yogen | narumin rescue squad

[ Oh thank the lord they're leaving ]

Go downstairs and make a left. You'll have to undo the latch before you can open the door.

[ ...

He gives an experimental wiggle of his foot. Nope, still stuck. ]

Will this wear off soon? If not... can one of you bring my blanket over here...

[ Please he just wants to sleep ]

Oh! Sorry, let me get that for you.

[responsible mages know how to undo their own curses, so instead of leaving Narumi to sleep on the floor he'll dispel the dreaded feet-glue hex. there is probably another "please" and "thank you" in whatever the dispelling incantation is, Clamor is just like this.

he also bends down to offer Narumi a hand up. he'll be really sad if he's rejected...]

I suppose we'll be off, then. Although... [something's kinda bugging him, now that they don't have a person dying and he can actually take a second to think about it. his smile falters.] Are you home alone tonight, Narumi? That gun shot was pretty loud... shouldn't one of your family members have come up to make sure you're okay?

[ ...okay, the pleases and thank yous are enough to convince Narumi that Clamor won't immediately snap his wrist if he takes his hand, so he accepts that help back up onto his feet.

Ah... He caught that, huh. ]

It's just me right now. I had a dog, but when I came back one day, the lock on the front door was broken, so he either ran away... or somebody took him. If you guys come across a Japanese spitz... His name is Satou.

[ it means sugar ]

[Ok, instructions for getting out aquired and like Sara hoped, Narumi suddenly becomes infinitely more agreeable now that they’ve agreed to leave. Maybe enough they can actually talk to him, or poke around his house on the way out.

Ah…speaking of leaving. She has something to do.

While Clamor frees their (not) hostage, Sara gives them her most polite beaming smile, turns and darts back towards the closet. It’s not hard with the door open to start digging around for one of dear sweet Narumins coats and toss it at the still bloodstained Sou. ]

Put this on so nobody gets in trouble ok? I’ll return it later! [ She’ll take her own sweater off and carry it, and no dream cops will see a couple of bloodstained young adults running out of Narumi’s house. ]

Are you feeling better, Sou? I…I didn’t know doing this would get so dangerous.

[ HE KNEW THEY WERE BURGLARS

Don't just put— blood is so hard to wash off-

hhhhhh ]

Sorry... [ This is at Shin, who he did shoot, however justified he felt at the time. ] I have extra clothes if you wanted to change. It'll probably be more comfortable than just covering up with a coat. Blood should be washed off quickly before it sets, too...

[ He has plenty of experience washing blood off his clothes. He knows how it can be. ]

[Completely unaware of how yakuza movie he'd just come off, Shin's likewise decided to leave Clamor as the official smoothing things overer in favor of pacing over to the desk and leaning most of his weight on both it and the wall, moonlight from the window falling across him.

And then a coat hits him in the face, his free hand reflexively coming up, the scarf ends curving up in consternation before falling back down as he lowers the coat to look over the sadly already bloodstained (sorry Narumi) fluff at Sara.]

...N-not like I'm dying at least. Clamor's magic really is something, isn't it. Ahaha...

...

[He knew this could get dangerous, lethal, from his experiences on the fourth floor, braced for it but... he wasn't expecting it to escalate so quickly either, no chance to think or negotiate or try to escape. He's trying not to think about how the other group is doing, because there's no way to know and nothing to be done right now, it's not helpful.]

Having second thoughts, Sara?

[Like a sentence with the same words and wildly different meanings and levels of occlusion dependent on tone... it's not pointed at all, said over his customary if slightly strained smile. He lifts up the coat with the arm it's draped over shaking a little; it's a heavy coat, and he's lost a lot of blood, and that's just what happens when you start cooling down from a tense situation sometimes; clearly contemplating how exactly to do this. One of the scarf ends twitches and then the other as he tries to move them deliberately instead of letting them do their thing while also not thinking about the implications of it, but they're really not well-suited to this sort of task. He gets one arm in a sleeve and then is kind of stuck, staring at his shoulder, arm, scarf arm and coat arm with equations around his head when Narumi speaks and it lifts.]

Right... just a new shirt'd be good... [He can take off and bundle up his jacket so the blood's not visible maybe; he's not leaving it even if this is a soulscape and it doesn't really matter, but he's not emotionally attached to his shirts. He also knows the woes of getting blood out of things.] That'll be my problem now, won't it... since it's my blood?

[Awkward laundry acquaintances ended at Atsushi now the guy who shot me is my commiserator. But no, this is his soft warm unco-operative coat now, fair's more than fair. You shot him. He's wound-licked it.]

[ Better for him if it's no longer his problem, so Shin gets to walk away with his own clothes and an extra shirt and coat— which might be a good thing considering it's started raining again and the outside world is not stasis hexed.

Aside from the mess of a room that Narumi would be relieved if they just left it alone and went on their way instead of insisting to help him clean, the hallway outside is kind of a mess too. There's a laundry hamper left outside of the bathroom half filled with clothes, and another room at the end of the hall that's too out of the way for them to make an excuse to go look at, since the stairs are right across from Narumi's room. The stairs are carpeted this kind of ugly grimy pink. From downstairs they can see the kitchenette to the right and a living room past it, and the front door to the left. Instead of family pictures on the walls, there are photographs instead of crows and raccoons and stray cats and dogs and those sorts of urban wildlife, capturing moments of motion against the greyscale city streets. There is only one pair of outdoor shoes set at the front doors, next to which hangs a small harness for a dog as well as a set of house keys Sara will find familiar. The door itself contains a regular lock, a rim lock, barrel bolt, and chain lock, the latter there looking newer compared to the doorknob, like they'd been installed recently. Narumi remains on standby behind them all until they leave so he can relock everything and then check that all the windows are secure before going back to bed.

Overall it's a two story apartment, very narrow and cramped. ]

[Now that everything isn't happening so much and while we're still here for the moment, or at least still on the way out... where is that ticking noise coming from? It's been on his mind.]

[ bomb underneath the floorboards ]

[A BOMB??? ]

Don't be like that. Of course I am? I don't want you to get hurt! Honestly, who knew the guy we were trying to save would turned out to be armed.

[ She reaches over to help him tug the jacket on fully, and fusses with doing buttons. It's cold, and raining and Sou's lost a lot of blood. That can't be a good combo. Maybe someone who lives here should offer Sou some tea, wink nudge, wink.

And man, when they all start leaving its not like Sara can resist at least putting some (non bloodstained) clothes in the hamper. She knows...she knows they aren't supposed to stick around and clean but this is important. Narumi's fridge...is stared at longingly and with a touch of fear. Does it need to be cleaned...? Are you eating okay?

...The array of locks do explain the absurd amount of keys on that keychain she "borrowed". Sara had kind of assumed maybe Narumi had a bunch of hobbies. :/ ]

Er... [ How to ask "is this house even safe to leave if you have a bunch of locks, and a gun, and maybe a bomb" without sounding rude. ] Why so many locks?

Uh.

[ Hm. ]

I told you how the place got broken into and Satou ran away, right? It happens a lot. Be careful out there... Try not to walk around alone. Stay under the street lights as much as you can.

[Why is there a bomb under the floorboards. I wish I could say this was the most unsettling house Shin's ever been in, but it's a close second place now.

...Narumi wouldn't keep it there if he was planning for it to go off, at least while he was still in the building, right? Right. Unless it's there without his knowledge, but surely he has to have noticed... at this level of locks-on-door shoot-on-sight-ness paranoia...]

...

[He gives up and lets Sara put the coat on him, with the somewhat disgruntled air of a cat longsufferingly letting you put a sweater on it, and a slight wince whenever the shoulder is jostled. Once it's on and he's moving a little albeit having to stop and rest or lean on things a lot, his sluggish body heat does start getting to work, Narumi has good taste in coats.]

...Good advice. We should... figure out where we're going before we leave, too. Don't want to spend any more time out there than we have to, if it's that rough...

[He's not looking forward to the 'am I going to get mugged' thoughts, it's been four months since that now mundane-seeming worry has been needed, transposed onto other things. He doesn't have any cash on him at least apart from like. 26 yen that's apparently just considered part of his soul in change in his jacket pocket, along with the lint.]

Even so... Turning the house into a crater seems a bit much in terms of self-defense, Narumi-san.

[Shooting him also is a bit much, but you know what he means.]

...What do you mean?

[ ...

You know how, like, when something's buzzing or ringing or ticking in the background for so long your brain gets used to it and you don't perceive it anymore unless your attention is specifically brought back to it? ]

[He's more likely to assume Narumi's dodging the question rather than just can't hear it, but the response is the same either way. He sits on information at the best of times but 'hey, there's a bomb here'... the sort of thing the rest need to know. It does make a thread of worry start to trickle in, though.]

That annoying ticking under the floorboards... don't tell me you've just hidden a clock there.

[It's not a clock, he's sure of it... call it a premonition.]

Um...where are we going? Good question. I don't even know where we are... I guess we could look for the other group? Maybe they're having better luck then us? Or get dinner! We're outside, so senpai, are there any good ramen places near here?

[ Luck. Komeada. Its a joke, get it. Anyway she's not sure if they're actually in the same place but if Narumi is kicking them out, Sara's at a bit of a loss. Hanako did not give detailed instructions on how to heal a soul.

