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[nibs]

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11/5, evening

[doreimi]

Arnold and I are going out to see the firework show with a friend tonight. I know you're probably not interested in following along with us, but maybe think about going to see it yourself anyway?

It seems like there'll be a lot of people there...maybe you'll meet someone nice to talk to.

[nibs]

[...Ew. People. Definitely not the right angle to take with Rohan to convince him.]

I have better things to do with my time.

[AND ANOTHER THING:]

If I wanted to talk to people, I'm more than capable of finding people to talk to on my own. I don't need you trying to hold my hand or whatever it is you think you're doing.

[doreimi]

You mean encouragement?

Anyway, I thought I should let someone know where I'm going. So even if you don't go, have a good night, okay?

[nibs]

Your friend knows where you'll be. You don't need to tell me.

Goodnight.

11/17, evening

[doreimi]

Hey...just so you know, I might not be around tonight. Someone I met here is having kind of a hard time, and she's all by herself so I'm going to go keep her company for a while.

Don't stay up too late working, okay?

[nibs]

Stop telling me every time you're going out for the night. I already told you that I don't care what you do. But if you're that desperate for my attention and absolutely must tell me you're going out, spare me the details about what you're doing.

I don't care about your friend.

[doreimi]

You don't care about ANYTHING I do?

[nibs]

No.

12/23

[starmark]

All signs point to Josuke and Okuyasu being gone. I've looked into it.

[nibs]

Doesn't that figure?

[starmark]

It's different, to say the least. I've seen a lot of us arrive. Not so many have ever up and disappeared.

[nibs]

Just as well. That's two less headaches to worry about.

➥ super secret delivery; | 2/14

[doreimi]

[At some point on the 14th of February, a red paper takeout box ends up on an easily-noticed surface at Rohan's place — maybe near his work desk, maybe by his bed, maybe in the kitchen where he's sure to pass through. But either way, it's reasonably unobtrusive: nothing particularly fancy and with no particular fanfare, just there.

Inside, if he chooses to open it, he'll find his Valentine's day chocolate delivered in an equally unobtrusive way, featuring about a dozen chocolate-filled berries and a folded note that reads, in neatly printed Japanese: ]

You used to lecture me about how bad chocolate is for dogs...right before volunteering to eat all of Arnold's share of candy on his behalf. I thought you might not mind volunteering again this year. ~❤~

i'm not late... /clears throat

[nibs]

[Well, naturally Rohan's initial reaction is disgust and aggravation because he has much better things to do than waste his time on something as frivolous as these inane little holiday traditions. So although he's opened it and read it, for a little while, it goes completely ignored, untouched, and without response as he goes about his day. But he sees it a few times and can't ignore it completely. He thinks of responding. He drafts a half-dozen or so responses, varying in their degrees of scathing commentary that waxes and wanes with his irritation every time he looks at the small box. But even as he enjoys the spiraling, unkind responses in his head? He can't make himself pick up the watch and type all of that out. Not that he knows why precisely.]

[Or rather he doesn't want to admit to why because eventually, he stashes the note she's written somewhere to keep. He could care less about the berries or the chocolate they come with. He cares about that small scrap she's given him. So eventually, Reimi gets a very terse:]

Thank you.

[And he leaves it at that.]

post-izabel's departure | time is an illusion

[doreimi]

[It goes without saying that Reimi is patient. True, not every test of her patience is quite as severe as waiting more than a decade for the opportunity to bring her killer to justice, but even in her more everyday ones there's still that inclination to wait. Wait, wait and see, wait and hope, wait it out, wait and watch. Time isn't something she notices all that much anymore — at least not the passage of it. There's no point in measuring out your existence in increments of time when you're dead; once you're already past the countdown clock into overtime, that kind of thing doesn't really matter so much anymore.

So she waits, maybe longer than she should, to talk to Rohan. She hasn't forgotten the crux of her concern, far from it. But there's a saying about time healing wounds, and whether it does or it doesn't, the fact still remains that time changes things like water eroding away a rock. The circumstances now are different than they were before.

Izabel is gone, which means she's taken some of the tension with her, but which also means Reimi is out a confidante and close friend.

She doesn't really know what makes her decide this is the right time. Maybe it's just that she's finally come to the decision that there's no time like the present, and doesn't see any reason to put it off any longer.]

Hey...I know you're probably as busy tonight as you are every night, but do you think you could find the time to take a walk with me, maybe?

