suddenlybees | || IC INBOX

Ehh... You can be so closed-minded sometimes, Mav!! Words just communicate a meaning, right? Pictures do the same thing! Hey, hey, open your eyes, look!! This— [ He dispels all his other headache-inducing illusions and instead holds up his hand, a solid black vertical rectangle appearing on the palm of his hand ] means something to me, and so does— [ the rectangle splits and shrinks into two horizontal lines, one on top of the other ] this!

[ He turns his hand around so the swear faces Maverick again. This, he doesn't even have to say, is very clearly a word, one that means something to Maverick enough that he's the one who's explaining to Kano what it means. ]

So what's the difference between a card for Ramona and my hand?

[Even more reluctantly, Mav opens his eyes to a squint to confirm that all the disco circus shenanigans are gone, then focuses on his hand. Yeah, yeah... Ugh.]

You ain't Mama, dumbass. Tell you want, though -- you gimme a key to your secret code what was in your fucking jacket that time -- a full key I can understand -- and I'll make your hand sparkle like it was blessed by a fucking unicorn.

[ He can work with Maverick on the pedantics of words, but he can't become Ramona... Well, he can, but he won't. Also- ]

What? No. I made that up when I was seven, so you gotta figure it out yourself! Think like a seven year old!!

[thank you Kano for not becoming Ramona..........]

I don't even fucking remember how to think like a seven-year-old. I don't remember a ton of shit from back then. Take the fucking deal.

No, come on, I need you guys to start thinking for yourselves- this helps me out too! Here—-

[ He has like three notebooks in his pockets but this point, but never mind that, he rolls up his sleeve and shows Maverick his bare arm instead. ]

What symbols do you remember? Write 'em here.

[Instead, he takes the sharpie and draws a dick on Kano's arm.]

...Remember a long fucking time ago when I fucking told you to "be better," and you said that meant nothing because you had no clue where to start or end or anything? Throwing random symbols at someone and expecting them to play with you when you don't give any hints is like that.

[ Mature

The dick is left there and Kano gives Maverick his other arm. ]

Remember like two seconds ago when I told you to think for yourself? That doesn't mean I'm not going to help you through it!! You're not going to learn if I just give you a cheat sheet to memorize— and having something like that floating around is just stupid anyways! I'll walk you through it, so come on, come on, be a good boy and listen to me~

I can fucking fade it out, dipshit...

[but hmm, what does he even remember...

A square. A square with a horizontal line above it. An equal sign. A minus... A dot? And a reverse exclamation point.]

No, I'm keeping it.

[ But alright, alright, he can work with this. Getting Maverick to comply is like pulling teeth, so Kano illusions those symbols onto his arm for him. ]

LFECOA. You got some vowels, helpful!!! Does it make sense now?

I meant the key.

[It can stay invisible when he's not using it!!]

LFE...COA...

[Hm. Well, if L is a box... F is sort of like an upside L with a line, so that...works... E has two more lines than that, but it's just an equal sign, there's no box at all, it only makes sense because it's in this specific order. At least O is easy.]

Not like I have your fucking checklist to work from, either, anymore. [as he draws box-dot-box onto Kano's arm.]

[ It still physically exists and that's what he doesn't want!!! aka why bad ideas stay largely in his head until he's ready to roll out his plans, something like a key would just be incrimidating.

LOL... At least Maverick is applying what he's learned, but he's still not thinking, not like a seven-year-old. ]

You don't need my checklist, and I can't remember which one you're talking about either! But it's like this- okay! Imagine you're me, you're seven-year-old me who's as dumb as bricks with a shit memory and can't memorize 26 pieces of information. But I want to write something without anybody knowing, and it's gotta be immediately obvious to me what it says. Does that help at all???

You have the fucking opposite of a shit memory. Your memory's amazing, you stupid piece of shit.

[He can recite a book accurately when it isn't in front of him and he didn't just get done reading it!!!]

I mean, O is fucking obvious.

[Or...hm. After twiddling the sharpie between his fingers for a while and thinking, he carefully writes the letters in blue around the shapes he's been provided with, making it so the code fills in the negative space.]

[ His memory is shit because he can't remember the important things, he can't remember complicated things, things that matter more than words in a book that he can repeat word for word but have no idea what they mean. Arbitrary symbols to letters would have been hard for him too, so when Maverick starts overlapping the letters with the symbols, the corners of Kano's mouth pulls up. Even when he was very little, he'd paid attention to things that aren't there, more than things that were. ]

And the rest of them too~ Now you're thinking like a seven-year-old!

That really isn't a fucking compliment...

[but he's smiling a little anyway. He did it!!! And Kano smiled, too! A nicer smile, not his chaotic smile!! Maybe this trip is good after all.]

[ This is Kano's "lol that's my sister's bloody corpse on the ground, gotta hide my pain so I don't mentally break" smile, but also a good Kano smile. ]

It's a compliment! Little kids are the best~ And little kids like sparkles too, so!!!

[ Sparkle him...!! ]

[IN GAME CONTINUITY IT'S JUST A NICE FUCKING SMILE ORI FUCKDAMN!!!]

Ugh... You're so whiny. Just don't go telling people this shit, alright?

[Because yep...tabarnak, coded LOL, and the dick all have a shine of glitter to them now.]

[ LMFAO IT CAN BE BOTH

But also, hell yeah, hell yeah, Kano displays his rainbow glitter text proudly. ]

Alright, alright, if you're okay giving up the credit, I'll tell them I got them tattooed!! [ Just the things he wants permanently on his skin, yeah ] Ellie'll be so jealous~

Good. Serves her right.

[for ditching the main campus, and all.]

Gotta stay in my good graces, though, or I'll take it aaaall away.

[ Ellie could be dying for all Kano knows, because she doesn't say anything and Kano never thinks to ask and he fixes Maverick with an incredulous look and hugs his arms to his body. ]

You wouldn't dare!! I need my arms, Mav, you can't have them!!!

[what a weirdo!!]

You fool, assuming what I would or wouldn't dare. Haven't I proven I'm not so predictable? I can do weird shit, too. I would totally take your fucking arms.

[ squints ]

What would you do with my arms if you had them?

[Hm...]

Test out tattoo designs on them to see how they looked. Drumsticks.

Dummy, you've got a sharpie to test out tattoo designs, and I don't think my arms will be that tasty???

[ More like... he could just ask Kano whenever he wants to see what a tattoo would look like on him, and if he's hungry, Kano has food in his pockets sometimes. ]

What? No -- not that kind of drumsticks, dumbass. I like Cannibal Corpse, but I ain't looking to become either of those things anytime soon. Actual sticks for drums.

Anyway, having your arms to draw on when-fucking-ever sounds easier than getting you to sit still.

[ Kano's first two thoughts were 1) chicken drumsticks, and 2) ice cream drumsticks, because as much as he doesn't like eating and doesn't care about food, music ranks even lower on the priority list-- even without music knowledge, he wants to ask whether something smaller and less squishy would be better for drumming, but. ]

I sit still all the time! I'm great at sitting still!! Look, I'm sitting still right now!!!

[ And he does, for like two seconds, before he feels fidgety again. The plane ride is too long... ]

If you want to draw on my arms and need me sitting still, just do it when I'm asleep or something, you can leave my arms attached!

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