yourotherleft | IC Inbox: Cerealia

[So Sanji is...confused. He's just been dumped into some shitty ballroom, dressed all snazzy and fancy even for him, and he feels...vaguely disoriented. He has a pretty good idea where he is, what fucking...place he's in, but he also has a weird feeling that something's gone wrong. Even though he doesn't have any memory of anything strange happening.

Or, well. Stranger than usual.

But it's really never good when this shitty place decides to just drop them in random places for no reason.

He glances around for a familiar face, but quickly remembers the shitty device thing for communicating here. Weird again that he feels rusty with it, and that he has to pause and think about how to navigate through the damn menu to get to where he wants. Soon enough, though, he's shooting off a text to his idiot roommates. Or one of them, anyway. He knows Luffy ain't always one for reading, or typing into this thing. Probably easier to get answers from Zoro.]

hey what the fuck is going on?

[So there's not a lot of people Zoro gets texts from, so whenever the little 'ding' goes off he's usually pretty startled and curious. Today, no different. First thought, Vietnam, since they've been hanging out recently. Second thought, Kashuu or Dotanuki. Third thought...misfire?

He grabs his device and almost can't believe the name he sees there.

But that's not...

Zoro stares at that name for a long time, before even bothering to read the text. And then it all sort of slams into him like a sledgehammer to the gut. Is it really him? He's back. What the shit. WHAT THE SHIT.

A few minutes and a considerable amount of strenuous thinking later, he finally manages to text back.]

are you fucking kidding me? cook?

[The hell sort of response is that?

Sanji stares at the screen for an equally long time, brow furrowed. And then his reply gets delayed even more because apparently all the shitheads around him are trying to have some kind of fight to the death, so he has to deal with that for a bit. He eventually manages to type out a reply while kicking some asshole in the face.]

yeah here's me kidding. haha what a great shitty not joke. the hell's wrong with you, marimo? also WHERE are you? and Luffy?

[He actually...can't sense them in here. Goddammit, is he in a ViViD thing??]

[Excuse him, he's still sort of reeling. Particularly from that weird sense of being actually happy to hear from this asshole again, because that ain't right.]

nothing, shit. just you know you disappear for a month and some and now i'm getting messages from you again. sure you're not dead?

[The joys of not being arsed to go anywhere near ViViD if he can help it. Except for fishing games shhhh.]

at the apartment. you remember?

of course I remember.

[He fires off that one right away, almost an automatic response while the rest of his brain trips over the fact that apparently he fucking disappeared. Damn, really? That's annoying...]

[So a moment later, after he's kicked a few more idiots around and had time to make his brain form words:]

as if I'd die that easily. it's really been over a month?? who's been feeding Luffy? is my kitchen destroyed? my kitchen is fucking destroyed, isn't it.

[He's mostly kidding...

Probably.

Suddenly a little worried over here.]

its not destroyed don't get your pants in a knot.

[it's just very very messy]

if you remember then get your damn ass over here already, don't go wiggling around after girls or whatever the hell youre doing.

that ain't what I'm doing, I WISH that's what I was doing. think I got dragged back in with all the other new people, you know how that shit goes. they're all fighting over who the fuck knows what. think I'm in ViViD.

[Which, uggghh. How do you get out of the thing.]

why so eager anyway? miss me, marimo~~?

[He's just assuming Zoro's hungry, really. But why pass up an opportunity to tease?]

SHUT UP I DID NOT MISS YOU ONE SECOND STUPID CURLY BROW

[that...might not have needed to be capslocked oops. Blame the weird sensations still curled in his gut, the desperate yearning for something familiar that isn't Luffy, a mix of things he might have been thinking about over the past month without admitting to himself...and yes hunger, actually.]

fine play whatever stupid game they got you in this time. have fun.

[...He's actually not sure how to respond to that. Part of him instantly wants to punch some shitty capslock back at him in an imitation of their usual brawling, but not having Zoro's dumb face right in front of him makes it slightly easier to hold back that knee-jerk reaction.

