[AUDIENCE] junpei

[doublesmall]

Comments

w3, friday

[doublesmall]

[what's up, junpei, it's office time again! chuuya's here, halfway through another wineglass.]

Got some time to kill, or did you need something in particular?

[crashout]

[God a lot actually changed from when I submitted this request, so Junpei enters the office and Chuuya will notice a handful of things. One, he smells like alcohol. Two, he smells like cigarette smoke. Three, the knuckles of his right hand are still red from when he punched the ship's railing. Four, he looks dead inside.]

All of the above. [He walks in, but he doesn't have a seat yet.] I don't know how much you can tell me, but I thought I'd give you a progress report and go from there. I found two more, possibly three. I haven't spoken with the third myself but I have enough reason to believe.

[Likewise, the tone is incredibly flat and void.] I wanted to know if I could get clarification on one of my rules, because if it's not even something I have to worry about I won't.

[...and then, an aside:] ...I kind of just wanted to see you on my own instead of with everybody else anyway.

[doublesmall]

-okay, fuck the progress report for a minute, what's going on?

[junpei this is concerning? maybe he already smells like it, sure, but chuuya's pouring him a glass too and gesturing for him to come sit.]

[crashout]

[He doesn't want to sit??? But at least he looks a tiny bit sheepish as he approaches and takes the glass and sits anyway.]

Well. One of our roles is dead again, so there's that. [Which is a huge problem of itself.] How much do you know about what the other hosts assign to their...whatever we are to you guys?

[doublesmall]

You know I can't just give you info on that kind of thing.

[he takes a long sip, there-- there's no way that's everything, with how junpei looks, but he's trying to be patient.]

[crashout]

A yes or a no then. Do you know what they know? [But he sips the wine and stares at the glass instead of Chuuya.]

[doublesmall]

I know what I need to know about things.

[it's a deliberate non answer, sorry junpei.]

[crashout]

Then you know they told him about Dimitri. Got it. [...that doesn't surprise him, he knows this game pretty well by now.] ...if two different murderers were up on the same night, would they ever cross paths? Or is there something blocking them from interfering, like what happened with Logy and Aizawa?

[doublesmall]

[he just kind of drains his glass, there, exhaling heavily.]

You do realize you still need to sleep tonight, too-- don't work too hard on it yet. You haven't even seen everything for yourself.

[crashout]

Man I never sleep before trials. [Just. Casually throwing that out there.] And what, just because I haven't seen the body?

[Completely unrelated, he finishes his own glass.] If someone said "don't reveal too much" in relation to asking you to check into something, what would you think that means?

[doublesmall]

Probably to play dumb about it. Not give yourself away in the process, right?

[and with a shrug-]

I'm saying don't overtax yourself before you guys even get together.

[crashout]

[He stares at the ceiling.]

...Haymitch ended up spilling all of the roles I've found to Katy even though I asked him not to reveal too much whenever he got around to talking to her. Katy was pissed, and Beck's probably mad at me, too.

[There's a frustrated noise.] I'm not overtaxing anything though.

[doublesmall]

Before anything else, you two are still going to have to work together-- so if you're pissed at the guy over this, I don't want to see that affect anything on Tuesday, all right?

[but, that said:]

People trust who they trust. It's always a risk sharing-- if you didn't want that, you should have set firmer guidelines or said it didn't leave that room, instead of just telling him not to say too much.

But I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to loop people in, either.

[crashout]

[Obviously Chuuya's right and Junpei's overreacting, but for someone who's had to deal with consequences of not being upfront, plus opening old wounds, plus already dealing with the loss of another friend, again, it's a mess of a situation. He stares ahead of him for some time before he sighs.]

Why is one of my rules that I must accept what I learn? Is that just shitty wording, or is there something more ominous to that?

[doublesmall]

[he gets it? he's dealt with a lot before-- but as a host here, he's got to have priorities.

speaking of that, he hums at the question.]

Just wording, probably. The information you get is accurate-- but you guys might not always like what you find out.

[crashout]

[...that doesn't exactly help either when he's not sure what the rest of the roles he's missing can do, but he frowns and concedes to the point.]

...fine. [A beat.] I think everything I could ask you will be met with the same answer. So...I don't know what I'm supposed to do next. Sorry.

...unless you can tell me when the roles move after a person dies?

[doublesmall]

What to do next is up to you. We're just your guides, you know? It's our job to try to help, and to oversee your roles-- but the direction's all you.

You're right, though, pretty sure anything else you might want right now is all going to get blocked.

[crashout]

[...he nods along.]

...then I don't really have a reason to be here, do I? [It's more to himself than Chuuya. He's not moving because he still likes the company and realizes he's acting crazy but he's busy reorganizing his thoughts.]

What do you even usually do on your Fridays after investigation bullshit is over?

[doublesmall]

[right in front of his fucking salad, junpei?]

...deal with the evidence you guys turn in, try to prepare for the trial. Drink, usually.

[crashout]

...can that wait a while? [What the hell is he concocting in his brain...] Or do you need to do that, like, now?

[doublesmall]

I mean... I can do it whenever I want, I'm sure.

[squints...]

Why?

[crashout]

[...um. Hm.]

Because I feel stupid coming here just for questions? I'm not opposed to hanging out if you have time.

[Also maybe he can get his head descrambled by hanging out with someone who puts less pressure on him.]

[doublesmall]

Oh, so you just want my time...

[but he doesn't sound like he's opposed at all, grinning slightly.]

You can stay.

[crashout]

I thought you would've figured that out by now, but I don't mind spelling it out. [He just sort of lounges in the chair he's seated in then, stretching his back a little.] Not like you guys can come to us on your own outside of trials, right?

[doublesmall]

[a pause, there, a long hum-]

Well, we can if we really feel like it.

[maybe that's just new, it's a mystery!]