video/action; happy birthday detective

[jurisdick]

ᴠɪᴅᴇᴏ

[ and due to a horrible streak of bad luck, while akechi is sitting (extremely cramped) in the catbus on the way to the actual lodge, his fidgeting fingers along the device happen to click it on at the most inconvenient time. perhaps it's the world playing a cruel trick on him. who knows. either way, the feed shows the brunette hunched up in the back of the bus with a few others, face contorted in discomfort. under his breath he's saying something that sounds genuine and a lot like ]

...I don't even like my birthday but this is an absurd way to spend it.

ᴄᴀᴛʙᴜs - ᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ

[ if you're in the catbus, feel free to harass him during the ride, or you know, hear him say it's his birthday. or scroll through the feed and hear it on there and then angrily turn around when you realize he hasn't told anyone before this.

it's really cramped in here. ]

ᴄᴀᴛᴄʜ-ᴀʟʟ - ᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ

[ akechi will be rooming with stefan, so feel free to barge into his room at any point. other than that, feel free to bother him (he'll likely be reading by the fire with hot chocolate), or standing around the entrance of the lodge "admiring" the snow. he isn't planning on going out into it except for the snowball fight, so he won't be lost at all in the storm. ]

Comments

[Video]

[theothermrgray]

[Dorian looks much more comfortable, thank you.]

Chin up, lad. There are worse events that could fall on your birthday.

[jurisdick]

[ he envies that comfort. truly. ]

My apologies, I - hadn't realized it was recording. That's very true.

[theothermrgray]

Oh, don't stress yourself over it, that happens to all of us. Especially when some of us are still learning how this technology works.

[Hopefully Akechi doesn't decide to go into the network archives.]

Either way, if you don't care that much for your birthday you can always enjoy this snowy retreat. Consider it a surprise vacation of sorts.

Catbus!

[cakebuffet]

[Ann looks over from where she, too, is jammed into the backseat of the Monabus, eyebrows lofting upwards as she catches what Akechi says under his breath.]

It's your birthday? You should have said something sooner!

[Even if he doesn't like it. That just means he hasn't had a good one yet.]

[jurisdick]

[ he nearly jumps right out of his skin. he hadn't realized he had been speaking aloud (really) considering the chatter of the bus. oh god this is bad. not catastrophic but still bad. ]

I didn't think it was terribly relevant. I don't usually think to celebrate it.

[ the reason he'll give? school, work, the tv station. the real reason? he hates it. ]

[cakebuffet]

[Not very mindful of your own actions, are you, Akechi?]

That won't do. Everyone should at least get cake on their birthday.

[Look, her own personal love of desserts aside, that just seems like it should be a universal law. Birthdays are supposed to be special.]

Anyway, it might be cold, but skiing is really fun. There are definitely worse places we could be.

[video]

[jivitadana]

You'd prefer to be alone?

[... Akechi wasn't doing a really good job of doing that if he were stuck in some bus with the rest of the P5 crew.]

[jurisdick]

[ ..... shhhhhh. ]

My apologies, I hadn't realized it was recording. [ oops. ] And not particularly. I'm simply not the biggest fan of the cold.

[jivitadana]

[Poor Akechi. Really, he does have the worst luck sometimes. No need for the apology. Those comm devices record whenever they feel like it.]

You'd think being in close proximity with everyone would help with that.

action;

[uncaging]

[Elizabeth has been curled up inside reading too, but when she notices Akechi she rests her book on the arm of the chair and hurries off to the cafeteria. She's back a few minutes later with a plate containing a rather large chocolate brownie - the closest she could find to a cake at such short notice.]

Hello, there. I don't think we've spoken before, but I heard you say on the network that it was your birthday and... well...

[She holds out the birthday brownie for him to take.]

[jurisdick]

[ he stares at the birthday brownie, a bit confused. his hands linger on his book, as if afraid if he sets it down for even a second he'll lose his page and never find it again. it's a legitimate concern, okay?

still, his eyebrows dart up under his fringe and he looks at her, lost for a moment. and then it clicks - a smile crosses his face and he politely reaches for the plate. ]

Ah, thank you. That's very sweet of you. [ like the brownie. ] ...I hadn't meant for that broadcast. I'm told those things sometimes happen, here.

[uncaging]

[She takes a step backward, hands clasped behind her back, looking rather happy with herself. She hasn't had much practise with birthdays, after all.]

I've seen it happen to a few people now. Thankfully never during anything too embarrassing.

[ action ]

[intrusivethot]

It's your birthday?

[ Akira's letting someone else guide Mona for a bit while he kicks back and tries to blink away the snowblindness. He hadn't planned on sitting near Akechi - things had been, to put it lightly, tense since their weird pseudo-friendship was taken out of Leblanc as a setting. It just happened, just like he's sure Akechi didn't mean to let anyone hear his mutterings. But now that he has -

Akira stretches a little in his seat and turns around to peer at Akechi over the back cushion. ]

Happy birthday. Think of anything you might want?

[jurisdick]

[ for you to go far, far away.

that's what he wants to say, but he figures it'd be a bad time for it, and you know, it's not entirely true. it never has been. even for how akira sometimes makes his skin crawl, he's still utterly fascinated by the other wild card. so here they are.

he meets his gaze with a few, slow blinks. the embarrassment of accidentally turning on the recording catches up with him, cheeks turning a fairly light pink. he buries his chin down further in his scarf. someone save him. ]

Thank you, Kurusu. [ slowly, and then hesitantly, as if he's completely out of his element ] T-that's not necessary.

[intrusivethot]

[ r u d e. Someone cares about your day of birth and you want him to go away :<

In Akria's experience Akechi not wanting attention is something of a warning sign. He doesn't mind giving him his space as he did for the last however many weeks since his Mirror set a lot of his relationships on fire and Akechi was one where they were already on a hard push-pull dynamic to begin with.

