004. [Video]

[preybeforemeals]

[ACTION FOR THE TG HOUSE]

[Tsukiyama has been told in no uncertain terms that he had better not just lie around in his room and act like his life is over due to recent events; there were enough issues with said events to keep him busy for a little while, at least, and he'd actually been doing fairly well for the first day or so. But once the immediate problems were fixed, that left him with a good amount of nothing to do with himself and an upheaval to be responded to, and so clearly, he did the rational thing and decided eventually to respond to it by...

...Well, lying around in his room, acting like his life is over.

Yep.

Granted, there were two problems with this that he did not foresee while in the midst of preparing for a 72-hour angst-ridden lie-in; the first was that his fuzzball of a sheep that he got from Labrys is both too young and too...benignly stupid to understand that he is not, in fact, literally dying. As such, she took to lying on his chest about halfway through the morning of Day 2; this got a bit alarming when he realized that she was doing this with the intention of being the most adorable defibrillator on the planet should her services be required, and she was not about to leave him alone because by god, her services may be required about thirty seconds after she was set on the floor for the fiftieth time.

The second unforeseen complication was Meridiana's...dear Tropius of a starter, who came with the perk of making sure that he was going to have something to eat while in the midst of dealing with the shards of sorrow and darkness piercing his motherfucking soul; unfortunately, she also came with the drawback of not seeming to comprehend that man cannot live on bananas alone – or if she did comprehend it, she quite simply did not seem to care.

...There's also the fact that it's very, very hard to be suitably tragic with a fluffsheep nuzzling into you and a leafy dinosaur trying to get you to eat fruit. And apparently no one in this house does the whole "giving him the attention he rightly deserves" thing right, anyway, and he's been largely left alone for the last three days. And really, who the hell even does that anymore.

So. Tsukiyama can actually be found downstairs today, draping over furniture in the study like an asshole with all the curtains drawn because no one goddamn understands. It's a lot of generally being effectively dead of angst and misery, but hey, at least someone's actually making use of the fainting couch once in a while.

Because we have a girl here from the Victorian era and as such there is a literal fainting couch.

Because of course there is.

God, that thing was a great investment.]



[VIDEO]

[Well, whatever was going on earlier, it seems that the aggressive not-fainting and a few hours free of the looming bananasaur has done something for his mood; whether it's a good something or not has yet to be seen.

Either way, he seems surprisingly sane in terms of how he's presenting himself today, the usual bright colors and patterns replaced with a longsleeved white...thing and an open black vest over it; given that that's actually a perfectly rational thing for a person to be wearing, it can probably be assumed that his pants are made entirely of lies, shame, and disgrace, but thankfully those aren't able to be seen on the video. He looks like he's sitting on a set of stairs of some sort, obviously indoors; they're nice, polished-wood, but that's about the most that can be said for his surroundings.

He's got his free hand resting on an absolute fluffbeast of a sheep, who seems determined to not do anything but firmly plant her face in his side like she was headbutting him at one point and just kind of decided she liked that position; he's not quite petting her, but the gesture is...sort of there, at least. The other hand is holding the camera out in front of him, and he seems more than steady enough today, even if the smile isn't looking quite...right.

Appearing on the network so soon after everything the last week has decided to be is probably a bad idea, or at least one in poor taste. He doesn't care.]

Ah, it's been a little while, hasn't it? I've missed speaking to you.

[...as...overfamiliar as ever, though, apparently.]

This place surprisingly isn't bad, once you get used to it! It still trends a little too close to parody for my liking, but c'est la vie – that's something you become accustomed to over time, and besides that it comes with almost enough perks to make this little excursion worthwhile.

That's assuming it's an excursion in the first place, though - and when I first arrived, I was under the impression that everyone was hoping that's all it was. But it seems that isn't the case...? As strange as I find it to do otherwise.

So tell me, amore, because I'm curious – if you want to stay, is there a particular reason for it? Even if your situation is terrible, it seems a bit too much like relying on escapism to want to just remain here forever, if you ask me.

Comments

action;

[occultigen]

[Meridiana has noticed, of course, that Mr. Tsukiyama has been a little bit...scarce, lately, though admittedly she hadn't really dwelt much on the notion at the time. For one thing, the house was decidedly more peaceful and quiet than when Messieurs Tsukiyama and Banjou were doing battle with the IKEA, and for another thing, she'd largely had her hands full herself with her small army of adorable fluffy things, also a two-foot blue razzledino. And perhaps she'd lost track a bit of dear Tropius, but surely it wasn't as though the poor thing could go far through the house, much less make it all the way upstairs to potentially bother anyone.

Surely.

So suffice to say, it's a considerable shock when she's coming past the study and happens upon Mr. Tsukiyama spilling over the fainting couch with all the drapes pulled in the middle of the day, and all things considered the bit that clearly knocks her figuratively off-kilter about all this actually isn't the conclusion that something must clearly be very wrong with Mr. Tsukiyama; her brain actually never even makes it that far because she's permanently stalled out on the jarring disbelief of the firmly-held social conviction that men aren't supposed to faint.

Hence, the look on her face somehow manages to end up considerably less "call a doctor; something is terribly wrong" terrified and far more into the realm of "nothing about this situation is as it is supposed to be, and therefore what the actual shit".]

...Mister...Tsukiyama?

[Do you just have the world's most massive of hangovers right now because what the hell.]

