week one | overflow

[marriagebroker]

Ok, weirdos.

Boom Boom Room | Property Damage
Truth Booth Voting | Match Ceremony Voting

Comments

[poans]

[He blinks at that. While his head angles closer to her, his gaze remains diverted from hers.]

What words did Miss Maya convey to you?

[irreversal]

[ That's alright, since Shoko's sort of staring into the middle distance, herself, even as she chuckles a little under her breath. ]

That she'd want to protect you and me. Heh.

[poans]

[?]

There is naught threatening me. Are you in danger, Miss Shoko?

[irreversal]

I don't know. Maybe she wants to protect us from ourselves.

[poans]

For her to express going to such lengths . . . what ails you so?

[He looks aside at the nearest exit.]

No, let us discuss this elsewhere. If you are willing, that is.

[irreversal]

[ Oh. He - actually wants to talk further? ]

Hoh? Sure. I could use some fresh air, anyway.

[ She'll head for the exit with him presumably in tow, but the moment they're outside— ]

Nico-san said my blood tastes like loss.

[poans]

[This way, they can be spared from the commercial break.

She cuts straight to business, which is for the best, given that they'll be hearing the result for the truth booth very soon. Yi Sang pauses.]

I did not realize a person's blood could carry a flavor of such nature.

[irreversal]

[ bless you for remembering that this is happening during tb bc I forgor ]

It does, for him. Maybe it's a thing with vampires from his world.

Anyway, it... Caught me off-guard. And I ended up blabbing about it to Maya the other night while I was drinking. And now I'm blabbing about it to you.

[poans]

[I also forgot for a moment.]

If sharing it another time troubles you, we can simply return to viewing the booth with the rest of the players.

[irreversal]

[ It... Shouldn't bother her to share it. She's thought about it time and time again, and "loss" just... doesn't feel like it's hers to claim.

But she also hadn't expected to feel so vulnerable just days into this so-called vacation. And that's scary. ]

Mm. I'll just say this. To add to what we talked about when we met. I'm a doctor. I understand how fleeting life can be in my own way. And the truth is, I don't know if I really believe everything that I told you that first time.

[ About how it's important to keep living to carry on others' memories, and how you're never alone when others have faced the same loss, too. Hopeful ways of thinking that the students ascribe to, but feels far too late for someone like Shoko to grasp for herself. ]

[poans]

[Shoko's words from their first encounter have stayed with him, perhaps in ways she hadn't intended. He doesn't believe she was wrong, necessarily. As he'd said then, they've just been walking separate paths. Now, though . . . ]

Then, what do you believe?

[irreversal]

[ What does she believe? ]

That I'm still figuring out what to believe. And... that's it's alright, if what I believe changes.

[poans]

[Change is the word. So many changes come with grief, and still more must be chased in order to live. It's never enough. Will it ever be enough? Will Shoko arrive at the answer she desperately needs for her heart to heal?

He takes a deep breath in through his nose, then out, quietly, through his mouth.]

I thank you for sharing your thoughts with me.

[His words, though baked into formality, are sincere. As a man who struggles to put his own thoughts into words on a daily basis, it's a great gift she's imparted.]

[irreversal]

[ Change is the word. Sometimes, too, it's the world that demands change, but as an individual... it's up to their own selves to decide if they'll meet that change with their own.

She watches Yi Sang intently with her own tired eyes, wondering if she'll be met with another distant expression of his, but even that inhale and exhale are— something. Maybe it means they really talked this time. Just like that. It feels like something. It feels sincere. ]

...Yeah. Thanks for listening. [ A beat. ] We should head back in before we miss the results.