IC INBOX / BUSINESS CARD ( ARCHIVE AS OF 12/13 )

[manuscripture]

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[ Somewhere around town-- at the bookstore, the Tomoe-Kaname Bakery, attached to posts and notice boards --you find a small white notecard. On it is printed a little message and some numbers in ornate lettering. If you look closely, it reads the following: ]

Rohan Kishibe, Mangaka & Visual Artist
Owner Pro Tempore of Ebony Threads Tailor Shop
Highly Experienced.
Commissions & Advertising For Hire
Pay Negotiable.
Contact At: 512.66.730.91 for inquiries
Castle Lüvchaque - Directly North of Bavan per appointment ONLY.

(( feel free to use this as an action-based prompt too. any random interactions will MOST LIKELY take place in the form of walk-ins at the tailor shop unless it's pre-planned. just drop a starter in here! ))

Comments

[manuscripture]

[ Touching his books... Every single one of them is a sketchbook, Josuke will find. ] I have a record player somewhere downstairs that I don't know how to work. You're going to need to use your imagination.

[ He slinks to his chest of drawers and pulls his perfectly organized box of makeup from it... It's filled with all kinds of garbage from his extravagant lipstick to his old timey brush-based mascara. ]

Knock yourself out. You can sit on the bed if you don't up and fall asleep on it.

What have you been up to lately? I thought you died again. I've been recovering from that incident through focusing on my business.

[pomaded]

They're not that hard to use...

[With his back turned, Josuke takes the opportunity to slide one of them out and open it up, being careful not to disturb any of the loose pages. They might not see eye to eye a lot of the time but it's still pretty cool to see his work- if he didn't think it would go straight to his head, he might even admit to being a little starry-eyed.

This particular sketchbook seems to have a lot of pictures of Jotaro but it's not that weird, right? They live together.

... yeah, why does he find that so hard to accept? There's something that's been niggling at him for a while now and...]

... hm? [He snaps it shut again and gets to his feet, immediately shrugging off his coat, dropping it next to his back and sitting back on the bed. Might as well make himself comfortable.] Oh. You know. Nothing interesting, really.

[Secret meetings with the enemy, amateur surgery, the usual.]

You've got a lot of shit.

[very astute]

[manuscripture]

It's nothing I didn't already have at the apartment. You can just see most of it because it isn't crammed in on itself or hidden under something because it couldn't fit. [ He IS watching which book was plucked out--... And that isn't one that will give him too much anxiety despite being mostly a Jotaro Book interspersed with other drawings. Wew. ]

You live a really boring life here, don't you? You live by yourself and you don't do anything 'interesting' at all. You've never told me one interesting thing about yourself. [ Rohan climbs up onto his Blanket Mountain and coils up partly to pick away at his box set between them. ]

Even I could write a book about all the crap I've done here in the past five months. Good and bad. What's your excuse?

[pomaded]

[Now that gets his attention. Josuke rears up indignantly, cheeks colouring and wings vibrating just enough to make a faint buzzing sound against the blankets. Sure, he can't tell him about what's taken up the majority of his time so far this month but...]

Hey, maybe I haven't told you anything "interesting" because I figured you'd just find it boring. [With a frown, he leans back onto the palms of his hands.] I went to that pool a little way out of the city and fucked my hair and wings up swimming. You ever wonder why bugs aren't supposed to go in water? Probably because it takes forever and a goddamn day to dry these things out.

[There. Should keep him quiet for now, right? With that, he turns his attention to the box, picking up various lipsticks and popping them open experimentally. Yeah, definitely not his colour.]

... there was something I wanted to ask you, actually.

[manuscripture]

They DO take forever and a day because all the membranes and scales get junk caught under them and there's no way to get rid of it without straight exposure to dryness. [ Duh Josuke, don't you know anything about bugs? ] Your hair survived--

[ Well, he can go through everything from the ten thousand shades of red he doesn't use to some of the more... Interesting ones. But... ]

And that is?

[pomaded]

Well, excuse me. I didn't realise you were a bug expert as well as an artist.

["Scarlet Saint", "Carmen", "Ever Rose"... for a guy who he's never seen wear red at all, he's got enough shades to keep a screen siren lacquered up for years.]

It's about Jotaro.

[Ugh, this is going to get awkward, isn't it? Josuke snaps the lid back on the bullet he's holding and sets it back down with the others. He's still frowning but it's more out of uneasiness than irritation now.]

You two... you're pretty close, aren't you?

[ughhh]

[manuscripture]

[ Listen, red is the MOST COMMON color he can get his hands on AND he's greedy about his appearance. There are some pots of stuff he's mixed in there too... More on the purple side of the spectrum that he's had to get creative with until his lips literally turned black on their own. ]

Jotaro? [ Uh oh. Are we going there-- ]

We've been living together since we got here. I would say so.

[ There's a 90% chance that we're going there. ]

[pomaded]

[Yeah, he'll pass on those; Rohan's tastes might cover a veritable rainbow of tones but he's a lot more conservative with his own cosmetic decisions. But he's not interrogating him about lip colours. That would be a much easier conversation than the one he's starting up.

He takes a deep but quiet breath and then, bracing himself, turns to look him in the eye.]

... do you, like... have a thing for him?

[manuscripture]

[ THERE IT IS.

