I don't think the book's going to attract their attention first.
[you know, because she's a horrible mangled monstrosity in various skeleton-themed outfits. and if it does, who cares? Hazel isn't going to stop reading whatever she wants just because of backlash (if anything, it encourages her) - and if they wanted to make a problem out of it, she could walk anything off.]
When I had to do those stupid long bus trips at home I couldn't just sleep through them, so I'd grab one to keep me busy. And they're usually really fucking bleak and depressing, so I just kind of...kept reading them here?
[that sounds kind of awful, and she knows it the minute the words are out of her mouth. Hazel laughs and flops onto the couch next to him, dramatic but careful enough not to jostle him or the comm he's scrolling through. good thing she doesn't have any embarrassing conversations going on for once.
if she's noticed his restlessness, she hasn't remarked on it - or perhaps she hasn't allowed herself to realize she's picked up on it. when it's just the two of them somewhere low pressure like this, it's easy for her to get comfortable and let things go; the fact that they've just recently come off a pretty charged encounter only encourages that.]
Apparently this month the swear-in's gonna be Halloween-themed, so I think I'm obligated to show up. Why, were you worried you'd be lonely?
[she's also thinking of maybe painting faces for the charity fundraiser part of it, but that's really embarrassing so it goes unmentioned...]
Huh...doesn't sound like the kind of thing I'd wanna read on long bus rides.
[Then again, he wouldn't do much reading at all if he had a say in the matter. He'd plaster one cheek to the nearest window and drown out the surrounding sounds of conversation and transit with some tunes blasting loudly into his ears through a pair of earbuds. Now that was the only way to travel in his opinion.]
Anyway, what makes you think I'd be lonely? You can do whatever you want! It's not like you're the only friend I got.
[He flips through a few more conversations before sighing and depositing Hazel's communicator back atop the coffee table and himself into the cushions padding the back of the sofa.]
Guess I kinda figured that if you were going and I was going, though...that maybe we could go together. Stupid, right?
Yeah, Josuke, that's really stupid. What idiot wants to go do shit with their friend?
[she shoots him a wry look before laughing and leaning back a little herself. that was the kind of awkward invitation that she'd be extending most of the time, which made it kind of endearing to hear from someone else for once.]
But if you're that desperate, I guess it'd be pretty shitty of me to say no, huh.
[Hazel tries her best to keep an airy sound of indifference to her voice, like this is such!! a hardship!!! for her, but she's still got that wry grin on her face and it doesn't really work out.]
All I'm saying is I wouldn't have been surprised if you'd said no after what happened at the last Swear-In we went to!
[There had been mud and pumpkin pie everywhere, but the biggest mess of all had been the unexpected storm of jealousy Josuke had felt over Hazel being attentive to a pen of stupid pigs.
...alright, arguably cute pigs.
But still pigs!]
Things'll be different this time, though. No mud-slinging, promise.
[He glances sidelong at her and, finally, cracks a bit of a grin as he digs his elbow into her side.]
So, you excited? Halloween's kind of your time to shine, right?
Aww, were you worried? That's cute. But all my really shitty swear-ins have been ones you didn't go to, so you don't need to.
[is there correlation between these two things or just Hazel's natural proclivity for getting into the worst trouble imaginable whenever there isn't someone around to stop her? the world will never know.
she shakes her head a little, shoving playfully back at his arm. excuse you, she can still feel the pressure from that! this isn't how you get information from people.]
Dude, there's an entire room of this house filled with fucking pumpkins. Of course I'm excited. I'm going to kick everyone's ass at this holiday and I wouldn't even have to try if I was feeling lazy.
[The world may never know, but Josuke certainly can't help wondering!
After all, at least one of the allegedly 'good' Swear-Ins includes the one Crane used to stage his Fear Gas attack. If Hazel looks back at that time and doesn't think it's shitty simply because they were both in attendance, well...
That's nothing if not an ego boost!]
I'll have to remember that. You don't know how to have a great time unless you're with me!
[With her playful shove, Josuke will settle against the arm of the sofa he's nearest to, drawing one leg up to his chest and resting his chin in the palm of one hand. Wasn't there something about those pumpkins he'd wanted to ask Hazel?
Oh yeah!]
You know, hoarding the city's supply of pumpkins so nobody else can have any doesn't really make you a winner! Now, if you were to use 'em to showcase your talents and maybe shared 'em with your bestest best friend who could totally use some awesomely carved jack-o-lanterns for the party he's having later in the month...that would really show everybody!
Are you seriously pumping yourself up and trying to con free jack-o-lanterns out of me in the same breath?
[the fact that she'd already agreed to help him with that party in the first place doesn't matter. facts never matter in the face of facetious banter, especially when favors enter the mix - so of course she's not going to mention how she absolutely bought way too many pumpkins than she estimates having a need for. it's not the point.]
