ᴄʟᴏsᴇᴅ ▸ if i wanna stay alive.

[lackluster]

WHO: Tartaglia & others.
WHERE: Around Stygia.
WHEN: November.
WHAT: Catchall for the month, mostly scenarios unrelated to the event. Plus some exploration and twerking.
WARNINGS: None as of now!

( ooc. just a closed log with the starters i owe for peeps! if you'd like a custom scenario with tartaglia, feel free to send me a pm or reply to my plotting comment so we can work something out.

Comments

[paraselenes]

[ He hums in response, thoughtful. It seems possible, almost likely, that the books simply wandered off on their own. But then why would the librarian treat it like such a mysterious thing to be tip-toed around? The secrecy seems frivolous.

But Seteth had always had a watchful eye over the books in the monastery library too, so maybe it's something about the flow of information. Either way! Nothing shouts ill tidings, even this totally innocent book about grandma's cooking. ]

It's as eclectic as the underworld itself.

[ A job is a job, though. He collects the book floating nearest to him, gesturing loosely to another one that also seems to want to roost on Childe's head. ]

They must still be valuable texts if the librarians are keeping such close watch of them, though. Could you collect that one?

[ The tome, Mnemotical Magic, looks like a perfectly innocent... picture book? ]

[lackluster]

[ A job is a job, but Tartaglia can't help but feel like they're nothing more than glorified servants tasked with fetching some lost books. Then again, he knows he has no room to complain when he's the one who agreed to help once approached.

That librarian better has a good reward for this, if they know what's good for them. ]

Sure, sure. [ And just like that, Tartaglia reaches for the picture book and holds it close. The cover makes him curious enough to want to open it, but that'll require giving Dimitri the earlier book he'd caught. ] Hold this for a second.

[ The first page he sees is of a guy waving at them. ]

The pictures move? [ There he goes, waving his hand. ]

[paraselenes]

[ He takes the other book, which he'll hold against his chest to prevent it from flying off again. Though with his other hand he... waves back? Why Childe is doing this, he certainly doesn't know yet, but maybe he's just being belatedly friendly.

He'll shuffle a little closer to try and take a look at the pages though. ]

These texts must be enchanted somehow.

[ Odd, but no cause for alarm yet. ]

Maybe there's a pattern among the floating books? We can study the subject matter a little closer and see.

delays the twerking just for you

[lackluster]

[ Tartaglia doesn't notice anything is wrong just yet, content to flip through the pages in search of this pattern Dimitri wants to find. So far, there's nothing that immediately stands out to him beyond more and more of these moving pictures. ]

Is this relevant to what we're looking for...?

[ The page he's currently on has someone tilting their head from side to side. Not a suspicious action to do when you're confused about something. Nope. ]

i am surrounded by enemies

[paraselenes]

[ Unfortunately, this is not suspicious. Even Dimitri doesn't notice feeling compelled to cant his head slightly as he regards the book, close enough to see the moving pictures. ]

Hm. Not that I can tell...

[ The tome is large though, and they've only glanced through its literally cursed sheets. So he thumbs to the next page himself, where there's a picture of a man walking an excited dog, so pleased that its tail wags with enough force to waggle its whole butt.

And so Dimitri does something he's never in his entire life and death been compelled to do: he also waggles his whole butt.

After a second, he abruptly stops, frozen. He......... has nothing to say to this. ]

ilysm

[lackluster]

[ See this face. It's the exact face Tartaglia is making right now after watching Dimitri waggle his whole butt. He'd been caught off-guard by the motion that he hasn't looked at the cursed page once.

Not yet. ]

Wh— what was that for?

[ He is so confused. Dimitri must have a good reason for this......... ]

is this love

[paraselenes]

[ For some reason, Childe doesn't turn the page? Instead they're just left looking at this horrible dog, which hops up eagerly at its owner on the page. Dimitri just mimics this by putting a paw (hand) on Childe's arm before closing his eyes, despairing. May the earth open up beneath his feet and swallow him whole. ]

...I... don't know. I do not know what is happening.

[ HELP ]

it's pure love

[lackluster]

[ When Dimitri puts his paw (hand) on Tartaglia, he can't help but shake it like one would when rewarding a Very Good Boy. The dog is still wagging its butt and now it's the Harbinger's turn to do so, causing him to drop the book while he mimics the action. ]

It's— [ he doesn't even have a tail, how can he keep wagging— ] No one finds out what happened here.

[ THAT'S A THREAT BTW. ]

[paraselenes]

[ Thankfully, they're only forced to act out the pages, not mimic their emotions. So Dimitri does not feel like a Very Good Boy, but rather, like he wishes to die. Now Childe is wagging his butt too. ]

Why would I want to admit this happened!?

[ WHO WOULD HE TELL!!! this goes to the grave.

Dimitri stops shaking paws (hands) long enough to force the book to the next page. Surely nothing can be worse than what they're experiencing right now.

(The next page is a pair dancing, but properly this time.) ]

[lackluster]

[ Guess who's taking the lead this time— it's Tartaglia, whose hands reach for Dimitri to pull him close, one around the waist, the other holding one of Dimitri's hands. This will cause the book to drop to the floor but it remains on the same page as the dancing pair.

For now. ]

So it's making us do things that are in the book?

[ Leave it to him to try and figure out what's happening while he's literally about to dip the other man. ]

[paraselenes]

[ For now.

Dimitri has requisite experience in ballroom dancing, but despite having only been taught how to lead, he's somehow a newly made expert at following. He's dipped. It's very romantic, even if Dimitri sighs at the bottom of it, bangs flopping back. ]

It seems that way.

[ This is somehow less embarrassing than the twerking, at least. He straightens with a request. ]

Can you guide us over there? Maybe we can— [ he pauses as they spin ] —get to a less... mobile page.

[lackluster]

[ This is ridiculous. With every swift move of their bodies, they seem to have fallen into a pretty rhythm, but it does nothing to improve Tartaglia's mounting annoyance. It's not like him to not be in control of his own limbs. He's trying though. ]

I'm on it.

[ He brings them closer to the book, twirling Dimitri along the way. ]

Maybe if you can get your foot to flip the page...