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[ ...

Terry thinks to himself whether Kano has any self-preservation at all, but then yeah. He does. In the most irritating manner that rubs Terry the wrong way. He's not as full of energy as the previous day, whether it be loud or quiet, because his body's telling him to go drink blood soon and he needs to go and kill some animal in the forest or something discreetly and probably get poisoned later. Rei is being depressed in the house and not making blood packets like in the awful light novel serialization of "I Vicariously Live With My Little Sister's Blood Inside Me" that exists inside Hirajiro's bookstore, so he's running out of time. Despite that, he feels no sense of urgency. It's just something that happened way too often that Terry doesn't panic about it anymore. he just hates how tired he feels. ]

If I say I'm busy, you're probably gonna do something stupid that'll make me want to throw you again, right?

Mmhm, yep, that's right~! So how 'bout you save us both the time and effort and put your shoes on? And a jacket! And maybe a hat.

[ Even if Terry doesn't say he's busy, or regardless of what he says or does overall, Kano is here to do something stupid and Terry wanting to throw him is just his own temper flaring up. The quickest way to end this would be to throw Kano across town here and now, but so long as he doesn't die, Kano will come back, annoying little bugger that he is; he's made that clear, standing on the front steps like he is right now. ]

[ I see Card wants to make yeeting Kano a recurring thing...

Honestly, even if it wasn't Kano, Terry doesn't feel like going outside to hang out with people. Well, maybe in this situation that would be under quotation marks, but it is clear that Kano would just do something stupid that would probably irritate Terry to no end, but you know what. Fine. This feels like a necessary evil.

So he closes the door again, gets his hoodie jacket, leaves a paper note on Kido's door that he'll be out, puts his shoes on and leaves through the door, locking the door behind him. ]

Where are we going?

[ His nickname's Cricket but he's more like a cockroach, real hard to stamp out permanently.

Kano waits patiently while Terry does what he needs to do, pulling back away from the window by the time Terry comes out again and locks the door. ]

Hmm... What's the highest point in town? Is it the school? Let's hang out on the school roof, like in the animes! Also, here—

[ He said to bring a hat! So he pulls one out of his jacket pocket to put on Terry's head; it's a plain baseball cap and smells slightly of cigarette smoke. ]

[ It may smell only slightly for normal people, but it reeks for Terry, so he immediately takes the hat off and puts it over Kano's head. This is also why he hates smokers and will never smoke anything himself. ]

It stinks like cigs. I'll just use my hood. What's the point anyway? It's already dark out and it's not even remotely cold.

[ Kano takes the hat off his head and shoves it back into his pocket; he never wears hats and the smell of smoke is distracting, so it's his hood that goes up too, leaving his eyes to shine red underneath it. ]

Alright, let's go, let's go~

[ He walks around Terry and proceeds to place two hands on Terry's back to march him towards the schoolhouse. ]

[ Terry is pushed and he walks along after putting his hood up too. Two guys with black hoods up that may obscure their faces in the dead of night. Totally not suspicious. He knows that there will be guards at the school too, since it's not Lockdown yet.

Yeah, he doesn't want to deal with the guards, so he'll hold onto Kano's arm and zoom like usual at his top speed through the town, hops onto the top of the school fence, and jumps off it and ta-da. They're at the school rooftop. Here, he'll let go of Kano so he can stand on his own two feet. ]

You like high places?

[ jfc he hates when Terry does that; it feels like his arm's going to get pulled out of his shoulder socket at any given moment, and Kano stretches his arms over his head to make sure everything's in its proper place and not about to pop out. ]

Man, you sure are impatient, aren'tcha? Nothing wrong with a little stroll, you know? You're gonna miss out on so much focusing just on point A and point B...

[ Don't expect answers to your questions, Terry... Kano walks over to the railing and sticks his arms through the bars, letting his hands hang and catch the breeze. ]

[ Maybe he'll consider not doing that if Kano stops being irritating... ]

Does it even matter? Since you keep talking like nothing does.

[ He's already considering tossing Kano to the lake from here, which he can probably do easily... but that would make the trip to the rooftop an absolute waste since he could have just done that from his house, so. He's spared... for now.

Terry also goes to the railing and leans on it. The breeze is nice. Even if Kano doesn't, Terry's the one who likes high places here, so he'll just enjoy it for the time being. ]

[ You can't stop a person's nature.

Terry's question apparently doesn't warrant a response more than one of those usual shady grins of Kano's, because that's all he does, standing there reaching his arms out through the bars and letting the faint miasma of darkness concentrate on his fingertips for a moment, before pulling his hands back through and sticking them inside his pockets. ]

"Nothing in life matters," or something like that...?

[ Kano stands back, and lifts both arms up, hands curled into fists and pointing at Terry's chest. ]

Here, here, pick one~ Left or right?

A nihilist, then.

[ Maybe, in some other world, that's how he would have lived. Terry shakes his head a little and looks down at Kano's hands. He's not sure what he did with that wispy black fog thing, but he's still curious, so... ]

Left.

[ Kano keeps his fists closed. ]

Your left or my left?

[ Terry taps Kano's left hand. ]

This one.

[ Kano opens his left hand aaaaaaaaanndd

it's empty!

After a beat, he opens his right one too, and it's also empty. Both empty hands get shoved back into his pockets, while Kano has this very expectant look on his face while he watches for what Terry's reaction would be. Come on, don't disappoint him. ]

[ Terry just blankly stares and then turns back to look out to the night scenery beyond the railing without a word as he ponders what's the point of anything............... ]

[ Disappointing...

Kano pats Terry on the shoulder. ]

It's okay, we'll try again later until you get it right.

Are you having fun?

[ He asks, but he's not looking at Kano. ]

Edited 2019-09-30 17:05 (UTC)

[ The smile goes right back up on Kano's face, bright as ever. ]

Mmhm, yep! How come you're not anymore?

You can't say that if I wasn't in the first place.

[ ... ]

Why did you put that sugar packet in my pocket the other day?

[ It wasn't wet, so it had to be after he came to the Velvet Room and he'd have no reason to have it in his pocket. Of course, he's also not expecting a straightforward answer from Kano, but maybe it won't hurt to ask? ]

Sure I can. Are you curious?

[ Terry has had a lot of practice with Minato answering questions with questions, so he should understand a bit why Kano does this, maybe.

Maybe Kano will give him a straightforward answer? Maybe he'll give Terry a convoluted answer. Maybe he won't answer at all. Depends on what Terry says, and what he means by it. ]

[ Terry still likes straightforward things the most, and answering a question with a question only perpetuates the cycle, but sometimes he feels like he has to do it. He looks over at Kano. But really... he's tired right now, and thinking has never been a strong suit for him, so-- ]

Yeah, because I want to know what you mean by doing that. You gave me a ketchup packet earlier too. Maybe you're trying to convey something, but if I don't get it, then I won't understand. Maybe you're just doing things and not expecting anything in return, but that's not how communication works--you convey a message and hope that the other person will understand it in some way. But if you're not intending to get anything in return, then wouldn't that be just a waste of time?

Nope!!

[ There's your straightforward answer. But Terry probably wouldn't be satisfied with just that, so Kano relents a little, leaning back against the railing and shrugging his shoulders. ]

If I can manage to convey that "thing" in the end, how can I say it's a waste of time? Even if you don't get it right away, I'm sure you'll be able to someday! It's not something you gotta figure out right now, or tomorrow, or by the end of the year. It's okay to take your time with this sort of stuff, you know? It's better if you do! You can do it, Boss! I believe in you!!

Usually people give things as presents or keep things as trophies, no matter what they are.

[ He raises an eyebrow because he's pretty sure Kano doesn't see him as a friend and vice versa. Maybe it doesn't matter. As much as he'd like to use pinpointing to get that info out right away because he's always impatient, he doesn't. It's not for the sentimentality reason that he gave Minato though. He just simply doesn't bother. ]

I'm not your boss or whatever either.

Didn't I already say? Why does the "usual" matter?

[ He'd feel a little insulted being compared to usual people, really, but he just stands and rocks back and forth on his heels and smiles that smile that doesn't reach his eyes. ]

Anyways, here, gimme a boost up to the top of the railing! Don't give into temptation and tip me over the edge, okay?

[ Isn't that how people think?? Or rather, how their social cues are morphed to be? Well, Terry will brush that aside and simply grab onto Kano's sides like longcat again and puts him on top of the railing. He doesn't say anything while doing so either and while Kano is absolutely right about the temptation, he'll stand there, keeping his hands to himself after letting go of Kano. ]

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