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[selfconcept]

Congratulations! You survived the first week of Personal Enrichment Class! Or at least, your body did if you feel like astral projecting. It's time to mingle with your fellow students after the Saturday lesson. Maybe get revenge. Or maybe you're going to your room right away. Either way, it's free time! Let loose. Go wild.

Comments

[exofractured]

[As soon as they're freed and Phantom has collected the headpats he feels he deserves, he makes a beeline back for Room 1. Hopefully Marcus didn't need the shower for the good half-hour it takes him to be satisfied he has all the hairspray out of his hair.

After that he's drifting through the convenience store to browse the instant noodles for a while, then the cafeteria to make them. Yes, he lives like this. No, he isn't taking feedback at this time. Anyone who passes too close to him in this process gets a wary sideeye.

Once food is obtained he wanders campus before settling under the tree in the courtyard with a book. Wait long enough and he's probably sleeping instead of reading. So much for learning from pranksters.]

courtyard

[superstructure]

[ Is this what everyone's just deciding to do? Sleep out here? He has half a mind to find some corner of the campus himself and just park there for the night, but with Phantom it seems less of a conscious choice and more of an accident waiting to happen.

So, he gets a slight nudge. ]

You're going to catch cold out here.

[ ........ unless the murdergame has finally begun........... ]

[exofractured]

[Phantom startles just a little, reaching to catch his book before it slides off his lap and he loses his page. Terrible sleep habits make for some good reflexes for very specific things!]

Considering the weather, everyone here seems inordinately concerned with colds.

[Damp hair and all, he is wearing a sweater. He rubs a hand over his eyes and glances up to see who's disturbing him. And then startles a second time.]

...Hmph. So, you're here for your second chance now that my artes are sealed?

[APPARENTLY, THE MURDERGAME HAS BEGUN.]

[superstructure]

[ phantom you're like 80 pounds soaking wet, wearing a sweater has nothing to do with it!!!!!

Admittedly, after passing this place off as something other than a fractured dimension, the fact that Phantom's talking like he knows him is actually fairly surprising. But this is old hat, so it's easy to just go with the motions like usual. ]

If I was looking to take advantage of that, I wouldn't have bothered with waking you up.

[ just. saying. He pushes his glasses up. ]

Besides, I'm not sure your partner would particularly enjoy it.

[exofractured]

So you claim.

[Wearing a sweater is fully all the sensible precautions someone could need!!

Phantom pauses for a long moment as his sleepy brain scrambles to come online. It's been a week since he was jerked from the aftermath of that battle, but it left a lingering impression.

Still. There's no reason this would be his exoflected Julius in particular.]

Ah. Yes, my partner. He's a violent brute, and he'd be very likely to take it personally if you did something inadvisable to me.

[If he's going to tell lies this early in the counts-as-morning-after-waking-up-again they may as well be useful.]

[superstructure]

It'd be hard not to, considering.

[ Like it'd probably at least feel personal, what with the pain share and everything. ]

Though I'm sure he'd not be a great fan of you sleeping out here defenseless, all the same.

convenience store

[totalcatastrophe]

[ Luci shows up for his own noodles not long after. It's hard not to hear him coming with the little sounds he makes with each step along the way.

He jumps as high as he can to snatch a package, followed up with a sound of victory. Loud crinkling package followed by obnoxiously loud crunching as Luci eats his noodles dry and turns his eye up to his fellow connoisseur. ]

Ever gonna pick one?

[exofractured]

[Phantom stops what he's doing to stare down at the strange cat thing eating uncooked crunchy dry mess, expression torn between horror and fascination. It's... efficient.

Is he at least eating the flavoring packet.]

I don't appear to be in your way.

[totalcatastrophe]

[ Oh, he used to eat those flavor packets whole. But they only ever tasted metallic, so he isn't too excited for it. In fact, he doesn't bother retrieving it when it falls after his next bite. So close to the ground and yet so unconcerned with littering. ]

Not physically. What flavors do you humanoids like?

[ Stare, crunch, crunch. ]

[exofractured]

Every flavor they stock here appears to be tailored for humanoids. So, all of them, you could fairly say.

[Phantom's scouring for a shrimp flavor one, admittedly. He may as well be picky about his junk eating. The petty villainy of the littering just gets an amused glance.]

Are you meant to be another ancient being of some kind?

[totalcatastrophe]

Why's it take you so long to pick one then? They all taste the same anyway.

[ Maybe if he actually used the flavor packets, he'd think differently... ]

And I'm meant to be a demonic agent of chaos.

[ Luci deepens his voice impressively to say it. Admittedly, it isn't as impressive when followed directly by him scarfing down the last half of his ramen in a single bite. The wrapper joins the discarded flavor packet. ]

courtyard;

[fabulation]

[ Phantom, why do you do this to yourself?

He will try to gently drop some leaves down on his face, and then go to hide behind the tree hopefully without being noticed, to see how long it takes for him to wake up. ]

[exofractured]

[Because he needs a keeper and no one has adopted him, next question.

Phantom stirs a little at the leaves, twitching and batting at them with one hand before he opens his eyes and sighs.]

Hien-

[There's only one person here with a history of putting things on his sleeping head.]