[Maybe it's that she's already sad about Izabel, so if this ends up going badly, well. At least she'll consolidate all of her sadness together, instead of stretching it out long over time.]

[nibs]

[It's not that Reimi doesn't still invite Rohan. He's fairly certain she'll never stop trying to invite him along on whatever silly thing she wants to do. It's just that they've come with lessened frequency lately. And that's just as well and to be expected. Rohan and Reimi are two separate individuals with very little overlap in how they wish to spend their time. There's only so many times anyone can be told no before they stop trying, even Reimi. And there was the somewhat unspoken, lingering disquiet in their relationship, anyway, that neither one of them was particularly willing to address. So, Reimi has her friends and Rohan has... Well, Rohan has his work. He doesn't need much beyond that.]

[But even still, he's suspicious of this invitation. It seems to be out of nowhere and such a mundane thing to do. It's also directly spending time alone with Reimi rather than trying to get him to spend time in a crowd. He hates this. He hates trying to navigate and decipher all of these little aggravating social contexts and cues. He'd just rather something far more straightforward. So, he pushes — no, forces it in that direction.]

What do you want?

[doreimi]

[It's tempting to say, "I just told you", but she knows full well that's not what he means. No, this is Rohan being too perceptive as always again, with no time for paying lip service to formality when he'd much sooner just get right to the point instead.]

I want to show you something I've been working on. And to hang out with you.

[She hesitates. This could make or break the whole attempt, but — honesty or nicety? Honesty. Honesty is the way to go.]

And I want to understand Heaven's Door better, if you'll let me. If you'll talk about him with me, I mean.

[nibs]

[Honesty is always the right way to go with Rohan. It'd only irritate him, and then he'd very quickly begin to ignore her as a cruel means of punishment for seemingly wasting his time. But his hesitation in answering now comes from the mention of Heaven's Door. It's not really a spike in anxiety that he feels, but his stomach drops completely and his blood runs irritatingly cold. He doesn't stay there, however, with that low feeling where he wants to slide under his desk and contemplate never coming out for the next decade or so. He just gets annoyed at the idea of repeating a conversation that's already been had, already been laid to rest to some degree that's been enough to maintain the peace between them. Why would she want to start dredging that up again?]

[He scoffs bitterly to himself, as he wonders whether being a revenant made her this persistent or if she was simply always like this.]

What is there to talk about? You know what it can do now.

[What he really means to say is You know what I did with it now. and Leave it alone, Reimi. Just leave it alone..]

december somthin

[digiorno]

i hear you're desperate to hear me talk about myself

[nibs]

I have never been desperate for anything in my life, but I certainly wouldn't start with anything related to you, Giovanna.

I have standards. I refuse to even begin the portrait unless I'm appropriately compensated. My pleasure at watching you experience delivering a legitimate personal truth to me will be the closest equivalent to the displeasure I'll experience in completing the commissioned portrait for Tonika.

I don't suppose there's any point in getting you to schedule an appointment since you'll only determine a time that's most optimal for yourself anyway and of a greater inconvenience for me. You might as well come to my house when you see fit.

[digiorno]

Jesus Christ, you are such a baby.

When is good for you?

[nibs]

And you're a self-important brat.

Stop by in the afternoon.

this isn't late you're late nobody's late and time is an illusion

[originallutece]

[She loves technology. She loves the fact she doesn't have to speak to someone in person anymore. She loves the fact that she can have a conversation without fear of it being recorded, because this kind of one-on-one vocal communication is so new that no one has developed a way to listen in yet.

And she loves it because it means she doesn't have to meet her clients in person, which makes it all the easier to sneak the fact she does have clients under her husband's nose.

So: ring, ring, Rohan; it's your patron calling.]

YOU'RE AN ILLUSION

[nibs]

[Rohan finds this technology to be an aggravating new invention. Or, well, he would if he had actual friends who contacted him on it with any sort of frequency. But that's the trouble with being so mired in one's work and being so pricky; one doesn't really have the time to develop friendships of any kind.]

[So, the underlying aggravation when he answers is more put-upon, more prospective for when he might have friendships in the future (or, more likely, alternate universe) than genuine to the moment or to his caller.]

What?

[originallutece]

I wanted to check on your progress.

[She loves that he doesn't greet her. She never bothers with pleasantries either; it's so much easier when you can leap into a conversation.]