radio414

Sure, though I'd rather use this avatar instead of my current mod fun times one.

Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you -- who are you to judge your neighbor? -James 4:11-12 (NIV)Things were going well, all things considered. Despite bungling every moment she’d been expected to speak, despite how poorly Hiraku seemed to regard Gabriela, he’d still agreed to help set them in the right direction. Melissa felt a little bad about judging Hiraku based on his reputation rather than - Gabriela grabbed Melissa’s arm, causing her to flinch and derail her train of thought. The contact disappeared just as quickly, but the derailment remained. Her thoughts instead drifted towards something Gabriela had said before. “Your willingness to escort me is proof enough of your loyalty,” she had said. Loyalty. It was a concept Melissa associated with the routine. She went to church every Sunday because -- among other reasons, of course -- Melissa was a loyal member of the congregation. If she went elsewhere, if she shopped around, a lot of the same descriptors would still apply to her, like quiet (of course) or pious (she hoped!), but “loyal” would no longer be one of them. There were other, similar considerations too. Melissa imagined two lovers promising to always be loyal to each other, or a knight swearing their service to a king. But no matter how she framed it, each scenario involved someone who’d otherwise be lacking. Who was the lacking person? Melissa assumed Gabriela meant her, which was fair enough. But as her mind wandered on, she realized that even the groups never really were treated like groups in those scenarios. When Melissa was loyal to the church, it never felt like she was really “loyal” to the other specific members of the congregation, or to the ushers or anything like that. To Father Gregory, maybe, but again, that was a single person. So “loyalty” meant two people, each needing the other. Both of them were mutually getting and receiving something. Melissa was happy enough just being of help to someone. It probably wasn’t exactly true but she didn’t want to- she just didn’t want to think about it. And Gabriela? More words stuck out to her: “I would love the company of course,” Gabriela had said. But that would mean - No, no, no. Gabriela had been the one to chase after Hiraku in the first place, after all. And even before that, she’d been the one challenging Hitomu (Of all people, Hitomu!), or before that, announcing herself to a crowd . At the very least, there was a self-assuredness there that Melissa could barely fathom. It was just a wayward thought, anyway. Meanwhile, Hiraku and Gabriela were heading off, and Melissa quickly scurried after them.It wasn’t the place they were going to try next, though Melissa was thankful that it at least had been on her mental checklist. Hiraku pushed through the doors first, with Gabriela and Melissa following dutifully after. Melissa scanned the room. Most of the faces looking in their general direction seemed more interested in Hiraku. The few that were looking past him seemed more disappointed or expectant than anything else. As she continued to look, she didn’t see Hitomu anywhere. That was probably what they were looking for. Hitomu not being there meant something else as well: “We made it,” Melissa said. On time, or, at least, not later than its leaders. She hadn’t known what time everything was going to start, but she was glad for Gabriela, at least. “I, um,” What else was she supposed to say? “Have fun” or “Good luck” were the nice, good options, though they felt a little superficial. Was there anything better? It came to her eventually, though there were more steps involved. She had to riffle around for a pen and paper, and she could feel some rising awkward tension as Gabriela watched, as the distance between her last phrase and the now increased, but she ended up with ten digits in a hasty scrawl. “If you, um, if you need anything else,” Melissa said as she gave her phone number to Gabriela, “give me a text. Or a call, I guess. I won't always be able to help, obviously, but I'll definitely try.” She made sure to thank Hiraku again for helping them, too (did she thank him before? She must have, right?), and watched as they both joined the crowd of people waiting for whatever was going to happen next. What was going to happen next? Not for the duel team, but for Melissa? She left the building and simply continued to stroll around campus. It was a nice day for it, after all. So she wondered and wandered, and for now, at least, that was enough. If there was anything else, she’d take it as it came.

