#wrote this at the start of my katsu hype can you tell

[indigowallbreaker]

Can I please have 23 and 74 from the heartbreak list for Dimitri and Dorothea?

Back from con prep and subsequent con! Thank you for your patience.

23: “I would’ve died for you.”

74: “We can start over. I’ll do anything, everything can be perfect. Just please don’t leave me.”

(Currently accepting rare ships! Click here for an UPDATED info post!)

--

The third time a fan stopped Dorothea for a selfie, Petra wrapped her arm around Dorothea’s and half dragged, half led her through the crowd. “This is being why I hired another bodyguard,” Petra said as they sped through the carpeted hallways.

“Oh relax, would you? It’s just a convention.” Dorothea grinned and waved at a passing fan. “You’re worrying too much.”

MyrddinCon was the biggest convention on Dorothea’s schedule this year. The hosting hotel had grown crowded as Thursday wore on-- which made Dorothea more excited and Petra more nervous. There seemed to be no end to the long hallways, massive conference rooms, and cosplaying guests.

A woman in a replica of a costume Dorothea had worn two shows ago gasped and pointed when she spotted them coming around the corner. Petra cursed in her native tongue and pulled Dorothea into a nearby stairwell. 

“Our suite is on the eighth floor,” Dorothea pointed out, unwinding her arm from Petra’s. The stairwell was musty and cold, but empty, which she assumed was Petra’s goal.

Petra heaved a sigh. “I did not want to be worrying you,” she began.

Dorothea tensed. “What’s happened.”

“Dorothea, you are my best of friends. I would die for you. But I cannot keep you safe on my own this time.”

“Petra, what happened?”

With no small amount of apprehension, Petra met Dorothea's eye. “A few of us are hearing... rumors. There may be someone planning to do you harm on this trip. That is being why I am hiring another bodyguard for you.” Petra pulled out her phone and frowned at it. "He should be in our room now. I am wanting you to meet him.”

Generally speaking, Dorothea disliked hiring new people. She was perfectly happy having Bernadetta handle her social media, Manuela book her acting roles, Petra keep her safe, and Hilda do her makeup. She trusted all of them. They never treated her as a pretty jewel on a pedestal or used her to further their own status. 

Dorothea had learned early on in her career that such people were rare.

“You know you can’t always trust rumors,” Dorothea tried, but she knew it was no good. Petra took Dorothea’s security seriously. If she perceived a threat, and if that threat made her this nervous, there would be no talking her out of it. Her stubbornness rivaled Dorothea's and it was one of her best qualities as a bodyguard.

Sure enough-- Petra pocketed her phone and crossed her arms. “You will be meeting this man. If you really are not liking him, I will find another. I will not be changing my mind on this.”

Rolling her eyes affectionately, Dorothea took Petra’s arm again. “Alright, alright. You know I trust your judgement. Show me the new guy. But!” She put up a perfectly manicured finger. “You are not making me climb all these stairs. Can we please make a break for the elevator?”

That made Petra crack a smile and she took Dorothea's arm again to show her agreement. They opened the door a crack to be sure the coast was clear, nodded once to each other, and made a beeline for the elevators. Pre-registration badge pick up must have begun, for the hallways were mostly clear. A few stragglers were running for the lowest level of the hotel but most didn’t give Dorothea a second glance. The pair were even able to get an elevator to themselves. 

Petra seemed a lot more relaxed by the time they made it to their floor. “I will be making a call to my grandfather once we get inside, so you will be talking to the new man by yourself,” she explained as she pulled out their keycard. “But I will only be in the bedroom. I will not go far.”

“I’m perfectly capable of beating up someone, you know. You could let me have fun once in a while,” Dorothea teased.

Her amusement died as soon as Petra opened the door and revealed “the new man”.

Dimitri Blaiddyd stared back at Dorothea with equal shock. In a smart suit and blond hair tied in a neat tail, Dimitri looked like a bodyguard straight out of a movie. It was a marked improvement from the last time Dorothea had seen him at the tender age of 17.

Petra took out her phone again and quickly excused herself for the bedroom, giving Dorothea an apologetic smile as she left. 

Which left Dorothea alone with her ex-boyfriend.

Dorothea recovered from her shock first. She dropped her purse on the side table and walked forward until she stood directly opposite Dimitri.

"What are your qualifications?" She asked sharply.

Dimitri shut his mouth with an audible click. Then, under her unwavering stare, he responded. "I didn't know it was you."

"Obliviousness isn't a great trait for someone in security."

"Dorothea, you must believe me. Ms. Macneary didn't tell me who I would be protecting."

"Would you have come if you had known?" Dorothea snapped.

Dimitri looked away at that. Fine. She didn't know which answer she would prefer anyway. "I'm afraid you're not the right fit for this position." Dorothea stepped aside to gesture toward the door. "I trust you won't tell anyone my room number?"

"Of course not."

"Then thank you for your--"

"I'm not leaving." Dimitri tightened his jaw. "I am fit for this position. Our personal history aside, I'm willing to protect you."

Dorothea placed a hand on her hip. "And what if I don't want you protecting me?" With how worried Petra was about this trip, some part of Dorothea knew she shouldn't be pushing things. Another part wanted Dimitri to squirm more.

"I suppose I can't force you. Considering how I left things between us, I don't blame you for not wanting me around. But--"

"You keep finding creative ways to say you ignored me for four months."

Dimitri flinched. It wasn't as satisfying to witness as Dorothea had thought.

"Allow me to make it up to you," Dimitri continued with a determined edge to his voice that made Dorothea arch an eyebrow. "We can start over. Everything can be perfect this time. I'll do anything. Just don't make me leave."

For weeks after Dorothea sent that break up text Dimitri never responded to, she had wondered what she would say if she ever saw him again. After graduation or in the audience of one of her performances, perhaps. She never considered she might find herself in this situation.

"You ignored me for four months," Dorothea repeated. It was worth repeating-- she wondered if he knew how painful that silence had been.

"I was… not in a good place. That's no an excuse for how I handled things, but you deserve some sort of explanation. "

"After dating for two years, yes. I think I do too." She put up a hand to stop Dimitri elaborating further. "Ingrid never talks about you."

"I asked her not to." Dimitri set his jaw again. "Dorothea, Ms. Macneary did not tell me you were my new client. But she did explain the rumors she heard and the complications she suspects. I wish to see to it that you remain safe during your time here. If you will have me."

Dorothea had been looking forward to a nice, easy, fun convention. A few autograph sessions, a Q and A panel, some photos-- and then an evening at the bar or by the hotel pool. A working vacation of sorts. Having her ex around would certainly lean more toward "working" than "vacation".

But, if it was a choice between having Dimitri in her field of vision or checking over her shoulder for three days, Dorothea knew which she would prefer.

The door to the bedroom clicked open and Petra stepped out. She looked between them for a moment before turning to Dorothea, eyebrow raised in question.

"How's your grandfather, Petra?" Dorothea asked cheerfully.

"He is being well. Have you interviewed--"

"Wonderful. You'll be happy to hear I've agreed to take on Dimitri here." She gestured at Dimitri, who gave a small, startled sort of wave Dorothea didn't want to think of as adorable.

Petra beamed. "That brings me great joy!"

"Mhm. How about you get him set up? I'm going to go refresh myself." Dorothea turned her back on Dimitri, picked up her bag again, and made her way towards the bedroom door. "And when you're done, Petra, come join me. I have some personal history to catch you up on."

[ikura-wa-ikura]

This day started with a trip to Shibuya to see the infamous Shibuya Scramble Crossing. It’s an intersection that sees loads of people walking through, so all the lights will turn red at once and people can cross any which way. We also took this time to do a bit of shopping and wandering and spending too much money 🤷‍♀️.

