oculusriffs | inbox for balance

[What a day.

Between recovering from the jellyfish jizz he had to drink yesterday, a Peter Pan themed middle finger shoved right in his face, and Bender going on a bender with him, Ryuji's just exhausted himself beyond belief. You know what sounds really good right now? Dave sounds really good right now.

He's too much of a punk to head over to the hospital to get his hand checked out, but it's pretty busted from the healthily unhealthy punch he gave to the cooking robot. Straight up declined his fantasy credit card and everything, refusing to take any compliments or tips to the chef (stop being such a piece of shit and flooding the cafe, you metallic piece of crap!), and Ryuji is just... so hurt.

Like, yeah, the hand is kind of stinging and has a cute little cut on it, but the emotional pain of promised ramen, real, live, actual ramen being taken away from him is a deeper bruise than anything else.

Is he home? He wants a shoulder to cry on. Don't mind the leotard, he's gotten used to it by now. Kinda feels nice and breezy down there, actually, but that's NOT THE POINT.]

Yo! [He wraps on the door with his dominant hand, which, okay that's straight up stupid, but Ryuji doesn't learn.] Ack! Shit.

Crap, that stings like hell.

Yooo check it

0002.png

This needs some witty ass captions and I'm drawin' a blank

Guess I'm just too unvultured to think up somethin

Stumped you, huh?

Damn, I never thought I'd see the day you were speechless over some ugly ass birds

Update, I kicked their asses! Operation KFC is goin' smoothly. We're gonna be eatin' fried chicken in no time

You busy or something? Where are you anyway? Was thinkin' I could sneak into town and grab some grubsnub to go or something. Wanna do dinner?

Dave? Hey, what's up?

Earth to Daaaave

Or wait this ain't earth

Faerun to Daaaave*

Yo? I'm in town, where are you?

[He tries calling Dave's device via voice and doesn't get an answer.

Ryuji's starting to feel pretty anxious. There's a pit forming at the bottom of his stomach, and even though he wants to believe that he just took a nap or something, his gut is starting to tell him something else.]

What's going on?

Dude, did you fall asleep or something?

Hey

C'mon, answer me?

I dunno what's going on, man but I hope you're okay

I've looked everywhere for you and I can't find you, so I'm kinda freaking out over here?

Please be okay

I'm probably worrying over nothing, right?

You ain't like get attacked by bees or something right?

I'm gonna wait back at the vacation spot til morning. If I keep lookin' for ya maybe we're just crossing paths or something.

When you see this, come home? Alright?

Edited (tfw you just need to send one more email to your inbox i guess) 2018-12-13 04:22 (UTC)

Where are you these days, Twinkletoes?
Stars or dirt?

[There's a present for Dave sitting outside his door! It's wrapped in blue paper....also it says "From Erika" on it so the sender is kind of obvious.

It contains a pair of fuzzy slippers shaped like lobsters.]

Yo let's play a game

dave what s

whats up
i hear youre gonna try to talk to pentandra about the underwater gundam

lmk if you want a hand. he likes me

ᕕ༼⌐■-■༽ᕗ

Dave-kun!

[Next time Dave is in town, doing something very cool I'm sure, Kaede steps right out in front of him, both hands clasped behind her back with a mischievous grin.]

You know what today is, right? I got you something!!

[Captain's log. Day three. The congestion seems to be getting worse, and the head continues to be glazed and fogged over. There's no amount of multivitamin that can stop the onslaught of otherwise perfectly normal, ungerminated cells in the Sakamoto. First mate Dave is down, too, having succumbed to similar signs of illness, and their current location is currently wrapped up together under a blanket.

Ryuji's had a rough few days coming back from Vista Virs. As if the mission semi-success wasn't enough, he's been hit hard in the chest with something that's making his nose run and his chest sore. But in compliance with an attempt to keep warm, he's stationed in a shark kigu, that he unfortunately might've been wearing for the last 2 days straight, still smelling like sun tan lotion and beach bum because his barbarian aura is constantly turned into the up position.

Worst of all, they're watching some sort of binge-like knockoff of a famous TV series, and the communication software been on the fritz all day. Ryuji can barely understand half of what's going on as it comes in and out like bad reception. Doesn't help that he's not sure he understands the premise that well to begin with.]

So they go into 有名な人家 and snoop around? なんだかなぁ.

[Oh goddamnit, not this shit again.

He just buries his face in whatever part of Dave they're currently most apt for him to do so with.]

[You know what just surfaced next to your ship, Dave? It's a goddamned submarine. Yeah, that's right. A literal fucking actual sub, built out of fantasy bullshit. And God help us all, but it has a SBAHJ decal on it.

Out from the top hatch, a familiar blond head pops up, shades glinting in the sunlight.]

Someone order some apple juice?

[Some days you just kind of feel cursed, like the world is just out to get you, and there's nothing you can really do about it. Those sort of days, spending it alone and away from the hyper sensitive pings of the world around them seem kinda, well, right.

Akira was here, and so was Ann. There's a lot to process, and a lot he's not intentionally trying to keep from either of them, yet here he is, the morning after a really bad night, laying in bed and watching Dave sleep. Like a creeper. Ever since Lyrabar, he hasn't really had much in the way of a full night of sleep in a peaceful sort of way- not that it's incredibly easy to tell since Ryuji always complains about being tired, or bored, or needing something to do and being overbearing in his usual way. When he's in bed, down to a simple tank top and a wily pair of obnoxious boxers, and he's nestled warmly in Dave's arms, he still feels invincible; that much is true. It's where his head goes when he's sleeping that he doesn't trust.