Another part of him is just plain curious. Zoro doesn't always want to see him sooner rather than later. And by "doesn't always" he means "pretty much never".

And yet another part just harrumphs in annoyance while Sanji grumbles under his breath. Yeah, because it's just so fucking easy to leave these shitty forced game things? Idiot.

It's a combination of the latter two reactions that have him replying with nothing more than:]

...

what

[those three dots tell him nothing, cook. Granted, he doesn't know shit about how the game works, he's just glad it didn't grab him up this time, apparently. So it's a new-arrival month, is it?]

don't tell me youre actually having a good time in there

you know I'm not, don't be fucking stupid. did you know that screaming shit with nothing but capital letters makes you sound like you're spouting bullshit?

[Kind of amused over here.

Also yeah, time to get out of this fucking game. Let him just...figure out how to do that real quick.]

I know what it does and thats WHY I DID IT

because your dumb face isn't here for me to yell at

[huff huff. Why did he miss this asshole, anyway? Well. Shh. No.]

by the way I'm hungry

uh-huh.

there any food there? hell, is ANY of my shit there or did you chuck it all?

[Because if he needs to go shopping before he gets home, tell him now. He already might do so just because this outfit is sort of ridiculous. It's not like he's attending a shitty ball or something, geez.]

we didn't touch your shit, its right where you left it.

[although the kitchen counters are covered in a fine layer of pizza boxes. At least his room is somewhat untouched, except where Zoro attempted to straighten things up in the outside chance he needed to move in there.]

no food tho

so thoughtful.

[Well...it is, but it also makes him wonder if they've just...not been using his room at all? He knows Luffy prefers to bunk with someone else, but still. Over a month and his bedroom is just sitting there empty?]

fine, I'll stop and get something. what do you guys want?

[oh just you wait, cook]

Luffy's still here so what do you think?

[nothing says "welcome back" like a demand to be fed, right?]

vegetarian buffet, got it.

[And then whatever other shit happens that's supposed to in the intro log WHO KNOWS, but eventually Sanji's out and making his way home!]

anything exciting happen while I was gone?

asshole

[nothing really changes. Oh look, a little while later there's a new message!]

uh let me think. another field trip, shorter, less fun. found out some nasty bullshit about this place.

you gonna elaborate on that?

[It's almost a relief to be back out on the city streets. He'd much prefer having the deck of Sunny under his feet, but at least this is familiar.]

don't think anything changed for me. like I don't got any new memories from home or anything.

not over text, I dont wanna type that much

[it takes too long, okay? Besides, it really is nasty, he'd rather share it in person]

nothing? did you even go home?

[Oh? Well now he's really curious. Not that it gets him back to the apartment any faster because he really does need to go shopping. New shirt and pants is a must.

...Also food. Right.]

don't think I did. feels like I just woke up from a shitty accidental nap or something.

yeah nobody naps for a month, not even me, so.

weird. but you're back.

[thanks Captain Obvious.]

nah, you only nap through hurricanes and shit.

[But yep. He's back. Even though he doesn't remember being gone. Weird, indeed.

There's another break in replies while he wanders through a few stores, but eventually he winds up standing outside the apartment door, arms laden with bags and wondering if he should knock or not.

That'd be dumb, though.

So instead he gets the door unlocked and shoulders his way in, calling out as he does.]

Oi, marimo! Luffy! I'm home!

[he doesn't feel like justifying himself at that point so there's no reply. The long pause afterword, no more questions, gives Zoro time to slowly come to realize that maybe this place is a bit of a mess and he should really do something about that. Luffy's out and about (for now...) so he's alone in this quest, argh.

So when he hears the door and the familiar voice, Zoro is in the kitchen, hastily scrambling to cram as much fast-food refuse into a trash bag as he can. It's already over-full but dammit if he can just fit one more pizza box...

Uh.

[Yo, cook. You see nothing, certainly not a twitch of deeply-suppressed emotion to hear that call. There sure wasn't a weird feeling deep in the pit of his stomach at I'm home, no sir, not here.]

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