Depending on who opens the door, they'll notice that the door won't budge as smoothly as it normally does, but once they're able to get out of their room; they'll find that a few items have spilled over. A shame, they'll have to figure out which belongs to who, but it seems that everything belongs to them given the stocking has both their names written on it!
sou hiyori: there's cute little cat pins for him to attach to his scarf for a little variety, as well as an usb nestled inside of a furry eared headpiece with a little face — meowrry christmas! not only that, there seems to be a few assorted colors of toques for him to choose from, and this way he can keep himself warm, especially when he washes his main beanie!
[These beanies are rapidly going to see use, and the pins are something he doesn't want to lose so he's putting them on his shelf. The USB is going to be found hanging from the keychain of his dorm key in short order.]
[Oh he loves these. The blanket is going on his bed and so is the space heater, tucked in the corner like the fire hazard it now is. The bowl he's putting on his shelf and putting the gacha rocks and Rei gifts in because he's starting to run out of space.]
[slid under the door in the morning is a CD in its case. there's no indication of the sender, but clearly, there's only one tech nerd in that room, so it's clearly meant for him.
if put into his laptop, there is one program on the disk.
[I'm going to assume he's appropriately cautious about an unknown, unmarked CD even if it does seem to be some kind of Christmas present, and will take all the suitable pre-emptive precautions to avoid it going off like a bomb in his computer.
Now it's appropriately quarantined and inspected... moment of truth. He presses the button to run it.]
Edited (tense whoops) Date: 2021-12-24 09:22 am (UTC)
[her hair has dried by now, and the redness has left her eyes. overall, she just looks tired - like the day sapped her of all energy, and that she's not going to be making any more outbursts in a hurry.
still, still. she pushes the door the rest of the way open instead of saying anything, slipping past Shin to go to where the kotatsu is - it's on, she finds, and putting her cane aside, tucks herself underneath it up to the neck. the warmth is a comfort, especially after a stressful day.]
...I'm very upset with you, Sou.
[she doesn't sound upset. nor does she look it, bundled as she is.]
[so hanging out in Shin's room is saved for when he is alone - when she can come over, bring a book or her laptop or just food that she made, and spending time together. it doesn't end just because things change. still, though, there's the likelihood that she'll ask him different things out of nowhere. like "who invented vending machines" and "will you teach me how to make that vegetable soup", things that simply come from the wishes of her mind.
today is no different. from the midst of their quiet, she raises her head, and finally speaks. only this time it's hesitant, as if she had been mulling this over and still came to no sensible conclusion.]
Shin?
[since no one is around, and she hears no footsteps nearing that might overhear.]
[Shin really does miss having google at his fingertips because while he knows how to make that vegetable soup and is happy to show her, after a joking lie of 'Sir George Vending' there isn't really anywhere to actually look it up. It continues to feel like a limb has been cut off even having spent this much time here. The books Helena brings are always interesting, though, and often a surprise.]
Hm?
[That gets him to lift his head from the laptop, typing continuing for a few seconds as he finishes the current string and then stopping as she gets his full attention.]
Err... kind of average, I guess? Why?
[He's just a completely ordinary person you could find anywhere, and that extends to his looks as far as Shin sees it. Bonnie really was right when she called him 'some rando'. The other option is that he's 'cute', but that's only his parents and... Midori... who've said that so...]
Because I wonder about it from time to time. I can figure out how tall you are, a bit of how you usually dress yourself, the sounds that usually come with you, your voice - that's just something I'm curious about with friends. How the rest of the school perceives you, as opposed to my perceptions.
[in other words, try harder with your descriptions. be a little more exact about things!]
[ It's been a long couple of days. Nanami's been doing a lot of crying. Eventually it feels like some of the emotions have run out of her and she just spends time laying in her bunk staring at nothing.
She doesn't feel refreshed; she doesn't feel empty though, either. Just... kind of quiet. Like a moment in pause, between things.
Something swims to the top of her mind the next time she sees her roommate. After a little while of thinking about whether it's something she wants to ask - maybe it's a sore subject - she finally brings it up, because he did ask her to keep on the lookout for him. ]
[He's not sure what to do when Nanami cries; physical comfort has it's own associations for him, so a lot of what he's been doing lately is heating up more soup and setting a bowl out for her... it really is the food for the soul.]
Who does?
[Will he like where this is going? There's already an apprehension rising in him, masked by nonchalant voice as he looks up from his laptop.]
[ The next time Shin returns to his bed, he'll find Nanami's game console, charger, and cartridges in his bunk. There's a note. ]
Dear Sou,
I just wanted to say thank you for everything in the last few months. Thank you for helping me. Thank you for playing games with me. Thank you for being my friend.
I'm going to Jizo-sama to bring them my truth. Please take care of these for me.
[His first thought is that she's just put them there after use without thinking about it... maybe planning to move them later? The slight huff of annoyance vanishes when he sees the note itself, replaced by a sinking dread... he doesn't want to read it, he has a bad feeling about it...
He does, and his mouth goes increasingly dry. By the time he gets to the end his hands are shaking; with what emotion, he doesn't know. It's blurry.
He drops the note and races out the door, fast enough it bounces closed and then open on his trailing scarf with a bang. Maybe there's still time. Maybe he can catch her on the way to the forest. He doesn't know how to get to where the god is, but maybe, maybe.
There's no window in Moon 1, but the ajar door casts ambient light from the hallway. It shifts, in angle and colour, and has long faded by the time the doorknob jitters a little from a hand falling on it, then opens further inwards.
Shin stumbles into the room, and stares blankly at the note on the floor like he's never seen it before. He slowly crouches down to pick it up, and stays there, back sliding down against the ladder's rungs. He draws his knees in like something wounded, folds his arms, still gloved in dark blue, on top, and buries his face in them. His fingers curl, and the paper crumples a little without noise. His shoulders shake silently, and he stays there, in the quiet of the hours of death, until the shaft of bounced-around moonlight is also gone.
He wakes up when his phone vibrates in his pocket for the fifth time. Before he leaves, he moves the console and it's games and charger down onto the bottom bunk.]
[There's no reply, but it's not long afterwards that there's the sound of footsteps and panting breathing outside Helena's room, and an equally exhausted sounding but insistent knock. He's been through a lot lately, there's only so much a jolt of adrenalin can do with sore muscles and bruised skin.
He'd thought the worst... especially with Nanami also having gone to visit the god and not come back.]
[ If Chiaki Nanami were to return — just like Rantarou Amami returned — this room would be hers again. It would be offered. It looks as cozy and ordinary as ever when Alice moves his few belongings from Star 4 to Moon 1, about to add a number of stripes to the space with his presence, but the shadow of Chiaki Nanami is gone lingers where the girl must have left some mark on the room in the time that she shared it with Shin Tsukimi. Nothing to disturb what was there, simply proof of a second person living here, perhaps in her choice of bedsheets. Did she use the top bunk or the bottom bunk? Maybe they played games together, the way Kanna Kizuchi and Shin Tsukimi did in that strange fabricated realm.
Alice hovers by the kotatsu, as if taking in the room's interior for the first time, despite his previous visits. From there, he eyes Shin in an attempt to discern what thoughts might be going through the man's beanie-clad head, now that he faces adjusting to an extended rooming arrangement with a new roommate. Not entirely new, at least, and not against his will...
After a moment of that, Alice remembers to finish his sentence: ]
...I truly suspect that a curse was laid on Star 4. Even the anatomical model has left.
[When he first came here, Nene told Shin about the way the things of the deceased would disappear without trace. The clear toll it had had on her had taken root in his mind enough to contemplate leaving a thing living enough to survive for her if he disappeared, even as he'd later starkly realized how Asunaro that was, thanks to Ranger.
Still, knowing about something and experiencing it are two different things. Up until now, in Shin's experiences the dead had always left some kind of trace, some of it in the form of evidence collected on the room's shelf. The past always has an effect on the present, and that's something he's held to before. Nobody can just disappear completely... can they?
Her games have remained, and the note tucked in the closet's depths, but all other signs of Nanami having lived here are gone, erased as if they'd never been the moment he woke up. He hasn't turned them on since, because all their old save files are still on them; if she returns she might want to pick up where she left off... For this reason he's hidden them away, too.
It's the thing he can't erase about himself, no matter how he might try and sometimes succeed, and the thing about him he fears on bad days; he gets attached, and cares deeply when he does. It always hurts.
It does help it's Alice who's moving in, for multiple reasons, some of the practical kind like that he's proven himself trustworthy enough to sleep around and probably wouldn't let Midori in if he came knocking, and others more a sort of osmotic pressure of inclination. He lifts his head at the sensation of eyes on him from where he sits cross-legged on the top bunk, although his gaze remains on the laptop in front of him.]
Ugh, that thing... [Creepy as hell. Shin's not fond of it... it's also always a bit embarrassing being jumpscared by a stationary object. It really does feel like it's biding it's time to get up and move, he's trying not to think about that phrasing of volition.] Dynamo probably moved it...
[Since Add was obsessed with it in a way you couldn't not know if you were in his vicinity whenever he got going about it... Shin'll pick this option over 'it moved back there on it's own' even if that's mostly trying to convince himself. He doesn't have much cause to go into the science lab anyway...]