Spend as long as you do among the dead and certain things end up, well, for lack of better words, haunting you. Like a joke you might've made when you were a kid coming back for the blood price of making it in the first place. The worst is seeing the astral plane become overrun with a black ichor, a substance that he can only sort of make out when he concentrates on it. And he figures he knows what this warding signal flare is. It's the Hunger. It has to be, right?

Ryuji Sakamoto never wanted to save the world. Too dramatic, after all, when he's had that moment of self-actualization in his life to realize fame and glory aren't things he really, truly, deeply cares about. At some point in his life, he would've shaken his fist at the astral plane and flipped it right off into the next demiplane of existence, but it's different. He's realizing, at 19, or 20, or whatever age he's supposed to be but lost track of, that there are some things out there that are actually fucking terrifying. And that's probably due to the fact that his now-light eyes are slowly wandering down the curves and soft skin that make up one Dave Strider.

Definitely, things to be afraid of out there that are worse than death. Like leaving someone behind to live with that realization. Or losing complete agency over everything. He doesn't know when Dave's going to wake up; hard to tell really when he has his own Death Price laid out in front of him like this. Sleep for as long as he wants, he's usually pretty dead to the world until his body tells him to wake up. At least, as much as Ryuji knows about this body. Constellations on his skin, the sweetest smile when he earns it, the way he knows how pleasure it, the whole nine yards.

And man, it's terrifying to be in love, ain't it?

He lays his head up against the back of his shoulder; he'll be there until he wakes up, still as always a giant mess of limbs and not a single apology left in either of them because of it.]

[No doubt about it, the place he's heading to during their vacation is going to be Vista Virs.

Despite being a consistently balmy scorching hot, it's where Ryuji found a whole lot of peace and identity. Becoming a hunter, fitting in with the Kitsune here like a found family, and.

Coming home to Dave when the sun began to set.

Their shitty little motel room with motorcycle parts strewn about as Ryuji continued to collect and build or modify his own to be a little bit better than the last. The warm mornings of waking up and realizing that, at some point in the middle of the night he had to get rid of a t-shirt since he was sweating too much.

It's a small thing, but it's also a great thing. Normalcy in the midst of a highly unusual life.

He looks over at Dave, clouded eyes and all, as he cronches down on some street food in the middle of the market, and he realizes how fucking lucky he actually is, despite it all. He often finds himself here, too, as it catches him off guard how much capacity he has in his heart to love one singular person in this universe or any other.

And a lot's on his mind. Something he desperately wants to talk about after the events of Niel's life were laid bare to everyone in the Bureau.]

Sun's 'bout to set. Wanna check it out from the bridge over the oasis?

[Dave will receive a somewhat ominous text.]

hey if ur in class or sth boring u should ditch and meet me at the shrines in like 10min!!! (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و ̑̑
i have a surprise for u!!! (･ω<)☆

[Yes. Very ominous.

But should he choose to take Sayori up on this offer, she'll be there with bells on! She has her bedroll spread out like a picnic blanket and, naturally, some snacks set out. One of them is a magic cupcake which has had DAVE added onto the...messy frosting. It suffered in transit.

But she's very excited, bouncing on her toes as she waves.] Hi!!

[And, with no further preamble, holds out what resembles a card.]

[ dave will find an ornament of snoop dogg (but like, as an actual dog), extensive steel samurai & barrack obama fanfiction (with rapping segments), a carton of apple juice, as well a card from maya wishing him happy candlenights! the card is full of doodles of dave in various poses, such as having a rap off with obama (drawn from description), dave punching a dragon in the face, dave as a samurai, etc. the card details how happy she is that she and dave are friends, as well as how fun and strong and tough she she thinks he is!! it also wishes him happiness and safety. ]

[Happy Candlenights! Dave receives: a book of knitting patterns. Also, a book of crochet patterns and some crochet hooks. Forgot the difference between these two so I accidentally got the crochet one first — whoops — enjoy? Plus, a bunch of sugar cookies shaped like sunglasses.]

[ A day late, another gift lands on Dave's doorstep. It's a set of five young adult books, called...Druimorphs? That pun doesn't even--

There's a note:

Found these in the back of Fantasy Costco. What fucking luck. Hope you get a kick out of them.

- Alex ]

[A messily-wrapped box, with Dave's name written directly on the colorful paper. There's a handmade card on top, decorated with stickers and doodles of wintry images like snow, gingerbread men, etc. It's not properly signed, but the signature isn't necessary. On one side of the interior:]

Tall green trees in lights twinkling bright,
Sparkling strands of tinsel and snow pure white,
The smell of hot cocoa and apple cider too,
A very merry Candlenights, from Sayori to you!
[And then on the other side:]

Thank you for being my first friend here! You're always really nice to me even when you're not sure how to handle it and I'm really thankful for that. You're a good friend. I'll write you some more sick rhymes soon!

[Inside the box is a physical copy of the Bahamut selfie with him and Roxas that has been decorated with cute stickers, a pendant resembling Becquerel's head carved from jade (get it?), a New New Aspen ornament painted and carved into a record, and fanart of their fursonas kicking some butt together.]

inbox for balance_rpg

like... 11/14? what is time

12/...? spider death

(like 3 hours later)

(4? ish hours, god i have no idea how many of these there will be)

(4.5 hours)

(4.75 hours and still praying for your inbox)

(5 hours and the panic is real)

(5.15 hours)

(a full 6 hours later, probably end?)

Dec 26th, roughly

morning of the 26th

within the first few days of arrival @skull

at like 1 am after zarvesplosion