⬣//A BRIEF REPRIEVE

[cccorp]

>>Look at me.

⬣//BREATHE. EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY.

This is your Official™ catch-all log for the month of November. While the boss battles rage on, those of you who are looking to disengage from combat and kick your feet up for a spell can do so here.

Post your open prompts in this post. Closed starters may also be posted here or on @Altimit, but all open posts belong here in this log. Lawbreakers will be bent over the modly knee and paddled into compliance. Thank you.

>>Navigation

Comments

[worldbent]

Then plant something I can remember you by.

[Stubborn ass. He lifts his head to look up at him.]

What's the point of having trees that only remind me of myself?

[selfconcept]

[ Hien was about to quip that it's not even a real tree, but... ]

Then, you. Pick something for me. What do you think would suit me?

[ Or perhaps the magnolias already fit him with the "enduring" meaning. ]

[worldbent]

Hummmm.... I'm not too good with this sort of thing, you know, Hien-kun......

[He turns his head away with another mischievous smile, but then he turns back again.]

It isn't a tree, but.... bluebells. Ah! How about an apple tree? [He just wants to eat it, doesn't he.]

[selfconcept]

[ Hien has no idea what a bluebell is but he'll look it up later. Apple tree though. Really—is what Hien's expression seems to say. Despite that, he codes an apple into his hand and holds it to Matoba. ]

For you, since you're craving.

[worldbent]

[Don't give him that look!]

You asked, [He responds, miffed, but he takes the apple anyway and crunches in with a bite. Ahh... a little taste of fall, even though they're trapped in VR Hell.]

How do you know so much about flowers, Hien-kun? You mentioned a book....

[selfconcept]

It was a fleeting curiosity after I wrote up the botany and cooking guides for Fragment. That's all.

[ Hien looks over at Matoba. ]

I always think about you.

[worldbent]

Hoh? Can I read it?

[Hien-kun's guides.... Well, the cooking one will be utterly useless, but at least maybe the flower meanings will be....]

[He pauses with his mouth over the apple, looking at Hien with uncertainty. He finishes crunching into it, and chews a little before asking,] Because I'm incompetent at cooking?

[He's teasing. He knows that's not what he meant (but what the hell did he mean?)]

[selfconcept]

[ Hien quietly sighs and looks back up at the wisteria tree. ]

Because I like you. Stupid.

[ Despite that, he hands over "Fragment's Guide for Botany" to Matoba after coding it into existence. It lists all the possible gathering materials under the botanist profession, pretty sketches for visual of each item, what they could be used for, where they're found, and possible substitute ingredients to use them for real life things that can't be found in Fragment for the freewheeling chefs. Each page regarding each item is very detailed and it looks like a lot of effort went into making the guide. ]

[worldbent]

That's not really the reason I'm asking...

[The blunt honesty could be good or bad, with Matoba. He continues to give Hien a sidelong glance, but his attention is taken once Hien hands him the book. Oh?? He flips it open, beginning to page through...]

...You wrote all of this? [He seems surprised. Wow, Hien did actual Admin work?? His face melts into a sly, fond smile.] I can understand why you'd write a cooking one, but I didn't know you were also a green thumb.

[He glances up at the trees.]

But these are just images, aren't they? Why?

[selfconcept]

... It's just data. Data is easy to gather.

[ He looks over to Matoba. ]

Does it matter? To you... whether they're images or not.

[worldbent]

[There's a short pause, a moment in which Matoba seems to become aware of something.]

Is it? [His smile is as unreadable ever.] I've foun̸̢͇̪̬̤̰̆̄́̌̏͒̐͛̀d it quitế̵̬͉̜̿̋ di̶̥͂̈͋f̸̧̜̩̮̣̹̥̤̮̣̘̲̻̾̐̂̕ͅficult lately.

[He glances back up to the branches of swaying wisteria, and his face falls into distaste again. That failure's nickname for him.] ...No. Not really. Everything here is false, isn't it?

What's a fake we can touch from one we can't?

[selfconcept]

[ His eyes widen behind the bandages wrapped around his face. It's a little strange to hear that Matoba has been trying to collect data, rather than information. For Hien, the two might as well be the same, but it doesn't seem right for Matoba to use. It doesn't... suit him.

And now everything is fake? Hien isn't sure what he's—no, he's realized it, hasn't he? ]

... Seiji...?

[worldbent]

[Matoba blinks, and glances back towards Hien again.]

..What??

[selfconcept]

[ Maybe he imagined it? Hien isn't sure how to react when Matoba looks at him like nothing is wrong. ]

... Never mind. It would be hard to find anything if you're always in your room... or with me in general.

[worldbent]

[Maybe he did! Put it out of mind, Hien.]

[His expression flattens. Wow, don't call him a shut-in.] What else am I to do? The monsters only cleared out of town recently, and there isn't much grinding to be done at level 100, hm?

...Ah, but to answer your question more seriously... I don't mind if they're real or fake images. I was just curious as to why you made them this way in the first place.

[selfconcept]

I just didn't want them to be disturbed.

[ Simple answer from a simple man. He knows how the playerbase is regarding strange things. ]

... I'll eventually forget the reason why I put them here, but I thought they looked nice together.

[ And for the meanings that he told Matoba earlier. ]

[worldbent]

I see...

[He looks back up at them, a little exasperated, but fond. He may have hated that name that was given to him, but that doesn't mean he hates Hien's intentions.]

[He steps forward, fingers clipping through the tree as he mimics trying to pat at it, at the drooping petals.]

They're a charming pair. Unlike us. [Grin.]

[selfconcept]

Would we ever be?

[ It's not a serious question as Hien watches Matoba go over to the tree. He smiles a little behind the bandages. ]

I think we could be.

[worldbent]

You think so? Hmmm~ Maybe if we had some prettier foliage.

[It's sarcastic. He glances for longer at the magnolia. Resilience, huh.]

[Hien was certainly resilient. Matoba had never thought of himself as someone who was going to live a full and long life; not even, he's sure, before Fragment.]

What do you think? Maybe when we're reborn?

[selfconcept]

Reborn?

[ Hien doesn't believe in any religion--if you die, you die. However, the concept of it seems attractive now, only because everything feels like it's ending so soon. ]

What do you think you'd be? Maybe I'd be a dog for real.

[worldbent]

[Not an uncommon experience at all- to try to find something to cling to- religion, philosophy- as death draws near.]

Ahaha, well if it's in this context, then perhaps.........

A camellia bush. [His gaze softens.] Another resilient one. Clinging on even in the frozen cold until the flower head comes off, whole.

[selfconcept]

... That sounds very symbolic, but then you wouldn't be able to eat cakes anymore.

[ Hien doesn't understand the symbolism of the part when the flower comes off whole. The resilience and enduring part though, he can understand. ]

[worldbent]

Heeeeh, that's true...........

[His grin doesn't fade.]

Cake isn't good for kitty-cats either, so I guess that's also out. My, what am I to do...?

[selfconcept]

[ Just say that he's dumb, Matoba. He'll get it. ]

I would spoil you, so you'd no longer have to worry about not eating cakes anymore.

[ Matoba as a cat... cute, honestly. Hien would enjoy that. ]

[worldbent]

[He doesn't need to! It's beside the point!]

[Sigh... He really would like to be reborn a cat. That would be nice. But it would be perhaps too good for someone like him. As he'd told Hani- he knew where he was going, and that didn't bother him.]

Oh, would you? [His smile curls.] You already spoil me enough, don't you? Imagine, if I was a kitty, I'd be even less useful to keep around.