puppycrush2 | week three

[ Mark watches the ball get thrown upwards and can't help but think to himself, ... I should probably not be throwing anything for them, not trusting himself to get it at a normal speed.

Regarding Fou: ] He is really fluffy.

[ Before he notices the bulldog wandering by, and that gets his tail going again. ]

Hi there...! [ Reaching down to pet, immediately, before, ] Wait. Josuke, give me some of those treats.

[ He's too busy to go to the basket himself! But! The little guy's gotta be fed!! ]

[ Josuke watches Fou go, silently wondering if that thing is woobie, destroyer of worlds too. Maybe he should be worrying about the other dogs, Ritsuka did say Fou is sturdier than most... ]

Huh? Oh, here.

[ He crouches to rustle through the basket's contents, producing a handful of little dog biscuits. They're heart shaped, in theme with the game. Josuke holds out the treats to Mark, still keeping his hands to himself with regarding to petting any of the lil guys. In the distance, the tennis ball finally drops, caught in the mouth of one of the larger dogs. They're all bounding back over. ]

I guess I'm just not an animals guy... I like dogs and cats more than reptiles or rodents, though. This guy's pretty cute.

[ Trying to make things easier for all of them, he moves the basket between the three of them so they can all reach it. ]

Right, you said you had a tough time with reptiles. But rodents, too? I think they're--whoa?!

[ She was moving to take a treat, but the dogs see her crouching and joyously leap for possible treats and kisses, so.

She is going down, covered in dogs. The larger dog has probably dropped its slobbery tennis ball by Josuke's foot (or on it, but we believe in his ability to protect his shoes with his life). ]

[ Mark, meanwhile, is immediately taking the treats and trying to feed them one by one to the bulldog, just going, who's a good boy. Who's a good boy, the entire time.

So he's blindside by the stampede of dogs coming right back for them, where he is in a prone position, with food in hand,

and he is down right next to Ritsuka, flat on his back and tail going a mile a minute, laughing. ]

Ah! No, that tickles— here!

[ As he throws the remaining treats he had away from them, in hopes of luring at least some of the dogs away so he can stand up again.

hm. how'd they get that far. don't worry about it, at least it isn't so comically far that the dogs don't notice them, and it gives him a chance to recover. ]

Ahh — hey, watch it!

[ NOOOOOOOOO DOG SLOBBER ON HIS SHOES THAT HE CAN'T EVEN FIX......................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He's in mourning over that when one of the bigger dogs barrels into him, knocking him over. Now his hair is jeopardy too, because there are puppies licking his face, which, he's not even laughing about — he's just squriming and trying to shield himself and his luscious locks. Not knowing what else he should do, he summons his Stand and has it throw the whole basket away, balls and frisbees and miscellaneous treats scattering across the grass. With the haphazard and mostly blind way he flung it, some stray things might whack Mark and Ritsuka in the head, too. ]

[ I am here for Ritsuka suffering, so even as the dogs take off running again to snag a toy or a treat, the basket itself unceremoniously whacks her in the head. Followed by a frisbee to the face, so you know what, she's just going to double over with a yelp of both pain and surprise.

Which, of course, has Fou doubling back to check on her. ]

[ A tennis ball bounces off of his head. A squeaky ball hits him in the face and squeaks with all of its dignity before falling to the ground.

Mark is scrambling to get back up to his feet because, wow, things went really sideways there. He was having a good time, but Josuke specifically sounded like he was having less of a good time, and Ritsuka sounded like she got hurt, so those take priority. ]

Are you guys okay? [ Just. Looking around them while they have a minute while the dogs have dispersed. ] Did the basket just, uh... throw itself?

[ There's nothing technically supernatural about Mark, so he couldn't see what Josuke was doing, and is now left to wonder if he's going to have to fight a ghost to protect him. Here. At the dog park. ]

[ With the dogs leaving him alone, Josuke sits up and immediately makes a face of despair, sniffling. His sad puppy dog ears droop down, for comedic effect. ]

My shoes....

[ don't mind him, he's busy being dramatic while trying to rub the worst of the slobber off with the elbow of his sleeve. But thank god, Mark couldn't see his Stand. He's done this song and dance so many times around normal people, he knows the best thing to do is to act like he didn't see anything, and thus, he ignores Mark's question entirely. It means he can discreetly check to see if Ritsuka has a bruise-to-be that needs undoing on her face — Crazy Diamond reaches out without him even looking up from the SHOE MASSACRE that took place just moments ago. Its pink hand makes an attempt to rest on her forehead, where the would be mark would be. His Stand is very friend shaped with all the pink and heart motifs, but perhaps has potential to be misconstrued as an enemy by Fou... he just assumes Fou won't be able to see it either. ]

[ Fou not only sees it, Fou has remembered a "promise" made by the guy who'd grabbed one of his favorite humans by the collar, and upon seeing Crazy Diamond and very righteously (no) assuming that he was attempting to cause Ritsuka harm...

... Fou is indeed launching at Josuke with a spinning drill-like paw aimed for his face. Not to kill, but you know.

Little guy hits hard. Which Ritsuka really only knows because she's seen him body an actual Servant-- ]

Fou, wait, don't--!!

[ so nobody else is going to talk about the basket throwing itself, okay.

Mark is staring at Josuke mourning his shoes, and okay, he feels a little bad about that now (even though this is not as big of a priority as a ghost possibly wielding a basket of dog toys and treats at them). But then he sees a flash of movement heading right towards him, and without even thinking, Mark launches himself in between Fou and Josuke.

And takes that paw right to his chest — he maybe launched himself a little fast. A little high. But Josuke is just a guy (obviously), and what, like Mark's going to get hurt? By a little dog-like thing?

Mark is going to get hurt by a little dog-like thing, the force of it sending him over Josuke's head (sparing his precious hair) and landing on the ground somewhere behind them.

He groans, and actually, you know what, he's just going to lie there for a minute... didn't miss this feeling... ]

[ Just as he's about to try to deal with Fou (GENTLY) himself, Mark jumps in front of him and takes the brunt of the attack. Here's where he now regrets not telling him this entire time that he isn't normal — Mark shouldn't be throwing himself around like that. His mouth gapes, and he turns immediately after Mark gets blown past him, keeping his Stand called out in the case there's more incoming Fou attacks. ]

Shit, Mark! Ritsuka — hold him back!

[ He calls out, scrambling over the distance no longer worried about smudging grass stains or mud on his shoes. Mercifully, Mark is in his reach after a short, clumsy struggle to get closer, and Mark will notice that the moment Josuke's hand brushes the front of his chest, all his pain seems to be negated, melting away into nothingness. Whatever wound was there closes miraculously fast, by some unseen force. Almost as though time rewinded.

Josuke leaves the front of his shirt torn, and he any minor blood spill that might've happened to get on the shirt — it will truly be too suspicious if he fixes everything. This way, he can say, oh thank goodness, it was just a scratch, and Mark will probably be mystified but will be none the wiser. ]

I've got him!

[ Almost instantly on the heels of Josuke's order, because she was already running forward to try and catch Fou in time. She grabs the irritated ball of fluff, bundling him in her arms and murmuring very quiet reassurances to Fou that it's fine, he wasn't trying to hurt her, and then she's moving in to help check on Mark.

Obviously she knows what Josuke's ability can do, that he'll be fine with his help, and she knows Mark himself would have been fine, but regardless-- ]

Are you okay?? I'm so sorry!

[ The worry is genuine. ]

[ Mark is, indeed, mystified. He takes an extra second before sitting up, staring down at his chest before bringing up a hand to poke at it. Wasn't he just... He's pretty durable when it comes to pain now, but he knows what it feels like, and that feeling is completely gone...

