[ that's so valid of you. also he knows gay AND math... suspicious
anyway that gets like a brief hint of humor across his face, but he puts his hands on his hips. he can feel you looking at his horns sir... ]
Right. Well. They're monsters. Big, nasty things twice the size of a castle and twice as vicious. I could probably show you a picture in the library, but they're not all that common, and most people've never seen them. This thing's... I think... some kind of a human - it's too bizarre looking to be a regular monster - but we see them now and then.
[ the tooth hops in front of sasaki. hop hop ] Let me guess, you'd call yourself that? A human.
[ SASAKI THE HOMOTRON 3000 may hear something on his way out and about today - an angry, snarled out swear - ]
Damn it -- damn it! [ followed by a thunk noise of something hitting against a wall, and then ragged breathing. following the sound gets you strohl, standing with his fist up against a wall that he clearly just punched, head down, and trembling visibly. it's fine. this is so fine i hate flurry ]
[Walks directly in front of his fist and gets his head punched off, dying instantly
I WISH!!!! But no, Sasaki is just here walking by, probably also trying to come to terms with the fresh deaths of the day. He is doing, unsurprisingly, very terribly as well, but the sound of violence seems to instinctively catch his attention, and he reacts before he really processes what he's seeing.]
Woah, hey--oh. [It's just Strohl hitting a wall, not a fight... his shoulders slump again as his brain catches up.] ...Sorry, didn't mean to get in the way.
[He doesn't really want Strohl to hurt himself like this, but who is he to tell someone how to handle this insanity?]
anyway strohl does not do that. he hears the voice nad jerks where he's standing - startled, tense, whirling around, and... it's just sasaki, who has been relatively harmless so far and also is not wearing a tshirt that says i murdered vi and/or fushiguro at the moment, so while he does not instantly calm down or anything, he at least manages to suck in a breath and tries to force himself to grab back onto his composure. ]
So much for vacation. [ bitterly, because its not like it felt like a vacation in the first place. strohl rubs a hand over his own face, suddenly just feeling exhausted. ]
I shouldn't have snapped. [ he says, after a long moment. ] You're not in the way.
[So much for vacation--and so much for not being prisoners, either. It is, quite frankly, a terrifying situation to be in.]
It's okay. I get it. [He's... angry too, in a way--or he would be, if he wasn't numb with the onslaught of fear and trauma that's occurred this week. Mostly he just feels exhausted.]
[ hi im strohl and welcome to jackass my traumas are getting laser targeted every three minutes the murder game
anyway this is much later in the evening. strohl can be found just kind of outside of the hotel with his arms folded, jittering and tense and staring off into the distance, but better off than he was a few hours ago at least!
he's just kind of brooding now. when he sees sasaki, he gives him a brief, slight nod. ]
[Woah that's rough buddy. Can't relate! I am the most untrauamatized person here!!!!
Okay obviously that is not true--but it is true that Sasaki has no idea how to relate to what Strohl is going through. Still, that doesn't mean he's insensitive, or unaware that he's far from the only one struggling right now.
So, at some point, he will find him and hold out a drink--it's just the game equivalent of a Hot Lemon, which is kind of like sweet, warm, lemon-flavored juice. Comforting... mostly when you're sick or it's winter, and neither of those things apply right now, but. Y'know. It's all he can do.]
[ OUR POOR NORMIE... HE JUST WANTED TO LIVE A YAOI LIFE AND NOW THIS....
also this is extremely sweet what the fuck. strohl snaps out of it when someone comes into his peripherial - he blinks once, twice, processing the drink... and then huffs, the noise almost a laugh, rueful. ]
I look that bad, huh? [ but he'll take it... grateful. ] ...Thanks, Sasaki.
[Thanks Sasaki. He feels like he can say this because everyone and their mom knows he was wildly out of his depth today, so it's not like he's trying to prove anything.]
[ returns from the hell of migraines. i also don't feel great.
there's a very slight smile at the comment, though it falls off his face when he brings up nathalie again. calmer than earlier, definitely, but no longer mad? absolutely not. ]
...For all the good that did, yeah. [ by which he means it did very little good. ] You?
If it makes you feel better, neither did I. [ and he had plenty to say during!!! ] It seems like she was tricked, somehow. Doesn't make it any better. Almost makes it worse.
[ he says, voice rough and low, and he looks out into the horizon, moving the tea bottle from hand to hand just for something to do. strohl bonds hard - he's loyal, doggedly so for the right person. vi was like him. sometimes you just click. flurry did crimes against me this game.
and it's true, he'd be devastated - inconsolable if hulkenberg died, likely. but... ]
Doesn't matter, though. [ a little softer. ] 's what Sancouer said that I find unconscionable above all.
[She said a lot of things, hysterically, and then there was blood and chaos and it was a huge crazy horrible blur, but he thinks he remembers that much.]
The idea that their lives were a justifiable price for it.
