#confrontation starters

[defectedsources]

𝚅𝙰𝚁𝙸𝙾𝚄𝚂 " 𝙲𝙾𝙽𝙵𝚁𝙾𝙽𝚃𝙰𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽 " 𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚁𝚃𝙴𝚁𝚂!

below is a list of starters from both sides of the conversation , with prompts geared toward scenes involving some sort of confrontation. prompts rage from friendly to not so friendly. please consider following for more prompts and please do not steal!

❛ i can't believe you hid this from me. ❜

❛ that's it. we need to talk about this. right here. right now. ❜

❛ don't see how we can get around talking about this anymore. ❜

❛ you can't just keep avoiding me! ❜

❛ i'm not leaving until we talk about this. ❜

❛ come on just . . . talk to me. ❜

❛ all this time . . . and it was all a lie? ❜

❛ i trusted you. ❜

❛ did you think i wasn't going to notice? ❜

❛ start talking. now. ❜

❛ when are you going to stop lying to me? ❜

❛ i just wanna talk. ❜

❛ can we talk about this? please? ❜

❛ i came to talk this out. ❜

❛ you and i can work this thing out. ❜

❛ enough lies. tell me the truth! ❜

❛ i just wanna know what happened. ❜

❛ you can tell me. ❜

❛ just . . . start from the beginning. ❜

❛ are we gonna talk about this like grownups? ❜

❛ can you just be an adult about this for once?! ❜

❛ i didn't think it was gonna be so hard to talk about it. ❜

❛ i don't wanna talk about it. ❜

❛ i said leave it alone! ❜

❛ it's not that simple. ❜

❛ can we just . . . not talk about this right now? ❜

❛ i didn't want to see you get hurt. ❜

❛ okay fine. you wanna talk about it? here it is , ❜

❛ i kinda hoped you would just ignore it. ❜

❛ okay , fine just . . promise you won't get mad. ❜

❛ i don't wanna lie to you. ❜

❛ i wish it were that simple. ❜

❛ we passed the talking stage a long time ago. ❜

❛ the truth is more painful. ❜

❛ the beginnings , still a little hazy. ❜

❛ stop saying i'm not taking this seriously! ❜

[annabelle--cane]

I really appreciate how level headed you are about the reputation TMA fandom has. Something I realized reading through your analysis is I think part of the problem was the TMA fandom was a uniquely awkward size during/after the blow up in that it was big enough to have a medium sized 1% of people who were being a problem but it wasn't big enough that you could avoid them without putting a lot of effort into it. (probably this isn't how math/percentages work but it is something i think about because, personally i've been in a massive fandom with a notoriously problematic 1% and. they sure did cause big loud problems very publicly. But it wasn't actually that hard to avoid them in day to day fandom activities. Whereas with TMA yeah there just really was a feeling of not being able to get away from each other)

ooh I think you are bang on the money with that one. it felt like I was always two degrees of separation away from someone who wanted to have me hanged drawn and quartered, even if my personal circle was quite well curated.

[shih-coulda-had-it]

baby v5

[findafight]

Kinda want to write a one-sided ronance post S4 au (within a fix it obvs) where the older teens start actually hanging out and Stobin (eventually + Vickie)confuse literally everyone. They greet each other with cheek kisses, call each other babe (or "Stevie Baby". Listen. Robin calls him bud or buddy or bub or bubba or babe and it's like why so many B's?? Argyle is vibing with it though and joins the bud train) and one time at two in the morning had a coordinated ramble about the names of the cats they will eventually get. (Sassafras, moonshine, and Garborator)

Nancy and Steve haven't really talked about anything, other than Steve saying "hey. I'm sorry if whatever I said weirded you out. I was definitely a bit delirious and Robin and Eddie AND Dustin were all making comments about winning you back or whatever which is stupid, you made it clear where you stood with me. Which wasn't with me. That's fine. and like. Okay yeah when we were together I'd daydream about you being beside me in the motorhome but thats-- it was a daydream. I was sort of thinking I was gonna die and. I wanted to share a little dream that made me happy. And then got everything confused in my head and made it weird and I'm sorry. what I'm trying to say is I'm sorry for being weird and making things uncomfortable. I'm over you. I loved you then, and you were my first real love, and maybe if things were different I could love you like that again but. But neither of us want that or the same things out of life. And we'd crash and burn again. Plus you and Jonathan are together which is a non-starter. Cannot believe I forgot that when it was happening. Jesus. So. Yeah. Sorry for being not a great friend and hitting on you in the Upside Down." And Nancy had nodded and told him not to worry about it. He had been sort of bleeding out and planning on going back into the upside down. They could both be normal about it.

Sometimes Nancy and Robin try to have "girl time" at Nancy's suggestion because they're the only girls in the older group (sometimes. But Robin is not going to let that slip out) but it's awkward without a buffer. Robin is too nervous and rambles and Nancy is too annoyed by it. But they do get on well in group settings, and Steve and Argyle are actually the keenest to smooth over any awkwardness.

Robin laughs more with the group, and grins at Steve and smirks at Eddie and has a sharp tongue Nancy can admire. She's more comfortable with Steve around, insisting he sit beside her or on the ground in front of her so she can play with his hair. (And Nancy is shocked the first time she sees it, because Steve was notoriously protective of his "best feature", but she'd asked and he'd hummed quietly as she takes her fingers through his hair and put tiny, lopsided braids in it.) It's nice to see Robin less jumpy, and wonders what it would take to see more of the side of her Nancy only sees when Steve's around. She just wants to get closer to Robin. Wants a friend.

And somehow, beyond Nancy's notice, Steve and Robin's friend Vickie slowly joins the group. She wasn't involved at all in the spring, but has been hanging around Family Video and a movie night or two often enough that when she settles more permanently in the group it isn't a very big surprise. Eddie and Argyle welcome her in with open arms, Jonathan is only his normal amount of weary of new people, and obviously Robin and Steve are excited for their friends to be friends.

But it just doesn't sit right with Nancy. She can't pinpoint why, it just doesn't. When she sees Robin and Vickie giggling together, or having some back and forth banter that seems to feed into both of them smiling, or Steve throwing his arm over her shoulder, or Vickie leaning into Robin's space as they talk. She always sits beside Robin, Steve on the other, with Eddie beside him. It's usually a tight fit for whatever couch they're on, but the four seem happy as clams to not have any personal space. Once Argyle decided to lay across all their laps, and they just...let him. Finangled themselves so everyone was mostly comfortable.

Nancy figures she is uncomfortable with it because she hasn't ever had a close friend since Barb, and was possibly hoping she could be close to Robin along those lines. So seeing her so close with the others and mildly uncomfortable around her hurt, and seeing her and Steve incorporate someone unversed in the Upside Down into their little trauma club also hurt. Because what did Vickie have that Nancy didn't? That made Steve and Robin and now Eddie stick to her like glue? That made them want her there when she didn't know anything about what they'd been through and could probably never understand?

What made Vickie Summers so special that she's taken what should have been Nancy's place beside her friends? Because that's what really bothered her. It wasn't that Vickie didn't know, it's that Nancy felt she took her place. That Nancy wanted to be where Vickie was, and she didn't know how to ask for it. Asking, trying to talk about how Steve and Robin had bonded so well after Starcourt while she ignored them and then how they bonded with and absorbed Eddie halfway into their bizarre dynamic after vecna, would feel too much like begging or admitting that she isn't quite sure how to make friends.

Nancy is jealous. Jealous that she isn't friends like Vickie and Eddie and Steve and Robin are. That she isn't the one making Robin smile and giggle so cutely. So. She tries harder. Tries to be the friend that Robin and Eddie and even Steve deserve. She tries not to be annoyed by Robin rambling (it really isn't that bad, just. Not relevant. She likes heading Robin's voice, but thinks she could really work on having a filter.), or the way Steve always asks clarifying questions when he should really have known better, or Eddie talking half in different character voices. She thinks it's getting better, her relationship with them. But, still, Vickie is always there, glued to Robin's side almost as much as Steve is, and that always annoys Nancy. Niggles at her brain, that she doesn't deserve to be there because she didn't know what Robin had lived through and fought. Nancy did.

Eventually, Nancy figures out that she wants more from Robin. Doesn't want to be a friend she smiles at occasionally, wants to be the reason she smiles all the time. And that's terrifying. Because Nancy had never considered liking girls, never thought liking girls was a thing she could do. It was something other women did, not Nancy. She liked boys and always had, but. But maybe she always liked girls...too. maybe it wasn't something she that was one or the other. Being different in a town like Hawkins puts a target on your back, being queer in a town like Hawkins even moreso.

She's leaving Hawkins in the fall. But she thinks she wants someone to come home to. She wants Robin to come home to. Robin and Steve seem to be okay with it, from what she can glean of some veiled comments they've made that she's only caught now she's looking for them. They've made some remarks around the kids that make it seem like they'd be safe to come to, no matter what. And sometimes, some of the comments Robin makes about actresses seem a little...well. admiring.

They probably, hopefully, wouldn't hate her for this. And now Nancy and Robin have a friendship, she thinks she can. It's early July, and Nancy is going to ask Robin out.

She gets her alone, bites her lip, and asks Robin in no uncertain terms to go out on a date with her. Robin stares, mouth agape.

"oh," she says.

Nancy smiles, a little. "Yeah. So. What do you say?"

Robin blinks, and takes a shuddering breath. "Oh my god. I. Nancy I'm really flattered but I'm no-i dont- uhg. I'm dating someone." she groans, rubbing her hands over her face.

And oh. Nancy read the situation wrong "oh. Steve. It's fine! You don't like girls, thats--thats totally fine! Id just, um. That is,-"

Robin waves her hands. "No, no! I'm not dating Steve! You clocked me correctly. Definitely gay! Don't worry about that! Hah."

Something in Nancy twists. "Oh?"

"yeah. Yep. Not only am I a lesbian in a small town, I'm a lesbian in a small town that somehow also has a girlfriend." Robin says the word dreamily. Like she still can't believe it. Nancy's brain fills with static. She was too late. Too caught up with how she missed so many chances in the past, that she missed her chance now.

But Robin keeps talking. "And, like. Even if I didn't, I don't think it would have worked between us anyways. Too different, y'know?"

"what?"

Robin gestures with her hands between them. "Well, like. I like being your friend. But, I mean, I wouldn't date you?"

"why not?"

Blinking, Robin tilts her head. "Because of Steve?"

Something bubbles hot in Nancy. "What the fuck does Steve have to do with wether or not we would date?"

"Nancy. Steve's my best friend." As though that explains anything.

"yes? And?"

Robin looks uncomfortable, shifting sideways. "listen, Nancy. You're a good friend. And I've just rejected you. Maybe we should just. Ah. Leave this? I'm really sorry. I'll give you some space, just find me when you're ready?"

"no. What do you mean that we couldn't date because Steve is your best friend? Why would that have any effect on how you date?"

"it doesn't! Not really! Just. Nancy, you broke his heart. His soft, squishy heart! You kinda sorta cheated on him-details very unclear-and then just. Moved on. Pretended like nothing happened. I couldn't do that to Steve. Dating a friend's ex is a bad move. Dating an ex that broke a friend's heart is just cruel." She sighs. Looks sad. As though she isn't the one rejecting Nancy and tearing her apart for how a relationship ended almost two years ago. What did that matter, now? "You're my friend, Nancy. I like you! But even if Steve has moved on, forgiven and forgotten, and if things were a bit different given his full support for us dating if that's what I wanted, I think I'll always remember how he-- how much it hurt him."

"oh"

"I'm. Nancy I'm really sorry. I know how scary it is to put yourself out there, especially like this. It's not fair. I'm just sorry. But. It was true. Steve's the most important person to me. I couldn't ever hurt him. Not like that. Not even if he said he was fine with it."

Nancy stands and walks away. She doesn't cry until she locks her bedroom door.

[thrucrax]

“The look in your eyes is haunting, sir, if you don't mind me saying.”

STARTER   →   @magicrested

[endternal]

WHERE: outside sweet cheeks cabaret WHEN: 1st may WHO: anyone! ( @anchoragestarters ) CAP: none for now

Perhaps it went without saying that events like these were, well, not exactly Karam's scene. He'd likely have garnered himself a reputation for avoiding them were it not for the fact that he was, by his own design, too elusive to even cross anybody's mind. Yet, the only force in Karam's life stronger than the burning desire to be left alone at all costs was his morbid curiosity – he'd noticed the sordid pattern of town events ending in strange, often tragic, ways and had been keeping a watchful eye on things. Yet, despite these noble goals, he'd barely spent much time inside the building before a stranger made brief eye contact with him and he was so rattled that all he could think to do was abruptly march away from them (although not without swiping a plateful of chicken from the buffet first). Now, instead, he was squatting outside, just by the entryway, and tearing chunks out of a chicken wing with his teeth.

Or, at the very least, he was trying to. The regular comings and goings of bodies through the doorway made things a little trickier than he might have liked. One of these bodies brushed past him, grazing his arm with just enough force that he lost his grip on the wing he'd been eating and dropped it. On the ground. In the dirty old asphalt. He lifted his head to shoot this stranger a withering look, only to discover it was the same person he'd already escaped indoors. "You," he said, his irritation barely restrained, "are a nightmare."

[huntershowl-moving]

@koseigu ( sukuna. )

WELL. SHIT.

PERSEPHONE'S EXISTENCE HAS BEEN STRANGE from the very beginning. born an identical twin with enough cursed energy to power a fucking city without the added burden of orion's, without a fragment of a cursed spirit lodged in her soul like a fucking splinter, without the world-ending rage that would come to her later in life and a technique they still don't truly understand, they were never exactly slated for a benign existence.

even so: dying and coming back as an apparition while shibuya burns to ash and bone was not on their bingo card for late twenties life events.

getting used to her new form — forms — took no effort at all. going from woman to many-eyed wolfbeast feels like slipping into a second skin. not quite sorcerer and not entirely spirit, half their perception of themself (anguished, enraged, all vengeance and newly awakened) and half the world's perception of them (monstrous, lupine, revenant and ruiner), persephone HELLHOUND walks the scorched earth for the first time under paws the size of dinner plates and follows what they do not yet recognize as a cursed-energy scent trail.

they are looking for satoru. they have to make sure he's alright — wherever he has landed in this great neo-volcanic mess — and he's bound to be the most powerful presence in this space, right?

but as they bound through pools of shadow and leap between piles of debris that once were the rooftops she so adored, it is not her old friend who stands at the center of this unending storm.

it is someone different. someone far older, and far, far worse.

persephone has never seen ryomen sukuna in the flesh. they've heard stories from their employer, who was alive during his time and remains so thanks to the technique of eternal youth. they've heard of his reincarnation and how it sent the higher-ups of jujutsu society into panic. they've seen paintings, renderings, blurry images.

but the sheer presence of him has her monster-form raising its hackles, a shiver rippling through quills of black fur, many eyes wide and focused for fear of what might happen if they look away.

quietly, she lets the shadow-form melt away to decrease her visibility and watches him approach the dead, flaming disaster curse he has just utterly demolished. watches him regard it as it burns, crumbles, and disappears into ash. watches him turn his head, her living-dead-heart dropping into her stomach as he looks right at her.

so this is the trace given off by the young twins' dead bodies. god, he wasn't remotely this powerful before, was he?

perhaps it was her fate to die today after all. but no — you know what? fuck fate. it tried to kill her already and she ate her way out of the belly of hell because she has a fucking mission to finish. fear melts away into resolve, steely-eyed, calm. a call across the space, from one howling cursed-energy storm to another. ❝ i'm not here to fight. ❞

[tuesdayscanons]

I know there's probably a rule in FOP where time freezes when a character time travels so no one notices they're missing at all (imagine how many missing children cases there'd be if there weren't), but I can't help but think about Dev getting stuck in the past longer than expected and Dale flipping the hell out.

None of Dale's calls go through. Voice-mail doesn't work. Whatever tracker he has on Dev (because you know he has one) says he's by Vicky's house but Dev is nowhere to be found, even after a throughout search. He desperately flips through security footage for something that could tell him where Dev went (the security system doesn't have any evidence of the time travel wish because magic cloaking) and his stomach lurches when he sees that Vicky was at Dev's birthday party. She knows where Dale lives. She knows Dale has a son. Every security measure he took to prevent Vicky from finding Dev had failed, all because the Au-Pairs selected Vicky as an entertainer via algorithm. Dale spirals downwards, feeling like a complete failure and losing motivation to do anything because he allowed such a massive oversight to happen. He doesn't trust his own judgment. He doesn't trust his technology. His world starts falling apart. He stops slicking his hair. He takes off his boots, not feeling worthy of them. He stops drinking orange juice.