Rohan sets his elbow on his coils and his chin on his hand. Might as well get comfy. ]

Are you asking if I'm attracted to your nephew?

[pomaded]

[STOP DANCING AROUND THE QUESTION

Where the naga's doing his best impression of someone who just got asked their opinion on Etruscan coinage, Josuke's looking more flustered by the second. Goddamn it.]

What do you think I'm asking?! Just tell me!

[manuscripture]

[ Guess who isn't looking flustered.

This is rich. ]

If I said yes?

[pomaded]

Th-then I wouldn't give a shit-! [He would- it'd be hella awkward.] I'm not gonna tell you who you can and can't like, Rohan, it's none of my business.

[Never mind that literally everything about how he is behaving suggests that he thinks that it is his business. Look, it's Jotaro they're talking about, okay?!]

[manuscripture]

It looks like you want to make it your business. [ He taps at his cheek with a finger. ]

You're not my mom. I can like whoever I want. [ He's gonna push it just a liiiiittle more and make a gesture with his other hand. ] If I said that we were a-- [ AIRQUOTES. ] --"Mutual Thing"?

[pomaded]

[Josuke's about half a second away from a snappy comeback- probably not a good one but whatever- when Rohan drops a bombshell. Well, not so much a bombshell as a platoon of fighter jets attacking all at once.

His jaw drops.]

No way.

[Well. It's hard to tell whether that's a good or bad reaction when he's still too stunned to form an opinion.

Jotaro and Rohan. An item. Is this really happening right now?!]

[manuscripture]

[ Rest in every piece, Josuke. ]

We've discussed it.

[ Which is an equivalent of Guess Who Your New Stepdad Is on a smaller scale. ]

Is that a problem for you? [ You know how his eyes do the flickery light thing when he's fucking with people? They do that on and off just once. ]

[pomaded]

[For a few moments, Josuke does nothing more than gawp at him, mouth still open and normally sleepy eyes wide with disbelief- and then, suddenly, he drops right back onto the mattress and sinks into the cloud of blankets like a wrecked ship beneath the waves.]

Holy shit. [There's a low sound that might be a groan.] Are you kidding me right now?!

[At least he doesn't seem to be addressing Rohan directly???]

No wonder I felt like a third wheel...!

[manuscripture]

[ Rohan staaaaares... He leeeeans a little over the descending goblin. ]

A third wheel? Seriously? You think you're a third wheel?

You're such a drama queen. We aren't kissing in front of you. Get over it.

[pomaded]

[Aaaand he'll find Josuke flopped back with one hand clapped to the side of his face.]

I'm not complaining, dude, I'm just- [Maybe he's complaining a little bit. Please don't kiss in front of him.] - just amazed I never noticed it before. I'm so stupid.

[There's a beat.]

Don't you say a goddamn word. I know you want to.

[manuscripture]

[ Note to self: Kiss in front of him. Hold hands at the VERY least. ]

Don't say what?

That you just admitted that you're stupid? I would never... [ He rolls his eyes up to the ceiling. ]

Is that all you needed to know? At least I'm treating him right and giving him a place to stay. I worked three jobs to pay rent and support his ass. I'd say I'm a saint.

[pomaded]

[Well, he's obviously not distressed enough to stay languishing in his little pile of quilts. Josuke snaps upright and jabs a finger accusingly into Rohan's chest.]

You better be treatin' him right! That's my nephew we're talking about- I'd kick your ass if you weren't!

[Might as well get in some practice before Shizuka grows up and starts dating, right?]

[manuscripture]

[ want that finger broken, my dude? ]

I could kick yours out of the water and you know it. [ Gonna make a point by bringing up the tip of his tail and wrapping it around Josuke's finger. SQUEEZE. ]

What do you take me for?

[pomaded]

[Ow. Yeah, he's not in the mood to get into a dick waving- do nagas even... no, don't think about it- contest about this, particularly not when he's three seconds away from a snapped finger and Jotaro can take care of himself. Making a face, Josuke jerks his hand back.]

This is insane. Since when?! [Wait, more importantly-] Who else knew? Was I seriously the only one out of the loop here?!

[manuscripture]

Since always.

[ HE LOST THAT ONE TIME BECAUSE OF A FLUKE.

He lets go the moment Josuke changes the subject. ]

No one. Do I look like the kind of person who wants to slather my marital status on everything?

You're making it sound like I kicked your dog. Why are you so offended?

[pomaded]

[Well, that's something. Josuke's shoulders drop back down as he relaxes again. Sort of.]

... guess that's better than being the only one in the dark. I just didn't want everyone to think I was totally blind or whatever.

[With a short sigh, he gets back to his feet and fetches his bag to set it next to the mattress instead. At least while he's fumbling around inside it, setting out various nail polish bottles in neat little rows, he has an excuse not to look him in the eye.]

So... are you two... you know... serious?

[manuscripture]

[ Rohan's hands busy themselves with memorizing how he's arranged his box without breaking his Josuke-ward stare. It's meant to come off as unnerving. What about him ISN'T unnerving...? ]

We might be. [ He looks away from Josuke only when he starts pulling out his little vials of nail polish. ] We went out to the beach during the Fog. It was nice.

I don't think he would have gone if he didn't feel the way I did. [ Ew, that sounds ALMOST like fondness. Almost. Careful. ]