meatatarian | >> ic contact for ryslig

Ho ho ho! Your Secret Santa giftee is SAINT-GERMAIN, who also goes by "countvoncount" on the network.

Buy or make Saint-Germain a gift by December 26, or Santa will come down your chimney and box your ears.

If you need more information, contact me C/O Hawkeye Pierce at Crowe Clinic, and I'll delegate him to tell you to do your own research.

[ COMPLETELY IN IGNORANCE of the missive Chie received earlier this month, Saint-Germain has located her new comrade's address. Carrying a rather flat rectangular package wrapped in festive gold paper, she knocks on the door. ]

Satonaka Chie. It's Saint-Germain.

[It isn't often that someone knocks on the door asking for Chie, so she isn't really expecting it. At least she's sitting in the living room to hear the call outside the door, though!

When she opens the door, she looks decidedly more buggy than the last time Saint-Germain saw her. And not very spider-like, either.]

Oh! Saint-Germain! Hey!

[... what's that gift for-- OH.]

Oh, uh! Do you wanna come in? It's pretty cold out!

Thank you very much.

[ In she comes. A centipede, hm....Spengler's did list that as a possibility, for arachne, and Triffany Lottablog is hardly arachnid, either. ]

Are you adjusting well?

[She holds the door open, stepping aside and keeping the bulk of her new body out of the way. All of the 38-8 apartments are pretty similar, at least, but they've had to make some minor changes to the furniture layout lately because of her.]

I think so, yeah. It was pretty rough at first, since I got this body back in November when I blacked out and couldn't really remember much. Coming back from that to this was... kind of disorienting.

[Once Saint-Germain is inside, she closes the door and latches it back, rushing off toward the kitchen - and then hesitating. She should probably ask first before assuming!]

Oh, do you want a drink or anything?

I'm fine, thank you.

[ Saint-Germain won't say it, but she has....some sympathy....for the "woke up a monster, missed my changes" situation. She had been conscious for her largest transformation, but not entirely.....lucid. ]

[Well, that makes it easy! She'll just grab her water bottle off the table, then, and move back to the living room.]

Figured I'd at least ask. My mom would be rolling her eyes if she knew I wasn't.

[Not that her mom is here. But! Moving on! No time for homesickness! She takes a drink from her water bottle, and then glances back at the wrapped package.]

So, um. Is that for Akira-kun or Akechi-kun? Or...

[ Saint-Germain shakes her head. ]

We've yet to work together, but you're my comrade.

[ The present is therefore offered to Chie. ]

Happy Nattensfest.

[Oh! So it is for her. She caps her water bottle and sets it on the coffee table, then reaches out to take it.]

Wow, I... Thanks! I didn't expect anyone to get anything for me. It's not really much of a gift-giving holiday in Japan, but...

[Her curiosity is getting the better of her, though. Normally she'd just tear into the paper, but she's a little self-conscious about making a good impression, so instead she delicately opens the paper from one end until she can slide the whole thing off. What is it?]

I had to be taught about Ryslig traditions myself.

[ It's a learn to crochet kit! Saint-Germain has done several such kits herself, lately, as part of her experiments with "having a hobby", and found the process simultaneously stimulating and relaxing. Thus, for a fellow arachne, this gift should prove both practical AND pleasurable! It's perfect!! ]

[Oh...! The second she has the paper off enough to see what it is, her eyes open wide. Oh, it's so cute! These little animals would be right at home in Yukiko's room. She's never really done anything like this before, but... Well, it's a kit! It's meant for learning. And Chie has never been one to back down from a challenge!]

Oh my gosh, this is adorable. Thank you! As soon as I make these I know exactly where I'm going to put them.

[Her room is, sadly, pretty sparsely decorated still. She sets the box aside, folding the wrapping paper so it takes up less space in the trash.]

I actually have something for you, too! I was assigned to be your Secret Santa, but consider it double duty because I would have got you something anyway. One sec!

[Give her just a minute to dart down the hallway. She's not gone long, but there's still a thump of a doorknob bouncing gently off of a wall and some rummaging around before she returns, package in hand. It isn't quite as carefully wrapped, but it's wrapped reasonably well, and the paper is red with white snowflakes.]

Here you go! Happy Nattensfest!

My Secret Santa...? It was you -

[ And that means she gets a present, despite their barely knowing each other......Saint-Germain had been more than satisfied merely by seeing her gift was well-received, as she'd selected it going off common arachne psychological traits, but to receive something in kind....!

She's holding her present with great care. ]

Should I open it?

[Gladion just hands Chie's gift to her at one of their sessions.

