( ARCHIVED )

The Don felt the corner of his lips twitch, if only for a split second. He'd beg to differ, on the response of the how not being important, but he stilled his tongue for the time being. Time travel was a tricky thing, and if that was something he could have up his sleeve alongside everything he was working to uncover, then perhaps he will truly obtain what he was seeking. He already knew Sho-chan was involved, though whether or not it was intentional has yet to be determined.

He will deal with him later, however. Right now, there were more pressing matters.

Lavender orbs met his gaze at the question, and interest flashed across his features. With a sickly sweet smile, the elder cradled his chin against the bridge of his knuckles. "I suppose that would depend, ne? I do hope you've got some good news to share," he crooned out, as if that was not answer enough. And if it was news that he wasn't happy about, then perhaps there'd be a way to arrange it so.

Whatever it takes.

"And on what you think this is."

"None of this—" He stretched his hand up to the ceiling as if it were a sky with full confidence his older self knew what he meant. "—will count as good news."

"And this…" The younger of the two lifted his hand and reached out a finger to place onto the older's forehead, right between the eyebrows - it wasn't exactly a poke as he let it rest there for a few seconds. "This is bad news." He had no doubt if anyone else tried this, they wouldn't live to see another day. If they said this, they might not survive another minute.

As his other self spoke out, the achromatic could not help but to make a small sound, palms smoothing themselves down across the front of his universe. "Ah, of course." It was unlike himself to be so careless, but he equally had full confidence in his place in this world. No one would dare speak of anything they have paid witness to, not when it wasn't their business to begin with. Not if they valued their lives, anyways. But still, this was still a sensitive matter and it'd do him no good to let it get out of hand.

That statement alone had already told him so much —and yet so little at the same time. This Byakuran was from a world where the Melone base was in existence and he stood in similar power. Though the obvious age difference — over five years, minimum, he suspected — left him with more questions. Unfortunately, those deductions alone did not rule out as many universes as he'd like. But, he supposed that was the fun of this new situation he found himself in.

"Oh, I have no doubt you know the way just fine," he nearly purred out, but for the sake of humoring him(self?), he began to lead the way in the proper direction, hands clasped behind his back. As much chaos and unease this other self of him would cause, until they knew the extent of his visit and what he was doing here ( let alone how he got here ), the few people to see his face, the better. For now, at least.

It was inevitable for them to run into a few of his henchmen, but for the most part, they averted their gaze, knowing the dangerous gleam in their boss' eyes. If they choose to whisper about it away from his ears was undetermined, but he suspected he had at least a few hours before the news spread like wild fire. Such was the way this world worked.

Once in the privacy of his ( their? ) room, he sank himself at the edge of his bed. Fingers laced together, elbows propped on his elbows as he looked his mirrored self over. "Mou ~ So, I guess the first question is: how did you get here, hm?" Given the fact that he appeared in Shoichi's lab, it was already surmised that it was his best friend's doing. Though, he wasn't sure what he was working on that would be able to pull one of his other selves into this one. An accident? Very likely. But it made him wonder . . . What was Shouchi cooking up in the first place?

This quiet walk through the base was all he needed to let go of most of his unease, if not all. His older self walked so tall, so confident, so dignified when young Byakuran had his hands in his pockets and a mild slouch to his shoulders… it was interesting at the same time it was a little pitiful. The man he followed was bound to fail, and he might just be there to watch.

The surroundings were more boring than he remembered. He stopped looking around when headed in the direction to the same room, not even briefly making eye contact with any of the underlings turning away from their boss. Both him and his older self were surrounded by silence. Whenever he looked to the side, just from the corner of his eye, he only saw backs turned, the only faces he saw immediately looked away. His older self really wanted to live like this, huh?

The moment the door was shut, young Byakuran largely ignored the older one's stare to yawn and stretch. He was standing in a bedroom again— the temptation to flop on the bed and close his eyes was unbelievable, but he had to answer the question first.

"How I got here is not that important." He sat down ( dropped down ) on the edge of the bed next to his older self, hands behind himself as he leaned back against the bed. "And who knows why?" The younger Byakuran smiled after glancing over to look at the older one in the eye. "If I told you all of this happened already, how would you feel?"

If the Don felt any type of unease from the encounter, he didn't show it. It'd only be natural to feel unnerved in the face of yourself—from two different times, a phenomenal he thought would be impossible. Of all the information he's gathered from other parallel worlds, not once did two of him ever exist. It was basic understanding of time traveling. While fictious in nature, movies of such things were always right about one thing: there cannot be two of the same person from different times, and they should not, by any means, meet or realize it.

Fascinating, fascinating indeed.

