belle | "PHAETHON" (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
greatlydares) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
kaisou2025-10-15 11:21 pm
greatlydares) wrote in kaisou2025-10-15 11:21 pm
Entry tags:
i'll be coming through, coming through
WHO: Belle, Harumasa, Jun, and the Crystal Tower residents
WHERE: the Crystal Tower!
WHEN: during the horror plot!
WHAT: Lycaon, Anby, and Hugo are missing from movie night. Anby would never miss movie night. therefore they're trapped in deep-cleaning the Crystal Tower. this is a foolproof conclusion and Belle's going to go get them.
WARNINGS: mentions of terminal illness and missing persons and the post-apocalyptic setting of ZZZ.
[Look, Belle knows Anby. She'd never miss movie night, at least not without letting Belle know what's up first. And since Lycaon and Hugo are absent, that leaves only one logical conclusion for her to make:
They're stuck in the Crystal Tower.
She knows Lycaon well enough to know he's not going to be happy about the general state of the Tower. It's...well, it's seen better days, is what it is. Hugo would tag along to irritate him, he does like to make it a hobby, and Anby's the poor sucker swept up in helping them out. Clearly, Belle's gotta go get them out of there! Or, well, Belle will try to get them out of the Tower, anyway.
Because she's not entirely certain she won't get mugged by a monster, she goes to talk Harumasa into coming along with her, and so here they are with Jun tagging along. Belle sets little Eous down on the ground, opens her laptop, and sends the little Bangboo on its way up.]
I don't know if this is better or worse than the time in the Ballet Twins, honestly.
WHERE: the Crystal Tower!
WHEN: during the horror plot!
WHAT: Lycaon, Anby, and Hugo are missing from movie night. Anby would never miss movie night. therefore they're trapped in deep-cleaning the Crystal Tower. this is a foolproof conclusion and Belle's going to go get them.
WARNINGS: mentions of terminal illness and missing persons and the post-apocalyptic setting of ZZZ.
[Look, Belle knows Anby. She'd never miss movie night, at least not without letting Belle know what's up first. And since Lycaon and Hugo are absent, that leaves only one logical conclusion for her to make:
They're stuck in the Crystal Tower.
She knows Lycaon well enough to know he's not going to be happy about the general state of the Tower. It's...well, it's seen better days, is what it is. Hugo would tag along to irritate him, he does like to make it a hobby, and Anby's the poor sucker swept up in helping them out. Clearly, Belle's gotta go get them out of there! Or, well, Belle will try to get them out of the Tower, anyway.
Because she's not entirely certain she won't get mugged by a monster, she goes to talk Harumasa into coming along with her, and so here they are with Jun tagging along. Belle sets little Eous down on the ground, opens her laptop, and sends the little Bangboo on its way up.]
I don't know if this is better or worse than the time in the Ballet Twins, honestly.
no subject
Why is it always—?
[Why is it always the meme cat? That's what he wants to finish that question with. Instead, Belle starts giving him ear scritches.
The effect is instantaneous. Harumasa immediately melts and starts purring with his eyes closing shut (6). To be fair to him, he's been stressed out this entire month even if he hasn't been obvious about it. So, his cat brain is searching for easy ways to de-stress and feel comforted.]
no subject
Oh well. After that second he's just.... going to pointedly ignore his brother and talk to Belle. ]
Yeah, that's right. Though in that case, it was intentional.
I don't know if you had any past run-ins with the old Black Order, but they were pretty ruthless. One of their Zealots-- aka one of their inner circle got killed while they were here. No one was willing to confess to doing it, so a couple Zealots showed up and triggered the Midnight Hour to pressure people into confessing.
no subject
Not really. But then I made sure they wouldn't have any reason to investigate me, either as Belle or as Phaethon. [Still, she hears enough to sit up a little more when he mentions that one of their Zealots got killed while here, which means—
Well, she's spent long enough on the app to know that it's almost certainly someone on the app who did it, for whatever reason.]
Let me guess, all that happened was they also got killed in turn? Because people on the app don't seem to take very kindly to being pressured.
no subject
Still, it's clear that he's paying attention given that his other ear swivels in Jun's direction. He remembers Jun telling him about that "ghost story" with Tartarus.]
Mm, didn't the Crystal Tower change, too? It was one of the reasons I chose not to live here. Would've been fine on my own, but I didn't know how that would affect my health. Too risky.
[Spiritual energy of that magnitude while Harumasa is in the Tower may have caused him to be in severe crisis. If not for his condition, being alone in an unknown place might have been okay until rescue. Given Belle and Jun know better than anyone his real capabilities, he's fine admitting this much and dropping the act.]
no subject
You're not wrong, but I'm happy to hear my invitation to live with me won out over the creepy tower on account of its magical radioactivity.
[He's more just mildly annoyed than actually upset because he knows Haru just talks like that sometimes and doesn't actually mean it, but also - bruh. And to show he's not actually mad, he'll move on with what he was saying]
It did change, and yeah it result in their deaths. The incident pretty much kicked off that entire rebellion that changed the Black Order. Definitely one of my more difficult missions.... though for the record, I didn't kill any of the Zealots.
[........ Directly, anyway.]
no subject
At Jun's assertion that he didn't kill any of the Zealots, Belle just shrugs in response. She wants to ask more, because she thinks that there's more to the story besides that, but for the sake of plausible deniability she instead says:] I heard about the rebellion, everyone did, but not about the lead-up. Seems there's a lot more to it than I thought...
[Brief pause.]
Did you guys take the fight straight to the Order, wherever they're based, right after that?
no subject
I'll be right back.
[He's giving up being comfortable on Belle's shoulder AND her heavenly ear scratches for this.
The young archer stands up, transforms into a tiger, and flops gently on his little brother. He's careful not to crush him, but that's still a LOT of tiger.]
That's why I said one of the reasons! My biggest reason was that when I found out you and Ana-bear were living down in the Meropide, it could've been a facility and I would've chosen it to live with my family.
[As if to further the point, Harumasa licks Jun's face with his scratchy big cat tongue. Love hurts, doesn't it?]
1/2
2/2
Gah! Your tongue's all scratchy, Haru! See Belle what I have to deal with!? I never get the cute tiger, just this! [She gets the cute Haru while he gets this!!
Yet despite his protests? He'll still wrap his arm's around the tiger's neck to give him a hug, then reaching over to administer an affectionate ear scratch. He hadn't been that annoyed, he's come a long ways from the days he was practically holding his breath and waiting for his siblings to leave again-- but he still appreciates hearing that reassurance. So more quietly he'll speak in japanese at a volume meant for Haru-]
「ありがとう. I know you feel that way. The feeling's mutual too. 」
[.... He may have forgotten Belle is studying japanese even thought it was his idea]
no subject
[Aw, no more tiger to pet. She looks up and pouts exaggeratedly at Harumasa, but the teasing pout melts into something sadder and softer as she watches him and Jun bicker and grumble and whisper—something in Japanese, she can't quite tell just yet, being a novice in the language. But she watches them for a moment, and thinks about Wise swiping her pudding cup and Zelos ruffling her hair and gently calling her a nerd.
Then she smiles, and the grief vanishes like the breeze—there and gone in a flash.]
Maybe if you gave him ear scritches more often he'd be the cute tiger to you too.
[She's just saying. Anyway, she'll look back down at her laptop and guide Eous around the floor, then up the stairs.]
Still no sign so far. He must've found a problem area somewhere high up and it got his attention. [Big sigh.] Poor Anby. I feel bad for her, being stuck with the divorcées.
no subject
Exactly! Belle gets it~.
[He licks Jun's face on more time before getting off of his little brother. The young archer has enough energy to transform back to his human form (12) and sits down next to Belle again. However, this time he leans against her with more genuine tiredness. Harumasa's careful to make sure it's still gentle pressure rather than his full, dead weight, but it's still noticeable.]
How're Eous's batteries? I dunno if it's even able to get all the way to the top, especially not if we're doing a thorough look around. [The young archer chuckles, though.] Bee's probably fine. Maybe wanting to figure out how to jump ship in the future, but the trick is not engaging with it. Or making it sound embarrassing to both of them.
no subject
I give him ear scritches nearly every day. Don't listen to him.
[His lap once again free, he'll lean back to try to make himself more comfortable and realign his spine again]
Mm. I'm not sure you can call them divorcees anymore anyway...