coolerjunpei: (022)
bitcoin scholar junpei tenmyouji ([personal profile] coolerjunpei) wrote2024-07-01 10:02 am

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USERNAME: junpei
Junpei Tenmyouji
Zero Escape

TEXT • AUDIO • VIDEO • ACTION • OVERFLOW
incorrigibles: (( 29 ))

[personal profile] incorrigibles 2024-08-01 10:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Really. I like keeping up with pop culture stuff.

[ said with a small shrug; he's not as well-versed as he could be, not with most of his time having gone to case work, but they did have plenty of free time too and when you don't have to sleep, well, suddenly there's at least seven more hours in the day to just devote to listening to new music and sneaking into concerts or movies, or, in some memorable occasions, movie sets. handy when no one can see you and all that!

as junpei grabs the beer and seems to contemplate how to open it, charles reaches into his overcoat pocket and produces a bottle opener, sliding it over the floor to the other.
]

Huh, so right now, are you speaking English or Japanese? [ he wonders if he's hearing his actual words, or if it's translated. somehow, it matters.

and then he's launching into his very brief and mildly depressing life story, and charles — well, charles evaluates his options, and after a few seconds, scoots to where junpei's sitting with his back on the wall and just settles there next to him instead of being across from him as he was. he slides against the wall a bit so that he's sitting kind of slumped over, a triangle of air between his back and the wall, a position that'd be uncomfortable if he could feel it; but it allows him to sit more or less level with his friend, so that's really what matters.
]

Sneakers sound aces, [ he says with a small grin, then, instead of anything else. ]
incorrigibles: (( 26 ))

[personal profile] incorrigibles 2024-08-02 10:16 am (UTC)(link)
[ he may be without his bag of tricks, here, but he does still carry around a number of useful items. and it'd have been silly to bring a bunch of bottles but no bottle opener, now wouldn't it?

the mention of his family makes charles smile and nod.
]

Cool. My Mum tried to teach me some Urdu, you know, until Dad thought it was stupid so we stopped. I tried studying on my own afterwards, but not like there were classes I could go to, and then St. Hil's had mandatory Latin — [ he shrugs; he'd tried asking if he couldn't learn what was his mother's native language, instead, but the headmaster had spouted some nonsense and denied him and that had been that, and anyway then he'd died. so that was the end of his language learning.

he laughs at the mention of wooden clogs, because, really? but, hm,
] Well, I've heard some people say that shit from home sometimes shows up here, yeah? Maybe your collection will show up, too. Save you from the evil clutches of Dutch shoes or whatnot.

[ and in the meantime... if he's able to find hoodies in the local stores, they gotta have sneakers, too. maybe this solves his problem of what to get junpei as a birthday present. ]
incorrigibles: (( 56 ))

[personal profile] incorrigibles 2024-08-02 02:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Oi, [ charles says, mock-offended, pressing a hand on his chest as if wounded. but it's true — he may have never learned much at school, but it's been impossible not to have picked up some things over the years, what with a lot of the spells edwin uses being in latin — but then, edwin also speaks ancient aramaic among other things, so maybe charles' metric of what's normal to know is a bit skewed.

instead, he gives junpei an easy grin.
] I'm half-Indian.

[ and then, with a teasing edge, ] You know that much of geography, yeah? Where India is on the map?
incorrigibles: (( 09 ))

[personal profile] incorrigibles 2024-08-02 03:00 pm (UTC)(link)
[ shit, is it possible to have become some kind of nerd/jock hybrid... he's invented a new kind of being.

charles, in an answer to the little foot nudge, just knocks their shoulders together, ducking his head and laughing.
]

I mean, "under China" is a pretty broad descriptor, mate. [ but alright, fine, he'll let that go! what he won't let go is nevada — ]

Well, no, but you just described the most populous country in the world as being, I repeat, "under China", so... [ did he say he'd let that go? wrong. his grin is very, very pointed and very, very bright. ]

What were you doing in Nevada? Or is that where you live? You said you'd moved to the States.
incorrigibles: (( 06 ))

[personal profile] incorrigibles 2024-08-02 03:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Wait, for real?

[ because that sounds pretty fucking cool, that, and charles tilts his head to look at junpei, his expression both surprised and admiring.

(and yeah, he hears the "supposed to", and just — chooses to ignore it, at least for now.)
]

So you went to school for that stuff, too? Like — space, and all that?
incorrigibles: (( 29 ))

[personal profile] incorrigibles 2024-08-02 04:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Still, [ charles smiles, not at all deterred by the fact that it was all volunteer work, ] That was pretty good of you, signing up for that.

[ the question makes him snort as if it's a silly thing to ask; instead of getting up, he nudges at his coat with his foot and then pulls it closer until he can stick his hand into one of the pockets and pull out, yeah, a notebook and pen.

he hands them over with a little bow, just because he can, and says, his voice affecting a posh, sharp british accent clearly different from his own,
] A good detective never fails to carry with him the means of note-making.
incorrigibles: (( 11 ))

[personal profile] incorrigibles 2024-08-02 05:27 pm (UTC)(link)
[ he doesn't protest the accusation (dork), less because it's entirely accurate and more because junpei is grinning at him, but that's — well, then he's knocking against his shoulder again and showing him the notebook and charles focuses on that, instead.

(well. if he focuses a bit more on watching junpei draw the explanations than the actual doodles themselves, no one needs to know that.)
]

Space, sun, moon, earth... pretty poetic, that.

[ then, with a lilt, ] Not sure you can call me a nerd for Latin if you got a telescope when you were eight.

