damnpire | Kenos Inbox

[ It hasn't been ten tags yet but this seems a good a time as any for Eustace to come back from the world's fastest shower, hair still damp and sticking up in a few places. It's fine, this is his house (not really but close enough) and if he wants to look slightly rumpled for dinner then that's fine.

A cursory glance back at the table shows that a smidge of the awkwardness seems to have dissipated, though considering that he still has no idea what's going on he opts to busy himself with ladling soup in the kitchen while he gathers context clues. Ah wait, he does have one question, which he silently directs to Dokja via Communion.

Are you trying to set them up?

Just checking. Dokja doesn't usually take on the role of generous host, so something must be going on. In the meantime, the rest of them can continue their out loud conversation. ]

[Eustace is asking the real questions.

D's hums quietly in acknowledgement to Dokja. He thinks Dokja should accept the Depression to move forward in finding out the whys, but it's fine. He understands. D isn't sure if he would say Dextera is gone for good necessarily.

Eustace and a few others are testaments to that in his mind.

His rusty eyes glance between Dokja and Gray. Normally, he would say nothing since Gray did the explaining for them, but it feels rude to do in the current Kim household. Everything is awkward enough already.]

Getting to know each other.

[NOT IN THE WAY THEY WANTED PROBABLY, BUT THAT ALSO IS FINE.

He will...... pet this cat as Gray is forced to eat his soup.]

[ Everyone using b/w icons forcing my hand to do the same.

Dokja doesn't look at all bothered by Gray wanting to keep the conversation between her and D private. In fact, he's even a little pleased by it, more so with D's response. Yes, make those secrets, forge those bonds, and prove Dokja successful in this endeavor to get two teenagers of similar temperaments to get along with each other.

And not in a romantic sense, which he mind beams at Eustace. ]

As friends. Come over here and help me.

[ He smiles at both D and Gray, clearly happy that this didn't erupt into some sort of tragedy. No broken tables, no trading insults, no rude demands... Who would have thought this possible after previous experiences. ]

Great! That's great. What else should we talk about while we eat? Gray? Any ideas?

[ tfw your colored icons are still mostly b/w

Gray glances up when Eustace returns from his breakneck shower, then tunes back in to the table conversation just in time to get put on the spot. Hello?? She takes on the look of a deer in the headlights. A master of conversation she is not — but then, none of them seem to be. This house is in a sad state of affairs. ]

Ah, um... How about the book cafe?

[ D doesn't look like he'd go within ten yards of such an establishment, but you never know... Gray looks at him hopefully. ]

Have you been by yet? Mr. Dokja owns it, and we help out sometimes...

[ uses one whole non-b/w icon just for yuul

This may be a silent Communion conversation but his brows are raising right now in disbelief. Help Dokja?? Hello, these are two perfectly capable people who could forge a friendship on their own if they really wanted to. Eustace doesn't see the point in forcing things, but he's also the person with the fewest friends in this house, so maybe his opinion isn't worth anything.

He finishes ladling his soup (soup?? whose great idea was it to serve soup at a group supper) before trundling to the dining table and taking a seat, whereupon he doesn't make a single effort to join in the conversation and instead silently drinks his soup. It's okay soup, he supposes. It would be better if it was stew.

There truly was no point in me coming back to tag this thread. ]

[No, we want you here, and now you are stuck with us in this most awkward thread imaginable even if Dokja refuses to believe it.

D's eyes lift in acknowledgement to Eustace's table arrival, but they don't linger. Dokja really is the only person at this table who doesn't mind making small talk???]

I haven't been inside.

[His gaze shifts from Gray to Dokja as if he thinks Dokja will spare the three of them by embellishing on this book cafe in which he so owns.

Hilariously, D is quite fond of books because he is actually a nerd, so he would shock everyone entering by standing in a book cafe with his gloomy Bloodborne aesthetic.

Usually his books are scientific, though. But Byleth did convince him to write a short romance story as a gift to Byleth...?]

[ The book cafe is an excellent topic change, and one that Dokja eagerly grabs on to. His eyes light up, brightening even further when Eustace finally takes his seat, and now he's surrounded by people he's quite fond of.

Maybe everyone else is being stiff and awkward, but Dokja is genuinely enjoying himself. ]

Come by when you have the time. It's not too far from our house, and...

[ Pause. Actually, ]

Where do you live, anyway?

[ Eustace's ears are always welcome in a thread. And the guy attached to the ears is always welcome at Gray's table, so she looks at him with a brief smile as he sits. His presence is as a space heater to her soul.

Anyway I'm sorry because Gray has nothing to add to Dokja's question, so she continues to chip away at her soup. She also has a bit of that crooked sliced bread, just because it looks so sad and Dokja worked so hard on it. ]

[ Can't believe I have to sit here and write another tag of Eustace eating soup. And yet that's exactly what he's doing, spooning himself chicken noodle soup while he sits silently and listens to Dokja lead the conversation. He never agreed to help out with the whole friend-making thing, technically, so it's not like he's breaching any contract here.

