imeeji_frontstage | (no subject)

[ He's a terrible winner, she can't believe it. ]

[ She's still holding the phone when he speaks up that for once, she's caught off guard by a voice. Maybe her senses are still overwhelmed? She nearly drops the phone, but catches it at the last moment. Her vision is still pretty dark, fuzzy that she doesn't really go properly looking for him. ]

Hiccup?

[...she didn't zone out that hard the first time she took a memory.]

Yes, its me. That last one hit pretty hard, huh?

[He waves a hand to the side.]

[ To be fair, she recovered from poisoning just fine! In this case she was still blind and it still wants to linger for (extra funtimes - not in her opinion). ]

[ Her laugh isn't really all there, though a sheepish one emerges. ]

Yeah, it was pretty something all right.

[Aaaaand she's still not looking. Should he avoid bringing it up? Then again, she might just pretend otherwise and that could be bad.]

...you're not tracking me, Astrid.

[Sorry, he's gonna call her out.]

I'm hearing you just fine.

[ Her response is said with a roll of her eyes, but it's not an actual disagreement. ]

It's just an after-effect. Or something.

[ She doesn't sound too convinced. ]

I know you are.

Most likely. Like what happened with my leg.

[He]

[He thinks]

[The problem with that point is he does have memories AROUND there, but he can't tell WHEN this was happening with all those and the only one he has after is...years.]

Yeah, like your leg.

[ It's more mumbled, unconvinced to herself. Because his leg was permanent and she doesn't want to think of this as permanent - especially not here.

Though someone did suggest replacing her eyes (that sounds weird). ]

It's fine... It's happened once before, I can handle it again.

[ She sounds tougher than she feels. ]

I know, of course you can handle it.

[And yet the concern is in his voice.]

It can just...take a bit to wear off.

Hopefully not too long.

[ She says it as much to reassure herself, saying in a wry tone: ]

I've had enough weird side-effects for twenty-four hours.

Weird side effects?

[Oh shit]

[Checks his phone and...yeah, that's a point update.]

I missed a game. How bad was it?

It was bad. It could have been worse.

[ She shrugs her shoulder, not turning her head towards him since she'll just feel... sillier doing so. ]

Avante got out okay when we figured out a strategy we wanted to play by. And I don't think anyone was seriously injured, so that's something.

[ But she's still mad about it. ]

...so no injuries, but status effects.

Sometimes that's better. Not always, it depends on the effects.

Someone did send us break a bone the first round. I'm not sure anyone else would have thought to just break a pinky.

[ Said in the cautious and matter-of-fact way of someone who did just that! But how extreme someone else would take it, she doesn't know. ]

No one drowned, which might have happened in different circumstances.

[Is your pinky currently broken Astrid.]

Yeah, some people have overlooked pretty obvious loopholes before. Or the lesser degrees things can be done. That was a good call. [HONESTLY]

[He's done stuff like that before, so valid.]

Drowned?

Edited 2022-10-13 04:30 (UTC)

[ ... no! not anymore between being a winner and stabbing. even if the initial stabbing did nothing :( ]

It made sense at the time. The others were talking about making it less severe, but it didn't seem like that big of a deal.

[ but then she's the kind of person to break her arm and still referee dragon racing, she's not the best indicator of sanity in that regard. ]

Yeah. You had to send tasks or do tasks to prevent some kind of bubble with water filling up... with someone in it. Everyone had one.

[Hiccup nods at that, understanding on his face.] A lot of worlds here aren't as used to violence as we are. Or they put different emphasis on it. [He has Had This Discussion Before.] What's really awkward is when an effect makes someone hurt you and then they're really sorry after the fact, but it wasn't even like it was that bad of an injury. Barely even got a scar.

[...oh shit]

A hostage game. [He grimaces.] Sorry that had to happen so early.

Yeah, I've already had that conversation a lot - [ She rolls her eyes. ] Nevermind him calling us prehistoric, Tsukasa also didn't understand what it meant to be a warrior or how scars could be something of honor. Something about how it ruins likability or something.

[ She. Doesn't understand idol culture, but it's something she realizes she and Tsukasa will be at odds on. ]

[ She shrugs, not quite in defeat - but there's something a little helpless in it. ]

Like I said, everyone got out okay enough. Avante didn't send anything we weren't willing to handle ourselves - literally.

[ they played against themselves everytime, is what she means. ]

...I have really gotta talk to Tsukasa about that condescending stuff. Prehistoric is new.

He wants to be a knight, which is a warrior, but he's also an idol and idols are weird about injuries. One of my teammates was one and first day, they suggested I just buy a new foot. [Which was Very Uncomfortable.] Because scars ruin their looks, I guess.

Did you play against yourselves the whole time?

Yeah, well, he was definitely lucky I didn't put him through a wall.

[ Encouraging her to have to talk about the Scientific Method also didn't help :( She hates feeling stupid. ]

I got that knights were something like warriors given it's Avante's theme. [ and she's! quietly proud of that fact, ] I just - How can they see it like that? No one wants to lose a limb, but it's part of your story. It's a sign you lived, not something unsightly.

[ she hopes that's not the kind of idol they're expected to be here. ]

Yes, but it worked out.

I admired your restraint. [He can take being talked down to, but he imagines that is a lot harder for Astrid.]

He's never seen real combat before here. His idea of a knight is an extremely idealized version of it. The untouchable heroes of legends, over what they're actually like. At least most don't have those impossible standards.

[Nope, mostly buying off scars is to protect one's self from SensitIV.]

Moves like that can. Its always a risk, but its nice when it pays off.

I'm trying to behave.

[ Said with all the emphasis of someone who doesn't want to behave. ]

Who would even want to like a warrior like that? Everyone knows the best stories come with nasty scars.

[ Do they Astrid??? do THEY? ]

We just did what we thought we could live with. I don't think any of us expected it to go well.

[He laughs at that, sorry.]

Then I am even more impressed.

People who have never had dress down a boar they hunted in the while. Or ever seen the animal where their meat comes from. [It is a WILD CONCEPT and he thinks makes the point of how...violence free their life could be.]

Not a bad policy. Some games just aren't worth the win. And surprisingly works well to win those games sometimes?

[ She'd punch him if she could see! Instead she sighs and leans a hand against her cheek, elbow on knee. ]

Look, I'm pretty sure it's frowned upon to put your unitmate into a wall everytime they annoy you.

[ Unless it's Snotlout. Tsukasa gets the treatment of 'small, cute, and earnest' so less throwable. It's awful. ]

Yeah, they just walk down the street to a store and pick up their food. It's convenient, sure. Still don't like it.

[ Mostly because it seems too easy? Like a trap. It's not a trap, but it's an instinct thing. ]

I won't ever want to win that kind of game. [ Said simply. ] I'll take the points, but it stinks that we did.

[ She'd feel more guilty if it wasn't for some shamelessness still going on ]

Yeah, probably. He does have his good points, at least. Usually a lot less annoying then Snotlout.

It is convenient. It makes things easy. It makes it harder for them to be okay with pain and hurting, or worse, it makes them get really stupid about it. Prone to panic.

[It is a WHOLE THING.]

Neither do I. I've only really tried once, because a teammate was that scared. I rather just get through it over making it hurt worse for others unnecessarily.

Sure, if I annoy him a lot he'll turn into a yapping dog.

[ And that's funnier, tbh, than throwing him in a wall - good to have in the arsenal. ]

No one on Avante panicked, thankfully. But they were pretty shocked when I just moved to action. Because you're right, the longer you let it sit there the harder it is. If you can just... get it over with, you can make up for it later.

[ she thinks; it's the closest she's got so far. ]