[ open ] birthday time!

[picky]

WHO: Marcille, Ryoji, and YOU!
WHAT: A party for the April (and May) birthdays!
WHERE: LILICO Game Center in Akihabara
WHEN: April 20th
WARNINGS: TBA

No matter who you are, you receive a text early in the morning from Ryoji (memors):

Good morning! Did you know it's a special someone's birthday today? Actually, we have several birthdays to celebrate, so join us today at the LILICO Game Center! There will be cake! Lots and *lots* of cake. Hope to see you there!

This is an open log, so feel free to tag out or top level or respond to the prompts below. Have fun!

Comments

[assassinsgreed]

_{[ … What an expression. ]}

One way to find out.

_{[ with that, he removes the cigarette from his lips but keeps it grasped between two fingers, his other hand beckoning Choso a little closer. Come on. Try the stinky thing. ]}

Someone I used to know smoked a lot. I don’t do it a lot, but I guess sometimes it’s fun to think back on smoking with him.

_{[ … oh. ]}

1/

[gimu]

[ only one way to find out.

despite the smell and the delicate acrid burn in his nostrils, choso still steps forth, reaching out with his uncaked hand to carefully take the little cigarette in (what feels like) bigger clumsier fingers. he handles it as if it were a tiny stick of dynamite, fitting it with such meticulous motions between his lips, as he’d seen Toji do it. ]

2/

[gimu]

[ tastes like, well, smoke. a vague hint of mint, and the even more vague notes of strawberry, cream, vanilla. a taste of Toji.

choso takes a good solid breath In. ]

3/

[gimu]

[ and coughs it out fivefold. ]

4/4

[gimu]

[ sorry, sevenfold. it keeps going. the burn of the thing sears itself into his mucus membranes, paints itself over his tongue and for a hectic, hacking moment, choso can’t see worth shit, can’t breathe, can’t do anything but cOUGH hard enough to wrack his shoulders and set his odango to shaking, like shrubbery in high winds.

when he’s caught some semblance of breath, choso clutches the deathstick tightly, almost scrunching it between his fingers as he turns watery, stinging eyes up at the meatwall with an almost accusatory look. ]

He had such terrible tastebuds. You have horrible tastebuds. That was horrible.

[assassinsgreed]

_{[ Toji doesn’t expect Choso to like it, but who knows. The half curse has surprised him before. While Choso starts choking, Toji laughs lightly again. Why has he been laughing so much lately? It’s hard to say, but Toji hasn’t really noticed it about himself. ]}

Don’t like it? Wanna see a fun game you can play with it?

[gimu]

[ at the question “don’t like it?”, choso shakes his head vigorously, but has yet to let go of the damn cigarette.

the second half has him looking up at Toji expectantly, a brow lofted and only one eye tearing up, threatening to drop a whole fat tear down his cough-red face. ]

What kind of game?

[assassinsgreed]

_{[ you alright there, weird kid ... ]}

I think you might like it.

_{[ a pause, then: ]}

It involves kissing me.

[gimu]

[ choso nods, serious and somber as can be. the lit cigarette smoulders delicately in his awkward paw. ]

I’m in.

[assassinsgreed]

_{[ With such determination in his eyes, one would think they were about to fight. Toji reaches for the cigarette. ]}

But it also involves smoking too.

_{[ he could have mentioned that before Choso agreed, but too late for that now. ]}

Let me show you.

[gimu]

[ he had suspected that the smelly thing was involved, but hearing Toji confirm it just wrinkles choso’s nose further. he passes the thing back nevertheless. ]

Very well. I am prepared.

[ is this a kiss or a challenge… ]

[assassinsgreed]

We will see about that.

<sub>[ Toji takes back the cigarette and regards Choso with a small smile. Yes, he certainly seems a little more happier than Choso might remember him.

Choso probably remembers the motions of his body being much more fierce, but he settles his free hand on Choso’s waist, encouraging him a little closer. ]</sub>

We breathe the smoke back and forth to one another. Whoever loses the smoke is the, aaaa, loser, I guess.

_{[ With that, he takes an inhale, nice and easy, then dips down, meshing their lips together. He will encourage Choso to part his mouth right away with his tongue, performing all of this as if it were the most casual thing in the world and not the fact they’re catching some attention by people passing the alley they’re standing in. ]}

[gimu]

[ how can he not notice? peculiar thing he is, choso watches, observes, picks and plucks and stows away each sliver of each person he has met so far 'til the landscape of the empty canvas of his life is studded with them, these fragmented strokes.

a month and a half ago on the training room floor, Toji was a hollow thing, empty patience and jagged edges, deadly as a maul, knife-sharp in his violence.

here and now in the smoking area outside an arcade, with Toji's tongue slipping past his teeth easier than ever, choso can almost taste the Other that has come to inhabit the cavernous space of Toji's chest. greedy, curious, wondering, it's what has choso stepping in close 'til they're all but flush, like maybe he could feel the difference here too, like maybe he could pick it out in the thud of Toji's heart, in the rise and fall of his chest with each breath taken. (like maybe he can imprint it into himself somehow, this moment, this first time he has ever felt Toji feel alive in truth)

it's too bad the taste of the smoke is so immediate and so, so minty. his nose wrinkles again. ]

sorry to be yaoi at your party miss marcille

[assassinsgreed]

<sub>[ There's a firm grip on the other man's waist; almost like something possessive, and with utmost control, he gently exhales the smoke into Choso's mouth, as if trying to be gentle since he's learned this guy is sensitive to smoke. The tingling from the menthol warms his lips that are pressed so warmly against another set, and although this is fun, he wonders briefly if he would ever play any sort of game or something like this with Yor. She also seemed.. quite innocent and naive like Choso. It could be interesting.