Still, it's a little awkward for them all to sit around like lame ducks waiting for their turn to pipe up so he (once again) sends out a little Communion message, this time to Gray.

Has dinner been okay so far?

If only he could be normal and say these things out loud. ]

[Suddenly, the feeling of being an outsider dawns on him as easily as it always had on the Frontier. It's as if... he is an anomaly situated between the found family of good people. Even Eustace's ears don't feel as Othering as being a ghastly, dark-coded half-vampire at a kitchen table.

He wonders if maybe he should politely take his leave, thankful at least for the opportunity for a bit of normalcy he doesn't think should be afforded to him.]

The housing provided to those Harmonizing with Meridian.

[He doesn't say this with any sort of tone to imply he finds it not enough; in fact, it sounds like he may think this is too much for him actually.

This is a man who usually sleeps in a barn, or the outskirts of a town because the humans within fearfully refuse to entertain his kind.]

[ YOU GUYS CAN ALSO HARASS D ABOUT HIS LIVING SITUATION

But it's okay, he'd seen this coming from a mile away because what else would this dinner entail with two stoics and a Gray. Dokja takes it all in stride, not bothered one bit as he sits up a little straighter in his seat at D's reply.

Normal people would call a house meeting for what he's about to do next, but normal people Dokja is not. ]

You should move in with us.

[ Gray responds to Eustace's Communion after a briefest of pauses, in which she decides not to state for the record that Dokja has been very weird about this. ]

D seems very nice. His horse, too.

[ She stops think-talking (thalking) in time to hear Dokja's offer to D. Gray blinks and straightens a little with surprise, her crooked bread slice still in her mouth, but the idea isn't offensive to her. And this is still Dokja's house in the end, so it's his right to invite whomever he likes. He's really generous, isn't he...

Gray glances around the table, trying to gauge the reactions of two most stoic people sitting here, before finally speaking. ]

Um... Slow Dancer's old stable is still in good shape, so Erebus could stay there.

[ Do it for the horse's comfort, D... ]

[ When you the player are gungho about an idea but your character is so reluctant.....sad.

Which is to say that Eustace's soup spoon freezes in midair once he hears that casually stated offer, any relief he might have gained from Gray's reassurance about dinner sailing right through the window. The awkwardness of dinner suddenly seems like such a non-issue in the wake of this news. ]

'Move in'?

[ Hello?? They aren't running some sort of orphanage here. And while D seems like a perfectly polite young man, Eustace is unfortunately crotchety and set in his ways, and the idea of a stranger just invading a place he finally feels comfortable in has him tensing in dismay.

No offense D, it's not you it's him. 😔 ]

[Somehow, these dingdongs have managed to make D looked surprise more times than he's ever looked surprised in years probably. Why in the world would they ever want someone like him around?

See, Eustace is right. (Also, he understands Eustace might not want the dude Eustace smooched just in the house. Awkward.) He errs on the side of Eustace's mild grumbling because while it may be Dokja's house, they are all together in it.]

Your offer is kind, but I wouldn't want to intrude. The housing has enough for me.

[Well... not... a stable... but... it's fine.]

Move in.

[ Dokja reaffirms as he sits back in his chair with his arms crossed. His soup is abandoned as he takes on this very stubborn stance, and only Gray is on his side here, he sees, but he assumes Eustace is just being his usual difficult self. ]

You wouldn't be intruding, and we have an extra room.

[ Soon to be extra rooms plural if what Dokja has planned comes to fruition. After losing close companions left and right throughout these recent months, he's come to realize the importance of keeping an eye on those he has left and, rather than address his separation anxiety, his solution is to hoard people at his house. ]

And Gray's right. We have a stable. I think Erebus would appreciate that.

[ Dangles horse bait in front of D... ]

[ Are her parents fighting... Dokja seems to value D as a friend so she'd assumed Eustace felt the same, but apparently they aren't quite as close. It's hard for Gray to tell how D feels other than surprised, so she isn't sure if she should support Dokja in being insistent, or respect the possibility that D might not even want to move in in the first place...

Tactfully, she decides to go the back route and nudges Eustace with a shy bit of Communion. ]

Mr. Dokja seems really invested in making sure D is taken care of... Maybe he doesn't want D to feel lonely?

[ In his heart, he knows that Dokja's offer isn't an unreasonable one, made even more clear as Gray does her best to diffuse his ramping tension. He doesn't answer her immediately, though there is an acknowledgment of her words as he stares back into his soup.

He doesn't sound very happy when he finally relents, after finishing his current spoonful of quickly cooling soup, but what else is new with him. ]

It's your house.