Well, lets just hope for the best! ]

Maybe its one of these locks? [ She taps the biggest one. Tap tap. ] Like, a time keeping one! So you know what time it is when someone breaks in? Haha...

Sara, why would it be under the floor?

[Sorry to go all wrong answer in trials on you but... what. Come on. Well, maybe there's a basement but... no, it doesn't make sense.]

...Ramen sounds really good right now. [He's increasingly wanting out of this house, for multiple reasons... that being one of them.] ...You come too, Narumi.

[He can't actually force him to... even less than normally even, but... doesn't feel like a good idea to leave him here anymore.]

Edited (can't think bc music but might have misread smth earlier) 2021-10-25 03:40 (UTC)

[ No offence, but he maybe doesn't want to go with people who didn't know what they were doing here, don't seem to know what they're going to do out there, and also admitted that the other half of their gang is waiting out there. ]

Sorry, I already brushed my teeth.

[ Can't eat after you brush your teeth, that's the rule. ]

There's not going to be much still open this late at night, but I can give you directions to a place that's cheap.

Er...maybe there's a basement down there? And its also locked, and thats why there's a ticking noise?

[ Which translates too: She has no idea. Locks seem like the only thing in this house expensive enough to be ticking. ]

Ah, okay. My treat though, if you change your mind? [ Brushed his teeth, but not that he's had dinner? Its worrying in a way thats hard to put her finger on. Well...if free food isn't tempting, Sara doubts much more then putting him at gunpoint is getting Narumi out of this house ]

I just want to eat something from a restaurant, so I don't care if its the worst raman ever!

[ It's an apartment building so maybe the downstairs neighbors are the ones they should judge, leave him alone ]

A restaurant. [ He was thinking more of those street stalls, but okay... okay. Some people have money and can afford fancy dinners. ]

There's a restaurant near the center of town, where all the skyscrapers are. It's pretty far, so... I guess I could come with you, to show you the way. We can probably catch a bus there if we're quick enough, but it'll be too late to take one back, so hopefully you guys are meeting up with your friends somewhere in the city.

[Clamor may or may not have been trying to straighten up Narumi's room while the others were chatting, but considering his own lab back home tends to be kind of a mess, well... at least some of the mess has been moved from the floor onto a chair. It's less of a tripping hazard now!! Narumi's bed is also made. What else can he snoop at while Narumi is distracted... maybe the rooms of his other family members? How clean are those? You know, just to see if he's getting these bad habits from anyone, or if there are any other weapons/bombs in the building they should be worried about...

but anyway let's assume at some point he slips back into the entrance area to catch the end of this plan.]

Do you have a favourite place, Narumi? It doesn't have to be something fancy. [like, do they even have any money?? how much dream-change does Sara have in her pockets... maybe they should stick to whatever's cheapest]

Think of this as our way of making things up to you. [aka he still has to come along, he already admitted he'd be willing to so no take backs]

[ Clamor snoops at the other bedroom down the hall and finds it to be very clean in comparison to Narumi's. There's a large queen sized bed at the back of the room, a small bedside table on either side, and a small blocky television across from the bed on the opposite wall. He can see a layer of dust on the tables and on top of the television, like this room hasn't been dusted in a very long time. That's the only other bedroom in this place; it's the two bedrooms + half bathroom on the top half, and the kitchen + living area on the bottom. The ticking can be faintly heard somewhere in between the two floors. ]

Oh... uh. I don't eat out much. [ Who has the money for that? Eating out is like a once a year thing, like for birthdays or holidays except you got to choose just one to celebrate per year. ]

If you're treating, I'm not going to be making demands... Ramen would be fine. I haven't had it in a while.

[ Sara is choosing to believe that her boundless confidence that she has money will simply manifest into this world. She has not checked her wallet. ]

Me neither! Oh, I want extra pork...maybe we should get side dishes to share too...is anyone allergic to anything?

[ Are we really doing this, guys? Learning about Narumi not by destroying fragments of his hometown but by eating together and chatting and hanging out with him? ]

I hope there are good desserts...

[ Really the only thing he's interested in right now, knife out and poking at the small of Narumi's back to drive him out the door and down ten flights of stairs to the ground floor below, the elevator does not work. ]

["""clean""" except its caked in dust....... where your parents at, Narumi? tell them to clean more all that dust can't be healthy.]

Anything is fine with me. [Clamor is the world's worst vegan, he doesn't wanna be difficult... it's fine he'll figure it out when they get there. they're definitely just gonna take the bus to a restaurant and have a nice meal and nothing bad will happen along the way or when they get there.

also Clamor is standing on the wrong side and thus doesn't see Hanako threatening Narumi with a knife because i think its funnier this way]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

1/2

2/2 aka my normal reply

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject