99 posts
Seer of Heart
Played by Harrison
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Post by faultycoordinator on Jun 1, 2016 3:35:53 GMT
((wizardlyLuminary and faultyCoordinator only. Takes place after Unbreakable Union, DoomVoid Style and Tower Reconstruction Chillax Project.)) Last time one of your friends spammed you this much about WL, he had been corrupted. At least this time you were fairly certain that SC was probably exaggerating - that said, you knew this ordeal would do the opposite of helping WL chill. It was your responsibility as Heir of Rhyme to help your friend relax. A gate later you arrived. Same tactic as last time, off towards the house. Bleach in hand. Eyes scanning for his shiny.
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143 posts
Seer of Law
Played by Lucy
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Post by wizardlyluminary on Jun 1, 2016 3:52:39 GMT
You were taking a break from questing for a bit to chat on your laptop, sitting out on a balcony RT had built onto your dwelling spire. It was a pretty nice day, as far as days went on the Land of Bones and Dust. You'd need to get back to Terraforming quests soon, but for now you were just trying to distract yourself from how obnoxiously SC had been trying to convince you that your plans were stupid.
Movement caught your eye, and you peered down, expecting to see a consort or an imp--but no, it was FC! You captchalogued your laptop and grabbed the flying broom out of your sylladex, swinging a leg over it and floating down to meet her. "Hey, Jenny! What's up?"
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99 posts
Seer of Heart
Played by Harrison
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Post by faultycoordinator on Jun 1, 2016 4:26:28 GMT
It was good to see WL approaching you this time - very different from the last run-in. You offered up the bottle of bleach as your traditional good-will offering. "Hey! As promised, here I am for a chilling and chatting session. You wanna start the rhyme psybuffs now or later? - Oh, and I promise it won't be as intense as [Ice Cream in the Veins]"
You got to the point quickly - not out of eagerness to get going, but simply in order to get to the chilling part.
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143 posts
Seer of Law
Played by Lucy
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Post by wizardlyluminary on Jun 1, 2016 5:18:18 GMT
You touched down in front of FC and recaptchalogued your broom before taking the bleach from her with a polite smile. "Um, I think I'm fine without the psybuffs for now. I like to try to keep my mind unaltered unless it really needs it," you say a little awkwardly. "Wanna come inside?" you ask, heading over to the front door and opening it for her.
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99 posts
Seer of Heart
Played by Harrison
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Post by faultycoordinator on Jun 2, 2016 4:57:32 GMT
"I'd argue that they're closer to the best medication available for all the crap SBURB has put us through, but I respect your choice to keep your mind safe. Also, sure!" You respond, taking his offer to enter his abode.
As you enter, however, your smile turns flat into a more serious tone. "Let's talk about the people in the chat."
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143 posts
Seer of Law
Played by Lucy
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Post by wizardlyluminary on Jun 2, 2016 5:01:43 GMT
You lead Jenny inside to sit down on one of your replayee's more comfortable couches, about to ask her if she wanted anything to drink or something, when her tone suddenly went serious. You blink. So she had had something specific in mind to discuss when coming here, rather than it just being a casual hangout? "Um, alright, sure. What about them?" you ask, perching on one of the ends of the couch.
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99 posts
Seer of Heart
Played by Harrison
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Post by faultycoordinator on Jun 2, 2016 5:09:57 GMT
You felt the Shade reminding you that you needed to take things down a notch, or several. You did your best to relax a little more, taking a gentle breath to reset yourself into a calmer state. "Okay, well, you've had problems with a few people. I think we should talk about it." You say.
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143 posts
Seer of Law
Played by Lucy
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Post by wizardlyluminary on Jun 2, 2016 5:14:13 GMT
"Problems...?" You have to stop yourself from grimacing. This isn't really the kind of thing you generally like talking about with other people--a few upsets in a chatroom are nothing you can't handle yourself. It's nice when people talk to you right afterwards, when you're still feeling bad and they can help take your mind off of it, but... you don't really feel like you need to talk it all out. "Do you mean that stuff with RD and SC? Because I'm fine now, really," you say, folding your arms against your chest.
