semi-open catch all

[odasaku]

WHO: oda and you! (+1 post locked to crudest)
WHERE:All around Recolle+Magatus
WHEN: All through April!
WHAT: Catch-all
WARNINGS: to be added


prompt 1. ( locked to crudest )

[ it takes a magatus local to point out the strange marking on odasaku’s inner arm. they tell him about the curse, and point him towards the trees. it’s not something that he questions too much and instead decides to simply go to the forest.

and boy does he regret it.

after an unpleasant time of getting talked down about his inability to be honest with his best friend, oda decides he’s had enough and walks out of the forest—to find baren. ]

Hey.

prompt 2. bakery

[ in an attempt to escape the constant retrospec related stresses, odasaku decides that he needs to try to “treat himself” or however they call it.

in an attempt to do this, he currently finds himself in a bakery, drinking a cup of coffee. there’s a book on the table, but he’s not paying attention to it. he’s spacing out, if anything. come bother him?]

prompt 3. the inkwell

[ or maybe you’ll find him earning his keep at the inkwell! he’s dressed in his bartender uniform, technically ready to work.

except it’s a slow night, so he’s more focussed on re-reading a book while he waits for someone to actually need him. and, if he has his way, he hopes that nobody will need him. he just wants to continue reading— so clearly you should bother him. ]

prompt 4. pharmacy

[ thanks to the sudden attack of crazy sentient mail, odasaku has ended up gaining a nice number of superficial injuries. there’s cuts and bites from multiple junk mail that had been scattered on the streets, plus some books he had ordered but never arrived.

needless to say, he’s in the pharmacy shopping for first aid. you might find him looking over different types of gauze, trying to see if there’s a difference besides price. ]

Have you ever used any of these?

[ his arms are covered in like half a box’s worth of band-aids. clearly he’s not very good at this. ]

prompt 5. wildcard

( if you have something you wanna plot with me, hit me up at odasaku!! )

Comments

3

[thesettingsun]

[Being friends with your coworkers isn't as bad as people make it out to be. For one thing, it gives you a chance to see them on a regular basis.]

That's a new one, right?

[He's seen Oda bring books in before, because he's Oda, but he doesn't think he remembers this particular book.]

[odasaku]

[ odasaku looks up from his book at the sound of shuji’s voice. he puts a bookmark in the book and closes it. ]

Yeah. I went to a second hand bookstore and this book looked interesting. [ . . . ] All the books on my to read list must hate me.

[thesettingsun]

They probably understand, but I can ask them if you want.

[Hooray for weird ink person powers?]

[odasaku]

[ hooray ink person powers that oda doesn’t know of? ]

You can talk to books?

[thesettingsun]

Go inside them and talk to characters, actually. Close enough?

2

[beneathmoonlight]

Oda-san!

[Atsushi had been in the back preparing a batch of blueberry scones before finally taking a much needed lunch break, and once he exits the kitchen and hangs up his apron, he spots Oda at a nearby table.

Of course he’s going to sit across from him with a grin.]

Are you enjoying the coffee?

[odasaku]

[ atsushi’s sudden appearance forced odasaku out of his daze, slightly widened eyes looking up from his coffee.

Once he recognizes atsushi, though, he nods. ]

Yeah. It’s good. [ he nudges the cup towards atsushi, nodding. ] You wanna try?

[beneathmoonlight]

Oh! I’ve been drinking it all morning, actually! It’s a new dark roast blend that I thought might be good to try.

[Atsushi will politely decline the cup, even if he’s...sort of tempted because sharing drinks with Oda...

ANYWAY.]

I’m glad I ran into you again. I don’t think I’ve seen you since Sakura-san and Minako-san’s birthday party.

[odasaku]

[ alright. odasaku pulls the cup back into his hands, taking another sip. the smell and taste are both delicious—much better than his own instant coffee. ]

This might be my favorite blend so far, I think.

[ but then the topic of the birthday party comes up and oda’s shoulders tense for a second, remembering the sour way that ended; thanks for that kei. atsushi doesn’t have to know that, though, and he forces himself to relax. ]

Yeah, I think so. How’ve you been?

[beneathmoonlight]

I’m glad. I’ll definitely keep it in stock then!

[Fortunately Atsushi doesn’t notice Oda’s averse reaction to the mention of the party, and looks happy as a clam to just be talking like this.]

Better since things calmed down, though I’m not sure how long that’ll last.

[A sigh as laces his fingers together on top of the table.]

Anyway, have you been outside of the city at all since we visited Pesgare?

1

[crudest]

Sakkun, Sakkuuuunnn, don't wander off so far on your own, this place has wolves and shit?

[Baren sighs, pulling his scarf closer to himself. A moose trails behind him. That's how life is now.]

Where'd you even go?

[odasaku]

[ odasaku accepts the moose without a second glance, but he can’t seem to look at baren in the eyes either. what the trees said still weighs heavily on his shoulders.

stuffing his hands into his pockets, he tries to ignore the shivers that run down his spine. ]

I got told to check out the forest. [ he shrugs. ] But nothing interesting happened.

[crudest]

[The moose trots along, a beautiful arrangement of vivid flowers woven into his antlers. This is still life now.

Baren watches Odasaku.

And then he moves to walk right past him to enter the forest again - ]

Maybe you didn't look hard enough? Let's go again.

