IC Inbox - Ryslig

[blap_blap]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, TIMOTHY LAWRENCE. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 011.11.201.45 *** mrhandsome69 has joined 011.11.201.45 <USERNAME> First sentence of message. <BANNED USER> SCREENED MESSAGE. UNSCREEN? Y/N -- sample for when you ban someone <USERNAME> First sentence of message. <USERNAME> First sentence of message.

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[justbeingknife]

[ Majima waved a hand. ]

Meh, it's never been a big thing.

[ Which was a nice way of saying that his birthday celebrations particularly the last few years had been closer to Tim's in tone than might be immediately obvious. ]

I guess there were a couple years when the boys all got together and we did dumb shit. That was fun.

[ He smiled, using the tip of a finger to trace little shapes upon the back of Tim's shoulder. ]

But nah, I like it. We know people from other countries ain't the same. I wasn't exactly a reputable citizen back home, either, so it's probably easier for me to buck the trend. Ain't like anyone was gonna approve of me, anyway, right?

[blap_blap]

Then it doesn't have to be a big thing.

[It could be a little thing, maybe, if Majima wanted. Just the two of them, maybe a nice dinner and a bunch of those horror movies that he liked to watch. Something that was low pressure and low-key, a nice night that didn't have to be a big production. Maybe, if he was into that.]

[If you asked Tim, though, there were a lot more disreputable people in Ryslig than Majima; other than his predilection for going ham with a knife on punks and thugs, he was a good-looking man with a successful, legitimate business and a charitable streak. That was pretty approve-worthy in his books.]

I guess I shouldn't be that surprised. [His tone was light, teasing.] You did make out with me in a movie theater, like a delinquent.

[justbeingknife]

Yeah? Maybe I'll spend the night in.

[ There was some suggestion in that statement, and also in the little crinkle around Majima's eye as he smiled.

And hey, it wasn't like he claimed to be the biggest, baddest supervillain around or anything. It was just that he'd long ago accepted that he wasn't a good, honest person, because good, honest members of the Japanese citizenry kind of didn't kick people off of bridges with wild abandon or agree to take out hits for the mob. Or betray their sworn brother look, it was fine. ]

And I'd do it again. Kinda like it here better, though. The scenery's better.

[ The blossoms were lovely, and Tim sure could fill out a shirt. So in both senses of the phrase, really. ]

[blap_blap]

[Well, if that was the metric that they were going by for who's a terrible person, than Tim's pretty high up there on the 'bad person' list, too. Good people don't murder bandits by the dozen. Good people don't send innocent scientists out an airlock because their boss told them to push a button. It was fine.]

Y'know, you keep saying that I'm sweet, and then you go and break out lines like that. I might think you're trying to give me a run for my money.

[He saw what you were doing there, Majima. He could try to say that he wasn't cute or sweet all he wanted, but Tim was onto him. Majima was just hiding it.]

But you're right, the scenery's pretty good from where I'm sitting, too.

[justbeingknife]

[ Tim's death count was a lot higher than Majima's, for sure. But that didn't really seem to bother him much as he leaned in for another kiss. ]

I'm sweet to you.

[ That seemed legit, right? He did seem to have a big old soft spot for beefy dudes that liked cats. ]

And as it turns out, I like takin' care of people. So if that's your thing, you're in luck. And if it's not... well, I could try not to.

[ Tim seemed to enjoy it, though. Aftercare, affection, getting asked out. Majima, if he was being honest, sort of looked forward to teasing out what else he could do for the guy. ]

I'm glad I met ya.

[blap_blap]

[Majima could have as many kisses as he liked; Tim certainly wasn't going to refuse him. He was a neverending kiss dispenser, so long as the person asking for them was named Gorō Majima.]

[And if Majima's great weakness was beefy men who liked cats, then Tim was glad that he very firmly exemplified both of those qualities. He was the beef, and he loved cats.]

I definitely don't hate it.

[Tim liked that Majima thought about him and about what he might want or need. That was about it, really-- he liked that Majima cared enough about him to want to do things for him. It was a low bar, probably? But that was fine. Majima was passing it easily.]

[And, oh. Talk about saying sweet things.]

