week four | mingle

[marriagebroker]

Final week at the estate! Final week with your friends. Final week with your beaus. Time to make the most of it, everyone!

In fact, to celebrate this fact, today there is a cake. It's nothing special, just a nice little cake to enjoy with your morning coffee or throughout the day. Yay, cake!

And when Wei Wuxian arrives that morning, he is going to call out once again for everyone to join him, near the cake.

"Everyone, I have another announcement!"

Hell yeah, announcements.

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

Comments

[irreversal]

[ Those who have been out and about with Shoko this week - and even those who haven't but have a keen eye - would have noticed that in contrast to the last two weeks, Shoko hasn't been smoking.

Tonight, however, there is already an unlit cigarette in her mouth by the time production finishes reading everyone's cards.

She picks up her card - which else could it even be, other than the one about suturing a bisected corpse of a friend - and sighs, pressing her free hand through her hair. ]

Feels like he's never gonna let me live that one down.

[beatmatching]

Who? [ likely predictably, there's no judgement from luka. ]

[irreversal]

[ and because it's Luka, who unexpectedly might understand things of this nature better than most, Shoko answers. ]

My old classmate. [ A beat, then she corrects herself. ] Friend. Gojo Satoru - he was the strongest sorcerer among us for a while.

[beatmatching]

[ he might be getting the sorcerers mixed up here, but- ]

So you bisected him to preserve his abilities?

[irreversal]

[ She can't help but give a mirthless little chuckle. ]

Is that what it sounds like? No. I couldn't have pulled something like that off, anyway. The only one who could - and did - was the King of Curses, Sukuna.

[beatmatching]

[ so sukuna = segyein... got it. ]

Then was it to give your student an opportunity to become stronger?

[irreversal]

[ She nods. ]

...It was the only choice we had to beat Sukuna.

[beatmatching]

Then it's just something you had to do, isn't it? You shouldn't feel bad about that.

[ luka's not sure to the extent of which she had to do it, but that doesn't really matter. ]

[irreversal]

...It was. And— I don't.

[ She breaks eye contact with him, her gaze growing distant and unfocused. Maybe therein lies the problem— Shoko didn't, doesn't feel bad for doing what she had to. But shouldn't she?

Was that truly a fitting end for her friend? Didn't she think he would win his fight with Sukuna, which would keep her from having to resort to it all in the first place...? ]

I... didn't think we would have to resort to it. [ A beat. ] He was going to win.

[crimsin]

One of your friends? From the other night?

[ One of the ghosts, he means. She seemed to believe they'd be reluctant to forgive her. ]

[irreversal]

[ She pulls her lighter out to light her cigarette, but the flame struggles to ignite. Shoko sighs. ]

...Yeah. Gojo. The really tall one with white hair...

[ Her friend. ]

He was the strongest sorcerer among us, but he died fighting Sukuna, the King of Curses.

[crimsin]

And you needed his body still? For the battle?

[ There's no judgement in his tone. He knows that people do what they have to do when it comes to war, when it comes to survival. His own people have done far worse out of mere boredom. ]

[irreversal]

[ She nods. ]

It was a contingency. If he fell in the battle, Okkotsu could take over his body, use his techniques. He knew we needed a monster to fight another monster.

[ And what a thing, to call her own friend a monster. But Okkotsu had said so himself, and she... knew he was right. But still— Gojo was their teacher. Her friend. ]

Gojo was supposed to win. [ She draws in a shaky breath, but steels herself for the exhale as she finally manages to light her cigarette. ] I thought he was going to win.

[crimsin]

Fate is rarely ever kind, especially, it seems, when we most need it to be.

[ He knows she's not one for physical comfort, but he reaches over to rest a hand on her arm all the same. ]

[irreversal]

[ Maybe not, and yet... when Nico's hand comes to rest on her arm, she can't help but lift her hand to rest over his, all the same. ]

...Yeah.

[ She doesn't regret what she did. They all knew it would be a possibility - it's why it was a contingency in the first place, and one that they thoroughly discussed. But she still thinks about Okkotsu on that day, asking them why they'd always pushed the responsibility of being a monster on Gojo and Gojo alone. Wonders why things had turned out the way they did, when...

