the comedy is that it's serious.

[errandry]

When; the evening of April 7th, 2012.
Rating; PG
Characters; Kazuma Mikura & Elmer C. Albatross.
Summary; A tragedy of puppies.
Log;

[ It actually hasn't occurred to him that Elmer might not be home.

Kazu stops at the door—moves to knock and stops again. At last, he reaches out. Five raps, and he steps back in the hall, shifting on his braked wheels. Somewhere along the way, the vast, insensate blankness that'd held him fixed and calm in Akira's apartment had—fled. By the time he's on Elmer's doorstep, all the cliches are in place: red-eyed, knuckles scraped raw, digging into the pockets of his hoodie, breaths shallow and staggered. He doesn't know what he's waiting for, honestly.

He should have called beforehand. ]

Comments

[undespairing]

[Elmer is indeed home.

He hadn't expected anyone to show up at this hour - or any hour, really, it's not like he gives his address out to everyone he meets. So the list of possible visitors isn't quite long enough to take him from his dinosaur book to the door, and he finds his guesses getting stranger and stranger with each step he takes. A neighbor. A gangster. A tyrannosaurus rex. When he actually gets there, opens the door wide--

...The state of the Kazu is much more surprising than the fact his visitor's Kazu.]

Hey, uh...are you okay?

[errandry]

Ikki's dead. Akito—Agito, they're dead too.

[ He's blurting it all out on the doorstep like they're the only words he knows. The sentences go in circles until the single word means nothing and everything at once. He doesn't move—just stares sort of strickenly. ]

... There's—there's some kind of fucking curse on today, right? Tell me that.

[undespairing]

They're--

[He stands there slack-jawed for a moment, processing the information, the situation, the desperate figure on his doorstep. It's desperation of the third degree and he's not sure what to do besides--attempt to carefully usher him inside, maybe.]

...I don't know. There might be. Do you know what happened?

[errandry]

[ he's shepherded in easily, but his voice's blurring in his throat and he moves like a statue. ]

This guy—he found them. It was some kind of fucking murder setup, but... why would—fuck, it doesn't even make any sense.

[undespairing]

[elmer's not the emotional type—once they're both sitting down, he just puts on a serious face and listens.]

That is pretty strange...I don't know who'd want to murder them. [a pause.] ...I wonder if they'd know.

[errandry]

[ Kazu seems barely aware that he's sitting down, like he's forgotten that chairs exist, let alone what they're for. ]

Nobody would! Like they'd make enemies without telling the rest of the team. That's why—it's gotta be...

[undespairing]

[Does it gotta be? Maybe he should check the network. For the moment, though, he's thinking.]

...Well. We could ask Ikki and Akito what happened.

[errandry]

[ there's a small, stunned silence at this. then Kazu buries his head in his hands and—laughs, cracked and disbelieving. ]

Fuck—didn't even think of that...

[undespairing]

[Elmer chuckles a little as well, slightly relieved at the laughter. he's taking it as an improvement, a step forward, all that stuff. it's not a hopeless situation, and Kazu better believe that.]

Right? They'll be back soon enough. And then we can team up for revenge or something.

[errandry]

Tch... F'it's a curse—we've got nothing to take revenge on, right? All we can do's wait to get screwed again.

[undespairing]

You shouldn't think like that, it means the City's won. If you think about it that way, staying positive kind of counts as revenge in its own right.

Plus, there's the chance it isn't a curse—in which case giving up before you've figured out what happened is the worst thing you could do. It's not like everyone here's an upstanding citizen, right?

[errandry]

[ . . . ]

That's all just words, though. No matter what it is—magic or some bastard, what's any of that even mean? What am I supposed to do right now?

[undespairing]

Right this very moment?.....Calm down. Take a deep breath. I won't tell you to smile when your friends are dead, but sitting here and stressing over it is just as bad as giving up. If we put our heads together, we might be able to figure something out.

Maybe this is just words, but words can lead to thoughts, and thoughts can lead to actions. You could try checking the network, for example. Fastest way to check for curses is to see if everybody else is having the same problem. And if it turns out there isn't any curse, maybe we'll find a clue as to what did happen.

[errandry]

[ this speech earns a blank stare, a sharp breath like he's about to snap—but after one breath comes another, and another, and he's breathing in long, shuddering draws, like it surprises him that he still has lungs. he presses a hand over his eyes, holds on hard. ]

Fuck. Fuck. [ a longer pause. in the silence he laughs abruptly, cracked and mirthless. ] Shit, I'm sorry...

[undespairing]

[the laughter counts as a miniature victory, even if it is mirthless. he leans forward with his arms on his knees, suppressing a chuckle as he smiles.]

Hey, there's nothing to be sorry for.