[ Happening some time soon after the 18th!! TL;DR: Kuja got a bonus AC item he's here to show Phil.
Kuja doesn't have a phone yet. I'll wear him down one day, so he has to try to find Phil the old fashioned way. Luckily, it's a small enough town -- but his usual trick of taking to a high roof and getting comfortable people watching isn't quite doing it. Most of his fellow poor lost souls have routines that take them far afield of the resident halls.
But... Where...does Phil even spend all his time...?
Obviously, not walking down main street. He needs to change approach. What's Phil's personality? An accomplished mage mirrist with well-thought opinions on the ethics of certain advanced fields of magic, not too bad a board to bounce off of as a lab partner, the look of -- no insult intended, but, a bit of a housecat...
Indoors, somewhere. And there weren't THAT many buildings with something interesting to do in them for this long, or even with signs of current habitation.
Pretty much that left the library. ]
--There you are. I thought you'd be here.
[ Kuja's looking a little less peaky than before. After the end of The Statue Incident, he'd basically skulked off with his tail held low. But today the characteristic sing-song is back in his voice, and he seems to have a book under his arm. ]
[As Kuja is about to discover, when Phil gets immersed in his research, he is completely and totally lost to the world. So occupied with he is the book he's reading that he doesn't look up-- doesn't seem to give any sign that he's even heard Kuja's words in the first place.
Instead, his gaze remains fixed on the page as he reads, occasionally pursing his lips when he hits something that seems to pique his interest.
You might need to be a little bit louder there, Kuja...]
[ ... Okay, color him interested, if it's THAT engrossing. Kuja shifts his own book so that he's hugging it to his chest (not gonna risk dropping the ONLY copy of 'I Want To Be Your Canary' in the world!), and leans a little bit so he can see over Phil's shoulder to join him in reading. He doesn't have to lean far on account of being stupid tall. ]
[It took Byleth little over a week to finally take Yuri's suggestion and hunt down Phil for advice. He knew the man only passingly - he'd seen him at the meeting, and out and about, but hadn't really exchanged words with him. He wasn't even sure how to pitch his situation without sounding weird or slightly insane, but Byleth was very much a man who grabbed the bull by the horns, no matter how daunting, so.
After tracking Phil down when the man was out and about the Nest, Byleth approached him and decided to be upfront and blunt about his intentions:]
Hello. I've recently come to learn that I may have an artificial heart, and Yuri recommended you as someone who may help me confirm this. Is he correct to assume so?
[There. Laying his cards out right out the starting gate!]
[That is... definitely an unexpected question to be asked out of the blue, and yet at the same time even Phil has to admit that he's likely one of the people here most situated to be able to answer it. If he's surprised (either by the question or the recommendation), it doesn't show at all on his face beyond a brief blink, though that could be as much due to his own awkwardness in social situations as it could to anything resembling surprise.]
Ah... yes, if it's anything at all similar to how that sort of thing operates in my world, I should be able to tell.
[Reaching up, he adjust his monocle slightly before continuing:]
May I ask how you came to learn of this? I assume that you haven't noticed anything particularly odd otherwise in terms of its functions...
[Oh, he accepted! Byleth's shoulders lowered slightly from where they had been a little tense from anticipation.]
I have always known something was amiss as it doesn't beat. Compared to, say, my father, the lack of a heartbeat was noticeable since I was very young.
Initially, I had assumed my parents had performed some profane resurrection ritual on myself, as I was stillborn due to... reasons that are irrelevant - but Yuri seems to think that perhaps they had instead 'saved me' via some medicial means, such as an artificial heart.
[Hmm. Okay, that isn't quite the scenario he'd initially had in mind, which only serves to make him even more interested in this entire situation.]
No, it doesn't sound nearly as unbelievable as you might think.
[Nuadha, after all, was quite literally a walking corpse with a heart core, from everything he'd been told. If this was a similar case...]
If you were resurrected, in a manner of speaking, then your anima would most likely feel... abnormal, to put it in simple terms. If it is a matter of being saved by medical means, then while it might feel abnormal, it would do so in a different way, if that makes any sense.
