Sweet Sciency Magic [Aniki/Kenji]

It had taken Aniki three round trips to and from the dining room to move everything he needed out onto the deck, but by the time he was finished, he was more than pleased with himself and all set to go, so it hadn't been that big of a deal. Carrying a few bowls and things hadn't exactly been backbreaking work, after all.

But. But! It was finally time for him to embark on his quest for drinkable water, and it was with something close to childish glee that Aniki approached his task. He hadn't had a chance to try this particular method in a long time, and while he knew it worked, he had never been able to do it in such a carefree setting. Even with the threat of imminent death and starvation hanging over his head, he found that this cloudless day was too fine to brood in, and he rarely got the chance to enjoy the nice weather like this.

More relaxed and at peace than he had been in days, Aniki took a moment to pause his work and wave at another student who was on deck, wondering just what the hell the blond skater was doing so deep in thought. Regardless, the reject was in a good enough mood to be genuinely friendly for once, not to mention he actually did need the rope to draw up some water. He'd seen it lying around earlier, but he'd also spotted the skull-capped skater walking around with it up towards deck, so he hadn't gone back down to get some of his own.

"Hey Takabe!" he called, approaching said blond good-naturedly enough. If the skater couldn't deal with the degree of impoliteness the lack of honorific implied, then he would just have to suck it up; Aniki didn't usually tack on an honorific to any of the names he said. "Mind if I cut your daydreaming short and borrow some rope?"

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Overall, Aniki didn't blame the blond for his suspicion; had the reject been in the latter's shoes, he would've been suspicious as well. That didn't stop the older teen from (mentally) rolling his eyes though. Technically, anything could be used as a weapon if you were smart enough to think of how, and using the glassware set out in front of him would've been one of the easiest ways.

You could never underestimate the power of broken glass, after all. Anyone who was smart enough to fight dirty (honor would get you nowhere in a brawl) knew that. If you didn't want to do that, knocking someone over the head with a heavy bowl was bound to do some damage as well. Besides, wrestling the rope out of the muscular skater was too risky a move, especially in broad daylight in the most open area on board.

"Easy now," Aniki replied placatingly, bringing his hands out where Takabe could see them before he moved them—slower than he really had to so that the other wouldn't be taken off guard by any sudden movements—to gesture at the collection of bowls and things he had gathered from the kitchen. "Just lookin' to draw some water, that's all. If I'm gonna die on this ship, I'd rather not die from dehydration. That'd just be a lame way to go."

Shrugging, Aniki canted his head to the side and then fired off a few questions of his own. "Now that I think about it, what's up with you? The hell would you need a buncha rope for?" If Takabe was uneasy about handing over some rope, a possible murder weapon to him, Aniki would return that question. What the hell was the blond doing with a weapon?

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"..."

Aniki actually stopped what he was doing and stared at Kenji for a moment, wondering what it was that wasn't clicking with the blond. "No, we aren't," he agreed slowly, "and that's the point. Monokuma never said we couldn't drink water. Can't use the sewer system though since who knows how tap water circulates on this ship, and we're bound to need it later if we don't know how limited our supplies are."

Aniki shrugged, staring down at his collection with a hint of pride. "Besides, this way is funner."

Looked like his good mood wasn't going to last though. While the reject would've loved to just let Takabe's vague explanation go, it wasn't in his nature to do so. The biggest problem was that the skater was avoiding to explain why he had dragged a possible weapon up to the top of the deck in the first place, and that was a little concerning. With an inward sigh, Aniki let some of his easygoing air go, gaze sharpening though he kept them on his hands.

"Well I'll say. We've got all the time we need, so why not tell it? I can listen while I work."

Now that the younger student wasn't in possession of the rope anymore, Aniki squatted down and set to work, tearing out a length of plastic wrap to wrap around the cut end of the rope. Thankfully, one of the bowls—more a bucket than a bowl, really—came with a handle, so the reject wouldn't have to worry about whether have to double up the rope and get something too short to reach the sea. Knotting the portion wrapped in plastic around the handle, he forwent actually gathering any water and began to set up the rest of the bowls, waiting for the other student to begin speaking first to make sure he wasn't going to endanger himself by leaning over the railing to lower his bucket.

Takabe didn't really seem like the type to kill, at least not to Aniki. But it was still better safe than sorry. It always was.

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Of course the question would be ignored. Aniki found Takabe a little unpredictable half because he simply didn't know the other man well enough and half because he wasn't used to hanging with people who were so... simple? No, not quite, a little too derogatory. Content? Nah, that wasn't it either. He didn't have a word for it, but it was different, and while part of Aniki kind of hated not having a general idea of what the skater might throw at him, another part of him thought it was almost refreshing in a way.

So ignoring the question entirely and asking about something as innocent as dreams instead was... an oddly Takabe-like thing to do. With a snort, Aniki decided to just let the matter drop. He was about 90% sure the skater didn't have the drive to kill, so he shunted that thought to the back of his mind and actually set about pondering dreams as he stepped over to the edge of the ship and dropped the bucket overboard. Thankfully, there was enough rope for the thing to actually hit the water with a slap.

Yeah, his mind mumbled with sardonic humor, money, sex, and alcohol. Easier said than done. More realistically, however, the answer was "no". Wasting time entertaining a dream you could never hope to achieve was pointless and depressing when your biggest worries should've been when your next meal was or how you could make sure you didn't find yourself lying dead in a ditch somewhere. Aniki honestly didn't know what Takabe was expecting out of someone like him; his life was—had been—too fucked up to hold onto something as innocent as a dream.

As it was, there wasn't really much he wanted to still live for, but give a little, get a little, right? There didn't seem to be any ulterior motives underlying the question anyway, so he'd give it a try. Better Takabe than anyone else; the skater gave off won't-judge vibes and didn't seem like he'd make a big deal out of anything really, might even forget the conversation, so that made Aniki feel just a little more comfortable with sharing something he deemed so personal.

"I think when I was a kid, I wanted ta be an astronaut or somethin' like that. But now?" he asked, staring pensively at the water. Ugh he wasn't good at this opening up thing, didn't like giving parts of himself away. It was easier being a secret when his whole life had been consumed by a secret. Besides, this wasn't the sorta thing he could entertain without the help of a drink. "I dunno man. Haven't found one yet." He kinda just lived, went along with whatever bullshit life had to throw at him, lived between highs and lows. Ugh, that last part made him sound a bit like a druggie.

"Maybe you should give me one. A goal, I mean," he joked with a halfhearted smirk, but he honestly didn't really think anything would come out of that. Takabe was just that unpredictable. Anyway, what did people say in conversations like these? Uh... Fuck it, he didn't remember how to do this thing, it was already good enough that he was at least trying. "And you? What're you shootin' for?" he asked around a grunt, slowly starting to heave the filled bucket back to the deck.

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS