craven castle: private conversation, week 2, tuesday

[lullabytes]

WHO: Nanami & Kuzuryuu.
WHEN: Week 2, Tuesday, 8:30PM.
WHAT: Nanami wants to test a theory and volunteers Kuzuryuu.

[ Around half an hour after dinner ends, there's impatient knocking at Kuzuryuu's door - to the tune of the forest song from Ocarina of Time, because it's Nanami. She has some clothes folded nearly under her arms for some reason. ]

Kuzuryuu-kun? Kuzuryuu-kun, it's me. Open up.

Comments

[lullabytes]

...It's a quote from Baten Kaitos. Ah, you know - no one at home would have gotten these quotes, either.

[ She's used to it, almost. ]

But...you should. Those are the pictures I keep fixed in my mind all the time. It's...better than the alternatives that you could use to keep yourself moving forward. That future, you...absolutely must reach it, all of you.

[impheired]

[Jesus Christ, Nanami, how are you a real person. oh wait.]

[Kuzuryuu grimaces at her mention of "alternatives" he could keep in mind. Look, it's just easier to focus on what he saw in the fireplace than to think happy thoughts.]

[For a few moments, he doesn't say anything at all. He just seems to mull over her words in his head.]

Oy, Nanami...what does your brother do, if you don't mind me asking. You keep saying he's too busy to spend time with you but... You don't have to answer if you don't want to, I'm just curious.

[And he wants to steer the conversation back into something that might be slightly more normal.]

[lullabytes]

I don't mind talking about him. My big brother...he's...sort of an administrator? He runs a really important computer network and program, back home. He's often really busy with that, so...I never wanted to bother him too much. He does make time for us, but he's...just busy, especially now, I think.

[ She pauses, clearly uncertain. ]

I've never gone this long without talking to him. Or Usami-chan. It's...weird.

[impheired]

[Watch and be amazed as he completely misses yet another hint that there is Something Up With Nanami. It's just like back on the island that he doesn't remember. Ah, good times.]

Ah. Well...you'll get to see 'em again soon enough. Since we're all going to make it out of here, right?

['all' being their little murder family...]

[lullabytes]

...Mhmm. I'm going to give everything I have to make sure you all make it out of here alive.

[ Every last one of you. ]

[impheired]

[Kuzuryuu falls silent for a minute or so, just staring at the floor with a weirdly unreadable look on his face.]

She tell you what she's planning? Peixes, I mean.

[lullabytes]

[ And we will never know if that was a Dangan blind spot or a subtle topic change...

Nanami shakes her head. ]

Nope. But...she was very confident. I think...that she's given it a lot of thought.

[impheired]

[probably the former, who are we kidding.]

Well I sure as hell hope she's done that much at least! You can't just go and do something like this without a plan. She may have us on her side, but there's only so much we can do...

[lullabytes]

...But we'll give it our all. So...we have to believe in Feferi.

[ Nanami doesn't want to see any of them die. ]

[impheired]

Tch, yeah, well that goes without saying now doesn't it? She's just gotta give us something to work with.

[They can only hope.]

...so how long has it been, anyway?

[Have you been keeping track, Nanami?]

[lullabytes]

[ She glances at the clock. ]

...We have a few minutes left, but we're almost timed out.

[impheired]

This better fucking work. I am not looking forward to having to explain this if I actually am breaking the damn rules here.

[So much ridicule...he can already tell.]

[lullabytes]

...Wouldn't it just be..."We talked for a while about our families and lost track of time"? I don't think that's too odd.

[impheired]

Yeah, that rule isn't the awkward one. [He takes the skirt between his fingers and lifts it slightly, as if he were curtseying while still sitting down.] This is the awkward one.

[He lets the skirt fall.]

Technically, if this doesn't work, I'm breaking two damn rules here.

[lullabytes]

..."Nanami made me do it"?

[ SINCE...

SHE DID. ]

[impheired]

...you have no fucking clue what pride means to a man, do you?

[WELL SHE'S A GIRL, KUZURYUU.]

[lullabytes]

I'm not a man, so why would I have such a thing...?

[ HONESTLY... ]

[impheired]

You've got a brother, don't you? Doesn't matter if you're actually the one who...oh fuck it. Just forget it.

[Kuzuryuu, stop sulking.]

[lullabytes]

Mm, I do. But...he's not very manly...? Well, he sort of looks like he is a little...

[ A pause. She feels like she's missing something here, and isn't sure...what...

After a second, Nanami continues. It could have been one of her usual "pause to load conversation" pauses, but... ]

...He's not like you, at least.

[impheired]

[Okay, he'd probably write that off as just a Nanami pause if it weren't for the fact that like everyone's memories are fucked up. He knows that pause. He's done it himself a few times.]

...you can't remember what he looks like, can you?

[lullabytes]

[ Perhaps the longest pause she's ever used with him. It's long enough that it seems like Nanami's not going to answer, and then... ]

...I should, but...for some reason, I can't be sure.

[impheired]

With as much as they've fucked with our memories, I can't say I'm surprised. There's someone whose face I can't remember for the fucking life of me either.

...Actually, I can't remember anything about 'em, really.

[It's really weird. Sometimes he almost wonders if he's imaging it.]

[lullabytes]

...Who would that be? That is...you can't remember them, but...what do you remember about them?

[ Now she's curious. ]

[impheired]

[Kuzuryuu sighs, shifting in his seat so that he can lean forward over his knees, propping his chin up with his hands.]

I don't...know who they are. It's not just that I can't remember what they look like or how they sound or what their name is...I have no fucking clue who they are. I mean...you know your brother is your brother, even if you can't remember what he looks like. And Upland mentioned she had a fiancé or something last week, right? It's not like that for me. I can only guess what role they played in my life.

[He scrubs at his face.]

They're almost...more like a damn ghost than anything. It's like the jackasses who brought us here tried to erase 'em from my memory but couldn't quite manage it entirely or something, fuck if I know how this shit works. Maybe the opposite is true. Maybe this person was never real to begin with but they're fucking with me and trying to make me think they are.

[He's not sure which option he prefers here, to be honest...]

But if they do exist, all I know is...whoever they are, we've known each other since we were kids. And I'm almost positive we were supposed to go to Hope's Peak together but I can't be certain.

[Twin sibling? Friendly cousin? Childhood friend? We just don't know.]

[lullabytes]

[ Let's all take a moment to remember that this deep, meaningful conversation is taking place while Kuzuryuu is in drag.

Remembered? Okay.

Nanami tilts her head to the side, still leaning forward herself. It's weird to be sitting in her room speaking secrets to someone other than Usami, but it's not a bad weird: she never really had friends outside of her siblings until she came here.

Even if she knows she'll have to give up every last one of them when the game ends, it's a nice feeling. ]

...It's not me, at least. I don't...have a childhood...? I have no memories like that.

[ She sort of does. There are important memories she's missing here about the people she'd willingly die for, and she's talking to one of them about another one of them, wow. ]

...But they sound like someone who was really important to you, don't you think...? If they couldn't entirely erase it, because...they were so important...?