3.0 - week three

[afflictionmods]

WEEK THREE

Last night might have been exhausting for any number of reasons - maybe it was the emotional

toll of dealing with those ghosts, or maybe you stayed up too late after watching Jim Shrok. Who knows, but Saturday is over, even if some of you haven’t quite left it behind and half spirits that are still hanging on, tethered to you and weighing you down…

But that’s not going to stop a new week from starting. There’s no breaks in an eight week course.

There’s very little fanfare to the start of your third week of the course, though it does seem like the fog has lifted even more. It’s a bit more of a trek down the abandoned streets of Estelline, but surely a mile is walkable? Or you could grab a bike or try to hotwire one of those cars in the mall parking lot… Whatever you plan to do this week is up to you. All you know is you've got some new locations to explore.

As always, Florence and Lorelei are available.

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

TASK LIST


( OOC Note: Luci, Mutsu, and Mae will each receive a small roomba! Congrats on the successful egg drop. It's a tiny little friend that cleans extra well, though this also means its trash compartment is a little smaller so it'll need to be cleaned more often. )

FULL NAV

(CODE)

Comments

[selfconcept]

[ Oh. So Sabo is just being a nice partner to Ace and cooking him a meal. That's nice. Hien can appreciate that.

But it also makes him think of his own partnership with Fai. Hien gets hurt a lot, whether it's his fault or not and Fai mentioned being extra careful not to get hurt because Hien disliked physical pain.

... ]

Damn, I should get chewed out by Fai some more.

[ Anyway. ]

Have you ever tried it before? An eating contest between the two of you. You should.

[vivens]

[ sure, that can be hien's takeaway from all of this if he wants to. sabo won't stop him but he will turn off the flame for the stir-fry and turn to face hien properly as he says how he should get scolded more.

because hello? he's pretty sure it's a joke but at the same time. :umm: what if it isn't a joke? ]

Huh?

[ right. food eating contests. he's going to think about it for a moment. ]

Uh.

Well, as children we have but I don't think there was ever a winner decided. [ there's a brief chuckle as he recalls a memory of the two and eventually three of them fighting over food. what horrible children they were. ] We certainly haven't done it as adults. Too much going on with the two of us.

[selfconcept]

[ It definitely isn't a joke, but Hien means it so seriously that it might as well be a joke anyway. ]

Good thing you two can have the time now. Were you two childhood friends?

[vivens]

[ ah. hien we got to talk about some of these thoughts you have here... and sabo won't be able to help the small smile that creeps up on his face from hien's response.

he's fond. ]

Yeah, it is, and we are. I'd say that I've known Ace most of my life.

[selfconcept]

That must be nice. You two seem to really get along well.

[ Like a pair of brothers almost?! Haha. Ha. ]

Is it comforting to have him here?

[vivens]

Well, Ace is my brother. Not that brothers can't argue or get into fights but we'll always have one another.

[ not by blood but he's not going to mention that quite yet especially when hien had asked about whether it was comfortable to have ace here. it's a strangely complicated answer for him. ]

So, for the most part, yes. It's also a little frustrating from time to time.

my notif problem resurfaces I'm sorry

[selfconcept]

Because he doesn't listen, huh?

[ Ace is a free spirit... he thinks Sabo is a little more uptight, so those personalities can definitely clash. ]

pats!! it's okay

[vivens]

Maybe a little.

[ because, well, ace does do a decent job listening to sabo?? it's also sabo is sabo and ace is ace. ]

It's a bit more complicated than just that.

[selfconcept]

[ hien having an epiphany: is sabo short for sabotage

Hien nods. ]

Relationships are always complicated, I'm sure.

[ He looks back at the food. ]

... Seeing all this makes me feel hungry too. Guess I'll also make something.

[vivens]

Our's is certainly very complicated while also being very simple.

[ said casually because it is true. now as for hien when he looks ovver at the food he's making... it does seem all rather rude that he's yet to do this, doesn't it? ]

Would you want some? I wouldn't mind sharing some with you, and I'm sure Ace would hardly notice any difference.

[selfconcept]

You say that, but I'd probably feel bad.

