Welcome home!

[fogbornphantom]

[The Halloween party brought many surprises, but perhaps the most startling thing was seeing Magpie (pancakeboy) turn into a child. At least he found a fast friend in Raven (fogboundcrow), and after some discussion, it's been decided that Magpie will be staying with them for now.

And so now, the "Orphanage of the Damned" has another tenant. There's work to be done! An extra mouth means extra food is required, and Crow finds himself hard at work in the kitchen in order to ensure that the proper introduction to their new guest is as cozy as possible.

People are willing to stop by for a visit. Perhaps Igor mentioned the situation, or perhaps an advertisement was added to a certain conspiracy board still situated in the main area of the Velvet Room.

What's important is helping Magpie feel safe, and perhaps he can make some new friends along the way. Or perhaps you simply wish to visit the other residents. Or drop off extra food. That certainly wouldn't hurt.]

Comments

[pancakeboy]

[[Important OOC note: please contact me OOCly before tagging in, as I am a puddle and can only manage one thread at a time. isn't he cute tho??]]

["Magpie", as he's been dubbed, follows the others into the house with his party loot in his arms and his face closed. There has never been a time where he was taken in somewhere and it went well. Truth be told, he kind of hates himself for wanting to believe so badly. But he has to go somewhere, and... he wants to learn what he can. He wants to keep testing Raven. Just for a while.

The house looks clean and tidy, at least. That's something. His relatives aren't usually neat; they put that responsibility onto him.

You may find him:

a. sitting on the couch in front of the TV, with his Loki plushie and his candy basket close by, flipping nervously through either the channels on TV or his rather large new book, in a borrowed bathrobe with damp (and already much improved) hair;

b. helping out around the house. Or, at least, determined to do so. He knows how this shit works, after all. Is he in the kitchen? The bathroom? The yard? Mind he doesn't whack you with a feather duster.

c. outside, a bit overwhelmed, looking up at the stars.

d. something else! mysterious wildcard option d.]

c

[fogbornphantom]

[It's night, and the stars are beautiful, but because it's night, that means it's a bit chilly. So, naturally, once he's finished the soup, Crow makes his way outside with a fresh, steaming bowl. There's a spoon if he wants it, but that's, of course, optional.]

Here. This should keep you warm.

[He offers the food, expression calm.]

[pancakeboy]

[He's huddled in the shadows around the side of the house, where the stars are brighter and he can barely be seen. Crow's approaching footsteps drive him to his feet; he almost seems as if he didn't just leap up.

Reaching out, he takes the bowl.] Thank you, Crow-san.

[The bowl's warm in his hands; it's cold as the November cusp ought to be, crisp with the promise of frost. The stars are like nothing Akechi's seen since he was small.

The soup's fragrance fills the air around them, and he blinks in the dark with the tiniest gasp. It makes him feel weird.]

[fogbornphantom]

[Crow remains beside him, looking up at the sky with a wistful sigh.]

If there's one thing I can say about the countryside, it's that the view of the sky is stunning. Even on those dreadful nights where I was stuck outside, at least I had the stars.

[pancakeboy]

[His nose is lowered a little way to the soup, like a dog's. The smell goes all through him, with a lot less effort than it did his older self that once. But he glances again; Crow doesn't think he was driven out, does he?]

You can't see them in the city. I saw them when I was little, but I forgot how many there are....

[A thought strikes him.] Are they real? Or only how we imagine the stars?

[fogbornphantom]

I understand. When I returned to Tokyo, I was so shaken by how few stars you can truly see. After spending five years here, it became my new 'normal.'

[But hmm... Are they real? That is a fascinating question. His eyes scan the constellations.]

I would say this is a rather accurate recreation of the Inaba sky. Whether or not it's because of our cognition or if it was painstakingly recreated, I can't quite say, but it's authentic enough.

a

[fogboundcrow]

[Guess who's crawling on the couch beside you, Magpie?

It's Raven, in a cute Featherman T-shirt and flannel pants.]

How are you feeling?

[That's the important part.]

[pancakeboy]

[Ah, but is it? Isn't the most important question "are you safe"?

... he feels safer with Raven beside him. Kind of annoying, but he starts to smile, over the collar of his borrowed bathrobe. His hair looks better already.]

Is there a good answer to that? [His smile brightens, almost imperceptibly, teasing.] Should I just make something up?

[fogboundcrow]

You can be honest. I won't judge.

[He's still smiling, but there's a bit of a playful edge.]

Though if Crow did anything stupid, there will be hell to pay.

[pancakeboy]

[He thinks back on all the things that went on out there, in the dark and the cold.]

Well, he wants to paint orange spots on me. And I think I promised to wear a kigurumi, when I'm older again. If I turn older again.

[Careful, Raven. He is Watching for confirmation that he is the inferior Magpie.]

