roshigumi | ( voice test ) ibuki;

[ Yeah, talk about getting up late. Of course Heisuke's already been out and about for a while - as much as he could sleep in forever if someone would let him, the keyword in there is "let". There's no way he even has time to sleep in with all the stuff he's got to do (and Hijikata's yelling would wake anyone up who overslept anyway, let's be real) and so by the time Ibuki's finally managed to get himself out of bed, Heisuke is probably already coming back from rounds when he spots the other guy sitting there.

Those rice balls are actually pretty tempting, but it's not like he's rude enough (unlike certain people!!) to just take them or anything. So instead he just lets out a sigh as he gets closer to the other. ]

Really, you're only up now..? Must be nice. [ Said in the tone of a five year old who just desperately wishes they could have done that, honestly.

He finally pays attention to what Ibuki is doing though, and he scratches his nose a little. ]

.. you've got a problem, huh? [ A problem Heisuke - of all people - actually knows very well. ]

It's not like I wanted to get up this like! I don't know what the hell Serizawa-san is thinking...

[he was expecting the sounds of "INU. UP." maybe a kick in the side or the sensation of serizawa's tessen being smacked right against him if he slept even a moment too late. but today there had been none of that. in fact, he hasn't seen the commander or heard his booming voice at all since he got up.

that's a little troubling, isn't it? he heaves a dramatic sigh, focusing back on his hair for a second... before letting out another pained sound. he looks over to heisuke — someone who can understand his pain and nods in defeat.]

It's worse than usual today... Ahhh, I don't even know how to get it out of this mess.

[ Working for Serizawa instead of Hijikata and Kondou suddenly sounds a lot better now, huh!! Except Heisuke knows that it's usually not this good for Ibuki at all so.. whatever, fine, let him enjoy his one morning of sleeping in. Heisuke will get his own chance to sleep in ~~when he dies~~.

At least he doesn't seem to have many hesitations about just plainly flopping down to sit next to the other guy on the engawa. Stuff like this, helping people out.. well, it just comes naturally to Heisuke. No matter how prickly he knows Ibuki can be, whatever, doesn't deter him. ]

Here, let me help! [ It's not like he hasn't had to do it enough times himself - not like he had family to help him out with it or anything. So Heisuke's used to it, and doing it for someone else is even easier than having to guess work just by touch yourself.

But just as he's already stretching out a hand towards the hair, his gaze drops back to the rice balls...

... god, those look good.. ]

Ryunosuke... h-hey, if I do this, can I... [ He's not even being subtle. No, really. His eyes are like a puppy begging for food, his mouth is practically watering, his stomach grumbling.. the whole deal. Totally mesmerized by the food. ]

[there's an automatic instinct to flinch, partially because he's used to people intentionally hurting him when they do that, and partially because his scalp is aching from the current state of his hair. if nothing else though, ibuki can trust that heisuke's intentions are good, and that he'll actually help. he's a good friend in that regard, someone ibuki knows he can count on.

though his tune changes when he realizes that heisuke's practically got the drool hanging from his mouth while eyeing the rice balls.]

Didn't you already have breakfast? And... it's gonna be lunchtime soon anyway! [one part incredulous, two parts exasperated. that logic should mean that ibuki could also wait for lunch, but he hasn't eaten at all since last night's meager supper.]

But...!

[ That protest acutally sounds pretty desperate for something that's just about a snack.. and it's not like he'd take it all anyway, but--!! It's not like they get that much to eat anyway, and then Shinpachi usually takes half of it, and he's still having his growth spurt... or so he hopes... ]

It's already been so long since breakfast! And do you know how much stuff I've been doing since then?! Not all of us could sleep in! [ He seems awfully genuine about it though.. granted, no one whines the way Heisuke can, but at least he - somehow - really does seem to believe that he just needs the snacks That Badly.

He presses his hands against his stomach when it gurgles again. ]

If I don't eat something, I might just drop..! [ Okay, that part is exaggerated, at least. But with how snippy Ibuki is being about his rice balls, he's got to put in a little extra effort here. ]

[these are totally unfair tactics, heisuke.

there is a valid point in there, heisuke did usually do a lot of running around in the morning, and his appetite is definitely a healthy one. but hey, ibuki's a growing boy too, right? and one who eats less just by sheer virtue of serizawa randomly calling him away at mealtimes to play fetch.]

...tch...

[he scoffs a little, following up with a high-pitched sound of annoyance. can he really deny heisuke that when he's offering to help? at the rate ibuki's going, he'll be trying (and failing) to get these knots out of his hair all day. so his head drops, and he he sighs with even more exasperation than before.]

Fine, fine. You can have one or two, but that's it! I still haven't eaten today and... [looking around, very cautiously.] ...who knows if Serizawa-san will even let me eat at all if he comes back early.

[ Heisuke can't help but think that the exasperation is so much like Ibuki when he replies that way - and so he's already reaching over (across the other guy, probably half-hanging over him, don't mind him here for a moment) with a smile to grab one of the rice balls, gratefully holding it with both hands when he's sitting down again.

At first his smile is a little dumb, really - just like a satisfied kid, broad and bright - but then it softens a little when he hears the other speak up. ]

Yeah, you can have the rest. I'm fine with just this! [ His voice is a little more subdued than usually though. Still cheerful, but.. well, he knows how Serizawa treats Ibuki (or most people around him in general, really, but Ibuki gets a lot of just thanks to being his personal mutt), and it's not like Heisuke doesn't wish all the onigiri in the world onto him for it.

After taking a bite, he puts the food in his lap for a moment, wiping his hands on his clothes before starting to carefully untangle some of Ibuki's ponytail as he talks, his mouth still half full so he's mumbling (but not like he cares). ]

Maybe if it's one of the other guys we can say you're helping me out. [ Because he doesn't really mind going up against Serizawa's other guys if it'll give Ibuki a little more breathing room for a few more minutes, but.. well, Heisuke is realistic, he stands exactly zero chances of making up any story to Serizawa himself.

(In fact, he doesn't stand much of a chance of making a story up to anyone, but, ssshh.) ]

Should at least give you time to eat, right?

With that guy? Who the hell knows. [it's frustrating, because there's really no way of ever knowing just what serizawa's going to do. the fact that he was granted a reprieve this morning may not bode well for the rest of the day; getting this far without having to do a sake run or some other petty, annoying thing kind of worries him, in all honesty. for all he knows, he'll end this day having the shit beat out of him for sleeping in and not waking up early on his own.

that guy is such an asshole, such a pain in the ass... but what can he say or do? ibuki's got a place to eat and sleep, and he's still alive because of serizawa — he's not totally ungrateful for that.

it probably doesn't matter much now though, right? he can worry about it when that time comes. for now, he's unthreading his fingers from the blue mess that is his hair and reaching over for the onigiri, taking a hearty bite and reveling for a brief moment in how good it is. he didn't even realize how hungry he was until he taste it.]

Ah— ow! Careful... [it's an automatic reaction though, as heisuke works at the tangles. it still pulls at his scalp, and he's a big enough baby to whine endlessly until it's over.]

C'mon, Ryunosuke.. Aren't you a man?

[ Heisuke lets out a large sigh. He doesn't really stop tugging as he does so, mostly since he knows there's no other way to get these knots out than to just be a little rough with them.. it's not like it should feel as bad as getting kicked around all the time, anyway. At least his tone makes it clear that he's not exactly making fun of the other, but that he's more just saying it's something they just have to put up with.. the curse of having long hair like this, really.

His fingers manage finally untangle that particularly big one though - with one pretty hard last tug, sorry there, Ibuki - and Heisuke takes a bite from his own rice ball again before he sets himself onto the next knot. ]

It's really bad though.. [ Said as a true expert, mind you. ] How wild have you been sleeping last night?! It must've been worse than the way Shinpatsu-san and Sano-san sleep after they get drunk!

