IC Contact/Voicemail

[preybeforemeals]

[VOICE/TEXT/VIDEO; OPEN TO ALL]
(Meridiana, you probably want this one.)

"Ah, amore, it seems I've missed you; do leave something for me and we'll see if we can rectify that, shall we?"

Comments

[preybeforemeals]

I'd think that goes without saying, monsieur, since neither of us have even heard about it before now.

[He pauses for a moment; considers. There are a lot of reasons for him to just leave it there, and it'll certainly be decidedly easier if he does.

After a moment's deliberation, he presses on with it anyway.]

You seem...better now. Are you all right?

[...it's probably sad, that that was legitimate trying...]

[deaftly]

[You tried so hard, Tsukiyama...]

I... Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay.

[Naki looks confused rather than upset. He looks like he's going to elaborate on that, before instead he changes his mind.]

I'm... It's good to see you're okay.

[preybeforemeals]

[He tried super-hard and got literally nowhere, it was excellent, and he'll probably never do that through his own volition again.

However, now that he's already gone and done it this time...well. He's never really sure what to do with this pattern that he and Naki tend to fall into; the man seems to like repetitive reassurance and generally receiving the verbal equivalent of having his hair stroked, and that is something Tsukiyama is neither accustomed to nor good at, to put it lightly. As it is, he notices the pause, though he isn't sure if he wants to draw attention to it; ultimately, he decides against it. If it's terribly important, it'll come out eventually.]

I do hope you apologized to that poor receptionist at the hotel.

[deaftly]

Hah! Are you kidding? That asshole muscled in on my conversation to tell me unimportant shit! Why would I apologize to him?

[He's still a jackass so at least there's that?]

[preybeforemeals]

...Your sense of priorities never fails to be anything short of astounding.

[ALBEIT...NOT ASTOUNDING IN A GOOD WAY...]

[deaftly]

What? What's wrong with my priorities?

[preybeforemeals]

[Oh, honey, no.]

Don't ask me that, I won't know where to start.

[deaftly]

What!? The fuck are you talking about? There's nothing wrong with my priorities!!

[preybeforemeals]

Monsieur, what isn't wrong with your priorities?

[Look, picking on you is much easier than dealing with everything yesterday decided to be.]

[deaftly]

Nothing's wrong with my priorities!! You're crazy! And quit calling me that American thing!!

[preybeforemeals]

"American thing"...?

[...AGAIN

IS THERE JUST A REALLY HIGH CONCENTRATION OF FRENCH PEOPLE IN AMERICA THAT HE DOESN'T KNOW ABOUT

ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT CANADA???]

[deaftly]

[WHAT'S A CANADA???]

Yeah, that mon-whatever it is you say all the time!!

[preybeforemeals]

[........................

You know, suddenly things are making a lot more sense, hang on.]

French.

That's French, not English.

[deaftly]

Same thing.

[He waves a hand as if to dismiss it.]

I don't speak it, so why do you always feel the need to say it?

[preybeforemeals]

Because I like to.

[deaftly]

Why!? It's stupid!

[preybeforemeals]

It's culture - something I doubt you'd know much about, admittedly...

[deaftly]

Culture's pointless anyway, why bother with it? There's way more important shit to worry about.

[preybeforemeals]

[And that actually gets a reaction out of him, and it's not a particularly favorable one; he glances away for a moment, his gaze darkening rather strongly before he seems to calm himself down, and it takes him a moment to re-establish eye contact with the device.]

Ah, well, to each their own, I suppose.

[deaftly]

[Well, that certainly was A Thing. Naki's not sure why it was A Thing, and he decides he really doesn't want to question it, so he'll let it go.]

Yeah. I guess.

[preybeforemeals]

[It was, indeed, A Thing.]

Was there anything else, or are we done for now?

[deaftly]

...Yeah, well, it's good to see you're alright. Let me know when you're back in town, okay?

[preybeforemeals]

How many times do I have to tell you to not worry about me before you listen?

[...well. Apparently this is the hill we're going to die on today.]

[deaftly]

What the hell do you expect me to do? I can't just sit here and expect everything to be okay!

[Look how well that ended for him last time.]

[preybeforemeals]

[...and for some reason that's when something actually seems to click into place; he'd had the pieces laid out before, he'd just never bothered to connect them properly. The constant concern that he's going to die, the paranoia when he couldn't reach him, the insistence that being by oneself is the worst thing that can- ]

There's no one you know there with you right now, is there?

[Give him a moment.]

...I'm not going to leave you alone.