[ch. 4] tuesday evening, w/ dazai, evan & souji

[asswipe]

[Presumably after all of them have taken a power nap—

Veronica brings the book and the booze to Dazai and Evan's room. Specifically, she brings two bottles of wine as well as four cups because, well. Sometimes, you gotta be a little buzzed to be able to deal with this shit.

Once everyone is in the room and the book is laid out in front of them, she's going to gently........ cradle her face in her hands.]

Oh, god. What have we done?

[MISTAKES. THAT'S WHAT.]

Comments

[thesettingsun]

[Scoot... scoot... leaning against Evan's shoulder...]

I'd rather not be the one to write the letter, it doesn't usually end well for me either.

[sanguinairy]

[WHY Y'ALL OUT HERE WRITING TO THE DEAD.]

You've both tried to write them already?

[Good thing Souji didn't know it was a possibility until right now or he'd have probably tried to flood them from Thursday on.]

[selfinserting]

Oh, it wasn't to someone on the Other Side, it was to... Oh.

[He pauses for a moment as Dazai leans against him, but he doesn't seem to mind too much, only pausing for a moment before he continues.]

It was to, um, someone back home. I got something back, but - before I had a chance to read any of it, it kind of, um, burst into flames in my hands?

[So, you know.]

[asswipe]

Oh, holy shit. Are your hands okay?

[She's so alarmed she's not. Even going to notice them getting comfy with each other. It's fine. This is fine.]

Who did you write to, Dazai? Because it sure would be nice if writing to the dead didn't end in fire.

[thesettingsun]

Is that why you've been wearing gloves? I thought it was just because of what the well gave you...

[Concern increases, and Dazai wraps an arm around Evan to tug him closer.]

I haven't written a letter to the dead. Or to home. Just, historically speaking, my more important letters don't end well.

[On the bright side, this one probably wouldn't be thirteen feet long.]

[sanguinairy]

[Is this really fine. Are any of them fine!! Souji's looking concerned too, brow furrowed.]

Have you treated the burns?

[Do they even have anything to treat burns here GOD. That said--]

...But if no one's tried to write to the dead, we could give it a try and see how it goes? If they're all in the same place, we could write to one of ours instead of Beauty or Beast if you think that'd be too risky, too. And I can be the one to open whatever we get back, if we need to. [He'll just lift his cursed right hand.] I can't really feel this hand anymore.

[SO IF IT GETS BURNED IT'S FINE.]

[selfinserting]

[Once again, he's just gently accepting the cuddling for some reason. This is fine.]

Oh, no, um... Sorry, I should have said. It, um, it caught fire, but - the fire didn't burn for some reason? It was probably a weird... magic thing.

[To prove he's not just trying to stop them from worrying, he strips one of the gloves off for a moment; no burns here.

But, also, he's giving Souji an extremely concerned look.]

—Wait, you can't feel your hand? Since when?

[asswipe]

[opens her mouth to ask "do you guys need a room"

closes it

opens again

proceeds to softly shriek]

Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Why is everyone talking about really bad shit that's happened to them just now? [JESUS.] What happened to your hand, Souji? Are you okay? Oh my god.

[thesettingsun]

[Clings a little more tightly to Evan even while his concern is directed at Souji.]

Is that what Tiger did to you?

[sanguinairy]

[CHECKING EVAN'S HANDS... At least they're burn-free even if Evan and Dazai are now apparently married cuddlebuddies.]

Ah, good, I'm glad...

[AS FOR THE REST OF THAT-- Veronica has to deal with peak idiots, truly.]

I'm fine otherwise. Compared to what could have happened, it seemed small. [He was expecting DEATH.] Anyway, I think it might be some sort of curse.

[Just fckin casually. It's fine, they're all cursed anyway. This book is cursed, his hand is cursed, everything they do is likely cursed.]

[selfinserting]

[It's fine, they'll just sit here holding each other while also trying to engage in this productive discussion.]

I-It could have been worse... [(seriously how did they not all die)] But, what if it spreads...?

[That makes him realize something, though.]

Veronica, did anything weird happen to you...?

[asswipe]

[veronica: don't withhold important information, you fools!!!!!!

also veronica:]

... Uh. Define "weird." [v e r o n i c a.] Because I... might be hearing someone's heartbeat in my ears whenever I open a door? Which, um. Which definitely wasn't happening before we screwed the pooch.

[thesettingsun]

...That's new. But I wasn't sure if she even knew you were with us, none of us mentioned your name...

[sanguinairy]

If it spreads, I'll deal with it then.

[He's way too chill in the face of idiocy. BUT WOW VERONICA why!!!]

I don't think she caught sight of you either. I don't think she would have asked us who had the book otherwise...

[She probably just would have straight-up gone and murdered Veronica.... So why is she CURSED.]

[selfinserting]

Both of you should have told us, um, earlier... It must have meant she knew you were there, though. Why else would this be happening...?

[A sigh, as he moves slightly to reach under the bed, where he's keeping the orb that he found upon returning to the room.]

Should we, um, talk about this, too?

[gently gives veronica a heart attack]

[asswipe]

[...

.........

......................

...................................

just. gently. laughs.]

You. Stole the orb, too. That's— That's just great. That's awesome. Wonderful. I'm so proud of us, team. We're fucking great! [SHE'S ASCENDED.] We're also fucking dead meat if Tiger ever sees us again, but that's alright. Fuck! I love it!

[AND THEN SHE'S

GENTLY BURYING HER FACE IN HER HANDS.]

[thesettingsun]

Oh, didn't Souji take something too?

[Being very helpful while clinging to Evan.]

[sanguinairy]

Oh, that's right--

[DON'T FORGET ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE THAT but here he is, dipping his hand into his yukata to withdraw the vial... and looking somewhat apologetically toward Veronica...

She deserved so much better than this.]

Well, she did say to keep them... [Actually--] ...Didn't you leave that on the floor, Evan?

[selfinserting]

[He also looks apologetic, even as he's nodding to Souji's question, glancing towards Veronica.]

I did, yeah. I didn't want to, to make her angrier, but... When I came back to the room, it was just here. So - maybe she's really okay with it...? Anyways, um, should we try to - figure out what they both are?

[asswipe]

[whoa can't believe veronica's going to die from a fucking heart attack.]

I... [...] Before anyone [dazai!!] gets the bright idea to apply the scientific method to the vial, don't. Don't lick the vial, don't drink from the vial, and don't snort it up like it's cocaine. If she let us keep it, it's probably going to kill us the moment we do something stupid with it.

[PROBABLY. BUT ALSO!!!]

—And when the fuck did you guys have time to steal shit?! I can't believe you. [NO WONDER THEY ALMOST GOT MAULED.] What... What are we supposed to do with the dumb orb, anyway? Ask a question and shake it like it's a Magic 8 Ball?

[thesettingsun]

You act like I lick every piece of evidence...

[sanguinairy]

I agree with Veronica.

[About the vial, that is. For... now... In any case!!]

Well, it looked important, so... [So he just grabbed it with his little sticky fingers. IT'S FINE, THEY'RE FINE. And now they have two items to figure out!! The vial seems a little risky, but he'll glance back over to the orb.]

It must have something to do with the factions, with those colors... Right?

[selfinserting]

Yeah. We've probably, um, done enough today.

[They can lick it later, it's fine!! He gives Veronica another apologetic glance before he looks back down to the orb.]

Should we ask it a question and find out...?

[asswipe]

You licked one piece of evidence and that was one piece too many.

[She's scarred. Dazai now has to live with this reputation.]

But... I assume you're right, Souji. I can't imagine the colors being a coincidence. [Unless they're fucking with them, but. Still.] What if we ask it about someone's faction? Or their title?

[thesettingsun]

[GRUMBLE]

We could start by asking it a question that one or two of us know the answer to? So we can confirm whether it works or not.