[ as she doesn't at all care for time or for the sanity of her weird meat dispensers, she shows up at a cheery 2 AM and smacks her godforsaken beak against the window. it could be called a knock if she were polite or cared for any kind of pleasantries, but she isn't and doesn't give a shit. so: phil will hear a very aggressive, continuous rapping at his window until he gets his ass up if he's asleep or wanders over if he's awake.
what he's going to be greeted with is a falcon(???) with far too many fucking eyes that blink out of sync on the window sill. she has what looks like a rolled missive attached to one(???) of her legs. she will keep slamming her beak against the window until he opens it. ]
[It takes Phil a long moment for wakefulness to wash over him like a tide and stir him from the depths of sleep; he blinks groggily at the tapping sound, reaching across a still-sleeping Marcus to grab his monocle from the bedside table and put it on so that he can actually see properly. It takes a moment more for him to actually disentangle himself from Marcus and climb out of bed, making his way over to the window where he sees...
...
... he's pretty sure that's a bird. He hopes. He'll be cautious when opening the window just in case, prepared to duck back if necessary.]
well. it's certainly a kind of bird. biblically accurate is perhaps the best way to describe it. either way, phil will catch her mid-rap and she'll sort of scrabble through the now removed mystical forcefield. she will puff herself up with a very dignified screech (is it? no) and take off past him to land on his kitchen table. she'll hop about in a circle to stare at him with all of her very wet, very bright eyes.
and then click her beak together a few times. kind of like what baby birds do when they're hungry and twice as ugly as she is now. ]
[It's a fruitless protest, however, as the bird does exactly what the bird wants and just invites herself in to take a seat of sorts on the kitchen table, claws making an audible clacking sound against the wood. Hopefully that and the screech won't be loud enough to wake Marcus up, as Phil really doesn't want to have to explain just why there is a bird with at least three more eyes than it should have in their apartment when even he doesn't fully know the answer to that just yet.
... it's staring at him. It's staring at him and it looks hungry.]
... are you hungry? There are some leftovers from dinner if you'd like those...
[Said as if the bird is capable of answering him with words.]
[ she has no idea who marcus is and no idea who phil is. she only knows a few human names and (as previously specified) those aren't one of them. however, she does understand what the mysterious white box that's about as tall as a human provides. so, she'll let out a little shriek in comprehension.
yes! feed her! she has done a great job! which is to say she's completed the delivery, but not necessarily to the correct person. that missive that's rolled up on her leg jostles as she ruffles up her wings and folds them again.
she'll watch phil with her many and strange eyes as he moves around her even so. please disregard the ones that seem to be able to turn toward the back of her head. ]
[... that startled jump was probably not the reaction she was expecting to that shrilled cry. In Phil's defense, though, he comes from a world where monsters make exactly that sort of noise before they try to eat you, so surely he can be excused for his impolite behavior. At least it doesn't take him long to realize that she isn't about to attack him?
Once he's come to that conclusion, he'll go over to the fridge and open it, shuffling things around for a moment until he pulls out a container of leftover stew. She probably won't be interested in the vegetables, he thinks, so when he grabs a small bowl and a fork to start picking pieces out, he selects only the largest hunks of meat to transfer into said bowl.]
Here... this was from last night, so it should still be fresh.
[He pushes the bowl towards the falcon, mismatched eyes falling on the letter attached to her leg as he does so. Hmm... who could be sending him a letter, he wonders?]
[ she is not fazed. one human she enters the house of used to do the same, but now he doesn't and it is very sad actually. maybe she humors phil a little because she's going to get fed! or, maybe, she's just tired and that's why her eyes sort of blink slowly.
haha, just kidding. as soon as phil plops that bowl in front of her she's diving in. she's a very messy eater and half of the meat ends up on her and in her and the other half ends up on the table. don't worry, she'll get it.
anyway, she guesses she'll extend her leg primly. how is she balancing. dwbi. ]
It would be nice if I had any idea where you came from...
[Also ma'am who taught you your table manners because they are in need of some serious improvement, he's going to have to wipe down the entire table after this?? ... or he could leave Marcus to do it, but he's not that rude, plus he doesn't want to have to explain why he fed a strange mutant bird that knocked on the window in the middle of the night.
When she extends her leg with the letter, he'll take that as the invitation that it is to very gently untie the paper from around her leg, unrolling it and then adjusting his monocle so as to better read its contents.
[ phil is lucky that she is horrendously distracted with hoovering up the mess she left on the table. if she wasn't, there is a very high chance she would have bit him square on whatever part of his hand she could reach.
either way, while she's good and focused, phil will be able to read the missive in peace.
what it says (in a strong, but elegant hand) is the following:
[He appreciates the not biting, if only because then he would have yelled and ABSOLUTELY woken Marcus up.
It's clear as soon as he reads it that this was never meant for him-- the "K" and "D" give him a fairly good idea of the sender and the intended recipient (he wasn't so drunk that evening in the bar that he doesn't recall the comments he'd made to the two of them about his reading of their relationship), and at least there's nothing in it that's too damning or otherwise personal, yet at the same time that he feels guilty for reading someone else's mail, he's now curious as to just what is being talked about in the letter.
A TRUE MORAL DILEMMA.]
... you do realize you have the wrong house?
[Not that he suspects she knows or even cares at this point with how happily she's wolfing down that stew, but.]
[ does she realize she has the wrong house? that's a fair question. unfortunately for phil, she's not precisely forthcoming. she has done her delivery job and therefore: who cares. she's usually correct about half the time. that's better than not at all, right? right. especially when this very mysterious "d" writes in code to an equally mysterious "k."
anyway, she'll look up at him with half of her eyes. she's still busy getting every last scrap off his table (she hopes he likes the gouges she's left behind with her nice talons!), but if that's an indication that she understood? that's questionable. what she does seem to understand is that this human is supposed to send a missive back. so, out goes the leg again.
[ phone soundly swiped, sorry, it's still coming from marcus's name ]
no. marcus is going to fight a bear. it has been troubleing everyone and i have told him he has to take care fo it so he's going to take ca reof it. thank you for your soncern but there is no need to worry because he seems very strong and and i will be with him
[ ......... no.............. if he gets caught here, then he won't see a bear fight......... he might get in trouble and sent home......... what about his date with hiiro.................. this is going terribly wrong. ]
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ninetydegrees
IM SORRY IM WRITING BLOCKED ON BLOODQUEST BTW
on 2022-11-16 01:22 pm (UTC)Kuja doesn't have a phone
yet. I'll wear him down one day, so he has to try to find Phil the old fashioned way. Luckily, it's a small enough town -- but his usual trick of taking to a high roof and getting comfortable people watching isn't quite doing it. Most of his fellow poor lost souls have routines that take them far afield of the resident halls.But...
Where...does Phil even spend all his time...?
Obviously, not walking down main street. He needs to change approach. What's Phil's personality? An accomplished
magemirrist with well-thought opinions on the ethics of certain advanced fields of magic, not too bad a board to bounce off of as a lab partner, the look of -- no insult intended, but, a bit of a housecat...Indoors, somewhere. And there weren't THAT many buildings with something interesting to do in them for this long, or even with signs of current habitation.
Pretty much that left the library. ]
--There you are. I thought you'd be here.
[ Kuja's looking a little less peaky than before. After the end of The Statue Incident, he'd basically skulked off with his tail held low. But today the characteristic sing-song is back in his voice, and he seems to have a book under his arm. ]
no subject
on 2022-12-14 08:55 am (UTC)Instead, his gaze remains fixed on the page as he reads, occasionally pursing his lips when he hits something that seems to pique his interest.
You might need to be a little bit louder there, Kuja...]
I shall always wait as long as it takes 🥂
on 2022-12-14 03:46 pm (UTC)[Action] Post-Valentine's Event: Time to give Phil grey hairs!!
on 2023-02-18 11:50 am (UTC)After tracking Phil down when the man was out and about the Nest, Byleth approached him and decided to be upfront and blunt about his intentions:]
Hello. I've recently come to learn that I may have an artificial heart, and Yuri recommended you as someone who may help me confirm this. Is he correct to assume so?
[There. Laying his cards out right out the starting gate!]
no subject
on 2023-02-27 01:43 am (UTC)Ah... yes, if it's anything at all similar to how that sort of thing operates in my world, I should be able to tell.
[Reaching up, he adjust his monocle slightly before continuing:]
May I ask how you came to learn of this? I assume that you haven't noticed anything particularly odd otherwise in terms of its functions...
no subject
on 2023-02-27 03:39 am (UTC)I have always known something was amiss as it doesn't beat. Compared to, say, my father, the lack of a heartbeat was noticeable since I was very young.
Initially, I had assumed my parents had performed some profane resurrection ritual on myself, as I was stillborn due to... reasons that are irrelevant - but Yuri seems to think that perhaps they had instead 'saved me' via some medicial means, such as an artificial heart.
[...yeah.]
It sounds unbelievable, I'm aware, but..
no subject
on 2023-02-27 04:01 am (UTC)[Hmm. Okay, that isn't quite the scenario he'd initially had in mind, which only serves to make him even more interested in this entire situation.]
No, it doesn't sound nearly as unbelievable as you might think.
[Nuadha, after all, was quite literally a walking corpse with a heart core, from everything he'd been told. If this was a similar case...]
If you were resurrected, in a manner of speaking, then your anima would most likely feel... abnormal, to put it in simple terms. If it is a matter of being saved by medical means, then while it might feel abnormal, it would do so in a different way, if that makes any sense.
no subject
on 2023-02-27 09:15 am (UTC)[Whatever that was.]
( as promised: bird. )
on 2023-02-27 02:55 am (UTC)what he's going to be greeted with is a falcon(???) with far too many fucking eyes that blink out of sync on the window sill. she has what looks like a rolled missive attached to one(???) of her legs. she will keep slamming her beak against the window until he opens it. ]
BIRB IS THE WORD
on 2023-02-27 03:01 am (UTC)...
... he's pretty sure that's a bird. He hopes. He'll be cautious when opening the window just in case, prepared to duck back if necessary.]
... yes?
no subject
on 2023-02-27 03:18 am (UTC)well. it's certainly a kind of bird. biblically accurate is perhaps the best way to describe it. either way, phil will catch her mid-rap and she'll sort of scrabble through the now removed mystical forcefield. she will puff herself up with a very dignified screech (is it? no) and take off past him to land on his kitchen table. she'll hop about in a circle to stare at him with all of her very wet, very bright eyes.
and then click her beak together a few times. kind of like what baby birds do when they're hungry and twice as ugly as she is now. ]
no subject
on 2023-02-27 03:42 am (UTC)[It's a fruitless protest, however, as the bird does exactly what the bird wants and just invites herself in to take a seat of sorts on the kitchen table, claws making an audible clacking sound against the wood. Hopefully that and the screech won't be loud enough to wake Marcus up, as Phil really doesn't want to have to explain just why there is a bird with at least three more eyes than it should have in their apartment when even he doesn't fully know the answer to that just yet.
... it's staring at him. It's staring at him and it looks hungry.]
... are you hungry? There are some leftovers from dinner if you'd like those...
[Said as if the bird is capable of answering him with words.]
no subject
on 2023-02-27 11:44 pm (UTC)yes! feed her! she has done a great job! which is to say she's completed the delivery, but not necessarily to the correct person. that missive that's rolled up on her leg jostles as she ruffles up her wings and folds them again.
she'll watch phil with her many and strange eyes as he moves around her even so. please disregard the ones that seem to be able to turn toward the back of her head. ]
no subject
on 2023-02-28 12:42 am (UTC)[... that startled jump was probably not the reaction she was expecting to that shrilled cry. In Phil's defense, though, he comes from a world where monsters make exactly that sort of noise before they try to eat you, so surely he can be excused for his impolite behavior. At least it doesn't take him long to realize that she isn't about to attack him?
Once he's come to that conclusion, he'll go over to the fridge and open it, shuffling things around for a moment until he pulls out a container of leftover stew. She probably won't be interested in the vegetables, he thinks, so when he grabs a small bowl and a fork to start picking pieces out, he selects only the largest hunks of meat to transfer into said bowl.]
Here... this was from last night, so it should still be fresh.
[He pushes the bowl towards the falcon, mismatched eyes falling on the letter attached to her leg as he does so. Hmm... who could be sending him a letter, he wonders?]
Is that meant for me? On your leg, I mean.
no subject
on 2023-02-28 01:10 am (UTC)haha, just kidding. as soon as phil plops that bowl in front of her she's diving in. she's a very messy eater and half of the meat ends up on her and in her and the other half ends up on the table. don't worry, she'll get it.
anyway, she guesses she'll extend her leg primly. how is she balancing. dwbi. ]
no subject
on 2023-02-28 01:23 am (UTC)[Also ma'am who taught you your table manners because they are in need of some serious improvement, he's going to have to wipe down the entire table after this?? ... or he could leave Marcus to do it, but he's not that rude, plus he doesn't want to have to explain why he fed a strange mutant bird that knocked on the window in the middle of the night.
When she extends her leg with the letter, he'll take that as the invitation that it is to very gently untie the paper from around her leg, unrolling it and then adjusting his monocle so as to better read its contents.
