(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]

[It seems they're going to spin their wheels over this, instead of trying to work their way through how they feel... Yu doesn't think that's such a bad thing, right now.

But he's onto something -- that doesn't feel right. They were less like dreams and more like--] ... Memories. Like we were inside memories. But anyone who wanted could see them...

[Which was what made it unsettling in the first place. Frowning a bit, he thoughtfully takes a sip of his own drink, and then, looking at Deku's confused face...oh, uh, uh oh. Was the drink the wrong call? He doesn't mind explaining, at least, since there are so many different kinds of people here.]

Plum wine and hot water.

[heroondecku]

[Ah, that would explain it. Still not a fan...but at least it doesn't punch as hard as that Manhattan did.

He's not upset about it, either way. He'd hardly expect a stranger to know he doesn't normally drink, and Izuku could've asked what it was when he accepted it. No harm, no foul. He does, however, turn to the other boy with an awkward smile.]

Sorry. I'm not used to alcohol.

[Somehow, the unexpected interlude helps clear his head a little more. Maybe it's the shock of the unexpected booze, or the weird sense of normalcy - at least in the "this is probably what normal teenagers do, right" sense. He drums his right fingers against the side of the mug again, head tilting as his gaze slides ever-so-slightly away.]

There were more than memories, too. [He absently takes yet another sip, winces, and lowers the mug - apparently this is just going to be his night now.] We were stuck in our own heads, and in everyone else's heads.

[izanagis]

[That's what happens when it's 50% water. Umeshu is pretty strong by itself, and almost too sweet, but the hot water really mellows it out. Nonetheless, it is still alcohol. Yu offers an apologetic smile.]

I think I'm the one who should apologize. I won't be offended if you don't drink it.

[Not everyone does. He often doesn't, not much at least, but after the last week or so...it feels like the right time. Even though part of him would be glad to have his uncle give him a disapproving look over it.

...

The way Izuku words that makes him pause, his mouth drawn into a line as he taps his fingers along the side of the mug.]

Stuck is a good way to word it. It felt like we were being tested...like we couldn't get out until we did something.

[heroondecku]

It's alright. You were trying to do something nice, that's what matters.

[Though it does make him feel a bit better knowing there's no hard feelings over him not wanting to drink it. He'll probably keep absentmindedly sipping it every now and then anyway, purely because it's there and he tends to go into autopilot a bit when thinking, but that's a whole different matter. (He'd put it down, but he's not sure where.)

Izuku hums thoughtfully, one hand coming up to press against his mouth.]

A conditional release...that makes sense. But would that mean everyone "passed," since we're all freed now? Or did the existence of the maze itself have a condition, like a certain number of people making it out...

[Izuku certainly never left the maze, just suddenly stopped being inside it. Unless that is what "leaving" was supposed to look like. Hmm...]

[izanagis]

[He flashes Izuku a grateful look at that. He seems like a fairly agreeable person, at first impression.

Conditional release, passing, failing... These are all excellent questions -- ones that Yu doesn't have an answer for. But it makes him think more about it, the particularities of the maze and how everything happened. He and Yosuke did manage to get out, in the end, but knowing that other people didn't... It's a lot to consider. They don't know enough to understand what they need to know, do they?]

It's hard to say. Whether we "passed" would probably depend on what we were being tested for. Either the maze disappeared because we were successful, or it was already on a limited time mechanic and would have disappeared anyway.

[In which case it's possible they could have failed without knowing it.]

[heroondecku]

[Not a pleasant thought. It certainly doesn't help that there's no way of knowing if passing and failing was exclusively on an individual level, or if they were being "graded", as it were, as a whole group. The idea he might've helped ruin things for everyone else...mmm, he's not going to think about it right now. That's a problem for Future Izuku to go into a spiral about process.]

I suppose it would depend on why we were being tested, too. Was seeing if all of us could "pass" the goal? Or just how many of us could? Assuming it wasn't just to see how we'd all react to...to all of that.

[The difference between having been lab rats tossed in a maze - and ugh, that's an ominous connection he's suddenly making - or students taking a surprise exam. And if they were the latter, what lesson were they even being tested on?]

[izanagis]

[What and why... he has to think about that for a moment, to be honest. Sighing softly, he takes a sip from his mug.]

That's a good question. I assumed the "why" would be related to our crimes, but...the way you word that makes it sound more like an experiment.

[Which is...unsettling, given the content of the maze. The way it tested all of them.]

... If it was experimental, we should probably get ready for more of them.