a bad live

[filetofish]

Who: Crow + various
Where: the hotel kitchen
When: day 54, early afternoon

[Sooo an hour or two after the game, a live is called. At first it's just showing the kitchen, and Crow contentedly leaned against a wall eating his ration like nothing is going on.

However, if you're actually coming in for lunch you might... have some trouble. For one, all the dishes and cooking utensils seem to be missing. For another, all the fridges are taped closed all around the edges.

You can find the missing stuff if you look up... It's all taped to the ceiling.]

Comments

[rollplayinghouse]

...

Well, I'm an assassin.

[liftoft]

--Here, or just something you remembered being?

[rollplayinghouse]

I remembered it, but I have killed people here.

[liftoft]

Assassinated-killed somebody, or 'because this place is messed up and the games are dangerous' killed somebody?

[rollplayinghouse]

...Some combination of both. It was all in games, but I can't entirely say the games forced me to do it.

[liftoft]

Of course they did, unless you'd be walking around killing people even if the games never happened.

So, why did you want me to know that about you? You couldn't picked anything at all about yourself, and that's the first thing you came up with, so there's something about it you thought was really important for me to know, right?

[rollplayinghouse]

...I picked it because it's what I'm best at.

And that's stupid logic. Any assassination might not have happened if things had gone differently. That doesn't mean it wasn't a choice to do it.

[liftoft]

Would you kill somebody if nobody had asked you to do it--?

[rollplayinghouse]

I killed someone in the haunted house game where people got possessed. I wasn't possessed, though. I was just upset and angry.

[liftoft]

That's still a game, so as far as I'm concerned it still counts under something you wouldn't just choose to do. Anyway, you still haven't really told me why you wanted me to know this about you.

[rollplayinghouse]

...Like I said, it's what I'm best at. Don't people normally share their skills and that sort of thing...?

And you knew it before, so I'd rather tell you now than have you remember something.

[liftoft]

Huh. Were you worried I'd think you'd been hiding it or something, if I remembered before you told me? Well, anyway--now tell me something about yourself you feel good about.

[ since he's reasonably certain she doesn't about that, not really ]

[rollplayinghouse]

It's not like it's really a secret by now, anyway. But I don't want it to come as a shock if... you see something shocking.

Something good about me...

[...]

...When I first got here, I was pretty sure I wasn't at all comfortable with relationships, especially romantic ones. I had no idea how to handle it, or if I even could.

That's... different now.

[liftoft]

...heh, yeah--sounds like you're doing pretty good handling a couple of pretty good relationships! Even the ones that aren't romantic. That's definitely something good!

[rollplayinghouse]

M-Mm. That's what I've been working on most, so...

[liftoft]

Yeah, it's impressive--not everybody can take something they think they're weak at and really work to make it better like that! You should be really proud!

[rollplayinghouse]

...

Thank you. I don't know how it ended up quite like this. But it seems to be going as well as could be expected.

[liftoft]

Didn't you just say you expected it to go way worse?

[ he's clearly teasing, though ]

[rollplayinghouse]

Could be expected. By someone with a lot higher expectations of dating multiple people than I had.

[dry]

[liftoft]

Well, either way, it's pretty great! I'm a little jealous!

[rollplayinghouse]

J-Jealous? Jealous of what?

[liftoft]

Haha, you know! Thinkin' that so many people like you like that, enough that they're fine if you're with other people too. Like, they just wanna be with you! Who wouldn't like that kinda thing?

[rollplayinghouse]

...It's really not that simple...

[she takes a breath and keeps talking, it all coming out in a largely flat tone but without any pauses long enough for him to interject]

At first, A and I were just friends... who both kind of liked Boss. Then A and Boss got in a big fight because Boss slept with someone else while A thought they were dating, and they weren't speaking to each other for a while. Right around that same time is when I started dating both of them, which was awkward, though they both agreed to it.

Then a lot of stuff happened... they were "enemies with benefits" for a while... and Boss slept with other people still, though he was supposed to tell me beforehand. Then I finally got Boss and A to talk to each other properly, and they decided to try dating again for real... but to simplify things while we worked things out, it was going to be exclusive between the three of us...

But, there's someone else I had been kind of doing things too, and he got upset about that... And I felt bad about that, and realized I cared about him too... so Boss and A agreed that I could resume things with him specifically... though A wasn't immediately very happy about it. I think we worked things out, though...

[finally she trails off]

[liftoft]

[ He listens, eyebrows slightly raised, faint smile on his lips ]

...Ha, have you been wanting to spell all that out for somebody? Thanks for telling me! Sounds like a lot happened, and I can see even more why they're all willing to go along with it. I think you're a lot better at that kinda stuff than you were giving yourself credit for for sure, since it sounds like you had a hand in helping it all work out. Who wouldn't wanna be around someone like that! You're really impressive, Maki!

[rollplayinghouse]

W-Well...! Everyone keeps hearing that I have multiple boyfriends, and making assumptions. But it's not like that. I have no idea what I'm doing. It's not impressive.