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backdated to mid/late april

[istandwithmycancelledwife]

"Jamil!"

Kalim knocks on the door, and then opens it anyway.

"Jamil, could you take a look at my head? It feels kind of itchy and weird."

One of his hands has already started changing at this point, with a couple of fingers he can't move because the hinges haven't finished forming out of the solid gold. The obvious assumption is that the same is happening to his head, but he really doesn't want to voice it.

[snizier]

Jamil clicks his tongue, because he was there for Kalim's fingers and this is guaranteed to be more bad news. There's skin flaking off his own cheeks, revealing snakeskin forming underneath that seems to spread a little further every day.

"Fine. Turn around." It's not like messing with Kalim's hair is anything new for him anyway 🤷

[istandwithmycancelledwife]

Kalim's eyes linger for a moment, as usual, on the emerging scales, but only for a moment before he turns around as instructed.

"Can you see anything?" he asks, tilting his head down to give Jamil a better look. He gestures with his good hand. "It's kind of... round here." There is something there, of course; under the short white hair part of his scalp has become gold, a seam beginning to form like a skullcap around the back of his head.

july

[istandwithmycancelledwife]

[ During his impromptu sleepover with Yzak: ]

Hey jamil!! Im at an apartment with yzak we're staying the night here
Is it ok if i cook with him? I'll be careful!

[snizier]

[After dozens of unanswered messages this is the response Jamil finally gets. Ugh This Sucks. Jamil does NOT want to let Kalim cook but he must concede that someone over there has to if Kalim is going to eat anything.]

How much kitchen experience does he have?

[istandwithmycancelledwife]

He says hes good at cooking! I think itll be fine!

August

[teapotyrant]

[After a little incident, Riddle felt compelled to give Jamil a warning about the little identity thief.]

Jamil,
I discovered a blonde miscreant claiming to be you.
I have taken his head so he should be easy to identify if you wish to find him.
Do take care to deal with the issue swiftly.
Sincerely,
Riddle Rosehearts

[snizier]

[A "blonde miscreant", huh? There's really only one guy Jamil knows who fits that description. This is the best thing he's heard all day.]

I have a feeling I know the culprit.
I appreciate your assistance in this matter. Rest assured I can handle it from here.

[teapotyrant]

Glad to be of service.
Once you have addressed the matter, and he has made proper apologies, do let me know so I can dismiss the collar.

[Or y’know… make him sweat for a few days. Not like Riddle will know.]

text; early September, after the infoshare session out in the woods

[el5n]

We need to talk

Recommend not having Kalim around, if you can manage that

[snizier]

And what could this possibly be about?

[el5n]

I understand the skepticism, but if you can dig deep and find it in yourself to trust me with like, five minutes of your oh-so-precious time

I've found out some information you're going to want to hear.

It's about your Natural Soul type.

after Tunnel Hell

[istandwithmycancelledwife]

jMail ARE YOUSDILL DOWN T HERE??> AR E YORU OJI K OK PLEASFS OREPLY

[snizier]

[groggily, not that this makes any difference to Kalim:]

What

[istandwithmycancelledwife]

ARE UUOU OKM?????
ẞOTRY MMY FIJGTRRS RE YO BGIG
ARTR YOI STIKL INH YGE HOLE?

backdated

[istandwithmycancelledwife]

"Jamil..."

Kalim is speaking relatively quietly. He's in his pyjamas, sitting on the side of his bed, reluctant to commit to getting under the covers -- today was fairly uneventful and he didn't do anything to piss Jamil off, so he's transparently decided he's going to push his luck.

It's been about two weeks since Jamil agreed to Kalim dating both him and Five, and generally not a ton has changed in their stupid apartment apart from Kalim being even more touchy-feely than before and taking every excuse he gets to smooch either of them. But Five is way more receptive to that kind of thing than Jamil is, and by now Kalim has the understanding that this is mainly because Jamil is shy. He knows the only way he's going to be able to balance his smooch humours is by waiting until they're definitely alone.

"Can I sleep in your bed tonight?" he asks, smiling at Jamil hopefully.

[snizier]

Jamil pauses in the middle of his own bedtime routine, which mostly consists of making sure everything is prepped for the next day, including clothes--sue him, he doesn't like making decisions in the morning--and eventually more or less "tucking Kalim in" out of habit. He stops, midway through folding pants, and slowly turns to Kalim, feeling an ominous trepidation.

"Why?" he asks suspiciously. They haven't shared a bed since they were kids and Jamil got tired of helping Kalim with bad dreams.

october

[istandwithmycancelledwife]

After Five has left, Kalim lies on the couch for a while, fiddling distractedly with his new hinge and waiting to see if Jamil comes back out of the bedroom. When he doesn't -- Kalim doesn't know how long it's been, he's never been very good at keeping track of time, but it feels like it's been a while -- he closes the lid on his chest and goes to check in on him.

There's no sign of Jamil, of course, but Kalim can feel he's there. He closes the bedroom door behind him, even though no one else is in the flat any more, and sits down on his bed. He feels very tired all of a sudden.

"Jamil?"

