(no subject)

[espersions]

Who: espersions, belfire, moribound, popsometags, their cr, their cr's cr...
When: Early April
Where: Source Below: Cerealia's most surreal karaoke bar
What: How do you come to terms with death and disappearance? Get hammered and sing about it, obviously.
Rating/Warning: alcohol, hot tubs, death mentions, and j-pop


Ket Whiss is gone for good, and Minato has returned from his PLAYER ONE GAME OVER moment, courtesy of a hungry monster. And there's the residual trauma of everyone's jungle/elemental adventures.

So, well. Why not have a party?

Source Below is Cerealia's most popular — and most surreal — karaoke bar. It features a costume closet, with hundreds of outfits to try on, for that full idol experience. There are themed rooms: one with overflowing candy, another built to resemble the interior of a spaceship, one full of robotic cats who yowl in time with the music, to a pitch-black room filled with pairs of enormous, glowing, slowly-blinking eyes....

But Team Catastrophe's party isn't in any of these, because none of these losers made a reservation. Instead, they got stuck with the only one left, covered in white tile, with a hot tub in the center.

This is a bad idea on so many levels, but it's not as if that's ever stopped anybody.

(ooc: open to any extended cr, feel free to handwave how you heard about it. the more the merrier!)

---

Comments

[good_ideas]

[Minato facing the tub means it's the perfect time for Shiho to make the rest of his alcoholic drink disappear by pouring it into Hyoubu's.

She fills his glass back up with water.]

Shiho no, I mean yes!?

[moribound]

[The song stops just as Shiho's done with her good deed of the day, and Minato seems to be positively beaming when he turns around.

This would be a good thing, were his face not flushed and this being highly unusual behavior coming from him.]

You look great, Sannomiya-san! I didn't think you'd come, actually, did someone tell you about the party?

Pretty sure you mean yes.

[good_ideas]

[Shiho knows it's already been way too many drinks for him and doesn't stop worrying isn't fooled by the way he smiles.]

I always look great. And I came here because some pervert was having a party.

Shiho yes then

[moribound]

Pervert- oh, you mean the Major! [Who's probably halfway towards sad country warbling by now and looking anything but like a pervert, let's be real.]

I didn't know that you know him too but come on, he can't be that bad if he offered to pay for everything here! [Uh Minato, considering that 1) There's alcohol and 2) These are all teenagers it definitely looks sketchy!]

[good_ideas]

[It's kind of sad to her that everyone knows Hyoubu as the pervert.]

Paying us off with money doesn't make him any less of a pervert.

[moribound]

[Not his fault that other people called Hyoubu a pervert first!]

Is he though? He just seems to like people with powers for some reason, don't think that's anything perverted. [Unless he has some kind of power fetish? Ugh, whatever, they're not arguing this!]

[good_ideas]

[Wow, really? What kind of awful people would go around calling Hyoubu a pervert??]

It could be a fetish.

[moribound]

Let's not go there. [He takes a big gulp of 'alcohol', funny how much it suddenly tastes like water- Is there a Jesus in here?]

You seem to know him very well...more than me, anyway.

[good_ideas]

[Maybe he just has a guardian fairy or something??]

Well, we knew each other from before. Since he's our stalker and everything.

[moribound]

[With guardian fairies like Shiho, who needs enemies?]

Eh, you too? I wouldn't exactly say he's a stalker, but there was this kid who appeared in my room from time to time without warning...so I wasn't that surprised when the Major did that too. [It's not as surprising as the wall-smashing anyway. Or the attempted mooching. Or the breakfast after that.] Who's the other person? [He really sounds questionable, but I still don't think he's a bad person...]

[good_ideas]

[She will get rid of all his enemies too.]

Well, that's because he's a perv-.........wait. What do you mean a kid appears in your room. Like, a ghost?

[He better not be saying that there's a ghost in his room.]

1/2

[moribound]

Nah. It's kind of hard to explain, but he was living inside me for ten years and he's a Shadow, not a ghost.

2/2

[moribound]

... [That should be a relief to Shiho, but why is Minato suddenly smiling at her?] I didn't know that you were scared of ghosts though, Sannomiya-san! [This is...followed by some light laughter.] That's really cute, not that you aren't already.