He stares up at the two of them, quizzically, but apparently no worse for the wear. ]

I'm okay. I'm... [ he pokes at what he could have sworn was a wound before looking back up at them.

To Ritsuka: ] Uh, what is Fou, exactly? [ Maybe he should be grateful he suffered a bit on the blow, but Fou is now kind of. A potential threat?

And to Josuke: ] And did you... do something?

[ Mark knows what pain feels like. He also knows that as soon as he felt Josuke inspecting him, the pain was just... gone. Weird?? ]

[ Mercifully(?), Josuke is very learned in the art of gaslighting normal people who he heals with his powers. So, his lying is pretty natural, despite his tendency to clam up when forced to fib on the fly. ]

Nah, I didn't do anything. [ He shakes his head, sitting back on his heels. ] I thought you might've been really hurt, but it looks like everything is A-okay. That's a relief.

[ He turns back towards Ritsuka and Fou, also interested in learning what exactly Fou is. And, uh, not breaking eye contact with it, because now he's scared it might jump him again. ]

[ Fou has resettled on her shoulder, sitting innocently--and Ritsuka sighs. ]

I'm not exactly sure what to call him or how to explain him, beyond Fou. A cute animal who packs a punch when he's mad? I think he thought I was in danger for a second.

[ She doesn't clarify why Fou thought that. Everything else is honest. ]

He knows better now.

[ Mark just nods, accepting Josuke's answer. It still feels weird, but he's also experienced more than enough physical pain before coming here, so why question a good thing, right? Besides, Josuke is just a guy, so it's not like he could've actually done anything to help... maybe being around him just makes Mark feel better or something.

Yeah, that's probably it.

He's still eyeing Fou, though, because he knew the vibes had been off between Ritsuka and Josuke, but he still didn't know by how much. He'd really thought Fou was just being rambunctious like the dogs here, but... ]

Wait, so he was mad? ... At Josuke?

[ He's going to stand up now — slowly, not wanting to spook Fou further or anything — but having people hovering over him is awkward. With one last glance down at where he thought he was hurt... guess he's just going to have a boob window for the rest of the date, huh. ]

[ Maybe he should have fixed the boob window, on second thought.... well, anyway. Mark has about the reaction that every normal person has when fixed by his Stand: momentary confusion, then mystified acceptance. It's better to not involve him with Stand business, for now. With a dry laugh: ]

Guess so. I'm the kind of guy people - dogs - Fou's? Love to hate...

[ This, he is much worse at lying about, but he doesn't feel like it's his place to say hey, Ritsuka and I had a big disagreement regarding her deleting 5 worlds worth of people. And he genuinely does not want to drag Mark into it. He gives Ritsuka a slightly nervous glance, standing up to his full height again. ]

You're sure he's fine, now?

[ Thankfully, Ritsuka is so used to defusing a situation, so as she steps back to give Mark some room-- ]

I think the wind or something caught the basket or something knocked it flying, and it hit me in the head, and Josuke was closest to me, so Fou got the wrong idea. He really is fine now.

Right?

[ To Fou, who lets out an adorable little chirp and raises his adorable little paw. ]

[ Josuke saying he's the kind of guy people love to hate is the most suspicious thing he's said here. He's eyeing him, much less willing to believe him now.

Although Ritsuka's guess of what happened seems... plausible? More plausible than a ghost at least. With one last ??? glance towards Josuke, he turns back to Ritsuka — and, more specifically, Fou. ]

Huh. I guess that makes sense...

[ ... ]

Can I pet him?

[ He'd really rather not leave things on bad terms with Fou, considering they are still going to be under the same roof, ]

[ Nervous, forced smile when Mark gives him the ??? look. It's fine, don't worry about it. ]

You go on ahead. I'm still kinda nervous...

