(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

[alchemicalbirth]

[ There's a long stretch of silence as he continues to absorb what the other has said. It's true, even the most quiet people desire and have a need for interaction; though he imagines his is far lower than most, Albedo thinks he has a limited threshold he'll need to meet. At least, maybe it feels that way more now than ever. But... ]

...If you can't understand someone else, how could you ever truly be someone's friend?

[ Albedo asks, genuinely curious.

If you don't understand the other person, would that not mean there is not a true connection? ]

[dissimulative]

Well, first. Let's determine what a friend means to you, Calx.

[ Oria eats some more before deciding to pause his eating so that others can eat too... ]

For me, a friend is someone I can have fun with: hanging out, doing some fun things together, chat, go out for meals and so on. For me, a closer friend would need some sort of mutual understanding.

[alchemicalbirth]

[ ...He knows for certain he has not had a single friend before he has started playing this game. So. ]

If I have no understanding with the other person I may be 'hanging out' with, then I can only consider that individual to be an associate of some kind.

For myself, the qualifications are clear:

It could not be something superficial.

[ Albedo simply has no interest in pursuing such relationships lest they be work related associated ones. And even then, he would not bother do much 'fun together' with such people. ]

[dissimulative]

[ For a person like Albedo, that seems to track. A relationship that isn't superficial at all... Oria wonders. ]

Who qualifies as that for you right now?

[alchemicalbirth]

I suppose...

[ Albedo smiles a little and points to Oria.

Then, he points to Sinclair.

Following that, he also points to Noé. ]

[dissimulative]

[ Oria's expression brightens at that. He knows Albedo wouldn't lie about something like this from what he's learned of him, so honestly? That touches his heart. It's nice. Sinclair is also easy to befriend if you're close to him in age and Albedo at least looks like it.

But wait. ]

Oh! You and Memoir are friends?

[ DEETS!!!! ]

[alchemicalbirth]

[ ...Is this what it means to make people happy? Strange, Albedo never thought he was capable of that. ]

Yes.

It is more or less a recent development.

[ ...

He keeps it very concise because he has no idea he's supposed to even give deets. Help. ]

I believe I may have made another as well, but he isn't present right now.

[dissimulative]

Hm?

[ Oria's curiosity continues to shine... ]

Who is it? Someone older?

[ Because they're all around their age here, aren't they? Give or take maybe 3 years or so. ]

[alchemicalbirth]

Tighnari. I don't suppose you have had the chance to speak with him?

[ He is uncertain of his age, so he pauses, thinking about it. ]

I believe he may be older, but it is hard to say.

[ It would be extremely unusual for a forest ranger to be younger, though Albedo supposes given his own circumstances, it wouldn't exactly be surprising either. ]

[dissimulative]

[ All these prodigal young'uns... ]

Oh! Fox! I offered to help him out when we first started the game, but Jackal told me that he's doing fine.

[ Though he didn't seem to come off as any sort of emotional. If anything, he'd think Albedo and Tighnari would be more like business partners instead of friends. ]

I haven't talked to him since though...

[alchemicalbirth]

He is relatively level-headed, so I am not surprised to hear that. Though, that being the case, we happened to meet up around the time everything took a turn for the worst.

[ They sure talked about things. As for the other comment, he says: ]

...In this I am also not surprised. Some people do like to keep to themselves or limit their company than others.

[ Maybe he thinks this because he feels he and Tighnari are like-minded in some personality traits, so he feels he would know. ]

[dissimulative]

Yeah, I get it. I feel like I wanna be alone sometimes too.

[ Which isn't typically expected of such an outgoing person like Oria, but he tends to lone wolf a lot of things, even if he doesn't mind collaborating with others. Even when he feels terrible, he sometimes wants to be alone. ]

There's nothing wrong with that either.