the one with junpei;

[oraculi]

someday i'll put gifs or something here but not right now!!

Comments

week one trial; immediately afterwards

[oraculi]

[Shockingly, he isn't scrambling to get out once the trial's done and the doors open. Instead: his pace is slow and measured, his eyes unfocused as he stares ahead. Numb, or at least doing a very good job of faking it.

And though he wants to go to his room, first he goes to the lounge, because of course he does.

He turns when he hears footsteps, though he knows the likelihood of a murder happening now is minimal. That attitude fades as he takes in who it is.]

You did good in there.

[crashout]

[So maybe tempting a demon right at the end wasn't smart, but there's some satisfaction in knowing his hunch was right from the beginning. He leaves the trial, and hilariously, has the same idea of going to either the lounge or back to the outdoor bar. After that mess, it's well-deserved.

But there's Haymitch and he slows his steps, looking at him with a nod of reply.]

Thanks. It's...kind of like being back home, I guess. [It's comforting to know what he's doing and solving puzzles.]

[oraculi]

Yeah, I bet it is.

[Said not unkindly, but rather in a mutually bitter way.]

Want a drink? Fastest acting coping mechanism right here, and right now, it's not even on your dime.

[crashout]

You read my mind. [It's been good and bad to have free booze at their disposal, but he begins to walk again and head for the lounge.] Kinda one of the only decent things about this place if I'm honest.

[oraculi]

You're damn right.

[He personally adores it, because he's coped like this for twenty-four years, and he won't stop now.]

What's your poison?

[He'll mix it.]

week 2, post trial

[oraculi]

You've got a job around here. A role, whatever.

[He says it the second they're in private. Sorry if you're having emotions, Junpei! Sorry you hit a girl with a stick seconds before she was declared guilty! Put that shit away! It's time to talk now.]

I'm not asking. I'm confirming it.

[crashout]

[IT'S FINE EMOTIONS ARE FOR CHUMPS. Though he gives Haymitch a cursory glance before he shrugs.]

What's your basis of confirmation?

[oraculi]

"I do have information from a good source that Aizawa and Logy were both carriers at one point".

[That's a pretty remarkable memory there, buddy, but he pays more attention than people think.]

You'd say the source if you could, but you can't. Right? Not unless someone already guesses.

[crashout]

Oh. That. [Now he just...kind of looks embarrassed?] It's more like I wasn't gonna out the guy who slept with both of them because it didn't seem like a good time and place. A few of us were tracking the pattern of the demons last week before the news broke.

[Though, he tilts his head.] Interesting that you've heard about these roles though. I've been hearing a lot about them lately.

[oraculi]

[W E L P

That's actually a lot less candid than he assumed Junpei would be, and he raises an eyebrow.]

You're really still gonna worry about modesty here and now?

[JUST SAYING, fucking out everyone at this point.]

W3, MONDAY;

[crashout]

[Wherever Haymitch is on Monday, he'll probably find one (1) Junpei Tenmyouji walking around with a cup of coffee in his hand and a book under his arm. But upon seeing him, there's a nod and he even slows down to say hello.]

From one hellish week to another. [Morning.] How are things?

[It's polite enough, but also a gauge of what Haymitch might be thinking.]

[oraculi]

[He never really looks happy, but at least he looks sober, so that's nice this morning. He even has some coffee, though it might not be very good if the grimace is any indication.]

I should be asking you that. You get any sleep last night?

[Like, one of these people was emotionally affected over the weekend and it wasn't Haymitch.]

[crashout]

[Haymitch is incredibly valid. The question's less valid given the way Junpei sort of rolls right over it with a shrug.]

Been busy. [Sometimes you just give up on sleeping entirely. Also I've been told Dick maybe came back kind of drunk thanks to someone and ergo Junpei was on babysitting duty for a bat.] I was going over more of my notes and trying to figure out transcripts. Stuff people've told me. [...] Plus stuff disappeared from our room on Sunday so figured it'd be worth staying up to see if they tried anything else.

[oraculi]

But I'm guessing no.

[He sits. There's a couple magazines nearby, glossy things that he doesn't pay attention to at first. There's a woman on the cover, bright-eyed and gaze slightly vacant, as various lines of text inform them that the articles within contain secrets beauty regimens and countless interviews that surely haven't been duplicated elsewhere.]

Nice try, though.

[crashout]

[His expression falls flat and he more or less collapses in a nearby chair, folding up his limbs and pouting at the floor.]

Okay so maybe not. But! I'm making some interesting headway on some things. Got some new information, putting together a timeline and...this is not helping my case at all, is it.

[...whatever, he'll pick up one of the magazines and just start to flip through it.] I'm just glad I don't have to constantly dodge people anymore.

week three, wednesday night

[oraculi]

[Wednesday night, and it's been a full twenty-four hours since he's been back, but they've been awful ones. He's sickly pale, the line of his mouth thin. He walks with a limp, favoring his right leg, moving slowly before knocking at Junpei's door.]

Let me in.

[crashout]

[Luckily he recognizes the voice by now, and even luckier Dick is who the hell knows where. He's kind of not thrilled with Dimitri's demise from earlier but he opens the door, takes a look at Haymitch and steps aside to let him in.]

Man, where the hell have you been? [He'd thought to go find him himself but then. Like. That morning sure happened. He'll lead Haymitch to a chair though, wordlessly kicking it out so he can sit and dropping into a chair of his own. Please don't mind the smattering of sticky notes and coffee cups on the table. A beat later:] Are you okay?

[oraculi]

No.

[He slumps down into the chair, rubbing his face with his hand.]

First basement, the locked room in the corner. Katy and me broke open the door. Blew open the door, we had a gas canister . . . turns out it's a gym in there. Cept when you go on the exercise equipment, these Mutts, these-- things force you into this weird torture workout thing. One of them stabbed me in the leg; the other burned the hell out of Katy.

Best part? We walked in and we couldn't walk out. Couldn't break down the door-- which was right back where it started, by the way, despite the fact we'd blown it off a second ago. We had to go through all that just to leave.

[crashout]

Where did you get--never mind, that's not important. [He leans forward suddenly on high alert. The word "gym" has his full attention.] How bad is she? How bad are you? [This is such a wild bunch of injuries over the last week, jesus.] I mean you're still walking but...explain something to me. What do you mean mutts? What'd they look like?

[His mouth draws into a thin line.] Sounds a lot like some of the other rooms I've seen. Once everyone's inside, everyone has to participate in order to get out.

[oraculi]

Like I said: she's got burns all over her throat. And I'll be fine, it didn't hit anything major.

[A beat, and he takes a breath.]

Mutts like muttations. Like animals mixed together. It had the body of a person, but no face, and nothing moves the way it did.

W6, Friday;

[crashout]

[Well...whatever bar Haymitch inevitably finds himself in, he won't see anything so much as hear...something. There's the clink of bottles from behind the bar, a small sound of glass against glass, and also...a cough? Hm.

He hasn't realized anyone else entered the room but here he is, the world's unluckiest person this week.]

[oraculi]

Hey, kiddo.

[He steps heavily, making himself known, long before he swipes a bottle and sits in the pub's bar.]

[crashout]

[Somehow knowing it's Haymitch makes it a little easier to breathe. Or maybe that's his imagination.]

...hey. [It's a slow response, and from where Haymitch is sitting now he can probably see that Junpei's sitting on the floor behind the bar with a few bottles and glasses he's pushing around, like he's deciding what to dip into. There are at least five different shots and two kinds of beer? He just hasn't touched any of them yet.]

How are we supposed to feel about today, you think?

[oraculi]

I don't know if we're supposed to feel anything.

[He comes around, sitting down next to the kid with a quiet groan.]

But I've always found numbness easier to sink into.

Start from the left, go from there. And pour me some.

[crashout]

[There's a nod and he'll do as asked, grabbing another few shot glasses and filling them with something dark before passing them over. Should he make Haymitch an actual drink? Yes. Is he going to? Maybe later.

But he picks up the glass furthest to his left.]

...it's funny. I just had someone tell me they were glad I wasn't doing something like this anymore. [And it's maybe why he's hesitating but it's not like Haymitch is wrong? Being numb is so much better, so down the shot goes.]