I'm putting a fucking dragon on my front lawn, and you want me to do shit for you and risk not having enough to finish him? That's just cruel.
I have no idea what you're talking about! I'm just saying that real friends help each other out! And that's what I'm doing here, trying to help you out.
[That's the argument he's going with and he's sticking to it.]
There's gonna be a ton of people at this party, Hazel. Not just some random people passing by during their neighborhood stroll and just maybe glimpsing all your hard work. And besides, it's not like I'm asking you to nix your decoration plans altogether, I just wanted a few pumpkins and to borrow your elite carving skills! You'll still have plenty of time to fashion your Godzilla.
[this is an important distinction, as is apparently his gender. this is because as of her conversation with Chrollo this is apparently a lonely pumpkin dragon looking to attract eternal partnership with his beautiful flickering glow once he goes live. how these things happen we'll never know.
speaking of conversations that happened because of misfires, however...Hazel's reminded of one of the other ones she'd tried to shoot out to Josuke that had gotten diverted. maybe she can finally get that stupid portrait of Nysrog out of the house.]
But if you really want to be a good friend, you'll take something else along with the pumpkins. You know, since you want to show my artistic prowess to all your distinguished partygoers.
[As far as Josuke is concerned, the specification of the species is a little unimportant. Either way, the thing is still a big lizard, after all! But try telling that to Hazel? No way.]
I really, really want to be a good friend.
[He does! That's why he's here. He's just masking how good he's being by simultaneously being a little bit of a shit so Hazel doesn't get suspicious. Perfect plan, right? Except now he's wondering what it is she's talking about and why it sounds like she's considering pawning something off on him...]
So, what's this 'something else' you're talking about?
I can hear those fucking quotation marks, you asshole. It's something you can use, I swear!
[probably. Hazel doesn't really care if he can actually fit it into the party decor or not so much as shifting the problem of what to do with it onto someone else. Josuke likes her art, right, this can still fall into the realm of being a good friend......
either way, she flaps a hand dismissively. it's not a problem.]
I did this big fucking painting a while back, and I don't actually want it. But it seems kind of shitty to just pitch it after all that work, sooo...
[she shrugs]
It's spooky, though, so you can probably put it somewhere. And I don't even mean spooky in the 'it's scary she wasted an entire canvas on this' kind of way for once.
There's no quotation marks! ...okay, maybe there were, but only little ones!
[And can she blame him? After all, Hazel keeps describing this 'something' in very vague terms. The entire scope of what he knows about this painting is that it's very large and apparently actually spooky, but that doesn't really tell him anything significant, and coming from the girl who just corrected him when he'd called her dragon Godzilla instead, well...
It's curious to say the least!]
Alright, so what's the painting of? And have you got it around here? I wouldn't mind seeing it.
[For more reasons than one. First, he'd like to know what he runs the risk of bringing home before he agrees, but because he's also a fan of Hazel's artwork and no matter how much she insults her talent, he has nothing bad to say about what she can and has produced.]
I've been moving it around from room to room for a while, like I'm going to figure out what to do with it next to the plants instead of the couch.
[she rolls her eyes, aware how completely stupid that sounds out loud. it was even dumber in practice, her toting that canvas around one room over and staring at it the next day, squinting in the vague hopes she could find an option that wasn't 'hang this monstrosity' or 'throw it out'.]
I think it's with the pumpkins right now. Come on, it's just easier to show you.
[and with that she rises off the couch, heading for one of the still-empty rooms in the house. inside, the secret of where all the pumpkins have gone since the Doctor's arrival is revealed - they're covered huge swathes of the surface in various states of carving, a huge pile of fake ones in the back with a sticky note saying simply DRAGON??? adorning the topmost one. there's a card table in another corner, upon which several completed jack-o-lanterns are neatly laid out in a row - they're all carved to look like shrunken heads, awaiting Hazel to stop being lazy and hang them from her front doorway.
on the other side of the room a square canvas is propped up against the wall; it's taller than Hazel by a solid five inches, done in oils. the subject is Nysrog in her true form, just coming off her transformation. the monster in the picture hasn't completely settled yet, and hideous limbs that shouldn't be pull and writhe from her body - human arms and legs, aquatic claws, tendrils and tentacles and all manner of shapes that don't seem to be able to logically exist.
Nysrog is lunging forward in a show of power, jaw half-open in a snarl that exposes every one of her serrated teeth. a woman (human) lies torn in half below her in the foreground, but Nysrog seems to lean over her with the same concern a regular person would have for the other, inanimate debris. there's nothing defensive here. despite the way the monster is obviously displaying just how unstoppable it considers itself, there's an expression of disdain on its face somehow - there's no need to prove herself here, only a momentary amusing diversion. with such an inhuman face and too many eyeballs it's amazing that Hazel managed to render that impression so vividly...but it's one that she's intimately familiar with now.
