Nightclub, Tokyo, Monday Evening

[withoutverona]

Yurika was working tonight, again, and Romeo had gone out on the general theory he could only read so much about global finances before studying became counterproductive.

A few drinks later, he ended up in a hostess club, making animated conversation with the pretty Ukranian girl who kept trying to convince him to order more expensive drinks. (She succeeded more often than not, Romeo and willpower not having much more than a nodding acquaintance.) Somehow, they started talking about high school.

She discreetly found a way to cut him off when he started telling zombie invasion stories. It seemed like some things were too strange even for paid companionship.

Romeo scowled at his beer. Some nights he really missed Fandom; it would be a relief to be back there at the end of the week.

[OOC: Open to anybody who wants to bother a mildly inebriated Shakesperean. He has his phone and everything.]

Comments

[bitchprince]

It was a Monday night and Arthur was fooling about with his phone, so he might as well.

Ergo, Romeo's might have been ringing.

[withoutverona]

It might have been ringing for a while, between the very loud karaoke performance of "Like a Virgin" in the background and the fact Romeo was still trying to convince the Ukranian that the fact he was talking about undead fiends did not mean he'd had one too many.

But, about half a ring before the call wound have gone to voicemail, Romeo finally realized the beeping sound was coming from his phone and accepted the call.

"Arthur!" He sounded cheerful. "Hello! How are you?"

[bitchprince]

"Not as bad as I could be," Arthur said, which was an affable answer for his standards. "Sounds like you're having the better of it."

[withoutverona]

"I would be if they'd sell me another drink," Romeo said, wandering off to find a moderately more quiet corner. "I spoke about the zombies a bit too freely and now they've decided not to serve me."

[OOC: Die, LJ notifs, die. Oh wait, you did.]

[bitchprince]

"I wonder why ever they would do such a thing," Arthur said, dryly. He was in the rather less exciting confines of his room, so he'd just have to live vicariously through the background noise. "How does life find you otherwise?"

[withoutverona]

"I don't know," Romeo said, missing the sarcasm entirely. "There are supernatural things in this world. It ought not be so very hard to believe."

Well, no, but when it came from a half-drunk boy with an American accent...

"And I'm well. Studying, mostly. I've booked the portal to Maryland for your gradation."

[bitchprince]

"Ah, brilliant," Arthur said, because he couldn't well be sarcastic about that. "When do you arrive?"

[withoutverona]

Romeo considered the gymnastics he'd have to do to get an exact portal time out of his phone, decided they weren't worth it, and hazarded, "I have to look. I believe it's fairly late Friday afternoon. Are they sending you to a lock-in that night?"

A warning about sentient decorations might be in order, if they were.

[bitchprince]

"...A what?"

You know, if you wanted an answer to that question, Romeo...

[withoutverona]

Romeo chortled. He couldn't help it.

"Lock-in," he enunciated, very carefully. "It's a sort of festivity. They made all the seniors stay overnight in a warehouse the day before graduation last year. The decorations attacked. ... no one told you?"

[bitchprince]

"No one told me anything specific," he said. And back then, he hadn't listened to radio much. "But no. No lock-ins. Hopefully, we'll have an uneventful graduation all in all."

Thank you, Arthur, for just jinxing an entire senior year.

[withoutverona]

Romeo was distinctly dubious about that possibility. "You're due for something quiet, so it might even happen," he said skeptically. "The year before mine, the ceremony was attacked and they had to move the island to end it."

He frowned at his phone. "I don't remember exactly how it worked."

[bitchprince]

There was a slight pause on the other end.

Then: "That's what we did in that other Fandom," he said, distantly. "Move the island."

[withoutverona]

The tonal shift didn't go unnoticed, but it was hard to process with Madonna lyrics being shrieked in one of Romeo's ears. So: "Hang on a second."

He ducked outside, which wasn't precisely silent but had the advantage of fewer drunk people.

"There's no reason it would happen again," he continued. "I did not mean to -- reopen anything."

[bitchprince]

Arthur's eyebrows went up on his side of the line.

"Romeo," he said, "Have I ever given you the impression I'm some kind of sensitive waif whose feelings should be minded?"

[withoutverona]

"No," Romeo said. "Which is why when you do sound like that, I take thirty seconds to leave a bar."

[bitchprince]

"Well, I'm not."

At least Romeo had been succesful in changing the tone from 'slightly traumatised' to 'cranky'?

"We moved the island to Greenland, if you must know, and put an end to the whole lot. That's all."

[withoutverona]

"Happy to hear it." Cranky was much more familiar to deal with, though it had the side effect of making Romeo put the slightest edge on his tone. Feelings were not cancer, after all.

[bitchprince]

The cancer question was kind of subjective, wasn't it? It was the sort of thing that depended on who you asked. Arthur had a great deal of feelings.

"Mhm," he said, vaguely. "Anyway, let's hope that moving the island won't be necessary this time around. I've had quite enough of that."

[withoutverona]

Romeo had 19 years of feelings and precisely no cases of cancer. (All right, he did have a dead wife, but no one was totally unmarked.)

"It shouldn't be," he said, trying to be reassuring. "The ceremony itself was fine last year, and it does sound like you've had a rough go of it. Ino mentioned a bit about the fog, and Reno said you all had future children show up again?"

In his head, that should have lead to a peaceful Fandom for ... a month. Maybe two.

[bitchprince]

The idea that Romeo somehow felt he should be reassured made Arthur even more cranky.

Mind, his father didn't believe feelings gave you cancer. Just that they caused morale to drop, soldiers to desert, and every neighbouring kingdom to come charging in and set the whole place on fire while dancing around in nothing more than a small towel and maybe some leaves.

"The fog made you see things that weren't there," Arthur agreed, "I'd almost rather have it than the children."

[withoutverona]

Uther Pendragon had a rather vivid imagination, didn't he? Especially the bit with the leaves.

(Ted Montague, on the other hand, had been so pleased to finally have a son that he overindulged Romeo and his emotions in every possible way. This was probably healthier for Romeo's self-esteem, but tended to lead to things like, well, dead wives.)

Anyhow.

Oblivious to the narration, Romeo frowned at the phone. "You'd rather lose your head than see your imaginary children? How bad were your children?"

[bitchprince]

"Not that bad," Arthur allowed, "But everyone else's were utter brats..."

Pride: not something the Pendragon Dynasty had any shortage of, unlike feelings.

[withoutverona]

"Mine weren't," Romeo argued. "Not that they were there this year, but they weren't."

Spoiled, and given to rattling on in Japanese faster than Romeo could follow, but not brats.

[bitchprince]

"I'm sure they were well-behaved," Arthur said, in that indulgent sort of manner that suggested he didn't buy that at all.

[withoutverona]

"Absolutely so, just as yours were," Romeo said, in the same kind of tone. "... and if they weren't it wasn't our fault, it was some other corrupting influence."

[bitchprince]

"The other parent," Arthur said, decisively.

What? With his own, it wasn't a big stretch.

[withoutverona]

"Well, I wasn't the one who taught them to speak Japanese..." Romeo offered in agreement.

The spoiled thing was down to both of them.