(closed) rivers in the deseeeeeeeeeert

[forethinking]

Who: renren & closed threads!
What: aftermaths of the event, hanging out with the phantom thieves and getting a cute gift! more will be added, probably, i am like that
Where: his apartment, hblanc, and perhaps a few others.
When: 3 days post event onwards.
Content Warnings: as per usual, beware of persona 5 royal spoilers in here!

Comments

[abeautifulgame]

Which explains why it doesn't smell like cigarette smoke, beyond the ... [he waves a hand, gesture encompassing the whole of the place. beyond the fact that it's only really half Leblanc]

I never smoked around my computers, at home. [because his computers were important to him, and nothing ruins the cooling on a desktop than nicotine dust. never mind the fact that his landlord probably would have had a fit, if he'd smoked in his apartment]

[forethinking]

The smell never bothered me.

(It bothered Mona, but he has a different sense of smell. After all, as much as he'd like to complain, he is a cat.)

Do you miss your place?

[abeautifulgame]

My apartment?

[he pauses a moment to look thoughtful, almost maudlin, his mood still not really right. when that moment passes, he starts to shake his head, stops, and then hums, instead]

I miss my things. I miss the sound of Chicago, alive outside my windows. [if sleep had been a thing earlier, he's not sure he could have, for all that the white noise would have been wrong. either way, though, after a beat, he flashes Ren a wry smile] I don't miss paying 1500 a month for a fucking postage stamp. [never mind the fact that he wasn't paying his rent with his money]

[forethinking]

I've never been there.

(But even so, with how much Damien talks about the city, it must be something else, much different from where he came from. Tokyo was a shock, and Tokyo is still Japan. He can't imagine a big city as such. Hawaii was nothing like what he describes. For the price, he hisses.)

Ouch.

[abeautifulgame]

[he offers Ren another smile at his reaction, though the expression is sans mirth or malice, both. he just looks tired] Perks of living in the big city.

[rent in any American city is insane]

[forethinking]

I prefer the country.

(Tokyo sometimes is a lot for him to handle, it's big, it's crowded, there's so much. Ren has spent 16 years in the middle of fuckwhere, the cultural shock is as one imagines.)

[abeautifulgame]

So you've said.

[though, since they've never clarified:] Actual country, though? With farms and barnyard animals and not a neighbor in sight for several miles? [because yikes] Or did you mean the suburbs?

[forethinking]

Suburbs.

(You know these cities where everybody knows one another, because it's so small and in the middle of nowhere, even if it's urbanized? That would be it.)

[abeautifulgame]

[ ... ]

Have we had this conversation before? I'm suddenly having the worst sense of deja vu. [has he mentioned he's mentally and emotionally exhausted? add in the fact that they've done a lot of small talk like this, and -- yeah, he's not sure. either way, he reaches up and rubs at his eyes, after he asks that]

[forethinking]

It's possible that we have.

(Ren's memory is not the greatest, but anyway, he can tell he doesn't look so good. Concern washes over his face before he comes a little closer, clearly in good intentions to help.)

Are you okay?

[abeautifulgame]

Exhausted.

[again, emotionally. their argument took a lot out of him; the last however long beyond this, beyond Ren, has taken a lot out of him]

I may go back to the Merlaut, lay down.