eyemind | [ un: XIII / VIDEO & ACTION ; pick your poison! ]

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[ un: XIII / VIDEO & ACTION ; pick your poison! ]

[ For the browsers of the network who had tuned into this particular entry, they are met with a dizzying sight. The cinematography is atrocious. The feed bobs and weaves from side to side, shadowing the curious movements of the head of the person holding the comm device far too close to his nose from the other side. It may be difficult to see, but the turquoise-ish fluid oozing from a small puncture wound was a bold contrast against the otherwise metallic slate of the wall. ]

The wall scolded me! That's so weird..! [ The owner of the voice was... Hard to identify. Maybe a young woman, or an even younger boy. The teetering footsteps that bounced the camera seemed to imply that he was cautiously keeping his distance from the wound of his own making; a interested sort of hesitance that seemed unclear in its intent. ] So, I was thinking, maybe I should put something up so I can throw my knives when I get bored... But wouldn't that mean I have to put a hole in there, anyway? Even if I try to be good I'll still get in trouble! [ The exasperation in the stranger's voice left as quickly as it had arrived in lieu of something sincerely enthusiastic. ]

Oh! [ The video was obscured by a brief cascade of white and then a large, red eye. Bowing right over the communicator to regard it upside down seemed like the most reasonable route to take, even if not the most comfortable looking to a casual observer. ] I'm Suzuya, your new crewmate! Let's all get along ~ You can call me Juuzou instead if you want, I don't really care about that. [ There were more important things to discuss, after all. ] So, the wall wont take away my Quinque if I'm bad, right? It just tells me not to..?

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[ Matt was in good company! Healthy formative years were not histories that either of them shared. The two were amongst friends. ]

I like that! I'm gonna do it! [ Oh! Right. There was a video. Poor Matt had been subjected to a corner of the wall this whole time. Juuzou swung the device upwards, humming to himself whilst he tried to figure out what to press to actually turn it around... There! Now Matt can see just how grateful he is, and, you know, actually see his face that was beaming from ear to ear. ]

Mmhm! I'm good with them! If anyone could beat me at hitting a mark with my knives, I would buy them breakfast for a whole year. [ Just don't question where he got the money. It's fine. ] Why? Do you need me to throw one at someone for you, Matt-san? [ He asked with a questioning tip of his head. Someone or something, but someone would be better. Moving targets are far more engaging. ]

I'm a good idea guy. [He has ideas sometimes and even if they're outlandish, that's right up his mark. Destroy your bedroom? Yeah if it means the ship is fine.

That beaming face on the network makes him sigh internally. Everyone here is going to fucking die if the wrong person from their world comes. Cute though. At least cute. Enough that he's not sure about the boy comment, but it also could be his own bias.]

That does seem damn confident. Confidence like that doesn't come around very often so I'm going to take you word on it. Honestly, I'm not sure. I could use a friend who's good at throwing knives and isn't afraid to get their hands dirty. Right now, not so much. I'm new here so I'm not sure who deserves knives thrown at them yet. The circus stuff, I'd love to see that but how about rain check on the people target?

[ It's fine if he dies. Again, he wasn't scared of death. It just happens, and it can happen to him. As long as he gets to have fun before that time, he will be satisfied. ]

I don't need to be your friend if you just need me to stab someone, you know? [ But he seems to like Matt well enough. Friendship may very well be on the cards. Both hands steadied the camera at arm's length, then one drew away to flick a little two fingered salute from his forehead. Juuzou was lucky that he didn't smear ship blood all over his hair for that. ] Rain check!

[ But, about his tricks... Juuzou tipped his head to one side, then the other. He idly chewed at the stitching in his lip as he pondered. ] I don't know how to do that with the camera so you can see... Matt-san, I need another idea please.

No, but I don't have so many friends. Even less here and you seem pretty chill. [As in chilling. Matt knows what kind of fire this is in its most broad sense of the term. The kind of fire isn't as close to "dumpster" as it is "wild".

Matt has been watching in the camera and he knows that hallway all too well. It was only a matter of time before he had to start sharing.]

Good thing for you, Suzuya, I have a ton of ideas. I'm going to send you this message and let's do a game of trust so we can start building on that friendship. You'll have to shut your eyes and put your left hand on the wall. You'll need to take about twelve steps, counted out real loud and then stop and keep your eyes closed. Think you can trust me that much?

Edited 2021-02-15 01:54 (UTC)

Chill? I've never been called that before... [ Why was that? Who knows? It couldn't be that he was anything but a calm person, could it? ]

Let's see, let's see... [ Before Matt had even finished relaying his instructions Juuzou had set his left palm against the closest wall. The camera feed sort of landed at an awkward angle pointed mostly towards the ground. ] Sounds fun! I'll play the trust game.

[ Juuzou's steps were uneven and teetering, but he set one foot in front of the other with his heels set close to the toes behind him as if he was balancing. ] One, twooo ~ ! [ He counted aloud in a sing-song voice. Was part of the game listening to that weird pull on his hand? It seemed to be responding to the direction, and it was the left one that had that weird symbol on it. ]

Ten, eleven, aaaand... [ With his eyes still tight shut, Juuzou hopped for the final step and landed with both feet beside one another on the ground. ] Twelve! [ What does he win? Did he do good? Can he open his eyes now???? ]

There were quite a few things that Matt was able to think of that would be as dumb to spook a possible psychopath with their eyes closed. So. In lieu of that he was more than arm's length and down the opposite hall from where he actually lived by the time he doubled back and around. Loud counting helped facilitate him to know he was still down the hall and approximately where in projection tone.

What Matt wasn't able to anticipate was the sensation from the back of his hand. As much as he wanted to bolt the other way until he could figure out why, instead he felt drawn toward the sound of the counting. No, no way. Having looked on the network, he felt a little up to date on what was going on and the closer they both got, the more his glyph indicated.

Well shit.

He heard 'twelve' and was at a good distance away, at least arm's length wise. "Alright, open your eyes." he said with a gentle tone. "Now you don't have to use the network, you can just show me." If he ignored the glyph would this go away? Maybe?

Juuzou stood still, even if the tension wound in his legs was ready to spring free. He wanted to at least fidget but the anticipation was killing him. The moment he was told to open his eyes, he did so without a moment's notice. Both of his vivid red eyes were wide with wonder. Oh, so that's why Matt sounded different! He was right here!

"You found me? How did you do that? That's so cool!" Juuzou asked, bunching his hands into excitable little fists close to his che-- huh? "Look, my hand is different..." He lifted his left palm and turned it around to regard how the glyph had changed. That's probably important, isn't it?

Juuzou quickly lost interest and returned to assessing the unfamiliar face before him. "Aah, you're bigger than me..." He observed with a little upturn of his lips. Both of the smaller man's hands raised and formed 'o' shapes with their thumbs and fingers. Juuzou put them over his eyes to emulate Matt's interesting choice of accessory. "I like your goggles~" He chimed. "How much were they? I want a pair..."

Matt had a way of appearing when he was needed, it didn't stray far that he was a magician. Except he wasn't. Not even close, it was sound and trail and the variables of all things involved in sending someone twelve loud steps in the opposite direction. Normal people stuff, you know?

Normal people stuff. Like realizing that as soon as Juuzou started speaking that the glyphs solidified. Shit. Yeah okay. This wasn't good, but it wasn't so bad. Matt had an instant amount of questions rather than answers, things like: Were those stitches? "I'm a really good tracker. There's no one I can't find." Mello included. But speaking of hands, Matt pat the glove on his own hand and turned it around even if it was still sheathed in the leather to show the back of it to the other man. "Mine too. Lucky us, looks like." Thank you, coincidental probabilities. Not really though since this meant he was tied to a stab-fetishist who spoke and acted like an actual child. Then again if there weren't very many people, the probabilities were in their favour finding each other easily over the network. Just not likely. Hm. Something to ponder on later.

An observation of his height made sense, but out loud not so much. Matt had been observing a great many things at single glance, it was only fair for someone to size him up to. This time literally. He couldn't look up at his goggles but the momentary upturn of his eyes as if he could actually had him doing something if not hiding out behind the fur of his jacket and putting his hands into his pockets. "I don't know how much, they were a gift. I've had them a long, long time. We can look around, see what we can find here one day." No time soon. This meeting was about how dangerous Juuzou was or wasn't and how amicable he was. "What about you? Is that subdermal implant?" He gestured with his hand toward the other man's stitches in general. Nothing specific.

In all fairness, Juuzou hadn't said how old or young he was. He was very aware of how difficult it was to pin down his age and gender and thrived in the confusion that his existence caused. "Hey, do you live here? This is my floor. My room is over... There!" A point of his finger down the hall punctuated the vague directions he had given. Poor Matt really was stuck with Juuzou in more ways than just their glyphs.

"Ohhh..." Juuzou mused aloud. "Those are Matt-san's special item. I understand." He smiled with a shallow nod of his head. "That's nice... I'm happy for you."

He was listening whilst he fiddled with his device to turn it off for the moment. All the while Juuzou bowed lower and lower. He figured out how to cut the communications when he was just shy of touching his toes. Stretching was important if he was going to show off some tricks for Matt in the near future. "Huh?" Juuzou peered up. "It's just thread! Do you like it? I did all of the stitching myself~"

Someone out there hated him a lot. A very lot and his eyes scanned to the 'there' that was being pointed out. The opposite of his own room, mostly. "Yeah I live on this floor too. I'll come give you a knock sometime." Sometime depending on what he was going to learn.

A nod of his head secured the idea that, yes, those were a special item. The sincerity behind that happiness for him sounded true, but he decided to keep it on the pile of not certain for the moment. It wasn't too important, really and he didn't want to go through why they were a permanent fixture on his face. That and really there were more things to think of like: Jesus Christ on high the guy sews himself. The limbering? That could continue. But this part was a little interesting, too. Did he like it? F...uck no? Kind of. Alright maybe a bit. "It looks cool, kinda like it hurts but cool. I don't think I'd have what it takes to do it myself. Or the skill. Are you a tailor, too?"

Juuzou stood himself straight with a graceful sweep of his body. The heavy metal rattling of his coat was very, very apparent from the quick movement and how the sudden shift in gravity jarred all of his knives around. "Please!" Juuzou would love the company. So far, he didn't hold any negativity towards Matt, so spending time with his new friend sounded very appealing.

"It's not too hard..." Juuzou explained, stretching out one of his legs by holding it behind the shin and raising it up. "If it looks bad, you just pull it all out and try again~" Juuzou was carrying on the conversation as if he wasn't holding his leg up against his stomach like it was the most casual thing in the world. As it seemed, the boy was ridiculously flexible.

"Hurts?" Came a whimsical little echo. Carefully, as to not disrupt his one-legged balance, Juuzou lowered his leg with dainty pointed toes as he spoke with Matt. "I don't feel pain and stuff, so who knows?" He wondered aloud whilst repeating the lift and hold of his other leg up against his chest. "Noooot really? If I was then I would probably be able to take these clothes in a little! They're waaaaay too big..." Especially his coat. The most tailor-y thing he did was sew in little holders for all of the knives he ~~stole~~ borrowed.

The sound did draw his attention, but Matt knew likely there was bound to be strange and other dangerous things about him. What the small bit was he knew already had red flags going onto the field. It made sense, if he couldn't feel pain that meant stitching himself was a little easier than for most people. Matt would've been the biggest, most giant baby about it.

Then again his focus was on the flexible body proving that, yeah, it definitely could be that he was training for 'circus stuff'. "I feel pain, it'd hurt I think." At least he had a good train on it for normal pain. The possibilities for a very deadly ally that can't feel pain sure did make for good future endeavours. "Oh." Okay made sense. "They look good though, I thought it was just some kind of street fashion statement. I'm living in Japan right now back home and there's a lot of street fashion."

With both feet firmly upon the ground, Juuzou laced his fingers together and streeeeetched his arms up above his head. He pushed his back into a shallow, forward arch, then let the limbs drop back down to his sides. "There, that should do it!" The announcement was intended mostly for himself, but an extra pair of ears was now informed that his body was nice and limbered up.

"I think it would hurt, too." Juuzou agreed with a confident nod of his head. "It's not like I've always not been able to feel sore... It probably stings, maybe it aches?" That was something to think about later. For now, Juuzou rummaged into his coat. When his hand emerged, four knives were being held by their blades by the spaces between his fingers.

"Matt-san, are you good at throwing things?" Juuzou asked. He sprung one step forward with his arm extended to offer the weapons over. "As long as you promise to give these back, I'll let you use them! Throw them at me, and don't hold back, okay~?"

Edited (Matt dropped his honorific.) 2021-02-17 02:15 (UTC)

Why do all the passables and hotties also have the psycho code embedded in? It must be a thing. A whole damn thing. Even Misa Misa, really. Oh well. Matt wholeheartedly knew that, even if he wasn't one of the two describers, he wasn't whole-brained either. A nod was the only way to convey without rambling out something dumb about stretching and that was what he did.

That tiny tidbit of information was interesting, too. Something that got afforded and skimmed over just as quickly as one another in favour of the conversation of knives. So that's what it was jingling around. To him, that meant the information was there for the taking, it was a matter of navigating the waters. The knives make him inwardly uncomfortable, but he knew better than to show someone a weakness. Throwing them at someone wasn't an issue. He had no skill in it but he knew how to throw something. "I can do that. Give them back and throw them at you. You better have some cool superpower I'm not in the mood to murder someone I'm enjoying talking with."