[ Which is maybe not the most enthusiastic of agreements but it is a concession of some kind. Unfortunately (I am using this word so much, I hate this guy) that seems to be his only concession to this conversation, as he immediately goes back to drinking his soup in silence. Truly he is the worst conversationalist out of all of them. ]

[NOT THE HORSE BAIT!!!!!!!! Now that he knows the horse has a name, he feels a little more concerned about its well-being--more than usual.

The hesitation is mostly consideration. His rusty eyes glance briefly between the three of them. He does not want to inconvenience Eustace's space, but he also feels bad rejecting kind hospitality. Whether or not he's with other people doesn't bother him really. He's always been alone as a wanderer.

The damn horse...]

...I'll stay out of the way.

[ GRAY IS TRULY OUR ONLY HOPE

Dokja, blind and stupid that he is, only puzzles over Eustace's reaction for a moment before D finally agrees. And then the smile on Dokja's face widens, and had D been in shoulder clapping distance, he would have ended up with a hand smacking him in satisfaction. ]

Hey, don't worry about useless things. [ Says the man who worries about useless things. ] You can start moving what you have whenever you want, okay?

[ And then returns his attention to Gray and Eustace!! Eustace who he still doesn't realize he's upset!! ]

We can clear out the guest room in the meantime.

[ Things still feel a little tense to Gray, but this is a start... and Dokja doesn't seem to notice (or maybe care), because he's already happily ushering things along. Gray can only hope that as they spend more time together, Eustace and D will reach a peaceful understanding.

She looks back to blissfully(?) unaware Dokja. At least someone is completely happy in this situation... but honestly, she's happy that he's happy.

To D: ]

Will you need any extra space? And if you need help moving your things...

[ Maybe he has...... a couch he loves. ]

[ It's Eustace and Dokja who need to reach an understanding first. But alas they will not, because they're both stupid.

The other three seated at the table seem to be doing just fine without his input, so Eustace will continue to drink his soup in silence. If he gets pulled into moving a beloved couch then he will begrudgingly comply, but until then he will keep to himself.

Once again, I shove this man into a dumpster. ]

[Eustace is suffering, and D is feeling as awkward as Gray in being socially aware, and DOKJA is simply LIVING HIS BEST LIFE somehow being ignorant. Wow.

D worries they will go through too much trouble than needed for him.]

Just a room is fine. I don't need any help, but thank you.

[He is going to show back up literally with the same things he has currently both on himself and the horse outside. He has zero other belongings than what he can carry.

Now he has to think about how the heck he's going to repay them for this hospitality. Maybe he will keep leaving money under Dokja's door... Or do the equivalent of a cat bringing dead rats back to make sure the humans are eating.

He sort of glances between Dokja and Eustace, and then makes a point of looking at Gray. Teenagers, even 10,000 year old ones, are crafty.]

Would you like to meet Erebus?

[THEIR OUT!!! Time to see how fast Eustace or Dokja runs away from talking.]

[ D is being so Aware right now while Dokja simply vibes in his seat. He's nodding along, head empty, but as soon as he hears D asking Gray if she wants to meet his creepy horse, Dokja quickly looks to Gray, his eyebrows raised as he quietly waits for her answer.

It's clear what he is trying to telepathically tell her (he could literally telepathically tell her), all his efforts for this dinner coming down to a single moment where the teenagers will bond together without his interference. It's what he'd hoped for, it's what's happening now.

Of course, it's a total misunderstanding of what's actually happening, but Dokja is fully prepared to give himself credit where it really isn't due.

AND THEN POOR EUSTACE... me writing this tag like i wish dokja was a better boyfriend ]

[ As it turns out, Gray actually is interested in meeting Erebus properly and not by shouting out a window. Talking to animals, whatever their temperament, is a blessedly straightforward thing. Much unlike this dinner vibe.

Not noticing Dokja's overinvested stare, Gray nods in response to D, her hood punctuating the movement. ]

I'd like that.

[ Escape and a chance to talk... and to let Eustace and Dokja talk (OR NOT). D might be surprisingly clever. Gray feels it's a bit rude to leave before she's finished with her food, but since it'll save D from his food as well, she'll take the risk.

She has a last look at Eustace and Dokja. ]

Um, then if you'll excuse us...

[ (They will not talk.)

But at least someone's having a good time here, saving this dinner from ending up as a complete disaster. The imminent dispersing of the dinner party members has Eustace relaxing slightly in his seat, a little bit of vigor returning to his movements as he polishes off the rest of his soup. He still feels unsettled by the events of the last twenty minutes, but at least he too can take a brief sojourn outside after this to collect his thoughts.

He glances up as the two teenagers prepare to depart to the stables, expression softening a little as he looks at Gray. ]

Have fun.

[ He thinks D's horse is just a regular horse and not a creepy cyborg one....he would not be saying this if he knew. ]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject