resumed | PC: HANAKO 💀

[ don't worry about it ]

Hi! Bathroom emergency?

[ Nico sure was nyooming... ]

[ DON'T JUST SAY DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT.

also he just blinks because that's not. even what he was thinking. ]

What? No. Why is that your first thought?

[ it's fine!! ]

I am Hanako-san of the Toilet. Besides, people are only ever in such a rush if they're running away from something, or running towards something.

[ There's nobody behind Nico, so... ]

Fair enough. [ to the first point. as for the second...was he running from something? toward? it's debatable, and he glances back at the dorm he was heading for. ]

...unexpectedly, a few of us disappeared this morning. I have things I have to get back to now that we've returned.

Someone's busy...

[ can't imagine it ]

I heard you went on a field trip?

Yeah. [ he does not think to ask how hanako heard about this. ] We had a mission to drop in and steal the ultimate curry.

[ he says this with a completely straight face even if he sounds like he's dying inside. ]

Did you fail...?

[ That's the only reason he can think of why Nico would look so sour ]

Of course not. [ he doesn't like losing, so the idea that he would is still bad. ] It just seemed so...strange. Like the idea wasn't ours, but it was planted there for us to believe that it was.

[ ...ah. He knows what that feels like, that outside influence that makes you be a certain way ]

Hm... Like you're being brainwashed by some curry fiend...?

[

see the thing is. hanako is a ghost. and nico, in his own biased little brain and thinking that things are similar at home as they are here, has decided that maybe explaining this to him might make more sense than explaining it to someone who's less used to things such as this. ]

More like influenced by an outside force. I don't recall how we got there. We woke up in a warehouse that we shouldn't have recognized because it was in a city Whisper and Hans had never even heard of, but all three of us acknowledged the place as our own. We were working with knowledge we didn't have before, the idea that we were successful thieves who'd accomplished plenty of heists and that our current goal was an unknown treasure. Oceanside was barely a thought.

[ spooky... but not so far fetched that he can't imagine himself in Nico's shoes ]

Haha... That sounds like you guys were actors in a movie you didn't know you were starring in. Or a supernatural who had their story changed.

[ such a weird story, though! from heroes to thieves, and curry for treasure ]

So... Where's the curry now? I figure that'd give you some idea of who's behind this.

I don't doubt someone was watching us and controlling the narrative. I mean it's not the first time either, but at least back then I understood a little better what was happening. [ he offers no explanation to that. ]

Curry's gone though. I was hoping things would stick around, too, to give us a clue about why we were brought there to begin with.

Did you at least get to eat it...?

[ if his hard earned curry disappeared into thin air he'd probably be pissed too ]

[ the question strikes him as funny for some reason. ]

Nope. It disappeared as soon as we got back to car. Weird, right?

[ it's a legit question ]

Yeah... Like, who drove?

[ If it was just the three of them, none of them would be good candidates ]

[ funny you should say that. ]

Oh. Hans found somebody and got her to agree to drive us. [ fyre's roll was incredible once we realized nobody can drive. ] For some reason that actually worked.

[ can you imagine being stopped on the street by these three going "hey," ]

I see... And that person, did they recognize you as Nico the hero, or Nico the thief?

They didn't recognize me at all, which was probably for the better. I'd be a lousy thief if anyone on the street could recognize me, wouldn't I?

I guess... But you're a hero. Your face is on a trading card!

You do, too. Don't you? [ kind of to point out that this isn't much of a point. ]

And people recognize me! They give me dirty looks all the time!

[ that's his point! they're all either famous or infamous to some degree; somebody not knowing who they are should be strange, shouldn't it? ]

To be fair you tried to stab the mayor. [ like. he's not condoning him for it but also he's kind of like "well you know what this was bound to happen eventually so." ] But I get your point. I didn't think much of it in the moment, but now that we're back it was pretty strange not to be recognized at all. But that could have been because we were in Las Vegas instead.

[ Oh...... yeah, that's fair, there's all sorts of weirdos in Vegas ]

For real Las Vegas, or some place that looks like it?

For real, but with a few minor changes. It was recognizable but the last time I was there I don't remember seeing clothed animals. That was new.

So..... not for real Las Vegas.

(no subject)

resumed - 2023-09-30 06:16 (UTC) - Expand