w3 afterparty

[selfconcept]

Everyone passed! That's great! But Wei Wuxian is gone and you keep getting a weird feeling. Maybe it's the adrenaline that's dying down. Maybe you saw something strange because you're tired? It'll all be uncovered on Sunday. Why not take a breather for now? If you're injured, ask Florence for some medical aid. (can be handwaved) It's around 10 PM when you're released.

Comments

[exofractured]

[Phantom works out the worst of his guilt aggressions on tea preparations, so he only thunks the cup down in front of Hien a little when he returns.]

Here.

I didn't see this notif I'm sorryyyyrjdnd

[selfconcept]

Thanks.

[ He notices the thunk. Will he say anything about it? No. ]

I'm kinda glad you aren't asking many intrusive questions.

fksldfjs ʕ♡˙ᴥ˙♡ʔ

[exofractured]

In contrast to my usual?

[Good. Tactful Hien. Phantom sits down too, holding his own tea more for warmth than anything. Maybe he should have ignored the hour and made coffee, but Hien liked the tea last time.]

Which part were you expecting me to pry about? I can at least strive to be unexpected.

[selfconcept]

About what I said in response to your prompt.

[ Everyone is so nosy here, is what Hien thinks, so that is why he is pleasantly surprised. ]

[exofractured]

[The memory of the embarrassment is enough to make Phantom sink a little in his seat again, but he's too tired for any more dramatic reaction than that just now.]

...Hm. It's not a surprising outcome in these circumstances, I suppose. Particularly when you two already seemed close.

[Which isn't to say he's not nosy. Just that he's figuring out how to phrase his questions.]

[selfconcept]

[ There's a long, slow blink. ]

We're not dating or anything though.

[ Though he's saying that to the "being close" part. It makes him feel nice to hear that, but. Yeah. ]

[exofractured]

Why not? Aside from being trapped in a broken-down world with our survival a weekly gamble.

[Since it doesn't seem like the emotions are the problem, considering what brought this up in the first place.]

[selfconcept]

I don't think he wants to.

[ Hien gets flashbacks about how Fai didn't want to be close to people. Faking emotion doesn't require closeness. Neither does doing it in the bed. ]

[exofractured]

Ah.

[That's... not what he expected, somehow. Fai seems so friendly, and Hien is Hien. But the situation itself is more than a little familiar.]

...Have you actually asked him?

[selfconcept]

He said it earlier on that he didn't want to get too close to people. So, I just did what I would usually do anyway.

[ So that's actually the reason why Hien is surprised at people saying "you two must be close" when it's really more like "He doesnt wanna be close so okay" but Hien initiating things that invite closeness without thinking about it...

closes eyes

Hien is sometimes dense as fuck ]

[exofractured]

Earlier on, yes. But...

[.........Even Phantom is just giving this the stare it deserves. And he is so beyond incapable at the concept of dating that it actually defies description.]

And what is it that you'd usually do?

[selfconcept]

Just... be myself?

[ Maybe he's just normally affectionate? And asking people to do things with him? ]

[exofractured]

[...Yep, that's absolutely what Phantom is getting from this.]

And this is the result. [Hmmm.] I don't know his reasons for not intending to get close to others. But he doesn't seem displeased with the outcome, to me.

[selfconcept]

[ How should he say this as his partner... ]

He has a lot of feelings.

[ sagenod

That's all he'll say about it. ]

[exofractured]

[Not what he would have guessed from the exterior, but...]

Is that what you like about him?

[selfconcept]

Anyone can have a lot of feelings. You do too, Phantom.

[ Don't deny it. Hien will laugh at his face if he says he isn't. ]

[exofractured]

[Ugh. He's tsundere, not a fool about this exact subject.]

I'm well aware. You can take it up with my creator.

[selfconcept]

Yeah, so... no, it's not that he has a lot of feelings.

[ He pillows his head and drinks some tea. ]

I like how he cares, but I want to help him too. I said... that I'd save him.

[exofractured]

Ah. So it's because he's kind, but you still feel needed.

[Phantom's tone is much too mild for the words to be intended harshly. He gets that one. He picks up his tea to stare at it, not drinking.]

I won't ask you about his circumstances if they're private. But if he's willing to let you help him, that implies a lot.

[selfconcept]

Does it?

[ Tell him more, Phantom-sensei ]

I didn't think about it like that...

[exofractured]

[Hien please absolutely do not trust Phantom as a source on this]

...Doesn't it? Most people wouldn't accept help from someone they don't consider close... I would think.

[selfconcept]

[ ... ]

Unfortunately, I'm not most people.

[ He's definitely not saying that in a bragging way either. He's not like most people, so his way of thinking has been different... good thing he doesn't feel lonely. ]

[exofractured]

Can you make a comparison from your other selves, then?

[Neither is Phantom. This is a disaster in the making.]

...I suppose I share memories with the most spinelessly ordinary person you could imagine. He's a coward who cries at the least provocation- [and no, there's not venom in his words at that! it's normal.] -and who wants desperately to earn the regard of even one person. And even he was... selective in who he chose for his support.

[selfconcept]

I deviated too much from my other selves, so I can't compare myself with them, despite having our roots in being the same person.

[ Considering most of his other selves are normies, there's just no way. Though, he seems to regard Phantom's memory sharer with some interest. ]

Did he have trust problems?

[exofractured]

[Even a normie reference must surely be better than this.]

No, he's the type of person to not notice what was going on right under his nose. More that he wanted other people to depend on him, rather than the other way around. ...Something like that. I would think that's true for most people.