action and text; @bacura

[mellowyellow]

[It's late on the seventh when Masaomi wakes up on a church pew. At first, he can't bring himself to do anything other than stare at his hands. Slowly he raises them above his head, takes in the palms, flips them over, hesitantly touches the backs, slides his fingers down his own arms.

He's whole.

Suddenly, he digs his nails in. It hurts, and he pulls back, leaving harsh red marks. Masaomi sits up then, still staring like he can't believe his own senses.

He's not crying. You're crying.]


[It's not until the eighth that he sends out another text. No ominous snapshots this time.]

Didn't cut it as a carny.

Comments

[mellowyellow]

No! I do have standards, you know.

[His standards are: boobs.]

[unpredict]

[ you are an embarrassment. ]

Like? I'd certainly hope her being real and perhaps corporeal might be two of them.

[mellowyellow]

Of course!

I'm way too real for some imaginary girlfriend to handle.

[unpredict]

I'm glad to see you're as confident as ever.

Are you okay?

[mellowyellow]

Stellar! Dynamite! Cosmically cool.

[Does this make sense? Not really. Hopefully that will distract from the fact that it's not an answer.]

[unpredict]

How can you feel dynamite? Are you about to explode as a consequence of being ripped apart by spirits?

[ should've left it at "cosmically cool", dude. ]

[mellowyellow]

That is nothing like what feeling dynamite means.

[unpredict]

Describe it to me. I'm not as cool and hip as you.

[ flattery will get him everywhere? ]

[mellowyellow]

Exciting and dangerous!!

[unpredict]

[ sounds fake but ok. double points for the extra ! to sell it home. ]

So would you recommend one go see the parade? Since you're feeling so dynamite...

[mellowyellow]

[It's very fake. Which is why Kol doesn't get a response for a good fifteen minutes.

Fuck you for calling his bluff.]

Don't.

[unpredict]

[ sorry, bro.

even though it's the answer he had been expecting, kol isn't quite sure how to respond at first. he doesn't usually do the comforting. he's usually the equivalent to the spirit parade. ]

You do know it's okay to be fucked up from it, right?

[mellowyellow]

We're all fucked up. You don't see anyone else throwing a tantrum, right?

I'm fine.

I barely felt it.

[If it seems like he's trying to convince himself of that... Well, that's because he is.]

[unpredict]

Felt what?

[ of course, kol can easily surmise what that is, but if masaomi's to move on—or even consider it—maybe typing it out to someone is the first step. he doesn't know; dr phil never really was interesting to kol. ]

[mellowyellow]

Dying.

[unpredict]

Been there a few times. Sometimes not feeling it is better than feeling it.
It's fine not to be fine, regardless of whether or not you felt it.

[mellowyellow]

[...]

You ever made a mistake so big and so stupid that it almost gets your friends killed?

[unpredict]

[ well… ]

Too many times to count.

I'm pretty certain I got my brother stabbed, but we'll continue to plead the fifth on that one.

[mellowyellow]

[That sure is... information. Oh dear.]

Well, I don't ever want to do it again.

So I'm fine.

But if I weren't, maybe I'd tell people that the parade messes with your head a lot more than everyone thinks it does.

To the point that the spirits in it don't need to do anything to get rid of you.



But I'm fine.

[unpredict]

It's good that you're fine, especially since that sounds awful.

[ very much so, but kol will maintain masaomi is fine since he clearly is fine. ]

Did they make you do something to yourself?

[mellowyellow]

.....

[Yes. Yes, he did just type a bunch of periods instead of not replying.]