Dale had conflicting emotions about his son—not wanting to get too vulnerable (to prevent getting hurt and because he's worried Dev would think less of him), but finding comfort in his son, even if he refused to fully acknowledge it. Dale liked knowing he made something incredible, something that brings honor to the Dimmadome name, something to make him feel less alone.

With Dev gone, all Dale can feel is the vacuum he left behind. How empty and meaningless his life feels without his baby boy greatest accomplishment.

Dale knows he could theoretically clone another child, but he can't bring himself to. He rationalizes this as sunk-cost fallacy—the fact he put a decade of his life into keeping Dev alive and how terrifying it'd be to start from scratch (babies are so vulnerable).

Subconsciously, Dale misses Dev. Dale misses hearing the beeps and boops of Dev's spider game. Dale misses taking Dev places to show him off and teach him the ropes of running Dimmacorp. Dale misses Dev interrupting his meetings, showing outward annoyance but basking in the knowledge someone cares enough about him to seek him out.

Dale misses Dev calling him DAD.

And this isn't even getting into the tidal wave of emotions when Dev finally returns to the present.

[frightmeister]

"I get the stalwart loyalty to the classics but variation is the spice of life. The Rob Zombie remakes of Halloween definitely have merit, there's a lotta style and fun going on there. Like I'm sorry but of the OG slashers Halloween is kinda mid, getting rabid over someone having a new take on it just makes no sense to me."

starter for @fatalsmile

[triple-fanged-threat]

"I don't see how that's my problem," Kai grumbled as he leaned back into his makeshift hammock, crossing his legs and pretending to close his eyes to go back to sleep. "If anything, it doesn't sound like it had anything to do with me, and you're just asking me to help solve something that you couldn't figure out on your own."

The vampire peeked open one eye at the other man, cocking a brow to see their reaction. "Besides, you're making it sound much too boring. Why would I have anything to do with that? That's no fun for me, and it's certainly not any fun for you."

[lowskey]

ྀ  ‧ ₊  ✩  ｡ °  ꒰ @whiskifever​​​​​​​​​ ꒱ . 💌

                                       DEEPLY  ANXIOUS  HE  IS  with  a  heart  weighed  down  by  his own insecurities  ,  making  this  all  the  more  difficult  for  him  to  bring  up  the  topic  he's  been  wanting  to  discuss  for  weeks.  the  suspicions  of  infidelity  gnaws  at  jinwoo's  very  core  ,  as  he  grapples  with  the  impending  conversation  that  could  either  reaffirm  jay's  loyalty  to  their  relationship  or  ...  well  ,  not.  ''  where  have  you  been  ?  ''  he  asks  when  receiving  the  usual  peck  on  his  cheek  after  lover  of  his  gets  home.  his  hands  slightly  tremble  and  jinwoo  quickly  pushes  them  beneath  his  thighs.  ''  be  honest  with  me  ,  jay.  ''

[godsbox]

the situation, the entire ordeal suited a means to an end, but it'd still sat wrong somehow, settled dense and damp like a wet blanket on a day he'd dug the toes of one shoe into the garden dirt, uprooted a dandelion and scuffed up the leather, wondered out loud with fists tucked into his pockets why he'd started feeling like the only shmuck showing up to these stuffy board meetings ( figured pulled strings and skimming the formality of having a real proper teaching license to flash might've saved him the workload of the job in question, but . . . no dice. snake eyes, money pit. ) it makes for a good opener out in the circle of familiar scrutiny, an unplaced feeling weaponized with palms open : ❝ you lot are all hemorrhaging associates, but i'm still your hardworking dog. ❞ 'for now' was good enough implied, dangling off satoru's sharpened incisors, a tap to his heart for good measure, ❝ so let's make sure to cooperate. ❞ still, in the choice between a full - bodied ally or the empty void of where they'd stood, it's tough to say this was the preferred way for things to go, even if, even if re - visits of the shit he wanted to end were more preventable this way, even if, even if it felt like a shame, a waste, a nagging prickle pulling on the ends of his hair and calcifying pressure behind the round of his eyes.

