Night 56: M31-M40 Hallway

[poorexample]

Once again, dinner had passed by quietly, though Castiel could not complain about some solitude, even if it was spent in the company of one troubled teenager. He had gotten by with only a few bites of the food, the "Tasty Meal" from earlier having done an adequate job of sating his hunger

Comments

M35

[mirthfulness]

Whoa. It seemed like the whole lights going out thing was a constant every night. Or at least they were doing it just like they had the night before. Gamzee had to stand and blink for a while to allow his eyes to readjust to the dark. Walking around in all that bright light during the day wasn't very good for his natural night vision. They eventually did adjust, however, and he had to admit he much preferred things as dark as he was used to them being back home

[forgot_it_all]

After coming back from Doyleton, Ritsuka had felt inexplicably tired. Maybe it had to do with finally getting food he liked and eating a bit more of it than he should have, or maybe it had to do with the weather. He always got a little tired when the world was covered in snow and the chill seemed to seep in through however many layers he tried to put on. It was strange that the weather took such a turn in so little time. Just awhile ago he remembered seeing the leaves changing and now it was snowing

[mirthfulness]

Gamzee had almost forgotten he had a roommate until the other started talking. He blinked over at him, realizing he'd moved in the time he'd been dressing. And that... he had ears and a tail. Whoa, when had that happened? He could have sworn those hadn't been there before. Just on instinct, he reached up to pat his head where his horns should be on the off-chance that they'd returned and he hadn't noticed. But no, still nothing.

"Gamzee." He answered the question on his name, at the same time already walking over to Ritsuka's bedside. If those ears were real... he just had to touch them. This being Gamzee, he just sort of went for it without any asking or really any thought at all. They definitely weren't horns. They moved and everything. Maybe his roommate wouldn't mind if he just... reached out and tried to pet them once or twice...

"So we're all gonna be up and sharin' this motherfuckin' space, yeah?"

[forgot_it_all]

Well, that was an original name. Ritsuka had met a lot of people here, but never anyone who had such a unique--

As Ritsuka put his pants back on, he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. His roommate had come closer and before he knew it there was a hand hovering near his head, reaching for his ears. Why did everyone just try to touch them without asking?!

"What are you do--?!" Tail fuzzing, Ritsuka ducked his head and jerked out of the way. Ears and tails were unusual here, sure, but it was just basic manners to ask before trying to touch someone's head! Gamzee was young, Ritsuka could tell that much, but youth was no excuse for poor manners. "Don't just touch them without asking

[mirthfulness]

"Oh." The troll lowered his hand a little, but didn't lower it completely. ...And whoa, he had a tail, too! Maybe he was familiar with Nepeta? Though he wasn't sure how. Of course, the natural response to follow up his roommate's now was "...Can I touch them?" After all, he'd just said to ask, right? He hadn't straight up said not to touch them ever. It was a permission thing, and he could totally get behind that.

Man, if Nepeta didn't know this guy then she'd sure want to meet him if or when she ever popped into this place as well. Were they real? The tail looked real. Then again, Nepeta's could look kinda real sometimes too. Maybe he was also a roleplayer? He didn't know humans could grow beast appendages like these. Was it a god tier thing? If he stayed human long enough would he be able to get some?

...Motherfuckin' miracles was what it was.

"You always been havin' these? I all had me some motherfuckin' horns, but now that I'm all pink they done vanished."

[forgot_it_all]

Of course he'd ask to touch them. Ritsuka sighed and felt his ears drop again as he realized there was no way around someone touching his ears at least once a night. At least Tear hadn't tried it or Ippo, even if Ippo apparently thought he was some sort of genetic freak now. "Just this once. And don't pull on them. They're sensitive."

Ugh... Ritsuka felt his stomach flip when he lowered his head slightly, looking away. It used to be that Soubi was the only one to touch his ears, which meant when anyone did it now, he tended to remember all the weird things Soubi did. Like biting on them. Not hard, of course, but maybe that made it worse. If it'd been a full on bite, Ritsuka could just shove Soubi away and storm off. The--

Don't think about that idiot. It'll just make things worse. He had to remember that Soubi was gone now. Thinking of him would only...

"--havin' these?" Ritsuka lifted his eyes and was halfway through a shrug when he realized what else Gamzee had said while he had been off in his own world. He had

[mirthfulness]

Yay. Gamzee reached up to (gently!) run a hand along the top of one ear. It sure felt like a real ear! It twitched and was attached an everything. That was pretty miraculous, right there. Maybe he had a feline type lusus in his world too? Did he use cat puns? Somehow the idea of this boy saying things like rolepurrlayer and purrfection didn't work as well as it did for Nepeta

[forgot_it_all]

Despite his rough speech, Gamzee was surprisingly gentle when he touched Ritsuka's ears. He'd almost been expecting a gruff pat on the head or something, but instead it was just a tenuous touch to see if they were really there. The ears responded in kind, twitching and flicking away from the touch as was natural for them, and Gamzee seemed satisfied

[mirthfulness]

Like clowns? That was probably the biggest understatement of the evening so far. Gamzee gave a little guffaw and honked the horn a couple more times. "Fuck yeah I like them. Shit, I up and follow the best motherfuckers. Always smilin', clowns are. Shows a motherfucker how to go about livin

[forgot_it_all]

"..." That confirmed it - his roommate was weird. The guy laughed and honked the little bicycle horn he had, explaining his adoration for creepy make-up wearing circus comedians and Ritsuka couldn't help but stare. He followed them? For a living? Ritsuka wasn't sure if Gamzee meant that he was a troll clown or if he was just...weird. He'd never heard of anyone following clowns and their way of life. To be honest, Ritsuka didn't even know that clowns had a way of life

[mirthfulness]

Fake stuff? Well, even if it was fake it was still stuff, right? And some stuff was better than no stuff. Maybe. "Upstairs? Yeah, bro. We was all up and explorin' around there last night. Check this shit out what I got." He reached for the hideous fuzzy sweater, holding it up for his roommate to see. Despite how ugly it was, and how it most likely belonged to one of the more elderly of the Institute's staff, he seemed particularly proud of the find.

If Ritsuka was lucky, he might forget to wear it. But then, it was a little chilly outside. "Ain't that just the most wicked motherfuckin' cover you ever saw?" Because if his tastes weren't questionable before, there was the added kicker

[forgot_it_all]

That sweater was old. Like, so old his hypothetical grandparents might look at it and go "wow, that's old" and put it back in the bin where they found it. Oddly enough, however, it seemed to match the weird color and fashion scheme his roommate had going with the crazy pants and the philosophy of following clowns, which, in its own way, was a type of fashion consciousness. If all clowns dressed like that, it was no wonder some people had a pathological fear of them. Or maybe it wasn't pathological. Who knew what clowns were really thinking behind those plastered on smiles