imeeji_frontstage | (no subject)

Who: Exael and the Unlucky Contestants
Where: The Game Tower
When: 86, Evening

[ Between one step and the next the walls (or streets, or open air) around you changes. The sight before you is a room inside the game tower, a new pressure at your neck. Reaching up or looking at the people around you reveals it to be a collar, titanium with a small green blinking light set in the center. ]

[ the screen flickers on, on your cellphone. It's a half-second, blink and you miss it— Exael, chewing on a nail, looking uncharacteristically nervous— then the moment's gone and she waves both hands and smiles for the camera. ]

"Ladies, gentlemen, honored guests! Units of all stripes and sizes! I come offering you a game and a few familiar words, rearranged for the occasion!"

Her carnival barker demeanor shifts for a moment as she lowers her head to say: ] "Glory to the highest, and on earth peace—" [ her head snaps up, her pigtails bouncing with it, and she's grinning again, all pomp and energy ] "even if we're not getting much down here! So let's kick up a ruckus, put on a show, and see how much good goodwill alone can manage! If you wish to save your fellows, now is the time speak!"

[ The rules appear on your phones. ]

[ Rules ] [ Rooms ] [ Results ] [ Endgame, Revivals & Winners ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[also a little taken aback]

You... really thought everyone hated you, huh.

Or at the very least just didn't give a damn about us. Even if it's not actively "hate."

... unit divisions are arbitrary, you know? A "unit" not picking you just means that... I mean, two or three people on each unit could want to protect one or more people on HSS more than anything. But if those people weren't in the game or their unit voted and they weren't the majority, then you can choose to look at it like "no one cares about HSS."

That's just this game, but. I think it's-- I mean, it's not hard to see how basing things on "units" rather than "individuals" can lead to skewed perceptions.

[a snort]

It's hard not to base things on "units" in games where the decision is unit-wide.

. . . things like Mukuro's stupid tournament were easier.

That's my point, though... the decision isn't unit-wide. All sensitIV agreed on was the method of choice, and I'm honestly surprised that didn't result in every single person voting for a different unit. Was HSS so unanimous by comparison...?

No. We rolled a die.

[BUT]

That's not what I meant. We couldn't make the choice to protect only one or two people on the unit, could we? It was the entire unit or none of the unit. So if someone hated even one person on the other unit and didn't know anyone else on it. . . then naturally, they wouldn't want to protect that unit.

That's not what you were talking about before, though! You were saying that no one cared about your unit. And the fact that we could only choose to protect an entire unit doesn't cancel out my point that individuals do care, because a unit is an artificial construct and it's impossible to say "this entire unit cares about this entire other unit." There's only people, and the people on your unit are cared for.

Edited 2019-02-10 16:56 (UTC)

[opens his mouth to argue]

[shuts it again with a click]

[and then rakes his fingers through his bangs, tugging against them in frustration]

. . . whatever.

Edited 2019-02-10 22:16 (UTC)

... sorry. You're probably tired. You should get some rest.

I'm-- okay.

[regarding Anubis with quiet curiosity]

. . . you're strange.

Am I? I mean-- yeah, I know I am, but... why do you think so?

I don't know.

[no, he knows, and he continues after a brief pause]

You're so. . . not optimistic, I guess. But you. . . [GESTURES???] Believe in good things?

[that's vague]

[blinks]

Well... yeah? Otherwise I'd be miserable all the time.

I don't believe in good things and I'm only miserable 50% of the time.

[that's called desensitization, and that's bad]

And nothing good ever happens to you? How do you feel the rest of the time?

[this backfired]

. . . frustrated. Angry. Irritated. Annoyed. Exasperated.

That sounds like varying flavors of miserable to me.

Semantics.

[he's not wrong]

If I had a chart with feelings on it, they'd all go in the "not a great way to feel" section of it.

I think... it's hard to recognize the good things that already exist around you with that perspective. That's how it can feel to me, at least.

[. . . . .]

[he's still not wrong]

I don't think there's such a thing as "good things" in hell.

Really...? What about spending time with someone you like? Managing to save up points and finally buying something you wanted? Preparing for the worst, but being pleasantly surprised that things played out differently?

That last one has yet to actually happen.

[notably not addressing the first few]

[notably indeed.

raises his eyebrows.]

And the others?

[nnnnno response]

. . . I think we're getting a little off track.

Are we? I thought we were just having a conversation.