enteloki: antibiotical (pic#17033635)
goro "intrusive thoughts" akechi ([personal profile] enteloki) wrote2024-03-06 07:47 pm

LABY - IC INBOX



[ TEXT - AUDIO - VIDEO - ACTION ] 
placation: rosebursts (pack your bags)

[personal profile] placation 2024-06-22 06:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Okay, that gets him.

It starts as a small smile, the inside of one cheek bitten to try to contain it before it blooms across his face anyway, followed by a breathless laugh, like it's been punched out of him.

He turns to Akechi fully then.
]

No, I'm fine. My circadian rhythm is messed up, but aside from that, I feel good.

[ Also not a lie. Beneath the layers of exhaustion, he does.

Venat was right. It was a magnificent fight. He had fun.
]

My apologies. What did you hear?
fragmentaryblue: (27)

[personal profile] fragmentaryblue 2024-06-22 09:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Not for some time yet. My comeuppance will still be a few months out.
fragmentaryblue: (18)

[personal profile] fragmentaryblue 2024-06-22 09:24 pm (UTC)(link)
But I would hate to take any spotlight away from this day meant to celebrate you.

Enjoy your gifts, the well-wishes of your friends, and ask me tomorrow. Perhaps I'll be more inclined to tell you.
placation: rosebursts (because it's everything)

GLASSES RETCON FOR GREAT ROMANTIC JUSTICE

[personal profile] placation 2024-06-22 10:36 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The shift from the leveled accusation to the reveal of the joke is so immediate that Maruki doesn't get a chance to react at all. It hits him like a rogue wave, washes right over him, leaves him cold and disoriented and–

This little shit.

Maruki watches him taking those delicate little bites of pasta, weighs his options. Considers messing with him, addressing any of his fascinations using vague terms to continue stringing him along. Considers going the opposite route and stating it plainly, with no presupposition whatsoever.

As he so often does, Maruki chooses the middle ground.

Every ounce of his energy fights to keep his tone mildly curious, as if they're discussing a harmless piece of gossip gleaned from the network.
]

Ah, can I ask who told you that? I'd like to chat with them to ensure they don't spread that to anyone else.

[ If Akechi looks – and he will look – he'll see the slightest hint of teasing mischief alight in Maruki's tired eyes. ]
placation: placation (art: pixiv 11317886) - dns (and that is how it ends)

[personal profile] placation 2024-06-22 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Another laugh, a further easing of the tension in his shoulders. Akechi is playing along. Okay. Good.

He slides the phone back and resumes picking at his own plate now that his stomach is twisted into less severe knots. A bite, a dab of his own napkin, a hum of consideration.
]

Those confidentiality agreements are tricky things. Sometimes people still think they're entitled to know what information is protected by them. But then again...

[ Bite, chew, swallow. He can't taste any of it as adrenaline floods his system anew. ]

If there's a third party who has proven themselves trustworthy to an ironclad degree, perhaps it's okay to occasionally share the burden of some confidential information with them.

[ The lightly joking tone is slightly pointed now.

Come on, Detective Prince, you can get this one.
]
placation: rosebursts (we were made to sail)

[personal profile] placation 2024-06-22 11:53 pm (UTC)(link)
That's funny. People think the same thing about counseling. When done well, it's a dialogue of give and take between two people, not a barrage of questions and solutions provided by one.

[ He's just playing with his food at this point. It's deeply indulgent.

Not the spaghetti, of course. Maruki takes a couple final bites, still about a quarter left, before gently pushing the plate aside and leaning an elbow on the bar to turn toward Akechi, eyes on that paper, then on him.
]

I'm about to tell you regardless.

[ If Akechi's searching for a lie, he won't find it there. That promise is entirely truthful. ]

However, show me what's on the paper first. Even if you're bullshitting me with an empty offer and it says nothing important, I'll still tell you.

