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

[ well. first things first. ]

Do you want it to be overwhelming?

I don't know what I wanted. But it wasn't the same as what you showed me.

Well, if using Buddy Bond has taught me anything--it's that different people feel emotions in different ways. Even for me, love isn't always that intense. ... But some of my life's experiences haven't been very kind to me, so... I think maybe that's impacted how I feel the way I feel things.

So I think it's okay, if the love that you feel is different than what I showed you. It might just mean that you're less afraid of losing someone than I am. But it sort of depends on how you feel about it. And if you're happy with what you have, then there's nothing wrong with that.

[ nods. he's never been a wordy person but right now it seems like his silence is partially just, due to the fact that he's mulling all that over. ]

I think ... I was expecting something like what you showed me. So I may have started loving them and just not realized it.

That's definitely possible, too. Love is something that grows over time. Even if it seems small to you right now, that doesn't mean that it won't keep growing into something much bigger.

So it's still something I need to work on... ?

I think in this case, it's more like waiting to see what happens. You've already planted the seed and given it what it needs to grow. You just have to stand back and let nature do the rest of the work.

So let things be the way they are, in other words, and just wait ... ?

Yes. Just keep doing what you're doing and see what happens.