The very first plan, the very first impulse Melissa had as she chased after Gabriela, was to grab her -- by anything she could get her hands on -- and pull her away. It was a dumb plan. It wasn’t the worst, but it was close. It wouldn’t have worked anyway; Hiraku already knew they were there. Well, he already knew Gabriela was there. He was already looking around, but his eyes glazed over Melissa. If she left now, just disappeared from the scene, she’d escape whatever terrible fate Gabriela had gotten herself into- No, that wasn’t a good idea either. It just… did she really need to justify that one again? To herself or anybody else? It was just a tiring process, and it wasn’t an option at this point anyway. It just wasn’t! “Oh, it’s the chuuni,” Hiraku said. Which, from what Melissa had heard, was probably him pulling his punches a little bit. She couldn’t imagine anything worse, but she wasn’t Hiraku. “Why do you need an escort anyway?” That was her: “The escort.” It wasn’t how Melissa would have put it -- “escort” had at least one usage that she definitely wasn’t -- but there was no way she was going to say that out loud. Not to anybody, especially not Hiraku. If she could just get through this with the knowledge that he could only attach a title to her at best, she’d consider that a success. “Normally it would be more than this but I graciously offered you and Melissa the honor of doing it yourselves.” Well, now he knew her name, so that was- that sure was something. Gabriela even turned to her for a follow-up question, so there was even the association between the name and the face. What was left? That he just wouldn’t remember her afterwards? Melissa, almost unconsciously, let out a tiny squeak. That seemed like too small of something to hope for. Gabriela’s question still echoed in her mind. “This is simply the proper way to do things, yes?” she had said. And yes, Melissa did suppose that anyone of importance would have multiple people following them around, but that wasn’t really why she’d been following Gabriela. It was a minor distinction, but she hadn’t been following Gabriela because Gabriela had wanted her to, but because she -- Melissa -- wanted to.You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. -John 8:44 (NIV)Hadn’t she just said she didn’t want to lie by omission? Agreeing here seemed just like that, the only obvious difference being that Gabriela wanted her to this time. Her obligation to not lie wasn’t to her, of course, but it felt like there was some weight there. So she was just stuck. And even if she did make a decision, what was she supposed to say? Melissa made a few noncommittal gestures. A nod, a shrug, a whatever. It was better than just standing there with dinner plates for eyes and a bit lip. I didn’t work, of course. Gabriela was still staring at her expectantly and Hiraku… she didn’t want to even think about what he was thinking. Time had long since run out for this to be anything but awkward, but she still had to go for something. “I would expect as much, but…” Melissa said. An “um” came out soon after, but there really wasn’t a follow-up to that “but” for a good while. Even then, it was, “No, never mind. Um,” which was probably worse. “I’m sorry I’m not much help.”

Demon Kitty Rag by Katzenjammer

“Then Jesus told them this parable: ‘Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?’” Luke 15:3-4 (NIV)Letting Gabriela take the lead was a surprisingly difficult task. Her version of “I shall take the lead!” seemed to be staying just a half-step ahead of Melissa, constantly looking back to make sure that Melissa was going the same way. If Melissa deviated even slightly from a straight line, Gabriela would tsk and beckon her to continue onward. The very first place Melissa and Gabriela checked -- almost on a whim more than anything because, you know, they found themselves in the area and they might as well -- was Maximilian Crawford Arena. Melissa almost brought up that this was where they had first met. The key word there, of course, being “almost”. It was such a cheesy line, and what was the point anyway of reminding her of something that happened what, two weeks ago at most? So instead they wandered the area without any of that small talk and, of course, didn’t find much of anything. Their next attempt took them to the surrounding dueling zones. A few of them were in use, drawing attention from the occasional group of spectators None of them looked familiar to Melissa, though, and when she asked Gabriela, she scoffed. “I have only been in this realm so long. There are scant few whose faces I've come to know on sight… these are not them.” What other places were there? They hadn’t quite checked all the dueling zones -- the remaining ones were pretty far apart from each other. It wasn’t impossible, but… -- nor had they actually gone over to the gymnasium. Gabriela was still in the lead, though now that Melissa was more used to the arrangement, she didn’t seem to check on her procession as much. So when Melissa stopped in her tracks, it took Gabriela a good five more steps before she noticed. “I don’t want to- Not mentioning this would be a lie by omission, your majesty,” Melissa said. “Um, I do know that person over there is on the duel team.” She gestured over to a silver-haired boy. “But it’s Hiraku Tsukino, and if it’s all the same to you…” There were so, so many reasons Melissa never had an interest in joining Blue Yonder’s acclaimed duel team, and Hiraku -- or, at least, Hiraku’s reputation -- was at least seven of them. If Melissa were the exact opposite of the sort of person she was, she imagined they’d get along really well. But she wasn’t, they’d never met, and she really really hoped that for the remainder of his time on campus, they never - Gabriela was already on her way. “You! The loud one!” she said. “Why have you not come to escort me to the meeting? It is improper to make one such as me go anywhere without company.” Oh no. They’d already met. Of course they’d already met, he was probably signing people up last week. How could she be so stupid! Melissa continued to berate herself, but she still chased after Gabriela. Whatever was about to happen, it couldn’t be good.

Terribly Stable by Hey Ocean!

This Thing by King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard Fiiiiiiiiiiine you can have Tank!. But only because I like figure skating. Tank! by Yoko Kanno and The Seatbelts

Roundabout by Yes Is it a meme? Yes. Is it a banger? Also yes.

Can't believe I didn't think of this before. This isn't "Post And I'll Give You A Song You Like", so feel free to reroll. Just because I like it doesn't mean you have to.

Two things stuck out to Melissa and she wasn’t entirely sure how she was supposed to address them, or even what order they were supposed to be addressed in the first place! The first (because one of them had to be -- there wasn’t a specific reason why one was a greater question than the other) was, well, where was the Duel Team Meeting? Melissa didn’t know -- how could she? -- but she was pretty sure the library wasn’t it. “Do be careful next time,” Gabriela had said. “I’m trying,” Melissa said. Melissa's second concern was: were they really doing the whole small talk rigamarole? After she'd already decided that they shouldn't? Sure, it was mostly a lie she told herself -- that the other party wasn't interested in chit-chat so why bother? -- but it was certainly a comfortable one. Besides, it wasn't like she couldn't, especially with someone she'd talked to before, she just, well, you know, she'd rather not. “How… are you on this day?” Gabriela had said. “I’m- I’m actually very well right now, thank you,” Melissa said. “How are you?” But that didn’t really resolve the first concern which, now that she thought about it more, certainly seemed like the bigger one. The library was, what, basically on the opposite side of campus from the gymnasium and most of the related duel arenas, right? So what was Gabriela doing here? “Are you-” “Lost?” was the third word Melissa wanted to say, but she managed to catch herself in time. The question was too incendiary, and Melissa knew she didn’t have the requisite social skills to defuse the conversation once it was set ablaze. But at the same time, she stumbled over the pivot, which in turn caused her to alternate between frankly awkward silence, the standard “uhms” and “ahs” and repetition of those two words until it wasn’t actually clear there was actually going to be anything after them. As always, the moment was probably shorter than it seemed, but also as always, that was only because the moment seemed to stretch on forever. Melissa eventually did stick the landing, at least, as well as she could manage. “Are you- Are you going to your team meeting now?” It was a start, at least. “I was actually going in that direction if you don’t mind the company.” Where?! Where was she going? A good portion of Melissa’s brain was screaming at her, begging her not to go through with this. The worst-case scenario -- the most likely scenario, even -- was that they’d just both get lost together. She felt obligated to Gabriela, yes, but that didn’t mean - no, she didn’t want to finish that sentence. The sentiment was there, and Melissa hated that it was, but still… She was a good person! Why was even a simple act like this so hard? The only investment was time, which Melissa had plenty of. If she had an obligation to Gabriela, that was because Gabriela was in that rare category of people Melissa had gotten to know without any external factors. This wasn’t like Jun and Yusuji et al. -- as nice as their friendship was -- where even an accidental meeting meant you were friends with all of them, nor was it like Connor or anyone else in the Community Service Club where Melissa associated with them out of a common interest, no, Melissa met Gabriela fully because of Melissa’s own actions. That had to mean something. It was that latter, thankfully larger part of Melissa that smiled and offered her hand out, beckoning Gabriela to follow her. It seemed neither of them knew exactly where they were going, but maybe they could find out together. “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’” -Isaiah 30:21 (NIV)