Hazel waves a hand vaguely in the direction of the painting with a soft 'tadaaa' before wandering over to fuss with a folder of carving patterns on the table. she never really likes to look at people looking at her work.]
[Josuke is quick to his feet and quiet as he follows Hazel to one of the unoccupied rooms of her residence. He has to admit, utilizing the free space as a sort of studio, even if that use is temporary, is pretty genius. This way, Hazel has all the room to work she needs, and at no additional cost!]
Some setup you got going, huh?
[He admires the pumpkins when Hazel invites him inside, taking note of their different sizes and their many different stages of being carved. Those that more closely resemble shrunken heads are a tad unnerving, but he finds he can still appreciate the artistic talent behind them! They're just pumpkins, after all.
But when it comes to the portrait of Nysrog...that's when Josuke feels genuinely unsure of what to say or how to feel.
There's no denying the impressiveness of the work nor the skills required of an artist to complete such a mammoth piece, but that's not what troubles Josuke when he stares at it. No, what eats at him is the way Hazel distances herself while he inspects the painting, and the subject itself, not a creature he's familiar with...or imPort? Had Hazel seen this thing she'd painted? Had she seen it here in this world?
Here he is, trying to protect her from someone like Kira when the reality is...there's probably far worse lurking around the corners out there.]
This is it, huh? Mind me asking what the, um...the inspiration was?
[she reengages fully with the conversation now that Josuke's had time to digest the thing, putting the patterns down and leaning with her hands against the table to look at him (and by extension, the painting) again.]
Just 'cause I wasn't sucking down that gas didn't mean the swear-in wasn't a fun time.
[so, yes, she's seen that thing here. August is far enough in the past that she feels comfortable talking about what had happened in more than the vaguest of unhelpful details, something she'd been too demoralized to do immediately after the face.
her voice and expression are calm, almost casual. really, the only real hints that this encounter had been more than a rough one is the fact that she's trying to get this picture out of her house and the way she immediately moves to deflect - albeit unconsciously this time.]
Not bad for being rusty with big canvases, huh? It's been fucking forever but I figured it fit better.
[That answers that, Josuke thinks to himself before turning his gaze back to the painting.
If Hazel's seen this creature before, maybe she's even seen the rest. Was the body of the woman in the picture, the monster's victim, some hapless imPort or even a civilian? Was it someone whom Hazel knew, or just a stranger? Josuke can only wonder, because he's not sure he really wants to know the answer.]
A 'fun time', huh? I didn't know that's what people'd taken to calling it.
[It's no wonder she doesn't want the picture lying around her house, he decides. But...can he really accept it into his own home and use it as 'decoration' for a Halloween party? The woman in the painting, she'd been real at some point. Probably. The terrible end she'd suffered wasn't fake, right? Josuke's not sure he feels comfortable using someone's real pain and suffering for make believe scares.
Of course, he doesn't really want to leave this thing with Hazel, either. If she wants it gone, he wants to help.]
Hmm...this doesn't look rusty to me. If you're really sure you want me to take it, then I will.
[Slipping his hands behind his head, he turns ever so slightly at the waist so that he might observe her from the corner of his vision.]
[she hums lightly, gaze sliding off Josuke to settle completely on the painting. her expression is a little far away now, reluctantly reminiscent - she hasn't really stared at this thing since finishing it, and it's very clear now why. the whole thing is a snapshot of a memory, one powerful enough to pull her back in at a moment's notice.]
I only painted it because I can't sleep shit off anymore.
[it's a lot more honest than she normally goes for, but that was what she was trying to get better at, right? tell the truth instead of brushing it off. the oblique admission that she has trouble with banishing the darker things in her mind, that without an outlet they burrow their way deep into her skull and poke and prod without cease until she feels like she's going to pop -
it's not pretty. but that's why she tries to keep herself busy at night, so her failures can't fill the void and provide unwanted company. if Hazel can't banish the way Nysrog's strangled tears had morphed so smoothly into mocking laughter with sleep, she can lock it away on canvas. there was something to that bullshit about pictures and souls, perhaps.
"you can't save them all." and it was true, but that didn't mean she had to remember that every waking second.]
So yeah, I'm done with it. [she shifts a little, pulls herself out of wherever her mind had taken her with a smile] Buuut I'm pretty sure you'd like anything I do even if it's shit, so don't feel too bad if I don't count those compliments.
I don't know, you could sneeze on a canvas and I'd probably tell you to keep it, just sayin'.
[Hazel's right, of course. Whatever she painted, Josuke would probably see something in it that she herself didn't, something that made it more than just paint on fabric stretched taut over a wooden frame. Even her cartoonish doodles hadn't failed to impress him—a fact Josuke feels is justified given the incredible amount of talent Hazel possesses and yet seems to be completely unwilling to acknowledge.
But if what she says is true, if the reason she painted this—and maybe the reason she's painted so many other things he hasn't seen yet—is because she needs an outlet, then it makes sense for her feelings regarding her art to be so conflicted.
All in all, Josuke thinks it's a little sad.]
I never really asked before, but now you got me wondering...
[Lowering his arms and giving his back to the painting, Josuke faces his friend before starting toward her. Or toward the pumpkins at least. He prods at one of the half-finished shrunken heads and then lifts it up before his own face and peers at Hazel from over top of it, brows arched high upon his forehead, eyes wide. The mark of someone feeling extra nosy all of a sudden.]
...what happens when you try to sleep? 'Cause maybe you just haven't been relaxed enough to dream or something. I mean, you're always pretty tightly wound!
[the similarity between Josuke's current expression and the one etched into the pumpkin is strikingly similar, and it's got Hazel suppressing a hearty snort before she even attempts to answer him. he still gets the eyeroll, though, because really?]
I can't sleep, there's no trying. I never get tired, I don't feel drowsy, and all that happens when I lay in bed is that I get a fucking amazing eight hours of memorizing my ceiling.
[maybe she is doing something wrong? the thought hasn't crossed her mind in terms of sleep, but it's always a feeling she has in the back of her thoughts over other things. Hazel doesn't understand her own body anymore - and that feeling of being alien in her own skin has only grown more distinct as time wore on and she suffered through more and more. maybe that's why she doesn't always consider it her own body these days.
for now, though, there's more important matters to discuss. she grabs Josuke by the wrists so she can pull that pumpkin down and give him the full brunt of her now-grumpy frown.]
And you know what else I don't get anymore? Tightly fucking wound!
[DID YOU THINK SHE WASN'T GOING TO COMMENT ON THAT YOU LITTLE SHIT]
[Yes, really! And Josuke is not sorry, either. After Hazel had revealed that painting, he'd felt obligated to lighten the mood a little bit, and what better way to do that than with jack-o-lanterns? Even if they are presently lacking in luminescence...]
See, that could be part of your problem right there! You don't stare at the ceiling when you're trying to sleep, you close your eyes!
[He's trying to help. Really, he is!
Although, as Hazel robs him of the ability to use his sacrificial pumpkin stand-in, Josuke feels a little like she doesn't think very highly of his particular brand of 'helping' right now. Oops!
Maybe he'd better apologize...]
Soooo, if you don't get tightly wound anymore, whaddya call this exactly—comin' all undone?
[yes, obviously. only the most tranquil people engage in attempting to frown their mouth right off their face to show just how TOGETHER AND FINE they are. how could Josuke have ever made this mistake?]
And I swear to god that better not have been a stitches joke.
[Stitches? Wha—no! There he goes again, shoving his giant clodhopping foot into his hugeass mouth!]
You've got it all wrong, I didn't mean it like that!
[Is that a hint of wild desperation in his voice as he tries to explain? Maybe. Just a little. Because he'd really like for this encounter to not devolve into kicking and screaming if at all possible! Or for it to at least not end on that note.]
I was just—I mean, the opposite of tightly wound's undone, so—it was just a dumb play on words, okay?! 'Cause this is so not what calm looks like.
[He glances down at her hands on his wrists, and then back up at her face. Her grip's still pretty firm. Maybe she plans to hold on until he swallows his pride? ...and after that unintentional fumble, maybe he ought to.]
Ah, look, I really didn't mean it the way it sounded, you know me better than that, right? I'd stoop low, but never that low. So...you can let go of me, now.
[Still holding that shrunken head, he gives his arms (and hers) a haphazard wiggle.]
[funnily enough, despite how wound up she's getting (shut up Hazel, you totally are) over this, she's not even remotely genuinely mad. the frantic tone is a little baffling, and the befuddlement becomes clear on her face when he actually starts apologizing.
...ah. it was that little blowup they had earlier, wasn't it? or maybe he just doesn't want to have to wrestle her off his face today. either way, it's awfully sweet, and that's got her frown melting away into a fond smile. too bad it doesn't last very long.]
...why, does it bother you?
[are you afraid of her supertough grip, Josuke? terrified of having to drag her to school tomorrow? or is the threat of having to stand here and hold that pumpkin up for time immemorial just too much to bear? orrrr maybe it's all of the above?
whatever the answer, she's definitely not letting go now just to be a little shit. that smug grin she's sporting now makes that more than clear - and also that it's not personal. or, as impersonal as wanting to tease your best friend can get.]
[That 'little' blowup was definitely one of the factors behind Josuke's eventual apology, and as for what else may have been responsible? Well, there's really only one thing, and it happens to have a lot to do with the reason he cares at all about whether she can dream or not, or the reason he doesn't just yank his wrists out of her grasp.
On that note, it's probably a good thing they're only in a makeshift art studio surrounded by pumpkin carvings and a horrific painting of a monster dismembering an innocent woman, otherwise this situation and Hazel's teasing would be a lot more awkward than it is, wouldn't it?
Oh wait, no, none of that actually helps at all this is still very fucking awkward!]
Huh? Whaddya think? Do I look bothered to you? 'Cause I'm not bothered!
[Not bothered in the 'get off me' sense, at least. But his face might be starting to heat up and that's a bother!]
I don't know, you're looking a little hot under the collar to me...
[there must be something criminal about complaining about possible bad puns and then immediately using own yourself, but Hazel doesn't give a single fuck. that was an amazing use of wordplay and everyone should be impressed.]
You know the pumpkin's not even lit up, right?
[poor Josuke, without even the heat from a jack-o-lantern candle to blame some of his situation on. this truly must be what the inner circles of hell look like - and no wonder, considering how much of a good time it looks like Hazel's having.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
deadtective) wrote2015-01-08 01:21 am
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[you know, because she's a horrible mangled monstrosity in various skeleton-themed outfits. and if it does, who cares? Hazel isn't going to stop reading whatever she wants just because of backlash (if anything, it encourages her) - and if they wanted to make a problem out of it, she could walk anything off.]
When I had to do those stupid long bus trips at home I couldn't just sleep through them, so I'd grab one to keep me busy. And they're usually really fucking bleak and depressing, so I just kind of...kept reading them here?
[that sounds kind of awful, and she knows it the minute the words are out of her mouth. Hazel laughs and flops onto the couch next to him, dramatic but careful enough not to jostle him or the comm he's scrolling through. good thing she doesn't have any embarrassing conversations going on for once.
if she's noticed his restlessness, she hasn't remarked on it - or perhaps she hasn't allowed herself to realize she's picked up on it. when it's just the two of them somewhere low pressure like this, it's easy for her to get comfortable and let things go; the fact that they've just recently come off a pretty charged encounter only encourages that.]
Apparently this month the swear-in's gonna be Halloween-themed, so I think I'm obligated to show up. Why, were you worried you'd be lonely?
[she's also thinking of maybe painting faces for the charity fundraiser part of it, but that's really embarrassing so it goes unmentioned...]
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Huh...doesn't sound like the kind of thing I'd wanna read on long bus rides.
[Then again, he wouldn't do much reading at all if he had a say in the matter. He'd plaster one cheek to the nearest window and drown out the surrounding sounds of conversation and transit with some tunes blasting loudly into his ears through a pair of earbuds. Now that was the only way to travel in his opinion.]
Anyway, what makes you think I'd be lonely? You can do whatever you want! It's not like you're the only friend I got.
[He flips through a few more conversations before sighing and depositing Hazel's communicator back atop the coffee table and himself into the cushions padding the back of the sofa.]
Guess I kinda figured that if you were going and I was going, though...that maybe we could go together. Stupid, right?
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[she shoots him a wry look before laughing and leaning back a little herself. that was the kind of awkward invitation that she'd be extending most of the time, which made it kind of endearing to hear from someone else for once.]
But if you're that desperate, I guess it'd be pretty shitty of me to say no, huh.
[Hazel tries her best to keep an airy sound of indifference to her voice, like this is such!! a hardship!!! for her, but she's still got that wry grin on her face and it doesn't really work out.]
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[There had been mud and pumpkin pie everywhere, but the biggest mess of all had been the unexpected storm of jealousy Josuke had felt over Hazel being attentive to a pen of stupid pigs.
...alright, arguably cute pigs.
But still pigs!]
Things'll be different this time, though. No mud-slinging, promise.
[He glances sidelong at her and, finally, cracks a bit of a grin as he digs his elbow into her side.]
So, you excited? Halloween's kind of your time to shine, right?
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[is there correlation between these two things or just Hazel's natural proclivity for getting into the worst trouble imaginable whenever there isn't someone around to stop her? the world will never know.
she shakes her head a little, shoving playfully back at his arm. excuse you, she can still feel the pressure from that! this isn't how you get information from people.]
Dude, there's an entire room of this house filled with fucking pumpkins. Of course I'm excited. I'm going to kick everyone's ass at this holiday and I wouldn't even have to try if I was feeling lazy.
no subject
After all, at least one of the allegedly 'good' Swear-Ins includes the one Crane used to stage his Fear Gas attack. If Hazel looks back at that time and doesn't think it's shitty simply because they were both in attendance, well...
That's nothing if not an ego boost!]
I'll have to remember that. You don't know how to have a great time unless you're with me!
