𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚏𝚎𝚕𝚕, 𝚒𝚗𝚋𝚘𝚡.

[coherer]

JONAS WARD
"That's between you and your priest."

TEXT. AUDIO. VIDEO. ACTION.

Comments

[invinciblemikey]

(smokes. since when does he have to go buy his own smokes. they just magically appeared to him, everywhere. sanzu was good at making sure mikey had everything he needed at all times, after all.

so, a bit grumpy, he smokes one not too far from the store he purchased them, a yawn and smoke leaving his lips.)

[coherer]

(gathering the courage to leave his temporary lodgings? difficult. the siren call of nicotine is a compelling force, though, that pushes him out the door of the harbourside shanty and up the street to the nearest bodega.

the small shop looks promising, but the guy loitering outside can probably give him a better idea of the wares inside.)

Hey, you just buy those in there? (jonas asks, gesturing to mikey's cigarette.) I got rough directions, but, uh, I don't know if it's this spot or, like, one down the street that sells 'em.

[invinciblemikey]

That's the spot.

(he's been to the other shop, but honestly? the owner's vibes didn't sit with him. there's a nagging feeling that he knows this dude, one that makes him squint, but when his brain produces no memories or thoughts, he moves on.

by offering his pack for the taking of one stick.)

Try them first.

[coherer]

(mikey's offer should trip the alarm put in his head by his mother and father: "don't accept things from strangers." it doesn't. they're far away now, jonas is in purgatory, and he wants to fucking smoke.)

Uh, really? Thanks, man.

(one of mikey's cigarettes is slid from its pack, and jonas, having been stripped of his zippo on arrival, leans in automatically for a light.)

Have we met somewhere? You look, like, super familiar.

text ↪ un: 012601 (some time post-event)

[craters]

Hi Jonas!

Ready to start with your lessons? ✌️

[coherer]

Oh boy, I sure am.

I've been waiting by the phone with my lunch all packed. Let's do this thang.💉💉

[craters]

💪💪

See you when you get here, then! Just walk on in.

（ it's not like she... has... a door??? does a sheet of canvas covering the entryway count as a door? ）

[coherer]

Right on, lol

(jonas makes sure to grab his lunch and the lunch he promised sakura, both bundled lamely in brown bags, and heads out the door looking like a kid on his first day of school.

looking forward to it, he rushes a bit and arrives in record time. living harbourside helps, his lodgings little more than a couple of blocks from the docks. sakura's "walk on in" makes him hesitate at the canvas drapery, though, always awkward and occasionally for no special reason.)

(he decides to declare his entry, then sweeps the flap aside with a duck inside.) Hey, Doc, I'm—woah, cool setup.

un: henruit

[fessus]

[ Time? 1:17 am ]

Hey

[coherer]

(the notification rouses him from a light sleep. his mind's kept him from getting any decent hours in, too disgusted and made nauseous by his own stench—blood, the viscous, hours-old kind—to have pleasant dreams. noctis' text message is the closest he's gotten so far.

it's welcome, but jonas is questioning the intent behind it. there's no issue he takes with a late-night talk—no, it's the time stamp itself, gazed blearily at with a sudden quickening of his pulse, that makes him hesitate over his smartphone's keyboard.

there aren't many reasons a guy has to think about someone at one-seventeen in the morning. what is this?)

Hey yourself. You're up late lol

[fessus]

Apparently so are you.

[ Is it late? Those shockingly blue eyes – alert above newly developed dark circles – check the time, despite the general lack of respect for the concept as a whole that he's developing. Who cares? Is there anything he's doing, anything Jonas is doing, that has to be kept on a schedule? ]

You're younger than me. Shouldn't you be staying up later?

[coherer]

Apparently.😌

I think that whole age thing is a myth btw, even if I wanted to stay up, there's like nothing to do here anyway. Then I wind up reading ppl's convos on the network till I pass out.

wyd?

@harukaze, Backdating to a day after Naruto's post

[janescayre]

So tell me:

When you kissed that Naruto guy, was it your first time?

I'M CRYING

[coherer]

Girl ik I don't have to tell you how not involved you are and how that makes this none of your business.

My finger is shaking over the "block" button.

(a hollow threat when jonas' shadow is basking in all the drama.)

The people have a right to know

[janescayre]

But it seemed to be such a huge concern for the both of you? I thought I'd check if you were all right.

[There's not nearly enough hot goss here, let her have this]

[coherer]

(falls instantly for the ploy.)

Oh, sorry. Thanks ig, ik I jumped the gun on that one lol.