...if I was superstitious I'd say it was the number, ahaha.
[It would be easier to set it at that instead of the constricting sense of dwindling numbers his brain has gripped onto like a vice, sometimes catching his lungs in the bargain.]
[ one day, shin will find that there's a note stuck under his door for him to take. it's addressed to him with a handwriting that's not familiar to him.
if he opens it up, or whenever he does. ]
Congratulations ▓▒▓▒!
[ it seems the name has been smudged out. on purpose or to mock, who knows! ]
You're our winner! You can pick up your prize from Rio Ranger. Thank you for your entry!
11/08
Date: 2021-11-07 11:49 pm (UTC)he'll be told to come to this location. )
12/25 — door handle
Date: 2021-12-19 09:35 am (UTC)☾ 1
Depending on who opens the door, they'll notice that the door won't budge as smoothly as it normally does, but once they're able to get out of their room; they'll find that a few items have spilled over. A shame, they'll have to figure out which belongs to who, but it seems that everything belongs to them given the stocking has both their names written on it!
no subject
Date: 2021-12-19 09:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-26 11:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-19 09:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-26 11:27 pm (UTC)12/25
Date: 2021-12-24 09:10 am (UTC)if put into his laptop, there is one program on the disk.
decode.exe
run program?]
no subject
Date: 2021-12-24 09:21 am (UTC)Now it's appropriately quarantined and inspected... moment of truth. He presses the button to run it.]
no subject
Date: 2021-12-24 09:47 am (UTC)the screen is black, and the text that pops up is white.
progress 0%
check power
check connection
decipher
ꞗᛍঋȺꝽůঋ𝓽ᶇꝽঋ𝔣
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
>_
the cursor sits there, blinking, waiting for an input.]
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From:12/26 night are you sick of me in your inbox yet
Date: 2021-12-28 07:29 am (UTC)it's been a few hours. time has passed, and whether or not this door opens is up to chance.]
no never
Date: 2021-12-28 08:21 am (UTC)...Helena?
[It's a lot more uncertain than the stressed defensive bravado he usually reaches for.]
Err... umm... About before...
[A few workings of his throat and then he falls silent.]
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Date: 2021-12-28 08:30 am (UTC)still, still. she pushes the door the rest of the way open instead of saying anything, slipping past Shin to go to where the kotatsu is - it's on, she finds, and putting her cane aside, tucks herself underneath it up to the neck. the warmth is a comfort, especially after a stressful day.]
...I'm very upset with you, Sou.
[she doesn't sound upset. nor does she look it, bundled as she is.]
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From:cw gruesome imagery again? sorry
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From:happy february i'm here to bother shin
Date: 2022-02-02 04:16 am (UTC)today is no different. from the midst of their quiet, she raises her head, and finally speaks. only this time it's hesitant, as if she had been mulling this over and still came to no sensible conclusion.]
Shin?
[since no one is around, and she hears no footsteps nearing that might overhear.]
What do you look like?
yessss here we go
Date: 2022-02-02 09:58 am (UTC)Hm?
[That gets him to lift his head from the laptop, typing continuing for a few seconds as he finishes the current string and then stopping as she gets his full attention.]
Err... kind of average, I guess? Why?
[He's just a completely ordinary person you could find anywhere, and that extends to his looks as far as Shin sees it. Bonnie really was right when she called him 'some rando'. The other option is that he's 'cute', but that's only his parents and... Midori... who've said that so...]
no subject
Date: 2022-02-02 10:12 am (UTC)[in other words, try harder with your descriptions. be a little more exact about things!]
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From:evening of 3/1
Date: 2022-02-25 04:11 am (UTC)She doesn't feel refreshed; she doesn't feel empty though, either. Just... kind of quiet. Like a moment in pause, between things.
Something swims to the top of her mind the next time she sees her roommate. After a little while of thinking about whether it's something she wants to ask - maybe it's a sore subject - she finally brings it up, because he did ask her to keep on the lookout for him. ]
He looks a lot like you.
no subject
Date: 2022-02-28 11:17 am (UTC)[He's not sure what to do when Nanami cries; physical comfort has it's own associations for him, so a lot of what he's been doing lately is heating up more soup and setting a bowl out for her... it really is the food for the soul.]
Who does?
[Will he like where this is going? There's already an apprehension rising in him, masked by nonchalant voice as he looks up from his laptop.]
no subject
Date: 2022-02-28 11:27 am (UTC)She sits up in bed a little to look at him a bit more head-on. ] The man with a rat-tail… I finally saw him yesterday.