She was there, too, wasn't she? ]

Nico-san. [ . . . ] Am I a monster, too?

[crimsin]

[ The question startles him, something surprisingly vulnerable coming from a woman who has always kept herself guarded, her hurts carefully sealed away where they can’t do any harm. ]

Doing something monstrous does not always make you a monster, mon ami.

[ He turns to face her, hand still resting on her arm, hers slotted over top. ]

But… in the end, we become what we must, so that no one else has to bear the burden.

[irreversal]

[ He startles, and for a moment Shoko thinks to take it back. He's right - that was much too vulnerable, much too much of a question coming from her. She has no right to ask it, after everything... ]

...

[ But they become what they must. Gojo and Okkotsu had understood that better than the rest of them had. Sorcery has made monsters of her dearest friends, and so it has of her, in its own way. But if it all means its future doesn't have to rest on any one person's shoulders, if that burden can be a little lighter... ]

Mmh.

[ She nods, a subdued little thing, as her hand finally falls away from Nico's, finding its way back into a pocket instead. ]

Maybe it was worth it, to get to see his dream carried on by his students. I don't regret having done it. But when I say this was why I was glad to see my friends as their younger friends...

[ It was because of this. Because when it came down to it, she bore Gojo's severed parts in her hands before she even had a chance to accept he was gone. She slotted the pieces of him back together, and cut his brain out, so that he could be used as a weapon in his death. ]

[fireball]

[ She's just gonna give Shoko a hug. ]

You okay?

[irreversal]

[ With Poppy, she does find herself just... leaning into her embrace a little bit, as she heaves a sigh. ]

...Yeah. I... I did what I had to.

[fireball]

[ Is she the one supporting Shoko now... Okay, yeah, she'll do that. Gladly, so she'll hug her a little tighter. ]

I believe it. And, hey. You survived it, right? That makes you pretty strong.

[ Emotionally, not just magically. ]

[irreversal]

Ahaha. [ A mirthless little chuckle rumbles between them. ] It wasn't really something I had to survive. I'm just a medic, after all.

[ At some point, they might have been concerned with Sukuna targeting her knowing she was capable of healing, but he had a lot on his hands - all four of them - with the students and other sorcerers. ]

I get it, though. This has always been my own kind of strength. Not the kind of monstrous strength someone like Gojo had. But...

[ She presses her forehead into the curve of Poppy's shoulder. ]

...That asshole was still my friend. I could barely even think about the fact that he was gone before I...

[ Before she had to take the severed pieces of him and put him back together like a broken doll, stringing him together like a puppet to be used in his death. ]

[fireball]

[ She brings her hand up to run through Shoko's hair, stroking it. ]

I get it. My best friend's an asshole too. [ It's said softly, affectionately, for as much of this as she actually can get. Which is not a lot, but hey, at least there's always the strictly normal human level of connections and people one cares for. ] I'd still be sad if he died, let alone... anything else.

[ Everything that will remain beyond her. Poppy's quiet for a moment, thinking. ]

I mean... even medics have to survive stuff, right? I know there's a whole lot I don't know, but I thiiiink they're still pretty important. And PTSD is still a thing and all, so it's not like you've gotta sell yourself that short.

[irreversal]

[ Well... She's not wrong. Even on a normal day - as normal as a day could have possibly gotten in her world - Shoko still would have likely seen sights that would make any ordinary human squirm. It's easy to lose sight of that when she gets so deep in her work, but...

As always, Poppy gives her a different perspective.

She draws in a deep breath and winds her arms around Poppy, albeit taking care with her cigarette-holding hand. ]

...You're right. I feel like you'd get it if I say I'm tired of talking about that guy, too, huh...?

[ ... ]

Can I ask wich card was yours...?

[fireball]

[ Poppy laughs, both glad to hear that she's right and also in additional affirmation. Sometimes you just need to not let the assholes (fond) in your life dominate your attention, for once.

And then she's silent for a moment longer, just enjoying the closeness, for reasons that will soon become apparent. ]

... The first one. [ A little sigh. ] About the pandemic. And not... having anyone.

[ Which is, very obviously, not a concern at present moment. ]

[irreversal]

A pandemic...?

[ Shoko who is from 2018, ]

Did you have to quarantine? That sounds like a tough time, Poppy.