But why was he thinking of her right now when he's occupied with someone else. His eyes open slowly. He shouldn't think about why she's crossing his mind right now.

The underneath of his tongue skirts and plays, a bit of smoke escaping between where they are joined, and Toji waits to see if he will breathe it back or let it go. ]</sub>

[gimu]

[ choso is prepared. this time he breathes slow, tips his head up to open the airway as he lets Toji lead in this new game, this new dance of theirs. the motion brings choso closer, makes of them a picture of something more intimate than choso himself perceives them.

a fact, unchanging from the very first until now: choso kisses with his eyes open. point of fact, choso does most everything with eyes open, half-lidded and lazy-looking and so terribly, eerily intent. it's no different now, even as his eyes narrow and crinkle up at the corners, and as the white cloud of menthol smoke rolls over choso's tongue he cannot help but to marvel how different it tastes coming from Toji's.

Miracle of miracles, Choso doesn't cough it right back out. With the same measured care, he passes the smoke back. ]

[memors]

[ Fortunately, the technology is advanced enough in this game that it does work rather like the Sim room, although in the back of his mind, Ryoji also realizes they could just, like, quit and start the game over and not have dealt with the Reaper at all.

...But that's quitter talk, and they are serious gamers. ]

Ready!! Three, two, one — fire!

[ And he fires a blast of the gun right at the Reaper's head. It's a hit! ]

[eyescar]

[ This is, in fact, the most serious of gaming.

Yuji leaps over their little barricade as soon as he's sure Ryoji is ready, summoning his strength and pusing forward, aiming up to give a solid right hook to the Grim Reaper, right to the head.

Critical hit, for sure, right? ]

Yeah!

[yuwon]

... pillbugs?

[ he's worrying about it.

but, to each their own... he guesses. ] Do you see me as the kind of person who'd enjoy those things? [ not that he can deny they're cute in their own way, sure, but who wants hear the word "cute" from him. ]

[bruisehaver]

How else will you keep track of the passage of your life, if you do not choose one?

[ That is to say, she doesn't find it that weird. It's practical, at least. ]

Even the strictest of warriors need things to look forward to and celebrate. Otherwise, fighting would have no meaning.

[bruisehaver]

And mine is Lae'zel — remember it.

[ She also knows she has a civilian name, but, like.... no way in hell she's gonna use it to introduce herself as it to Outsiders. Doing so feels like an insult to her pride, as do most things she's been prompted to do by LILITH while being outside the base. The cloaking device is still the biggest offender, though. ]

Githyanki were said to only be permitted entrance to the Astral once we've claimed a ghaik head — the head of a mindflayer. They are our mortal enemies. Though customs have... well, let us just say "evolved," recently.

[ She waves a hand, clipping the line of questioning with her blunt and matter-of-fact tone. Slowly, she takes a big gulp of her drink. ]

If you are wondering if you can reach there, the answer is no.

[memors]

[ Critical hit!! And as Yuji's punch lands, so too does Ryoji's shot, a neat technical follow-up, which sends the formidable foe tumbling to the ground, stunned.

Which means— ]

— It's time for an all out attack!

[ Jumping over the barricade, Ryoji joins Yuji at the Reaper's side so they can just. Absolutely whale on this guy. ]

[seaurchin]

[ His father telling him to 'shut up' isn't anything too surprising, even if he's still finding his behaviour so bizarre, even for him. Is that him straightening up the moment Yor shows up? Why does he look more awkward than before? ]

I already know Yor-san. [ But he will greet her, because he's polite. ]

It looks like you had a workout on the machines.

[eyescar]

You got it!

[ If there's one thing that Yuji can do, it's punch, so he just goes for it - absolutely does all he can to pummel this thing, just like he did that grasshopper curse in Shibuya.

It might be a little overkill. ]

Woah! We really did it?

[assassinsgreed]

<sub>[ Well. Surprise, surprise. Look who is getting accustomed to that taste. Choso will be a smoker in no time, not that Toji is completely trying to be a negative influence, but it certainly is amusing to see him try this, along with many other things, out for the first time.

Competitive as ever, Toji is determined to win, allowing the smoke to dance behind his lips for a minute before gently exhaling it back to Choso. There’s a bit of cheating on his end, however, because right when he breathes it back to Choso, the hand resting on the half curse’s waist shifts lower.. and lower.. right until he can feel the soft round of his ass and.. grabs a handful with a playful squeeze. ]</sub>

1/2

[gimu]

[ and to think that choso had just been congratulating himself on a successful first pass.

the first sign that something is Amiss is when Toji's hand lowers, the shift in position enough to draw a curious spark of choso's attention before the sudden squeeze takes him by surprise. for a moment, it isn't a problem. for a moment, it's just a warm small thing, not even a big one, just a gasp's worth. but then a gasp turns to a cough turns to a whole fit, choso's face going a delightful beet red as he breaks away first to start choking properly on all this goddamn smoke.

HUAGH. ]