[ Is it like her and her twin? Are they different versions of each other? She decides to leave it at that for now. ]
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Date: 2022-04-21 06:11 am (UTC)Dear Sou,
I just wanted to say thank you for everything in the last few months. Thank you for helping me. Thank you for playing games with me. Thank you for being my friend.
I'm going to Jizo-sama to bring them my truth. Please take care of these for me.
I love you all so much.
Chiaki Nanami
[ Nanami does not return to her dorm. ]
farewell, sweet chiaki
Date: 2022-04-21 10:31 am (UTC)He does, and his mouth goes increasingly dry. By the time he gets to the end his hands are shaking; with what emotion, he doesn't know. It's blurry.
He drops the note and races out the door, fast enough it bounces closed and then open on his trailing scarf with a bang. Maybe there's still time. Maybe he can catch her on the way to the forest. He doesn't know how to get to where the god is, but maybe, maybe.
There's no window in Moon 1, but the ajar door casts ambient light from the hallway. It shifts, in angle and colour, and has long faded by the time the doorknob jitters a little from a hand falling on it, then opens further inwards.
Shin stumbles into the room, and stares blankly at the note on the floor like he's never seen it before. He slowly crouches down to pick it up, and stays there, back sliding down against the ladder's rungs. He draws his knees in like something wounded, folds his arms, still gloved in dark blue, on top, and buries his face in them. His fingers curl, and the paper crumples a little without noise. His shoulders shake silently, and he stays there, in the quiet of the hours of death, until the shaft of bounced-around moonlight is also gone.
He wakes up when his phone vibrates in his pocket for the fifth time. Before he leaves, he moves the console and it's games and charger down onto the bottom bunk.]
4/24, morning
Date: 2022-04-23 01:00 am (UTC)I'm alive. I'm so sorry to make you worry.
no subject
Date: 2022-04-23 02:36 am (UTC)He'd thought the worst... especially with Nanami also having gone to visit the god and not come back.]
Helena...?
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From:moving in time
Date: 2022-05-29 08:25 am (UTC)Alice hovers by the kotatsu, as if taking in the room's interior for the first time, despite his previous visits. From there, he eyes Shin in an attempt to discern what thoughts might be going through the man's beanie-clad head, now that he faces adjusting to an extended rooming arrangement with a new roommate. Not entirely new, at least, and not against his will...
After a moment of that, Alice remembers to finish his sentence: ]
...I truly suspect that a curse was laid on Star 4. Even the anatomical model has left.
!!
Date: 2022-05-29 11:34 am (UTC)Still, knowing about something and experiencing it are two different things. Up until now, in Shin's experiences the dead had always left some kind of trace, some of it in the form of evidence collected on the room's shelf. The past always has an effect on the present, and that's something he's held to before. Nobody can just disappear completely... can they?
Her games have remained, and the note tucked in the closet's depths, but all other signs of Nanami having lived here are gone, erased as if they'd never been the moment he woke up. He hasn't turned them on since, because all their old save files are still on them; if she returns she might want to pick up where she left off... For this reason he's hidden them away, too.
It's the thing he can't erase about himself, no matter how he might try and sometimes succeed, and the thing about him he fears on bad days; he gets attached, and cares deeply when he does. It always hurts.
It does help it's Alice who's moving in, for multiple reasons, some of the practical kind like that he's proven himself trustworthy enough to sleep around and probably wouldn't let Midori in if he came knocking, and others more a sort of osmotic pressure of inclination. He lifts his head at the sensation of eyes on him from where he sits cross-legged on the top bunk, although his gaze remains on the laptop in front of him.]
Ugh, that thing... [Creepy as hell. Shin's not fond of it... it's also always a bit embarrassing being jumpscared by a stationary object. It really does feel like it's biding it's time to get up and move, he's trying not to think about that phrasing of volition.] Dynamo probably moved it...
[Since Add was obsessed with it in a way you couldn't not know if you were in his vicinity whenever he got going about it... Shin'll pick this option over 'it moved back there on it's own' even if that's mostly trying to convince himself. He doesn't have much cause to go into the science lab anyway...]
...if I was superstitious I'd say it was the number, ahaha.
[It would be easier to set it at that instead of the constricting sense of dwindling numbers his brain has gripped onto like a vice, sometimes catching his lungs in the bargain.]
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From:late may, early june
Date: 2022-05-30 03:20 am (UTC)[ one day, shin will find that there's a note stuck under his door for him to take. it's addressed to him with a handwriting that's not familiar to him.
if he opens it up, or whenever he does. ]
Congratulations ▓▒▓▒!
[ it seems the name has been smudged out. on purpose or to mock, who knows! ]
You're our winner! You can pick up your prize from Rio Ranger. Thank you for your entry!