#sa's multilayered stage fright/trauma VS NEEDING TO SQUARE UP AGAINST ZAYA LMFAO

[futurefind]

[ KARAOKE ] : for our muses to sing karaoke together (sa & zaya bc he dragged her here uvu)

first meeting prompts / relevant notes / @metrictita

She's going to kill him, she thinks, not for the first time (ignoring the lack of malice and about as much heat as a soft serve ice cream). When she'd 'agreed' to come here with him, she was expecting his usual song and dance— his peacocking about the stage with at least one pair of eyes (begrudgingly) guaranteed to be set on him.

Absolutely not traipsing like a fool along with him...!

Except to say no would be to let that smug fucker win, give him something to hold over her head 'til the cows came home and back again. She'd be lucky if he let her forget it this side of a decade (if she even lasted longer that that, but regarding him or being this side of alive was hard to say).

So. Sasume ignores the freezing electricity of mortification pouring through her veins and screaming at her to get anywhere where the eyes won't follow her and bites back a Fuck You. Not because he didn't deserve it, but because she didn't deserve the resulting... quips.

"You're insufferable," she hisses as she walks past, mindful to make sure no one can overhear despite— or maybe because of— the nervous flush already painting her face.

For perhaps the first time, she's thankful for her job. Where else, after all, could she have such a finely tuned experience for ignoring adrenaline and her screaming flight responses?

To say her mind eases when the song is something... heavier? More active? Fuck if she knows— but it's harsh enough to not have to linger on her own sounds too much and instead just focus on the most distance corner she can find as best as she can.

"God, I don’t know ‘bout the reason why I met you, I’m only counting the scars—"

...Mostly. What parts of her that aren't screaming with dread keep half an eye on Zaya's own eccentricities. Not to mimic him (awful), but instead to weave around him and out of his way. It ain't a spar, but physical back and forths are familiar enough to take the edge off.

"We cut into each other, it’s obvious that I knew The reason right from the start."

It's hard not to chuck the mic back right at him once it's over, but she's not sure if it's because of her prioritizing her haste or keeping him from getting as much ammunition as she can.

She speeds back to her seat, deftly avoiding anyone and everyone, and resists the urge to start gulping for air or burying her face into the tabletop. Maybe she'll use the bathroom as an excuse for the... weirdest instance of using Shinrei to clean herself up.

"No," she says, as soon as he rejoins her, stabbing a finger right into his face. "I ain't doing that again!" And, before he can start pushing in this or that direction, "I'm done for the night."