[ Pot, kettle... ]

Wh—Hey! Of course I'm a man! Being a man doesn't mean it stops hurting!

[it's not as if heisuke can really argue that, either. he's not exactly the most mature with pain himself... even if there's a definite different between pain from fighting and training and pain from hair tangles. it still hurts, though!

it could probably be worst though. serizawa's tessen trumps a lot of that, at least in his experience. in any case, after he finishes one of the rice balls, he's ducking his head a little, rubbing a spot on his scalp that feels sore from all the pulling. unsurprisingly, heisuke's doing a better and slightly less painful job than ibuki was himself... his patience levels are just too low.]

I don't know what happened. I wouldn't be surprised if Okita came in and messed it up just to piss me off or something... [everything is souji's fault, even when it's not it sounds like something that asshole would do to him, though. that guy...!!]

[ There's just a lot of pot, kettle coming from Heisuke that we aren't going to address, okay. Especially since he doesn't bother saying anything further about it even if Ibuki does make a few more sounds or rub his hair. Instead Heisuke just laughs - sorry, it's not like he can hold that back - at the funny mental image of Souji really sneaking in while Ibuki's sleeping and messing with his hair.. mostly since it's just such a stupid innocent prank, and that's exactly the kind of stuff Heisuke likes compared to the most dark stuff that's been going on lately. It's the sort of prank Heisuke would pull on his best friends if he could actually pull it off.. and if Shinpachi had a little more hair.. ]

Imagine that, Souji sneaking around in the middle of the night just to mess up your hair.. sounds like he's really dedicated to you! [ It's at least half a joke, and Heisuke's still laughing after he says it and manages to more or less straighten out the knots in another strand of the blue hair. ]

Maybe it'd be easier to just let it down before you sleep.. but sleeping like that's even more of a pain, huh?

[ He Knows... the one thing Heisuke can understand no matter what is hair problems. Although in his case it probably doesn't help either that he actually looks pretty much like a girl when he has his own down. ]

And it's even worse when you have to wake up in the middle of the night and just be ready..

[ Stupid middle-of-the-night missions lately. With the trouble with the rasetsu growing, it's just been happening more and more often that they've all had to go on a hunt in the middle of the night.. even though it's a little hard to imagine compared to the image of them sitting there eating rice balls and doing their hair right now in bright daylight. ]

I don't know if it's better or worse than when he tries to shove me into the river...

[if there could be an award for heavy sighs, ibuki would probably win it, because he's doing it again. all of this a pain, because most things end up being some kind of annoyance to ibuki anyway. souji manages to be a big part of that on a daily basis, because he tends to be such an asshole about things—it's really a wonder to him that kondou still sees him as no less than a perfect angel child.

because he's a shitlord, okay.

maybe he shouldn't think about that right now though. he's already getting a pretty bad headache from this hair mess, and the chances that it will dissipate anytime soon will only get lower if he thinks about souji. instead, he's wincing, though this time heisuke's motions don't seem to be as painful. he's glad, really glad, that there's someone else who totally understands his pain here. the struggle of deciding how to sleep with it, and the knowing that cutting it just seems wrong even if maintaining it more like shinpachi's would make the mornings a lot less of a hassle. bathing, too.]

That's happening a lot lately, isn't it? We barely sleep through the night anymore. [why they're still working on this stupid ass rasetsu thing, ibuki will never understand. they're stealing people's humanity and making them monsters who can't be controlled. who does that help? they're a total danger to everyone and just make more work overall. it's a wonder any of them managed to wake up in the morning after those kinds of nights. niimi and that koudou guy really... they were making so much trouble.]

[ There's a small pause where he just tugs on a knot, but then Heisuke slowly answers. ]

Yeah. It's like one of them goes crazy and escapes every night now.. [ It's said with less energy than everything he's said before, and the expression on his face is definitely rueful to say the least. Heisuke's probably pretty glad that doing Ibuki's hair means sitting behind him at least a little (although not entirely, given for just how long his hair goes on) so his expression isn't immediately that obvious.

