anyway. [It's more harder to get into a swimsuit when going up against a pro, okay! She doesn't even know all he needs to do is take his shirt off and be the looping gif set where he flexes his back. Free! knows how to make money.
She moves to step inside.]
I will be out soon!
[And inside, with very few details, she's efficiently done changing. It's a two piece swimsuit, practical but pretty fashionable, because Taiwan would've killed her if it was too bland so this is what she got when they went shopping back in the day. She looks for him after she leaves the change rooms.]
Makoto?
no subject
And maybe he hadn't been. Before Cerealia.
Now, he's a nervous wreck, breaking down at the edges, and desperately trying to hold it together before he starts to not feel like himself anymore. Each squat is another force of effort, something he can focus on as real.
He barely looks up, still going on like a madman as he talks (it's a learned skill).]
Everything okay?
[Because why wouldn't that be the first consideration?]
i'm so sorry for the lateness! please don't feel compelled to tag back if it's been too long
[ Well, it's out, now. No taking it off, or playing it off as a joke of cynicism or the permanence of leaving while the leaving is still good.
His admission wrung on something less than invincibility, callousness he doesn't want to come in terms with, just like the impermeable silence left after ruination when it isn't apparent just yet that he might not recover. Not entirely. The lights are slung lower than an invocation, and her eyes keep conveying that softness, bright and eclipsing, and Makoto bites so hard on the inside of his cheek that it bleeds.
The quivering unsteadiness crushes somewhere in his windpipe, and he can't seem to speak, voice jumbled, his fingers a bundle of useless nerves. His head won't stop pounding, incessant and hurtful, and the invariability of the quiet when robbed of comprehension. He sucks in a shaky breath, unable to focus on Oona's words for what they instigate — nostalgia and other tricks of memory, how everything is too loud even when they're the only two people in the world.
Apologies split and treacherously open, Makoto blinks past the sudden blur of tears swimming in his vision, the sickening lurch of his chest, like he can't breathe properly even when he's speaking, blathering on and on with no weight to his words at all. ]
A-Anyways, I ... I didn't want to see you like this, w-when I wouldn't be able t-to ... to say ...
[ A fracture warps his voice, distorting it.
His smile cracking down the center, Makoto swipes at his eyes, the fissure-break of tears steadily dripping down his cheeks. Scrubbing furiously at his face with the underside of his hands, he angles his face away, continually astonished that his fingertips keep coming away damp. ]
Ah? That's weird. There's — there's something stuck in my eye, h-haha! ... Sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean ... to make it so awkward, so ... s-so don't mind me.
[ It might be karmic retribution, after all. Not in this world, or the next, or the next — ... just a question the second time around they disappear, anger and confusion throwing his inflection out of sorts.
So many small, tiny mistakes over the long run. ]
i apologize for the extreme delay on my end! please feel free to handwave/drop this at your leisure
There are other assumptions Makoto could readily jump to, of course. It might just be a fixation of another close friend he was looking out for, some sentimental curio worth value because of its relation to home, but given the item switch, Makoto's inclined to believe his initial hypothesis is a dead ringer.
Without placing much stock into the gesture, Makoto affords Edgeworth the benefit of the doubt, only to crane in to catch the muted confession spilled out into the air between them like a sacrament with none of the reverence.
Sheepishly, Makoto rubs the nape of his neck, easily rescinding the bag to his companion without so much as batting an eye. ]
I found them in my room when I woke up. After ... you know. You remember, right? The jungle, and then, ah ... the waterfall. When I was back in my room again, I was sure it was all a dream, but then I found all of that [ — indicating the samurai merch now safely in Edgeworth's clutches — ] right by my bed! I'm still looking for Haru, but I'm glad you took care of Haku in the meantime.
[ In affected mimicry, Makoto lowers his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. ]
Um, by the way, are those yours?
DON'T FORGIVE ME but please feel free to handwave/drop this as necessary
Right now, he's a ~*~ (ฅ^•ﻌ•^)ฅ CAT DADDY ฅ(^•ﻌ•^ฅ) ~*~ and she's ... the ~*~ ♨ PHỞ QUEEN ♨ ~*~. Someday, they might even get the chance to go out and eat, maybe enjoy several rounds of friendly karaoke or TV melodramas as necessary.
Fearing the consequences of fanservice is a real thing, apparently, given the weird fanmail he received that one time about being a pool boy despite only going to the gym only in his immediate downtime. Rin and Haru practically live in the pool, but Makoto (the sanest of the bunch) only sees it as an occupational hobby.
But sure, there's no reason to keep his shirt on when they're going to get Wet 'n Wild™, so off it goes as he neatly zips it into his mesh duffle bag. He's slung the bag across his shoulder once Vietnam comes walking out into the hallway like Miss Universe itself, and it's hard not to take a double-take and stare off into the distance while he has a five-second out-of-body experience.
Eventually, he comes to his senses (if a little belatedly) to catch up with her inquiry, calling out to her from down the corridor. ]
Vietnam-san! Over here!
[ And waving her forward, he segues them both into the newly renovated pool area, complete with a few rows of bleachers. ]
Alright! So what did you want to try first? It might be better if we ease into the water before getting straight into racing. I wouldn't want you to get cramps.
[ Also, he has to scan the area to make sure none of the other gym's patrons are making undue advances toward her. That two-piece swimsuit is enough to make anyone lose their head. ]
i'm really sorry for the wait! feel free to handwave or drop this and no worries either way
He almost walks past him at first, for all the expediency of getting from Point A to Point B in record time, even if there's nothing in particular waiting for him anywhere. Haku, maybe, even if his cat hasn't stopped yowling since Haru's disappearance. He hasn't heard from the others since, but that's largely his own fault — a severe disinclination to check his CereVice for anything at all.
They disappear with their names. The very first time, it'd been like Rin and Kisumi never existed, their names and belongings erased, residence hollowed out like a tomb.
Rin was the first to go, but the rest of them fell into step like a neat, neat line, Gou, Haru, and Rei —
Coming to a standstill, Makoto stares with a vacancy to his gaze, only to soon avert his eyes. ]
Yeah! Yeah. I mean, why wouldn't it be?
[ A pause. ]
What about you, Zack? Have you been doing alright?
no subject
And while my possessions ended up by your bed, I found your CYbuddy at my doorstep. [He inclines his head toward Haku.] Strange. [Indeed, he remembers the jungle and going down the waterfall with this young man, but since when were people's belongings swapped up like this?]
np! sorry my own delay laughs... christmas...!!
She puts her utensils down and reaches across the table for his hands.]
I, ah... Makoto... ['Come stay the night with me,' she wants to offer. The comfort of one body with another, one of the few ways she knows to offer comfort, but she's not sure if that would quite work here.]
Crying... it is fine. They are gone. Mourning and being sad is fine. Cry and let no one tell you not to. I can wait for however long it takes for you.
I am afraid I do not know how to comfort you in a way you would like, but I will do my best.