he'd had a couple years now to get used to it     that fresh emptiness. no shoulders left to brush against, left running a one - man race. he could wrap both hands around the feeling and strangle it silent, paint his smile wide with its insides and re - shuffle the cards at his immediate disposal, the ones folded up his sleeves, the ones in the backs of his shoes. could ( and would ! ) stifle the stench of a crappier day than usual with the abrupt spring in his step, the conception of an idea jingling in time with his targeted shop's tell - tale bell once he'd shuffled inside, plucked at his collar to waft in the cooler air and settled at a squat right and center at the display glass : cake. yeah, shit yeah, that was gonna make everything good again. brain food, take the sugar rush in both hands and soothe over whatever the hell was niggling like vapor over eyes just trying to scan the goods, like it was beyond the glass, a cursed signature, soft enough to miss, like it was . . . in the cake. baked in dough. like . . . nudging the frame of his glasses up with the pad of his thumb, satoru glanced up from his place near the floor, brow pinching, gaze threading through the glass to stick straight onto utahime. @shokansha

[bcrnyours]

open to m

"If you can't trust your wife then, really, who can you trust?"

[serestial]

THIS IS SO 😭😭😭 mamousa core

[i-cecapades]

❜ you are doing so well, my pet. ❜

darker vibes meme || still accepting.

⛸️ — ʰᵉ ʷᵃˢⁿ'ᵗ ˢᵘʳᵉ ʰᵒʷ ˡᵒⁿᵍ ⁱᵗ ʰᵃᵈ ᵇᵉᵉⁿ ˢⁱⁿᶜᵉ ʰᵉ'ᵈ ˡᵃˢᵗ ˢᵉᵉⁿ ᵃⁿʸ ᵒᶠ ʰⁱˢ ᶠᵃᵐⁱˡʸ ᵐᵉᵐᵇᵉʳˢ, whether it was his parents or his siblings, there was no real way for him to tell. Perhaps it had been days? Weeks? Maybe even months? All he knew was that he'd been brought to this god forsaken house against his will, much like many of the things he'd been forced to do in his life, and now... he had to somehow survive all in a place he was unfamiliar with. Oh how he wished he hadn't talked to that suspicious stranger on that one fateful day, the very day that changed his life for the worst. His psychiatrist had told him that speaking to others would help him break out of his anti-social shell, that it would help to blossom a new version of himself, one that his child could look to as a role model once he was old enough. But so far it seemed that said advice only lead to the same situation he had been in before: isolation, intimidation, and fear. The same exact situation he had thought to have escaped when leaving his ex-fiancé. Regardless of that though, ⁱᵗ ʷᵃˢ ˢᵃᶠᵉ ᵗᵒ ˢᵃʸ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ᵃⁱ ʷᵃˢⁿ'ᵗ ᵍᵒⁱⁿᵍ ᵃⁿʸʷʰᵉʳᵉ ʷⁱᵗʰⁱⁿ ᵗʰⁱˢ ʰᵒᵘˢᵉ ᵒᶠ ʰᵒʳʳᵒʳˢ. He didn't have the drive to try anymore, not after all of the hard work he'd done to make a better life for himself... for his child. Come to think of it, he wasn't if sure where his child was or if he was safe? He didn't know if the stranger had taken him after securing Ai or if he had simply left him back at home all by his lonesome. Those thoughts were more than enough to bring tears to his eyes. His child. His poor precious Sung-Hoon. His only reason for living. His little light of hope.

