[video] forward dated to 9/13

[appraiser]

Ryoji Mochizuki shared a video.
09/13 near Apprassage

[ The video starts up, dark, silent. A bedroom, if an empty desk and neatly made bed and too many cardboard boxes count as a bedroom, and then the view flips over with a soft ] Oh. [ as the user finds the front-facing camera instead of the rear that he always uses on his phone. ]

Hi... It's been a while.

[ The bottom half of the screen blurs as Ryoji draws his knees to his chest where he sits on bare floorboards, phone in his hands. He doesn't introduce himself— doesn't need to, when his name is up there for people who don't know him, his face right here for people who do: the people he's recording this video for, whispers in an empty room. ]

I'm back. I know there are probably questions as to why, or how... and I can't really explain it well myself. But I'll answer the best I can, if you want to ask, texting or in person.

[ Ryoji sits up a little straighter now, looks a little more serious. This is what he meant to say: a confession. ]

But before that, I want to say that I'm glad to be back, however it happened... a second chance like this. I also want to be more upfront about myself, and there are things I want to say to a lot of people.

There was a time in the past where I was a monster: I'd hurt a lot of people, and I ran from all of that, hid myself away, and pretended it hadn't happened. The memories I've been experiencing, I kept the good ones close, the bad even closer, pretending they weren't real and that they have nothing to do with me. I thought... that it would be better to forget about all of that and return to a simpler time. Unconsciously, I think that's what I did. I went back to before everything happened, to start over, and do better this time. But I got it wrong. I made myself forget, but I wasn't forgotten...

[ He's rambling now, a little, so he turns his eyes away from the screen, staring off at something in the distance- it's the moon reflected in his eyes, only half. ]

There's somebody I still need to say goodbye to, but after that... I want to see so many of you. I owe a lot of "thank you"s and "I'm sorry"s and "I love you"s, and I want to be with people again. I don't want to leave this world or its people ever again.

So... I'll see you guys soon.




( ooc: forward dated to 9/13 to give myself a buffer. replies can be via text, or an in-person if you want to fast-forward to ryoji showing up at your character's house/class/chance meeting at some cafe/hi roommates/he'll be finding people around town somehow. for his cr, please assume he checked up on them, whether it's handwaved or not! )

Comments

[appraiser]

[ You are going to die living off nothing but nachos and quesadillas all week, Lalli... Since he's outside anyways, Ryoji makes a trip to the store on his way over to where Lalli lives and arrives at the door with TWO bags! Wonder what healthy stuff is in the other that he'll try to force Lalli to eat.

That does mean his hands are full, though, so he has to kick at the door instead of knocking with his hands. ]

Hey, Lalli? It's Ryoji!

[lalliho]

[No...let him die his queso death...

Lalli arrives at the door not long after Ryoji calls for him, clad in pajamas and with mussed up hair. Sounds from inside suggest he's watching something, but once the door is open, he retreats back inside to pause whatever it is playing, giving Ryoji free reign.

It's decorated minimally, and has a weird mix of teenage slob and an untouched layer of dust swapping out with no rhyme or reason throughout the place, though where he's messing with monitors is clearly one of "his" spaces, showing the most signs of life. Settling back into his computer chair, he draws his legs up and peers wearily over his knees.]

I didn't think I ordered that much...

[Two bags...?]

[appraiser]

[ Ryoji follows Lalli in as best he can, sticking to the trailblazed pathways without straying into the dusty unknowns of the apartment. The first bag gets deposited onto whatever empty tabletop he can find, while the other gets balanced on top of Lalli's knees. ]

This is the one you ordered. You should eat while it's still hot.

[lalliho]

[Ahh, that makes sense. Lalli nudges a few things on his computer desk to make room for his bounty, starting to pick through it critically.]

I don't know what kind of food you like.

[...But that's his open invitation to take whatever, maybe? Lalli himself selects a rice-heavy burrito to nibble on and goes back to watching Ryoji with unblinking eyes.]

What's the other one? Your stuff?

[appraiser]

I like all sorts of food. I think there's always something to be liked about it.

