weekend mingle featuring 5 pm brunch because time is meaningless now

[pr159]

[ There probably isn't a single person among them who isn't exhausted after that trial, so it's no surprise that, like last week, there's no party when it's over. Maybe some stay out and mill about the city, while others finally take the chance to get some well-deserved sleep.

Personally, Rideaux is absolutely going to bed now, because it's fucking 10 am or something, and that was a lot.

But when he wakes up again in what is nominally the afternoon, once he's taken a shower and no longer looks like a haggard mess, he's actually going to hole up in the kitchen at the clergy housing and make some pancakes. Just pancakes and nothing else, because this mix is "just add water!" and that's the extent of his cooking skills the most effort he's going to put into anything. Some of them may be slightly burned and oddly shaped, but they're free, so shut it.

There's also some coffee and some (cheap, not his good stuff) whiskey, so if you want to make a half-assed Irish coffee, he's not stopping you.

Is this supposed to be a distraction? Is this actually all just to celebrate the fact that Cumore briefly thought he was going to die and that was delicious to watch? Maybe, but no one has to know that. ]

Comments

[moonfang]

[sometime after the trial, Zangetsu drops off the black box from the clocktower, along with Dist's notes, in the lounge area of the clergy housing. After that, he makes a quick trip to the jazz bar to grab one (or two) bottles of cheap vodka. Then, it's off to the arcade, which is just where he lives now.

Time no longer has no meaning, and so throughout the weekend, Zangetsu can be found in a few places -- outside various buildings, hunting and trapping pigeons, down in the subway, doing the same to catch rats, and in the arcade, either sleeping or playing games.

As for his changes, well... on his right side, the same side as his broken horn, Zangetsu now bears a patch of large, shiny black scales covering the top right quarter of his face -- including his eye. Arr, matey?]

[deadlygoals]

[ It's much much later before Dazai makes an appearance. While Zan lost an eye, it looks like Dazai has gained one. Or more specifically, all the bandages on his face have been removed. Elliot's cut is still on his cheek, and there's a small scar on the left side of his face. He's here to read over Dist's notes and look at the black box. What do we have for notes? ]

Black Box Notes

[ortion]

[HELLO FROM DIST'S GHOST- No.

The notes aren't terribly long, as what Dist ended up finding inside wasn't all that complicated in the grand scheme of things.]

Black Box

Contents: Battery, likely used to power the clock in the absence of electricity.

Exterior casing protects from potential battery spillage.

[It seems he just took enough notes to fuel further discussion, but...well. You know how that turned out. Do it in his stead, Dazai.]

[deadlygoals]

[ He's not really feeling positive, but he will try. Since that's really all they can do.

Thank you not Dist Ghost.]

arcade - sunday

[psychophant]

[Zangetsu mentioned the arcade, so it's only natural to look for him here. And what a surprise, there he is!! It would be a lie to say Iago's here to check on Zangetsu, but he's curious about how the lizarding went and also he does have something to say, so—]

Ah. She took your eye.

[NO WE'RE GONNA START WITH THIS, APPARENTLY.... LOOK WE MATCH!!]

Can: animal gore

[moonfang]

[ Iago happens to catch Zangetsu in the middle of a meal — a still warm rodent that he’s skinning with claws of ice. He doesn’t stop when Iago addresses him ] it’s not gone, just covered. What do you want.

[psychophant]

[eww gross... to the former, not the latter. keeping one eye covered is totally fine, even if it is with weird scales.]

I wanted to thank you again for taking the hint for us. It certainly didn't seem to help much at the time, but someone had to take it.

[He counted on Zangetsu taking it, but if Zangetsu had refused... Well, he'd rather not consider that at all.]

I also appreciated your fury at that bastard. [Ango, who he's refusing to call by name anymore.] Thank you for punching him.

[it wouldn't have hurt ango at all if he'd tried.........]

[moonfang]

Tch. I guess in the end we got the right guy. But I guess kind of like you didn’t want it to be Cumore, I didn’t want it to be Sakaguchi. [ He does Iago the service of turning away before he rips the rat’s head off with his teeth ] .... not like it matters.

[psychophant]

[He's glancing away as well, though it's probably because of the remark about Cumore. Probably.]

I understand. He was useful while he was alive, and he was pleasant conversation sometimes. But whatever I thought about him before was entirely wrong; he planned to kill both Dist and me.

[He's not Dist and he can't do everything Dist could, but he's usually doing better than he was during this trial. Or the last one. Look, the point is that he's a tactical genius, leave him alone—]

I knew it wasn't Cumore. I couldn't find a way to properly articulate it at the time, but if he had chosen to kill, it wouldn't be like that, and that certainly wouldn't have been his reaction.

[If it had been Cumore, we'd have had a very different trial and Iago probably would've done something stupid and ended up dead but you know what, here we are. Cumore and Iago are both still alive, unfortunately.]

[moonfang]

... Actually, it was how Cumore reacted to being accused that made me change my mind.

[him and Mikami, and to an extent, how Iago himself reacted to the whole thing. Then Zangetsu chuckles a little, though there's no humor in it]

At least those two mafiosos taught me a valuable lesson -- you humans really can't be trusted at all, no matter how friendly or warm you seem. Every single one of you is a liar. Ah, I suppose it IS a useful tool for the weak. [it's amazing how much more well spoken he is when he's like This]

arcade!!

[bawcock]

[ They were hanging out here after the trial so, kinda feels natural to come back here. What is sleepover etiquette when it's interrupted by midnight strolls and murder anyway?

Meh. Regardless of whether he's there when Zangetsu walks in or comes in later, his reaction is the same. He lifts his hand in a half-wave and comes closer. Also, if it matters, he hasn't done laundry but he did probably go off and shower and change. Compromise! ] What's that for?

[moonfang]

[while there was a certain amount of almost warm camaraderie between them before, Zangetsu is cold and distant. His visible eye is sharp and piercing]

What. The eye thing? Fashion statement.

[it's a joke, but the delivery is so dry and serious that it doesn't come across as one. He just stares at Erik with his remaining eye and takes a gulp out of the vodka bottle]

[bawcock]

[ Well, Zangetsu has been through a lot so it's not super surprising he's bristling. ]

That too, but more the booze than anything. [ At least he knows if Zangetsu gets wasted, he's gonna pass out here in the "safety" of the arcade and not in the streets? ]

[moonfang]

Oh.

[he forgot he had that for a second. He's already drunk quite a bit]

... the other night it made everything... less. It was nice.

[bawcock]

You might not feel that way in the morning.

[moonfang]

Who cares. [he plops into one of the beanbags and takes another drink]

arcade

[baitless]

[RIGHT, so, specifically, he knows he wanted to track down Zangetsu to talk to him, and he's been in the arcade a lot. So! He'll head in, with a covered plate...]

Zangetsu? I brought some pancakes, if you'd like them.

[...he's honestly not even sure if Zangetsu eats pancakes or anything that isn't raw meat, but the... the sentiment is there.]

[moonfang]

[Zangetsu isn't trying too hard not to be found, but that doesn't mean he's particularly happy about visitors. While the Zanpakutou has traditionally been warm, if not unsettling and gross, he is now cold and distant with a scowl on his face more suited to his master's face than his own.

He looks down at the plate, then snatches it]

Thanks. Now leave.

[baitless]

...

I am willing to listen, if you want to talk.

[it's an offer, not an insistence that yes, we are going to stay here and talk about our feelings.]

[moonfang]

[Zangetsu looks down at the plate, then at Seteth, then away at nothing, clearly giving it some thought. Then he shakes his head]

... No. I... can't. I can't trust you, either.

subway

[pr159]

[ Rideaux was just intending to take a look at some of the places he hadn't personally been to yet, and now that he actually has a halfway decent light source, the subway station seemed like a logical option.

Well. He wasn't actually expecting anyone to be here, but he'd been wanting to see what Zangetsu had ended up with after the hint anyway, so. Two birds with one stone. Or rats, as it were. ]

Mind showing me what she did?

[ He's far enough away that he can't really see anything, phone flashlight or no. And given how the end of the trial went, he's not going to immediately barge in or anything. ]

[moonfang]

[Zangetsu is off in the corner by himself with his goggles on, hunched over... something. He hasn't had much luck yet, but he can hear the rats in the walls. It won't be long now.

Of course, that's before he has a visitor. He hears his quarry scurry away at the sound of Rideaux's voice.

... Oh well. Not like he has anything but time.

He stands and turns to face Rideaux wordlessly, taking his goggles off and revealing the strange patch of black scales covering his right eye]

[pr159]

[ Sorry about your rat. But also he technically already provided you with food earlier when Seteth brought over some of the pancakes he'd made, so that kind of evens things out, right.

Anyway. Huh. ]

That's different.

[ But none of them have been the same, so. ]

Did it replace your eye or is it just covering it?

cw: eye horror

[moonfang]

[your pancakes are mediocre at best, bro]

Covering it. But when I tried to peel them off, one of them is growing right from my eye so... I can't remove it without damaging it. Whatever. Ain't a big deal.

[pr159]

[ Wow, his pancakes suck, but they're probably on par with raw subway rat. ]

That definitely sounds unpleasant.

Do you regret it?