#ad thread

[theywhodare]

Unconventional Card Games | Abnormal Days

Despite the calm exterior he does his best to project, Arthur's nerves were rattled fairly badly by the murder and the hectic trial that followed. Apart from meals, he spends almost the entire day following it shut up in his and Chou's room, flipping through the familiar pages of the books he'd packed for the trip. He's already read, or at least skimmed, all of them by now but it's better than nothing. The day after that, however, as he's digging through his luggage of hopes in finding another book he stumbles across his deck of tarot cards.

For a moment he just stares at them, he barely remembers packing them in the first place. The cards had been an impulse purchase he'd made a few months ago, and he's only just started learning how to use them. He has a spread and most of the interpretations memorized, enough to do a simple if clumsy reading. Slowly he picks up the pack and slides the cards out, flipping through them and thinking. Maybe... is that a good idea? He hasn't seen Hinagiku since the trial, and although they haven't known each other long he already misses talking with her. Would she even be interested in letting him give her a reading?

Well, the only way to find out is to ask. Arthur slips the cards back into their packaging and shoves his luggage back under his bed before he leaves his room. Let's see, Hinagiku was in the C Dorm, wasn't she? Would she even be in her room right now? Shaking his head at all these pointless questions, he makes his way down the hall and through the next compartment to the second one from the back. There he knocks briskly on the door marked C, and waits.

[theywhodare]

Chocolate Makes Everything Better | Abnormal Days

Although not much has actually changed, somehow everything feels different after the trial. There's more tension in the air, more distrust. Arthur can feel it so strongly it's practically like a force on its own, like a dark spirit hovering over the train- not Katsu's ghost, nothing with such a definitive shape. The darkness is more like a sensation or even an emotion. If he had to pick a word for it, Arthur might call it... despair.

It's making him feel restless, and that only highlights how little there is to do on the train. Hopefully with time, the feeling will lift again, although with a murderer on board it's doubtful that anyone will completely be able to return to how things were before Mononeko's hijacking, or even simply before the trial. Still, Arthur needs something to do, something to take his mind off the recent unpleasant events.

So he bakes. It's still fairly early in the afternoon, at least he thinks it is, it's honestly difficult to tell what with the lack of clocks on the train. All he has to go off of is the morning announcement, a vague number of hours ago. At any rate, no one else is in the kitchen when he starts pulling out supplies, lining up the ingredients on the counter and setting the oven to preheat. Absently he ties his hair back, pinning the stubborn curls of his bangs out of his face with a few cross-shaped barrettes. Next he begins searching the cabinets for a baking sheet, mixing bowel, and measuring cups. Once again he becomes so wrapped up in preparations that he fails to notice anyone come in.

[theywhodare]

So a Coroner And a Costumer Walk Into a Bar | Abnormal Days

For some reason that almost definitely has to do with the recent murder, Arthur couldn't sleep that night. It wasn't until the 7am morning announcement that he decided to give up on getting any rest, even though there wasn't exactly anything else to do and he was exhausted. He rolls out of bed, giving a cursory greeting to Chou and setting about his usual morning routine- though, just for today at least, he decides to skip the shower and just washes his face instead.

By the time he trudges into the kitchen he's feeling, if not more awake at least a little more human. Coffee will help, he thinks, a nice steaming cup- no, an entire pot, maybe two- of coffee. Practically on autopilot he sets up the coffeemaker and fumbles around in the cabinets for a mug, oblivious to anyone else in the kitchen or adjoining dining car. His eyes catch on a milky-brown bottle with a bright label, he's not as fluent in written Japanese as he is with spoken, but he catches the word for coffee and flavor. Well, why not? He sets the bottle by the coffeemaker and resumes looking for mugs.