[fabulation]

[ Xingqiu is one second from snickering, but he steps from around the tree. ]

Hmm...it's a pity, I don't see him around. Maybe he ran off before you could notice him?

[exofractured]

As if Hien were capable of that.

[Actually, something that would motivate Hien into running is almost an alarming thought. Phantom gives Xingqiu the jaded look that deserves, but sighs. At least this strange child is possibly less dangerous than his partner.]

Is this what you amuse yourself with when you aren't reading books upside down?

[fabulation]

You never know!

[ Xingqiu, please.

Anyway, he'll lean against the tree, looking far too amused to truly be considered an innocent party in any of this. ]

...Oh, you noticed! But, I wasn't reading the book upside down.

Just switched the cover's position, that's all. I was curious if anyone would notice or say anything.

convenience store because like

[unsinksyourship]

[I truly do not know if Tamamori ever learned who his surfboard was. Considering the momentum of the Friday moment, PROBABLY NOT. At the moment, he's busily perusing the convenience store himself -- taking that many lessons in a row and expending so much creative energy really makes a guy peckish beyond compare.

His usual go-tos are the chips... the Calspi... and anything chocolate-like, chocolate-covered, chocolate-flavored... stuff with colorful packaging......... let's be real he has no idea what half this stuff is until he puts it in his mouth. It's free food. It's food for the eyes. What more could you ask for??

That said. THAT SAID. He has no fucking clue what instant ramen is nor how it works so he's just blatantly staring as Phantom goes for it.]

Mmm? Is that supposed to be ramen? Or a ramen-flavored drink? I'm not sure I'd trust noodles that have been sitting there for a week, you know!

[Somehow this is said pompously, though, like he knows what he's talking about.]

i read 'unconvenience store' which like, valid

[exofractured]

[Phantom pauses for a long moment. Is that voice familiar? Well, there'd been enough people talking during their lesson earlier. Everyone's voice is at least passingly familiar by now, so he's forced to let it go with a suspicious little glare.]

Ramen-flavored drink sounds revolting.

[What is wrong with other people's worlds, honestly?? He picks up another package and turns it to jab a finger at the best-by-date, also a little pompously. Never mind that he also was not acquainted with this before arriving! He's going to meet that tone head-on.]

They're clearly labelled. Do you not read?

[And he thinks these things may in fact be eternal. But maybe he wouldn't test that.]

if it were really a convenience store it would be a FamiMart

[unsinksyourship]

[The voice might be familiar, or it might not. Tamamori has always had trouble retaining things that don't interest him, so unfortunately unless someday the connection is made with the Grand Soapscapade, he might just never follow up on the familiarity.

But somehow, what stands out more is that there's something strangely and deeply annoying about this guy. Is it the attitude? Is it the pompousness? Is it the suspicious squint that he returns in spades?? Hm.]

I would think of myself as adventurous, but even I wouldn't try a ramen drink. (Unless you paid me.)

[Unfortunately, ramen-flavored drink would be the least of the food crimes where Tamamori comes from, probably. Luckily or not, for the moment they are stuck with this.]

Just because it's labeled like that doesn't mean it's entirely safe! Would anyone take anything here at face value?! I've never seen ramen in such packaging -- therefore, I'm forced to conclude it's not ramen.

It must be a bad imitation.

[exofractured]

[Perhaps all of those things. Perhaps it's just Phantom's natural charm, and the sort of friendly overtures he makes to maybe-strangers, such as:]

Then I would say you're more opportunistic than adventurous.

[Anyway. He returns that packet to the shelf, although he's still browsing a bit. Has he been through this area thoroughly already? Yes. But even with his admittedly low standards, there's always the hope something Better might materialize.]

It's a bit late to frame it as a question of trust when you must be eating something here. And leaping to conclusions on something you clearly know nothing about is [UNSCIENTIFIC] simple-minded.

[It's kind of not ramen though. Phantom's a little torn for the moment on whether to deny that or not.]

Room 1

[mirrite]

[Strictly speaking, Marcus doesn't need the shower. But that doesn't mean he can't be obnoxious about it anyway, so about twenty minutes in will come a knock on the door, accompanied by:]

Did you drown in there or something? 'Cause I'm not coming in to save you.

[exofractured]

[Firmly, deliberately enunciated, and with great feeling in every word:]

I would rather die.

[mirrite]

Good to know. I'd definitely rather die than have to see you naked, so that solves that problem right there.

[Aw, did he touch a nerve? Don't mind if he just pokes at it a little more, then.]

[exofractured]

Oh dear. Is poor Phil in for another terrible disappointment? I would have thought he would at least make you so this body was to your taste.

[Is it wise to poke right back along their mutual sore spot? Definitely not. But there's a door between them right now, and he has the unquestionable defense of being too naked to attack. It might be genius.]

[mirrite]

[The next breath Marcus sucks in comes as a sharp hiss. Okay, so he totally set himself up for that one, he'll admit that much. But at the same time, that's a hell of a large assumption for Phantom to be making, and it gets Marcus' hackles up for more than one reason.]

Please. You know as well as I do that he has eyes for exactly one person, and I sure as hell don't look one bit like her.

[... just going to leave out the other part of that whole situation here.]