[fogboundcrow]

Let's not worry about that right now.

[He scoots a little closer.]

What's important is that you're here, and you're safe.

a

[unfoggedlotus]

[ ...Yeah, after hanging around this place for a few weeks, Ren is never saying anything like "I wish I wasn't a teenager" again, even just to himself in his darkest moments of midnight angsting. This place might just take it as a challenge. ]

[ Still, he has a new housemate to hopefully not scare off, so he puts his thoughts to the side and approaches the smaller version of his boyfriend's not-boyfriend. Out of the frying pan and into the fire...or out of the hedgehog and into the hedge, maybe? ]

"Hey there," he greets the newest-old member of their household with a small smile. He really is adorable all swaddled up in his bathrobe. "Find anything good on TV?"

[pancakeboy]

Rens, so far, are such a tangle for him. He's met his own, and gleaned a lot of information about who he'll be—probably pointless, too, which rankles. There was the Akira, the vampire, who brought him cocoa and tried to promise he wouldn't eat him—a nice thought, even if he would say that.

But then there's this one. Crow's boyfriend. Raven's future boyfriend. Who's a whole tangle of his own, even beside the question of Magpie's own destiny.

He looks up with a blink, still small and appealing at twelve, face poking up out of the abundant, clean white fluff of the bathrobe, pink toes peeping out. "I was looking for the news. But I keep getting these things."

On the TV, a succession of tiny Jorb Frorbs are bouncing exuberantly through a darkened corridor lined with portrorbs. The sound is down, but you can just about hear their cries of Heeb Horb!

[unfoggedlotus]

Ren lets out a small chuckle. "Yeah, I'm not used to those things, either. I think they're called orbs?"

Cautiously, he sits down on the couch a little ways from the little guy. "They're all themed after us and run the TV stations, apparently."

[pancakeboy]

He glances skittishly down the couch to make sure Ren won't attack, but then looks back at the armorb of orbs on the screen. His damp black hair frames his face. "Yeah. I haven't found one that looks like me, yet—" and quite put-out about it he sounds too, considering—"but I've seen plenty of other Akechis. It's hard to tell which is which."

Drawing politeness around him, he gives Ren another wary look. "I'm sorry if I'm in your way. If there's something you'd like to watch..."

He offers the remote control. It's just what you do.

[unfoggedlotus]

"No, I'm good," Ren shakes his head, politely. "Not in my way. I haven't seen an orb of myself, either, though Crow's told me one does exist...it just takes a little while for them to catch up, I think."

b

[aspiringhero]

[ It's not that Goro didn't see the new not-Raven with black hair at the party, or that he didn't know not-Raven was coming home with them. It's just that when he's uncertain or shy, he lurks. So that's what he's doing now: He's tucked halfway behind a wall, watching the new dark-haired Akechi clean the kitchen counters, even though Crow just cleaned them earlier today... ]

[pancakeboy]

[And Magpie can feel eyes in the small of his back, as he quietly sprays and wipes, sprays and wipes, with his shoulders just a little hunched. As he moves to the second counter, he glances back over his shoulder, spying one big brown eye, one hand, and half a tumble of brown hair.

His stomach lurches.] You're not hiding very well.

[aspiringhero]

[ Goro straightens up at once, spine rigid, like someone's shocked him. ] Oh. Sorry.

[ He's caught now, so he nervously inches out from behind the wall. ]

[pancakeboy]

[And Magpie watches as he does. He remembers being this kid, doing that. His stomach whines at him a bit more, but he tries to smile, paying quiet attention to his counters.]

I won't eat you. I'm just a kid.

[fogboundcrow]

[It's been an eventful night. As excited as Raven is to have another kid his age, it also means a huge status quo shift. It also means that Magpie, the older one, isn't here either. He's a bit tired, but not unhappy, and can be found trying to keep himself busy...

A. Absentmindedly eating soup that Crow made to welcome Magpie home. He prods at the soup rather listlessly, trying to sort through his thoughts.

B. Attempting to practice in Super Bash Bros. so he can get better. Losing to Ren a while back has only fanned his competitive flames.

C. Lying on the couch, listlessly flipping through channels.

Care to bother him?]

[unfoggedlotus]

Ren slowly approaches the small version of his boyfriend. "Hey there. You doing alright?"

[fogboundcrow]

...Ah.

He looks up from his soup bowl, then winces. He doesn't mean to. It just sort of happens. What does he say now? Their last conversation was—

Without even meaning to, he blurts out, "I'm sorry!"

[unfoggedlotus]

Ren reaches out to Raven on instinct. "Hey. It's okay," he soothes. "What are you apologizing for?"

[fogboundcrow]

"The party." He slumps over in his chair, swishing the soup around with his spoon. "I shouldn't have made those comments about you being Crow's wife. It was inconsiderate of me."