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

[drydrown]

[If your sleep schedule is fucked then stay up for way too many hours and reset it, you absolute cowards.

...In other words, Cumore isn't going to be getting a lot of sleep over the weekend, but he's generally around. He's absent immediately after the trial, but later on he can usually be found in the botanical gardens, thankfully not stealing and rehoming every cactus this time, but just wandering around the paths outside. It's still a bit of a strange habit to be into given the darkness, but the lamp posts are enough and even if they aren't, it's not like he needs light to have an idea of what's around him.

Otherwise… Well, there's a lot of aimless wandering going on around the streets of town; he doesn't seem like he'd be bothered by company, he's just not explicitly seeking anyone out directly. One of those weekends.]

aimless wandering;

[reanbeans]

[ It really was one of those weekends. ]

...Are you patrolling?

[ He didn't necessarily think so, but he had to wonder with the other wandering around like that. ]

[drydrown]

[Oh, hey Rean.]

...Not particularly. Just clearing my mind, mostly.

[reanbeans]

That's fair. What happened was really a lot.

[ For all his scrambling, he thought it'd all be in vain, though things were really heating up for Cumore, considering... ]

...And I've definitely done the same here myself, and also back home after a big task or mission was completed.

[drydrown]

I don't really like being idle. Especially after something like that trial.

[He's not usually nearly that stressed out.]

It's a good way to get the excess energy out, I suppose. I would prefer to not be useless over the next few days.

[reanbeans]

[ He'll nod. ]

...We're going to really need to be prepared in the coming days, so I can see why you would. Though, I can't really imagine you as someone who'd be 'useless', anyway.

[ Cumore's contributed in his own ways at times, or at least that's how Rean felt. He even remembered him investigating in the middle of the week that one time too. ]

[drydrown]

[...Ah.]

I don't think I am, and I try not to be. But this entire situation isn't one I'm suited to.

[reanbeans]

[ He'll pause at the answer, but he didn't fault Cumore for it. This was a situation he also felt quite out of his depth in as well. ]

I understand. I think...considering everything, we've done all we can to get where we are now, and it hasn't been through lack of effort, or anything like that.

[drydrown]

It hasn't.

[...]

The trial was a bit much for me. I'll be fine once the weekend is over, I'm sure.

[He'll be fine because he'll make himself be fine.]

[reanbeans]

[ It really felt like they had to push themselves to be as much. He's done so many times before, but this situation made it a herculean effort sometimes.

And now, after today, he could only imagine what it was like for the other man. ]

...I can only imagine—I'm just honestly glad that the alternative hadn't happened. But, in the meantime, I won't mind lending an ear, or thinking up a distraction if you need one.

[ For right now, before the weekend did end. ]

[drydrown]

...Who's doing this for you?

[It's a deflection rather than genuine concern, but...]

Surely someone is doing all of this for you - offering to listen and trying to assist if you require it - and you're not just doing this for everyone else.

[reanbeans]

[ He hesitated a little. But, he'll at least answer. ]

—Dazai. He had been supporting me in his own way ever since a few weeks ago.

[ ...It's not like he'd ever asked, and confiding could be surprisingly immensely difficult for him, though somehow it had worked alright. As far as he was concerned. Though this weekend made it difficult. ]

[drydrown]

As long as someone is.

[Mm.]

I don't hate him, you know. For all that happened. I'm not angry with him.

saturday

[psychophant]

[So everything still sucks a lot, but Iago's looking contemplative when he returns this evening. He's in early enough for Cumore not to mess up his precious sleep schedule but he doesn't speak about whatever is on his mind until after he's done preparing for bed.

But of course he's not going to wait for Cumore to get started on his hair, he's still holding onto the hairbrush as he asks the question.]

Did you tell Teru Mikami he couldn't go home with you?

[yep, this is what we're doing this evening. this is what's been on his mind all day.]

[drydrown]

[wh...at...the...fuck is this- ]

...No?

[that isn't a convincing no but it is a deeply confused one

where did this come from]

[psychophant]

Oh good, you'll have to argue harder if you want him to come with you, though.

[yep. this is what we're doing tonight. buckle the fuck up, cumore.]

[drydrown]

[...if he weren't currently still keeping an eye on you at night he would literally just go find somewhere else to sleep tonight

dist owes him majorly for tonight.]

What are you talking about...? I never said I-

[...it takes him a moment.]

What did Teru Mikami say to you.

[psychophant]

[dist would totally understand!!!!! sometimes you just gotta be like this, it's fine!!!!!!]

I told him that I have confirmation that it's possible to travel to other worlds and asked if he wanted to go to yours.

He barely missed a beat before saying he'd be out of a job there.

[ c: ]

[drydrown]

[...just. going to bury his face in one of his hands for a moment

the noise he is making is weird and rapidly approaching a pitch only audible to small dogs

and then he'll stop rather suddenly but he's still not. moving. just.]

I wouldn't believe you, but the fact is that I don't think you have it in you to come up with a lie that bland.

[psychophant]

I'd just tell you he declared his love for you solely to see the look on your face.

[u get him]

[drydrown]

[This entire conversation is literally just varying shades of What The Fuck, Iago, He Thought We Were Cool.]

He didn't ask me, either way. At least, I don't believe he did.

[psychophant]

[he did nothing but mercilessly tease dist for weeks. what makes you think he will not do Exactly This.]

What did he say? Now I'm curious.

[drydrown]

I'm trying to sort out where he would have gotten that impression to begin with. We discuss the Empire sometimes, and how I dislike the Council, but that doesn't have anything to do with it.

[...]

He told you he would be out of a job, of all things.

[psychophant]

Yes. Honestly, I have no idea why that was what he said in response, but apparently that was his biggest concern about returning to your world.

[Not that you'd be there. That he'd be out of a job.]

[drydrown]

[Of all concerns to have... It's not the Empire itself or the monsters or-

...Oh, god damn it.]

...He asked me what criminal trials are like.