His gloved hand extended in offer to place the knives and to show his willingness to do this little routine.

Juuzou didn't tend to ever hold his cards close to his chest. Almost any question that Matt thought to ask would be answered in earnest. He seemed satisfied when Matt took the knives from him. With a wiggle of his arms and a shrug of his shoulders, he removed his shirt and let it clatter noisily to the floor. "If you need some more you can take them." He offered whilst taking a few steps backwards. Without the risk of fabric flowing he could move far easier to avoid getting stuck with a blade. His undershirt didn't even have sleeves for him to worry about.

"Those are weighted pretty evenly so it shouldn't be too hard to throw," He commented. Juuzou stopped about fifteen feet or so away from Matt. He raised his left arm to his head, bent at the elbow. "You should throw them over arm and hold them at the handle, okay? Step forward on your dominant side to help guide the blade towards me. Use a good amount of force, I think it's better for a beginner to throw too hard than too light!" He instructed with an enthusiastic nod of his head.

"Do your best, Matt-san! I'm ready!" Juuzou announced and rocked back onto his heels. "Remember, aim to kill or I'll be insulted. Have faith in me~"

Edited (Spelling.) 2021-02-19 21:02 (UTC)

Matt's eyes didn't need to follow the movement to know that he had just divested himself of a large arsenal. The way it fell told enough of that. "Let's start with these. I'm not a knife-thrower main." Catch him with a gun and you're fucked though. Maybe not, but his aim was spot on and that had carried over into real life, luckily for him. Holding these things in his hand, Matt didn't know he was holding bioengineering at its best. Just that it existed and that they looked pretty impressive. He was going to have to get a book of some sort to draw the things he saw in. Not for himself, for Mello. For Near. They would be able to use his information much better than he could, so said him.

For the moment and since Juuzou had moved away, Matt considered taking off his glove if it weren't that he would leave fingerprints. If he was going to be serious, though, the gloves would be a problem. Well, if he just wiped them after. "Over arm. Got it." As for insulting Juuzou it might more be Matt's inability to specifically aim a knife in a way that he knew how to control the item itself. With a small amount of skepticism, he took his glove from his hand and slipped it into the pocket of his overcoat. The long game couldn't be to get his fingerprints, even L couldn't set something like this up. ...Maybe.

The look he gave the item for a moment had him go through all the steps that had to be taken in order for this to happen and his paranoia had paid off before. This time, however, it filtered into him taking the knife into his left hand. He didn't have a dominant hand, and so while he took a few little bent-arm+step combo attempts, they were more to feel out the movement. "If I stab you I'm not saying sorry."

The first attempt was just as someone who had never thrown a knife outside of a versus map before would have gone. Mostly that it had a good, solid direct aim and a good flow, but the knife definitely wasn't as professional as someone like Juuzou could do. Since he wasn't told to take it easy, quickly enough, he tossed the other three as well, one after the other with an actual intent on aiming to hit him.

Killing with his bare hands was not something Juuzou was shy to do. He didn't need his blades to be dangerous and felt confident in his ability to retrieve his Quinque if Matt did a one eighty and decided to be a jerk. Luckily for Matt, Juuzou did not see him as a threat. Even luckier for Matt is that the knives were always wiped down after use. Not for hygiene reasons, or for the sake of cleaning away evidence, but because it was important to keep them in the best condition possible. That was the least Juuzou could do considering how rough he tended to be with the small weapons.

Every practice step was met with a subtle bunch of tension. Juuzou was alert and ready to react in a hair-trigger. First knife. The throw certainly lacked finesse, but it was better than expected. Juuzou raised his left leg high and set his arms behind his head. He pointed his toes within the cover of his slippers and spiked the knife downwards as soon as it was in range. The blade stuck fast into the ground at an angle from the force of the outwardly dainty strike of his tiptoes. "Aah, that was good! I'm impre--"

Juuzou swept down to pick up the knife as if he hadn't noticed the other three coming his way. His head snapped back and he staggered. With his spine bowed to bend his body backwards he intentionally obscured the view of whether he had been hit or not. Of course he hadn't. Juuzou straightened back up, grinning with the first knife between his teeth and held by the blade. The other two had sailed harmlessly behind him thanks to the change in his angle and slight shifts of his weight to properly sell the initial stumble.

A firm flick of his tongue turned the knife once in the air. It landed obediently into the waiting palm of his hand by its handle. "That was close! Good try, good try~!" It wasn't close at all, everything was planned just to give Matt a bit of a shock. "It's fun, right? Those Quinque feel soooo good to throw..." He spoke with genuine mirth as he twirled the knife in his hand about his fingers in a smooth figure eight. "Matt-san is a natural!"

The display of Juuzou's athletics let alone his command of his surroundings and the awareness therein maybe didn't register on Matt's face, but he certainly felt it. That was fucking awesome. Like video game awesome, the last time he had that kind of thing in front of him was definitely a video game. Damn that was fucking cool.

Also, let them speak forever of how he just got told he did something good. He knew he hadn't but the sentiment was there. "Says the guy who just dodged them and then caught one of them in his mouth for good measure." Alright he could give back what he got, "That was really god damn amazing. The knives, too. Quinque?" His eyes were easily enough to scan over Juuzou to make sure he hadn't been nicked. "So." He began, trying to figure out and navigate which way this goes. "Good looking. Talented and badass. You're not really training for the circus, are you?"

Matt seems to have been entertained and Juuzou was satisfied. He grinned and crossed one foot past the other in a sweeping, well practiced bow that sliced the knife in his hand through the air with a sharp turn of his wrist. It soared upwards and wedged itself into the ground only a foot or so away.

"I used to do tricks like this on tightropes and stuff. That wasn't too hard..." Juuzou spoke as he dropped down into a squat. He tugged the knife that he kicked into the ground out of th-- Oh. Oops. Now the floor was bleeding, too. He got excited and forgot about that. He stepped forward to stand on the new wound to hide it. Yeah, uh. Nothing to see here.

"Quinque!" He parroted whilst wiping the knife in his hand against the side of his pants, as if the unnatural turquoise colour wouldn't be very obvious. There were no injuries. Although the sting would be lost on him, the warmth and tickle of blood on his skin would have been noticeable. Juuzou was confident that he was fine. "Oh, no, I'm not training for that! I just used to do circus stuff a lot when I was younger. Not anymore." He explained with a shrug of his shoulders. Juuzou smirked and tapped the flat edge of his knife to his lower lip, not at all minding the remnants of Navi blood still wetting the steel. "But I don't mind putting on shows for handsome guys like you ~ Do you really find me attractive, Matt-san? That's cute!"

Edited (Small rephrase.) 2021-02-20 02:58 (UTC)

Matt hadn't made a fuss about the knives being stabbed into the fleshy metal of the ship again. In a way, Juuzou was right, if the ship couldn't take a few small holes then they were in bigger trouble. Just as long as it didn't hit anything vital, maybe. The flourish, in that way, caused a small smirk to drag onto his lips. Definitely an entertainer of some sort. He knew how to put on a good show and telling him that he did tightrope tricks as a younger person... He was already young looking but Matt already bet that it was a deceptive age.

There was a lot of very useful information given just then and Matt filed it all away for later. He was about to ask him a little more about this circus stuff until he realized the most that Juuzou gleaned off of that was the physical compliment. Mello would love a guy like this. Guys like this were easier to deal with even if they were clearly superior in every physical way on a scale Matt knew he wouldn't be meeting. That was absolutely flirting back. This was something he knew enough about, himself. "You don't huh?" He asked, taking a few more steps closer, hand still out of his glove. "I don't feel like lying, which means, yeah. I said you were good looking and I meant it. Handsome though? I think you're putting that on a bit thick. Half my face's behind my coat, the rest is mostly behind my goggles. Sounds like wishful thinking."

He reached his hand forward to use the back of the knuckle on his right hand and tried to wipe the bit of blood from his lip. Bold, but boundary pushing was a necessity. "But if I can use it to my advantage and maybe you teach me how to throw a knife accurately, hey. I'll play."

Juuzou shook his head. "Not really." His job took advantage of his manoeuvrability and his skills with his blades, but he wouldn't call it a circus act. He liked to keep himself flexible and on the ball partly for familiarity's sake and partly to aid in his exterminations. One unlucky strike from a Ghoul and Juuzou very well knew that he would be dead, and that would be unfortunate.