It isn't a huge concern. tbh it isn't even a medium-sized concern. I passed out bc I ate those candies at the harvest fest and he was just trying to save me bc he thought I was dying.

delivery (forward dated to nearer the end of the month after Bloodbath y2k has been solved??)

[craters]

（ he receives a little parcel. inside the parcel is a single piece of paper wrapped around a carved little whale that's a bit crumbly from the deterioration native to stygia that will rattle when he shakes it. the note, once peeled off, is written in painstakingly neat english:

Hey Jonas!

I hope this will lift your spirits a little after everything! This is a scavenger hunt! (not a scary one, pinkie promise!)


Hopefully you'll have a WHALE of a time.
— 🌺

if he rattles the whale enough, eventually a small marble will come out of its blow hole. the marble has a strange symbol entombed in the glass... the sigil for the L'HÔTEL DU RIVAGE which is a small inn not too far away from jonas' house.

investigating the hotel will lead him to a little old woman selling flowers complete in tiny pots, who will trade the marble for a white larkspur. The larkspur can symbolize love — but this particular colour just means purity of heart and happiness, and lighthearted humour.

(thanks, ino!)

the old woman will tell them that one characteristic of the larkspur is that they're a hardy plant that can grow in sand, and that perhaps he should look for a place to plant it. she recommends he go east and stop at the warbling duckling, which begun as a pale imitation of the bathhouses in mirth and became... frankenbuilding.

(not that kind of bathhouse, shush)

so, on our intrepid hero goes (maybe, idk, i'm not your supervisor), a few blocks over to the east, still well within the harbours. the building in question looks a bit sad and neglected, crumbling on its northmost face, but at least it seems to hold up on entry?

if he speaks to the man at the desk of the duckling, the man will exchange the flower for a key with seashells glued all over it that leads to one of the bathhouse rooms. the man who owns the duckling, as it happens, is a rather feckless businessman with more money and sense, and his ability to imagine oddities is kept in check only by his pocketbook. one room seems to have a failed attempt at laser tag? one room is clearly designed to test one's ability to walk across hot coals.

one even has a petting zoo! wild, right?

but this key opens one particular door, and inside is... a little corner of paradise! almost. if paradise were cheaply put together and made of tacky plastic...

four square walls, pale sand that leads into the little swoop of a wading pool. there are even an assortment of clams and other such features one might expect to find in a low tide.

the walls are painted to look like a broad, oceanic horizon, and the light overhead is a giant dome, diffusing soft, sunny light.

there's a nice lounging chair, a bucket filled with icy drinks, the ambient sounds of a beach being piped through the speakers and on the chair is another note —

Surprise!

Now, kick back, relax, and enjoy smelling back to normal (ha, ha.)

I can't get away from work, but please invite some friends (I think the room occupancy limit is six?)

And before you protest, the owner happened to owe me a favour, so this didn't cost me anything and I had fun setting it all up! 😘

frankly, it was just nice to be able to take her mind off her own troubles for a while, and throw herself wholeheartedly into just doing something lighthearted and cheerful in a place that's spectacularly ill-suited for such things.

in your face, creepy afterlife city. the kids are all right. ）

text, for whenever u wish to cure jonas' blood stank woes

[fallingsand]

[ Well, he had said he was going to the library to look, and lo and behold, a photo appears in a text to Jonas eventually. It's a close-up of a page detailing Jonas' exact problem and how to fix it. That fix would be to bathe in melted snow. How are they going to find snow? Uh, good question? ]

Found it!

fudges dates and just says "any time now"

[coherer]

omg you are my hero. I owe you bigtime. I'll do slave labour, I'll give you my next paycheck, I'll braid your hair, whatever dude. Name it.

(...)

Wait, does that say "melted snow"?

[fallingsand]

Yeah, I wouldn't thank me yet since
no idea how you're going to find enough melted snow for that?

1/2

[coherer]

I wonder if it has to be real snow. I wonder if a bunch of shaved ice would work.

Like you could sprinkle it on my head and I'll just roll around in the puddle afterward.

2/2

[coherer]

Who am I kidding? ofc that won't work. This place probably wants me to travel somewhere horrible where I'll most likely die.

Again.

text ↪ un: 012601

[craters]

Hey!

Pop quiz! Blue or yellow? Don't think, just answer!

[coherer]

(staring at this text message for way too long)

You are such a weirdo lol

Um, ofc it has to be yellow. Yellow all the way.

[craters]

（ this is like... an hour later. ）

What's weird about that! Don't you ask your friends random questions?

（ for, you know, no discernible reason... ）