text; @The Seventh Crown of the Seventh Demon King;

[unrequite]

[ Four lines of text. ]

This is written in Victorian.
Kore wa Laterano-ji Higashi-go de kakareteimasu.
This is written in Higashinese.
This written by in Yanese. (Might be bad. Sorry.)

Please do let me know how many of these sentences you understand.

[ The first is in what would be considered Earth English, the second is what would be known as Japanese written in Romaji, but he's called it "Laterano-ji Higashinese". The third was written in Japanese, the fourth was written in some rather poor Chinese. He's called the languages themselves clearly incorrect names. What's more important, though, is that only the second one should parse as phonetic, and should only be understandable to fellow Japanese speakers. The rest are in whatever language is most understandable to whoever reads it. Funny, huh? This city sure is strange! ]

Comments

[unrequite]

[ Midnight nods, thinking about that for a moment... then picks up a few flavored vodkas and sets them down on the counter without much thought to any specific game plan. ]

Well, on the bright side, that means you could probably run circles around our captors, were they to show their faces. You're here now, which means you got past people who were a bit more on the ball with regards to logistics.

[coolerjunpei]

Dunno, people'd have to listen to me first. You know what I said in the first week? I told everyone it'd only be a matter of time before we started killing each other if we weren't careful. Barely anyone took me seriously. And then, wow! Murder!

[He leans up just enough to do the world's shittiest jazz hands, for Murder, then slumps back down again. People have listened to him more than usual since then, but now he's in a Mood, so.]

So even if you're right, it's just going to be me storming the castle like a crazy person by myself.

[unrequite]

By yourself, huh.

[ Midnight thinks about that for a moment, then begins searching for the soda water dispenser. ]

You'll have to forgive me if you want a drink with more than two ingredients. Never learned how to mix more than that.

[ He'll come back around to what Junpei's talking about, he just is pretty sure that he's been kicking around that idea long enough for him to understand how miserable it is, and he doesn't feel like making it worse. (Also, Midnight's telling the truth, he doesn't know anything more complex than a rum and coke.) ]

[coolerjunpei]

[By himself! He shrugs; he always seems to find himself in situations where the people who claim to care about him the most are the people who refuse to give him the decency of basic honesty, or engage with him at all. Sure, in this city he's made friends, and a handful of them are weird enough to have his back in an emergency, but... well. Well! The sting of being an inconvenience does linger, despite new circumstances.

Anyway, rum and coke.]

Two ingredients is plenty for me. Usually I settle for just the one.

[unrequite]

[ Midnight shrugs, then starts setting up a bunch of cups on the counter, filling each with vodka, then spritzing them with the soda water dispenser. Time to try out flavors. ]

You're assuming you'd be going by yourself anywhere here. I think more than a few of us are seized by unwise bouts of curiosity. I don't think you're the only one unwilling to leave a stone unturned.

[coolerjunpei]

[Oh boy, rum and mystery flavor, very exciting and bold. Junpei will wait, he doesn't heckle bartenders...]

Sure, I mean... yeah. [Unwise bouts of curiosity (tm) aren't precisely the kind of "not by myself" he's thinking about, but it feels whiny and selfish to complain that that's not the same!! so—he will not.]

I guess it feels kind of dumb to complain about it now.

[unrequite]

[ Midnight snorts, picks a cup at random, drinks. He gestures to Junpei to do the same. Fire at will. ]

Melon. It's fine. With regards to complaining... If not now, then when? No one is immune to petty bouts of emotions, especially with regards to small injustices that no one seems to have the time to get to. Better now than later on, when it's piled into a larger pile of nastiness no one had the time to get to. That's when trouble starts.

[coolerjunpei]

[Hmm, let him grab a cup and take a swig...]

You make it sound like I'm gonna go postal on everyone one day. I promise I'm not that deep in the hole. I know how easy it is for people to start killing each other.

[He squints at the cup, then,] I think this is cherry.

[unrequite]

Is it a good cherry?

[ Or is it just okay, like literally everything else that should be nice here. Midnight's not holding out hope, but he can at least try. ]

Hmm. It's good that you know better. About yourself, if not about others. Not all that common for people your age, you know.

[ He says "good" in a measured way. He means it, but he's not terribly pleased about it, either. (Also, with regards to "people your age"... Midnight doesn't look 37-ish at all. Late 20s at best. He's aging gracefully. Slowly. Not at all, actually.) ]

[coolerjunpei]

Well, thanks, Dad.

[Please... He's never really dedicated much time to deep self-reflection before the past few months, so it's nice to hear anyway. Despite. The jokes. Dad.]

It's an okay cherry. Definitely an "I can tell it's cherry"-cherry.

[...,] Dunno how hard it is to just not kill people, though. I'm just saying.

[unrequite]

[ A "pfft" sort of laugh. ]

I'm no one's father, thank you.

[ Said lightly, though. He doesn't actually mind, he just has never intended to be a father figure. Not once. It's funny to even try imagining it.

(Although Welt did mention that his relationship with Miss Popukar was a bit father and daughter... Well. Exceptions must exist.) ]

What? Never tried it before?

[ Midnight laughs right after that. He's kidding. He is perfectly aware that most normal people do not commit murder. ]

[coolerjunpei]

No, not my thing. I'm just really into living.

[A shrug! Truly, not doing murder is not that hard!!]

I dunno... I just don't know how long all of us playing house together is going to last.

[unrequite]

Oh, me too.

[ Midnight nods in response. Huge fan of being alive, here. ]

... What happened last time?

[ Because one's faith in humanity doesn't just dissolve overnight. ]

[coolerjunpei]

Which last time?

[Ha ha, jokes. Let him take another swig of Just Okay Cherry, first.]

Well, I get kidnapped more often than most people, I guess? It was a whole... 'do as I say or die' thing the first time, kind of, and 'if six of you die the rest of you can go' thing the next.

[unrequite]

[ ... That explains quite a bit. Midnight takes a sip from his own drink, regarding his friend closely. ]

Don't think I've heard of anything like that outside of manga. [ He's not really a manga kind of person, but he was a normal teenager with normal teenage taste in comics once upon a time. ] Not the sort of experience that lends itself well to sequels, I gather.

[ Midnight would be more overt about his concern, but he's not in any rush to make Junpei say anything at all. They're here to relax and drink a bit, and Midnight intends for both to happen. If anything else gets discussed... That will be Junpei's choice. ]