By Now, Robin Really Should've Been Used To Preparing For All Kinds Of Weather Given How Long He's Been

By now, Robin really should've been used to preparing for all kinds of weather given how long he's been doing this thing. ━ Bruce had never really been a take a scarf kind of guy, though, more of a check you have the essentials type, so maybe the little things couldn't be helped as much as he 'should' or 'shouldn't' have already been ready for a surprising cold-shock this early into the season. ( he's pretty sure he's already spotted ice beginning to form on the skins of uncovered pools and rivers, even if snow hadn't come just yet )

That still didn't make the cold air biting at his nose any kinder, though. the handful of thin layers between him & the chill, gloved hands tucked into his letterman jacket and curled into fists in efforts to shake off the icy feeling, weren't exactly the most promising. the white eyes of his mask stiffen into some kind of wince at the intensity as they step out of the building they'd been in, chasing leads, finding dead-ends, as his breath turns into a fog the second they pass through the doors. it was the usual kind of work for Robin, though he was mostly accustomed to doing it alone lately.

Maybe that's part of why he's unexpecting that the comment made just after breathing a flame of swirling fog from his nostrils as though proving a point ( though mostly just for fun ) was answered with such an unhesitating response, unseen eyes snapping to look at Bart in surprise as he offers out his coat. He can't help but blink.

" Yeah, I like coffee, " Robin offers the answer as he, a little tentatively, takes the jacket " Learned how to make it pretty young, so you kind of get used to it either way after a while. "

" But what about you? " the eyes of the mask take a harsh squint, head cocking on an angle, he gestures a little with the jacket; not straightening it out just yet to put it on " You're going to freeze without it, or does it not effect you the same way? " ━ an honest question! he wouldn't be all that surprised if Bart's heartrate was innately fast enough that the cold didn't quite get it's claws in him the same, but he'd rather be certain before casting him to the chilly air, too. ( or at least, be able to plan ahead to right it later. )

@quillheel / Robin : I did not dress warm enough for this…

bart gave him a funny look, brows furrowed with a little frown . and in the blink of and eye, his own jacket is taken off his shoulders and OFFERED up .

❝ say something sooner next time, dude !! it’s freezing . ❞ bart didn’t seem bothered by the cold despite that fact . ❝ here, take it . we can get some coffee or something, too . you like coffee, right ??? ❞

DARK IN HERE STARTERS

taken from the 2021 album by the mountain goats

PARISIAN ENCLAVE

’ let the devil take the rest. ’ ’ walls envelop all of us like a mother who protects her young. ’ ’ i go beneath the streets of the city with my brethren in the neverending shadow. ’

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE KOLA SUPERDEEP BOREHOLE TOWER

’ stick bright reflective tape to the collar of your shirt. ’ ’ mind your business, and you won’t get hurt. ’ ’ be true to the things you said you’d  be true to. ’ ’ always keep your objective in view. ’ ’ those who came to learn these lessons left no trace of their presence. ’ ’ show the world your true face. ’ ’ burn such fuel as you need to burn. ’ ’ keep a sense of wonder when you finally reach your goal. ’ ’ what will they say back home about you? ’

MOBILE

’ they threw him down into the water, but he did not drown. ’ ’ be free of your burden. ’ ’ i’m on a balcony waiting for the wind to throw me down. ’ ’ if you won’t keep me safe and warm, then send down the storm. ’ ’ why do you hold back your fury? ’ ’ don’t hold back your fury. ’

DARK IN HERE

’ steal away at sundown. ’ ’ check for signs of ambush. ’ ’ i’m tired of running, tired of never standing still. ’ ’ hear them riding up the hill? ’ ’ it’s high noon somewhere, but it’s dark in here. ’ ’ you, who thirst for action: i will give you some. ’ ’ when the smoke dies down, you can rest assured that we will know who kept their word. ’ ’ you stood so proud once. ’ ’ i can taste your fear. ’ ’ it’s dark as a coal mine filling up with gas. ’ ’ will you be ready when your moment comes? ’ ’ i live in the darkness. ’

LIZARD SUIT

’ take the trouble to pronounce the street names right; people like it when you show respect. ’ ’ it’s so hard to get noticed in this town. ’ ’ you’re almost invisible aboard the train. ’ ’ there’s so many people who i just can’t read. ’ ’ i have to trust that my compass stays true. ’ ’ i let my phobias control my habits, and i let my habits form the shapes of days. ’

WHEN A POWERFUL ANIMAL COMES

’ we move by night. ’ ’ we’ll follow the shoreline until we’ve run clean out of land. ’ ’ we’ve made mistakes. ’ ’ everyone spots their own mess when the dawn breaks. ’ ’ life is short, and life is hard, and life is sweet. ’ ’ they will never know what hit them. ’ ’ it gets pretty hard to concentrate. ’

TO THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN

’ i rode past you on the road again today. ’ ’ who awakes prepared to face such sights as these? ’ ’ god keep the hunter who shows mercy to his prey. ’ ’ as you approached, i could sense the threat. ’ ’ a stranger’s just a friend who hasn’t shared their secrets yet. ’ ’ songs bloom in the dark. ’ ’ i seek the gate of wisdom. ’ ’ get ready for the waterworks. ’ ’ one of us will tire, and one will rise and ride away. ’

THE NEW HYDRA COLLECTION

’ i’m hell bent on doing the work that you cowards won’t do. ’ ’ we’re weaving the future from bright new threads. ’ ’ i dream of the day when the calm waters break. ’ ’ the safe way isn’t the only way to go. ’ ’ it’s only a test run. ’ ’ the tension’s too delicious to bear. ’ ’ according to my projections, everybody’s going to run for their lives. ’ ’ wait until our time has come. ’

THE SLOW PARTS ON DEATH METAL ALBUMS

’ i’m jumping out of my skin. ’ ’ this tiny sector can’t contain me. ’ ’ i go where i’m not wanted. ’ ’ i’m trying to find the mask that fits me. ’ ’ let me dance until i die. ’ ’ let it begin with me. ’ ’ we’re never quite free. ’

BEFORE I GOT THERE

’ the relics are all in ruin. ’ ’ it’s illegible forever. ’ ’ it’s an oracle with no tongue. ’ ’ the bodies of the fallen are in a pit behind the altar. ’ ’ their faces were turned toward the sky that they would never see again. ’ ’ i have failed you. ’

ARGUING WITH THE GHOST OF PETER LAUGHNER ABOUT HIS CONEY ISLAND BABY REVIEW

’ will there be another way? ’ ’ you took the ancient spell with you wen you fell. ’ ’ i hurt too hard, too long, and i’ll die too young. ’ ’ may your passage be assured. ’ ’ you will always have been here once. ’

LET ME BATHE IN DEMONIC LIGHT

’ someday, the old flesh will give way to the new. ’ ’ find a functioning mirror inside, and slip right through. ’ ’ who’s coming with me? ’ ’ show me my one true face. ’ ’ i’m hopeless, but free. ’ ’ you’re lit up like a marquee shining over the freeway. ’ ’ where will my long trail end? ’ ’ there’s undying hunger deep in the bloodline. ’

// at this point i really oughta note it, SO: headsup to all my roleplay partners! because of a lot of irl shit happening and stressors including financial concerns and losing two pets in the span of a few months, my brain's been really struggling with processing time and getting in the headspace to Be here beyond JUST writing (so DMs and the like), so if i don't respond, that is why, and i sincerely apologize! I'm trying to get back into the swing of Actually answering people but if I don't or it takes a while, that's why!

The shaken nerves permeate a little further instead of being settled in the uncertain taken-aback pause, and the more insecure, conscious part of him puts up it's hands for rejection to a heart bore honestly and puts forth the too-little-too-late consideration that maybe he should've waited. Maybe he should've, he considers it again, same as 'maybe he did' just in another skin, but this time the problem wasn't as vague as something being wrong, the problem was just him. him, so loud and urgent and lighthearted all at once, unanswerable, uncomfortable, putting her on the spot. he thought through it before, figured out the best way he could offer, but he always jumps the gun, doesn't he? when the pressure's on, he turns into a blazing thing that couldn't be contained, couldn't be accounted for, couldn't follow rules, couldn't do what they needed him to━━ Stop.

She didn't say no. He knew the freefall he was getting stuck on, and he knew how unhelpful it was. ( bite it back ) ;; Sure, maybe he should've, but he did, and in the end he loves her enough to fix it if it does need fixing the same way he would with anyone; anything else, ignorance not a crime so much as something he tries to mend, and tries not to fall into twice. ━ have a little patience. have a little faith. ( she's not gonna bite you for who you are. she never would. you found out that feeling like you did a broken leg, and it was a terrible one, but you know better. she's not the same. she never could be. )

anxiety was always like a lightning strike, like splitting dead wood, like the shiver of doing something wrong but his heart is louder, the side she brought out of him, and it rings when he realizes she's accepted, when patience pays off.

fuck whatever people wanted to assume. ━ this was what meant something, not rumors, not gossip, not assumptions on something he couldn't find in him to prioritize higher than he did her. maybe it'll bite him in the ass, when reality comes back to intrude, but the victorious feeling in his chest rings out like a bright brass bell and overwhelms it entire. too loud to hear, too loud to care about. ━ he'll handle it when it does ; always itching to move in the moment while he had it ; he'll take the teeth when it finds him, he'll take it because it made her happier, and that's enough for him. it'd always be enough. ━ maybe being called sweet adds fuel to that impulsive part of him, lit alive by approval & praise like a shock to the system. call it sugar-rush, but hell, he couldn't mind the feeling, not when it was from her

" Hell yeah!! " the words bubble out of him as partial agreement but mostly cheer, laced with a sincere elation that he couldn't help as dark eyes gleamed with it. but the blonde catches himself, aware enough to at least lower the volume, and tucks away his free hand into his pocket as an effort to contain his enthusiasm. his leg bounces with a better kind of electricity as he answers proper, grinning as he thinks for a second, and has to acknowledge that yeah ; maybe he's a little more out of his depths than he thought he was. ━━ " I mean- if you're cool with that! I don't know if there's some kind of shopping rulebook or whatever on if guys can come with, but I'm game if you are! "

" plus, " he adds, almost conspiratorially, like this was kind of heist and not just going to get a new outfit " I don't mind breaking a couple rules if you don't, neither, so why not? "

Sure, maybe he doesn't know the etiquette of how to refer more traditionally feminine clothes, and maybe he never really went out of his way to go pick up shopping things for Ann before, but you could never say he didn't have enough energy to make up for it twice over!

When her expression changes to one of surprise, smile vanishing, Ryuji can't help the pang of worry in his stomach that he did something wrong.

Maybe he did, a part of him murmured, you did just make a scene then proceed to ask if she wanted clothing coupons in public, you know? Maybe that'd be embarrassing for her, both in the ways of her disliking such attentions; her efforts to keep her head down royally dashed by sheer virtue of her befriending of him, not to mention the metaverse as a whole; and in the ways of what thoughts it might inspire. ( while Ryuji hadn't first known, hadn't first realized, the concept passed right by him entire until pointed out with pen and paper like an assignment he missed the date for; how many others shared that first unawareness? how many other people would judge her for it? their peers so often tore her apart as it is, a feeling Ryuji was so familiar with. was this feeding the vultures? was it baiting them in? if not appearance in one way, then they would always find another. they would always find something different, they would always find something. )

for a split second, his center of gravity shuddered just enough to make his nerves feel shaken, and he tries not to look too worried. it was just surprise, and if she did turn it down, really turned it down, he could give them to someone else; the sentiment, hopefully, not a bad one. not a lost one. ━ but he hoped she'd take them. he couldn't know what it was like to be who she is trying to outlive who she used to be known by, but he wanted to help, even if he couldn't. wanted her happy, even if it was fleeting. he knew that always, always, she'd deserve that much. ( so he hoped she'd take them. he really hoped she'd take them... )

but Ryuji almost gets blindsided by his own momentary past self as he straightens out properly with his breath regained, not expecting to be caught red-handed in his half-step falter of language; he should've, Akari was quick, quicker than anything, and he finds himself kind of glad for it, but also a little embarrassed at being called out

" Oh! Uh.. " the bleached-blonde falters, not untruthfully, and scratches at the back of his head, openly unexpecting of it, as the other arm he holds the coupons with bends & lowers only slightly in his thought, the offer still blatantly on the table despite the motion " Reason I asked is 'cause, well… I wanted to know if you'd wanna go together! "

might as well be honest! ( double down! )