[ Even if Ace doesn't think about it. ]

I'll just cook some pasta for myself. It's the best food to eat in bulk.

[ He also feels like eating a whole lot right now. ]

[vivens]

Are you sure?

It's really fine; I could just make more.

[ either way, he'll turn off the flame for the soup as well and then start to sort set things aside for hien if he wants to start right away. the soup flavor may not be that deep yet but it will work, and the stir-fry has been done for a while.

just rice left to make. a lot of rice. ]

[selfconcept]

Yeah, it's fine. I'm in a pasta mood anyway.

[ But that pot... ]

That's a lot of rice.

[vivens]

[ sabo will concede and allow hien to make his pasta though he'll look back and forth between him and the rice that he's making. ]

Is it?

[ says it like there isn't enough rice here to feed like twice the number of people he has already made food for. ]

[selfconcept]

Yeah. At this rate, you can probably feed all the kids with this portion.

[ "Kids". ]

... Though some are idols, so I guess they can't eat that much anyway.

[vivens]

[ ...

he'll look back at the rice and. hm. ]

I'm not sure if I've accounted for everyone's dislikes or likes.

[ but he's also going to frown at the idol comment. SABO REALLY GONNA LEAVE HERE HATING THE IDOL INDUSTRY, ISN'T HE? ]

...and what do you mean about that with the idols? They don't have to eat as much as Ace or I.

[selfconcept]

[ Oh, so Sabo actually accounts for that sort of thing too. Hien thinks that's nice and that tells him things about Sabo. They're all good things.

And he sure is. Join us, Sabo. ]

I don't think most people on average can eat as much as we can, but idols eat even less than that. They have to stay below a certain weight while training their asses off with draining physical activity. That's why their diets are usually strictly limited. If they go over, they can no longer be an idol and it's already hard to get to that point in the first place, since you have to give up a lot at the time.

[vivens]

[ oh.

huh. he doesn't like that, actually. he figured that shizuku was downplaying some of the aspects of it when she was describing it to him but she seemed to really enjoy being an idol... ]

And this is the kind of life that they knowingly sign themselves up for.

[ look, sabo isn't going to police what people want to do with their lives because it opens up for people to look at his life and make judgements on it. ...not that people can't already make judgements regardless. it'd just be unfair to allow one thing and not the other. ]

[selfconcept]

Yeah. The suffering they go throughout the process is worth the tradeoff for them, because to most, being an idol is having a dream come true.

[ That's not even including the fallout post-idol career where they feel like they've done everything with their lives and get depressed. ]

[vivens]

[ let's not talk about that part of the whole idol culture to begin with here because...well. looks at the idols we have here. though he will still have some opinions nevertheless. ]

I wouldn't make judgements on those who want to become idols then. If that's how they're treated, I would rather look more to those who have decided this.

[selfconcept]

Right? It's too bad that it's not all that easy either. I haven't seen an entertainment industry that isn't somehow tied to politics.

[ Of course it's politics. ]

They're good at not making it look like it, I'll give them that much.

[vivens]

I haven't heard of anything that isn't tied to politics.

[ even pirating is wrapped in politics!!! kind of. in a way... either way he'll chuckle quietly as he goes through the motions of setting up his meal with ace. ]

Some people are very good at making the best of an awful situation. Sometimes it's the only way for them to survive. [ ah. ] Not that I think that's the case with the idols we know here.

[ probably...?? ]

[selfconcept]

[ He thinks of Riku and Shizuku, who seem to be the poster children of earnest children to want to be idols with a pure heart. Madara though... Hien can't quite put a finger on it. ]

... I hope that wasn't how you lived for a long time.

[vivens]

[ madara is really a huge question mark when it comes to a few things, but not in a bad way. now as for hien's comment, sabo takes a moment to consider how to respond. given what he has experienced and given what he knows.

hmm. ]

I wouldn't call it a long time.

[selfconcept]

That's good, because that's no way to live.

[ He finishes making his pasta. It's just full of oil, butter, parsley, and something that resembles alfredo sauce. It's edible. Promise. ]