(Catch all) Ominous October Threads

[insinning]

Who: Sinclair and You.
What: Dungeon runs, trauma bonding etc
When: All throughout October.
Warnings: Gore, Emeto, Psychological horror in one thread, NSFW stuff in another

“I see now that the path I choose through the maze makes me what I am. I am not only a thing, but also a way of being—one of many ways—and knowing the paths I have followed and the ones left to take will help me understand what I am becoming.”

Comments

[murrmoire]

Ah...

[ Well, shit. Noé will pick out some of the noodles. ]

Does it at least taste good?

[insinning]

[Ehehehe]

Yep. It's really tasty.

[He'll use the communal chopsticks to hand over the second bit of meat. He's not that mean, even though he'll be the one cleaning up the spill]

[murrmoire]

[ He'll go ahead and take that piece of meat, then, and shove it in his mouth. He chews on it, and – ]

Mmm! That's delicious!

[ Sparkle, sparkle.....until water starts boiling over. ]

Ah- it's still going?! Keep eating!

[insinning]

I'm not good at eating fast-!

[Aaaaah. Taking some noodles too]

[murrmoire]

[ A moment later, the boiling causes some food to spill out of the pot...onto their plates. This is such a disaster. ]

This is getting out of hand!

[ Says the guy who started this.

Anyway, he's going to just shovel some food onto his and Sinclair's plates until the pot just kinda simmers down, and stops boiling over.

That's a lot of food they have in front of them, now. ]

[insinning]

... I'll top up the broth with some water soon.

[But uh. Looking at the mountain of food on his plate]

Are you able to eat all of this?

[murrmoire]

Maybe?

[ This is a HUGE maybe. ]

It tastes good, so I'll eat what I can. ... Can you eat some of it, too? Or are you too full?

[insinning]

I haven't eaten much yet so, um. Maybe?

[ He'll just start in on his pile then!! Hopefully he doesn't force himself to eat too much]

[murrmoire]

Alright. I'll definitely help out.

[ It's the least he can do. But, after a moment of realizing how silly this all is... ]

...This is fun. Thank you for organizing this with the others. I think we needed something like this.

[insinning]

[ Oh

Sinclair ducks his head to hide his blush. He had wanted it to be fun with friends (and friend of friends). This is fun.]

... I'm just glad we can still come together like this and laugh about things.

[murrmoire]

I am as well. And we wouldn't be Phantom Operatives if we weren't able to do this, right?

[ They're just trying to good -- right now, at least. It's a moment of reprieve for what will likely be a long battle ahead of them. ]

You're a really caring person, Vogel. I see it in how you try to things, like how you're trying to rebuild the library, and host parties like this -- so don't forget to take some time for yourself, too.

[insinning]

[ Smiling and nodding]

Yeah, you're right.

[ But oops, there goes his cheeks again. Tomatohead....Oria don't look this way]

Mm. T-thank you. But...it feels like there's so little I can do normally that. [ Ah, the polite thing is to just accept this, right?]

... I'm glad it worked out. And I'll take it easy too, don't worry.

[his boyfriend will drag him along to rest somewhere after all]

[murrmoire]

Good! You should. As your fellow guild member, I'll make sure you don't overwork yourself.

[ Poor Sinclair... Noé is ruthless in his honesty sometimes and he has no intention of stopping anytime soon. ]

I think you've made more of a difference than you realize.

[ Gonna take a break to stuff more noodles in his mouth, though!! ]

[insinning]

I'll be counting on you then.

[Like he counts on Leader Noir. Looking around at the table--he's not sure when he's gotten to know so many people (and not even all of them are here Michel fled the teenagerdom after all) he genuinely feels at ease with.]

...I think everyone made it easy for me to reach out though.

[murrmoire]

You think so?

[ He tilts his head. It's not that he's surprised, but he doesn't know much about Sinclair. The guy seems a little timid, but he also seems to generally do well with people, so... ]

Were you not this open before?

[insinning]

No. It was harder before.

[Sinclair laughs a little sheepishly. He's not going to bring up Bad Events but]

I attended a really wealthy high school where people were always a bit...judgemental?

[Not a lie!]

[murrmoire]

What would there be to judge?

[ Said like it's a fact. ]

Well, I've seen students be rotten to people who are well-meaning. They may have just been insecure.

[insinning]

Maybe. Looking back, there should have been nothing to be afraid of...but, if you didn't fit in the right way...

[ He's not bothered by that anymore, so it's all matter of fact]

I guess things became clearer after how stupid it was.

[murrmoire]

It might have been, but you fit in here. I think that matters a lot more, doesn't it?

[ Noé is clearly on team Sinclair here. He thinks very highly of him. Once more, he stuffs his face with food, takes a moment to swallow... ]

[insinning]

[Sinclair takes a moment to think--ah.]

Yeah, you're right. I...didn't think I'd get to meet so many wonderful people.

[murrmoire]

I understand! Even though I travel a lot, I've met some of the kindest people I know in this game.

[ ... ]

I guess that's one thing to be grateful for. I wouldn't wish this situation on anyone, but if anything... I won't have regrets about the people I've met.

[insinning]

Yeah. I'm glad I met them. I think it helped me value what I did have more--and what to look for in the future.

[murrmoire]

The future...

[ They'll have one. They all will. Noé can believe it, and he refuses not to. He's going to keep hope alive. ]

Yes. I'm happy for you, Vogel.

[insinning]

Emil. [Pause. Strangely, he wants his name to be known] You can call me 'Emil'. That's my real name.

[murrmoire]

Emil... That's a nice name. Emil it is, then.

[ Did he say his? Probably not. Therefore: ]

You can call me Noé.