week 6; thursday

[scythegun]

[Watching movies with Top Dollar is always an enjoyable experience (especially when they're Die Hard and the villain is basically Yeager) but there's actually a damn good reason behind movie night tonight, mostly in the form of a note Yeager passed Top Dollar about ten minutes before the end of the movie.

Our gunners are Yukino and Yuri. I've spoken with both of them and confirmed it. Yukino believes there may be a third one.

He's certainly not going to draw any attention to that note or what was written there, but once the movie's over he doesn't seem interested in leaving immediately.]

You certainly do have amazing taste in entertainment! I'm a bit disappointed we don't have anything so wonderful back home!

Comments

[scythegun]

No, no, that won't be necessary! Though if you find me dead outside your door tomorrow then I'm sorry!

[devilsnight]

Swear to god, if you ever do that to me I'm gonna find a way to kick your ass anyway.

[scythegun]

[...Oh, that reminds him...]

Well, at that point, I'd absolutely deserve it!

[While he's speaking he pulls some paper and a pen from his pocket (because he's just carrying this around now) and starts writing.]

I'll try really hard not to die on you, ja?

[Here you go!!

I communicated with Hazama earlier with the lights in the laser tag control room.

Kiiiinda important to mention that.]

[devilsnight]

[...It takes him a moment, but once he's registered what's being written down, he pulls that notepad over that he'd set down nearby; just...there is nothing about any of this that's subtle on anyone's parts but he doesn't really care right now.

estelle and kevin and victor arseid all in the bar

crow and rean were with me

showed us where to find a disc like the ones the movies are on that had a news broadcast none of us understood on it

also a few other discs for some reason

they played some songs for us on the jukebox also

after that showed us letters - EBKGVSA - to let us know who they were]

[scythegun]

[...no one he has talked to has any kind of stealth. He's not doing well either but at least he made an attempt.........

That's very interesting though and he tips his head a bit at that as he considers it. So we're being haunted by dead people we kind of sort of have feelings about. Great. Wonderful.

Keep those discs safe. Maybe someone will recognize whatever's on them? We should keep an eye out for any more hauntings!]

[devilsnight]

[just...give him a second.

hate to say it but shithead prosecutor may be our best bet for understanding the news broadcast

i'll keep an eye out for other things though, yeah

... ... ...

kinda good to hear from kevin again]

[scythegun]

[Oh... He's alright with enlisting shithead prosecutor's help, but that... He's not really sure how to respond to that.

It was good to hear from Hazama again too. I'm sure this won't be the last time we communicate with them.]

[devilsnight]

[hazama will probably do it more just to fuck with you]

[scythegun]

[He already did plenty of that, but I absolutely wouldn't be surprised if he decided to do it again.]

[devilsnight]

[wouldn't be hazama otherwise

... ... ...

i'm all right with what happened i did to kevin

shit needed to happen and i don't regret it

but it was good to hear from him anyway, is that fucked up or what

... ... ...

christ you don't need to hear this shit

read this shit, whatever

nevermind]

[scythegun]

[No, don't be sorry. Sometimes it helps to get it all out on paper. I write my daughters almost every night for that very reason, actually! It's sort of pointless since I'll never show them the letters, but it helps me get my thoughts organized.

I think I understand, at least a little bit. I agree that it needed to happen and I'm pleased that he's dead, but I understand feeling a little strange about it afterwards. I felt the same way after I conspired to get Don Whitehorse killed.

We don't have to talk about it, but if you ever need someone to listen I'll be here.]

[devilsnight]

[i don't really know what to talk about

i'm used to not giving a fuck about anyone and not having anyone give a fuck about me and i'm okay with that usually, i talked to kevin once after one of his funerals that he did because i started showing up to those and i had to tell him that i didn't know why i was there or what i was even supposed to be doing

because people like me and my guys don't get funerals, we die and no one cares, it's just a fact of life and kevin tried to make not knowing what to do like that seem like it's not a fucked up thing but it got really obvious really fast that i do not know how to mourn people at all

so i'm not fucked up over him dying either but it's weird because i don't know what i want to do about it if anything, i just feel like i should be doing something that isn't this, is that what giving a fuck feels like]

[scythegun]

[It is and it's terrible. I'm sorry you have to experience it here and now, since this isn't exactly a good place for that. But I'm not like everyone else - I've been trying to stamp out any kind of emotional reaction to everything for the past ten years and usually I succeed. It's harder to do here.