[odasaku]

[ odasaku doesn’t say anything. the feeling of unease grows in his chest, remembering all the things the trees had told him.

how can you love someone and not even trust them?

the memory alone (or is it something else?) makes him feel faint. baren can go alone—he’ll stay far away from that place. ]

[crudest]

[Baren's about to keep walking and Boose trots after him - but honestly he's listening for another set of footsteps and upon hearing none...

He turns back.

And raises a brow.]

At least be a better liar than that....

3, with Magatus curse

[informantic]

[Given that Oda left him read at the end of their last conversation, Heigo doesn't have much confidence that he'll get a reply if he tries Retrospec again - and that's a problem, because he needs to talk to Oda.

Now.

He has no idea what sort of illness is wracking his body, but amidst his physical malaise has appeared a near-demented obsession with how things ended between them. No: how he ended things with his behavior, a fact from which he's suddenly unable to hide anymore, not even in his own denial. All he knows is that he's going to lose his mind if he doesn't unburden himself of this crushing guilt, and that's enough to drive his weak, feverish ass to the Inkwell.

Is it a good choice of places to seek Oda? Fuck no, but he can't think of any others that would be better, and he still doesn't think Retrospec will yield results.]

Odasaku... [He's leaned a bit too heavily against the bar, his hair limp and stuck to his pallid skin with sweat, and one side of his collar is lit up by the faintly glowing curse mark on his neck.] Can - can we please talk? I know, I know it's awful to corner you at work like this, but I couldn't think of any other way.

[odasaku]

[ when odasaku had gone to work, he had never imagined that he would see heigo.

and, even if ango visited him, he never imagined that he would see heigo looking as if death was hanging over his shoulders. back in college, he’d seen him stressed to the brink, anxious and not having more than 30 minutes of sleep. this... is nothing like that. odasaku nearly drops his book out of the sheer surprise, and he doesn’t even hear heigo’s apology as he stands up and steps out from behind the bar. ]

Heigo what the hell?

[ taking heigo by the arm, odasaku basically hauls him outside, uncaring of whether or not anyone else is left in the bar. that’s not important. arriving at his car, he basically pushes him into the passenger’s seat and he sits on the driver’s seat. starting the car,
odasaku drives off in a clear hurry. ]

I’m taking you home. You need to be in bed.

[informantic]

[Heat is radiating off Heigo's feverish body in such thick waves that Oda can likely feel it, and Oda knows better than anyone how bad Heigo usually is at maintaining his body heat. This boy is very, very sick.

Heigo protests the entire way to the car, insisting that he's fine and doesn't need any tending to even while he lacks the strength to put up any struggle. He's as malleable as a rag doll, in fact, easy to drop into the passenger seat despite his ongoing complaints.]

None of this... none of it matters. It's not what's important. [His head lolls back and forth against the headrest on particularly sharp turns, eyes unfocused and glassy.] What I have to tell you is important.

[odasaku]

[ there’s a sense of urgency in the way that odasaku drives. every once in a while, he glances towards the passenger seat, gulping every time he sees just how sickly heigo looks. ]

I know. You wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t important.

[ and that doesn’t make odasaku feel any better. he gets to his place quickly ( he ran past a few red lights, he’ll admit ) and, before leaving the car, he gives heigo a worried look. whether it’s fortunate or not... oda still cares about him. seeing heigo this way absolutely breaks his heart.

helping ango up and out of the car, oda will take him to his apartment—drag him if he needs to. the place is a mess of books and papers and cat toys, but at least the couch is empty and thats where he’ll set ango on. ] Sorry for the mess. I would’ve cleaned up if this wasn’t so sudden.

[ he sits on the floor next to ango, a worried look on his face. ] Talk.

[informantic]

[Only once he's slumped on the couch with Oda so close does Heigo have time to take in how time has changed Oda since they've been apart. He looks tired in a new, saddening way, but somehow even that manages to make him more handsome than ever, the little frown lines and shadow of stubble adding rugged maturity to his already good looks.

Oda may still care about Heigo, but Heigo is still completely in love with Oda, and the sheer magnitude of what he threw away with one deliberately stupid act is just now hitting him all at once. He will never, ever meet another person like Oda in his life - he doubts another person like Oda will ever exist - and he chose to destroy their bond rather than risk losing it some other way.]

... I'm sorry. [Heigo's face twists with such raw, open pain that he's clearly not just apologizing for the interruption to Oda's day. His voice is choked with emotion as he tries to continue, knowing a simple apology won't be enough:] I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, you didn't deserve the way I treated you at all, I'm so sorry I did it and so sorry I've let you blame yourself by never saying this before now -

[With that much out of his system, he lists to one side and lets his head fall onto the arm of the couch, one hand pressed to his mouth in an effort to keep himself from completely breaking down.]

4

[floret]

[ Jamie is likewise here! The basket hanging from his elbow contains a little of column A, a couple from column B, all kinds of fun stuff from column C. Sometimes it be like that. ]

Um...
Yeah, I have.
--The gauze, you mean?

[odasaku]

[ he nods ]

Yeah, the gauze.

[floret]

Yeah. I've used gauze.

[ He eyes the aftermath of the band-aid explosion all over Oda's arms... ]

Did... something happen?

[ Obviously something happened, but he's trying to be cool!! ]

[odasaku]

[ he glances at his arms, then at jamie and nods. ]

I’ve been wrestling mail. It bit me.

[floret]

Oh, ouch! Paper cuts??

Honestly, I've been totally hiding from all that stuff. I'm pretty sure there are at least a couple of packages for me in with all the rest, but I've lived without them for this long... I'm just not equipped to take on the full strength of the postal system.