" I don't really know how to style an outfit like you or the others, a-and I don't know nothin' 'bout girl clothes, " Ryuji bounces his leg by the tip of his shoe, scraping it against the ground, bluntness overpowering the anxiety beneath it " but I like hanging out with you anyways, no matter what we do, and you deserve something nice! "

Ryuji's conviction of the statement is honest, heartfelt, unhesitating. he doesn't even need to think about it to believe it, like it's just a fact to him, like simple truth. he waggles the coupons like it's proving a point, flimsy paper slips shivering in the wind " and if I gave 'em to Ann, I'm pretty damn sure her closet would explode at this point… "

tell link i said gaia says hi

Tell her he said hi, too.

open starter! // goro akechi

somewhere in the city, a white crow looms, deathlike, over the bones of mouse. feathers like ivory, eyes like blood vessels, mind like something hungry wing into limbs built for it, gravity taking hold, and catching air in asphalt claws. Akechi feels the same, for a blinding moment, and wills himself to be unflinching after finding an anticipation of one less step than there was as he goes up the stubby staircase of his office, only realizing his error as his foot goes through the space where the ground comes up to meet him, just in the wrong way.

his balance threatens him like gunpoint for a moment, and some minor shameful part of him shivers with the fact he'd have preferred that opposed to someone catching him like this ━ an angry thrum behind his eyes making them feel tense and pained and dull ━ but the rest of him floods in too fast by the time he's down the stairs properly, releasing held breath only when he's halfway down the hall, and reminds it that a little humility/humanity is a good thing, as that minor shameful part mumbles under its breath that perfection is a virtue, or at least, it used to be.

he finds himself navigating the office almost blind as sharp pain crackles along the seams of the skull like an electric board, shuffling mindfully in some of the more cramped spaces as the brain struggles to consciously process the outside world, so instead it reverts inwards, leaves him on autopilot; on memory. Goro is lucky that while he had not memorized the stairs, he has with nearly the entire rest of the building, or at least the route to his office. some coworkers try and catch his sleeve in conversation as he passes, but he brushes them off, social and sweet, that he's very busy right now, perhaps later! and the mission resumes. ( perhaps it simply does not occur to him of how rushed his stride is, how his knuckles turn into angry white ridges on the grip of paperwork, how one eye on the left side twitches; how this would be worrying if you knew him well enough, and sometimes, if you didn't. )

and when he does get into his office, he shuts the door, turns off the light, and sinks into the feeling of plushed-out fabric on a relatively cheap but not terrible desk chair that offers what familiar comfort it can, and what familiar discomforts he knows which he can avoid and which ones he can't; precise poise not enough, where he imagines he could stay for the rest of the day. ━ he'd rather be lying down right now, migraine lashing into him where even the modest sunlight drips in behind him from concealing blinds is too much, but he takes what he can get with two sharp hands, nails digging into it, and he accepts that this; in all likelihood; is going to be the best remedy that he has for the majority of the day until he can snag a bottle of painkillers on the way back home. resting the cool gloved back of his hand overtop the skin of his eyes. best just to survive, for now, he quietly decides…

… and the peace he craves does not last as long as he so wished it would. minutes or hours, he catches footsteps outside his door just before his doom comes, jolting alive in his seat even to the chagrin of the flesh of the brain as the doorknob rattles, he's lucky he can mask the pain with the squint of trying to change out a lightbulb in his turned off lamp as he peers over to the opened door ( although, he can't hide the twitch ) part of him begs to swipe at them with large heavy claws and rip out anything foolishly not nailed down from his rude guest, fingers poised at the neck of the lightbulb and dexterous enough to turn them even if he was blinded by the light from the rest of the station sweeping into his own little room like bleeding an infection, but he carefully tucks the impulse back. at least, in part, to know who he was going to be clawing at in the first place; not really out of unwillingness to be ruthless, perhaps cruel.

Akechi's head pounds. He finds himself unable to remember the shape of their shadow through the glazed window that otherwise he should've caught. He resists a wave of nausea that threatens to sink in. ( easy, now… )

" Oh, hi! I'm a little preoccupied at the moment, so you might want to take up your problem with someone else if you're looking for speed, but what can I help you with? "