[2 / open] you're the only one who makes me excited

[bratherine]

Who ⬤ Kate Galloway (bratherine) & maybe you?
What ⬤ timtam apartment shenanigans and sidequests substories
When ⬤ Throughout the month
Where ⬤ All over the city, check individual prompts for specific locations
Content Warnings ⬤ Mr. Libido / Stardust but probably nothing else!

— tamamornings.

Ugh!

( The noise any unfortunate fellow Lost Soul at the laundromat nearest the Tamamo starter apartments hears is the dulcet tones of one irritated teenager, yanking her work uniform out of the wash only to find...

Something's been eating holes through her shirt.

Fuck's sake. She actually tries with the laundry, for once in her life, because fuck knows Marc isn't here to foist that duty onto, and...

This.

She glares at the shirt, balling it up and dumping it in her washing basket, poking her head into the washing machine to try and figure out just how the fuck this happened.

Did you, uh, wanna use this machine? Or just figure out why this girl is so mad at her laundry? )

— substory: mr. libido.

substory description

Adult businesses throughout the city have been reporting a nearly naked man dancing outside their storefronts and harassing customers. Store employees can’t deal with him because he runs every time they take a step outside. They need your help to catch this pervert and make sure he doesn’t come back. Careful, he may think you’re like him and take a shine to you instead! You might not want to hear what kind of lurid talk he’s open to a friend about… Please help rid Jigokucho of this tighty-whitey clad menace!

Shut. Up.

( The sight of Mr. Libido is an unfortunately familiar one for far too many people, and in the continuing farce that is Kate's life, she just had to run into him while trying to get her grocery shopping done. Apparently, telling yet another practically naked idiot to fuck off is an invitation to hear way too much detail about why he's doing this particular dance.

Is this better or worse than getting into a fight with a naked dude? Honestly, it's a coin toss.

She continues to stalk her way back, bags heavy in her hands, as Mr. Libido bounds along to keep up, chattering all the while about **** and **** and *********.

Kate twitches.

Kate puts down her bags, yanks the breadstick out of one of them, and wields it like it was an actual weapon. It is not, but it's the closest thing she has at the minute. )

Fuck off already.

— substory: stardust.

substory description

With things seeming to get back to normal, there are preparations that need to be made for the next citywide festival: Tanabata! A little competition is being held between the factions to collect as much “Stardust” as possible in the lead up to the festival. “Stardust” is a magical fragment of the heavens that has fallen to the city at night. There are rewards for those who gather the most up, but exposure to a lot of Stardust can have some interesting effects. It increases the feelings of joy and satisfaction one gets from indulging in one’s desires; be it fighting, fucking, gambling, drinking, dancing, singing, or even just quiet meditation.

No wonder this stuff is so valuable and everyone’s trying to get their hands on it. Are you going to collect it for your faction, or are you going to try to sell it off to people in town who just want to vibe? Don’t get caught hawking the stuff by your faction, if so!

( Stardust glitters in the night. It's actually kind of fascinating, in a "shit that should be in a fantasy film" way. But more importantly than that, it's a kind of competition. And Kate can't say no to one of those.

It's easy to find her at dusk, using the last remnants of daylight to guide her across the walls and balconies of buildings, climbing above the streets of Jigokucho with well-placed jumps and practiced, fluid motion. She's become more used to the paths she can climb in the city, particularly in Tamamo district, but the further out she wanders, the more apparent it becomes that she needs time to plan her routes up and down rooftops, and it's an easy time to grab her, even if she's in the middle of plucking bits of stardust up and tossing them in a drawstring bag. It happens on the street when she chances upon that sparkle, but mostly? Mostly Kate is going onto the rooftops to clean stardust from there, assuming it's more likely to have an ample supply of the stuff than the streets where everyone walks.

And collecting ample supplies comes with its own drawbacks. Or perhaps bonuses, depending on how you look at it. The stardust is, after all, more than just sparkly. The delight floods her veins with each course she uses to jump from one rooftop to the next, each time she runs and the wind picks up in her ears. It's growing darker by the second, but it doesn't seem to matter.

She wants... She wants. God, what does she want? To have fun. To forget. To let everything but this feeling melt away into nothing, so she can simply be.

And, when Kate's happy, she's talkative. Anyone she runs into at this point will be greeted. Perhaps not enthusiastically, but with a certain gleam that isn't normally there. A lightness which suits her even as it comes across foreign and unfamiliar. )

Why're you out?

( A simple enough question. What are you up to, stranger? Or less stranger? )

— substory: stardust, part ii, magic kiss edition.

( Kate may not be out hunting for stardust in the daylight hours, but that doesn't mean the hunt is over. She's not about to ignore flecks of stardust which she stumbles across between errands, or on her way to work at the restaurant.

She's also not going to ignore fellow competitors, either. There's new strength flowing in her veins and an odd, intrinsic knowledge of just how much better that power Tenkohime gifted her has become. There's a good, if not reckless, mood which has overtaken her, no thanks to all the stardust collecting she herself has been doing.

So, wherever you may be, if you look like you're trying to grab some sparkly stuff, Kate walks right over and taps you on the shoulder.

First things first: determining whether this person is a fellow Tamamo, to be helped, or someone to be hindered. Her eyes scope out any type of identifying pins, or uniform, which may be worn, as well as whether she recognises said person from headquarters. )

Can help you with that, if you want.

( It's fine! Trust her. :) )

— wildcard.

( need / want something else? hit me! feel free to contact me (exits#8071 / exits) if you wanna chat things out. )

Comments

[mindthebass]

(shin's a lot of things, stupid is not one of them. he gets the idea immediately, considering she isn't making a move to go just yet.)

I can go with you if you'd like.

(nevermind the fact he hasn't slept in god knows how many hours, though. he'll find a wall to sleep on while she looks for it.)

[bratherine]

( Well, he gets a hint, that's for sure. But she knew that already. The washing basket is hefted onto her hip, and Kate nods. )

C'mon.

( She's, uh, assuming he knows the way. )

[mindthebass]

(assumed wrong. he has no idea where to c'mon.)

... You lead the way. I'm not good with directions.

[bratherine]

( ... Really? It's like, around the corner. He gets a bit of a look for that. Even the most directionally insane of people should be able to find that, right?

Well, at least it is as short as it seems. Kate takes the stairs to the fourth floor and stops at a door halfway down the floor itself.

Welcome to casa Kate? It's about as plain and rundown as any starter apartment, with only the scent of coffee from the kitchenette and the piles of half-clean clothes (worn once but not really in need of washing) on the chairs to distinguish it in any way. )

[mindthebass]

(don't give him that, he's new and his inability to find places isn't honed as it could be!!

but alas. he didn't come up last time, both not wanting to intrude and not wanting to worry his roommate, but this place doesn't look that different from his... except that there's a clear difference between shin's and haru's belongings.

instinctively, his back meets a wall, and he falls into a very cool-looking pose... until he dozes off. oops.)

[bratherine]

( She is something of a whirlwind, going through the drawers in her place, half of which have been hurriedly transformed into "work related" things.

Nope. That's a bunch of stuff she's written down about people from other clans. That's a series of complaints about a customer who pissed her off. That's...

Oh wait. That's a receipt. For her clothes. Thank fuck.

She's just about to say that she's done when she looks back and—

Ah. )

Oi.

( Kate speaks quietly, not really wanting to wake him up as much as she is testing how asleep he is. )

[mindthebass]

(nope. can't hear her.

he was going home, after all. he looks fine, but he is so exhausted... that's what you get when you party all night.)

[bratherine]

( ... Sigh. Great.

She stares at Shin for a minute, a hand ghosting over his cheek, as though debating whether to wake him up or not.

...Nah. It's fine. She can lift him. The receipt has to go into her pocket, but she hauls him off the ground and carries him the few steps to her couch, dumping him there with at least some care.

If you're going to sleep, at least sleep lying down, idiot. )

[mindthebass]

(shin's lifted and he barely reacts, but with his back feeling couch, he does awake briefly, and unwillingly. if she thinks she's escaping, she's thought wrong. his hand finds hers, and he weakily pulls her to the couch.

she probably won't even move from it.)

[bratherine]

( It does stall her, just a moment. Long enough to look down at his hand around hers, her fingers squeezing in response, before she leans in a little, close enough to whisper. )

Get the fuck up.

( Don't tell her she dragged you to this couch for nothing! )

[mindthebass]

... No. ♥

(it's a whine, but welcome to the full shin experience.)

Let me just shut my eyes for 30 minutes. I haven't slept in over a day. Your apartment is dark...

[bratherine]

( Ughhhhh. )

Fine. ( But she needs her hand back, first. Though... if he stays here and wakes up while she's gone...

Fuck. This is a dilemma. No offence, Shin, but she's not quite ready for people to be allowed unsupervised access to her place. Even if it's a mess. (Honestly, you'd think Tamamo would give their agents slightly better places.) ) ... 'M I s'posed to stand here?

( Because right now that's. Kind of what's happening. She can't even reach the nearest chair with his hand in hers. )

[mindthebass]

We're both small. We fit on the couch just fine.

(zero male ego damage in saying he's tiny. honestly, the male ego is almost non-existent in shin.)

[bratherine]

( ...
Three
Two
One

... Yeah, she's sitting down, not tired but at the same time not willing to just up and leave him in her place without her there. Not that Kate exactly has much worth looking through, but still. The thought of it.

It's a little bit too invasive, really. For now.

Instead, her hand — the free one — reaches out and twirls the end of his hair around a finger before running through it, idle, repetitive motion which stops her being completely still. )

[mindthebass]

(YES, REST! he only leaves the hand before he's wrapping arms around her wrist, hiding his face from any light for the time being. and look at that, like clockwork... 20 minutes. not thirty.

a yawn from sleepy shin, and he rubs his eye with the back of his hand, a pout because that was not nearly enough what he needed, but eh. he'll take what he can get.)

... Ok... I'm good... We can go...

[bratherine]

( She hates resting. Twenty minutes of staying still, especially in the morning, is twenty minutes too much.

But she somehow makes it through. Probably, eventually, due to a lot of phone browsing, but hey. Who doesn't do that once in a while? )

Were you out all night?

( Those pieces are being put together. They're ones she's not completely unfamiliar with, though usually she does make it home before it's sunrise, even on the worst nights. )

[mindthebass]

Mhm. I'm still... Checking the place out.

(muffled by him hiding on her neck.

she can read it as him trying to find his place. a promise he's made himself keeps him off his job, so options need to be thoroughly analyzed before he does something that he shouldn't be doing.)

[bratherine]

( She does get that message, mostly because it's what she did — still does, to some extent, too — when she got here. Maybe not all night, but far longer than was probably advisable.

Eh. No one's here to tell them otherwise.

More importantly, despite the shivers going down her spine from where Shin mumbles against her neck, Kate looks... Well, kind of like a cat who is resigned to being cuddled against their will. Momentary irritation before she shrugs her shoulder to get him sitting upright instead of on her. )

Move or I'll kiss you.

( It may not sound like a threat until you take into account that Shin is the only person who knows what her kisses can do now, and that Kate knows her bathroom tap has been dripping incessantly for weeks now. Nobody wants to hear that even more acutely, especially not when they're tired, right? )

[mindthebass]

The sensory thing's worth it.

(therefore, who said he's moving? look at him, great at compliments, even laughing a little bit. oooh, no, anything but kisses from the pretty girl he's been sleeping with, how dare she offer, etc.

he does move, though, only to yawn and stretch much like a cat would.)

[bratherine]

Ugh...

( Eyeroll, and one more shove for that answer. You're supposed to not want that to happen. ...Maybe it isn't a strong enough boost.

But whatever. He's moved, which is good enough. Up and at 'em, sleepyhead. She has a shirt to try and get compensated. With the rest of the clothes quickly tossed on hangers and put by an open window, she grabs the ruined shirt and heads to the door. )

[mindthebass]

(hey, don't shove him, you'll break him! look at the pout on his lips.

fine, fine, he'll get it moving with her. he'll live, probably... but as soon as they're out, a cigarette is popped between his lips.)

[bratherine]

( Yeah, yeah, sure.

But back down the stairs and round the corner they go. Not that he has to follow her back to the laundromat to watch her complain, he can make his way back to wherever he was going. )

[mindthebass]

(he doesn't, but he is. free entertainment, and also to keep her from Killing Someone. feels fair. prison sucks. etc.)

[bratherine]

( Wow, do you really think so little of her, Shin? She didn't even bring her billhook with her for this.

(Okay, so maybe she has a knife in her bag. But she always has a knife in her bag here.)

The actual attempt at talking to the person working there? Well, uh. It ends in the guy pointing at a sign that says not liable for damages like that's the end of the story, and a fine, I'll put a sign up with a roll of his eyes before he slaps a hastily written OUT OF ORDER on the wrong machine. )

Happy, princess?

( ... Okay, so maybe he will need to stop her killing anyone. )

[mindthebass]

(one of them has to have a knife. shin definitely isn't the one.

but fuck. the guy decides to call her princess, and he decides that today, he will save a life. an arm wraps around her shoulders and he employs all his strength to turn them around.)

Come on.