Ideal World Endgame

[idolpro]

Who: Beautiful dreamers
Where: The Game Tower
When: Day 271, morning

[When you wake, the folding chairs and divans from before have all been cleared away. You're lying asleep on the floor, healed of all injury.]

[You remember the events of the worlds you've visited as though visions seen in a dream -- though for those of you torn from your perfect existence, there is an ache inside you which will not fade for some days... the pain of something precious that has been lost.]

[Out beyond the windows of the tower, the sky is no longer a perfect blue; the vegetation is no longer as lush and inviting.]

[The view is of Tokyo-F, exactly as it's always been.]

[Near the far wall, there is an open book on a pedestal. The pages are empty. It is titled GUEST BOOK, and a pen waits nearby.]

GUEST BOOK | SOUVENIRS | WINNERS

Comments

[selfpreservationist]

I was with Sabre and Intensity. Although in the end I wasn't of any use... we convinced him, eventually.

[rollplayinghouse]

[I'm not done running it so assume she makes some comment about the outcome here]

...Sabre and Intensity, huh...

[selfpreservationist]

[nods]

It was all so... normal. I was surprised.

[rollplayinghouse]

...I was both surprised and not.

I've always thought that... he and I are similar, and want similar things. He always denies it, though. Says he doesn't want to get tangled in feelings and relationships. Tells me I'm more normal than him, that I could actually stop being an assassin and have a normal life...

[selfpreservationist]

He's ashamed of it.

[rollplayinghouse]

...I don't know if ashamed is the right word. I'd say more... he doesn't think he's a person who's capable of it, and he's scared of wanting something that badly that he can't have.

[is it projecting personal issues onto Man Eater hour. maybe.]

[selfpreservationist]

... I asked him, and he said he was... angry at himself... for wanting something so "easy".

[rollplayinghouse]

...Well. It's easier to be angry than scared.

[selfpreservationist]

It's... foolish.

[apparently it IS projecting personal issues onto man eater hour]

He shouldn't be angry or scared. He should just pursue what he wants. Sentimentality doesn't make you weak...!

[rollplayinghouse]

I know. I don't disagree. But he's definitely not the kind of person you can convince by just telling him that.

[she has learned that one from experience,]

[selfpreservationist]

Perhaps that's why we argue all the time.

[rollplayinghouse]

That's probably a big part of it, yeah.

[selfpreservationist]

Though... we've been... doing better, lately.

[and by that he means they've been making out more]

[rollplayinghouse]

...I saw that, a bit.

[by which she means they were making out on the couch in the common room while she was cooking dinner]

I'm glad.

[selfpreservationist]

You are, are you.

[rollplayinghouse]

Of course. I told you, didn't I? You're two of my favorite people, so I feel like you should get along.

[selfpreservationist]

... yes, you did say that.

[he wraps his arm around her shoulder]

[rollplayinghouse]

[tucks herself in closer against him]

I also told you that you were wrong about him not liking you, and when I talked to him it turned out he liked you even more than I thought. So it means I was right, too.

[an attempt at a lighthearted tone]

[selfpreservationist]

It only took us a month to figure it out.

[rollplayinghouse]

That could be a lot worse.

[selfpreservationist]

I haven't written us off just yet... we should really talk to you first before making assumptions.

[rollplayinghouse]

...Well, if you ever want me to sit in and play interpreter, it wouldn't be the first time.

[selfpreservationist]

... perhaps we should. Have you around, I mean--not just to interpret.

[rollplayinghouse]

...I definitely wouldn't mind.

[selfpreservationist]

Let's ask him when he wakes up, then.