cadereagratia | PSL/Meme Continuation

((ooc: from this TL))

["Easy. I'd stop being such a jerk to my best friend."

[Ha...]

What'd you do to them? Can't be that bad, surely.

[He tries his best to sound disinterested, but when Whelk does that, he always ends up sounding akin to how someone would look trying to read a book over your shoulder at the library. Pathetic.]

[Wow. And Aubrey thought she was blunt. Unlike with Eren, she is immediately on defense.]

And what do you care? [Attitude’s audible from the outset.] You don’t even know what happened.

[God, he hates children.

[With a roll of his eyes, he makes a "carry on" sort of gesture and says:]

Okay. So what happened? We can start wherever you'd like - you're not being graded.

[She might have answered if he hadn’t added the rest. Good luck from here, pal.]

Hah, great. You think I care about my grades? [Muttering, only somewhat comprehensible:] You’ll find out when it’s all over the damn news tomorrow.

[Now he genuinely sounds disinterested.]

Did you murder someone?

[As the talk with Eren has not transpired, her first thought is Might as well have. But she’ll refrain, this round.]

So what if I did. [Through gritted teeth, in some attempt at mockery:] What, would you give me detention for it?

Oh, please.

[Let the record show that, if Whelk were actually her teacher, he would not be acting this way; alas, he is quite Dead(TM), and not just on the inside this time, so he's feeling a little loose about what he can and can't get away with saying.]

If you didn't want to talk about it, then why say anything?

[Perhaps because she wasn't intending to attract the most unpleasant man in existence, but is that his fault? No.]

It’s none of your goddamn business.

[Unluckily for Whelk, Aubrey does not care for authority figures and would be responding more or less the same way regardless. She has sworn at a preacher and would do it again.]

Better question: why’d you ask?

I don't know. Because I'm so bored I'm about to start plucking my eyelashes out one by one.

First you said you want to stop being a jerk to your best friend, then you say something about the news, and then you say you might have murdered someone.

Stop saying interesting things, and maybe I'd leave you alone.

You don’t sound too bored to me. [Stupid. Apparently he is listening.]

[…Which means he probably really won’t go away. Ugh.] I bullied that friend into suicide. Happy? [Yeah, that’s an uninteresting answer. Definitely won’t invite more commentary.]

[A glance in her direction. There's a bit of weight to this one - not something he's shown yet during this conversation. Still, he keeps his tone rather flat - but, again, Whelk isn't actually as good at being subtle as he wants to be. Never been a gift of his.]

Is that it?

Hardly murder.

Yeah. That’s it.

[Which it very clearly isn’t, to her; she folds her arms, tight.]

Whatever. Uninteresting enough for you?

Is bullying someone less interesting than murdering someone?

I think most people would agree with that, yes.

[He bullied plenty of people in high school. He wonders if any of them ever offed themselves. Probably not. He wouldn’t really care if he were to find out one did though.

[It’s strange, though. At this point, his voice takes on a…distant sort of tone. Almost like he’s stopped paying attention, though his words remain relevant.]

Does that keep you up at night…?

[Whispers in his ears. He grits his teeth and waits for them to pass.]

[There. Good. So the questions can be over w—
Of course they’re not.]

[The distant tone has her attention, but not quite enough to override the “stupid shitty teacher interrogating me to be a jerk” impression. But it’s enough to get an answer, however clipped:] Why wouldn’t it.

[And then, his tone goes properly flat - cold, empty, devoid of any emotion whatsoever. He asks:]

Do you hear things?

[Now that’s a curveball.] No…? What are you, some kind of psycho?

[A glance in her direction.]

Sure.

[Next, he's pulling out a cigarette. Could really use one right about now. What's it gonna do? Kill him?

[He holds out the pack, an offer. Does not give a single shit that she is sixteen. Smoking makes you cool, kids.]

Want one?

[Congrats, Whelk, you just triggered a minor internal crisis. Because she hates shit that smells bad, is a little too familiar with this brand of it, and under normal circumstances that’s more than reason enough to smack the whole thing out of his hand. She doesn’t like the guy, at all, anyway.

[On the other hand… it’s supposed to be stress relief, right? Some cheap garbage, like candy for adults.
…Candy’s good.]

[Aubrey stares at the pack longer than strictly warranted. A compromise, for now: she turns away.] Gross. You hear things and you smoke. [Missing, for now, the implication that he hears things that keep him up at night.]

Right. Smoking is gross. You're 7th Grade D.A.R.E officer must be so proud.

[He lights up, takes a drag.]

I didn't smoke much when I was alive - funny thing, that. Not much else to do once you're dead though.

[Maybe that will hold her attention a bit longer.]

[Oh, tap right into the competitiveness, why don’t you. Without facing him Aubrey swipes for the pack—but since he lit up her fist closes on nothing, and she shoves it in her pocket instead. Whatever, she’d probably just gag anyway.]

You’re dead? [Mumbling. Not taking that seriously.] Good fuckin’ riddance.

Yeah, yeah. You're not the first, last, or most interesting person to hate me. Join the club.

[Another drag.]

You don't believe me, do you?

[That supposed to be an insult? What’s with this guy and “interesting,” anyway?]

No. [Still blunt.] Ghosts aren’t real. [Which, even accounting for DWRP limbo suspension of disbelief, is still something she’d say. To be a prick. She’ll take this nonsense over what kicked the talk off, at least.]

[He's BORED, Aubrey.

[At the ghost comment, he snorts. But something in his chest makes him want to argue, too. Not Czerny - he never saw that ghost. It's leftover passion from when he was seventeen, using EMF readers, maps, and dowsing rods, deep in the Virginia woods, looking for something, anything to make him and Czerny fall breathless onto the ground, laughing with wild eyes.

[The magic of those days was lost a long time ago, however.]

You're wrong about that, but I don't really feel like trying to convince you. Talk about boring.

[Although...]

What's your idea of the afterlife then, hm?

Where's the friend you drove to suicide?

[Mean for the sake of being mean. He doesn't even think twice about it. Worse still, he knows what that sort of grief feels like - but he'll deny that all day long.]

[“Talk about boring.” Usually one of the last words people would use to describe Aubrey, but frankly, she’ll take it.]

[—Not that it lasts. Whatever calm she regained over the would-be smoke break falters again. Really, really not what she wanted to be thinking about—but, if not the self-blame spiral, it would’ve been there anyway.]

I don’t… I don’t know. What is this, philosophy class? [Her voice wavers, which saps the intended effect somewhat.] People say a lot of crap. I think…

I think they’re just gone, it doesn’t matter.

[Whelk nods - a slow thing that consists mostly of him raising his chin. He takes another drag.]

It's a bit duller than that, but from what I can tell, you aren't on the wrong track.

The circumstances of my death were what you could call unique, though. I happen to know that some spirits linger, given the right conditions.

[Did Czerny? He's not sure. He's wonders, though.

[Mostly, he wonders...if Czerny is around, out there somewhere...would he ever come to see Whelk now that they're both, well...?]

for @headhooligan \ limbo verse meme thing

lesgoooo x2 combo!!

no subject

ok ONE more tonight. as a treat

o v o <3

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject