Todomatsu Matsuno

[rosebleed]

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WEEK 0: First Monday

[rosebleed]

[This week, he might feel the stranger before he sees her. It starts as a prickle raked over skin. The scalp of the head, the neck, the waist, the upper arms and thighs. Then it's literal pricking. Scabbing, scraping, slicing, as if brushing past delicate razors. There's a sickening tug in the belly — an open wound but an old one, with something thick and unrelenting jutting out from within.

The pain disappears the minute the girl draws close with a cheery greeting.]

Good morning!

[She nods a head crowned with thorns at him before making to pass by. There's a nastier set wound around her middle.]

[drymonster]

[ wow okay what the fuck is happening here because he sure doesn't love it??? ow???? he's definitely like, in a cold sweat by the time she passes him, even if the actual physical discomfort has already subsided. ]

H-huh? Uh, morning.

WEEK 0: First Friday

[rosebleed]

[She stands outside the impenetrable simulation chambers, hand gripped on her thorn bow and glowering. Her head snaps to Todomatsu the second she hears his footsteps, reflexively drawing but not yet taking aim.]

They're locked. Don't bother.

[drymonster]

[ well, he was already feeling very disoriented and on edge, and he tenses up pretty hard as he watches her hand on the bow, like he thinks it might end up pointing at him at any moment. ]

Ah. [ he swallows, his throat dry. ] Um, okay. Thanks.

WEEK 0: Second Sunday

[rosebleed]

[sends them into the void.

It's a rather glum Rosamund that waves to Todomatsu. Not crying really, but perhaps she has recently, or might if lead onto the wrong train of thought. She offers him a smile though.]

Hello again.

[drymonster]

[ waves and smiles back... the vibes are so exhausted. ]

Hi. [ a bit of a pause and then an awkward little laugh because fuck. ] This has been a pretty bad weekend.

WEEK 2: Thursday

[rosebleed]

nyquil

Hello Todomatsu, this is Rosamund.

How are you feeling? I've barely seen you all week. I hope you're well.

Let me know if you need anything, okay? My door is always open! And there's a really cute tea shop now, and also a place that shows more videos? I'd like to see this "anime" thing if they have any, it sounds very fun.

Yours truly,

Rosamund

[drymonster]

[ oh she's treating it like a letter... that's both cute and incredibly cringe

also he feels bad because— well, he'd already felt bad for snapping at her when she was trying to be supportive, but then everything with eunhyuk that weekend made him feel like even more of an asshole retroactively, so he felt weird about approaching her after that. but now he looks like he was ignoring her which is ALSO shitty? god!!!! ]

totty

hi rosamund-san!
sorry about last week

you weren't being annoying or anything, i was just kind of going through some things
which i feel a little better about now, so don't worry!

i loooove the tea shop, it's super cute!
and yeah we can watch some anime sometime! just let me know what kinds of plots and stuff you'd like and which ones you'd want to avoid
there's... a lot of variety

w2, sunday

[drymonster]

[ at some point on sunday, todomatsu happens to be leaving room 006 right as rosamund is approaching her own room next door. he pauses there in the doorway, appearance flickering back and forth between color and grayscale. ]

Oh... hi, Rosamund-san.

[rosebleed]

Totty?

[Not that she's in much better spirits but he is literally fading away.]

What's going on? You're looking...pallid?

w3, monday

[drymonster]

[ when todomatsu finds himself in this void with rosamund, his immediate reaction is that he hopes to fucking god it's not going to be one where either he or his brothers are doing anything gross or humiliating.

he... kind of gets his wish, but the memory (from 11:26 - 17:47, and then the tiny montage bits from 19:04 - 19:09 and 20:46 - 20:53) that's shared is still painful in a way... and for different reasons than it was at the time.

he does his best to shake it off afterward, putting on a smile. ]

Ahhh, that was pretty long, huh? Sorry to make you sit through all that!

[rosebleed]

[It starts off rather sweet. They're identical, so much so that Rosamund's head whips around between each and comes close to losing Totty twice. The voices help, as do the shirts, but she's so delighted by the simple show of family and the sweetness between them that she'd rather enjoy the scene instead of trying to figure out what might go wrong.

Because something does go wrong, eventually. Not in the bombastic and bloody ways that many other memories do, yet it hits all the harder for it. It's an inevitability, not a once in a lifetime tragedy. Family grows up and grows apart, and it doesn't always do so with clean cuts and kind words.

She looks to him in the aftermath. He's smiling. Reminds her rather a lot of herself.]

Oh, it was no trouble, Totty, don't even worry about it! I've been very curious about your family, actually. I didn't know you were all identical!

[Or that things were fraying at the seams.]

w3, thursday

[drymonster]

[ coming to find her after she's had a chance to clean up and bandage... ]

Hi... did you get patched up okay?

[rosebleed]

[Thankfully she has, and she's been trying to find a nice hole to disappear into

but totty is TOO FAST, damn]

Yes. Yes, thank you. [Flashes him her bandaged hands.] See! All good. Right as rain!

w4, monday

[drymonster]

[ we're here at the skating rink, and todomatsu's standing up after tying on the glittery pink roller skates he got from the rental counter. ]

You haven't done anything like this before, have you?

[ just... assuming, because he's pretty sure cinderella didn't leave a rollerblade on the staircase. ]

You can hold onto me if you want! You know, for balance, or whatever.

[rosebleed]

Not really?

[Though she looks out to the rink with eager eyes.]

I hope it's not too much trouble, Totty, I'll try not to drag you down.

[Warily she steps out, taking gentle hold of his shoulder.]

WEEK 4: Friday

[rosebleed]

[She knocks at his door.]

Totty? [Knocks again.] Are you in there?

[drymonster]

[ for once he actually WILL be in there and will open the door ]

Rosamund-san? Are you okay?

w4, saturday

[drymonster]

[ well. todomatsu's kind of been at a loss for words since the last half hour of that trial. between the arrows and snare traps, he'd be lying if he said he was completely shocked that it was her, but seeing her snap like that at the end when they'd been holding hands and making karaoke plans just a few hours earlier is... hard to process.

when he finally comes to see her in the medbay, he's... nervous. not about his own safety, but because he's afraid to see what kind of state she's in after that, and to have to consider what might happen after this.

with a hesitant wave... ]

Hi. ...How are you feeling?

[rosebleed]

[She is rather selfishly still laying in the pod. The hood's popped open but she remains laying down, dead in the eyes and sluggish to respond.]

...Hello, Totty.

[What a question. She blinks slowly, her gaze lazy on him.]

I've been better.

WEEK 6: Saturday

[rosebleed]

[Gayly sets them at the tea shop, unless it's high cursed now? i know some places are but anyway

Rosamund is all but shotgunning her boba, tears still rolling down her face. Once she hits the bottom—]

It's...it's so much better than the corn margarita...

[More tears.]

[drymonster]

[ his only problem with the tea shop was that it made him sad about their curfew because EVERYONE FROM IT WAS DEAD EXCEPT FOR HIM!!! but that's better now so ]

The... uh, yeah, I guess it would be.

[ passes her a napkin???? girl dry your corn margarita tears ]

WEEK 7: Monday

[rosebleed]

[They're at the Beach!! Fun!!

Except he can feel a slight but persistent trepidation wafting off her as they walk. Her eyes skate over the sand, the water with the strange fish. Even as she stops to peer at them swishing around, her unease doesn't abate.]

Hard to really enjoy any of this, isn't it?

[Stood as close as they are, her fingers wind thoughtlessly into his. She doesn't even look up as she does it.]

[drymonster]

[ ah

well, it's not hard to enjoy this, and she can probably pick up on the fluttering heart emotions emanating from beside her that suddenly overpower the trepidation that was there a moment ago. ]

Y-yeah, it is. It's hard to know how much of any of this is even real.

w7, saturday

[drymonster]

[ smiles and waves tiredly... this is still playing in the background around him for a few more hours. ]

We did it!

[rosebleed]

[Lighting up the second she sees him.]

We did! We — [hold on.] Wait, did someone curse you?