Have mercy on me, Oh Lord, a sinner. Wipe away my transgressions, and let me be reborn anew in your glory Help me turn away from sin, and move towards your eternal light. Are my efforts in vain, Lord? Will tomorrow be the same as yesterday and the day before? Am I destined to be pulled apart, torn between service in solitude and spreading your word? Nevertheless, let it be as you, not I, would have it. If I must drink this cup, your will be done. In the name of The Father, and of The Son, and of The Holy Spirit, Amen Melissa woke up at three-whatever in the morning for no particular reason at all, and, for that same lack of reason, couldn't get back to sleep. It wasn't an uncommon experience for her -- in fact, on multiple occasions, she'd just given up trying and instead was up and out the door before even the crack of dawn! -- but that didn't make it any less of an issue. There wasn’t a remedy that worked, either. That wasn’t to say she hadn’t tried, though. She knew, for example, to stay off her phone and to avoid eating too close to the end of the day and to breathe in a specific pattern and all sorts of other things, but nothing was consistent enough to matter. Sometimes, her brain just insisted on being awake, lost in its own idle thoughts. Not that her idle thoughts were very interesting. She hadn’t had any dreams recently to reflect on, it was still too dark to properly look at anything in the room, and getting anywhere close to thinking about the events of the day (outside of a quick prayer, of course! But even then...) was just asking for another breathless trip to the restroom. Instead, she ricocheted off various topics, from a song lyric that just would not leave her head, to listing off obligations she had, to adjusting her position from on her back to her side and back again, all the way back to that persistent song lyric. What eventually stuck out, though, a line of a poem she’d only heard a few times and was honestly surprised that she still remembered: At night, turn back your sheets And climb into your bed And WHACK! Your little rock Will hit you on the head It was that classic of Sunday School syllabi all across Ambrosia: the prayer rock! It was the perfect arts and crafts project for it, anyway. The requisite materials were simple enough: some decently-sized rocks (fist-sized was optimal, but Melissa had seen it done with smaller), some paintbrushes, paint, some ribbon, and small printouts of the accompanying poem. Once you painted your rock with whichever symbol or bible verse you wanted, you got it all tied up with a little poem to remind you how to use it. Using it was simple. You put it on your pillow so that when you went to sleep, you’d remember to pray. When you were done praying, you’d put it on the floor so that you’d step on it when you got out of bed in the morning and pray again. You’d put it back on your pillow and so on and so on and so on. It was a useless piece of clutter, really. At that age, children that prayed at sunup and sundown didn’t need any reminders, and the children who didn’t certainly weren’t going to start just because a rock told them to. And yet… Melissa’s rock, from way, way back, back when she hadn’t yet decided that attending the concurrent adult-oriented Bible study was a better use of her time, had been a dark grey stone, the darkest of the ones available, with a golden yellow cross painted on top. No frills, no accompanying Bible verse, nothing. Just that. She lost it soon after -- she didn’t need it, after all -- but the image had clearly stayed with her. And now, in the middle of some random night, Melissa found herself getting nostalgic for the thing. Not that she suddenly had a need for it. It was probably for the best that it was just in her memory and not a physical object she could lose somewhere in the dorm, probably confusing whoever eventually found it. But she liked the idea of losing it in her mind, dropping it onto some mental beach where it could only be affected by the surrounding elements, which in turn would grind away at her prayer rock, bit by bit. First, the paint would fade away -- perhaps it would wash off in the rain or the waves -- but the rest of it would slowly follow. Everything her imagined nature threw at it -- from wind to tides to even animals chipping at it with their beaks or claws -- would slowly erode away the stone until there was nothing left. Dust to dust. Wednesday, September 20, 909 PD Feast of The Martyrs of Korea “[Job] said: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.’” -Job 1:21 (NIV) Idle hands were the devil’s plaything, so the saying went, but Melissa still tapped away at her phone for want of anything else to do. If she were doing anything important, it might be different, but no, she just scrolled through old text messages as if she’d glean anything new from them. From: Melissa To: Elizabeth Hey, it’s Melissa. I keep running over that conversation we had yesterday in my head. I’m afraid something I said might have scared you off. I know, I know. It’s stupid. But if I ever do something that makes you uncomfortable, just tell me, okay? It had taken three or four revisions before Melissa had been content enough to send that message along, and even then she still had some reservations. Like the message said, it was stupid -- hadn’t she refused to send something similar the day before? -- but she wouldn’t have stopped thinking about it if she didn’t. It took an uncomfortably long time for Elizabeth to respond (something that didn’t help), but she did respond: From: Elizabeth To: Melissa I was going to say the same thing. So that was how that had gone. There were more messages in that chain, mostly messages like “Hey, how are you?” or the standard response: “Fine, thanks”, but her phone kept buzzing to remind her of the other series of messages she'd have to go over eventually. Despite her predictions, despite how little interest Melissa herself had managed to generate for the Community Service Club, they'd still managed to pull in six new members for their first meeting the previous day. Six new people! So instead of a small group pushing some desks together to sit in a circle, everyone in the half-filled classroom had to face forward as Connor went over introductions and the general agenda. Icebreaker question: What’s your favorite icebreaker question to answer? Answer: None of them please why are you making me do this they’re all the worst. Melissa didn’t exactly make the best first impression. Even though the classroom was only half-full, she still felt claustrophobic. The worst part, though, was how Connor had set up a group chat for all ten of them. Because it was ten people, they only really talked about community service matters a tenth of the time at best, and the rest was, well… Wow its 2 weeks in and classes alreaady suck Lol I know right? When am I ever going to use this? Anyone want to meet up? Maybe play some games? And so on. Melissa looked up from her phone. The library really was a nice place to be, now that Recruitment Week was over, at least. There wasn’t really anybody else there besides a few of the more diligent students, and none of them were particularly interested in bothering anybody else. All in all, it was a good spot to take a break, and today’s had been, despite the idle stress at the end, a good break indeed. But she couldn’t stay forever. It wasn’t that Melissa had places to be (she didn’t), just that she decided she wanted to walk around for a bit. She gave a quick nod to the person at the front desk as she headed out, then stepped through the doors out into the open air… …aaaaand, moments later, also Gabriela, who Melissa barely avoided crashing into by the skin of her teeth. Melissa let out a small “whoops!” as she just caught herself, and stumbled off to the side. She didn’t fall, but she almost did. “Sorry, your- your majesty,” Melissa said. “Um, we seem to keep running into each other, don’t we?” What else was she supposed to say? She couldn’t exactly talk about the weather with royalty. But she still felt like she had to say something. It was her fault, after all; she could have been paying more attention (right?). Was her posture off? Melissa did a quick, unpracticed curtsy to make up for it, and thought a quick prayer, hoping she’d be easily forgiven.

