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[zangetsu]

USERNAME: 一五 This is Kurosaki. Leave a message. TEXT • AUDIO • VIDEO • ACTION • OVERFLOW

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un: nami

[cartographie]

I finished my map of the tunnels if you want a copy.

text ↪ un: 十五

[zangetsu]

hey.

sure, if you don't mind. i'd appreciate it.

i've got a friend who might be interested too.

[cartographie]

You helped me make it, so, no, I don't mind.

Share it with whoever you want, but if anybody with the resort asks, you don't know where it came from, got it?

[zangetsu]

yea, of course.

i won't even tell my friend if you don't want him to know.

[cartographie]

And you owe me lunch still.

[ Not that she's thought about it. ]

No, if you trust them, your friends are okay. You seem relatively sane, it's fine.

[zangetsu]

wow, 'relatively'? are you sure?

（ sometimes, that wry sense of humour jumps out. ）

is there anywhere here you like to eat...?

[cartographie]

No, hence the 'seem' that came before the 'relatively'.

I think you'd like Red Cardinal.

[ Given that she can't even say the words horny casino without him blushing... ]

[zangetsu]

okay.

（ there's a moment. and then, perhaps a bit more honestly than he'd like — ）

do you know anything about the suit effects yet?

[cartographie]

We don't have to.

[ If he changed his mind or something, it's fine. ]

Just that, depending on which you have it makes you do different things if your tattoo gets dark enough. Why? Are you okay?

[zangetsu]

i'm just noticing some stuff i guess.

i don't know if it's safe to be around me right now.

i can send you money instead and you can take your friends if you want?

[cartographie]

Nobody needs a reason to send me money, but I wanted to hang out with you.

What stuff? What's wrong? Of course you're safe, don't be stupid.

[zangetsu]

haha, it's just.

（ wow, when someone busts out the 'hahas' in a text message you know there's some weird shit going down. ）

i haven't... you know. and i think it's starting to get to me.

（ please don't make him talk about this he is like three steps from death over here??? ）

un: no.24

[mensrea]

[Belatedly in January, scrolling through the stupid Mating Season dating profiles just to laugh unkindly about people, he stumbles across Ichigo's pitch. And, sure enough, there's that tingle in the back of his head; the guy's name is definitely Japanese.]

How are you Japanese if your hair color is natural?

(I'm not racist. This is totally a "Mean Girls" reference. Please laugh.)

[zangetsu]

（ this is it, the weirdest timeline.

ichigo stares at that for like, a handful of seconds, and then: ）

What's 'Mean Girls'?

（ he's from 2003, missed that cultural touchstone by like six months. whoops. ）

[mensrea]

Oh buddy. You're in for a treat.

[Time to schedule a movie night with the boys.]

I'll just say it's an awesome film and leave it at that. Don't want to spoil the good stuff. Don't worry, I'll find a way to secure a copy of it in this hellhole. And if you bring popcorn (like the kind that ISN'T drugged) then you get a front row seat.

[zangetsu]

uh.

okay.

who are you?

[mensrea]

[Stiles deflates, unseen. God he wants to go home.]

You can call me Stiles. Just another dude stuck in sex-dungeon purgatory. We're the same age so I

I don't know

figured I'd reach out. See if you were cool. Up to hanging or something.

[zangetsu]

（ oh.

you know what? it's just enough honesty, enough transparency, that it eases his hackles down. he gets it. that desire for connection, the hope for commonality. he does.

so: ）

i'm really more of a video game guy.

do you think they have tekken here?

not some weird sex knock off.

[mensrea]

[Cautiously optimistic, he brightens.]

Aw man, I SUCK at those games. But I'd totally try it. (Uh, but...aren't the female characters like...all super sexualized? Not that I'm saying they'd fit right in here. Except they kind of would? Wait, am I thinking of the right fighting game???)

There's an arcade here. I can't remember where exactly, I wandered around A LOT the first week, but it exists. We could check it out? It seemed normal. Normalish?

[zangetsu]

（ not me having to go research tekken, smh. ）

i never really noticed. i usually play hwoarang.

（ red-head asian martial artist... yeah. he did not need much coaxing there. ）

i could check it out. you wanna go now?

[mensrea]

Dude, you can't call a lady that. Be cool.

Sure. Meet you in the lobby? I look like this.

[And Ichigo is sent an actually PG selfie. Stiles is beaming.]

[zangetsu]

（ wait, hold on. back up. what. ）

huh??

（ the linguistic nuance is lost on him, stiles, he's writing in japanese!! ）

[mensrea]

[Sorry, he's too busy zooming over to the lobby like an overeager child. Don't make him wait long, new bestie.]

un: nami

[cartographie]

You make this exact face.

[ attached ]

[zangetsu]

i do not

（ he says, making that exact face. ）