[ Which is the truth. Josuke is scared of multiple animals on a normal day; being almost jumped by one doesn't make him feel very brave about trying to pet anything else. Maybe He guesses Mark got his wish after all, he got to protect him from something. If he thinks about it too much, Mark sure did jump in front of him so quickly... it's a little romantic, right?

Well, Mark would probably do that for anyone. Still. He can privately think to himself that it was nice to be the one protected for once. ]

I don't have great history with cats either... it's probably just my luck. [ Genuinely curious: ] Where you'd even get the little guy, Ritsuka?

He was a part of the organization I wound up working at, so I don't know his full story there. I actually met him when I took a nap in the hallway and he started licking my face. I didn't think he'd tag along here, but he sort of does what he wants.

[ And now here we are. But she steps closer to Mark so he can attempt to pet Fou.

For the record, Fou will allow it, and might even lick Mark's fingers after some time to sniff. ]

[ Inside Mark's head: Wow, it's a good thing I got in front of Josuke. It's okay, I can keep him safe... it felt good to do that again.

But otherwise, he's listening. Fou's probably an alien, which he's met before... not any domesticated ones, but Fou also seems kind of. Not domesticated. That isn't going to stop him from stepping forward to cautiously pet him though, laughing a little at the licks. ]

Hey, that tickles, [ but he's not pulling away, just gently petting.

And with peace apparently resorted, he looks back up at Ritsuka and Josuke with an expectant little tail wag. ]

Does this mean things are normal between you guys again?

[ has he even addressed his previous bad vibes with Ritsuka? no of course not. these two were the priority, so, ]

[ So Fou IS woobie, destroyer of worlds. Yeah, he doesn't want to pet it, even if it is cute... ]

Uh, [ He says intelligently, caught off guard by the abruptness of Mark's question. ] Yeah — yeah, things are fine.

[ They will never be normal again, Josuke doesn't think, but they're fine. Fine! He's relieved Ritsuka is going to do whatever she can to save the remaining Lostbelt, and sufficiently convinced that her intentions aren't maniacally homocidal. That's enough to keep him at bay. He wishes he could go back to pal-ing aronud with Ritsuka like normal, but it's hard to look at her the same way he did before. It's not something he expects to be able to explain to Mark, who doesn't deserve to get dragged in to things of this scale. It's a lot even for Josuke; how much harder would it be for a normal person?

At least Ol*ve G*rden improved things. He already swore he was going to help her save the last group of potential victims, so that makes them allies, at the very least. ]

Just got to talking about wish stuff, you know how it is. [ It's serious! Anyway, the best lie is the kind that's sort of the truth. He waves a hand, then sticks it in his pocket, his own tail sweeping slowly. ] Kinda hard to believe it's all coming up so soon.

Edited 2024-11-28 20:02 (UTC)

[ There's an uncertain drooping of the ears, because it's not that simple, is it? Things can't ever be normal between them again, she knows that. And she misses it, being able to lean against Josuke or make jokes and have him call her a dumbass and there's also the fact that Mark is probably still irritated with her for not wanting him to come "help" and it was why she'd been a little reluctant to go here in the first place.

But she and Josuke have at least agreed on a plan to do what they can and he knows she's really not okay with what she's had to do, so. Allies.

She kind of just clasps one arm in some sort of self-soothing gesture, before she exhales. ]

Yeah... and we've still got a lot to figure out with the matches, too.

[ Mark stops petting Fou and looks back and forth between the two of them, uncertain. So it'd seem that things aren't normal again... but neither really wants to talk about it, which is okay, actually. It's probably not his business... as long as the way back to the house is less awkward.

He's going to lean into the topic they've set up in that case, determined to do what he can there. ]

Right? A month kind of seemed like it wouldn't be that long, but... wow, a lot happened. It feels like we're really close to the end now. I, um... [ oh. he feels a sudden bout of honesty coming on. ] When we were all getting to know each other I really thought my match would be one of you two, or that you guys would be together. A week and a bit later and it already feels like that's not happening anymore, huh...

week three | dates

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)