speed dating 2.0

[idolpro]

WHO: More idols looking to have a good time
WHERE: Game Tower
WHEN: Day 120, morning

[ Hello, Idols! Are you ready for a game?

Some of you may have played this before! The area is familiar for sure: today's playing field is an expansive balcony with several mini-tables paired with two patio chairs each, garden umbrellas planted to keep the heat away. You can see the rest of the city from up here, too - it turns out you're pretty high up as you can even see the start of the Rainbow Bridge from here, though the railings are high so there's not a high likelihood of accidentally falling down.

There are a few pink lemonade pitchers scattered around with paper cups if you're thirsty, and some bite-sized chocolates if you're hungry. Cute snack food!

The instructions look familiar, too: it's a light game, with no enforced truth-telling even. No status effects! Just dates!

There are cards on the table, too! ]

INSTRUCTIONS | SIGN-UPS | TURN-IN | OVERFLOW

Comments

could not remember how to spell Kuzubeeks

[deicider]

[Frowns]

How is it exactly do you think I'm incapable of love?

Please!! Shu is three letters!!

[syncintohell]

Those who bay for blood and demand the punishment of others, showing neither understanding nor mercy hardly seem to have human hearts. Yet you wish for me to believe you are a romantic at your core? The absurdity of the thought alone will drive me to laughter.

[ Though he doesn't actually seem inclined towards laughter, looking at Cardigan coldly. ]

[deicider]

Mercy? [Cardigan stands, abruptly, hands on the table.] What mercy did Yasuragi have for me? Or my unit? You call me bloodthirsty and stand behind that murderer in the same breath?! Don't make me laugh!

[syncintohell]

This is the very attitude I mean.

[ He stays seated and pours himself a glass of lemonade he has no intentions of drinking. ]

There is little point in talking to someone of your character.

[deicider]

How do you justify it? All the pain he caused. Do you both just discard people that easily?

[syncintohell]

You assumed immediately you knew of what I spoke. Did I mention his name even once, before you did? Anything I say you will simply twist to suit your narrative.

[deicider]

Oh, and what are you so offended by? I never cared about punishment.

[syncintohell]

I recollect a significantly different version of our first meeting than you do, then.

[deicider]

You do. All I asked for was an explanation. I think harming someone or taking a life means something, and if you're willing to do it you should be able to look someone in the face and tell them why you found them expendable.

[syncintohell]

You attempted to call a live in the aftermath of a game, as people lay there bloodied and dying, with a sword in your hand and called out,

[ He mimics the movement, as Cardigan had dug the blade into their own flesh and then pulled it out and flicked it clean.

That those who had played a seven or higher come before you. It was rank intimidation.

[deicider]

And what happened after that? What did I do after that?

[syncintohell]

You refused to accept sensitIV's answer. I took responsibility for them in their stead, and you stepped down. I had done no wrong, and you think yourself high-minded. Now that you have decided I, too, am evil I would be surprised if you could find that kindness in your heart once more.

[deicider]

That's right. Nothing happened to you.

[Cardigan pauses, takes a breath, tense with emotion.]

I told my unit no-one would play high. I really believed that. But, no, I don't think you or any of the idols are 'evil'.

[syncintohell]

Believing in other people is a mistake. Humans are not worthy of trust.

[ He taps a fingernail on the tabletop, like he's considering a plan of verbal attack— punctuating the thought with tapped ellipses. There is still more to come, more that he wishes to say. ]

Regardless of if you label us evil or not, what matters is how you treat us. I would wager you still have no understanding of what I object to.

[deicider]

You're right. And I don't really care if it inconvenienced your feelings a bit. That's how it should be, when you choose to discard someone else for your own benefit.

Obviously since then I've learned there's no better nature for me to appeal to, with you humans. Immovable, short-sighted, and untrustworthy. That's what I've learned about the 'human heart' from you and the rest of the idols here, and I'm glad I have nothing to do with it.

[syncintohell]

And so, you concede the point about love.

[ He picks up the glass of lemonade and rises to circle over to stand behind Cardigan's chair. ]

However, I ask you to reconsider one thing. Did you ever, truly, attempt to appeal to a better nature?

[deicider]

No. I think you humans are worse at love than you like to think. Anything inconvenient you refuse to understand and then abandon.

[Even now Cardigan is optimistic that Shu isn't going to make a point by dumping a glass of lemonade on them. ]

Yes. A nature that could face responsibility without devolving into vengeance. And not just me.

[syncintohell]

Humans are, at heart, weak.

[ Predictably, he raises it up over Cardigan's head though he doesn't dump it yet. ]

However, you are working with some base misconceptions, if are not attempting to lie. One does not attempt to appeal to one's better nature by looming over someone, threat in hand, forcing out explanations with no understanding of another's circumstances.

[deicider]

Oh? My life would be worth something to you if I had asked nicely after being betrayed and mutilated for you?

Humans really are weak, if they can throw someone out of the human race over a point of etiquette.

[syncintohell]

Etiquette? Have I ever once bothered pretending politeness with those I abhor?

That you would couch this as a matter of etiquette truly shows how abhorrent you are. Blackmail is not wrong as a matter of etiquette. The use of force, the use of strength to ensure the world shapes to your own values is true monstrosity.

[deicider]

[They snap a sharp hand gesture to indicate the world around them.]

You'll have to explain to me how my program of force and coercion has shaped this world. I even let Yasuragi get away with being a base murderer until I caught him at it again myself, like I knew I would.

[syncintohell]

Simply because you had a failed doctrine does not make it less abhorrent. Do you think only victors are capable of sin? Are you a child? It did not work, so in your mind it ought not to count?

[ Irritated, he tips some of the lemonade down onto Cardigan. ]

And furthermore, why are you so insistent upon making this about Yasuragi? I do not even have the slightest idea of what you are speaking. We have all killed here. You, yourself, have threatened it and furthermore done the deed.

[deicider]

Just dump it. Talking to you is a waste of time.

[syncintohell]

That is too reasonable of a request. You have yet to earn the rest of it. Do threaten me into it, if you wish for the whole glass full.

[deicider]

[Tips their chin up.]

Do it, or I'll leave.