week 7, wednesday

[vigilantics]

[ oh how the turnstables

anyway, they are now at belph's room. she will set the pot down carefully before turning her attention to him. ]

Let me see the injuries.

Comments

[axilium]

I heard the joyful sound of Sanji yelling in the distance for us to get our asses to the ferris wheel, the only place in the park not mutating?

[vigilantics]

[ belph is probably the worst storyteller of all time. ]

And after that?

[axilium]

[he is, especially since he's conveniently leaving out any personal bits...]

Well, we regrouped, along with Sanji and Akechi's kids, and had to deal with the floor trying to kill us? Very troublesome. Also, spiked floors are such a cliche.

[vigilantics]

[ look, she is aware he is leaving stuff out especially considering the others' facial expressions when they got through the door. steph has just also realized belph is never going to tell her anything. ]

How unoriginal of them. [ ... ] And?

[axilium]

We jumped through the door and voila, pots.

[vigilantics]

So you just have... ink now.

[axilium]

... Well, if we want to be technical, I suspect said ink might be the remnants of Narrators from past wars, but... pretty much!

[vigilantics]

Gross.

[ she glances at the pot. ]

What do we do with it?

[axilium]

No idea. Hold onto it for now, I guess?

[vigilantics]

[ double gross ]

I guess. [ ... ] You sure you're okay?

[axilium]

I don't know what happened, but it looks like Sanji and Akechi got rather attached.

[vigilantics]

And you didn't?

[axilium]

Trying to play therapist to some brat was pretty tedious.

[but there's still something to be said about feeling like someone died because you couldn't save them.]

[vigilantics]

That wouldn't make it any less upsetting...

[ belph. you're covered in his blood? ]

[axilium]

[he

just shrugs?? he also won't mention that the kid's issues hit a little close to home, on top of everything else this week.]

[vigilantics]

[ she goes quiet after that, but after a couple of minutes she talks again. ]

You know, my last relationship went badly because we didn't talk to each other? At least, I tried to tell him stuff, but he wouldn't do the same. He was the kind of guy who thought he could handle everything by himself, so he would sometimes get into these big messes because he refused to go to someone else for help. And one time, something like that happened again, and the person he looked up to the most went to me for help. We sort of went behind my ex's back and I betrayed his trust. That was pretty much the end of our relationship. I didn't see him again after that until like, super recently.

[ there's a point to this, hold on. ]

I'm not saying that you have to like... give all of the gory details. But if you're even a little upset, it's okay to just say so, instead of acting like it doesn't bother you at all.

[axilium]

[... ha.

he just smiles. mildly,]

My last relationship—if you can even call it that—went badly because I deliberately convinced her I murdered her best friend.

[this, uh, might explain a lot about the way belph approaches relationships.]

[vigilantics]

[ you know, she was expecting him to say something along the lines of "yeah, i'm a little bummed at what happened to the kid," if he decided to share anything and not. this? this was not very high on the list of things she expected him to say.

this does, in fact, explain some things though. ]

... I know I literally just said I would not ask any details, but...

[ this is literally the worst cliffhanger of all time. ]

[axilium]

I needed her to hate me and that was the most efficient way.

[this is probably not much better.]

[vigilantics]

[ it's really not. ]

And she believed you?

[axilium]

I wouldn't have gone down that route if it was an unbelievable lie.

[vigilantics]

[ her gaze flickers from belph then back to the ink, before settling on the ground. she remember what he said about basically selling himself to his uncle. ]

What happened?

[axilium]

What part do you mean?

[vigilantics]

[ she's not sure what to ask, but she eventually settles. ]

With her?

[axilium]

We parted ways. Her story ends happily, at least.

[... he made sure of that here.]