( IC INBOX / BUSINESS CARD )

[manuscripture]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, ROHAN KISHIBE. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 512.66.730.91 *** USER has joined 512.66.730.91 <AUTOMATED REPLY, DO NOT RETURN:> You have reached the inbox of Rohan Kishibe. I am currently away and unable to answer messages. Leave a BRIEF message with a subject line below. Messages will be replied to in order of importance and subject matter. Advertisements and junk mail will be ignored and blocked from this server.

[ 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]

It's fine. I have time to talk.

I'm happy to.

[karappo]

i kindof wish i didn go to the bar
i dont usualy drink this mush without my brothers

["This much" is only two beers.]

[manuscripture]

You don't seem to be a drinker.

I'm sorry. I know it doesn't mean anything.

[karappo]

i mean i will but
dont tell anwyone but i dont liek to drink a lOT cause iget

reeally drunk easy
but yeah i dunno i thought itd feel beter to go outside an have a drink or two
ur okay though right u havent been drinking? are you still feeling weird

[manuscripture]

I have returned home since and am recovering. Leaving was never the right idea.

I'm much better now.

[karappo]

yeah...
is it safe to come over?
im sorry i havent comed to work in a while
i do want to keep workging its the best and only job iv ever had

[manuscripture]

You may come to my home, yes.

Come to my room.

[karappo]

[There's a pause, but it's a short one.]

can i come tomorrow
im on the couch right now and i dont thingk i can move

[manuscripture]

Of course. I would be happy to see you.

I care for you too.

[karappo]

im glad to hear you do caus i was worried
i mean youre one of the only real friends i have so

okok ill come over tomrorwo sometime after im
notdying
thankyou rohan-san
i mean kissha
isk
kishibe-san
fuck these claws omyrgod

[manuscripture]

Get some rest, Karamatsu.

[karappo]

[Karamatsu wakes up...late. He wakes up with his leather jacket shielding his eyes from the sun and his whole body aching from sleeping on their shitty couch all night. He vaguely remembers waking up a few times in the night to either fight or succumb the urge to be ill, among other things. But at least he knows well enough to get some water while he's checking to see if he's alone in the house, checking his laptop to...

...oh god.

It takes Karamatsu an hour of self reflection to even want to deal with this, trying to remember...what the hell he even did the night before. At least he knows he talked to Rohan, breaking the ice in possibly the most awkward way possible for both of them.

Eventually, he sucks it up and messages him again.]

I am sorry about all of that. I am sober now.
I will still come over in a bit, if you do not mind.

[He sort of feels like he HAS to, now.]

[manuscripture]

[ And there is the 'oops i'm sober now' message that Rohan gets to a few hours later. Poor Karamatsu. ]

That was always allowed.

Don't get drunk again.

[karappo]

[Listen he has to make sure, okay...]

I do not plan to, trust me.
That was not very...appropriate, I apologize. We should speak in person.

[manuscripture]

Like I said, come to my room.

I'm warning you ahead of time that I'm shedding again. So I will be working on that while we speak.

[karappo]

That does not bother me. I will be there soon.

[And that's the last Rohan will hear from the Faerie before he's off, but it takes less time to get to the castle than expected. Mostly because he made a set of rings from home to work, so it serves as a shortcut to basically everywhere else, too. Including Castle Luvchaque.

He enters without much preamble, but the moment he gets past the doors he's overwhelmed with the urge to leave. It's instinctual, he knows, this reaction to want to flee before he sees the Naga. But he forces himself to continue on to where he knows Rohan will be anyway.]

[manuscripture]

[ Rohan leaves it at that, honestly expecting the worst of what is to come. He hasn't seen Karamatsu since his maiming. He isn't sure he wants to see the results of his work.

He distracts himself with his thicker spots on his arms that have started to pop up and demand to be buffed away. Karamatsu will find him with his door opened just a crack so that he may freely walk in of his own accord. A pail of water sits in front of him and he is scrubbing at his forearm on the right side where his gashes once sat from Karamatsu's own claws...

Flake, flake... ]

[karappo]

[He moves slowly as he reaches Rohan's door, able to hear the sound of his skin peeling off his arms even before he gets to it. He tries not to hesitate in a way that will just make actually entering worse, but he can't help it. He doesn't feel safe, being closed up in a room with him. And he hates that he's thinking that way, now.

Karamatsu takes a breath and finally pushes the door in, letting it open a good deal before he actually walks in. As expected, he's definitely asymmetrical, now. Wings useless, one right arm gripping his midriff while the others hang at his sides. He's wearing one of the jackets he made, except the sleeve on the left hangs limp and empty.

Despite all of this, though, he tries to force a smile when he's in eyesight.]

More...more material for new outfits...right?

[manuscripture]

[ It's looking like his arms are going to be sporting jailhouse stripes and his tail is more trippy this month. It's still a work in progress as he is chiseling away. ]

Maybe. It's a little flakier this month from all of the stress. Some of it might be salvageable. I will be able to tell when I work on my tail some more. [ He pulls his eyes up, zoning in immediately on the flappy sleeve. He frowns. ]

I suppose I shouldn't ask how you are doing...

[karappo]

[Karamatsu swallows, his throat dry.]

There is really nothing to be done about it now.

[He shifts from one foot to the other, looking at one corner of the room.]

I have you to thank for being alive, anyway.

[manuscripture]

[ The sound of the towel breaking apart his skin is a little on the weird side-- even after a year of doing it. He stops. ]

I fought it. I tried to.

I... [ His lips press into a line. ] I don't know what I was thinking.

[karappo]

...I-

[Karamatsu's own lips pull uncomfortably around his mandibles, recalling the conversation he had with Ichimatsu about this. He decides to repeat the same words now that he said then.]

...you did not attack me, Rohan. She did. I have no interest in the gods...so. I am certain I am disposable to her.

[He was meant to be an example, but Rohan was able to fight it long enough that he only became part of one.]

I just happened to be the only target at the time.

[manuscripture]

[ Karamatsu never uses his first name. This is a first. ]

She did make me do this. [ And he'll admit it. ] She told me to begin harming Neutrals. It's why I hid the way I did while I still had time to think.

I failed to inform you because I ran out of sense.

[ A beat. ]

I blacked out. I don't remember a thing.

[karappo]

[Yeah, he...expected that. It makes him wonder just how deeply ingrained Rohan is, now. There probably isn't any way for him to be free from her clutches, now.

It's hard to think about, but it's not his responsibility to tell Rohan to stay aligned or not. It's none of his business, at least not until this sort of thing happens.

He waffles for a moment before stepping a bit closer to where he's coiled up on the floor.]

...do you think it could happen again?

[manuscripture]

[ Rohan doesn't flinch away. He just picks at one of the 'scars' on his arm to pop the pearly scales away. ]

I can't say that it won't. [ He's honest. ] But I can't say that I won't have better control or be able to handle it next time either. It's a double-edged sword.

It scared me, Karamatsu. It truly did. The only person who could take me on in a fight like that and win is Jotaro. No one else would be able to make it out alive.