⬣//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]

[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.

[selfconcept]

I wouldn't want to keep you around for use. I'd keep you around because I like you.

[ And this is why he spoils people he likes...... ]

[worldbent]

Hmmmm.... Isn't company and affection a use, though?

[The grin tells Hien he's being a twit on purpose, of course.]

Oh, or are you saying that even if I was the nastiest kitty around, you would keep me?

[selfconcept]

I would.

[ Without hesitation. ]

Even if you scratched me, bit me, or avoided all my petting...

[worldbent]

Haha. What a glutton for punishment you are, Hien. [His head tilts up to look at the trees again.] But for a cute kitty, I would do the same, so I suppose I can't criticize that much.

Unfortunately for you, I'm much more troublesome like this.

[selfconcept]

That's fine, because I like you better like this.

[ He smiles a little behind the bandages wrapped around his head. ]

It wouldn't be you without it, after all.