Wrapping paper surrounds something lumpy and soft. It contains...

An unusually long scarf, dark green with brown and yellow accents (in combination they look sort of gold). He mentions (if she rips open the gift then and there, or the next time they meet if she waits to take it home) that he figured that, with the extra length, she could drape and wrap it however she needs to to keep all her shoulders warm.]

[ All members of W.E.B. will receive a care package for Nattensfest, including:
- A new pair of mittens.
- A supply of hot cocoa, ramen, and other warm & filling snacks.
- A coupon for one free pizza from Libeccio.
- A set of fabric paints, in order to customize your costume. ]

[ Nanami has managed to track down a small collection of videotape recordings of the movies from the April event. They're all starring people that Chie hasn't met, or that are gone from the peninsula - a ripoff of The Ring starring Rika Furude, an action movie about a large pink kaiju terrorizing a city, and a movie called Doctor Kaisenstein starring Ken Ichijouji.

(Also, as an employee of Insert Coin, Chie will of course receive a holiday bonus.) ]

Hey, good evening. It's Gladion. [not that she doesn't know his username he's just...sending the kind of messages he does] Akira is sleeping over at my apartment tonight. We were talking out something monster-related that happened (he's fine, don't worry).

oh gladion! hey!
thanks for letting me know
i would have wondered where he was if he didnt come home
does he need anything? i dont mind running anything over
even food

[oof]

No, we're alright, thanks. There's stuff in our fridge. [how delightfully nonspecific]

nah its no problem
its not a sleepover if you have to make your own food
ill bring something up

and i know you said hes fine but guys always say that
so tell him he really better be fine

[wh- HANG ON WHAT THE FUCK why is he being gender stereotyped!!

....

relays this to Akira]

Alright, message received. Just knock when you're here.]

[if you spent enough time with yosuke you'd say it too]

sure thing!

[It's about 20 minutes or so, but eventually, Chie does knock on the door.

[this is true and fair.

Gladion - not yet in pajamas, but in a long-sleeved undershirt and light pants that look house-wear-ish - opens the door, nods, steps aside, and points a thumb across the apartment. There is a large blanket fort. Akira is doing Something from within it.]

Proof of life. [Wait. Pizza? Mid-step back into the doorway, he pauses, looking vaguely surprised.]

[It is, indeed, pizza! It was quick, and it was cheap - actually, free, since she had a voucher for one! And she knows the pizza there is good, too. If there's one thing a friend needs in a moment of comfort, it's really good pizza. Or steak, but she's not made out of money.]

Good to know he's still alive in there. Hey, Akira-kun! [she calls in greeting as she hands over the box.]

[But once she does, she lowers her voice to a soft whisper, her expression dropping into something like concern.]

Is he really fine? Please tell me you guys are just like, having a really good talk or something.

[...Serious expression, holding up a finger.]

One second. [He'll take the pizza with a nod, take the few steps he needs to set it down, then bend to slip his shoes on and grab his coat off the rack.]

Be right back. [And with that call across the room, he will don his coat and slip out the door, closing it behind him.

Okay. Leaning on the door a little, he turns to face Chie, with the serious, attentive demeanor that's not uncommon on him. Not truly relaxed, but not actively concerned, either; ready to speak with gravity about anything, be it as grim as the red haze or as frivolous as preferences for long or short sleeves.]

It is a good talk, and he is alright. [Although, now that he's saying it to her face, he feels suddenly very aware of the many different kinds of alright, and how easy it would be to draw completely the wrong conclusion from that. He blinks, and fights an awkward grimace.] I mean that he's not - I think he'll stay alright. [And now he's aware that Chie would probably be a better judge of that than him because they live together and how does he even know that for sure anyways?] ...I don't intend to go behind his back here.

[Kind of quieter apologetic tone, with that stiff phrasing as if it's a matter of honor, like - he respects your intelligence and knows you're forming conclusions, sorry, please understand the rules he is playing by right now.]

[... oh. The second Gladion starts putting on his shoes and coat, she knows it's not just a normal talk. She shifts awkwardly on her legs, her original pair of arms joining the two currently stuck under her jacket in being folded up in a manner to conserve warmth.

And she stands, and she listens, for what little Gladion can actually say.]

... no, no, it's fine. It's not your business to tell, I know. If it's something that has him feeling like he needs to stay and talk, that's alright. He knows what he needs, and I'm glad he has someone he can talk to. So, thanks for being there for him.

[She takes a deep breath.]

I just-- worry. You know? We may be from the same world, but we never met back at home, so I don't really know him super well. But... he's my roommate, and I consider him my friend. And it's hard not to worry about friends, especially when someone says "don't worry, he's fine". I'd worry about you, too, if the places were switched around.

[Oh thank fuck. The part of him that always braces for capital-C Conversations of any type to go bad kind of collapses in relief at not being pressed.

He's not really sure what to do with being thanked by Chie on Akira's behalf, and it's harder to figure out on the spot than it was with Akira himself. He ducks his mouth into the collar of his coat under the pretext of breathing on his own nose, for a moment. And he nods throughout.]

I - yeah. [Like, he didn't personally "you know" until right about now, but he's not completely socially clueless, just sheltered. He knows of this whole dynamic, he just didn't have experience with it until now. Gladion almost just awkwardly blurts "thanks" to that last part, but his breath catches on it (audibly) and he corrects, riding the...high?...of whatever the hell has been going on between him and Akira for the last at-least-half-an-hour.]

Thank you, Chie. [Deliberately, genuinely, looking directly at her. He has sort of a pinched look around his eyes. He opens his mouth to say something else. And then he closes it. And then he sighs faintly through his nose, expression rumpling much more openly than is usual for him while he tries to figure out what exactly the fuck he wants to say.

The rough draft is something like "I hope you're ready to be normal about eating people" and it needs some serious editing before it can go to press.

Here, how about this:]

This place is going to put every one of us through our paces eventually. [The words themselves have that crisp little chuuni edge, but in the face, Gladion looks a little more vulnerable - raw, unrehearsed, like he's not bothering to anticipate Chie's reaction - than he ever normally would.] There's - you know how, when you worry -

[Fuck, wait, maybe she doesn't. Suddenly lost for words again, wondering, is it me who needs to be normal about this? I'm getting so off-script (thinking about how there's no way to talk about any of what we're dealing with that's on-script), maybe I'm doing something wrong?

Gladion rubs an exasperated hand up his face.]

[For someone like Gladion, it must be hard to talk about stuff like this. She can tell as much from the way he's reacting. It's almost like he's trying to piece everything together as he goes, like he has to say it just the right way. It's... strange, in a way that makes her a little concerned, but it's nothing urgent, so she stows it away for now. Maybe if it comes up again, or it's important, she'll bring it up. There's other stuff to talk about now.

And he falters, as he's stumbling over those words. She pauses, waiting to see if he picks it up again and continues what he intends to say, but he doesn't. That's when she smiles, for his sake, and reaches out to pat him on the shoulder.]

"Don't think, feel!" It's normally the motto I use for fighting, but it comes in handy for a lot of other things, too. Like talking. Sometimes, just letting the words come out is the best thing you can do!

[She's not being patronizing. He's genuinely having a difficult time, and she's offering help. That's how she sees it, anyway.]

So, c'mon. Say what you feel. Don't think about it, just say it. I'm not gonna judge!

[It is a really genuinely touching sentiment that he is taking at face value as hard as he can right now, and he's still not sure exactly what to do with it. If he could say what he felt without thinking - other than when he's angry and running hot and making mistakes left and right - he would be a lot better at a lot of different things.

The hand on the shoulder does honestly help a lot though. Like, it makes him a little uncomfortable, but under that it's just communicative in an earnest way that pulls him back into that space in the blanket fort. There was sort of a debt accumulating outside that space, waiting to recapture his attention; he feels invited to defer it a little further.]

Alright. [Not alright as in, he'll stop thinking, but alright as in, he'll go ahead and say what he was going to say. His hand drops from his face; he breathes in, then out.] Nothing that's...happening to us is just going to happen once. There's no recovery, it's not a "get well soon" type of worry. We have to - have - have you ever done things you know you won't be able to take back? Before all of this? In a bad way, where it's like you're jumping off the deep end and there's not going to be a ladder back up?

Do you know why are there so many socks in the kitchen?

I'm asking you specifically since Kurusu doesn't have a need for socks anymore and I don't either.

>> ic contact for ryslig

<KrisKringle>

sometime in december

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a Nattensfest gift

W.E.B. Care Package for Nattensfest

Nattensfest

<silverfeather> backdated to 12/12

<DeadlyDragon>

<silverfeather>

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<DeadlyDragon>

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<detective>

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, DeadlyDragon. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 016.57.122.68 * DeadlyDragon has joined 016.57.122.68 <DeadlyDragon> Hi! This is Chie! <DeadlyDragon> Sorry I'm not around! I'm probably busy. <DeadlyDragon>** Just leave me a message here and I'll get it when I can!