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]

[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.

[deaftly]

...No, there isn't.

[He can't even find Henry around the base. It's possible Henry ended up in the same place as Tsukiyama. There's no one here he feels even remotely close to, and the idea of losing any of the people he is close to terrifies him.]

Good. I'm glad to hear that. So don't go back on your word, okay!?

[preybeforemeals]

I won't. I can promise you that.

[It occurs to him that he doesn't know why he's bothering, and why this is going to dig at him so much if he doesn't; he can always bring any civil interactions with Banjou back around to Kaneki eventually (because what would Kaneki think if the alliance breaks here where there's not even a threat to deal with, what if he decides that it's not worth keeping, if he decides to split them up Tsukiyama's going to be the first person gone and he knows it) but Naki...

He wonders if this is what pity feels like, but he wouldn't be particularly distressed if Naki got himself killed; if anything, he believes that it would probably be a relief. Maybe he's just reacting this way because he wants Naki to stop whatever he's doing? It's a nuisance, after all, and it makes him difficult to look after - and it's smarter to keep an eye on him than it would be to leave him to do whatever he wanted.

So it's for the best to placate him; that's why he's bothering. Of course. Good job, Tsukiyama, you have clearly cracked the code.]

Don't do anything stupid in my absence.

[...He's aware that issuing a command like that is a bit like telling water to not be wet, but it's the best way to word it for the time being.]