"Oh? It's true? Please elaborate by what you mean by that," he all but chirped, casually striding forward as if his younger self was just another, simple visitor. "I'm curious to know which universe you've come from." His Mare ring burned against his finger, singing with power, making him itch.

Blink, blink. Younger Byakuran glanced around the lab to see Sho-chan and reminded himself that this was not his Sho-chan. It was fine to leave him be. Without knowing what happened, he shouldn't say anything in the first place, either... his presence was enough of an anomaly. However, if this really was his former reality, then that meant being there gave him an opportunity to change things— maybe even the end result. That was enough to make him smile.

"This probably isn't the best place to talk about it. It's pretty complicated." He glanced down to his own quieter ring, back to his old self, then at the door. He should probably give the man some choice, given that he suspected he was just a guest... not without a little fun, though. "Hmm, I think I remember the way to the room, but... show me anyway. Just in case." ♪

There was a small commotion in the lab, last he heard. Though, that in itself wasn't very unusual. While he never worked too closely with Sho-Chan in his lab, he knew that there were mishaps to take place; mistakes were different than failure, and surely Shoichi knew better than to come to him with nothing to semble _some_ good news. Frankly, the mafioso was content with leaving the report be, trusting his best friend to handle the situation accordingly.

What was more concerning, however, was the ripple of _energy_ that surged through the Melone base, one that only he could feel. The Mare ring that sat on his finger thrummed, and lilac orbs narrowed at it sinister like.

So, imagine his surprise when he took a trip to his friend's lab, just to find an all too familiar figure. "Mou~" Byakuran hummed out, eyes locking with his younger self. "What's this, Shou-chan?" Even without looking at him, he knew the red head was practically curling up where he stood in pain, his nervousness thru ming through the room.

At the voice — his own voice, but older — this Byakuran looked over. One glance toward the Sky Mare Ring on his finger, one glance toward the other ring on the other's hand, back to his own. That would cover the uneasy feeling, wouldn't it? That there's two Mare Rings, two of him. He smiled through the uneasiness. It wasn't his older self he was afraid of— maybe he pitied the man, actually. It was more that he had eye contact with himself at all.

Still, this was what he'd been assuming, based on the reactions so far. He hopped down from the top edge of a monitor with a flutter of his wings, blinked, then crossed the room toward his older self. "So it's true, then." After he looked up to his older self, the discomfort faded into familiarity. This is who he used to be. "I'm just visiting."

It was hard to work on an experimental machine n secrecy, especially when the person he was trying to hide it from was virtually all knowing in all the ways that mattered. Being his _best friend,_ unfortunately, wouldn't save him very well should he come out. But, luckily for him, being his best friend meant that he wasn't under watchful eye.

He was trusted. The idea of betraying that trust had his stomach in a bundle of knots, but this was not the Byakuran he was so eager to follow. He wanted to believe and support the ideations that his friend had in planned, but he wasn't sure when it began to take a dark turn.

Eyes watched the portal nervously, swallowing past the lump in his throat. He was nowhere ready, but each mishap was another step closer in the right direction, and hed take it. He didn't have a choice, but to move forward.

There was a small explosion, and Shoichi turned away with his arms raised to shield himself. As soon as the smoke began to clear, the ginger rushed over, eyes searching the silhouette he could clearly see within the smoke.

Blinking in surprise, he felt himself go pale. "Bya... Byakuran?" The Byakuran that Shoichi would have followed to the ends of the world now stood before him, the one he missed and had wanted to support--not save. "Are you really here?"

As he looks at Shoichi's face, older now, Byakuran wonders if— maybe he died and is just a spirit now. Or, maybe he's risen from the dead, given how much his physical body hurts. He does want to ask, but his mind is still foggy, so who knows if he'll even get the words out even if he tries.

It's nice that he doesn't have to after Shoichi asks something else first— of course it'd be a classic Sho-chan question. He smiles in response, even through the smog still clouding his mind.

Byakuran is fully aware how dramatic it looks when he reaches one hand up to rest on Shoichi's cheek, but he does it anyway. It'll be helpful to center his thoughts on something, and Sho-chan's cheek works well for that. It doesn't matter if Sho-chan himself is different right now, this is still a familiar face. That's enough of a distraction to keep his thoughts away from the darkness he came from.

As for the question—

Some questions to get to know the mun’s rping habits!

When did you start writing on Tumblr?

Who was your first muse?

Who are your longest rp friends?

Favourite thing about roleplaying?

Least favourite thing about roleplaying?

OTP for your muse?

NOTP for your muse?

What are some similarities between you and your muse/muses?

What are some differences between you and your muse/muses?

Would you be friends with your muse if they were real?

Would you write with duplicate characters? How do you think your muse would react?