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99 posts
Seer of Heart
Played by Harrison
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Post by faultycoordinator on Jun 2, 2016 5:33:45 GMT
"Once is chance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is a pattern. They were trying to help you, even if it didn't end up coming off well. They're reacting based on their own perceived rules - rules that they feel you're breaking, and rules that have kept them alive so far." You say at first, even if this wasn't necessarily what you wanted to focus on - you didn't want to simply get added to the jerk list.
"I've noticed you tend to get into pretty heated arguments with the people who don't trust HT's deal. What I really wanna talk about is your relationship with him, the experiences a lot of SBURB players have had with others, and why everyone is so aggressive with you when it comes to the HT related thing. I'm not here to judge your opinions or how you feel, I'm here to hopefully increase understanding of where the people in the chat are coming from, including you, and, ideally, reduce the intensity of these situations overall."
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143 posts
Seer of Law
Played by Lucy
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Post by wizardlyluminary on Jun 2, 2016 6:02:14 GMT
This time, you can't manage to keep your expression neutral as Jenny talks, looking a bit uncomfortable and sour. "What do you mean, three times? As far as I can remember, the only person who's yelled at me about the HT thing is SC, and that's because she's got some sort of bizarre thing against him anyways," you say, a little bitterly.
You fold in on yourself a little more, looking down at the ground. "...What do you want to talk about, then? Are you going to repeat everything I already know about how Others are dangerous and tell me all the stories about people who've been screwed over by them?"
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99 posts
Seer of Heart
Played by Harrison
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Post by faultycoordinator on Jun 2, 2016 6:58:16 GMT
"It happened with SB - though you were lightly corrupted at the time: fits perfectly as an accident. Then it happened with RD: a coincidence. By the time it with SC - well, I decided to think about if there was a pattern. Part of why you and SB fought was because SB has this strong moral sense of obligation to actively help everyone he can to keep fighting, and it's what fulfills him and keeps him playing this game. RD has a relationship and a successful one at that. SC has long-term goals and plans and, despite all the reasons that it's insane, a hope for a better future." You paused, partially for dramatic effect and partially because The Shade liked pauses.
"Now, obviously, you aren't them, but please remember that these are all people who have become very used to symbolism. I think that, in some way, you symbolize something very different and antagonistic to each of them, for different reasons. By wanting out of the game so desperately, you're opposite to SB's dedication to doing the best he can inside the game: he fights every day to accept the crap situation he's landed into and to help as many people survive as he's able to. By focusing on all the negative results and aspects of relationships, you symbolize the thing RD fights against every day - what she would do if she were to lose TC, who she would be without TC, or who TC would be without her - and in some ways it probably even feels like the whole flirting with HT thing is a mockery of the love she knows."
"SC is probably the weirdest case because, well, she's SC. Her whole deal is fighting for a world that she never got to experience - she wants the 'normal' life that none of us ever got. That's why Dream Bubbles or Other deals aren't good enough for her. They're nothing like the thing she strives for, and if you were to accept that deal with HT, well, it's totally the opposite of what she, deep down, stands for." You made sure to keep a calm, gentle tone. You did not want to come off aggressively - you wanted to be clear that you were trying to explain things as best you could from what you understood of their points of views.
"These are all people with very strong convictions and who have pretty serious integrity from what I've seen. They've been tested again and again, and how do you think they felt when you came along and started opposing their core beliefs? At things which make them who they are. How do you think it made SB or SC feel when you said 'you aren't as deep as you think you are' - when they were each expressing something core to who they are? Or when you made shots at RD about TC probably dying one day and RD being powerless to stop it?" You take a deep, slow breath. You knew you were close to getting upset, but you weren't going to forget the point.
"They're all lovely people. They'd probably have gotten along well with you if circumstances had been different. You just... hit them each where it hurt - I'm not saying you intended to, but I am saying I think it happened nonetheless. I'm not saying that these people were right in how they reacted to your specific situation at all either, but I am saying that there seems to have been insensitivity on both sides."
