fandomtownies | Turtle & Canary; Wednesday [08/18].

"So, let me get this straight," said Amaya, frowning again at the current wreakage that was the Squishy machine before her and thinking she should have brought a bit more than the usual wrench for this sort of job. "Somehow, by mehtods completely unknown to yourself, the gruyere and the ricotta got into the Squishy machine and caused such an uproar that the panda, incensed with rage, took to trashing it within an inch of its mechanical life out of pure spite and anger?"

Shunsui answered with a grave nod, a gesture that was a bit spoiled by the faint pride in the grin still lingering in the corner of his mouth. "That's right ♥," he confirmed, and the grin grew a little more. "Such a terrible, shocking emergency, isn't it ♥. That a true centerpiece of the store should be put out of commission so thoroughly. As the owner of this store, don't you think it's imperritive, Movie Class-chan, that I stay here to see this state of emergency through and absolutely must put aside pursuing other demands that may be awaiting me for the time being ♥?"

Amaya just leveled a very unimpressed look at Shunsui; Shunsui met her looked with another brightening of his smile.

She shook her head, turning her attention back to the task at hand. "I swear," she murmured, "if you put even half as much work into actual work as you put into trying to avoid working, you'd be the most industrious man I know."

Shunsui put a wounded hand to his chest. "Movie Class-chan!" he chided. "Don't say such things! The idea alone will give me nightmares for weeks ♥!"

But, with that, he settled in happily at the counter with a fresh cup of sake for the very important task that he absolutely needed to be here for of overseeing the repairs to the poor, unfortunate Squishy bot.

And, well, to be fair, the panda was still feeling pretty sore about the whole thing, so it probably was a good idea that he was here to help keep the cheese-loving beast in check.

Today's Squishy Flavors
--OUT OF ORDER--

Turtle & Canary is open!

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Octavia wasn't even sure how long they'd been in LA by now. The days seemed to just keep coming like a tidal wave, disorienting her - even without the mess yesterday had been.

She also wasn't sure Shunsui was much of a texter. She wasn't, these days, when digital hand-holding with Duke and Lucifer wasn't much of a necessary thing.

Anyway.

Today, she missed what little routine she'd ever managed to establish for herself on the island. And so:

Hey

(Just because she had the urge didn't mean she knew what to say.)

If it weren't for the fact that his manager pretty much had a phone as an extended body part, Shunsui would sometimes even forget his cell phone existed. Communicating over long distances with spirit butterflies was so much more elegant, after all! But there was a brief moment of abject horror when he felt that familiar buzzing within the pockets of his robes that somehow Nanao-chan had discovered texting, realizing that that was silly and it was probably just Summer-chan about...something...and then tilted his head with surprise when he did see what name was actually attached to the message.

Then grinned, faintly, at the absolutely unsurprising mastery of brevity therein.

And so, following a shockingly restrained trio of heart emoji (which were really wonderful things, weren't they, emoji?), he responded:

Who knew a mere three letters could brighten one's day so much? Words truly are a remarkable thing!

How ARE you, Octavia-chan? Though I must admit, as uplifting as it is to be graced with your words

(Well....word....)

I do rather miss the vision of your face. Are you well?

Followed by a few more hearts, because, yeah, you know Shunsui abused the hell out of that option.

At least Octavia was already used to excessive emoji: sometimes it was hard to get Lucifer to put any actual words in his messages.

Not really

It didn't seem worth it not to be honest. Even if she didn't dwell on it.

Hows fandom?

Quiet for now but no doubt building up to something as the summer session is completing. Hopefully whatever it is, I'll be fortunate enough to miss it as I'm afraid duty calls again back home ❤️

Those same duties that he was actively doing everything in his power to conveniently avoid at the moment? Why, yes, as a matter of fact, those exact same duties. It was a delicate balance, a very intricate game he played, trying to masterfully manuever out of one thing to another to avoid the exact moment when one becomes more taxing and trying than the other...

But he always had prided himself in being particularly good at that dance, really. It helped, too, that the energy of this particular event was already feeling a little...oppressive for someone so keyed in to this exact kind of thing.

Besides...

But why 'not really'?

Because of course he had to ask. And the fact that she was even texting him, he supposed, was out of the ordinary enough that perhaps he now had a third thing to concern himself with. Which was, easily, far too many things to concern oneself with, and perhaps Yami-jii's extra training would be the least concerning of all of them at this point...

Octavia stared at the question for a long moment. She knew it had been inevitable, but that didn't make it easier to know how to answer. Where to even start, really?

Maybe the most recent bit of bullshit. The thing that felt the most raw.

We lost someone yesterday

And I assume you don't mean you've merely misplaced them.

Despite the wryness of the text, Shunsui couldn't help feeling a little pang of sympathy for it. Especially from someone he knew to have a rather...tumultuous experience with the concept of loss.

I am so sorry, Octavia-chan.

It was a weird thing. It wasn't even Octavia's loss, or so she kept telling herself. It was a Trixie's, and Chloe's, and just about everyone else's she knew in Los Angeles. And yet, still...

He was a good man

Enough of one, anyway. Just shaken by things.

He was a dad

There, wasn't that it? The heart of the thing, somehow. Octavia hesitated even sending it, because it felt -- something about it seemed too honest. Which was ridiculous, because it was just a fact, and so she made herself send it.

And now he's gone

In one sense.

She was, after all, talking to a death god. Sure, Shunsui knew enough of the multiverse now to know that the versions of the afterlife were as varied and complex as the versions of the kinds of lives that preceded it, but some things, he felt, seemed to be true all across the board.

In my experience

(Let her take that as she may)

no one is ever truly gone.

Pity she was still all the way in Los Angeles. These platitudes sometimes sounded flat and rehearsed even in person; he couldn't imagine reading them on a tiny screen did them any greater justice. Would they even help? Was it even what she was looking for? He didn't know, but, as was often the case, he wasn't sure Octavia herself would really know that, either.

Still. That doesn't make it any less difficult, I know.

Not only was she talking to a death god, she was also currently residing in a world where both Heaven and Hell were agonizingly, indisputably real.

It didn't make a difference, anyway. Dan was still gone in all the ways that mattered to the ones left behind.

Hes not mine to mourn anyway
Just feels terrible for his daughter

I'm not exactly sure mourning is something where one can claim exclusivity.

But that didn't really matter, either. Shunsui frowned at his phone, tapping his finger against the side of it before it moved to type about more of a response.

It's not easy for anyone. Especially not a child. But she clearly has those around her who care. Tragic, to expereince such a loss so young. But, in my experience,

(Again, however, YMMV, as the kids said these days)

life and death aren't so much two sides of the same coin as they are continuations of the same circle. One inevitably leads to the other. And what is difficult now can be a sorce of strength for later.

Well. This was far more philosophical than he was intending on being on a day that started out with a grand scheme to get a panda bear to assault a beverage machine thanks to cheese, wasn't it?

It was very him, though. And maybe what Octavia would have expected to hear back if she'd started this interaction out with any expectations at all.

It still made her sigh, but then so did everything else, today. And she didn't know what to say to that, and so she changed the subject.

Anyway, lucifers gonna be god

There was that.

Or at least hes gonna try to be

Turtle & Canary; Wednesday [08/18].

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