(after event chill out lil mingle) let's understand it

[nullificates]

(cw depression)

(he hasn't exactly been doing great - much to the opposite. he spent the week in bed, he hasn't taken care of himself whatsoever, and he's exhausted. either way, it hardly matters how he feels, does it ever?

so. let's go. a text message arrives to everyone's charms and tablets, and it reads:)

this is, you guessed it, osamu dazai. it's been a week since that stupid maze, so here is what we have:

1. i need copious amounts of alcohol and food. i'll bring some to the beach in 30, i suggest we all do the same.
2. i'd like to hear what your experiences were. it's important for data building - we have a few detectives in this place, some smartpants, and some go-getters. we need to take advantage of our only resource, which is ourselves. meet me at the beach, or send me anonymously. i don't care about your shit per se.

see you, or don't see you.

many words that mean absolutely nothing here,
dazai.

(to those that come to the beach, they'll see several cocktail possibilities laid in front of dazai, as well as a good number of the food they serve in lupin - mixed nuts, pistachio, cheese tables, chocolate, dried figs, potato chips, chicken snacks, boiled sausage, asparagus with sauces, and dried fruit. a bonfire warms his hands in the chilly breeze of the night - this feels awfully needed.)

Comments

[izanagis]

[Yu is surprised to find someone so cheerful at a time like this, but...not in a bad way. Some people have an indomitable spirit, he supposes, and even if it's just an act...he can't blame someone for wanting to fake it. But he doesn't know her, yet, and he can't tell whether it's affected or not, so for now he just takes it as it is.]

Thanks.

[Oh. She's sharing. He takes the plate curiously --the boy's not generally one to turn down free food-- and tries to suss out what it is exactly. Is that...peanut butter...? No, it can't be. There's some Thai food that has peanut sauce in it, right? Has she made something like that...?

... ... ... His courage is at max. So--] Sure, I'll give it a try.

[As delicately as he can, he takes a piece, examines it for a moment, and............downs it.

It's an odd variety of sensations and tastes all hitting at different times. The undeniable meatiness of the sausage, the sweet tartness of the jam, the peanut butter's cloying richness, the savory umami saltiness of the anchovies... He mulls over the taste for a minute, unsure of exactly what to say. Speechless, you might say. Mindblown? Maybe. In a good way? .................

........]

Have you...tried this before...?

[It's...sort of hard to talk, actually. The peanut butter is making his mouth stick shut, a bit...]

[coordinatroll]

[ Whether her positive attitude is or a facade, she'll let people make their own judgement! After all, no matter what she does or how she asks, people will always believe whatever they like best regardless of the truth, and she's way beyond caring about trying to appease their expectations.

Regardless, she watches the newcomer try her carefully crafted snack with great interest. Somehow, he doesn't seem very... enthusiastic? Maybe he's just surprised by the combination? ]

Hm? No, not yet...

[ But now that he's prompted her to do so, Mitama picks one piece of her weird dish and pops it into her mouth. She munches it for a moment with a thoughtful hum before finally swallowing and speaking up casually, like nothing particularly exciting has happened: ]

Oh, I think I know what you mean! It's missing something, isn't it?

[ She's got that figured out! The girl reaches into a bag next to her and digs out a bar of chocolate, then begins to happily break it into smaller chunks and place them on top of her appetizer abominations. ]

[izanagis]

[Cloying. That may be the word for it. But the saltiness is making his mouth dry, and the savory sausage component feels like a lead rock in his stomach. How...how is it that something like this has come to exist...? It's unique in its horror, at least, unlike even Mystery Food X in that it doesn't seem to have sent him to a different dimension so far.

Missing something.

He wonders if maybe that's about to change...

It's with thinly masked horror that he watches Mitama sprinkle chunks of chocolate atop this monstrosity that she's tasted without even batting an eye.]

Chocolate...that's what it's missing?

[He manages to at least tone down the incredulity. Unfortunately, that might make his tone seem more like curiosity.]

[coordinatroll]

[ Mitama appears to remain hopelessly oblivious to the terror Yu is experiencing, giving him a cheerful smile and a nod even as she continues to further mutilate the unholy abomination that had once used to be food. ]

Right? I can't believe I didn't think about it earlier!

[ She offers him the plate again, the contents of which are quickly becoming more and more synonymous with death and despair. ]

Go ahead, try it now!

[izanagis]

[Try it, she says, as if this is some innocent experiment and not a potential crime against food. The plate has a distinctly ominous look to it, piled high with sausage-anchovy-chocolate-whatever-the-hell...but she seems so earnest, and his courage is at max, and it can't possibly be worse than the curry, so...

...so...

He tries it. There are some things that seem, oddly, to go together here. Chocolate and peanut butter. Sausage and anchovy. There are reasonable combinations. But the chocolate with the sausage and the peanut butter with the anchovy become a nightmarish experience, making his taste buds explode with confusion and bewilderment. What in the world is this? Is she really going to eat it? Is this...normal for her?

It. It's a few minutes before he answers.]

... That was something, alright.

[coordinatroll]

[ That's amazing! People usually refuse to try her food combinations (for whatever reason, she could never figure that one out), so she's really glad to have found someone who seems genuinely impressed (?) by what she has to offer. ]

I'm glad you like it~ I figured we all could use some nice treat as a pick-me-up!

[ Mitama says in a singsong tone, her smile indicating she genuinely has no idea why anyone would find her creation repulsive. She pops another piece into her mouth, humming happily again. She did it! She finally made a dish people can (???) eat! What an accomplishment! ]

[izanagis]

[A nice treat.

A nice treat.

This-- must be a joke. He's being pranked, clearly. There's no way she really means that, he thinks, and even now his mouth seems to be going numb from the experience he's having, half glued shut by the nightmare combination of peanut butter and anchovies. But just as he's about to brave a comment, she...eats some, herself. And she doesn't even flinch. For a moment, Yu is utterly speechless. This is something entirely different from the girls at home, who at the very least could recognize when they had created a monster. This...he doesn't even know what this is.]

That's-- [He swallows, his mouth somehow on fire and dry as a desert.] --very...thoughtful of you.