imeeji_frontstage | (no subject)

[he has his actual sword on him the rest of the day after practice, so she can be scandalized about that later

shakes his head]

It's something I do. But it's not necessary for everyone to know how to fight-- along with our memories and other things you'll see in the shop when you take a look at your phone, there are unit-specific abilities we can buy for ourselves. This isn't always a peaceful place, but our abilities can help us get out of bad situations if we get creative with them.

Edited 2019-05-13 17:03 (UTC)

Ah! Then I'll definitely make sure to have a look at that later.

[ A short pause and a thoughtful look for a moment. ]

I had heard about us doing things for entertainment that are like battle royale. I'm not sure I understand. But I'll try to be helpful! Now that I'm here...

Battle royale...? What is that?

When a group of people are thrown together in an area to...to um..

[ A small pause as she stutters for a moment. ]

...fight each other?

[ And a little nervous giggle. ]

For fun, right? It's all play and pretend?

. . . Oh.

[oh no]

Um, would you like to sit down and have some tea while I explain that part to you?

Eh?

[ Little giggle fading away and giving way to a very nervous expression. ]

Okay. Sure! I'm sure I heard wrong.

[waits until she takes a seat at the table, then.. just... pours some tea for her while speaking]

One of the things we do as a unit is play games together. Some games can be fun, as the name implies, but... Sometimes the point of a game is to kill others in order to survive. There are penalties for refusing to play, and we don't get a choice whether to show up to the games or not.

[ pointedly staring at her tea without responding...

...silence continues for a short while... ]

So you get thrown into a game without any choice and might not come back...maybe I should start training with you then. It sounds like...

[ another pointed pause ]

I might need it.

We do come back. We're revived when we're killed in games once the game is over, if we played by the rules. But it still hurts, and... it's hard to see those you care about like that.

There's a unit that has the ability to revive people, and one that has a healing ability, in case bad things happen outside the games. Some people are very quick to be violent, and... sometimes, people act on their in-game grudges outside. Our unit is not like that, but we've been on the receiving end of that sort of thing.

To be honest, getting our abilities as soon as you can is probably the best way to protect yourself. But if you want me to help you with self-defense training, I can try.

Edited 2019-05-14 19:37 (UTC)

I think, Baron tried to explain that to me a little while ago. Although, I didn't really understand...and I'm not sure I really understand now.

[ The confusion is very obvious on her face. She's tapping on the cup with her fingers instead of drinking the actual tea. ]

I guess it's something you don't really believe until you see it for the first time. But I would like to learn how to protect myself if you have the time to spare. It doesn't sound like you would have too much time to spare in a place like... hell.

[ The last word said with a very mild touch of disgust...okay not mild at all. Very heavy disgust. ]

It didn't seem real to me at first. Death has to be final, right? If not, it's not death... That's how I saw it. But...

[trails off, and then:]

Ah, but we do have a lot of free time. Other than playing in games, we can do anything we want with our days. Did Baron explain about Lives?

[ Small meaningful gaze before she shakes her head a little. ]

Do you mean lives as in how many times you can continue before you run out and don't get revived?

E-Excuse me, what?

Edited 2019-05-15 04:04 (UTC)

[ Obviously got it wrong. ]

Um, you said you can't die permanently but then you mentioned lives. In a video game you can't die permanently but you can run out of lives...you know...until someone adds more money or something. So I thought...

It was something like that?

[I can't believe you unlocked this sort of icon in your first conversation with Sol, THIS HAS ONLY HAPPENED ONCE BEFORE]

W-We're not talking about the same kind of lives. There are activities we can do as idols here that are called Lives... we press a button on our phone and do something calligraphy or ceremony-related, and we get paid in points for it.

Dying has absolutely nothing to do with it. We can call as many Lives as we want, but you only have one life.

Edited 2019-05-15 04:23 (UTC)

[ My magical muse is magical. ]

Oh. So that's what we do as idols. I can do that. Help out everybody here with everything that I can.

[ She then pauses for a thoughtful moment. ]

One life that doesn't...end permanently?

. . . One life that can be restored, yeah. But if someone dies outside of a game, that forces the healer unit and the revivals unit to handle it, and see things they shouldn't have to see. They didn't ask for those abilities, they just happened to wake up in a different dorm than ours.

[I'm so not telling you about Lilith]

If you participate in other people's Lives, you get paid for that too, so calling a Live can be a way to help others, like you said. Many people on the healer unit, sensitIV, charge for their services, by the way. So it's good to have some points saved up in case of an emergency.

Edited 2019-05-15 06:08 (UTC)

Oh, so there are rules around the not dying and being revived. It's not just an automatic magical type of thing.

[ Please, build a campfire and talk about these stories. OR a slumber party...even better. ]

I'll make sure I participate in whatever I can find and help contribute to the unit! Do you guys have... some kind of team... thing for points?

[ She's trying to mime something like a box...a piggy bank type of thing... ]

You mean like a money box? No, we don't. There was one time when we pooled resources to pay the entrance fee for a dance party, but in general... not everyone is good at saving, so it's never come up. We all handle our points separately and pitch in when it's called for.

Yes! That's what I was thinking of. If there isn't one, that's okay. I just wanted to make sure I contributed if we had a team one.

[ A thoughtful pause. ]

For like birthday presents and purchases for our room here. And...you know if I'm going to take up your time with learning to fight then I should pay you for lessons..?

D-Don't worry, it's not necessary to pay me. That you want to be able to protect yourself is more than enough.

Um... There's no way to know what day it is exactly, though. I've heard that the seasons change too quickly in this place, so you can guess more or less when people's birthdays are but you won't be able to tell exactly when. It's the same with holidays such as "Christmas" and "Valentine's Day."

You're very nice for someone I met this morning.

[ Slight bow ]

I'm still not 100% sure why I'm here or what the point of this all is but...I'm glad there are people like you here. I think everything's going to be okay.

[ She's 100% wrong but..oh well. ]

[try 200%...]

...There was someone who was very nice to me when I first got here too. It can be hard to be new when everyone else knows what's going on, so I'm glad to hear that I'm helping somehow.

If you want to know more about what's going on here and why things are happening, Okami might be able to tell you about it. But in general, as long as you're careful, you'll get by. We all do.

[as long as you're careful. careful!!]

[ She should be more observant and pay attention to that subliminal warning.

mmhm ]

That's very good to know! I hope everybody that I meet here is as nice as you are. I'll try my best to make friends with everyone.

[ even the ones that might not be so friendly! ]

Um, not everyone is nice. Please be careful and don't...

[DON'T MAKE FRIENDS WITH EVERYONE WE HAVE ENOUGH TROUBLE WITH SPLIT LOYALTIES AS IT IS??]

...Just be careful, okay?