Lunch was my favorite meal so far- a place that specializes in tonkatsu. Tonkatsu is breaded and deep fried pork cutlets. I had the katsu curry and it was perfection. So crispy! Thomas had the pork belly and it was also incredible. Definitely a meal that made me sad when it was over. This place had a bathroom for midgets and that gave me a laugh.

We also tried their homemade pickles, and roasted eggplant. Both were great!

That night we had the robot samurai show and honestly we had no idea what to expect. It was wild. First off, that place is so tricked out. Gold plated walls, lights, so many colors and designs as you walk through. My jumpsuit matched the wall perfect! The show is definitely a tourist trap but so cooky and silly that it was definitely worth it. Performers come out on moving floats, sing, dance and tell a story that we couldn’t understand. One woman descended from the ceiling.

Our tickets included two small meals — both were quite bad. We made up for it by drinking sake and high balls. They worked hard to hype everyone up and we got free sake! The crowd was into it by the end, even if we had no idea what was happening.

After the show we tried our luck at some claw games, played a cool drum game and found bars to tuck into and hide from the rain. One bar had really cheap Bowmore whisky so we hung out there for a bit and chatted with the bartender who also loves 80s hair metal. He had seen so many bands — Guns n’ Roses even!

The next bar we went to, I used Google translate to chat with an old guy. I asked why he moved to Tokyo from Hiroshima and he said it was for a girl. But as he spoke girl, he also signed girl in Japanese sign language and that’s one of the few JSL signs I know. And I was like…. Do you know sign language? And turns out he knows a bit! He used to volunteer with Deaf folks back in the day. So random haha. There was also chatted with a great couple from Taiwan. Someone bought us takoyaki, and when I was 1k yen short of our bill the Taiwanese guy stood our drinks.

The next morning we had our cooking class which ended up being so so great! It was with Masako, an older Japanese woman who is also a master calligrapher and her unnamed aide.

We learned how to make the rectangle tamago (harder than it looks!) and made udon noodles and tempura! Turns out, making these things is not so hard and I look forward to trying again at home. To make the udon we have to stomp on it with our feet at one point!

She also wrote our names out in kanji and phonetically in calligraphy for us to bring home. It was one of my favorite experiences so far. Meaghan’s name was “bud wish” in kanji, and mine was “ten boxes of sake.”

For our final night in Tokyo we wandered our neighborhood with the intent of going to the Deaf izakaya. Sadly it was unexpectedly closed 😭 We did find another great izakaya, called Koi Koi, though and had lots of amazing food- chicken sashimi (one of the only places in the world you can eat raw chicken because they are raised in a clean environment and don’t have salmonella), abalone, saba, oden with amazing eggs and sweet potato, and little squids! Then we checked out a vinyl listening bar called Stone’s Throw. A listening bar is basically where the bartender DJs and curates a vibe for you to hang in. That place was wonderful, playing lots of funk. Also they had an incredible chicken curry and I was so happy.

Lastly we checked out a cocktail bar that was recommended to us. It has two locations and luckily we could get into one of them as a walk in. It’s one of those no menu places where you tell the bartender what you like and what mood you’re in and they create something. I told them I wanted a mezcal drink and he was like, tomato okay? Ummmm I guess? I’ve never had a mezcal tomato drink but gotta trust the process. Turns out, one of the best cocktails I’ve ever had. They pureed the tomato and mezcal into a cold drink topped with black pepper. It was so refreshing and good.

Tokyo was a really lovely and interesting experience. It’s the biggest city in the world but it doesn’t feel like it. There are some areas with sky scrapers but lots of areas that are 4-5 floors so it doesn’t feel physically that big. It’s very quiet here, no one honks or is too loud. There are so many little alleys you can wander up and down with restaurants and bars to check out.

Now we’re on the bullet train heading to Osaka! We’ll spend a few days there, then a few days in Kyoto and finally back to Tokyo to fly out.