⛸️ — Though he isn't able to dwell on those thoughts for long when the sudden sound of a tea kettle whistles loudly nearby, ᵒʰ ˢᵒ ᵈᵉᵃᶠᵉⁿⁱⁿᵍˡʸ ᶠᵒʳ ˢᵒᵐᵉᵒⁿᵉ ˡⁱᵏᵉ ʰⁱᵐ, but it's enough to cause him to jump and quickly rush over to the source — taking hold of the black handle and lifting it up from the stove before placing it onto a small coaster to prevent it from burning the counter. Hands move to take hold of two tea cups (or were they called meoto yunomi? He remembered hearing something like that at some point) he had placed beside himself, carefully placing them onto a small wooden tray with handles — after all, the stranger... no, Envy would surely be unpleased with a proper presentation of his favorite tea — hence why he begins to pour the contents into the small cups before placing both the coaster and kettle onto the tray. ˡⁱᶠᵗⁱⁿᵍ ᵗʰᵉ ᵗʳᵃʸ ⁱⁿᵗᵒ ʰⁱˢ ʰᵃⁿᵈˢ, ʰᵉ ᵠᵘⁱᵉᵗˡʸ ᵐᵃᵏᵉˢ ʰⁱˢ ʷᵃʸ ⁱⁿᵗᵒ ᵗʰᵉ ˡⁱᵛⁱⁿᵍ ʳᵒᵒᵐ, lilac irises glancing ever so slightly at the small flickering flames of the candles that dimly lit the room (casting almost a haunting glow upon the much taller male's features). He places the tray down onto the table before taking one of the cups into his hands, with his head lowered... he offers the cup towards Envy and waits patiently for him to take it, not once daring to lift his gaze from his hands. After standing in silence for a few moments, Ai takes hold of the other cup within the tray before taking a seat beside Envy, though he makes sure to put a small space between them. He was hoping to sit in silence with the other to avoid any unwanted conversation, but the other's words cause him to swallow thickly. ❛ y̯̤͑́́̓́ȍ̸̢̢̮͚̐̚û̶͙̽̿͆̈ ă̶̸̝ͦ͊̿͋͞r̶̷̲͍̭͐̾̀͟ę̷̵̧̖̫̗̆̊ d̸̡̩͍̔ͥ͜ȍ̸̢̢̮͚̐̚i̵͓͙̱͚̎͟n̷̶̯͉̊̽̐ͦ͘g̴̶̛̮̣͙͠ s̩͙͖̋͛͟ȍ̸̢̢̮͚̐̚ ẅ̷̷̢̟͇͈̒ę̷̵̧̖̫̗̆̊ḻ̸͈ͧ͑̓̓̀͡ḻ̸͈ͧ͑̓̓̀͡, m̶̷͔ͪ̽͡y̯̤͑́́̓́ p̶̸̨̺͊̍̒̓̀ę̷̵̧̖̫̗̆̊t̴͕͖͓̀. ❜

⛸️ — ᵗʰᵒˢᵉ ʷᵒʳᵈˢ ᵃʳᵉ ᵐᵒʳᵉ ᵗʰᵃⁿ ᵉⁿᵒᵘᵍʰ ᵗᵒ ˢᵉⁿᵈ ᵃ ᶜʰⁱˡˡ ᵈᵒʷⁿ ʰⁱˢ ˢᵖⁱⁿᵉ ᶜᵃᵘˢⁱⁿᵍ ᵗʰᵉ ʰᵃⁱʳˢ ᵒⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ᵇᵃᶜᵏ ᵒᶠ ʰⁱˢ ⁿᵉᶜᵏ ᵗᵒ ˢᵗᵃⁿᵈ ᵘᵖ, but... if Envy believed he was doing well in his adjustment to his new... lifestyle... maybe he could make a request of him? Maybe he could... and the other wouldn't get upset with him? "Thank... Thank you for... praising me." He starts out small by thanking him for his kindness. "Since I've... I've been doing so well, um... do you t-think that... I could make a request?" He could feel his anxiety slowly beginning to spike the more he spoke to the other, but this was something that he had to ask. Something that he absolutely had to request of the other. "Do you... Um... Would you mind if... if I could see my baby? I... I have a newborn at... at home and he... he needs me. I just... I just need to... make sure that he's alright. S-Surely that... would be okay, r-right?"

[fishymedic]

Of course he couldn't hide in hospital work, in passing forever but avoidance was an art form after the past years. Yet here they were- him extending out the mug to them. Peace offering of a warm drink that he knew they liked; his own mug full of coffee to keep him awake and try soothing his slowly recovering lungs.

"I won't apologize for it." Putting it right out there, he didn't regret his actions. Of course he was going to keep Her from bleeding out. Just like he would always have stolen those medical supplies years ago. Or only kept himself from fighting capture because of his team. It was never negotiable.