[preybeforemeals]

[...Actually, no, but he really wishes he did. Let's put it that way.

That said, he is draping all the hell over this couch, Meridiana. All the hell over it.]

...Miss Everett.

[There's a delay before he says it, but at least there's words so it's not like...solid...fainting...]

[occultigen]

I...

[But why, though. There is no possible way that any of that is comfortable, much less explicable.]

I do beg pardon, of course, but what are you doing?

[SOMEONE HAD TO SAY IT]

[preybeforemeals]

Attempting to unearth myself from the black mires of despair, why?

[HE SAYS, IN ALL SERIOUSNESS.]

[occultigen]

[...]

With all the curtains drawn?

[preybeforemeals]

Yes...

[occultigen]

[...All right, well, that's excuse enough to just sort of...invite herself into the room, then, because something is clearly amiss and it's all apparently just surreal enough that the urge to run and call someone for assistance hasn't quite been tripped yet.]

...Hadn't it be better to get a little sunlight in, though? To...lift your spirits?

[preybeforemeals]

[...Well, thank god, because the only other person here is Banjou, and he imagines Banjou will be rather annoyed.]

I prefer that my surroundings reflect the current state of my heart for the time being - though perhaps later that would be fine.

[occultigen]

[Oh, well, that gets her to jolt rather unpleasantly, and quite possibly unintentionally — but indeed, for a moment she just sort of freezes in place, her color going a little pale, and then after a moment she seems to regroup and turns to face him a little more fully.]

...Has someone broken your heart, then?

[Hey, he said it first, and while she's pretty sure men aren't supposed to be carrying on like this over something like that...well, it would explain a few things.]

[preybeforemeals]

[...Oh, honey.

That said, let him just...sit up a bit, then.]

...Something like that. Not in a romantic sense, but the sentiment is similar.

[occultigen]

W-Well, even so, you mustn't do anything foolish! Perhaps things do seem awful right now but that's certainly no reason to —

[...Do anything hasty, probably, is how she wants to finish that, but that's also right about when it seems to hit her that maybe she's overreacting a little and ought to...check that.]

...It's...really so bad, then, is it?

[preybeforemeals]

...I'll manage eventually.

[Woman...

He just sort of looks at her for a moment before resettling on the couch.]

Come sit with me. You seem a bit pale.

[occultigen]

It's never so bad as it seems, that much is for certain.

[A thing she is oddly insistent upon, even as she gradually acquiesces to the invitation and comes over to sit down.]

Even something like despair, it's truly not.

[preybeforemeals]

I've experienced dark times before, you know, and they have yet to defeat me. I managed then, and I'll manage eventually now.

[occultigen]

But in the meantime, you'd prefer to be left alone to your sorrows?

[And your discomfort, lying sprawled as you were across a fainting couch.]

[preybeforemeals]

[...Some of us do not have much practice with the art of properly utilizing the fainting couch.]

I don't mind the company, if that's what you're getting at.

[occultigen]

Well...rather, that you'd not like to be cheered up? Sometimes a cheering-up only makes things worse, somewhat.

[She kind of stares down at her hands.]

So long as you think it'll pass, there's no reason for alarm, is there...?

[preybeforemeals]

[you know what forget what he said earlier where is banjou-san when you need him]

Of course there isn't. It's more a matter of working through it than anything.

[occultigen]

[Look on the bright side, if you throw Meridiana at him like a bag of peas he may be distracted by wobbly girl long enough to forget to be pissed at you about your everything.

Tactical Waifspionage Action.]

...All the same, I think I shall sit with you a while. I think that sort of sadness is easier when not...borne alone.

[preybeforemeals]

...Like I said, I don't mind the company.

[...EVEN IF HE...KIND OF DOESN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH IT??

NO SERIOUSLY

MOST PEOPLE EITHER IGNORE IT WHEN HE DOES SHIT LIKE THIS OR THEY TELL HIM TO KNOCK IT OFF

HE IS NOT PREPARED FOR PEOPLE ACTUALLY GIVING A FUCK

THERE IS ACTUALLY NOT A STEP 2 TO THIS PLAN OF HIS

GIVE HIM A SECOND HE'LL THINK OF SOMETHING]

[occultigen]

[She's sort of quiet a moment then, glancing up from her hands to some indeterminate point on the far wall, half to spare him the ordeal of having her just staring at him and half because she's drifting off on her thoughts.]

...I'll not ask after what happened, but if there's something I might do to help it, I hope you won't hesitate to tell me. I should very much like to help, if I might.

[preybeforemeals]

...I'll be sure to ask you for advice once I've gotten my thoughts on it sorted through a bit more, then. I actually think you could help me quite a bit, if you're really not opposed.

[He's not saying he's eventually going to deploy the cute girl at Kaneki but he just might deploy the cute girl at Kaneki.]

[occultigen]

...I'm not sure how much advice I might offer, really, save for perhaps — well, what not to do in that sort of situation.

[She plays it off as best she can, seeking to keep the remark light and mildly witty, and mostly succeeds.]

But I would be more than happy to help, whether it be something of great magnitude or something as simple as...oh, I don't know, showing how better to faint properly so you shan't hurt yourself when you do.

[preybeforemeals]

[.............]

I'm sorry?

[occultigen]

[Blink blink.]

Your...fainting. Certainly, it's nothing a man ought to be expected to know, so anyone would forgive you for it, but I'd not like to see you end up injured for doing it so...haphazardly.