[ Taste, texture, nutrition... something. Though Tuuri's salmiakki is a pretty tough contender. Ryoji goes for the chips and dip, since cold cheese is just no, and he likes the way tortilla chips crunch. ]

The other one's for you too. There's plain popcorn, banana chips, some pistachios, tapioca pudding...

[lalliho]

[slooooow eyebrow raise]

...Why?

[appraiser]

To eat. That's what you do with food.

[lalliho]

[ryoji]

Nnrghn. I understand the concept of food, stupid. I'm asking what made you bring me weird food.

[appraiser]

It's not weird! Have you never had popcorn before? Do you have a saucepan?

[lalliho]

[IS THIS BOY INTENTIONALLY DENSE]

Popcorn is the only not weird thing you listed.

[appraiser]

[ he was going down the list okay?? here's the next one

Ryoji pushes his nachos aside, opens the second bag, and digs out a little plastic baggie of banana chips that he balances on top of Lalli's burrito. ]

Banana chips aren't weird.

[lalliho]

[Um??? He huffs and carelessly tosses the bag into the rest of the mess that is his desk.]

They're weird. I'll eat them eventually, but they're weird.

[appraiser]

[ sadly... watches the bag fly away... ]

But you'll eat them. [ He stops and considers this for a second. ] Does weird have any bearing on whether you like something?

[lalliho]

[Don't worry, man, it didn't go that far. Still in plain sight, and everything. But for now: back to the burrito...!]

Not really. Prompto's weird and I like him. Societal rules are usually weird, don't always like those.

[appraiser]

Did you call me weird once? Or was it...

[ one of the hundreds upon thousands of people he's spoken to that have said it to his face, he's sure there's there's been at least two or three people with the audacity to tell him. ]

[lalliho]

I don't know. Probably.

[He doesn't even hesitate... This is such a thoughtless habit of his, he barely stops to think about it even when he has to explain the nuance of whatever "weird" he's doling out.]

You are weird.

[appraiser]

And do you like me?

[ PUTS LALLI ON THE SPOT; HE NEEDS THIS OK ]

[lalliho]

[mind screeches to a halt

stares

burrito insides plop sadly onto the wrapper]

Um.

[ahem]

You're...okay? I guess? I don't not like you. Just sometimes stuff you do.

[appraiser]

Okay.

[ Ryoji breathes the word and flops back onto Lalli's bed or whatever is in this room that he can lie down on and stare up at the ceiling. ]

...That's okay. Stuff I do is stuff that I can fix.

[lalliho]

[This room in particular is family/living room-kitchen/dining combo, so Ryoji gets to kick back on the sofa. Which...also seems to have been acting as a bed lately, so there's...that. Lalli just keeps watching him, not showing the odd twinge of relief at the fact that Ryoji's not taking this too badly.]

Mhmn. And you said you would try not to be a stepford smiler at me so much anymore. That's why you get to know where I live.

[appraiser]

[ It's a good reward, he supposes, but those words themself makes it hard for Ryoji not to smile, so he turns his head and smiles into the back of the couch instead. ]

It's hard not to smile when you make me want to smile. That's why I do it so much.

[lalliho]

[How does everything out of this dude's mouth sound like flirting...]

Right now this is fine... [Like, this level of joy. Just don't go bonkers.] Other people don't act like this about stuff I say and do.

[appraiser]

[ That's just how he is. Unfortunately. ]

Act like how? Trying not to smile? If you let me smile openly, I would too.

[lalliho]

No. Not like that...

[He sighs and goes back to his burrito so he can figure out...phrasing...]

People think I'm weird. If they smile, it's because I said something that I didn't mean to be funny, but that's how it was because they have weird jokes. I don't...make people happy when I'm not doing anything.

[appraiser]

But weird doesn't have any bearing on whether people like something or someone, right? Weird is synonymous to unique, which everybody is.

[ Like. Have you seen half the people in the city? Ryoji knows he's not the weirdest person out there, and neither is Lalli. ]

And you make me happy, without having to do anything.