[With her playful shove, Josuke will settle against the arm of the sofa he's nearest to, drawing one leg up to his chest and resting his chin in the palm of one hand. Wasn't there something about those pumpkins he'd wanted to ask Hazel?
Oh yeah!]
You know, hoarding the city's supply of pumpkins so nobody else can have any doesn't really make you a winner! Now, if you were to use 'em to showcase your talents and maybe shared 'em with your bestest best friend who could totally use some awesomely carved jack-o-lanterns for the party he's having later in the month...that would really show everybody!
no subject
Are you seriously pumping yourself up and trying to con free jack-o-lanterns out of me in the same breath?
[the fact that she'd already agreed to help him with that party in the first place doesn't matter. facts never matter in the face of facetious banter, especially when favors enter the mix - so of course she's not going to mention how she absolutely bought way too many pumpkins than she estimates having a need for. it's not the point.]
I'm putting a fucking dragon on my front lawn, and you want me to do shit for you and risk not having enough to finish him? That's just cruel.
no subject
[That's the argument he's going with and he's sticking to it.]
There's gonna be a ton of people at this party, Hazel. Not just some random people passing by during their neighborhood stroll and just maybe glimpsing all your hard work. And besides, it's not like I'm asking you to nix your decoration plans altogether, I just wanted a few pumpkins and to borrow your elite carving skills! You'll still have plenty of time to fashion your Godzilla.
no subject
[this is an important distinction, as is apparently his gender. this is because as of her conversation with Chrollo this is apparently a lonely pumpkin dragon looking to attract eternal partnership with his beautiful flickering glow once he goes live. how these things happen we'll never know.
speaking of conversations that happened because of misfires, however...Hazel's reminded of one of the other ones she'd tried to shoot out to Josuke that had gotten diverted. maybe she can finally get that stupid portrait of Nysrog out of the house.]
But if you really want to be a good friend, you'll take something else along with the pumpkins. You know, since you want to show my artistic prowess to all your distinguished partygoers.
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[As far as Josuke is concerned, the specification of the species is a little unimportant. Either way, the thing is still a big lizard, after all! But try telling that to Hazel? No way.]
I really, really want to be a good friend.
[He does! That's why he's here. He's just masking how good he's being by simultaneously being a little bit of a shit so Hazel doesn't get suspicious. Perfect plan, right? Except now he's wondering what it is she's talking about and why it sounds like she's considering pawning something off on him...]
So, what's this 'something else' you're talking about?
no subject
[probably. Hazel doesn't really care if he can actually fit it into the party decor or not so much as shifting the problem of what to do with it onto someone else. Josuke likes her art, right, this can still fall into the realm of being a good friend......
either way, she flaps a hand dismissively. it's not a problem.]
I did this big fucking painting a while back, and I don't actually want it. But it seems kind of shitty to just pitch it after all that work, sooo...
[she shrugs]
It's spooky, though, so you can probably put it somewhere. And I don't even mean spooky in the 'it's scary she wasted an entire canvas on this' kind of way for once.
no subject
[And can she blame him? After all, Hazel keeps describing this 'something' in very vague terms. The entire scope of what he knows about this painting is that it's very large and apparently actually spooky, but that doesn't really tell him anything significant, and coming from the girl who just corrected him when he'd called her dragon Godzilla instead, well...
It's curious to say the least!]
Alright, so what's the painting of? And have you got it around here? I wouldn't mind seeing it.
[For more reasons than one. First, he'd like to know what he runs the risk of bringing home before he agrees, but because he's also a fan of Hazel's artwork and no matter how much she insults her talent, he has nothing bad to say about what she can and has produced.]
no subject
[she rolls her eyes, aware how completely stupid that sounds out loud. it was even dumber in practice, her toting that canvas around one room over and staring at it the next day, squinting in the vague hopes she could find an option that wasn't 'hang this monstrosity' or 'throw it out'.]
I think it's with the pumpkins right now. Come on, it's just easier to show you.
[and with that she rises off the couch, heading for one of the still-empty rooms in the house. inside, the secret of where all the pumpkins have gone since the Doctor's arrival is revealed - they're covered huge swathes of the surface in various states of carving, a huge pile of fake ones in the back with a sticky note saying simply DRAGON??? adorning the topmost one. there's a card table in another corner, upon which several completed jack-o-lanterns are neatly laid out in a row - they're all carved to look like shrunken heads, awaiting Hazel to stop being lazy and hang them from her front doorway.
on the other side of the room a square canvas is propped up against the wall; it's taller than Hazel by a solid five inches, done in oils. the subject is Nysrog in her true form, just coming off her transformation. the monster in the picture hasn't completely settled yet, and hideous limbs that shouldn't be pull and writhe from her body - human arms and legs, aquatic claws, tendrils and tentacles and all manner of shapes that don't seem to be able to logically exist.
Nysrog is lunging forward in a show of power, jaw half-open in a snarl that exposes every one of her serrated teeth. a woman (human) lies torn in half below her in the foreground, but Nysrog seems to lean over her with the same concern a regular person would have for the other, inanimate debris. there's nothing defensive here. despite the way the monster is obviously displaying just how unstoppable it considers itself, there's an expression of disdain on its face somehow - there's no need to prove herself here, only a momentary amusing diversion. with such an inhuman face and too many eyeballs it's amazing that Hazel managed to render that impression so vividly...but it's one that she's intimately familiar with now.
Hazel waves a hand vaguely in the direction of the painting with a soft 'tadaaa' before wandering over to fuss with a folder of carving patterns on the table. she never really likes to look at people looking at her work.]
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[Josuke is quick to his feet and quiet as he follows Hazel to one of the unoccupied rooms of her residence. He has to admit, utilizing the free space as a sort of studio, even if that use is temporary, is pretty genius. This way, Hazel has all the room to work she needs, and at no additional cost!]
Some setup you got going, huh?
[He admires the pumpkins when Hazel invites him inside, taking note of their different sizes and their many different stages of being carved. Those that more closely resemble shrunken heads are a tad unnerving, but he finds he can still appreciate the artistic talent behind them! They're just pumpkins, after all.
But when it comes to the portrait of Nysrog...that's when Josuke feels genuinely unsure of what to say or how to feel.
There's no denying the impressiveness of the work nor the skills required of an artist to complete such a mammoth piece, but that's not what troubles Josuke when he stares at it. No, what eats at him is the way Hazel distances herself while he inspects the painting, and the subject itself, not a creature he's familiar with...or imPort? Had Hazel seen this thing she'd painted? Had she seen it here in this world?
Here he is, trying to protect her from someone like Kira when the reality is...there's probably far worse lurking around the corners out there.]
This is it, huh? Mind me asking what the, um...the inspiration was?
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Just 'cause I wasn't sucking down that gas didn't mean the swear-in wasn't a fun time.
[so, yes, she's seen that thing here. August is far enough in the past that she feels comfortable talking about what had happened in more than the vaguest of unhelpful details, something she'd been too demoralized to do immediately after the face.
her voice and expression are calm, almost casual. really, the only real hints that this encounter had been more than a rough one is the fact that she's trying to get this picture out of her house and the way she immediately moves to deflect - albeit unconsciously this time.]
Not bad for being rusty with big canvases, huh? It's been fucking forever but I figured it fit better.
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If Hazel's seen this creature before, maybe she's even seen the rest. Was the body of the woman in the picture, the monster's victim, some hapless imPort or even a civilian? Was it someone whom Hazel knew, or just a stranger? Josuke can only wonder, because he's not sure he really wants to know the answer.]
A 'fun time', huh? I didn't know that's what people'd taken to calling it.
[It's no wonder she doesn't want the picture lying around her house, he decides. But...can he really accept it into his own home and use it as 'decoration' for a Halloween party? The woman in the painting, she'd been real at some point. Probably. The terrible end she'd suffered wasn't fake, right? Josuke's not sure he feels comfortable using someone's real pain and suffering for make believe scares.
Of course, he doesn't really want to leave this thing with Hazel, either. If she wants it gone, he wants to help.]
Hmm...this doesn't look rusty to me. If you're really sure you want me to take it, then I will.
[Slipping his hands behind his head, he turns ever so slightly at the waist so that he might observe her from the corner of his vision.]
You are sure, aren't you?
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I only painted it because I can't sleep shit off anymore.
[it's a lot more honest than she normally goes for, but that was what she was trying to get better at, right? tell the truth instead of brushing it off. the oblique admission that she has trouble with banishing the darker things in her mind, that without an outlet they burrow their way deep into her skull and poke and prod without cease until she feels like she's going to pop -
it's not pretty. but that's why she tries to keep herself busy at night, so her failures can't fill the void and provide unwanted company. if Hazel can't banish the way Nysrog's strangled tears had morphed so smoothly into mocking laughter with sleep, she can lock it away on canvas. there was something to that bullshit about pictures and souls, perhaps.
"you can't save them all." and it was true, but that didn't mean she had to remember that every waking second.]
So yeah, I'm done with it. [she shifts a little, pulls herself out of wherever her mind had taken her with a smile] Buuut I'm pretty sure you'd like anything I do even if it's shit, so don't feel too bad if I don't count those compliments.
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[Hazel's right, of course. Whatever she painted, Josuke would probably see something in it that she herself didn't, something that made it more than just paint on fabric stretched taut over a wooden frame. Even her cartoonish doodles hadn't failed to impress him—a fact Josuke feels is justified given the incredible amount of talent Hazel possesses and yet seems to be completely unwilling to acknowledge.