[ thinking about it makes him angry again, and he squeezes the bottle tighter in his hands, plastic crinkling, voice sharp. ]
... Seven years ago, my village, my bloodline, my family, was destroyed by a human - the monsters I spoke of before. My parents stayed behind and called for help for the military, but none came, no matter how much they tried. And the reason the general in charge gave the order to ignore the cries for help? He felt an - [ here, his voice picks up venom: ] adequately dramatic demonstration of the threat that humans were was needed. That perhaps the King and those in power would be spurred into action if they saw the horror a human could commit. Not in a tragic accident. An orchestrated, purposeful devastation.
Halia and all of her people burned because someone thought it was for the greater good. Or rather, someone believed their lives were worth his cause.
[The way I kept trying to respond to this tag but stupid graveyard shenanigans kept happening. WRESTS MY SANITY BACK BEFORE I DIVE BACK TO PARTY TAGS
Sasaki, for his part, listens quietly. It's so incredibly far removed from anything he's ever been through--but that doesn't mean he can't be empathetic. There's something very sad, he thinks, about knowing wars and conflicts seem to be a common feature across worlds. All that power beyond imagination, and still...]
I'm sorry. [Sincerely.] I can't even imagine what that must feel like.
[THE CURSE OF BEING FLESH IN REAL LIFE CONTINUES and also somehow we're still here. Why this. Free us
It's honestly so tempting just to hole up in his room and depression nap to avoid bearing witness to any other insane tragedies, but he can't quite bring himself to do that, so Strohl can just find him wandering around today--pretty much anywhere but the magic market, honestly. Fuck that place.]
Hey. [Immediately after that, he whips around.] What the--?!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
week 1 monday
anyway we're in the natura biome, where strohl is staring down
this thing. it hops and wiggles its weird teeth legs. ]
Couldn't you talk, before? [ as he reaches out and prods at it with his foot.... hello ]
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Sasaki edges away from it.]
What is that supposed to be?
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A human. [ a beat. ] I think.
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Sasaki just looks at him for a bit like ?]
...I don't get it.
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.... Humans aren't - monstrosities, in your world, I take it.
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He looks at Strohl's horns and slowly shakes his head.]
Not unless you want to get really psychological about it.
[But that is not his wheelhouse he knows math and gay and that's it]
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anyway that gets like a brief hint of humor across his face, but he puts his hands on his hips. he can feel you looking at his horns sir... ]
Right. Well. They're monsters. Big, nasty things twice the size of a castle and twice as vicious. I could probably show you a picture in the library, but they're not all that common, and most people've never seen them. This thing's... I think... some kind of a human - it's too bizarre looking to be a regular monster - but we see them now and then.
[ the tooth hops in front of sasaki. hop hop ] Let me guess, you'd call yourself that? A human.
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Sasaki just kind of. Stares at him through all this and then looks down at the. Tooth thing.]
Uh, yeah. I'm human. [...] I'd say you sound crazy right now, but this whole place is really weird, so maybe I'm dreaming?
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[ JAMJARS!!!!
the tooth hops excitedly. it maybe wants to be patted on the... tooth... head..... good luck with that. strohl makes a little bit of a face. ]
Some nonsense about people being from different - worlds, or something, seems to be the norm here. If you could call anything about it normal.
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What, like in the movies?
[
Steps away from the tooth.]
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... I suppose? Never heard of it.
[ terrible. what is a movie. ]
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[What da hael]
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That odd?
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Very determinedly does not stare at his horns again.]
I guess not. They're like, uh... stories, on screens. With actors and costumes and stuff.
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Like an opera.
[ ? ]
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That's after his canonpoint but it makes me laugh every time]
...Sure, yeah. [Close enough]
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[ don't tease him about something you know literally nothing about ]
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I'm not, but I think it's similar enough? I heard there's one about a phantom. [Sasaki no]
week 1 friday
Damn it -- damn it! [ followed by a thunk noise of something hitting against a wall, and then ragged breathing. following the sound gets you strohl, standing with his fist up against a wall that he clearly just punched, head down, and trembling visibly. it's fine. this is so fine i hate flurry ]
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I WISH!!!! But no, Sasaki is just here walking by, probably also trying to come to terms with the fresh deaths of the day. He is doing, unsurprisingly, very terribly as well, but the sound of violence seems to instinctively catch his attention, and he reacts before he really processes what he's seeing.]
Woah, hey--oh. [It's just Strohl hitting a wall, not a fight... his shoulders slump again as his brain catches up.] ...Sorry, didn't mean to get in the way.
[He doesn't really want Strohl to hurt himself like this, but who is he to tell someone how to handle this insanity?]
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anyway strohl does not do that. he hears the voice nad jerks where he's standing - startled, tense, whirling around, and... it's just sasaki, who has been relatively harmless so far and also is not wearing a tshirt that says i murdered vi and/or fushiguro at the moment, so while he does not instantly calm down or anything, he at least manages to suck in a breath and tries to force himself to grab back onto his composure. ]
... fine. [ muttered. ]. 's fine. [ ... ] ... sorry.
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He shakes his head slightly, shoving his own hands in his pockets.]