Still, he can't help it - even aside from the grumbling about the lack of sleep like Ibuki may be doing, this stuff just really tugs on Heisuke's heartstrings. The whole matter with the rasetsu, really. Forcing people who've fought by their sides to drink that stuff, only to watch them go crazy and have inevitably hunt them down and kill them when they really lose it.. it's terrible. Even if the alternative for those men would have been sepukku, having to be locked up like this, practically becoming monsters...

It's cruel. It's terrible.

His hands don't stop pulling on Ibuki's hair, probably to distract himself at least a little. ]

I'm getting pretty sick of it.

[ It's pretty obvious that he doesn't mean it in as whiny way, but he's still trying to present it at least a little like that, like it's just about the bother of having to run around all night instead of anything else. He's a warrior, after all, he has to be stronger than that - but even so, he can't help the way his heart feels. ]

[Unlike certain blue-haired kids, some people have been up for much longer already and are thus quite presentable to the world.

Yes, Sano is one of these people.

However, when he makes his own way to the engawa from inside, he still raises his arms over his head and stretches. It's been kind of a long day already, you know. Getting up early. Being an adult. Seeing teenagers lazing about.

...Hey.

He watches Ibuki and his struggle for a moment, trying to decide if this is an actual crisis or something he should actually ignore. But then he sees the rice balls beside him, so woefully unattended, and Sano realizes the best thing to do is deal out some tough love.

Yep, he sure does pluck one of those balls right off the tray.]

Thanks for sharing!

[by now, ibuki should probably know better than to ever leave his food unattended. getting the knots out of his hair had somehow taken precedence over eating, maybe because it was distracting how uncomfortable it was.

of course, that flies out the window entirely as he realizes that sano is coming and going in a flash with his meager breakfast.]

Oi! Harada!! That's mine! [a pointless argument, he knows... but it doesn't stop him from scrambling to his feet to chase after sano. which also means he's leaving the rest of the onigiri unattended in the process, but that's just a minor detail, right?]

[He really should have known better, but Sano also knows that Ibuki is not always the brightest candle in the room. Or the best at chasing people, especially when the prey in this case is a skilled warrior who can easily dodge obvious attempts to stop him.

He twists and turns and side-steps Ibuki's advances with little effort, quickly eating the onigiri in the process.]

You snooze, you lose, Ryunosuke!

[Though, despite Sano's teasing and the opening to steal the rest of Ibuki's breakfast, he doesn't touch the rest of the rice balls. Small miracles? Or just Sano being decent?]

[unsurprisingly, that dodge is enough for ibuki to go stumbling forward, tripping over his own feet. he manages to catch himself before he faceplants the ground. by the time he straightens himself out? well, he looks pretty pissed off about the whole thing.]

Like hell I was snoozing! You don't come and take a guy's food after you've already eaten! That's foul play, you know![life is not fair. he's not allowed to touch anyone's food, but they all steal his. and it's not even their mealtime! it's times like these he wishes he had saitou's scary food possession aura.]

[I don't even know why she's here BUT SHE IS NOW and you know what, someone yelling so angrily makes her immediately gravitate towards said yelling, because she has 0 self-preservation instincts and SOMEONE MIGHT NEED HELP!!!

Whatever help she could even have to offer.

Which is minimal, lbr. Regardless, she can't help but tentatively come closer, fingers intertwined.]

Um...are you all right?

[well, this is alarming. it's pretty rare to see any women around these parts for a number of reasons... and ibuki's not exactly great or tactful with girls as it is. the sound of an unfamiliar, female voice (cute as it may be, not that he'd admit it) is enough to make him jump back. and, you know, look pretty scandalized in the process.]

Who are you!? [also "why are you here" and "why are you offering to help" and a full novel's worth of other internal keysmashing, really. sorry, mai... he's the exact opposite here. he's loud, rude and obnoxious.]

[She's getting "YOU SHOULDN'T BE HERE" vibes, but to be fair, that's not exactly an uncommon thing. She does jump a little at his jump, and then his demanding words, and she kind of shuffles awkwardly in place, twisting her fingers into her dress.

... ... ...]

W-well... my name is Mai...

[that didn't explain much, not that she has much more of an explanation to offer. Very abruptly, she bows her head.]

I'm very sorry if I'm intruding...!

[oh no. when she says it that way, and when she looks startled, it makes him feel bad. dammit, why can't things like this ever be, you know, easy?]

It's— you're not, really. [his cheeks flush just a tad and he looks away. but there's still a pretty solid frown on his face.] Why are you here, though? Girls... don't usually show up in this place.

[he can at least try to point her in the right direction. maybe she's looking for hijikata or serizawa or something.]

[Oh...the problem is that she's a girl. That's...also a thing she's relatively used to. Mostly she's just used to being a Problem, for whatever reason it may be that week. ~~Month. Endlessly repeated month.~~

But honestly? She has no idea why she's here, which is why she was wandering. Amnesia's a bitch, especially when you end up somewhere completely unexpected for musebox reasons.]

I... [she glances away, biting her lip.] I'm not sure...

[It's a little weak, though, and honestly, she's still more concerned for him than for herself.]

B-but that's not important... are you sure you're okay? That looks really painful... [His hair's longer than hers by a longshot... but she still knows the woes of tangled hair.]

[their rules are weird and strict. of course, ibuki himself is also a strange anomaly to how things work around here, and serizawa has definitely kept women on the premises before, despite the rules set in place.]

It's pain, it's fine though... I'm used to this kind of thing. [every day, really. today's a little worse than most, which means he probably slept more restlessly than he even realizes (or someone fucked with him in his sleep, but he's electing to ignore that possibility). it's a hassle and it hurts, but he'll get it all taken care of eventually. mai's presence almost immediately necessitates changing his priorities. and the subject along with it.]

Hey, do you really not know why you're here? That's... weird. [his tone conveys more than one thing now. there's a bit of skepticism, since it just seems strange. but at the same time? he's kind of concerned about it. that's not exactly a normal response.]

[Used to it... her hands itch to sort out his hair, honestly. She doesn't really know where the knowledge came from, but she's pretty good with hair, especially braids. She's sure she could sort it out-- but asking to sort out a strange man's hair is not something she's willing to do.

Especially when he seems so suspicious of her now.

(She kind of is a suspicious person, isn't she...?) She stammers a little at that, fingers twisting together nervously.]

O-oh, I'm um... [... and then, more weakly--] I can't remember... [She knows she shouldn't be saying, but if she tries to hide it, she doesn't have any other answer, does she...? That's even worse, somehow.]

Are you sure it's okay? [She's still stuck on his hair ok.]

Wh—You can't remember? What... what does that even mean? People usually don't just go wandering places and forget what they're doing!

[or do they. well, ibuki's never had that sort of experience, so he can't help but be a bit incredulous about it. it's still suspicious and concerning, especially because she's diverting the conversation. he can be kind of dumb sometimes, but he's also obstinate as all hell, so he's not going to drop it quickly.

she could really need help, or she could be some kind of threat. he can't just sit back and do nothing, right? right...?

(right. because if he questions himself any longer, he'll start to have doubts.)]

[Okay so that could've gone better. This is why Orion warns you against these sorts of things, Mai! Dumb, dumb, dumb.

But honestly, she's starting to feel pretty uncomfortable. She's obviously interrupted this man from a task he was struggling with (and also his meal...?) and now they're both uncomfortable...

But she just flinches a little at that, because...yeah that's...probably true.]

I'm sorry...! [The only thing she can think to do is apologize...eat your heart out, otome protag. She bows her head as well, her hands twined together more tightly to keep them from shaking.] I don't...want to be trouble, so please don't worry...

[SHE'S SURE IT'LL BE FINE (no she's not, no it won't be)]

( voice test ) ibuki;

my icons are still a mess don't mind that.....

MINDS!!! i can send you the new ones i finished if you want 'em... they're not all done tho

yes please... i'd be okay with just having the long haired ones anyway tbh

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