I'm... god, I am, too. [Maybe he shouldn't be as pissy at the Fog God as he usually is-- without her bullshit, how would he have met Majima?] ...We had the weirdest freakin' meet cute, though.

[justbeingknife]

'Meet cute', that what they call it?

[ Pardon him while he reached over to trace the edge of one cowlike ear. It just looked sort of velvety-soft, and so sue him, Majima was curious how it'd feel between his fingers. Hopefully, Tim didn't kick him or anything. The tips of his fingers were a little rough -- calloused, from his time spent fighting -- but the touch itself was a gentle one. ]

I didn't know what to think of ya at the time. Or even about all this monster stuff.

[ A brief pause, as he considered. ]

Actually, I haven't dated anyone seriously for the past couple years. So, uh... we're kinda even?

[restinglichface]

mmmmMMMm
id be more skeptical if i didnt know that was abso fucking lutely true
being around him just kinda gives u that feeling huh

[blap_blap]

Sure, in rom coms.

[Not that their meeting had exactly been something out of a romantic comedy, unless it was a really weird one.]

[Tim's cow ears had a smooth coat of fur on the outside but were soft and fuzzy on the inside, and very sensitive; Majima's finger traced over the edge of one of them and it flicked in response, just on reflex. He wasn't really used to the idea of his ears being able to move, like, independently, so it was just a weird sensation in general.]

Hey, that tickles.

[It wasn't bad, Tim was ticklish in a lot of places, just not usually the ears.]

[Thinking about when he'd first showed up, though, headless and confused? Yeah, that was a bad time. Zero out of ten, did not recommend. Actually, probably more like negative ten out of ten, because his head had apparently been put in Jack's house.]

I mean, I can't blame you there? I was headless and getting the shit kicked out of me. I guess I was just lucky that you showed up and not someone else.

[Somebody who would've been less sympathetic and more willing to join in. But hey, it was at least kind of romantic that he'd gotten rescued by the guy that he'd end up dating, right?]

Yeah, I think we're even. I, uh, haven't exactly been active on the whole dating front for a long time, either.

[Not that it was all that surprising that the nervous, awkward dude would be terrible at scoring dates with anybody, women or men.]

[justbeingknife]

[ Oh no, how cute. Majima released Tim's ear, since it seemed to have a mind of its own, but ]

Good tickles, or bad? They're soft.

[ He totally wanted to feel more of that velvety fuzz.

In Majima's case, the problem was one both of time and opportunity. He hadn't had a lot of time back during his tenure at the Grand, and... actually, maybe if he hadn't been so completely oblivious, maybe he would have seen what was unfolding right in front of him. ]

Maybe people just don't get to know ya? You've got a lot of good points -- can't imagine they'd miss 'em if they looked.

[ Points that, honestly, had nothing to do with his BMI. ]

Want me to feed you some more sweets?

[restinglichface]

i just

ugh

ur such a dick
but i dont wanna leave w/o saying goodbye

[blap_blap]

It's not bad, it just kind of feels weird?

[He'd never had ears that were quite so big and sensitive before, or... so furry? Or mobile? It was especially weird to find out that, sometimes, when he was really happy or excited and wasn't paying attention, his big stupid ears would wiggle.]

[And, well, apparently now they were on the whole dating thing. Okay, that was fine, just the good old standby of I'm sure you have a great personality. Nobody ever mentioned that the problem of relying on just a good personality was that you had to convince people to look twice at your ugly ass, and that was pretty damn hard.]

[So, sure, Tim wasn't really happy with the fact that he had the face of a douchebag, but he had to admit that a lot more people had taken notice of him after he got the douchebag face than before, so.]

Yeah, sure, that's probably it.

[But, hey, who wanted to talk about those kinds of insecurities, anyway? Besides, it wasn't like Tim could ever get his old face back anyway, so he might as well just agree with Majima and let the whole thing go. Eat some cake instead.]

Y'know, I would. I think I'm up for some more of that cherry cake.

[blap_blap]

is this about that party invitation?

because like yeah i'm totally coming to your party but uh i could use some context

like on a scale of 1 to 10 how much apocalypse are we talking

[blap_blap]

being around jack gives me a lot of feelings and most of them are bad

he's just

he's a lot to deal with okay

[justbeingknife]

[ Majima tilted his head at this -- more nervousness? History? Hard to tell sometimes.

So instead of pressing, he carefully cut a tempting sliver of cherry cake and filling, one hand braced under the fork to catch any crumbs, and leaned in with it. ]

Careful.

[ If nothing else, he appreciated the opportunity to, for once, be able to spend some time with someone he cared about without buildings being on fire in the background. That. Was nice. And he was going to savor today for that alone. ]

<kyouken>

[justbeingknife]

Hey, Tim. You got some time to talk?

In text or in person, whichever ya prefer. It's about all that wish stuff, kinda.

< mrhandsome69 > god this username kills me every time i type it

[blap_blap]

hi

i guess if it's going to be a serious conversation we should do it in person.

[Also because then Tim couldn't just ignore the message if he got uncomfortable. He knew himself well enough to be aware of the fact that the distance of texting would make it tempting to just... not answer, and Majima deserved some answers.]

what an excellent username

[justbeingknife]

Sounds good to me.

I'm on the east side of Lake Dala right now, near the edge of Bavan. You know, where that little park is? There's no one here, but I can head back to my place if that's better for ya.

[restinglichface]

sad to say its a full on 15 on the apocalypse scale my guy
seen it happen a hundred times over
p inevitable

[restinglichface]

yeah hed have to be to be able to go head to head with my brother

[blap_blap]

no it’s fine, i’ll come to you.

just give me a few minutes to get there.

[It took him around fifteen minutes or so to get there— longer than it had to, because he’d wasted a little time worrying before he’d left— but it wasn’t hard for him to find the place. One of the perks of being a bull man.]

Um. Hi.

[justbeingknife]

Hi. Feelin' better?

[ Well, obviously Tim had been feeling well enough to leave Majima's place. The park was quiet this time of day, with a few birds around but little else. Nice couple of benches, some trees, some flowers grown a little wild. ]

Sorry to call ya out like this, but I thought it'd be worse to just ignore everything.

[ Majima was perched on the edge of a small stone wall, on which some moss was growing on one side; he gestured to one side, in case Tim wanted to sit down. ]

[blap_blap]

Yeah, I’m okay.

[As okay as anyone could be, after a fiasco like that wish-dream-thing. But the park was beautiful, quiet except for a little bird chatter and the sound of the wind in the trees, so that made it feel a little more distant. More like just a shitty nightmare than something had felt real.]

[Tim sat on the wall in the place that Majima indicated, his tail held between his hands. He was fidgeting with it, kind of how he would fidget with his hands, but with a long, bovine tail between his fingers instead.]

I mean, you’re not playing to my strengths? [He was good at ignoring things that made him uncomfortable.] But, uh. I guess you have a lot of questions about... all of that?

[justbeingknife]

Yeah. So many I don't know where to start, really.

[ He was keeping his body language fairly open, but it probably wasn't the most relaxed Majima had ever been, to be honest. ]

But I guess the one I most wanted to ask was how much of that stuff was true.

[ It was nice out here, wasn't it? Majima had come out here because it seemed less claustrophobic than indoors. Also because of the implicit message that Tim could get up and leave whenever he wanted. That was something Majima hadn't gotten after they'd let him out of that black site. Of course, he also liked to think he was less of a ballbuster than Sagawa. ]

I know you said they put ya in a body double program, but I've met people who changed their faces before. I thought... I don't know. That it was plastic surgery, studying what Jack was like.

But it looked more like they'd been torturing you.

[ Only a few more sessions, one of the men had said. ]

[blap_blap]

[It was more than just plastic surgery, it was surgery and gene mods and eight-hour sessions of feeling like he was being stabbed in the face with a rusty screwdriver. It was studying Jack's actions, the way he walked, the inflections of his voice, and then doing it while pointing a gun at somebody's face and pulling the trigger.]

[But he was an actor. A victim of his own poor decisions and Hyperion's opportunism, maybe, but not of brainwashing.]

It was... they hadn't done that to me. The whole Clockwork Orange thing, I mean.

[Not yet, anyway. But Tim was also nothing more than property to Jack, so if the boss decided that Tim's acting just wasn't cutting it anymore, that it needed to be stepped up, well. You could do whatever you wanted to your own property.]

That room that I was in? With the, with all that stuff? It's not real, or it wasn't when I was on Helios, anyway.