come_sailaway | [Closed] Ask no questions, hear no lies

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[Closed] Ask no questions, hear no lies

Who: Natsuno, Rita and Jade
When: Early July
Where: Cabin 109
What: After completely misinterpreting Jade's dark secrets, Natsuno and Rita decide to confront him. Too bad all they're going to get is outrageous lies.
Warnings: Talking about undead kids? Will add as needed.

[After their (surprisingly heartfelt) talk at the Tommy Bahama, Natsuno and Rita agreed they have to corner Jade and make him spill the beans on everything he's been hiding. What happened to his sister, what kind of dark magic he dabbled in and what does it all have to do with creating copies?

It's early in the morning - ridiculously early, but neither of 109's residents sleeps like a normal person. Natsuno's been reading another horror novel while listening to music on his earbuds - the very image of an idle teen. But the second Jade closes the shower's door behind him, he texts Rita:]

Now.

[He lets her in before she can even knock. Once Jade comes out, they're getting answers.]

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[Despite Rita's first instinct being wanting to yell at whoever's waking her up, that desire immediately evaporates when she sees the message and who it's from. She hastily replies got it as she rolls out of bed and wastes no time--grabbing the assortment of clothes that she wrapped into a bundle inside another shirt, slipping on mismatched sandles, and making a beeline to cabin 109.

When Natsuno lets her in, her mussed hair and wrinkled tropical-print clothes make it pretty clear she'd been asleep, even if she looks wide awake now.]

Hey.

[She glances around the cabin, quickly noticing the sound of water running in the bathroom.]

He's in there?

[It's quite lucky she's just across the hallway. Natsuno closes the door behind her and locks it.]

Yeah. He didn't even have his coffee yet, so he's as unprepared as it can get. Sit wherever, just make sure you're blocking his way to the door.

[They are taking this seriously.]

Got it. This is the best chance we'll get--if he tries to escape, I have magic that'll keep him in place.

[Very seriously.

She sits on the edge of the coffee table with the clothing bundle next to her.]

Has he let anything new slip?

[He shakes his head.]

Nothing. Though to be honest, I stayed away from the subject. Didn't want him to suspect anything.

[Just one of Jade Curtiss' many annoying qualities - he's too smart.]

[But not quite smart enough to avoid utterly ridiculous confrontations like this, apparently........

Blissfully unaware of the rude teen forces assembling just outside, Jade's about wrapped up his shower around this point! Overall it's sure felt like a perfectly typical morning in every way so far--in the half our or so he's been up, anyway--between Natsuno already being awake and buried in a horror novel as usual and the shower water, similarly, feeling about the same as it's always been! In its coldness and, you know, Very Normal Water-ness. No sign or sensation of anything as unlikely as a curse or anything here! Same as Natsuno had given no sign of anything being out of the norm, either.....

Fortunately(?) for Natsuno and Rita, Jade's shower routine tends to be a pretty short one. Similarly fortunately--out of courtesy for Natsuno when he's around, you know--he brings a change of clothes into the bathroom with him when he showers, too, and so Jade at least isn't in a bathrobe or something when he opens the door and steps out, right on the tail end of Natsuno's words. Currently in just the black sleeved shirt and pants of his uniform, the blue outer coat draped over one arm, glasses not yet even on his face (since he'd set them on the coffee table in the interim of showering) and his other hand still literally absentmindedly patting the ends of his hair dry with a towel--

--And, naturally, Jade stops short barely through the door. Because Natsuno sure isn't reading his book anymore, and--hold on, is that Rita? That sure is Rita. Looking as if she literally just woke up and wandered on over...

Jade blinks between the both of them, towel hand still upraised but slowly lowering, the expression on his face segueing rather promptly from surprise to a highly dubious sort of confusion.]

...My my, it's rather early for a visit. What's the occasion? [Honestly it wouldn't even surprise him if they're both here for some sort of emergency murderboarding session--Clarke and Natsuno's frequent ones have all but cemented it as routine at this point--but....why are they both staring at him like this--??]