[snizier]

Jamil has been on an absolute bender of a sulk since he left the room, of course. This may actually be the worst he's ever felt in his life, emotionally speaking. Even when he overblotted--during and afterward--he'd had a physical body to grant him catharsis through it. He'd had a mouth and lungs to scream his feelings, there was feedback to be had from lashing out. Even without that he could have taken a shower and pretended it wasn't a cover for having a good cry or something. Like this, though, all he can do is curl up and lie here.

Under a pillow, where he can't be perceived, naturally.

He'd like to stay there, but wouldn't you know it, he can't talk out loud in this form, and he knows it would be a bad move to simply leave Kalim in silence, especially when they can sense each other anyway. But he doesn't feel like... talking, or interacting, or really being looked at period, so instead of fully unfolding into humanoid shape he simply stretches out as a thin trail of smoke until he reaches Kalim's shoulder, and retakes his snake form curled against the nape of his neck.

He still doesn't actually say anything, but he probably doesn't need to for Kalim to sense how much he feels like shit right now.

prrrrobably tail end of december

[yesdoubt]

[It's a check-in that was going to happen at some point, but Momo got bogged down enough with moving Yuki out of the Valentia and preparing for the solstice that he didn't feel he had the appropriate amount of time to set aside until now. He's hoping it might've given Jamil a bit of distance from what happened, as well.]

Hi hi~!
We still need to chat, can I swing by to visit you sometime? (*＾▽＾)ﾉ

[He is...not going to take no for an answer as far as talking out what happened, but he'll at least be polite about it.]

[snizier]

[Jamil does not want to have this conversation. The temptation to just reply No and see what Momo does is incredibly strong. But when he's not being influenced by spectral hunger or katalyth or blot or some other thing making him upset, Jamil is a fairly rational guy. As much as he would love to wriggle out of confrontation forever, he has a feeling any response other than taking this head on will only piss Momo off further. Which Jamil isn't actually interested in doing, if only for pragmatic reasons--they're unfortunately imprinted, and breaking that is likely to be unpleasant. He has too much else to deal with right now than want to risk that.

And, well. He does owe Momo something, he can admit that much, though at least Momo doesn't seem that mad... (weird.)

So this is happening. Great. At least Jamil can try dictating the terms to his liking.]

I'd rather not meet here, and I doubt you want me visiting yours.
Pick a public place and a time and I'll accommodate, as long as it's at night.

[If it's during the daytime he'll need Kalim's help if he wants to go anywhere far, rip]

@archiviste

[babeldom]

um. jamil? it's noé. i just wanted to check that you were okay. i mean, if you need energy again or something. i don't mind helping if you need.

[snizier]

What? Are you an idiot?

Mid-January

[bloodypath]

Hubert was a patient man. His fury was a patient beast. The scorpion-soul was a patient predator. For all of the intrusive instincts he had to fight, biding his time was not one of them.

He listened to Dorothea and Ferdinand's recount. He did his research. As loathe as Hubert was to leave this carefully heated sanctuary in this Goddess-forsaken weather, he would never allow himself to think his work sloppy. And once he knew the place, knew the actors, knew the habits, he waited.

Once the noisy one had left (the ward, if Hubert remembered correctly), he advanced. Locks were rarely an issue for him now that he was more familiar with this region's designs. Hubert slips into the apartment on silent feet, habitually quiet even if the scorpion-soul didn't spur him to be. The natural soul dampened his presence, made it uninteresting and easy to overlook as long as he was still and it wasn't dark—unless, of course, he wanted to be noticed.

When Hubert's trichobothria sensed Jamil's approach, Hubert settled into an easy stance his four visible arms tucked into the small of his back (an undeserving mercy for Jamil that Hubert's long winter coat only had four sleeves, choosing to keep his insectile arms tucked to preserve warmth), his metasoma arched lazily by his hip, and waited.

[snizier]

It's not often that Jamil spends the day by himself--he's not exactly able to do his old job anymore, with how much more effort it is to perform complex tasks during the daytime, but he usually accompanies Kalim if only out of paranoia. Today, though--he'd just been in the kind of mood for space for himself (even though he's been just as clingy as Kalim), to putter around the apartment for the day and maybe expend some of his energy on tidying up since lord knows his roommates aren't doing it.

He's not expecting intruders, obviously. When he sees Hubert suddenly lounging in the corner of the living area he freezes, adrenaline flooding him like a rush of static. Where did he come from? How the hell had Jamil missed him? Moreover, Jamil recognizes him--vaguely from months ago, he knows Hubert is unfortunately an Arthropoda which is just his fucking luck, but also from a horrible non-memory of tearing limbs that he refuses to examine. He doesn't need to revisit that ever, especially not right now.

What are his options? His Soul doesn't grant him many offensive capabilities, but he still has magic--but the idea of fighting this guy fills Jamil with that same deep terror he doesn't understand. His eyes dart toward the doorway. He could run, if necessary--he's difficult to hurt or catch by normal means, and there's no one else here he needs to protect. He isn't so proud he can't recognize the advantages of cowardice. But Hubert hasn't made a move yet--whatever he's here for, it isn't to attack. Not outright.

"How did you get in here?" he says tightly, after several moments of silence. "What do you want?" There's only no tremor in his voice because of how tense he is, how much he refuses to betray any sign of fear.