★ my genius, flawless idol for life

[liedol]

⭐ Who: Ai and you!
⭐ When: its fucking dember
⭐ Where: Mostly in Yumemigaoka, with some planned Hunts and stuff in the Dream Sphere
⭐ What: Wow, that was pretty decidedly awful!!! Unfortunately, there's no rest for the wicked OR the DU's idol so even though she's a little running on fumes, Ai's still got a busy December ahead of her...! With DU work and idol work and holiday obligations all on her plate, the real question is: how does she ever find time to sleep???

Comments

[thezekeinator]

[A double victory, because he secretly had one ultimate weapon hidden away in his arsenal that he hadn't needed to deploy. Likely it'll just get spent anyway by chance, but oh well -- that's how these things go.]

[All bright grin, Zeke drops into a seat and somehow manages not to fall out the window. Yeeees, today IS going very well.]

[liedol]

[ She goes back to tap-tap-tapping on her keyboard for a moment, presumably pulling up a few things to send over his way — god only knows exactly how many things she has in her inbox and on her to-do list on any given day of the year, let alone so close to Christmas. ]

Do you really not have any plans for Christmas, though? [ she says that idly, still rattling away. ] I thought for sure you'd have some sort of party with friends to go to.

[ not that ai..... has ever been to one............. ]

[thezekeinator]

Sam's doing a thing around then, I'm going to help her with that. Otherwise I'm keeping my ears open, but I haven't heard of much.

[No option to throw one, either -- Zeke has a rather cheap apartment, unsuited for hosting all but maybe one visitor. And of course, one can't wander into Promised Morning looking for parties at his age, that's just creepy.]

[liedol]

I guess things were a little too crazy the last month or so for anyone to go really hard on party planning...

[ And that's WITHOUT a Disturbance messing things up. Thank basically every god that whoever's been messing around in the Dream Sphere decided to give them all a break for Christmas or Ai never would've gotten anything done. ]

How about New Year? Are you stopping by any shrines?

[thezekeinator]

...does bed count as a shrine?

[YOU NEVER KNOW IT'S BETTER TO ASK THAN ASSUME]

[liedol]

Are you praying to a god of sleep?

[ she doesn't usually dunk on zeke like that but sometimes he really does ask for it a bit ]

[thezekeinator]

How could you worship a god of sleep better than by sleeping?

[Although if that's true, does Dreaming count? Because Zeke spends so much of his 'asleep' time running around the Dream Sphere that if it doesn't, he might be the god of sleep's greatest nemesis.]

[Eh, add another one to the list, along with that Nightmare he couldn't catch before it got away and the Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs for reasons that aren't really important, are they?]

Otherwise... all that stuff kind of lost meaning for me a while back. Not really the look you want from a Dreamer, but there it is anyway.

[Zeke so rarely gets embarrassed by anything, but he ducks his head slightly now. Losing sight of the magic in things like shrine visits and fortunetelling is pretty shameful, in his estimation.]

[liedol]

It did...? [ She sounds... a little disappointed, almost?? The sort of tone your mom might take when you have to gently break it to her that you don't believe in Santa anymore. ] I guess it does land a little different when you spend as much time on the other side as we do...

[ Still. Even if you see plenty of magic in the Dream Sphere, that doesn't mean it should vanish from your life in the waking world too. ]

Do you not even have fun going out and doing shrine visits and everything with friends?

[thezekeinator]

Well. My folks spoiled it for me.

[No secret to Ai, there -- Zeke doesn't get along with his parents in the slightest. The stodgy, traditional, responsible pair had struggled enough with their chuuni son at the best of times; when he donned a skirt to prance about in the Dream Sphere, that had been the end of it. Ironic that he'd taken up a government job, which they would have approved of...]

Going there just reminds me of them.

[liedol]

[ The smile she'd been wearing thins just a bit. Not enough to look like pity or distaste — she knows full well how much that can sting when it lands but she's not going to insult him by wearing a thoughtless, clueless smile in the face of an admission like that.

Finally, she gives a quiet hum. ]

I guess that would suck all the fun out of things. [ There. That's neutral enough to not sound like she's giving him a condescending a little headpat, right? ] But the good thing about being an adult is getting to decide for yourself what your traditions are.

[ She flashes him a grin. ]

Getting comfy in bed's just as good as anything else!

[thezekeinator]

Or spending the time with friends. Or even here. Since I don't actually work for the DU, I can just hang out and chat! Talk people into New Year's Torment runs! Not on the day, of course. [He quickly holds up his hands to forestall that objection. The deal remains good!] Honestly, I'm at peace with what happened. It sucks, but nothing's perfect, yeah?

[liedol]

So long as I don't catch you actually doing any work then that's fine with me.

[ she didn't QUITE turn on the mom voice there but the threat of it was absolutely audible. She'll be keeping an eye on you, buster!!! ]

Honestly, things are so dead here when it's just the skeleton crew, I wouldn't complain about having someone to chat with when I'm in. I'll bring the snacks if you bring the coffee?

[thezekeinator]

Works for me! [Here's hoping he hasn't secretly set Ai up to bring, like, carrot sticks and celery or something. Zeke eats his vegetables responsibly already, dangit!] Not that I plan to let you spend too much time here if I can help it.