Week 3 Mingle

[foundationmods]

The last week has brought the first spilled blood. Three of the contestants are gone, with the promise of more to fall soon. The atmosphere around the house will start to get heavy around Wednesday, which is when the first game of the week is. It's almost like the house knows something is up...

The conspiracy is beginning to unravel. Dazai isn't Dazai, and the cracks are forming in his act. But that act must be held up, or the Foundation will be brought in to take control of the game. Now everyone must play the part and act like everything is normal, at least on camera. That stress of always performing is bound to make someone crack eventually.

Once again, the cameras and microphones change. The contestants will have to search out new spots for their secret conversations. Even one wrong step, one wrong word, and it's all over for this group. Everyone is watching, and they need to play their roles.

They better keep an eye out too, because storm clouds are starting to loom over the area, both figuratively and literally.

Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursdsay

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[darkova]

[It's only because of dancing with Velvet and his mother as a child that he's able to keep up, allowing himself to just go with the flow of her movements]

A-ah... careful-!

[His words might be cautious, but he's not really trying to stop her.]

[prayerwheel]

Apologies, apologies. I'll slow down a bit.

[ He gets a bright smile from her, because this actually is cheering her up. ]

Koukaishiteta
Natsu no hi no gogo
Atashi ni ame ga futta
Shizuka ni
Shizuka ni

[ The lyrics come out as whisper-like, and she opens her eyes again--for a brief second, she looks sad. Right, this was the same singer whose song she sang on Friday night. It'll probably take her a while to hear that song the same way again. But...this is a different song, about a different topic, and she's...not going to get her heart broken again, right? Twice in the same week?

Right? She forces a smile back onto her face. ]

[darkova]

[He sees that flicker- how could he not, looking at her face so carefully?]

Don't hide, Azura- a dancer should be honest.

[prayerwheel]

[ She stops and takes a step back, folding her arms behind her back. There's a moment of silence where she considers saying something, but

Nah.

It's a risk versus reward scenario, and she took the risk with Dazai and got hurt for it. She doesn't want take it again, with someone else who has even better odds of turning her down.

So she's not going to say anything at all. ]

...sorry. It's--nothing I feel like talking about, right now.

[darkova]

That's fine- we all have our secrets. Me more than most. But you don't have to pretend if you do not wish.

[prayerwheel]

I wouldn't say it's much of a secret.

[ The forum members watching them dance apparently already know, thanks internet, she loves being shipped.............. ]

[darkova]

[He suspects certain things- but they are things that don't need to be dragged out.]

Very well. Would you like to sit for a bit?

[prayerwheel]

[ She feels like refusing would be the better option for her sanity, but. Nnnn. ]

...I suppose so.

[darkova]

[Sitting on the porch~

If she was expecting him to press her for info it's not happening. He just closes his eyes and tries to relax, giving her something like privacy]

[prayerwheel]

[ She's quiet for a long, long while, resting her chin in her hands and staring out into the grass of the yard. ]

...apologies for bringing down the mood. I'm still in a rut of feeling sorry for myself, it seems.

[darkova]

I have no room to judge on it. The idea of anything beyond grief is still... something I'm getting used to again. And this is not exactly the best setting for healing. For any of us.

['For either of us' is unstated- he doesn't know much of her story, but he'd be blind to miss her sadness]

cw talk of suicide

[prayerwheel]

[ Ha. Well, that pretty much confirms she was right not to say anything. ]

I just...feel like such a fool. Expecting anything to get better.

[ Her lack of a love life. Her emotional state. Her lifespan. ]

I used to think....everything hurt so badly I wanted it to just stop. I wanted to be gone but I didn't want the pain of death. If I could just disappear into nothingness, it would have soothed me. And things...improved, for a while, for years, and now, it's like I'm a child again. I don't know if I'll ever see my family again, or if I'll die here, or if I'll find someone who returns my affection, or if I'll ever stop feeling like I'd be better off having not been born in the first place.

[darkova]

[His eyes widen in surprise at her words- less at the sudden emotion, since he suspected she was holding something back. But at how familiar it is.]

Azura-!

[ he moves to take her hands if allowed]

You saved my worthless life- if just for that alone your life is precious to me. But even beyond that... if you were not here, I don't know if I could bear it. When I was a child... I too wanted to be gone. But I was too much of a coward. I let the people that loved me suffer in my place... and I refuse to let that happen again. If I can ease your suffering even a little, please, depend on me.

1/2

[prayerwheel]

[ He can take her hands, but they're limp and she doesn't move aside from her mouth dropping open at this sudden declaration. ]

Ingway...

[prayerwheel]

[ Her expression drops, again.

She appreciates the thought, she really does. But sadly, if depression were cured that easily, she'd have been healed when Mikoto and Sakura and Hinoka and Ryouma loved her without hesitation all those years ago. ]

...I can't ask that of someone like you. I truly can't. It would be far too cruel.

[ You can't ask someone to get over their grief just because of how you feel. ]

I don't...want you to just swap your happiness for mine.

[darkova]

[He looks down at their hands, a pained look on his face]

It's strange... I've been happier these two weeks than I have been since I was a child. It's sick in a way, that I can dare be happy when everyone is suffering so much.

[prayerwheel]

If you can be happy, you should. It's hard to come by in a place like this, so grasp it if it's given to you.

[darkova]

Then, by logic, so should you.

[prayerwheel]

I...

[ risk vs reward

risk vs reward

risk vs reward ]

I--I don't...know if I can...

[ ............ ]

...can take being turned down twice in one week.

[ so she's not saying it outright

but he should get the implication, here ]

[darkova]

[He does, and looks up at the sky- "I care for you, Ingway. Truly... care."

Her last words to him. At the time he had howled in pain. "My fate is cursed, I can not accept your pure feelings-!"

That declaration sat in his heart for the past two years. Stonehard and festering. The pain hadn't really healed, but... he remembered what Dazai had told him, about his perception being the reality. About clinging to his curse as an excuse to not move forward.

Finally, he looked back down]

I am not a good man, Azura. But... if you are willing to be slow with me, then... I would like to stand at your side.

1/???

[prayerwheel]

[ azura blinks

what did he just say ]

2/???

[prayerwheel]

[ maybe he misheard her?

maybe he thought she meant turned down as like. a partnership?

yeah that's gotta be it ]

3/5

[prayerwheel]

[ ......no, he definitely heard her. she made her intent clear enough.

For a second, she looks terrified. It's exactly like she said. She doesn't want him to swap his happiness for hers! What if he's saying that out of....obligation? Because he's been so dedicated to her?

But...didn't he say that he wasn't offering to be her retainer out of the kindness of his heart? Because he didn't like owing anyone debts?

If that was the case, why would he suddenly say something like that? ]

Y-You...you don't...

4/5

[prayerwheel]

[ Oh jeez.

Oh jeez oh jeez oh jeez what does she say

She stutters uselessly for a few seconds because this is the last kind of response she expected. She thought he'd just say something ambiguous! Or gently turn her down too! ]

You're really...you really--mean that?

done

[prayerwheel]

[ For all her experience pokerfacing, she's doing a piss-poor job of not bawling like a baby in public, lately. She's got a reputation to uphold, as the master of resting bitch face??? This is terrible??? ]

You're--you're joking, right?

[ but he's not, and that just makes more tears stream down her face. What about Mercedes? It was a joke when she asked him if he fancied Dazai, but his answer was serious, so what changed since then?

Her hands are still in his, so she pulls them close to her, clutching them like he might get up and walk away. ]