damselled | IC Inbox for Asgard

[ Early that morning, there will be a cute brown paper bag by Maribelle's door, sitting beside a simple mason jar doubling as a vase for two hydrangea blossoms, one cream and the other a gentle, sky blue. She can't mistake it as belonging to anyone else, as there's a note tucked beneath the folded edge of the bag, reading in neat, careful handwriting:

Thank you for your help.

-Desmond

Within the bag she'll find a tin of orange-ginger-mint tea from the Needle in a Haystack shop in Odin, and a small box containing the handkerchief she lent to Desmond- clean and pressed as if it were new. ]

((ooc: hope this is all right! forward dating for the heck of it ))

[...wow, even her voice mail was frilly.]

Oh, uh... hey, Maribelle. Gimme a call back when you get this; I wanted to ask you something.

[A pause, before he stammered sheepishly.]

Oh, right; it's Adachi. Talk to you later.

[Looks like little Kanji's learned how to just message one person at a time.]

Maribelle-san! Hi! Um, I got the flower? It's really pretty! Thank you! Thank you!

[He debates with himself about this for quite a while, but - it's not weird for him to want all of his friends to get together and get along, is it? Even if she technically, uh... isn't she...?

Oh, whatever. Reminding himself not to take it personally once she turns out to be busy anyway, he hits the call button.]

H-Hey there, Maribelle! How's it going?

Uh... hey, Mari-chan-- [He paused, swearing under his breath] M-Maribelle, I mean.

I just... uh...

I-I was just wondering if you wanted to train again. G-gimme a call and let me know.

Maribelle!

[Actually, the transmission opens as a video call - but no sooner does a slightly dishevelled Yosuke appear on the screen than he changes his mind and switches the visuals off. Can she see? If it's all in his head like he figured, of course not. But if it isn't...]

Maribelle, are you okay!? Come on, pick up...

we need to talk about adachi

Yo! P-Partner.

[His hesitation there is hardly perceptible, except for the off note that sounds in its silence.]

Uhh, listen. I guess you're not around today either, but let me know when's a good time to give you your scarf back. You know, you dropped it the other day? While we have the chance... [Whoops, hold on. He's going for as casual as possible here, and that's an entire off symphony.] Oh, not that I - ugh, you know what I mean. It just kept slipping my mind.

[This silence, in contrast, lingers. Even when he finally breaks it, it bleeds into his train of thought.]

Hey, seriously? I'm not mad. You knew that, right? You should've figured it out by now. You're... important to me, no matter what. And I keep trying to be someone you can rely on too. After all this is over, that's not gonna change. It's slow, but I wanna think I was getting there... so...

[...Goddamnit. Well, it doesn't matter. Which is to say it matters a lot, for Souji as well as him, but at least he can trust Souji to understand what he's getting at. Good thing he never has a reason to spout this kind of emotional crap to anyone else!]

...Alright, yeah, I know. But call me back anyway, okay? Later.

[A familiar, frustrated noise comes over the bracelet.]

Dammit, kid, I don't know why I bother trying to call you. You never pick up.

[There was another sigh, and Adachi muttered that he should probably just hang up. After a moment, he gave up, pressing on.]

...so, look, kid. I need your help.

[He paused, and it was probably easy to picture the look on his face.]

...don't get used to me sayin' that.

A-anyway... I didn't get a chance to do anything with Harley before she left. Didn't get a change to make things right. But Mari-chan is still here; you gotta help me with her, kid. I don't care if she's dating your 'partner'; she's gotta know that I didn't want to treat her like that. I...

[He trailed off, letting out an almost pained, shuddering breath.]

Oh, and speaking of Hanamura, we gotta talk about him too. That kid's obsession with you is getting creepy.

Look, just finish petting all the cats in the city and get back to me, will you?

Day 504

[Voice]

Video, appropriately backdated:

D523 afternoon, voice

[Voice] | [After Utgard]

D529, voice

[text]

D561 evening, audio

[D561] [Misfire Shinanigans] [Voice]