groundzeroes | IC Inbox

[ On account of yelling at him, it's convenient that Rei is still crashing on their couch. This is a talk to be had far away from Rosho, though. Ahem! So there's also the Roost. ]

Rei! [ His office door rattles, ruining Sasara's dynamic entrance by not opening without pushing the handle first, but his high pitch persists and eventually breaks through the ~~open~~ door. ] It's about Ichiro!

[ Why the urgency?? There's no real reason, so he better not be having a heart attack. It's been some time since that treck in the woods, but it's just about now that the matter of the fact overwhelms Sasara. He knows that Rei knows. ]

Old man, ya oughta say something about it now, don't ya think!?

Edited 2021-12-04 23:36 (UTC)

[Good lord. Rei pulls a face at the scene Sasara makes at his door, swiveling around in his chair to frown in its direction. He was already a bit cross to begin with-- an estranged son showing up in Ye Olde Magic Deathtrap will Do That to a man-- and having Sasara come harp on him about the guy doesn't help with the blank look.]

So you saw him around too. [Sasara is right: Rei DOES know his son is here. And he sort of knows what Sasara is talking about, but...]

Be more specific, will you. Say what to whom?

[yeah, he's making you spell it out.]

[ Sasara'll spell it out, no worries. ]

To Rosho! [ Ahem! ] About Ichiro being your kid!

[ As much as he knows that Rei knows, he also knows Rei is being dense about it. After all, their last talk about anything Ichiro, or his little brothers, didn't end in much of a conversation at all. Radio silence like that, it ain't something he can handle again.

Even more, it ain't something that'll work again with Ichiro around. ]

A blind man's gotta see he's yours, so no doubt Rosho would. [ He's thrown him and the bus is coming. ] But, more like, it looks better on ya if you come clean.

[ Sasara puts his hands on Rei's desk, standing in front of him like so. Of course, working in TV has him conscious about appearances, though that's not really what he's got in mind. Rei tells him things that Rosho doesn't get to hear, and vice versa. He can make it his own story, sorta.

After all, Sasara's already decided for himself that he'll ask Ichiro, too. ]

"Looks better," does it. [the bus is coming. it's coming!

Rei leans back in his desk chair, looking grouchily up at Sasara above him. So he's playing at team leader again, huh? Worrying about the trouble stirring between his two teammates as things get pulled unceremoniously to the surface? Rei almost looks like he's going to complain, but...

Then he sighs. Whatever. Fuck it. Rei likes Sasara and Rosho, he really does, but being stuck in Avalon is really making everything turn out to be such a pain.]

Wanna bet on if he'll sock me anyway?

[ Someone who looks like the scamming old man he is oughta take all he can get to look a little less like!! ]

It ain't that I'm telling ya to hold Ichiro's hand, or something. [ Haha...! ] Just man up and take it on the chin, would ya?

[ Rosho's definitely gonna punch him; Sasara has resigned to the fact and will do nothing to deny it. Bet. He's so resigned, he's basically subscribed to the image already, and if Rei were standing up Sasara would be doing his utmost to push him out the door to do it right away. His team-leader-ly stance says so. ]

Ya oughta start thinking about what else to confess, so Rosho can just sock ya once and get it over!!

[Rei's reluctance is perhaps over-inflated for the situation. It's not really too big a deal that Rosho will learn about Rei's kids. Hell, it was going to come out in mere weeks when they were last in Japan. But the multiverse really fucked with that one!

This long, long forced vacation in Avalon is really starting to mess with the timeline of Rei's plans. Joining Osaka put him in the spotlight, and he was going to use that window of opportunity, god damn it. Now he's just out here spinning his wheels, and provided they can even survive this damned place it's just more time for the fucking magical-ass world to siphon secrets out of him before their time.

Ugh. Another sigh. Rei stands up, but it's to grab a binder from a nearby cabinet-- not actually go anywhere.

As he's retrieving it, turned away from Sasara:]

Bit funny hearing that advice from you. [You're still weirdly evasive about your time in Tokyo for no reason, ya hypocrite. (But that means Sasara understands, doesn't it?)]

[ Sure, the stakes are only that high because they got stacked up that way. Even without the D.R.B. in sight, though, Sasara holds on to whatever role he's still got. Splitting up their team over Ichiro showing up ain't even on the table now but just as Rei's reluctance is, so is his Sasara's worry of that.

Talk about that, in roundabout ways. ] Teh!

[ That little sound of complaint and opposition, or maybe more like a reaction to Rei hitting the spot exactly. At any rate, it's what keeps Sasara in place rather than impatiently closing the little distance Rei makes. ]

Cross that bridge when we get to it. It ain't Samatoki who just showed up, ya see! [ Or rather, he already left before things got dicey. ]

[Sasara's answer is about what Rei expected, and he makes a noncommittal grunt in response. He mostly commented on it just to get revenge by annoying his team leader, and not really because he cared what Sasara would say to explain himself. Rude, oichan!]

I'll handle it.

[Rei resigns himself to getting clocked.

Still...]

When you saw Ichiro... [Rei tries his best to ask like he doesn't care. It might work on Rosho, but Sasara is harder to distract with assholery.] Still breathing, was he? Being stuck here without those little brothers hasn't killed him yet, has it.

[ Keep it up and Sasara'll smack you with his tiny hands again, not just Rosho...!! As it is, he huffs. An uncommon pause for him. That sorta answer, just to brush him off, yet he believes it enough to let loose a little.

The question stands too and, he's gotta admit, so does his own impression of Ichiro. All that stuff he said to Rei about his kid being so stubborn and hardy, independent, too. Sasara is more worried about what that secret of Rei's would do to Dotsuitare Honpo, less about Ichiro keeping his head above the water. ]

I s'ppose... [ He's got to admit. However: ] Old man, it ain't that you need me to keep an eye, do ya?

[ Even if it's a question, confidence sounds. Quite the opposite from his breaching demand, Sasara doesn't need to hear an answer he may or may not get, actually.

Of course Rei can try. ] Sounds like you'll see for yourself that Ichiro's just fine.

Not if Ichiro can help it. [And Rei goes back and forth on respecting Ichiro's desires. But whatever, Rei got Sasara's answer either way. Maybe he shouldn't have asked in the first place-- eww, sasara knows he like, cares or something, gross-- but whatever. Sasara already knows so much about him and is still attached for some ungodly reason; what harm can this much more do?]

Well. [Rei taps the binder on the desk, peering evaluatingly at Sasara. He agreed to go let Rosho beat him up, so........]

That all the orders you've got, Team Leader?

[ Yep, sorry, the attachment's not gonna snap off just so. A guy like Rei's gotta realize—#1 OG Dotsu Hon fan and all—that Sasara sinks his teeth into relationships like that! ]

Eh... [ He's sure Ichiro'll try his best to. After the veil's been lifted a little ways, there's still that stubborn kid in front of him. Ahem, he's got it from Rei, to be sure. That's the way the answer to his question will go, all right, even if he isn't looking for another honest one.

As busy as Rei makes himself look with that binder in hand: ] Happy as ya ain't about it, I still wanna know, ya know!!

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