I'm sure it's difficult to deal with that right now, especially after what you did. I wish I had some sort of advice for you, but I'm the last person you'd want to take it from! I've spent the past ten years ignoring my feelings and I never gave myself any time to properly mourn anyone. The first time I tried was with Whitehorse and even that was awkward and uncomfortable for everyone involved. (Yuri was also there, so that might be why.)

I don't know if you'll find any way to deal with any of this. You might not. But I think it's okay if you can't figure out what you want to do. Kevin died this week and even though that's become normal here, it certainly wouldn't be otherwise. Mourning is a process, it takes time to sort through everything, even for perfectly normal people.]

[devilsnight]

[He doesn't write anything back right away; he just reads over what Yeager's written, and he reads it again, and he...really doesn't know what to do with any of it. After a moment, though, he'll start writing again; he isn't altogether sure this is what he wants to be putting down and it shows, but he's doing it anyway because he's just...like that, really.

i get where this makes me asshole of the year, but i figured that you'd be okay if anything happened to me here because of that sort of thing

that maybe you'd just be kind of pissed for a while at the most and then move on because that's just how things work

it wasn't all because of how you act about things like that, though that was most of it - it's hard to know when you actually mean what you say and i just figured that i was convenient for you or something and after all of this was over that would be it, no actual fucks given

i'm also used to that kind of thing being the case, people just moving on from shit

... ... ...

i think part of it is that t-bird was kind of like that, he'd come to me if his guys died and he'd be pissed off about it and sometimes he'd talk to me about it if i wasn't busy with something else, but he'd always get over it and just go back to doing what he always did

and like i said i get that this sort of thing probably makes me asshole of the year but it didn't really occur to me that he probably did that because i'd give him something to do or i'd tell him i'd fix it and i'd make sure that whoever fucked with him disappeared within the next couple of days

i just kind of figured that's something that certain people do in general because

because i don't know why, i'm a fucking idiot about this kind of thing i guess

so i don't know, i thought you'd be fine? both because i figured you didn't actually give a fuck and even if you did people get over things really quick in my experience so yeah]

[scythegun]

[...

I do my best to make it look like I don't give a f care. I've done it for years. That was the image I wanted to create for myself, and I know I've succeeded in it. If anything, it's almost too good. I'm not surprised you didn't realize, because no one has before. Don't worry about that. I'm not bothered by it at all.

I'll do my best to be more upfront. I'm not very good at it, in case you haven't noticed!

Thank you for telling me all of this. I'm not really sure how to respond, to be honest. Having difficulties with things like this is certainly understandable, though most people don't have the same problems. If there's anything I can do to assist you, let me know. I may not always be able to help, but I'll certainly try!]

[devilsnight]

[not to say that i won't tell you if i've got a problem with you or something

but when it comes to advice are you fucking kidding me, you're about as much of a shitshow as i am

i don't really expect you to know what you're doing either

...good to see that the bluntness isn't just a verbal thing, um]

[scythegun]

[How rude! And after I tried so hard to help...!

He actually looks like he's trying really damn hard not to laugh, shhh.

I suppose we'll have to figure it out together then, won't we? Maybe we'll work things out! But more likely we'll both be horribly confused by how everyone else is reacting and we'll once again come off like insensitive jerks. Oh well! ★

Ah yes, this is normal and nice and he can go back to not trying!!]

[devilsnight]

[jesus christ

i swear i can pass as a normal person most of the time

kinda blunt but more or less normal

i've got a legitimate job, i work in real estate investment for fuck's sake]

[scythegun]

[Only kind of blunt?

Well, for what it's worth, I don't think you've been doing too badly here! But of course that's not saying much, coming from me!]

[devilsnight]

[you said it, not me

as for only kind of blunt, yeah? this is just how i talk to people, everyone back home is used to it. we're all really blunt people there though

there are some places where people aren't like that actually, i think people in the south aren't all that direct, they prefer to act polite

i'm from north central, though, north central and northeast tend to be really direct, i'm moreso than most though i'll admit that]

[scythegun]

[We don't really have regional differences like that, at least not in terms of how blunt we are. But that's a bit of a silly conversation to have on paper, isn't it?

Is there anything else we need to keep quiet or would you like me to leave now?]

[devilsnight]

[...Actually -

What makes Yukino think there's a third? You mentioned that earlier.]

[scythegun]

[I don't know. We were trying to avoid making what we were talking about very obvious. All I know is that she was very convinced that there's a third.]

[devilsnight]

[when did you have this conversation with her]

[scythegun]

[This past Sunday.]