[good_ideas]

[Living inside of.....him?? Like...a split personality? Shiho opens her mouth to ask when he suddenly starts smiling and she has a bad feeling about this which is only confirmed when he starts talking again.]

Wh-! I'm not afraid of ghosts! And it's not cute! [She's conflicted. On one hand, she is very susceptible to being called cute. On the other hand: ghosts.]

[moribound]

[Isn't it a good thing she doesn't know that she's effectively talking a ghost then? Minato's still smiling even after hearing what Shiho has to say, which is to say he's completely unapologetic about bringing up ghosts.]

But it is cute. [There's the slightest emphasis on the wors 'is'.] I don't think I thanked you enough for what you did for me at the jungle too, you're really nice even if you don't seem to want people to think that.

[good_ideas]

[She would be conflicted if she ever knew he was effectively a ghost. On the one hand, he was okay, as far as she was concerned (which was glowing praise coming from her) but on the other hand maybe all ghosts were like that before they inevitably pulled a "The Ring" on you.

How unapologetic he seems to be only makes her frown deepen (though she knows there isn't anything for him to apologize for).]

It's not! [It's a serious problem because ghosts were terrifying and she had no idea how to get over this.

The final straw is when he actually thanks her and tells her that she's nice. Drawing back, Shiho turns red, looking away and wondering if it's too late now to try and drown Hyoubu in the hot tub. That would show him 'nice'.]

[moribound]

[Shiho's reddening face isn't that unusual for Minato to see since all the girls he knew who were scared of ghosts tended to react that way at least once, but it does at least capture his attention enough to prevent him from making any further foot-in-mouth remarks such as "You're really acting like a tsundere, you know".

He's about to say something else that's no doubt just as dumb when he blinks, realizing that whatever is in his cup right now isn't alcohol.]

This looks like water...did you do something to my drink while I had my back turned?

[good_ideas]

[It took him long enough to notice, but Shiho isn't about to back down after all his embarrassing comments.]

Are you sure you aren't just so drunk that everything looks like water to you?

[moribound]

Only one way to find out. [To his credit Minato manages to drink his water without spilling it, in spite of the difficulty in maintaining a steady grip thanks to all the actual alcohol he's guzzled earlier. Once that's done though he just seems to reel, head lowered and eyes closed.]

Tastes like water too...I don't even remember how many glasses I had before this.

[good_ideas]

Oh, so everything tastes like water to drunks too, huh.

[This isn't water and she isn't responsible for it. That's the story she's sticking with.]

[moribound]

I don't think drinking is supposed to do that. [There's something about her words that seems to suggest she's upset though, so Minato's a little more sheepish the next time he says something.]

You're not upset with me or anything, are you?

[good_ideas]

What, just because all of you are getting drunk and bottling everything in instead of talking about it and asking for help? Why should I be upset with you for that?

[No, really, she'd love to hear what you have to say on this point, Minato.]

[moribound]

[That gets an unhappy sound from Minato because it's true, and what's also true is that he's going to make yet another bad choice and let on to what's bothering him.]

Dunno, it's kind of hard to say sorry about dying horribly in a jungle when we're already upset about a friend leaving. [He exhales loudly this time, head lowered even further like he'd rather just attempt to hide his face with his hands.] I mean the Major's been avoiding me all evening and Kaz dumped me into a trash can...what can I even say to make things better?

[good_ideas]

[Shiho would tell him that this is the best choice he's made all evening.]

Since they're already upset anyways, you're better off just saying it now. You don't need to make things better by yourself. That's what friends are for. We'll all help.

Kaz dumped you into the trash can, huh. Well, I'll go talk to Kaoru-chan about it. [And they'll dunk him into a trash can until he learns that's not something you do to other people. There is no irony here.]

As for that pervert, I'll deal with him.

[moribound]

[Give him a few moments to think about what Shiho just said about getting Kaoru's help and addressing Hyoubu.

...

...

...

Uh oh.]

I appreciate the help, but are you sure you're not going to make things worse? Kaz and I talked just now, so that leaves the Major... [Minato trails off just as he turns to look at Hyoubu starting the first line of an emo song, and he briefly entertains getting two more shots of alcohol so he can pretend this day never happened.] Anyway, I'll talk to him too. [It's really too bad for him that he'll be drunk again by then.]