Matt approached and Juuzou perked up. His eyes were wide and curious. "I like taller guys," The smaller of the pair explained with a cheery tip of his head. "I can see the shape of your face well enough, you know. I dunno what colour your eyes are, but your hair is so cool, and your voice sounds nice. You worry too much~"

Boundary pushing was a dangerous game to play with a person like Juuzou; he never knew when to stop. The flat of his tongue dragged along Matt's knuckle and left it with a little parting nip of his teeth. His nose wrinkled at the bitter taste of the blood that had wiped itself off onto the other's finger. Well, that did not taste like candy at all. Thankfully it was only a trace amount and Juuzou had been spared from future curiosity that could have ended up with a mouthful of delicious looking, but disgusting tasting, ship blood.

"Yeah! I'll teach you. Or, well, I'll try to, anyway! You already got the basics down so it shouldn't be too hard~"

Taller. Cool hair and nice face shape. Yeah that sounded like Matt when he was younger and first unleashed on the world, too. 'Good enough' was exactly how he viewed some of his own conquests. It's a valid way to be. "Not many people find out what my eye colour is." But the rest, that could be for free.

Matt didn't shy away at the warm, wet caress of a tongue against his finger and the teeth that followed. It hadn't been what he thought was going to happen, but he sure had no qualms about it. His eyes locked in on Juuzou's and a tiny smirk pulled his lips again. Yeah he doubted that tasted so great, that was why he came to move it away, but no. Had to do it the hard way.

Speaking of, he pulled his glove out and slipped his burned hand into it. "I want to learn. I'm good with a gun but I don't see a stockpile around here. This'll be better to protect myself." And also to keep someone like this a little more around should shit go down here. "My tricks aren't as useful as yours."

The way Matt looked Juuzou dead in the eye presented him with a good opportunity to crane up onto his tiptoes. He was practically nose to nose with him. "Hmm..." Bright, ruby eyes didn't so much as blink for a few, studious seconds. Juuzou rolled back onto his heels and shrugged his narrow shoulders. "Well, your eyes are a light colour! I know that much." Well, he tried.

"Let's see, let's see..." Juuzou mumbled to himself as he pranced on over to his discarded overshirt. He crouched down and, whilst he hummed a vague tune to himself, pulled out one of the knives. "You want one to practice with?" He offered whilst spinning the Bikaku around atop his fingertip. "I've got at least thirty of them, so you can borrow this one if you want!"

A soft 'hup!' announced Juuzou's spring back up to his full, short height. "Knives are good because they don't have ammo. You can throw them and then go pick them up again. Just make sure to keep them nice and sharp!" He explained with a confident little nod of his head. "It's mostly practice but I'll help you out, okay~?"

Edited (Typo.) 2021-02-20 14:00 (UTC)

This wasn't a problem. Matt knew this game and it was to see if he could be intimidated in any way, shape or form. In fact, to make it easier, he tilted his head down to give Juuzou a good look into his glasses and to almost close distance. No fear there, at least not where this was concerned. "That's pretty much it." They were lightish, that was the truth. Maybe if Juuzou had RGB values memorized he could have figured it out, but no, as it seemed he didn't.

Now that they had both backed down, at least Matt knew the exploit was right there. All he had to do was take it if he needed it. Both of his hands found his pockets again and he squared his shoulders toward where Juuzou was crouching. "Thirty eight." Matt said with confidence in the number but with hesitance to reach his hand out right away. "I don't know much about knife keeping. I wouldn't mind it, I'm pretty defenseless here. Nothing I had back in my room back home came with me." Only ridiculous things like keys and other things he had since gone through. "I'd appreciate the help, I don't like not being able to protect myself efficiently. Or anyone else."

Mello and Near were here and if that was the case, likely they had been brought for a reason. Matt had always been the tail and tagalong, which meant that was his job here too. Assist, observe, report and trust if he liked it or not sometimes.

Matt had read him like a book and Juuzou hadn't even noticed. His initial intention had just been to scope out his eyes, but the reaction would have been subconsciously noted whether Juuzou had intentions to intimidate or not. He was just wired in a way not dissimilar to how a predator would assess its potential prey.

"... Huh?" That was... Wait a moment. The knife twirling about his finger was stopped by its blunt edge against Juuzou's palm and he set about confirming the quantity of knives he had. He counted the loose blades that had been used for his demonstration, softly mouthing the numbers back to himself as he counted. He paused and was silent. His eyes were blown wide and he looked from his shirt, to Matt, back again, and finally settled his surprised attention onto his glyph partner. "How did you do that!?"

No, now is not the time for knife training. Juuzou's attention just got snatched right away. "When did you count them?? How did you... Wow, I don't get it..?" Huh.

(no subject)

smokingguns - 2021-02-22 01:40 (UTC) - Expand

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