puppycrush2 | week three

Uh...

[ dude, you're embarrassing yourself in front of the cute Japanese girl... his instinct is to lie and say he's fine, retain his dignity, but he at least has the foresight to realize this would only backfire on him in about 30 seconds. ]

... Not great, to be honest...

Okay, then!

[ She heaps more meat on. ]

Let's practice a little bit and see if you can help me take the meat off once it's done cooking. But here, try holding them like this--

[ We are indeed going through a Chopsticks 101 lesson. ]

[ judging by how his ears turn red, Steve is slightly embarrassed by his inexperience here - he's grateful she's being nice about it. ]

Sorry, Ritsuka.

[ trying to copy what she's doing... he's coordinated enough, despite his brusque attitude, so he'll probably pick it up with some practice. ]

Nothing to be sorry about! It's not the easiest thing, and you're actually pretty good with the positioning already.

[ She's so proud of him. ]

Yeah... it's just lame.

[ he really doesn't have much to offer her, does he? They're not a match, anyway, so it shouldn't matter, but it bothers him nonetheless. ]

The place I grew up in was pretty rural -- not many restaurants that gave you chopsticks around. I always figured I'd get out of there after high school, but... things happen.

Things happen.

[ with a sympathetic nod. ]

... Definitely things you don't expect to happen.

[ nodding. he manages to pick up a few strips of Delicious Meats to put on the grill in the table, following Ritsuka's lead. ]

I know what I said before, but you don't have to explain everything to me if you don't want to. It's hard talking about this stuff.

[ a sigh. ]

I'm just glad I'm not the only one dealing with it.

Yeah, well, I did sort of end up yelling about way more of it than I should have. At least I can talk about it at a normal volume level now.

[ Her shoulders slump a little. It cost her a friendship with Josuke, too. ]

I'm not sure what exactly happened with your stuff, but all I did was answer a job flyer three years ago and then I wound up in Antarctica and it all sort of went crazy from there.

[ don't worry, ritsuka, you'll regain your friendship... ]

Wait -- you went to Antarctica, too?!

[ he's flabbergasted - sorry, he'll get to the other stuff in a moment. That has to be the last thing he'd thought he'd have in common with anyone... ]

The plane we tried to escape on was on an automatic route to a base there - heh. I bet I'm the only guy here who's got that in common with you!

--Probably!

[ Hello??? ]

Why was the plane going there?

Umbrella Corp had a secret base up there - it was a cargo plane they were using to ship stuff back and forth. My guess is it's harder to catch someone breaking the law if they're in Antarctica.

[ putting another meat strip on the grill. ]

Uh... Do you have Umbrella where you're from? I hope that's not the job flyer you were answering.

It wasn't, it was for Chaldea. Though I guess you could also call the location a secret base.

[ Huh. ]

Maybe that really is the place to operate under the radar...

Makes sense to me. There aren't exactly a lot of people around to ask questions.

[ convenient enough that two evil organizations would use it, apparently. He figures Chaldea must be evil, anyway... ]

So Chaldea's ... aliens? Scientists? It sounds like they tricked you.

They were looking for certain kinds of people.

[ A sigh. ]

To help them protect the world.

Certain kinds...?

[ his brow furrows. This is still sounding kind of evil. ]

Uh, like... people with aptitude, I think. I didn't know anything about it, really.

But they weren't bad people, besides keeping me in the dark at first.

"Aptitude?"

[ spoken suspiciously. His distrustful nature is coming out. Too many vague weaselly words being used. ]

I dunno, Ritsuka. Keeping you in the dark about something that huge is pretty sketchy.

Sketchy, yeah. And one of them was definitely a manipulative bastard, but he sort of revealed himself before too long.

[ So he's not entirely wrong. ]

That was nice of him, [ he says dryly. ] It's good guys like that never shut up.

[ he imagines he knows the type... men with paranoid delusions of grandeur. Although, in Ritsuka's case, he supposes they might not have been too far-fetched. Steve idly wiggles his chopsticks in one of the side dishes, a little hesitant to continue - but he's nothing if not brave. ]

... Did the world really end?

The first time, I could undo it. The second time... I'm still trying to see what I can do.

But I wouldn't lie about that. Sometimes, I still think I've dreamed up the whole scenario.

It's happened more than once?! What's up with that?

[ mind-boggling. ]

Not that I think you're lying - it's just... crazy.

Different attacks. [ wryly. ][ She takes some of the cooked meat now, offering it to him on a plate. ]

What about you? Can I ask what happened?

Attacks...?

[ from who? Before he has a chance to ask, however, she passes the ball back to him. As he reaches to accept the plate, he makes a small, unhappy noise - the sort that suggests "this topic sucks" more than "i don't wanna talk about it" this time. ]

Ugh... It really is a long story. [ Steve sighs. ] Just stop me if you're bored, okay? Basically, I... because of some stupid stuff my dad did, I ended up in the Umbrella Corporation's private jail on this island a few months ago. It turns out Umbrella's involved in all kinds of messed up illegal smuggling and bioweapons research. They were doing it everywhere - on the island, too, with the prisoners. I dunno who they were, but some... rival company, or terrorist group or whatever carried out a big attack on the island... like, military-grade big. They really blew it to bits. I got out, but so did whatever freaky-ass virus they were making. There were zombies and worse everywhere... and the guy who ran the place was totally nuts. Him and his crazy sister were basically mad scientists on a corporate payroll.

[ as he speaks, he remains conscious of the fact that they're on camera, and he keeps his voice low, cupping one hand over the spot on his collar where he's pretty sure they pinned his mic. Steve leans in. ]

It was just me and one other girl left alive. We even managed to steal a plane to get off that stupid rock, but like I said, it just rerouted us to Antarctica. Same story there - I guess some other people who were infected tried the same thing we did and just ended up spreading the virus.

... So you... wound up in jail because of your dad, but the jail itself--or even the whole island got this virus spread out so there were zombies everywhere and that was the same case in Antarctica?

[ It sounds... wild, honestly. But thankfully for Steve, Ritsuka's used to wild stories coming true. And also there's no way she could ever consider that as boring, frowning thoughtfully as she also lowers her voice. ]

Do you know if it's only those two spots? Or did the virus get spread out even more than that?

... Also wow, you really went through it. [ That's so much for anyone to have to go through. Even one part of that feels like too much. Being put in jail through your father's actions? Bioweapons research on the island? Explosions? Crazy people? Not even being able to escape after escaping?? ]

[ nodding!! ritsuka is smart - of course she'd get it. ]

No kidding! [ dryly exasperated. ] Uh, there was an incident in Raccoon City a few months back. That was the first one. I heard the government bombed the whole city to put it down... it was a total disaster. They've been covering it up, though - I don't know what really happened, just the rumors.

[ he sighs, shaking his head. ]

But if you ask me... I bet there's gonna be more. This whole operation Umbrella's running - based on the stuff I saw, it runs really deep. They make a lot of money selling that research.

[ it wouldn't be his problem, except he's hoping to come back to life shortly... ]

week three | dates

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