creamation | (no subject)

[Dabi doesn't really think about what Shigaraki could be learning about him aside from the one, small tidbit about not wanting to be touched. He doesn't think it's enough for anyone to figure out anything more about him.

Whatever this thing is between them, he doesn't have a name for it either and he's perfectly content to leave it at that]

To see you tied up? Always.

[He's not even going to deny that]

I'm not complaining.

Better be prepared then, Dabi. I won't just lay down and let you do whatever.

[That's a yes if there ever was one. But he's not lingering on that answer. For now;]

Sure sounded like it. Get some rest. I'm sure you've got a busy schedule ahead of you tomorrow.

Good. If I wanted someone to just lay there, I wouldn't need anything living.

[It's always better when Shigaraki squirms. It'll be interesting to see how this goes and how he'll react to it all. It'll be a new experience for Dabi as well.]

Hm. Suppose I do.

[He stretches himself out, then mockingly blows a kiss to Shigaraki before he turns completely to sleep on his side, back facing the other man. Normally he wouldn't turn his back to anyone, but he knows Shigaraki will keep his hands to himself.]

[It takes a while for Shigaraki to sleep. He was tired but he felt awake laying down like this. Plus he had a lot on his mind still, like organizing everyone and getting new supplies since they'd been chased out of their old headquarters. Then there was also this thing with Dabi- how he'd seemingly gotten addicted to the pleasures the man had to offer. Truthfully he'd come to like it because it did take his mind off of things. He still hated the way Dabi tried to one up him, and lord victories over him. But then wasn't he the same way?

Eventually he's able to fall sleep but only in short bursts. Nothing unusual, even without his gloves.]

(ahh this is amazing! c: )

[It doesn't take Dabi long to fall asleep at all. He leaves his worries and issues for a new day.

But when he does wake, it's with a start, blue flames flying out of his hand because he forgets where he is for a second and it's always safer to be on the defensive.

The flame lights up the room and then dies down when he recognizes it.

Shit.

On the off chance that Shigaraki didn't wake up from that, he glances over. ]

[Luckily for Dabi, Shigaraki didn't see the flame or wake up from it. But when Dabi turns to look over at the other man, he sees an empty mattress. Shigaraki isn't there. Late to bed and early to rise is unfortunately his way of life.

But he's not completely gone either. The distant sound of water running indicates he's in the shower. Not for long though because the water stops shortly after Dabi looks at the empty mattress.

Out walks Shigaraki in the nude, dripping wet.]

Oh? You're awake?

[The biggest relief of his day, actually.

He lets out a long breath, rubbing at his face. Now he can hear the shower in the distance and he tries to calm down when the water stops.

He doesn't lay back down though, but he does bring his knees up against his chest and rests his forehead against them.

He looks up when Shigaraki comes out, his eyes running up and down the other man's body before he can even stop himself.]

Your shower was loud.

Too bad.

[He's not sorry at all. With a trail of water behind him, he walks over to the very same closet he'd gotten the mattresses from. He grabs a towel which he just throws over his head, before pulling out a change of clothes.

It's hasty how he dries off, quickly so he can pull on underwear and pants and a t-shirt, the usual black getup of the villainous leader. Only his red shoes in the corner remain.]

I have some things I have to attend to and I have to meet with Twice but I'll be back tonight if you're bored.

[That's their codeword for this whole thing they have. Bored.]

Spinner already knows what the two of you are doing. I trust he'll catch you up to speed?

[Dabi doesn't care, it wasn't the truth anyway.

It's strange to see Shigaraki this bare, even now. He doesn't look like a villainous leader. Dabi isn't certain what he does look like, though. He's never really thought this long about anyone before. Well, not in a long time, anyway.]

Not sure how bored I'll be, especially having to deal with Spinner all day.

[He'll be here most likely. Now that he has someone to help with his boredom. It's a codeword that seems to work just fine for both of them.]

I wouldn't trust him with anything, but I'll manage to figure it out.

You won't have to deal with him all day. I'm not that cruel.

[He steps aside to start putting hands on his outfit; the precious one going last of course once he'd decided his hair was dry enough. It's a chore but #fashionpriorities. Or whatever those fucking hands mean.]

It's a simple scouting mission. With a new place, we need to understand our blind spots... I don't want any more pizza deliveries showing up unannounced. You two have the North and West side of our new place. I've already had Toga and Mr. Compress deal with the South and East side.

[Once he's all set, he slips his red shoes on, not bothering to unlace them as he struggles to pull the back over his heel.]

That's the gist of your quest. Understood Dabi?

[And with that he takes off quietly.]

(Skip ahead to later that evening? :o)

[ Dabi has no comment on cruel Shigaraki is, because he's seen multiple levels of what the man in front of him can dole out. He's definitely not as cruel as some people Dabi knows.

He listens, muttering an Understood before Shigaraki leaves and then he sits there, trying to figure out just what the fuck is going on in his life. He came to the league of villains with a very clear purpose in mind. It;s gotten slightly muddled since he's been there, but they generally all still have the same goals... more or less.

