maege | night 18

[The bottle fits on the desk once Kaiba's shoved some stuff onto the floor; all he can hear is dogdad fussing in the back of his mind, and there really are only so many bad ideas one needs to pack into one evening]

It...definitely wouldn't have been ideal. I'm surprised this worked, frankly.

[Was working? Hopefully? Murder is frankly a lot of work and having to deal with too much afterwards is really a lot to ask. Ah, and now he's thought of another positive.]

We could cover for each other.

Sure could.

[she sounds a little distant, though, in part because it is way too late in the evening after way too much bullshit to try to fabricate a convincing alibi while also bleeding but that's where they're at! sure are outta choices on that front!]

Not that that ever matters around here because everyone else had that idea first, but it's the thought and all.

[but—quieter, watching the pile o' stuff on the floor instead, because the chances she'll hear an answer she can't abide by are low but not zero, and fuck if she wants to deal with anything remotely resembling that again:]

Who was it?

If you'd rather go it alone, you can.

[this is pointed, a little on the sore side. it's fine, he's good at being alone. if only he hadn't bled all over his coat like a dumbshit.]

And are you certain you really want to know? Who did you fail to stab from far enough away?

Yeah, I do.

[the last time she didn't know things, SOMEONE manipulated her FRIEND into committing suicide after and during DAYS OF STANNING??? TELL HER THINGS FROM NOW ON PLEASE]

...Corrin. [it's only fair that she answer first, she figures, but she sure isn't proud of it. a little hastily, but sincere:] If I wanted to go it alone, I sure wouldn't have gone this far already.

[well,

well. he sighs, tired]

Tomoe.

[he sighs again. stay on target, can't take your eyes of the prize now.]

...Alright, "cooperation." That said, I don't know if there's much point in setting it up as if they fought each other. Might seem too convenient. Should think about someone to scapegoat in a pinch.

[she doesn't like that answer, just for Tsumugi's sake, but a lot of tension she didn't realize she'd been holding visibly drops from her at it regardless, and she nods a little in acknowledgement.]

Hopefully the obvious scapegoat will make it through the night and be right there for the voting [will, she means will] and no one is gonna actually care about anything else long enough to make us think of a cool cover story for why we're all cut up.

That's not gonna happen. You know Graham's got six now.

[and his tone isn't quite happy but it's far from disappointed]

...Here. Don't volunteer anything. But if anyone asks, we found a room with...with a knife-in-the-box.

A girl can dream.

[just kind of muttered out as all the intensity leaves her, though, replaced by the misery of feeling like a total dumbass, but at least she's offered a distraction real quick.]

...Did you find a room with a knife-in-a-box?

[fuck yeah, crushing dreams]

Close enough. And there's precedent. Blood loss-drunk idea or no, it's not a terrible one.

[snorts, kinda half-shrugs]

Yeah, it'll do, good idea. Hopefully it won't even come up, I guess. I mean, I dunno about you but if I can sleep this off and wrap it up I should be able to act uninjured for a day, that's nothin'.

It won't be the worst of our worries tomorrow, at least.

[he scrubs his face with his hands which. Possibly wasn't the best idea w/r/t blood everywhere but whatever. He gets to his feet, which didn't seem like so dizzying a task when he sat, oh well.]

We should get cleaned up. Looking like horror victims isn't gonna earn me any sympathy points.

—Ooh, that definitely didn't help, you look almost like a fresh Terror.

[Okay, okay, give her a sec; she wobbles a little as she pushes herself to her feet, even before she lets go of the chair for support, but she seems less pained about it so maybe that's just drunk-stumbling. Im...prove...ment???]

Have either of us made a single good decision all night because we totally should have done this first, but yeah, let's go.

You don't have to be so negative all the time. It's kind of a buzz kill.

[waves a hand but will follow this time]

Sorry, we can go back to picking positives again. Like, look, if we forget the way, our blood trails are right there for the following!

[thanks mae]

Hansel and Gretel should've been so forward-thinking. Fewer birds go around eating blood crumbs.

Yeah, all we've gotta worry about over here is sharks, clever us.

[REAL CONCERNS

but yeah, okay, off to the nurse's office they go, and Mae definitely makes Kaiba press the elevator buttons because she doesn't understand the elevator, and she sets to quick work tearing apart cabinets and drawers of q-tips.]

—Gotta be something in here somewhere... You're tall, help me out.

[sometimes cabinets are rude enough to have high shelves]

[well, hopefully some people didn't use up all the gauze, or at least there's those little medical fake staple things, or a bunch of Dragon Tales bandaids or something?? He's pulling down anything that seems at least somewhat useful]

[being a mod means i get to make the call that there are definitely dragon tales band aids but like, bad knockoff ones, to avoid copyright infringement. but there's also gauze and disinfectant and all that good stuff among q-tips hell, and Mae is setting aside some bandages that she picks out of the drawers]

Bad news. No camouflage print.

Or good news. The Mandage^TM market is wide open.

[he grabs some knockoff fairy princess ones and some paper towels to add to the pile. luckily, Kaiba knows at least basic first aid, or at least he read some Web MD articles, so they've probably got this]

[wheezy laughter]

Mandage.

[unfuckingbelievable

meanwhile Mae fights in a literal actual war, so she knows pretty much exactly what she's doing here, except for the fact that she's also from the year negative two thousand and doesn't know how to disinfect anything more thoroughly than with water?? she is doing a solid and steady job getting that far anyway, even if wrapping her own torso while holding her shirt half-up is going to be a pain, but conditions have been worse]

You good?

[webmd says water is fine for this, and if nothing else infection's not gonna be what kills them before they get home

also, it would make 100 percent more sense to wrap each other's torsos while holding their shirts up, just saying, either way they can check each other's work and then add some fashionable off-brand band-aids]

...Questioning the wisdom of a lot of my decisions this evening, but other than that.

[that makes way more sense actually and if they DO get caught everyone else gets to look at the bandaid handiwork, but Mae is going to give herself a couple moments to stubborn through it because she hasn't made a single good decision tonight, better not start now???]

Yeah, well— [sssiiiigh] You and me both, pal, but it's already done with.

...Aaaactually I don't have enough hands for this, help me out?

[if she ever actually admitted she needed assistance to Boey he would develop and start bleeding from a stress ulcer on the spot]

[Note that Kaiba has said fuck and all about attempting to wrap himself up, just struggled and scowled through the cleaning process before taking a break]

[but yeah, he will go take a look]

Just hold this--

[he indicates her put pressure on the matted gauze, then has her stand straight so he can tape it into place and wrap bandages around it just in case. he's efficient, given the circumstances, but he pulls pretty tight]

Got it, thanks—Oof. Watch iiit, I'm already bleeding, do I need to start suffocating too?

[but yeah, this is close to standard fare at home so she knows the drill, acquiesces to all the necessary standing and holding, despite the incredible effort involved in standing both straight and still while both dying-ish and drunk-ish. how could anyone ask this of her.]

Need a hand with yours?

Maybe a little. You should've watched who you were running into earlier.

[that said, while he doesn't pull any less tightly, he does at least attempt to not pull MORE tightly]

And...

[look, the answer is quite obviously "yes", and while he's light-headed enough to consider answering, it's tough to get past the scowling phase]

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