Have you any old muses that you’d love to bring back?

What’s one random headcanon about your muse that people mightn’t know?

Who is an author that inspires you?

What do you look for in a rp partner?

Favourite trope?

Least favourite trope?

Are there any AU’s you’d like to explore but haven’t had the chance to yet?

Do you listen to music whilst writing? If so, what kind of music?

How do you overcome writer’s block?

Are there certain characters that you gravitate towards?

Short, medium, or long threads?

Do you ever get jealous when rping? How do you handle this?

He knows without a doubt that his younger self would be a gremlin and play with his food—they were the same person ( yet not, at the same time ) after all. But, at least do it with style!

"Steak and potatoes sounds good," the older murmured, hand to his chin. "The cheese would pair well with that." And surely, upon arrival, who knows what else they could add for some pazzaz.

They may be the same person, but until the younger Byakuran grows out of his 'rebellious phase', they will never be identical. He uses this to his advantage more often than not.

He doesn't disapprove of the choice to add the cheese; it was a smart decision in itself and one he'd do himself in his shoes ... But still. "Mou ~ ♪ How about I treat you out instead, mn?" Can't have his younger self eating this garbage, right in front of his own eyes, anyways.

[ context: i live in USA. ]

[ i have to use my christmas gift money to pay for medication. private insurance deductible is too high so i can't afford my adhd medication (lol every one of them is expensive) so i'll just have to switch the adhd med to something else. ]

[ and as for the job, i can't really afford the $130 a day + fill up on gas and wash the car. i'll talk with my supervisor about it. 12 hour days to ultimately earn under 100... that's kinda uhhh. yikes. even mcdonalds/walmart is better paid, but i also can't physically do that job so w/e, it'd be the same thing anyway. ]

[ maybe she'll do $90 for 9 hours. that's a lot more doable considering that's all i can end up doing between things out of my control that happen to me randomly on the job. seems like all the coworkers feel so bad for me because it is just consistently like that. ]

[ and then i have to cut way back on food/groceries too. i have a job now and don't get the foodstamps. i barely eat much anyway, so i gotta keep it that way, alas. ]

[ some of the normal expenses: car insurance $70, dental/vision $70 insurance, health insurance is private/subsidized so $30, last year's state tax debt i am still paying off is $200 a month, credit card # 1 is pretty low at like $30, credit card #2 is carecredit at $150 but it's basically predatory so i don't really have high hopes for paying off that one ever. ]

[ those insurance things look expensive sure, but they're not something i can budge on without risking a lot more debt from even more issues coming up soon. ]

[ the state tax was random last year because no one was told the 2021 PUA funds were... whatever it's called when you don't get a tax return. so i owed $2000 and it was bizarre and sudden?? but it's a legit thing. others had this issue and it was def something i was on the phone with IRS about. alas. ]

[ i'm in a pretty dark place mentally but can't afford the counselor and neither can fam so. yeah, that's where i'm at. pretty sure everyone here will understand. ]

at what age did you start RPing?

do you RP anywhere else, other than tumblr?

on what platform did you start RPing?

what made you choose this muse?

is there any other muse in this fandom you RP?

is there any other muse in this fandom you’d like to RP?

is there a muse you played on more platforms or in different moments of your life? 

did you have a muse you tried to play, but didn’t feel connected to?

did you have muse you tried to play, but ended up dropping for various reasons? (the rpc wasn’t active, you lost interest, etc)

would you be interested into playing a crossover? if yes, do you have any limits?

would you be interested into playing with doubles? 

what do you think about AUs?

what do you think about OCs?

what do you think about roleplaying with personals?

what do you think about roleplaying with anons?

what’s the best way to approach you to start playing together?

what was your first muse?

did you ever play a muse for more than a year?

do you have ship bias?

what’s a ship you don’t want to roleplay at all with this muse? (except Bad Illegal And Gross Stuff, of course)

what do you think of your muse’s popular fandom ship?

what do you think of your muse’s canon ship, if they have one?

would you play a OC x canon ship?

would you play a crossover ship?

do you play smut? do you play it only with characters you’re shipping with, or are you open for “one night stands”?

are you multiship?

are you interested into poly relationships for your muse?

is your muse canon divergent in any way?

what are your honest thought about your muse’s canon?

what are your favorite RP tropes to play? (angst, hurt-comfort, etc…)

do you regularly play crack?

do you regularly do dash commentaries?

what are your thoughts on dash commentary?

what are your thoughts on reblog karma?

if you aren’t a native english speaker, do you play in your first language too?

do you feel similar to your muse in any way?

do you feel different to your muse in any way?

what’s the best inspiration for your muse?

what’s a song that reminds you of your muse?