Open | The Epicurians Present: The 1st of September Beach Bash!

[bleatingedge]

Who ► Leo & Anyone that wishes to join!
What ► BEACH PARTY!!
When ► September 1st
Where ► Δ Haggard Traveler's Reprieve
Content Warnings ► People will be drunk. Will add to if needed

[The time has come... for fun! Δ Haggard Traveler's Reprieve has been decorated with all the niceties that a beach party requires - docks for fishing, large umbrellas to hide from the sun, several tables with sets of chairs for sitting and conversing, and the most obvious addition: a massive roaring bonfire with a big cooking mesh over the top of it for barbecue cookin'!

Leo's wearing a fishing hat and aviators alongside his trademark loincloth-and-nothing-else getup for maximum dissonance. From his position on the other side of the bonfire, he waves a hand at those arriving.]

Welcome to the Beach Bash! Snacks and drinks are on the tables, bottles of sunscreen and crafting tables are under the umbrellas, and complementary fishing gear are at the docks for your convenience. Have fun, friends~

[Emperor Grunty is also here, should you wish to annoy him! He's currently laying in the sand with a reflector. What? Grunties need their sun too!]

Comments

[selfconcept]

[ Hien slowly blinks and lifts his head off of Matoba's shoulder. ]

Mm... kakigori, right?

[ Surprisingly(?), Hien knows what it is. That said, he grabs Matoba by the hips, lifts him up, and puts him off to the side so that Hien can stand. Please have Matoba stand on his feet... ]

Just a moment...

[ Then Matoba will see Hien just lethargically walk off... past the big rocks where he can't be seen. A minute passes. Five minutes.

...

He's still not back. ]

[worldbent]

That's right. [Matoba smiles,] Classic shaved ice with condensed milk atop a bed of sweet red beans, but also topped with fruits, gummies, or even other toppings like pudding when they get really fancy. Although personally, I like the simplicity of the classic style.....

[Oh... Matoba is not expecting Hien to suddenly just... pick him up like that. Bodily, with only his armstrength. He's sort of glad this swimsuit skin makes certain problems disappear right now.]

[He steadies himself on his feet with much confusion and watches as Hien stands and just........... wanders off. What the fuck, Hien. After a few seconds of blinking after him, he pouts, and just steals Hien's chair.]

[Fine!! Fuck you, Hien. You're not getting this seat back. Now Matoba is the one sulking, finishing off his melting ice. His lips are blue.]

[selfconcept]

[ Around ten minutes pass ever since he left Matoba alone, but he comes back with shirokuma ice (on the left) in his hand. He sees that Matoba took his seat, so he just stands there with the shirokuma ice in his hand, as he takes the first bite out of it with a spoon. Munch.

He's not telling Matoba to get off the chair, but he also won't share either... as long as Matoba is in that seat.

Though Matoba can guess what Hien did beyond those big rocks--probably did actual "cooking" to craft "Shirokuma Ice" (his own recipe) while using his own ingredients for it, implying that Hien has some degree of cooking skills, even if that isn't easily shown with a kakigori of all things. ]

[worldbent]

[Matoba has just about given up since Hien wandered away, deciding that he must have escaped to, who knows, take care of the discomforting thoughts that Matoba in a sexy swimsuit bubbled up in him or whatever.]

[He's finished off his own ice and is relaxing slouched down in the chair, feet kicked up against the edge of the table, when Hien comes wandering back. He opens one eye with a frown, and looks to the ice in Hien's hand, and then Hien's usual, gloomy face. And then the ice again.]

How did you code that so quickly? [Does he just-- model things right into the game??? Do the admin tools include some sort of modeling capability? .... Does it read your mind to produce objects!?]

[Matoba's going down such a mental rabbit hole thinking about this now that he says nothing else, eyes narrowing slightly in consternation as he stares at the ice. He's still not budging from the chair.]

[selfconcept]

[ ... ... ...

After a bit of silence, Hien slightly frowns, the slight annoyance covered by his sunglasses. ]

I made it. With the Chef profession.

[ Stupid. He takes another bite out of it. Looks like Matoba is getting none. ]

[worldbent]

Then... this game can generate items that have not yet been coded into it?

[Then, the AI goes beyond only behavior and scripting for NPC's, but rather the entirety of what they could potentially see and interact with.]

[How interesting.]

[Matoba lifts his feet off from the table to lower them to the ground, and crooks a finger at Hien.]

Come here. [Come sit on his lap, Hien-kun.]

[selfconcept]

... I helped Leo set up the party. This place was bare.

[ Does that answer his question. Hien still feels a bit defiant though, especially with how he crooks that finger. Rude. Rude, rude, rude. So he remains standing. ]

I didn't code this. I made it: crushed and shaved ice, fruits picked from trees, hardened gelato, and more. You can make all this from what's available here, and that's the reason for the quest I put up--to test out how far it can go.

[worldbent]

Then the answer to my question is "yes", Hien-kun.

[Which is all he needs to know!! Sheesh, this guy works for CC Corp and acts like it's so normal! But really. How interesting. Very very interesting. And dangerous. No wonder something like that might be possible, here...........]

[Matoba frowns and instead leans forward, propping his chin up on his elbow against the table.]

And? Are you enjoying it? [That delicious shirokuma that you should bring over here to him!! He pats the table! Here, boy.]

[selfconcept]

[ Hien could just code another chair, but the way Matoba keeps calling out to him with gestures makes him want to stay defiant. In order to up his defiance, he takes another bite out of the shirokuma ice from his spoon.

...

He sighs, walks over to Matoba, and shoves a mouthful of shirokuma ice in his mouth with his spoon. The tastes and flavors are all perfectly balanced... as shaved ice can get. ]

I'm enjoying seeing what the players can make for me.

[worldbent]

[It should annoy him, by all rights, but... it's sort of like calling out to a cat that refuses to heed you, and instead slinks around you, past you, anywhere but to you.]

[So unfortunately, he keeps at it fruitlessly, charmed.]

[Even so, he's eventually rewarded for his persistence!! Matoba makes a muffled sound when Hien suddenly shoves the spoon messily into his face, but he happily eats the contents. Ahh... the gentle sweetness of the condensed milk; the flavorful bite of fruit! The earthy sweetness of the red bean. It all combines so nicely.]

[Matoba lets it melt on his tongue and chews the fruits, humming with satisfaction.]

Mmph, well-- I'm useless in the kitchen, I'm afraid, so you won't be getting anything from me! [How can he smile so pridefully while saying that...]

[Anyway, now that he got his tasty bite of the ice, he gets up from the chair. Meal ticket, earned. (But he's just going to plop onto his lap again once he sits.)]

[selfconcept]

[ Hien takes his rightful(?) place back into his chair, but then Matoba plops onto his lap again... boy......... but fine. He'll even feed Matoba too. Say "ahh", dear.

Except Hien will never say that and feeds him normally this time without shoving the spoon into his mouth. ]

Why do you sound so proud of that...

[worldbent]

[Hien is in his rightful place, and so is Matoba- comfortably sat right back in his lap, now Matoba is the one that decides to tilt his head against the crook of Hien's shoulder, opening his mouth for the spoon. Ahh.]

It's a good thing to be aware of both your talents and your weaknesses, [He replies patiently, and licks a bit of condensed milk from the corner of his mouth.] I'm good at "erasing" things, not making them.

After all, no one is perfect, Hien-san.

[Aaah. More ice, pls.]

[selfconcept]

I agree. I can think of several more flaws for you.

[ Absolutely deadpan without malice. Hien feeds Matoba another spoonful. He's not really thinking about what he's doing here. Maybe because despite this being a party, he doesn't feel like he's being stared at or judged too much. He's a private person.

But his thoughts start to wander back to the PvP tournament and what happened there. Hm. So after some silence and more spoonfuls, he finally opens his mouth again: ]

What made you choose Shadow Warlock? Though I can't say it doesn't seem to fit you in a way.

[worldbent]

Hahaha. Is that so? List them.

[He thinks it would be interesting to hear Hien's perspective of him... Since he gets to hear the man's thoughts on things so sparingly. So quiet and withdrawn. So reluctant to chat. Of course, he wonders about Hien himself just as much, but you can also tell things about a person from what they are willing to tell you.]

[And knowing that, his smile curls, good eye flicking upward to meet Hien's, though Hien could only meet it if he glanced down to look at him.]

Magic is something that doesn't exist in the real world, [He answers steadily,] Right? And virtual reality is about offering experiences that you cannot get in the real world.

None of the other classes offered that, for me.

[Initially, during the class selection process, he had complained that there wasn't more than the one ranged physical class. Guns weren't his preferred style... Not that he couldn't use them. That said, when he had submitted his choices for class, the Steam Gunner had still been among them.]

[Of course, for a reason. Hien has seen his talent for aiming twice, now.]

And you, Hien-kun? Choosing the healer class when your talent is also "erasing". It's funny. I don't think that's a sense of humor at play, though.... [You know, since he never smiles.]

...Is it... "self-sufficiency"? [Being able to restore his own health and SP even as he attacked others...... All while refusing to rely on partying with others.]

[Well, he is the Head Admin, after all. Perhaps it would be a problem for the game's head cop to get too reliant on others.]

[selfconcept]

You have a hard time saying things in a way that's easy to understand.

[ It's the only one he'll list, because it's the only thing he has a problem with until he remembers some more. But for now, Matoba sits on his lap and is being fed shirokuma ice. Hien doesn't mind this, really, despite how questionable it would look to everyone else. As long as they don't see, it's fine. Their eyes meet briefly until Hien's gaze moves to feed Matoba again.

For Hien, magic and madness are about the same in the real world. ]

That's a part of it, but it's also a handicap.

[worldbent]

Are you sure you don't just need to expand your vocabulary? I don't speak English, by the way, so perhaps you can blame the game for not dumbing things down enough for you.

[Dummy. Yeah, he's calling you out, dummy! See, here's another of his flaws: he's blunt, and critical.]

[As for whether they'll be seen, well, that's up to everyone else. Matoba doesn't really mind. He bites down on the next bite of ice, and munches through it,]

Mmrrm? [Gulp,] For you, you mean? ...I wouldn't call bashing our heads in with a staff a 'handicap', but whatever you say. [Smile.] Would you have preferred something else?

[selfconcept]

[ Hien clicks his tongue despite feeding Matoba another spoonful. ]

Cryptic asshole. Vocabulary won't fix jack shit.

But yeah, Tribal Grappler.

[ You thought bashing heads with a staff was bad, is what Hien's expression seems to say. ]

[worldbent]

[Fufufu. Whipped.]

Haha, is that what you meant? You need to get better at reading between the lines.

[Homf.]

Brute. [But the way he seems to say it, with that gentle lidding to his eyes, doesn't seem like he's saying it in a negative way.] Do you think you'll switch at some point? I'd like to see it.

[selfconcept]

[ Hien is unfortunately self-aware that he won't be able to read between the lines no matter how hard he tries.

But he also doesn't seem to like the idea of changing his class. ]

I picked a handicap for a reason.

[worldbent]

Does it help? [He glances up at him again with his cat-like smirk. He's just teasing him, but] "What you need to do as an admin."

[Raw power wasn't everything, huh? If all he'd been able to do as their "babysitter" was to pulverize them, maybe he wouldn't be effective that way, either.]

[But maybe there's another reason, too- one closer to that strange contradiction that was exemplified in his eyes. Kind, but cold.]

[Anyway,]

Tell me.

[selfconcept]

[ If raw power was everything, nothing in this world would be so complicated. Alas. Hien feeds the last of the shirokuma ice before shoving a takoyaki inside Matoba's mouth. Enjoy the sizzling, hot takoyaki, you shady bastard. He also cooked this. ]

... It wouldn't help me to do things as the head administrator.

[ He'll admit that much. ]

But it would forcibly restrain me from doing worse things than I already can.

[worldbent]

Ah- h't, h't-- [Cold! Hot! Matoba makes a surprised sound and reverse-blows as the piping hot takoyaki is shoved into his mouth just after the last of the sweet condesed-milk soaked redbeans, causing a strange reaction of sweet cold and hot savory that has him twisting a face up.]

[Though the takoyaki is good....]

[Raising a hand to his mouth, he chews, eye watering slightly from the temperature, and lightly glaring at the other man. So rough, Hien-kun..........]

....Do you often find that a problem you have? [He says with a bit of a sulk to it, and plenty of sarcasm. He already knows the answer to this question, twofold. The way he hurts, and the way he seeks pleasure, both.] Holding back.

[selfconcept]

[ He looks a little smug when Matoba looks up at him with a glare. He can choose when to eat this takoyaki, the one that Hien holds out to Matoba. A second one. ]

Yeah. What's the point of going easy on someone when you can crush them thoroughly?

[worldbent]

I see.

[No, he understands Hien's logic. When dealing with an enemy, normally, you should ensure that you use enough force that the threat is completely eliminated, so that there's no chance that they will ever come back to be a problem.]

[However: that was a simple and outdated way of looking at things, from Matoba's perspective. Total force was the luxury of those that did not have to consider limited resources.]

So you can't think of another way. That's very like you, Hien-kun.

Shall I suggest another? [He chooses not to eat that takoyaki, yet.] Rather than crushing your enemies, you should change the circumstances, so that their best and only option is to become your ally by their own will.

If all you do is destroy everything that ever stands in your way, you may find one day that you have been put in a corner- one where your strength will not suffice- and you will have no options at your disposal.

[He leans forward, and plucks the takoyaki out of his fingers with a swipe of tongue. Munch, munch.]

[selfconcept]

[ Hien makes a face, not at what Matoba said, but from how he took the takoyaki. This slimy man... ]

It's all I have. If that will eventually put me in a corner, I'll accept it.