[video]

[scotch_egg]

[when he appears he looks more like an unmade bed than usual. His eyes are red rimmed and bloodshot. There's an obvious hotel room behind him and more than one empty bottle of something someone with a heart condition really shouldn't be drinking-- and it shows]

Congratulations,

You win. You've got it all. Magic, reincarnation, astral fucking projection for all I know. You don't really belong in this normal world, you're not just another bloody sheep, you're something better. Something more.

Good for you and I hope it doesn't blow up in your bloody face.

'Bye.

[and he hangs up. Or at least covers the phone with his hand which is the same thing]

Comments

[darkenedmoon]

[She's not going to speak to most of that. Just ignore and sally on forth. Mostly because she didn't want to think about what it all meant--and if she thought too much about it, Yotsuyu might join him at the bottom of a bottle. It's too much. Even this life was too much, for all she tried to ignore it.]

As if with even all the supposed power and glory, the possibility isn't there to be mutton anyway. [Dry as dry.] You damn well know and so do I, that even if one imagines themselves to be atop the world, there's still a chance that there's a ticking time bomb just waiting to explode.

Where are you now? [Yotsuyu's not inclined to give pity, especially where it's not wanted, but someone she considers a peer doing something stupid? Well. She can't allow that.]

[scotch_egg]

Ughh. [it's ridiculous. He doesn't even believe it really. It's true but it feels so meaningless. Hopeless. Like beating himself against a brick wall. He has no weapons, no tools, no anything.]

I'm away. Taking a holiday.

Haven't you ever wanted to disappear? [that sounded more morbid than he'd intended]

[darkenedmoon]

Oh, yes! Dozens of times. Just not usually into the bottom of a bottle. [Despite the fact that a drink or seven sounded wonderful, so often of late. Yotsuyu can't entirely blame him, but of all the people she knows, he was the one she'd trusted to have more than a modicum of sense. Yotsuyu would never breathe a word, but she's shaken, just a bit.]

Not to mention I likely could have sent you to a better place than that shithole you've chosen to hole up in, if you're concerned about your budget. [There is a hint of pride there. No matter how low she may sink, there are some places she wouldn't want to go. Seems he's chosen one.]

I'd be worried someone might cosh you over the head for the change in your pockets!

[scotch_egg]

[he'd had sense his whole goddamn life and it hasn't sent him anywhere but down. Even knowing that, he knows he'll just keep digging until he cant any more.]

S'not abbout the place, s'bout the company. [a joke but it doesn't sound like one]

They won't get much.

[darkenedmoon]

[And for Yotsuyu's part, she snorts. The joke isn't that funny, and she can't help but frown a little. On one hand, she can understand the desire to be alone, but from how much is absent from his glassy little friend, there, she's not quite happy about it.]

That's not the point, you know. I'm aware that you likely give no shits, as they say, about this, but! You are one of the few folks I can stand, and I'll be right cross if you disappear without a trace!

[She makes a sour face for a moment.]

I shan't come blustering down there, but could you at least let me know where you are? If only an exchange of numbers or some bloody thing? I won't go blathering it to all and sundry, either.

[One thing Yotsuyu does pride herself on is being discreet.]

[scotch_egg]

Hm. Thanks. You're not bad yourself.

[even if she hardly bloody knew him. That was fine]

I'll give you my number when I can see straight. [which might not be for another few hours]

[darkenedmoon]

Do not mistake my approval for an overabundance of sentimentality--we do not know each other that well. However, you have a keen mind and sense, two things of which I approve.

[That and if Yotsuyu's ever been good at making friends, she might have more of them. It at least appears that they can tolerate each other...]

You had better, or I shall come track you down. [No, she's not precisely sure how, but Yotsuyu really isn't above using the resources at hand...]

[scotch_egg]

[the text is sent much later]

for fucks sake, what is it with everyone stalking me these days? isn't there such a thing as distance anymore? i'm tired of being henpecked and smothered for my own bloody good.

leave me alone.

[darkenedmoon]

Were I stalking you, I promise it would be far more involved. And you likely would not know it.

But, as you wish.

[at least he gave her a damn text. she'll try to get in touch at some point, but it's unlikely to be soon.]

[scotch_egg]

[that just creeps him right the hell out. Enough to alert the monitor he's hooked up to and to lose his phone privileges.

Right. No more companionable talks. Everything is going to be just business from here on out. He doesn't know if it's New Yorkers or Americans or Different or what but he cannot deal with it]