[ But Mamaruki will be D I S A P P O I N T E D ]
Edited 2024-06-22 23:53 (UTC)
placation: seishirou (the eastern sun behind him)

[personal profile] placation 2024-06-23 12:11 am (UTC)(link)
[ He will indeed grab it and look. Not quickly, he isn't in a mad scramble here. He's enjoying this and will let Akechi give his ultimatum before he takes it, reads it, and–

Hm.

Whatever that is, it's not nothing.

Maruki smiles, folds it back up and slides it into one of his pockets.
]

Thank you. I'm sure we'll discuss that later.

[ Akechi's instincts are more than valid. They would be Maruki's instincts too if he wasn't in the situation he's in. He would be exploiting the myriad connections he's formed here to obtain the information quickly, share it with Akechi readily, so that they may both be better informed.

Fortunately for Akechi, he already has an eye on the culprit, so it shouldn't be too much more work heaped onto his plate.

Maruki looks at him, all of that playful cat and mouse teasing dropped away in favor of purely earnest honesty, and there is not a single drop of ego in the factual statement:
]

You were right, actually. It was me.

[ A beat, and then one corner of his lips does quirk upward, fond. ]

And Venat. The two of us.

[ God help him. ]

Aside from her– and, I assume, Night Sky– you're the only one who will know about my involvement. I don't have a single doubt that you'll keep that secret.
purrsonality: (Hippogriff Soup)

[personal profile] purrsonality 2024-06-23 01:12 am (UTC)(link)
whats a maruki.
placation: rosebursts (because it's everything)

BLISSFUL SIGH

[personal profile] placation 2024-06-23 01:21 am (UTC)(link)
[ Maruki watches the wave of reactions from Akechi with great interest, because–

There is still so much that he doesn't understand. About Azathoth, about combat, about the specifics of moving through the cognitive world. Palace.

But he knows just enough to understand that his experience is not typical. Sure, Akechi has told him that he's new to this, that he only has anecdotal evidence about a few other cases, and that for all they know, perhaps Maruki's circumstances aren't as strange as they seem. Maruki believes about half of that on a good day. It was accepted at face value in the labyrinth, in that moment of sudden crystal clarity as his experience was dragged out into the light and validated, but it's been tested since.

Akechi is an incredibly good liar, and if Maruki were anyone but who he is, he would get away with it. No one knows how to recognize lies like another who deals so deftly in them. By that same token, he knows Akechi likely sees through more of his lies than he lets on.

Somehow, it isn't irritating, or frustrating, or worrisome. It only serves to strengthen Maruki's trust in him, as an ally and a friend.

His persona should not be able to do some of the things it does. He should not be as powerful as he is with so little experience under his belt. He is abnormal, and Akechi sees it, and he's about to engage with it directly.

Good.

And in the midst of it all: That rare laugh, that sincere burst of praise.

There is a space in his chest that only Akechi occupies, whether he's aware of it or not. It goes bright-white-hot then, flaring intensely enough that the space remains comfortably warm even when the moment passes. It won't be fully extinguished any time soon, no matter what else transpires between them. Someone who knows more about their shared abilities than him – someone whose will and convictions are as powerfully strong as his own – someone who never walks behind him anymore, only ever slightly in front or at his side – someone who has never thought him weak, who has in fact only encouraged his strength – someone who guides him with a hand that's anything but gentle but twice as effective – is openly, earnestly proud of his efforts. Of him.

Maruki Will Remember That.

And then, as suddenly as it appears, it passes and is replaced with a dozen more brewing micro-expressions before Akechi begins to stand.

Maruki's eyebrows raise up past his flop of fringe.
]

Keeping in mind that this ordeal ended a couple hours ago, are you sure this will be a fair fight on my end? Azathoth might be tired.

[ It isn't. ]
purrsonality: (Bacon and Eggs)

[personal profile] purrsonality 2024-06-23 01:59 am (UTC)(link)
and hes good at it?