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143 posts
Seer of Law
Played by Lucy
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Post by wizardlyluminary on Jun 2, 2016 7:36:23 GMT
You listen more and more begrudgingly as Jenny explains her views on all of this, curling up closer to yourself and farther from her as if it were a defense. By the time she's halfway through, you have to grit your teeth to keep from snapping at her before she can finish. By the end, you've got your legs hugged close to your chest and look very upset indeed.
"So, an accident, a coincidence, a pattern--a pattern of what, people hating me and arguing that all of my opinions should match theirs?" you ask, voice trembling a little. "You think I don't wish I could have the willpower and optimism to look at things like Will does? Or have a person who loves me, or live a normal life? Fucking hell, if I had the option to go live a normal life like the game denied to us, I'd take it in a heartbeat!" Your hands clench into fists, gripping at the fabric of your pants.
"I can't--I just can't have that optimism or those hopes anymore. Their values are all admirable, but I just can't see them as realistic, trying to picture those things for myself just makes me feel like I'm lying to myself about what could happen. I'm just trying to make the best of what I have, trying to find the path for myself that will lead to the least heartbreak and despair, and it just feels like everyone is trying to shame me for not wanting to live a life of noble tragedy!" Some tears are starting to prick at your eyes now, and you shove your glasses up to rub at them with your sleeve.
"I said something careless that hurt RD's feelings, I'll admit that, but I apologized, and I didn't do a fucking thing to anyone else! I've just been sitting here minding my own business making all sorts of painful considerations and decisions about what will be best for me, and everyone starts fucking riding my ass because the opinions I come up with don't match up with their values?! What the fuck am I supposed to do then, if my very existence is what's offending them?!" You look up at Jenny, eyes teary and brows furrowed. "Just tell me one fucking thing I did besides that comment to RD that was 'insensitive', that wasn't a response to an argument they started about my personal choices!"
You drop your forehead back down against your knees.
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99 posts
Seer of Heart
Played by Harrison
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Post by faultycoordinator on Jun 2, 2016 15:55:05 GMT
"You made them feel like you weren't listening. The 'you're not as deep as you think you are' line probably would have been nothing if you'd used it once, but when you used it again with SC, well, it made SB feel like you hadn't actually paid attention to what either of them had been getting at. He felt it was a 'hand-wave' of his entire set of values. I'm not saying it's what you actually did, I'm saying that's what it made him feel you were doing." Look at what you'd done, you'd taken a perfectly fine WL and made him upset is what you did. You needed to turn this soon-to-be train-wreck around.
"My point here wasn't to attack you or to make you feel attacked, my goal was to try to help explain where the others were coming from, not whether you or them or anyone was in the wrong. They're just people with really strong convictions, it's okay to feel that they're not for you, but it's important to remember that it's what makes them who they are, and that they're going to be adamant about those things, especially given that they're all active class natives. I would readily argue that some of the things they said were completely out of line, especially in the case of SC. I don't think SB was trying so much to push his ideology at you, but rather he was probably just looking for some acceptance of it, and the 'you're not as deep as you think you are' really hurt his feelings, even if you were a little bit corrupted at the time and even if he isn't as deep as he thinks he is. You were totally on point with that one, just- don't tell him I said that."
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143 posts
Seer of Law
Played by Lucy
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Post by wizardlyluminary on Jun 2, 2016 21:30:30 GMT
"So what, I'm just supposed to sit there and take it as they nag me over and over again about perspectives I've already considered and decided don't work for me?" you say miserably. "They're the ones who're coming after me for my opinions, shouldn't you be talking to them about understanding where I'm coming from? I don't have any damn problem with them living life their own way and believing their own things as long as it doesn't encroach on me." You really don't understand what she wants from you here.
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99 posts
Seer of Heart
Played by Harrison
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Post by faultycoordinator on Jun 3, 2016 3:26:01 GMT
"No, god no. I'm suggesting the opposite. When people start doing it, you could just leave. You keep staying though. Why don't you just leave when those things come up?" You ask him, neglecting to mention that leaving is exactly what you would do, and had done on numerous occasions in the past when dealing with abrasive veterans.
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