❄ prius quam exaudias ne iudices

[agains]

Who: Hue & Cry, but anyone should feel free to tag in if you're feelin' it
What: Post-holiday coping, commiserating, comforting, confronting, cetcetera.
When: December 8th onward
Where: Virgo HQ + H&C Penthouse + throw a prompt if it suits you
Warnings: Mentions of violence from Twist The Knife and respective canons, please make note in subject headers if you know something else ahead of time

( check those sweet top-levels for more info )

Comments

[goateeocracy]

I heard you the first time, dumbass.

[Is this going to be a thing? Please tell him this isn't going to be a thing. Keith is obnoxious enough as it is without a catchphrase. If he's going to pull this, "I heard you the first time, dumbass" is going to end up being Yan's and they're going to end up some sort of pretentious hipster comedy duo and that isn't the direction he ever planned on his life going.]

[agains]

That's not very festive of you, Yan. A proper Solstice greeting should always be loud and clear!

[ Not. A trace. Of irony.

pretentious hipster comedy duo coming to a nightclub near you oh my god save us ]

[goateeocracy]

Merry fuck off, Keith.

[Is that loud and clear enough? It better be, even though he's pretty sure he can make it a lot louder if necessary.]

[agains]

Better, but not quite! Try it again with more spirit!

[ TURN IT UP TO ELEVEN

(and still, he appears completely serious, refusing to accept this grinching.) ]

[goateeocracy]

FUCK OFF, KEITH!

[There. That's some spirit.

Also, he's playing right into this whole comedy routine without even realizing it and he's almost as mad at himself as he is at Keith for starting it. Almost. Definitely madder at Keith.]

[agains]

[



that's not very 100 emoji of you



Keith looks oddly distant. He's every bit as sincere as he was when he thought they were wishing each other holiday cheer, but he speaks in a humbled voice that his bandmates have probably never heard before. ]

I'm sorry. Is this a touchy subject?

[goateeocracy]

[Yan looks at him in utter disbelief. What the fuck is going on here?]

No, you're just goddamn annoying.

[Who's this guy and where's Keith? Can they keep this guy instead?]

[agains]

Consider it a Solstice gift.

[ Although able to spit out a retort to defend himself, Keith can't understand why Yan was so upset, or why he cared so much about it. The Goodman train stopped for no man. Excess, excess, excess! If he riled someone up into a hissy fit, it was a good day, wasn't it?

It wasn't.

He tries to be his old self-- real self-- the self that isn't confused with new memories and weird personality shifts, damn it. ]

And another for the road?

[ He withdraws a flask and holds it out as a peace offering. It's probably got some kind of Snowbear Special Vodka. ]

[goateeocracy]

[This has ceased to make any sort of sense.]

What the fuck is going on in your head?

[Yan crosses his arms and gives him a searching look. He's still on edge, ready to explode at him again if he so much as breathes in a way he finds irritating, but he's not going to let this pass by without an interrogation. Everyone else's business is his business, especially members of the band.]

[agains]

Once I insisted on a cheerful greeting, you seemed upset. Is the Solstice a bad time of year for you? [ he keeps the flask out, pointed at Yan. ] A peace offering for offending you.

[ what is going on in his head. that's a good question. something about baking a cake out of rainbows and smiles. he doesn't know why. ]

[goateeocracy]

I'm not drinking out of anything you did. Have you been hallucinating?

[He's not beating around the bush. He really doesn't have time for Keith's nonsense even when he does have time for it. There's just something off about him right now (more so than usual) and he might as well get to the heart of the matter. He has places to be, but he's not leaving Keith here by himself if his head is messing with him.]

[agains]

[ A bickering duo - something else that he feels in his bones is true, even without the memories to back it up. But the pressure is building and something's about to break. ]

Of course not. I'm fit as your fiddle! And my wind speed is off the charts today!

[ that last part comes out without warning, completely unintentional. he flinches and shakes his head. he's said that before. he's said that before, from a great height, being in top form to help people.

so of course he's apologizing to his bandmate. they're not rivals, they work together towards the same goal.

Though he'd smiled when delivering his... catchphrase... Keith suddenly looks uncomfortable, drinks down his flask, and turns away. ]

The way the north winds are during the Solstice. Maybe we've been cooped up too long. You should enjoy your day.

[goateeocracy]

[Yan walks over and snatches the flask away from him. Empty or not, he needs to make a point here.]

No more of this. ["This" being whatever the hell was in that.] You sound like a fucking lunatic. I'm gonna ask this again and I want the truth this time: Are you seeing shit? Having flashbacks to things you don't remember happening?

[He doesn't sound like he's going to wait patiently for an answer.]

[agains]

[ Lunatic. Lunatic? No, that was someone else, wasn't it? Someone he was morally opposed to -- a Pride musician?

Nobody he could remember. ]

I don't think you'll find any more answers at its bottom than I did. [ His programming urges him to fight for custody of the flask. To be something more than a holiday well-wisher. ] Have you always been allergic to cheer?

[ But he's winning over his brainwashing, at least for now. Keith backs off. ]

It's a matter of someone else's privacy, and I cannot betray their trust. But nothing has been the same since that night.