[ and then with a kind of genuine delight, ] So this your last name, then? It's pretty.
incorrigibles: (( 22 ))

[personal profile] incorrigibles 2024-08-02 06:36 pm (UTC)(link)
[ it's a good thing, then, that most of charles' conversations over the last thirty-odd years have been with a walking edwardian dictionary... anyway, he gives a little shrug and waves one hand in defense. ] I didn't say it wasn't, honest! Seen some eclipses over the years, and they're proper cool, you're right. [ a pause. ] Not sure I can say the same about knowing the word syzygy, though.

[ then he seems to remember that he's meant to be looking at the notebook, and shifts his gaze; he first laughs over the telescope drawing, but then moves his hand to trace his fingertip over the lines of kanji. ]

Always thought they look neat, you know. Like they're saying a lot more than just regular written words, yeah? [ his smile turns a touch wistful, then. ] We got a bunch of those comics recently, the black and white ones, all in Japanese. Maybe I'll learn how to read them.
incorrigibles: (( 64 ))

[personal profile] incorrigibles 2024-08-02 07:33 pm (UTC)(link)
[ he stops idly running his fingers up and down the pen lines when junpei speaks up, because then he's snapping his fingers in recollection. ]

Right, that's what they're called! Manga, yeah. And, uh, a bunch of different things, I think? Some were — [ he pauses, then, suddenly, and looks away, for all the world like he might be blushing if ghosts were able to do that; for a reason, too, because niko had been into... well, edwin had confessed to him under duress that she'd described some of the comics she had as "sweet and explicit" (and definitely between two boys because when charles had leafed through one he'd dropped it on the floor and sworn out loud because bloody hell, he didn't know about sweet but the explicit part was definitely right) and maybe he just. won't talk about those at all — ]

I mean, we just got them, they belonged to a friend. But one of them was this series about this small detective guy? Seemed fun, that.
incorrigibles: (( 27 ))

[personal profile] incorrigibles 2024-08-02 08:38 pm (UTC)(link)
[ to the initial question, he just mumbles something unintelligible under his breath, and when he's not asked to clarify he actually lets out a small, relieved sigh.

and he'll blame that relief for what he says next, not really thinking about it,
]

Well, yeah. When I was dying, Edwin read me some Max Carrados, and I guess I've just liked detective novels since then, you know?

[ anyway, that nice little tidbit about his dying moments aside — ] Do I wanna ask what mobile suits are?
incorrigibles: (( 51 ))

[personal profile] incorrigibles 2024-08-02 09:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh! [ now he gets it! it's even visible in his eyes, the spark of recognition. ] Yeah, once had a client who had all these collectibles, like, giant figures of these robot things. Haven't seen any movies, though, maybe we can put those on the list? You know, along with 80s records and city pop.

[ their little list to find things here and introduce each other to them, he likes that.

and then it dawns on him, what exactly he said, and he feels a bit like kicking himself, because while he's pretty nonchalant over his own death (or, more accurately, has learned to talk about it as if he's nonchalant while burying his actual feelings over it very, very deep), it's... not exactly a topic that living people tend to appreciate.

instead of apologising, charles shifts in place, moves his leg just slightly so it's pressed up against junpei's there on the floor, like the contact might help with what's going to follow. because then he tilts his head back, eyes focused on the line between wall and ceiling, and talks, quiet and yet terribly matter-of-fact,
]

There was this new guy at school, Aysar. From Pakistan. St. Hil's was, I told you, stuffy, right? And the lads, well, they weren't... great, always, but they'd never treated me like I was too different. But for some reason — anyway, saw them beating him up one day, like, it was real bad. So I pulled them off of him, told them off, because if they beat him for being Pakistani, well, how was I any different, yeah?

[ he chuckles, then, or maybe scoffs — it's hard to make out which the sound is supposed to be. ] Well, turns out I wasn't, not when I wasn't going along with them. It was November, and — they threw me in the lake, threw rocks, and — well, we were all in the cricket team, so the lads could throw. [ and yet, charles hadn't really realised how bad it was; not with the cold of the lake numbing him to the worst of the pain, not with thinking i've had worse, i've had worse, remembering the time his dad had thrown him down the stairs — in any case, he'd thought he'd be fine. sore, but fine. ]

I hid in an attic, you know, thought I'd just stay there for a tick. But it was real cold, and I couldn't dry off, and... well, turns out hypothermia kills just as much as internal bleeding does. [ he sighs. ] Not sure how many hours it took.
incorrigibles: (( 74 ))

[personal profile] incorrigibles 2024-08-02 10:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[ fuck those guys, junpei says, and charles huffs a wry laugh at that — because, yeah, sounds about right, that. and he's ready to leave it at that, too, casting about for another topic that might take them away from this one — except junpei's not done, and you did everything right hits him right in the gut, enough so that he lets out an involuntary exhale. because — well, yeah, there's stuff he's heard before, over the decades, stuff about how the lads were terrible and how it was unfair what had happened to him and that he hadn't deserved it; he knows all that, sure.

but somehow, for some reason, no one's ever commented on the reason he died. no one's ever said that it was right, that, and even if he'd known that, too... well. feels different when it's said out loud, by someone he cares about.

and yeah, maybe he's opened his mouth and started to say,
] I — [ — what, then? i'm fine does flit across his mind, then, but heavier are the words i didn't tell you to feel bad for me, because he hadn't — he'd just wanted him to know.

instead of saying anything then, he stares at junpei and his open arms for a second, blinking, and the gut punch from earlier has shifted into something warm in his chest, something that constricts his throat at the same time as it feels far too large to fit inside whatever spectral atoms make up his ribcage.

in the end, he folds like a wet napkin, falls into the hug, his arms going around junpei in turn, his face tucked against his shoulder.
]

Sorry, [ he mutters after a second, or five, or a minute, or two — he's a bit hazy on the time, here. ]

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remember to donate--

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ok but THAT ICON THOUGH

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yep yep yep

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see no evil hear no evil--

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