8 ∅ [Text/Action for Ecruteak Inn]

[callbacks]

[TEXT:]

currently taking your hottest exorcism tips
the top five submissions get a prize
the prize is whatever i get out of these boxes of abra jacks and if thats not your idea of a good time im sorry because theyre all i got stashed in this closet atm

if this is punishment for cultural appropriation at the festival im gomen
but can we maybe stop
onegai shimass

[ACTION FOR ECRUTEAK:]

[The great (???) thing about the ghost currently haunting Dave is that, for the most part, it stays out of sight, meaning that with everyone else distracted by their own phantasms, Dave managed to spend the whole day yesterday blatantly not acknowledging it, only twitching at its constant presence at the edge of his awareness. But after no sleep the entire night--negative sleep, probably, it's possible he will never sleep again, fuck every molecule of his being--he's just grabbed some foodstuffs, marched into the inn room closet, and settled in with his eyes shut, hugging the cereal boxes to his chest.

At least he can pretend Bro's not there, in the dark.]

Comments

[Action]

[callbacks]

[He looks at her, then looks out the closet door, rubbing absently at a fold of his sleeve.]

I'm thinking about telling you something kinda hideous, but maybe it'll help, I dunno. Something I did where it turned out I really screwed the pooch. If you want to hear it.

[He shrugs. He's easy. Even when he's being serious, like now.]

[Action]

[cyan_maid]

[Jane looks...a little surprised at that. She tilts her head, really getting a good look at Dave.]

...Are you...comfortable talking about it?

[Because while this is getting to be feelings central, if you're not okay with sharing something with a girl you barely know, she's giving you the option to back out.]

[Action]

[callbacks]

I don't mind. Me and the involved parties worked it all out a long time back.

[He mulls over how to start for a moment, and then decides to just jump into it.]

I guess...long story short, I let Jade shoot me in the back with a machine gun without warning her about it and then didn't see her again for three years, which was, like, the uberdick move.

[He finally lifts his chin a millimeter to sort of meet Jane's eyes.]

But it's not like we ever stopped being important to each other. Or wanting to see each other.

[Action]

[cyan_maid]

[...

.......

Sorry, she's just. Staring. And processing that. And is unsure if she wants to ask for clarification, because that sounds really ridiculous, but Sburb and everything that happened in it was already guaranteed ridiculous from the moment of its inception. Plus, this is probably emotional for Dave, and...it'd be rude to probe and prod as if she were suspicious.]

...Wow. I. Uh...I did not do anything nearly as...drastic as that. But, um. I am glad you two worked it out, and...mm.

[She does get what you're saying though. Good friends, even through the tough shit, still mean something to each other. Right?]

[Action]

[callbacks]

[He can't help that his life has mostly not been normal kid problems!]

I'm just saying--if it's anything like the four of us, you guys have been friends so long, you can probably work it out if you just try to talk a little. He probably feels as much like a jackass about it as you do.

[Action]

[cyan_maid]

...Yeah. Probably.

[And, at least to Jane, he is a little deserving of feeling like a jackass. Just a little. Let her be selfish, dammit.]

I guess...it all depends on if I get to see him again.

[Action]

[callbacks]

I'd put down money that you will.

[And in this economy, too.]

Dunno if it applies outside our universe, but...I don't know. Follow a loose thread down long enough and it always seems to get tied back up again.

[Doomed timelines. Dead Daves. Unfinished business.

Bro's ghost flits across the room again, lingering just long enough to be seen, but Dave doesn't do more than swallow.]

[Action]

[cyan_maid]

[Jane sort of...senses that something moves, but she doesn't turn around. Eugh. Whatever you are, please leeeeave.]

...I'll...keep an eye out for loose threads, then.

[Does she want Jake to be at the end of one? A bit of yes, a bit of no. But eventually she DOES have to speak to him.]