So, what does it say?]
no subject
on 2023-02-28 10:54 pm (UTC)either way, while she's good and focused, phil will be able to read the missive in peace.
what it says (in a strong, but elegant hand) is the following:
K,
All contained. Steeple toward 4?
- D.
very enlightening??? ]
no subject
on 2023-03-01 01:24 am (UTC)It's clear as soon as he reads it that this was never meant for him-- the "K" and "D" give him a fairly good idea of the sender and the intended recipient (he wasn't so drunk that evening in the bar that he doesn't recall the comments he'd made to the two of them about his reading of their relationship), and at least there's nothing in it that's too damning or otherwise personal, yet at the same time that he feels guilty for reading someone else's mail, he's now curious as to just what is being talked about in the letter.
A TRUE MORAL DILEMMA.]
... you do realize you have the wrong house?
[Not that he suspects she knows or even cares at this point with how happily she's wolfing down that stew, but.]
no subject
on 2023-03-02 03:46 am (UTC)anyway, she'll look up at him with half of her eyes. she's still busy getting every last scrap off his table (she hopes he likes the gouges she's left behind with her nice talons!), but if that's an indication that she understood? that's questionable. what she does seem to understand is that this human is supposed to send a missive back. so, out goes the leg again.
expectantly.
give into your desires to be curious, phil. ]
text, sometime before the 16th, un: grimm
on 2023-03-27 02:19 am (UTC)phiil
phil
fighting besr back late dont forget di eat
oh my god
on 2023-03-27 02:31 am (UTC)...
...
... wait, what.]
Fighting a what? What's going on? Are you drunk?
no subject
on 2023-03-27 02:46 am (UTC)drumk? it's midday?? im not like
[ Actually, he can't decide who he's not like. Plenty of Salvation Front members give him headaches, but not really over drinking...
He thinks about that a while and just sends it as-is. ]
no subject
on 2023-03-27 03:10 am (UTC)Where are you right now? I'm coming to find you.
[Implying that Phil is at all capable of physically carrying/dragging Marcus anywhere once he gets there.]
no subject
on 2023-03-27 03:18 am (UTC)[ Wait! Wait. If Phil comes he's going to try to fight a bear, and then what! ]
NO
stahy home
no subject
on 2023-03-27 03:27 am (UTC)[AND YOU SAY HE HAS BAD JUDGMENT--]
Don't try to climb back down until I get there!
no subject
on 2023-03-27 03:40 am (UTC)[ Maybe if he just keeps saying this... ]
wait whats plan. let me falllll on you/
no subject
on 2023-03-27 03:49 am (UTC)[
Marcus look at this man, he's a toothpick]no subject
on 2023-03-27 04:00 am (UTC)anyway im on the ground now
[ Now!! Nothing to worry about. ]
no subject
on 2023-03-27 04:07 am (UTC)[With no (significant) judgment because, y'know, being carried out of the bar like a sack of potatoes over Marcus' shoulder and all.]
no subject
on 2023-03-27 04:16 am (UTC)no. marcus is going to fight a bear. it has been troubleing everyone and i have told him he has to take care fo it so he's going to take ca reof it. thank you for your soncern but there is no need to worry because he seems very strong and and i will be with him
[ WHOEVER "I" IS??? ]
I'm sobbing, this is amazing
on 2023-03-27 04:23 am (UTC)Who is this? Why do you have Marcus' phone?
What is going on?
[...]
Just
stay right there, I'm coming to find you
[MARCUS AND WHOEVER "YOU" IS]
i'm glad you're enjoying it
on 2023-03-27 04:28 am (UTC)i hope you trip
... the sad part is, that's a very realistic thing to happen to Phil LMFAO
on 2023-03-27 04:34 am (UTC)Wait
at least tell me where this bear is so I know where to come looking for you
[Is that to Marcus? To this mysterious stranger? Or to both? Honestly, does it really matter at this point?
LMFAO good.
on 2023-03-27 04:39 am (UTC)no subject
on 2023-03-27 04:46 am (UTC)I'm not that stupid
[
Most of the time]no subject
on 2023-03-27 09:54 pm (UTC)don't worry about the bear i got it
[ Aw yeah look how coherent that was!! Reassuring. ]
no subject
on 2023-03-28 03:22 am (UTC)Marcus!
I'm coming to find you and I mean it
[WITH HIS SLOW-ASS MOVEMENT SPEED, RIP]