[Jade's quick shower certainly saves Rita's patience too, as she abruptly stands from the coffee table. That look on his face would be really amusing...if it wasn't for the circumstances that brought her over here, which is why her own expression is pretty scrutinizing.

And she has a lot of questions, but before they get all distracted with those, she points to the clothing on the table.]

That's for you. Since you hated the outfits on those trips and all. And Yuuki says you dress like a boring dad most of the time, so obviously that needs to be fixed.

[She's not throwing Natsuno under the bus if it's true, right?!]

[Yes, as much as Natsuno enjoys catching Jade unawares, this is no time for bratty teen smugness. He keeps his expression carefully blank as he nods.]

Yeah, it's embarrassing. At least throw some color in.

[This will surely distract Jade even further, right? Lull him into a sense of false (albeit confused) security, and then strike with the hard question. Gouge his reaction before he has time to recover.]

[--Well. You know, of all the answers Jade was expecting to get, this certainly wasn't...one of them? Honestly it's not even like he was particularly wary to begin with, as Natsuno and Rita are both pretty decent acquaintances by now. If anything, there was a vague concern that something dire or awful had started happening on the ship again, but...

No, looks like it's apparently just. ...A clothes offering? Gift?? Confusion promptly giving way to surprise yet again, Jade actually looks at the bundle of clothing sitting on the table beside Rita this time, having completely missed them in the initial startling discovery of finding an extra guest in the room. But...now that he is looking, he's not sure how he missed it at all to begin with? The garish patterns of the shirt encasing the bundle alone are almost morbidly fascinating to look at, ah....a disbelieving sort of amusement mingling alongside the surprise on his features, Jade sets down his coat and towel on an empty space of the desktop near his elbow, and draws forward to properly inspect the pile of Tommy Bahama clothing.]

Really now? ["I wasn't aware that dressing like a 'boring dad' seemed like such a pressing crisis I was having--"] I suppose dressing like a 'boring dad' has been something of a pressing crisis I've been having. [??? It's, paired with a sardonic sort of smile, though the words themselves aren't phrased...quite as sarcastically as Jade's usual, somehow? Oh well, that's probably nothing to worry about--anyway, he's leaning down to start unfolding the bundle with an incredulous sort of curiosity. "I must say, though, this seems less like 'throwing some color in' and more like 'trying to sear your enemy's eyes right out'--"] Oh, these colors are quite nice, actually...

[Totally honest reactions are being had here, of course. Much the same way this is totally the only thing Rita actually stopped by with Natsuno for, right...?]

[...Yeah, okay, his reaction is kind of funny, despite...everything. Rita just can't help but relish the moment anytime Jade's thrown off his game, okay! So she also can't help the faint grin that briefly crosses her face... Something feels slightly off with his response to their jabs--maybe Jade isn't actually as much of a morning person as he tried to claim?

Well, all the better if they've caught him when he's not-quite-awake! And once he's unwrapping the clothes, she's also kind of impatient to hear his conclusion, even though it's not really what this meeting is about... (look, despite how everything turned out, they did still go to the trouble of picking all this out!)

--Wait, he's straight-up admitting he likes them, without giving them any grief over the whole thing? Rita glances at Natsuno, eyebrows raised in mild surprise (but maybe...also kind of pleased that he does in fact appreciate their choices). Looks like Jade really is off his game this early in the morning...]

We picked out the best ones for you, so you should be grateful!

[She is just a little smug, yes!]

Yeah, so no smartass comments.

[He meets Rita's gaze with a shrug. The first part still sounds like Jade's making fun of them, but his reaction to the clothes is surprisingly positive. Natsuno wasn't expecting that, but might as well, because it means Jade is lulled into a decent mood without suspecting a thing...]

We actually have another thing to ask you.

[And immediately when he has Jade's attention:]

Who did you try to resurrect?

[It's the EXTRA blank stare. Natsuno means business.]

[Thumbing through the clothes and beholding as each new layer gets progressively more hideous, Jade casts an amused glance up at the both of them. "I can't imagine what anything less than 'the best' might possibly look like by you two's estimation, in that case, so I suppose some gratefulness would surely be in order--"] The both of you must have spent some time on this...I am grateful, it's true.

[Sar...castic? That has to be at least somewhat sarcastic, right?? He partially holds up one of the pairs of pants, dubious at the cocktail patterning upon it. Are these...pajamas? Surely they must be pajamas of some sort. "You know, I think the sizing on these is a little short, actually--"]

It even looks like they'll fit perfectly, I'm impressed.

[--But no sooner does he shift his glance from the pants to Natsuno, than he finds himself being met with an abruptly blank sort of stare, and--

Oh.]

[The question sure is quite out of the blue, to say the least--and, to match it, Jade's expression closes rather abruptly in turn. A sharp look is leveled right back Natsuno's way, and then flicks over to Rita as well, as he sets down the pants and a frown very promptly falls into place on his features.]

We, is it? [.....Well, he hasn't forgotten what he'd let slip, that time back. Though he hadn't exactly expected Natsuno to go around talking about it to anyone else--much less to Rita--and there's a note somewhere between faintly accusatory and disapproving, in the question leveled somewhat at the both of them. (...Honestly, though, he should have known. As if either of them would conspire so early in the morning over something as ridiculous as clothes....)] And what's brought this question about all of a sudden, exactly?

Edited 2022-07-03 16:56 (UTC)

[...She has the sneaking suspicion that Jade is being sarcastic, yet everything he's saying is weirdly sincere, and not even in the same way as his previous moments of weird sincerity that she's witnessed...

Almost forgetting why she's here, she's on the verge of asking if he's sick or something--but then Natsuno just goes ahead and asks, and...yeah, that sure looks more like the usual Jade. And the way he suddenly goes all cold like that almost says enough on its own.

Rita's expression goes serious again in turn, too, as she crosses her arms.]

Yeah. We. We pieced together what happened.

[She leaves it on that note for a brief moment. Look, Jade is...has been okay, actually, but if he has some dark trauma or ulterior motives, she'd rather not get blindsided by something down the line.]

So...let's just clear the air about any deep dark secrets now. When you tried to use the Seventh Fonon, and it backfired...your sister was a casualty, wasn't she?

[Despite the bluntness, she isn't accusatory about this part--maybe a little sympathetic, even. But Rita quickly frowns again, because it's the second half of the story that she finds unsettling.]

And then...you brought her back. Or tried to.

[Jade's blank disapproval is actually better than his reaction to the clothes. Resurrection gone wrong is familiar, but this new sincerity that's probably just another sarcastic barb in disguise is weird.

He nods along Rita, wearing a similarly somber expression.]

But it went wrong, right? Those things always do. And you ended up banning that arte, so it would never happen again.

[The whole Tommy Bahama exchange has been a Pretty Strange thing all around, probably, but at this particular moment Jade would honestly be just as happy to switch right back to that topic instead. The matter of how blinding these clothes are is far less fraught than this very sudden and pressed segue to resurrection, after all....and, genuinely feeling somewhat caught out here--hardly even prepared for the day yet, much less this kind of conversation--there's a distinctly unhappy air to the way Jade reaches for his glasses on the coffee table, all good humor quite officially set aside.

--He really doesn't quite know what to make of what Rita and Natsuno both go on to say. That apparently they got together and...pieced together what happened, really? Already thoughts are trying to scan back on interactions he's had with both of them in the recent past...because yes, of course Natsuno was probably bound to bring up the resurrection hint eventually, but--well, right, he did let slip about the consequence of Seventh Fonon use outside one's range to Rita that time at the sticker party, too. But, hold on...]

My sister? I-- ["--fail to see how you've decided to bring her into this narrative of yours--"] --can't say I'm surprised you're bringing her into this narrative you've both apparently come up with, blunt as it is. Whatever gave it away? ["She doesn't have anything at all to do with any of this."

Still, despite the both of them being so thoroughly incorrect in a few aspects...it's actually rather disconcerting? Just how...closer to home, some other aspects hit. There was a casualty of the Seventh Fonon backfiring that time, yes, and--he did try to bring that casualty back, but--

"My sister never died in the first place, if you must know."] She died in that accident, yes. ...What I might have done about it afterwards is my own business. ["And I fail to see why you're expecting me to 'clear the air' about any of this--"] I understand wanting to 'clear the air' about this, but I don't know why it must be now. [Jade's attention flicks back from Rita to Natsuno again, brows furrowing.] Exactly what do you mean to imply by 'it went wrong'? [...Though it's not to say that the attempt was flawless, by any means. A lot sure did go wrong, truthfully. And they're even right about him banning fomicry used on living things, eventually, for just this sort of reason...but that was much later than implied in the assumptions here (unfortunately)--Jade's rather tempted to side-step that whole bit by just not directly addressing it at this point. ...He really doesn't want to be having this talk at all right now, honestly....!]

[She tries to push down the creeping guilt at his apparent displeasure--it's not like this was going to be a pleasant conversation in any way--so they can get to the bottom of this. Rita isn't the most tactful person (not that it was obvious by this whole conversation, right?), but even she doesn't necessarily expect Jade to answer immediately...which he goes ahead and ends up doing, surprisingly. Looks like Natsuno caught him at just the right time.]

The doll was a pretty clear indicator.

[...She manages that answer calmly enough, but Jade's attempt at brushing off whatever came after makes her start to lose some of her cool--she isn't angry, not exactly, just...she doesn't know!]

If--if we're supposed to be friends--but if you're getting up to shady experiments like that--then it is our business! So better now than later!

[Natsuno can field Jade's other questions; he's the..."expert" in that area.]

[To see Jade so unhappy while he admits it so readily ... it feels dirty, somehow. Underhanded.]

We're not implying anything. We thought maybe - she came back, but not like she used to be.

[Natsuno isn't the most tactful either, but he's not going to get into any of the dozen of possible scenarios his imagination came up with. He and Rita never wanted a description, anyway.]

Rita's right. No one should play with death like this and - we want to keep trusting you.

[The doll? Thinking she came back? But he just said...hm. It's the barest fleeting moment of something a bit disorienting, as Jade's thoughts attempt to retrace the last few beats of the conversation, because something feels--off, here. Like he's missing something? ...But is he, really? No, then again, perhaps the discomfited twist of feeling in the pit of his chest has far more to do with the subject matter at hand, and the words both Rita and Natsuno go on to say now. 'Friends', trust...]

You've--been trusting me? ["I'm not sure I'd advise doing that too much..."] I'm an utter paragon of trust, of course. [But the words don't at all match the disparaging tone attached to them, nor the unsettled unhappiness still plain on Jade's features--and so, even through the curse, his disagreement with the idea still comes through rather clearly. Could perhaps pass off as a particularly self-deprecating sort of sarcasm--??] So this is what all this is actually about, then--the two of you are seeking a confession, is that right? A promise that I'll never try again, perhaps?

[As if he hadn't already made one to himself, once before--though it's a time that does feel impossibly long ago, now, even if it wasn't really. And that was before the ship--before he'd died himself, and came back, and hadn't known how--

Goodness, he barely even trusts himself...]

I'm quite confident in keeping promises. I'm not worried about falling into such a field again, not in the least. [Not that his tone seems to hold confidence in the words, yet again, because...neither of those statements are true whatsoever, to say the least. A slight sigh pushes out; Jade slips his glasses back on properly, and adjusts them, and straightens. "You two are rather middling interrogators at best, I'm afraid--"] You two are wonderful interrogators. And now, if either of you would be so kind as to excuse me...I'm heading out to sightsee on the deck awhile.

[Well, actually, he's heading out to get a coffee, but--you know. Anyway. Brusquely stepping around the coffee table, Jade's making for the door about now.]

[(She's just going to be slightly relieved Natsuno doesn't go into specifics; came back wrong is already more than she ever wanted to imagine-)

Rita wants to say that of course they've been trusting him (mostly), but then--is he actually making fun of them over that, of all things? Rita's face reddens, and she uncrosses her arms to hold them stiffly at her sides, clenching her fists as he continues. After everything...he's just mocking them? (No, she doesn't quite have the self-awareness at this moment to consider how miffed he might be at getting cornered...)

She's silent during all this as her anger (and whatever other emotions she doesn't want to think about) builds, and as soon as she recognizes the telltale sign that he's about to brush them off--to come up with an excuse to run away--she starts casting a small spell, one she can finish quickly.]

--Like hell you are! Ivy Rush!

[A tangle of several vines springs from the floor to snare up his legs and stop him in his tracks. They should at least hold for a few seconds if they catch him.]

You're not running away this time!

[Don't mind her seeming more than a little unreasonably upset? ~~She doesn't need another Raven situation, another Marget...~~]

[While Rita clenches her fists at silent yet obvious fury, Natsuno keeps his arms crossed and his expression flat. "An utter paragon of justice", "wonderful interrogators"... Jade has got to be making fun of them. He expected vitriol, since they did put him on the stop, but this - this is weird.

And he definitely doesn't sound like he really means to promise he won't try that again. So when Rita traps Jade with a spell, Natsuno is quick to shake off his surprise and moves to block the door. Even if Jade breaks free from the vines, he will have to shove Natsuno out of the way, and he will use every bit of super strength to not budge.]

When I asked you if we can make more panacea bottles you said you "might know someone." We all know it's an excuse. Is that about resurrection too?

[Because those bottles are useful. The captain likes poison and Natsuno wants to keep his friends safe.]

[Alright, so first of all this is rude as hell--

And, well, Jade certainly doesn't end up actually making it past the coffee table, all things considered. Sure, he'd expected some sort of resistance from the two of them, just going off how specifically they’d clearly tried to catch him at the most unexpected time here...and also being well aware of how abrupt his own attempted departure’s coming off, about now. He'd also expected it to be more of a verbal sort of objection than anything, though--and in immediate retrospect, Jade supposes it really shouldn't be such a surprise at all that Rita promptly leaps to such lengths as casting a spell at him. Her anger about now is quite clear, after all...

But still! Vines, really--there's assuredly no time to react at all, before they're suddenly springing from the floor and entangling his legs. Caught mid-stride, Jade ends up stumbling and dropping to a knee with a startled sound, though at least he's able to grab the edge of the coffee table before that turns into an actual faceplant on the ground.]

Are you really--! [An incredulous look is cast Rita’s way, but at least he's so thoroughly surprised in the moment that Jade isn't immediately moving to break free of the vines just yet, even if his other free hand's reaching down to reflexively grab at them. (With enough physical effort he probably could--or he could sever them with his spear, or set them aflame at the base--knee-jerk contingency thoughts, but stayed and drowned out by a more immediate sense of disbelief.) The quick movement on Natsuno's part ends up sidelining his attention as well, and Jade watches with similar incredulity as he positions himself in front of the door with apparent full intention of not budging. Before moving right on to asking about...

The panacea bottles. Yet another topic he'd tried to set aside once before, the prospect of using fomicry on them...though he hadn't actually said as much specifically, at that time. Which makes Natsuno's blunt question about whether it's related to resurrection that much more jarring--yet again, an alarming display of just how close that guess actually brushes to the truth. Jade frowns at him.

"What's led you to think they'd be related?" Or so he wants to ask, but what actually comes out is an utterly incorrect:] No, it has nothing to do whatsoever with the resurrection I tried. ["...But, yes, that 'someone' might have been me. If you must know, I wanted to avoid making any guarantees about anything, until I'd made...a determination, about the method--"] But that wasn't an excuse. I do know someone, an apothecary who could devise such things. I just don't know where the materials could be attained... [~~Oh, he's going to be kind of almost impressed at just how seamlessly the curse manages to fabricate that bit, later...~~]

[That Jade does nearly face-plant might fuel that creeping guilt a little more--except it's still mostly drowned in anger at just how little respect he's giving them in this confrontation.]

Why the hell couldn't you just say something like that in first place?! You might be obnoxious, but you can still be--

[She stops short and shakes her head angrily, because even now, it almost sounds like he's making excuses. Even if she wanted to believe him...how are they supposed to like this?]

Did you ever trust us at all?!

No. He's still making excuses.

[Unlike Rita, Natsuno was there when Jade lied the first time. He remembers how uncomfortable he was, how he paused and kept staring at the bottle, the convoluted reply.

Where Rita's temper flares, his grows colder, contrasting her hurt yells with a stony expression and icy calm in his voice as he addressed Jade.]

We're not idiots. If you refuse to explain, at least respect us enough say so.

[Wait. What?

...What?

The sheer strength of both their reactions to his words is visible enough to be jarring in the worst sort of way. Granted, Rita's temper always has seemed to be a flighty sort, but her anger's only been growing by exponential degrees with every exchange here, and Jade's honestly no longer entirely sure...why? Not to mention how even Natsuno seems affected as well, a notable thing in itself where it sits so outside his more usual penchant for blank-faced neutrality; in polar contrast to Rita, perhaps, but both expressions sitting at opposite ends of what's clearly the same spectrum. Again with the mention of trust, and--excuses--?

Did what he just say really come off as an excuse? So much so that now the both of them are reacting so poorly? Thoughts haphazardly reach back to review his words of mere seconds ago, about trying not to make any guarantees--to say nothing of how Natsuno doesn't even actually answer his question--but Jade still just can't actually match anything to the steep drop in atmosphere here and now, and it's...a disconcerting thing, to say the least. Yet again, there's that disorienting feeling of missing something, even if he can't figure out what it is for the life of him, and it's a thoroughly unpleasant sort of sensation. Jade's glance moves from Natsuno to Rita, his own frowning expression darkening a bit.]

What--are the two of you talking about? [There's a genuinely nonplussed tint to his tone, but it's also hard to entirely leave out the slight edge in it too--not quite anger, by far, but not at all appreciating the accusatory energies being directed his way about now in the least. "I'm not refusing to explain--"] Of course I'm refusing to explain. ["However, it does feel as if we're on two different tracks here, for some reason. It's not about how much I trust either of you, but this is--"] Rather difficult to trust people trying to hold me hostage in my own quarters. You shouldn't expect anything more from me; I don't know why you are.

[Bracing his hand more firmly on the coffee table, Jade draws himself back to his feet, with a hearty tug at loosening the vines before he's upright. He makes no further move for the door just yet, that said, though the sharp look he's transferring from Rita back over to Natsuno is clear enough. (Just what is he missing, here? ...Is there something going on, beyond all this? It's not normal of either of them, these strangely disproportionate reactions. Has something happened?)

Either way, Jade does know one thing: that this conversation doesn't feel like it's actually getting anywhere, and--he honestly doesn't want to continue it, until he can get to the bottom of this. For all that neither Rita nor Natsuno are going to like it, clearly...but the fact remains--]

Are we quite done yet, here? Or are there more questions, whose answers you'll go on to call excuses?

[There's a tiny, nagging part in the back of Rita's mind insisting that there's something not quite right here, that Jade seems more confused than anything else... It's very hard to listen to that part, though, when all but says he doesn't trust them. That they weren't supposed to expect anything from him, that he doesn't respect or care enough to explain anything, that he's just going to brush them off now, and then what?]

You--I thought you--

[Completely opposite to Natsuno's reaction a moment ago, Rita explodes.]

Y-you stupid-! Fine, just go! I don't care!!

[Wow you can just hear how much she totally doesn't care!! Also since they're both in the way of her just running back to her own cabin... Yeah, she's going to whirl around and run to their bathroom, loudly slamming the door shut. Ignore the thuds as she kicks stuff in there. That's how much she doesn't care!!

(Yeah, some people are okay... Her friends back home, and Natsuno, but that doesn't mean everyone automatically becomes trustworthy...but she thought Jade was-!)]

Not-Dad needs an intervention

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