...It's not fine. Nothing about this place is.
[Which is a pointless thing to say, he knows, but--he can't not say it.]
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So much for vacation. [ bitterly, because its not like it felt like a vacation in the first place. strohl rubs a hand over his own face, suddenly just feeling exhausted. ]
I shouldn't have snapped. [ he says, after a long moment. ] You're not in the way.
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It's okay. I get it. [He's... angry too, in a way--or he would be, if he wasn't numb with the onslaught of fear and trauma that's occurred this week. Mostly he just feels exhausted.]
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[ the apology remains, but there's a small dip to his head, expression a little softer now, less - ready to pop like a firework. ]
... Are you alright? I know it's a strange thing to ask. I... get the feeling this sort of thing's not common for you.
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Is a place like this common to anyone? [But gets what Strohl is saying.] ...I'm okay. But yeah, I--don't really know what to do.
week 1 saturday
jackassmy traumas are getting laser targeted every three minutes the murder gameanyway this is much later in the evening. strohl can be found just kind of outside of the hotel with his arms folded, jittering and tense and staring off into the distance, but better off than he was a few hours ago at least!
he's just kind of brooding now. when he sees sasaki, he gives him a brief, slight nod. ]
no subject
Okay obviously that is not true--but it is true that Sasaki has no idea how to relate to what Strohl is going through. Still, that doesn't mean he's insensitive, or unaware that he's far from the only one struggling right now.
So, at some point, he will find him and hold out a drink--it's just the game equivalent of a Hot Lemon, which is kind of like sweet, warm, lemon-flavored juice. Comforting... mostly when you're sick or it's winter, and neither of those things apply right now, but. Y'know. It's all he can do.]
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also this is extremely sweet what the fuck. strohl snaps out of it when someone comes into his peripherial - he blinks once, twice, processing the drink... and then huffs, the noise almost a laugh, rueful. ]
I look that bad, huh? [ but he'll take it... grateful. ] ...Thanks, Sasaki.
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[Thanks Sasaki. He feels like he can say this because everyone and their mom knows he was wildly out of his depth today, so it's not like he's trying to prove anything.]
...Did you go talk to her?
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there's a very slight smile at the comment, though it falls off his face when he brings up nathalie again. calmer than earlier, definitely, but no longer mad? absolutely not. ]
...For all the good that did, yeah. [ by which he means it did very little good. ] You?
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Sasaki does the useless teenager shrug.]
Kind of. I didn't really know what to say.
[He is. So far out of his depth.]
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If it makes you feel better, neither did I. [ and he had plenty to say during!!! ] It seems like she was tricked, somehow. Doesn't make it any better. Almost makes it worse.
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Did you know Vi before? Or--any of them.
[Since, well--everyone was upset, but Strohl clearly took it extremely hard. Sasaki's observant enough to know a personal hurt when he sees one.]
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[ he says, voice rough and low, and he looks out into the horizon, moving the tea bottle from hand to hand just for something to do. strohl bonds hard - he's loyal, doggedly so for the right person. vi was like him. sometimes you just click. flurry did crimes against me this game.
and it's true, he'd be devastated - inconsolable if hulkenberg died, likely. but... ]
Doesn't matter, though. [ a little softer. ] 's what Sancouer said that I find unconscionable above all.
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[She said a lot of things, hysterically, and then there was blood and chaos and it was a huge crazy horrible blur, but he thinks he remembers that much.]
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[ thinking about it makes him angry again, and he squeezes the bottle tighter in his hands, plastic crinkling, voice sharp. ]
... Seven years ago, my village, my bloodline, my family, was destroyed by a human - the monsters I spoke of before. My parents stayed behind and called for help for the military, but none came, no matter how much they tried. And the reason the general in charge gave the order to ignore the cries for help? He felt an - [ here, his voice picks up venom: ] adequately dramatic demonstration of the threat that humans were was needed. That perhaps the King and those in power would be spurred into action if they saw the horror a human could commit. Not in a tragic accident. An orchestrated, purposeful devastation.
Halia and all of her people burned because someone thought it was for the greater good. Or rather, someone believed their lives were worth his cause.
no subject
Sasaki, for his part, listens quietly. It's so incredibly far removed from anything he's ever been through--but that doesn't mean he can't be empathetic. There's something very sad, he thinks, about knowing wars and conflicts seem to be a common feature across worlds. All that power beyond imagination, and still...]
I'm sorry. [Sincerely.] I can't even imagine what that must feel like.
week 2, monday
It's honestly so tempting just to hole up in his room and depression nap to avoid bearing witness to any other insane tragedies, but he can't quite bring himself to do that, so Strohl can just find him wandering around today--pretty much anywhere but the magic market, honestly. Fuck that place.]
Hey. [Immediately after that, he whips around.] What the--?!
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anyway. mood. strohl's getting food or something, so he looks up when sasaki greets him. ] Sasa - [ and then also jumps, head whipping around: ] Ow!
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Okay, I definitely didn't eat anything weird this time. [SO WHY!!!]