But if what she says is true, if the reason she painted this—and maybe the reason she's painted so many other things he hasn't seen yet—is because she needs an outlet, then it makes sense for her feelings regarding her art to be so conflicted.
All in all, Josuke thinks it's a little sad.]
I never really asked before, but now you got me wondering...
[Lowering his arms and giving his back to the painting, Josuke faces his friend before starting toward her. Or toward the pumpkins at least. He prods at one of the half-finished shrunken heads and then lifts it up before his own face and peers at Hazel from over top of it, brows arched high upon his forehead, eyes wide. The mark of someone feeling extra nosy all of a sudden.]
...what happens when you try to sleep? 'Cause maybe you just haven't been relaxed enough to dream or something. I mean, you're always pretty tightly wound!
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I can't sleep, there's no trying. I never get tired, I don't feel drowsy, and all that happens when I lay in bed is that I get a fucking amazing eight hours of memorizing my ceiling.
[maybe she is doing something wrong? the thought hasn't crossed her mind in terms of sleep, but it's always a feeling she has in the back of her thoughts over other things. Hazel doesn't understand her own body anymore - and that feeling of being alien in her own skin has only grown more distinct as time wore on and she suffered through more and more. maybe that's why she doesn't always consider it her own body these days.
for now, though, there's more important matters to discuss. she grabs Josuke by the wrists so she can pull that pumpkin down and give him the full brunt of her now-grumpy frown.]
And you know what else I don't get anymore? Tightly fucking wound!
[DID YOU THINK SHE WASN'T GOING TO COMMENT ON THAT YOU LITTLE SHIT]
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See, that could be part of your problem right there! You don't stare at the ceiling when you're trying to sleep, you close your eyes!
[He's trying to help. Really, he is!
Although, as Hazel robs him of the ability to use his sacrificial pumpkin stand-in, Josuke feels a little like she doesn't think very highly of his particular brand of 'helping' right now. Oops!
Maybe he'd better apologize...]
Soooo, if you don't get tightly wound anymore, whaddya call this exactly—comin' all undone?
[Well! So much for apologizing.]
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[yes, obviously. only the most tranquil people engage in attempting to frown their mouth right off their face to show just how TOGETHER AND FINE they are. how could Josuke have ever made this mistake?]
And I swear to god that better not have been a stitches joke.
[BAD PUNS ARE NOT APOLOGIZING.]
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You've got it all wrong, I didn't mean it like that!
[Is that a hint of wild desperation in his voice as he tries to explain? Maybe. Just a little. Because he'd really like for this encounter to not devolve into kicking and screaming if at all possible! Or for it to at least not end on that note.]
I was just—I mean, the opposite of tightly wound's undone, so—it was just a dumb play on words, okay?! 'Cause this is so not what calm looks like.
[He glances down at her hands on his wrists, and then back up at her face. Her grip's still pretty firm. Maybe she plans to hold on until he swallows his pride? ...and after that unintentional fumble, maybe he ought to.]
Ah, look, I really didn't mean it the way it sounded, you know me better than that, right? I'd stoop low, but never that low. So...you can let go of me, now.
[Still holding that shrunken head, he gives his arms (and hers) a haphazard wiggle.]
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...ah. it was that little blowup they had earlier, wasn't it? or maybe he just doesn't want to have to wrestle her off his face today. either way, it's awfully sweet, and that's got her frown melting away into a fond smile. too bad it doesn't last very long.]
...why, does it bother you?
[are you afraid of her supertough grip, Josuke? terrified of having to drag her to school tomorrow? or is the threat of having to stand here and hold that pumpkin up for time immemorial just too much to bear? orrrr maybe it's all of the above?
whatever the answer, she's definitely not letting go now just to be a little shit. that smug grin she's sporting now makes that more than clear - and also that it's not personal. or, as impersonal as wanting to tease your best friend can get.]
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On that note, it's probably a good thing they're only in a makeshift art studio surrounded by pumpkin carvings and a horrific painting of a monster dismembering an innocent woman, otherwise this situation and Hazel's teasing would be a lot more awkward than it is, wouldn't it?
Oh wait, no, none of that actually helps at all this is still very fucking awkward!]
Huh? Whaddya think? Do I look bothered to you? 'Cause I'm not bothered!
[Not bothered in the 'get off me' sense, at least. But his face might be starting to heat up and that's a bother!]
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[there must be something criminal about complaining about possible bad puns and then immediately using own yourself, but Hazel doesn't give a single fuck. that was an amazing use of wordplay and everyone should be impressed.]
You know the pumpkin's not even lit up, right?
[poor Josuke, without even the heat from a jack-o-lantern candle to blame some of his situation on. this truly must be what the inner circles of hell look like - and no wonder, considering how much of a good time it looks like Hazel's having.]
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