It doesn't seem like he hates being around them. Akira tries what he can to see if his opinion will further soften, to limited success, but - ]

But you live alone, don't you? We should do something to celebrate for real.

action

[stefanged]

[ As far as living arrangements went, this was far from terrible. One, Akechi wasn't a stranger, and two, Stefan had been trying his best to act like this were any other day. Were they not in such close quarters, it would've been an easy task. Stefan knows that he doesn't particularly like birthday celebrations either.

(They can be loud, and messy, and the absolute last thing he would ever want or need, especially as he approaches... what? 168? 169?)

Unfortunately, Stefan also doesn't want to let the day slip between their fingers. As they're settling in their room that first night, Stefan's rummaging around in his messenger bag for what could be a suitable, last-minute present. No birthday cake to accompany it, thankfully. ]

This is your first event, right? How've you been handling it?

[jurisdick]

[ thank god. he's going to have more than enough sweets from the girls, whether he likes it or not.

still, this event hasn't been the worst. once he made it out of the cramped bus, he had settled into his room fairly quickly. unlike a lot of his "friends", he wasn't as intrigued by the snow or the sloops. instead, he much preferred staying inside where it was warm. it's amazing he willingly went along with this in the first place.

but rooming with stefan was a nice reprieve from the gaggle of thieves.

he glances up from the bag he's also fiddling with, looking for his book. he thought he had left it here, huh - ]

Fairly well, thank you. I can't say I've ever been to a place like this before. [ there's a faint smile playing at his lips, if only to be polite, but what he says is rather honest. field trips had never been big in his life. either he was busy with work or the station. and when he was younger, he had been jumping so often between foster homes that he always seemed to miss the big days. ]

i'm on a bus and it's goin' fast and.

[sketchedout]

[ Sure, it's cramped to most but Yusuke's used to it at this point. He sticks to his tried and true method of sitting off to one side and drawing his legs up, staring out the window and taking in the sights. It doesn't seem like he's paying attention, but the murmur of "birthday" catches his notice and he glances over, taking a moment before he pinpoints the source. ]

Is it really?

don't you ever forget.

[jurisdick]

[ he's doomed. he's so doomed. everyone in this bus heard him, didn't they? if they hadn't, they'd certainly now that people keep asking. it's not that he's embarrassed that it's his birthday, or that he's been caught, but the whole situation makes his face tint pink right up to his tears. it's just... situationally embarrassing, ok? ]

Yes? [ he isn't sure why he'd lie about something like that -- ] ... My apologies, I'm used to not noticing the date until it's already past.

catbus ; action

[psio]

[ Haru is torn between looking at the network and pressing up against the window to get a better view of everything that is going on, managing some odd combination of both. So when Akechi makes his comment it's like a quiet surround sound and she can't help but be distracted by this amazing nugget of information that's just suddenly made itself known. She even twists in her seat to stare at the teenager, eyebrows rising.]

It is??

[jurisdick]

[ he meets her gaze, the eye contact lasting too long for him to be comfortable. his hands move quickly to turn off the device and he pulls a gentle smile up on his lips soon after. ]

Yes....?

3rd

[nomorules]

<sub>[It's a wet, snow-dusted Ryuji who finally trudges back to the lodge after a day of flirting with all the winter sports the ski resort offers.

If he tries to enjoy these events, maybe he'll start to get used to them, this place, these people. Maybe he'll miss home less. Maybe he can trick his mind into quieting the chatter about the progress toward leaving Wonderland they're not making.

It works. For about two hours.

And then he's awake. Yup--the knots in the wood of the ceiling still number the same as last night.

Sigh. Ryuji accepts he's not about to fall asleep anytime soon--he's tired, but not sleepy tired. One too many thoughts in his head, one too many unfamiliar beds this week.

Creeping into the main part of the inn, a faint light from one of the rooms draws him over. He appears in the doorway an exemplar of rumpled, pajama'd teenager, the top blanket of his bed tossed over his shoulder like if he looks long enough he'll find the way back to his bed in the real world and has come prepared to curl up in it.

Is he actually dreaming right now or is that Akechi?]</sub>

What the hell?

_{[Hi. Hey. Good evening.]}

HELLO my dear

[jurisdick]

[ akechi hadn't been sleeping well.

then again, when did he ever? haunting memories in the form of nightmares were more commonplace than dreams at this point. faceless bodies, screams, regret. it was all the norm for him. still, ever since coming to wonderland, the dreams had become more animated. had taken a turn. had begun focusing on the phantom thieves and not on the victims of mementos. it's... alarming, to say the least.

so he's trying to stay up as long as he can, lest his room-mate for the event see him awake from said nightmares. it's terribly embarrassing - extremely vulnerable - and he just doesn't want to have to explain it. he doesn't want anyone to see.

ryuji's voice catches him off guard though. he twists his head to glance over the back of the couch. a singular brow arches. ]

Is something wrong, Sakamoto?

[action]

[gunmods]

[Akechi and Munehisa are doing the same thing, at least. Sitting in the lodge, looking at the snow and determining that they should not leave the lodge to go outside.

Smart move.

He sips hot chocolate and stands beside him.]

Didn't imagine it'd be so damn cold.

[isn't it like june.]

[jurisdick]

[ it's a wise choice! all those meddlesome, crazy kids can get frostbite for all he cares!!! ]

Yes. It's quite the surprise. [ he nurses a sip of his own drink, eyes moving off the window to the man beside him. there's a shred of familiarity to him, but not enough for akechi to notice. after all, akira usually went alone to the shop. ]

Then again, this place is hardly normal.