awashlogs | (july catchall) please allow me to introduce myself; i'm a man of wealth and taste.

[ that’s where you would be wrong, ryo, but thank you for thinking so highly of dextera. ]

…

[ he doesn’t like cutting ryo out like this, but he also doesn’t want to just openly admit to everything that’s happened. he touches the bruise on his neck. ]

Bad sleep.

[ Ryo looks Dextra straight in the eye, cold as ever. His reply comes immediately: ]

You're a terrible liar.

[ the frankness of it alarms him, and he thinks that it might even be… worry. perhaps. dextera doesn’t want to assume anything, but he wants to worry ryo even less. ]

I was attacked. [ that’s all. ]

You're stating the obvious. [ ... ] Was it Ichinose-san?

[ ...he has no reason to believe guren would try to strangle dextera, but he wants to see dextera's reaction. ]

[ a lot of emotions flit across dextera’s face, at that. guren would never, he thinks, and so there’s defensiveness—but guilt, too, because he thinks he would deserve it. on top of both of those, surprise, and then frustration that ryo is asking him these things at all.

how complicated he is.

ultimately, though, he shakes his head. ]

Someone else.

[ it’s not like dextera to hide things, though—it’s something even worse than if guren had been the one to choke him. ]

[ Hmm. He expected that answer, really. Let's see... The attack must've occurred recently given the state of the bruise, and they did get a fresh batch of arrivals recently. Perhaps someone among the newbies took issue with Dextera for whatever reason and it escalated into attempted murder; of course, he doesn't exactly have any proof that supports this theory, but it's a possibility he's considering. ]

Someone from your home, perhaps?

…

[ ryo got it, and that much is evident in how dextera’s brow furrows and he looks away. he touches the scar under his clothes, preemptively soothing the way it throbs.

he nods. ]

I see. [ He's quiet for a moment, considering. ] I have some alcohol at my house, if you're interested. Humans have weak minds, and they turn to vices to cope with overwhelming emotion. Drinking is one way of escaping reality for a little while.

…

[ normally, he would say no. it must be a bad idea to have alcohol at a time like this, but he’s just so tired of thinking. ryo is offering it to him, and he trusts, at least, that ryo won’t let him do anything stupid under the influence.

so he nods again, exhaling, some of the tension leaving his shoulders. a drink… sounds nice. ]

[ Bold of you to assume Ryo wouldn't just sit back and watch the stupidity.... actually, he'd probably intervene before Dextera does anything spectacularly stupid, he's not a complete asshat.

Once Dextera nods, Ryo motions for him to follow back to Ruga. Let's go, sad mute puppy. ]

Have you had alcohol before?

[ dextera nods, catching up to ryo so that ryo can see his hands. he’s not as animated with them as he is on a good day, but they’re still his only communication tool. ]

Communion. [ a pause. more recently, he had it at prom. ] Last month’s party.

Ah. I didn't get the chance to drink at the party. Caramia was guarding his alcohol rather closely, and I didn't want to be lectured on the dangers of underage drinking.

[ He doesn't care if he's considered too young for alcohol; as long as it's in moderation it's perfectly fine, in his opinion. If he's old enough to teach then he deserves a drink every once in a while. ]

Thankfully, I got a bottle at the banquet.

[ ryo is young, after all, and dextera thinks it was well-advised on caramia’s part not to let the children have too much to drink. or anything to drink, as it were. it’s hard for him to imagine ryo drinking tequila, though, of-age or not. ]

What kind?

[ dextera suspects a nice wine, since it’s ryo… but he’s not sure. ]

Scotch.

[ And knowing Ryo, it's definitely a pretentious high-end brand of scotch. ]

[ at least dextera has been thwarted from getting wine-drunk on ryo’s floor. he nods, and he knows that he’s never tasted scotch before, but he’s not as interested in trying something new as he is in the temporarily destructive power of alcohol. ]

…thank you.

[ for offering. ]

I’ll just have… a little.

[ good thing scotch has a higher alcohol content than wine, then. ]

Don't mention it. You look like you need it.

[ a little later, they reach ryo's house in ruga. after letting dextera inside, he goes to deposit his rifle in his bedroom and retrieve the scotch; the bottle is smaller than a standard-sized bottle, but there should be enough in there for dextera to start feeling the effects of alcohol, at least.

he takes two glasses from the kitchen cabinet and pours scotch into them. ]

[ yes, indeed, ryo is pretentious.

dextera takes the scotch with a quiet, grateful nod, his thumbs pressed against the glass as he considers how much he really wants to do this. the answer is actually quite a lot—he’s tired, and he wants something to numb the pain of his scar at his side.

it hurts, but when he takes the first sip and it burns down his throat, it does helpfully distract him from the rest of his pains. immediately, it warms him from the inside out. ]

…

[ pay no mind to the fact that tears are already pricking at his eyes. ]

This brand is synonymous with luxury; this particular scotch is on the lower end of the price range, but some bottles sell for more than what most people make in a year.

[ Ryo doesn't say it like he's bragging about his fancy booze, only stating fact. It's still an expensive scotch though, even if the price is nothing compared to the really opulent bottles out there. He brings his glass to his lips for a long sip, feeling the liquid drill a column of esophageal heat as it travels down to his stomach.]

But I don't think you care about that. Right? [ If you only want to escape reality, then it doesn't matter if it's cheap vodka or million dollar wine. ]

Edited 2018-07-18 08:29 (UTC)

[ ryo is so much older than he seems—there’s nothing about him that implies he’s anything but the teenager he claims to be, since he wasn’t privy to ryo’s discussion with guren about demons, but there’s still something about him that seems even ageless. ]

…

[ he nods. ryo is right. maybe another time, he would care, like when ryo shared his expensive coffee—but right now, anything would do. now that he’s started, the appeal of forgetting is mounting. ]

I won’t waste it.

[ Ryo nods, quietly observing Dextera as he takes another sip. He's no fanatic who raves about complex flavor notes, but it tastes nice enough that he won't chug it all in one go; that's a waste of good scotch. ]

Scotch is an acquired taste. The first time I tried it, my whole body shuddered violently. I had to mix in some water to ease myself into it.

[ it’s not that dextera wants to see that, but there’s a part of him curious about the person that ryo is behind his carefully maintained facade—if it’s a facade at all, of course. “akira” knows him well, and dextera would like to know what ryo’s best friend knows about him. ]

How old were you?

Fourteen. I was at a party and someone brought a bottle of cheap scotch.

[ Sounds like his time in college was wilder than one might expect. ]

[ when dextera was fourteen… what? he doesn’t remember at all. his time from his brother’s death to now is a blur, and he’s not sure he even wants those memories back anymore. the first glass goes down faster than it should, and dextera seems surprised that it’s empty now. ]

…was it… fun?

[ a party like that. dextera doesn’t know. ]

[ Once he empties his own glass, Ryo picks up the bottle to fill both glasses again. ]

Not particularly; parties like that tend to get rowdy. I usually only went when I was expected to attend.

Edited 2018-07-18 12:01 (UTC)

[ dextera nods, taking a second long drink of the scotch as soon as it’s made available to him. already, his eyelids feel a little heavy, and he turns his gaze on ryo to keep himself focused. ]

Mm. I wouldn’t know.

[ he blinks slowly. ]

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cw: underage drinking from here on out

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