This thing with Shigaraki is... he isn't sure what it is. A side note, he supposes. Distracting, the more logical part of his brain tells him, but what does it matter? Most of them are going to die before their goal becomes a reality. Why not milk what you can out of this shitty life?

With a sigh, he gets up and grabs his shoes, considers snooping around a little, but the last thing he wants to do is find more of those hands laying around. When he heads out of the room, Toga is there and she starts pestering him, asking him why he's there and what he was doing. Fixing the door, he says, pointing to the broken door that he clearly didn't fix as he heads off to meet with Spinner.

Truthfully, a scouting mission with Spinner isn't the worst thing in the world. Spinner is the only other person Dabi believes is staying true to the cause in every way. He knows that no matter what, nothing will shift his ideals away from those of Stain, and that's what's important. Still, the scouting mission is a bore. There's nothing interesting or even slightly threatening around this area. It's what they want, Dabi knows, but still.... some action would be nice.

When they're finished with that and there's nothing left to do, Dabi slips away and deals with his own personal things, one of which is seeing the guy he knows about his jacket, and now Shigaraki's gloves. When he heads back to their hideout, he purposefully avoids checking to see if Shigaraki is back yet, and goes to his room instead. ]

[Shigaraki's day goes about as quickly as a snail's race. It starts off with getting a lecture from Kurogiri about how he hasn't acted since they've lost the last hideout. How things need to get moving along soon if they want to keep that forward momentum. So they lay out plans for recruitment because at the moment that's really all they can do until the next spark of inspiration comes along.

But that's not the only thing Shigaraki deals with. Plans are moving faster than anyone can give him credit for because he meets with Toga- giving her a special mission suited specifically for her quirk. This meeting went a little longer than he'd expected, even after taking consideration into Toga being... well... strange. But it was important.

Then there was dealing with Twice, the man who could split apart into clones. He was tasked with temporarily recruitment- they all would be given this but Twice was to lay the foundation for how to do it. This was arguably the most important thing Shigaraki had to deal with- especially since Giran had his hands tied up. They needed more recruits and all they had to do was get connected to those who were already out there following Stain's path. The League may never be the size it once was when they'd attacked USJ but it didn't quite matter. At least not now. They'd gotten shit done with the number of members they had now- their ranks didn't need to swell into huge numbers.

There were other things he'd done too. Tedious little tasks that ultimately no one would care about but if he didn't do them, they'd put themselves at risk. Somewhere he'd managed to get the door fixed. Not with his own hands certainly but someone had come and replaced it per Shigaraki's request.

By the time he's finally done doing all things a villainous leader needs to do, he's scratching at his neck. Hard. He'd been busy all day with barely a moment for himself to think.

His opening of his room's door, and promptly slamming it, is the only way anyone would know he was back. Loudly announcing to all that he was home.]

[ Dabi hears the slam of Shigaraki's door and he starts sliding off his chair to get up and head over, but then he stops. He's not a damn dog, for fucks sake, and Shigaraki may be his boss, but he's not his master.

He flops back in his seat, pulling over the crinkled papers detailing what they scouted today and any issues they might have. There's not much, but he wrote it all down anyway- for future reference, and because he doesn't want to go through it all a hundred times, having to explain it to the rest of them. He reads everything over again, then tosses it aside and stares at the door.

Nope, he's not getting up. ]

[That's fine. Shigaraki needs some time to destress anyways. He starts by taking off the hands, carefully leaving the most important one on. he uses the alone time to scratch hard and long, effectively getting rid of the crazed itch that's been nagging at him all day long. Of course he knows if he meets up with Dabi later it'll come back. It always does. But Dabi's treated him for those itches with his mouth so it's not always that bad or unwelcomed.

Once he's sort of settled down, he actually wanders over to Dabi's room and loudly knocks. Unlike Dabi, Shigaraki actually waits to be let in because he has manners. Or likes to pretend that he does.]

[ Dabi figures Shigaraki needs time with all that door slamming anyway. He's back late, which means there was more on his schedule than just talking and scouting. Dabi wonders if he should ask for more to do, or if he'll just be left with stupid, unimportant jobs to fill the time.

The knock at his door pulls him out of his thoughts and he wonders why Shigaraki even bothers. Probably because he wants to act like he has manners or some shit, Dabi figures. That man is such a weirdo.

He gets up, yanking the door open, giving Shigaraki a nonplussed look. ]

What?

[For all the air of manners, he let's himself in as soon as the door's open. He even goes as far as making himself at home in Dabi's chair.]

How did it go?

[Dabi will give him the answers without any of the bullshit. Sarcasm and jokes, yeah, but at least he can count on Dabi not to ramble on about details that aren't important. Spinner has yet to learn that art.]

Good I hope. Since you're back so early.

[ Dabi turns, watching Shigaraki settle into his room. It's irritating, but he doesn't let it show. He kicks the door closed, then comes over and grabs the papers off the floor, handing them over. ]

It's a good spot. Less obvious than the other place. Who picked that out again? It was horrible. The biggest blind spot is an abandoned warehouse east of us, but if we set up surveillance, it shouldn't be a problem. You know they make those, right? We don't have to have some idiot constantly patrolling, or wonder who's at the door? Instead of watching static on your television, or that hand on your face, you could keep an eye out.

The rest is all written up so I don't have to waste time explaining.

Don't worry, Kurogiri is setting up surveillance in the South and East side first. We don't have the numbers to keep a constant patrol it's true but we have to be mindful that the police and pro heroes are capable of messing with technology.

[He reads over the notes though, nodding at everything that agreed or suit well with him. Which was pretty much everything Dabi wrote. He's impressed- Dabi's pretty vigilant and even noted things other have not in their scouting missions.]

The warehouse may prove useful. We need to set up another Nomu factory... but that can wait.

[His voice trails off at the mention of the Nomus. Without his Master around... production on that end wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon. No more toys to use since they were all confiscated. It was frustrating.]

Excellent work Dabi. [He hands the paper back over.] Burn it. I've already memorized what you had to say.

Hm. Yes. They probably would. Which is why we need more numbers. Don't you think it's time we stepped up recruiting? More of us need to be on top of that. Maybe those of us who aren't just going to bring any old trash off the streets. We have to recruit smarter.

[Creepy Nomus. They certainly get the job done in a pinch, but he's not sure if wasting more time and energy on creatures that barely distract the heroes at best. He's currently not in the mood to argue it though, so he just gives a nod. He knows they're lacking on the production front anyway.

He takes the papers back and burns them up in a blue flame, the remnants scattering at his feet.]

And you? You just got back. What else did you do?

Is that something that would interest you Dabi? I've made the executive decision that we can't rely on Giran right now. We have to keep that momentum going.

[If only Dabi knew that he'd been chewed out by Kurogiri. But... that's the thing. Kurogiri makes sure to chew out Shigaraki or scold him in private as to not undermine his leadership so openly. He was still learning, even with his Master locked away.

He leans back in Dabi's chair, hands lacing together as they always do when he's relaxed or in deep thought.]

A little bit of everything. Toga won't be around for a while because she's doing a stealth mission. She failed to get more than one or two vials of blood and so I've told her to take responsibility for her lack of initiative. Twice is recruiting with his clones. I've asked him to look into a few specific individuals that have been making headlines underground.

[He rambles on for a little bit, being obtuse about certain details. From the sound of it- he actually did quite a lot. More than everyone probably did today combined with what Shigaraki entrusted to other people. Not to say no one else's job was important but, he'd gotten through his work quickly and effectively just like his Master and Kurogiri taught him.

By the end of his laundry list of things he'd done, he's scratching at his neck again.]

It's all boring stuff but I did what had to be done.

Yeah, I guess.

[He's very interested in that, actually. Not that you could tell from his reply. But he wouldn't have made suggestions if he didn't want to do it. If he puts the idea out there, he'd rather see to it as well. He has no idea that Kurogiri chewed Shigaraki out about the very same thing, but like Kurogiri, Dabi is always about the logical next step.

He's still standing there next to the chair, crossing his arms as he listens to the other man go on about his day. None of it seems unnecessary and there's a lot more on the list than Dabi would have credited the other man. Maybe that's why he stays. He knows that at least something is working. He knows Shigaraki is probably a better leader than Dabi often gives him credit for.

What bothers him are the small, childish things that blow up without a moments notice. Shigaraki is too in touch with his emotions and that makes him reckless. ]

You could give those of us with more than half a brain some more jobs to do.

[He comes over and snatches Shigaraki's hand away from his neck. It's raw and bloody, much worse than it was before he left this morning.]

Stop.

Take on recruiting then. We're stuck for a while.

[He should give out more of his tasks but a lot of his stuff on his list today were things that just happened to pop up. The kind of chores that you do one after another because they're convenient. Like doing the dishes that leads to wiping down the table and then mopping the floor and then taking on the rest of the house. It's a kind of motivation that once you get going, you find all sorts of other menial yet important tasks.

When Dabi grabs his hand, Shigaraki glares and tries pulls away.]

Let go, ok?

I will.

[He never likes to hear the word 'stuck' but he supposes for the time being that's where they are. Maybe that's why he's getting restless. No matter, the recruiting will help.

Shigaraki doesn't have to pull hard. Dabi lets go, but glares down at him as well. He doesn't know why this particular thing always pisses him off, but it does. ]

You're disgusting. Are we done here now?

[He scratches at the bloody mess one more time, almost like he was trying to spite Dabi. It is disgusting, that habit. It's gotten worse again because they're stuck and Shigaraki doesn't like it. It's stifling and fills him with anxiety that just never ends. But in ways it has gotten better too. He went the whole day without scratching, only to bloody himself raw like a junkie when he got back.]

We're done with business.

[Says Shigaraki, not making a move to get up. In fact he's quite comfortable in Dabi's chair anyways.]

[ Dabi watches the hand return to Shigaraki's neck and all he can do is shake his head condescendingly. Weak, he'd usually say out loud at this point, but he has a feeling that would only get Shigaraki to scratch even harder.]

Then you can see yourself out.

[Dabi moves past Shigaraki and flops down in the couch, which essentially puts Shigaraki out of view, so Dabi can act like he's very much ignoring him. He knows where this is going of course, but it's always nice to hear Shigaraki say please.]