Let's start with video games, because, well, video games. Like music, I don't really have a specific genre that stands out specifically, but I can give a list of ones I remember recommending to other people in real life. Things like The Beginners Guide (and The Stanley Parable before it), Night in the Woods and Anatomy. That doesn't necessary represent everything I play, but if you put a gun to my head and told me to pick three (technically four) video games, those would probably be the ones. Overall, I've been drifting towards smaller experiences. Like, I've enjoyed myself every time I pick up something like Nier: Automata, but I've slowly found myself just not having the time. Even when I do commit to a longer game (Night in the Woods is 20-ish hours, for example). I run the risk of dropping it as soon as something in real life comes up that keeps me from finishing it. So if I can play something in one sitting, that's infinitely preferable for me. But let's talk about tabletop games. I'm from the Midwest, USA, so I'm contractually obligated to mention Euchre, the best four-person trick-taking game that only uses 24 cards. Speaking of cards, I have a binder full of Magic: the Gathering cards just off to the side of where I'm typing, which is, you know, probably indicative of something. In terms of actual board games, I haven't really gotten the chance to play as many as I'd like, but here's three I get really nostalgic for from time to time: Power Grid, a Euro game about buying power plants (sometimes, you even get them to run!), Cosmic Encounter, a game about aliens with vastly different mechanics behind them trying to colonize each other, and Skull, a very pretty bluffing game you can play with any old bar coasters if you're in a pinch. I'd talk about tabletop roleplaying, too, but despite having, like, twenty plus different systems saved on my computer, I don't really play all that much. I used to run one-shot Microscope games, though, and Fiasco was always a favorite. I'm also holding out hope that I can get a De Profundis game running soon, though that might be a little speculative at this point. I think that's all the kinds of video and analog games I play? I'd like to know what this "otherwise" category might be... That seems like two separate questions, so I guess I’m gonna treat it like two separate questions (and also spoiler them because they’re pretty long): Thoughts on the RP Section: The RPs I’ve Been In:

Ooh, Casper had even found the eggs, how lucky! Hannah had taken the intervening time gathering all the other ingredients: bread, milk, cinnamon, what have you. She wasn’t really working from a recipe, just a vague recollection of what worked the last time she’d made french toast which was… wow, had it really been that long ago? Huh. In any case, she thanked Casper both for his offer and as she took a few from the massive carton and was just about ready to actually for real this time have breakfast when someone else entered the kitchen. Hannah flinched! Casper had managed to calm her down a little bit what with the shared experience of coffee and now also cooking, but the caffeine had reawakened those nerves, so hearing a second unidentified person humming behind her just about sent her shooting right out of her skin. It was only when they started talking that Hannah finally settled down. “Hey, let the others know to gather here in, mm... 2 hours? Yeah, I should have everything ready by then~” Then: “Hey, make sure to come to the kitchen in 2 hours! We're going to have a party~!” A fourth! The edge, that constant tension had subsided, finally, replaced by the comforting sensation of being in a group. There weren’t any introductions yet, so it wasn’t like she knew them knew them, but it was, you know, a good first step. She had to start acknowledging them at some point, anyway. “Oh! Uh, am I in the way? Sorry, I can- I’ll just be outside then, I guess.” It was an odd sort of acquiescence, and Hannah immediately wondered why she had done it. She knew she shouldn’t have. She knew she could easily just stay in her one spot and at worst there’d be that occasional “Lemme just sneak past ya,” or “Oops! Excuse me.” Maybe it was how the newcomer just seemed to take over the entire kitchen as soon as they entered and suddenly she felt out of place. Hannah also noticed that Casper stayed where he was. Was it really just her? In any case, her mind was made up. She gave a quick nod to each of the new intruders as she left, but didn’t really do anything more than that. What else could she do? Well, step one was to not run into the fifth person just entering the area. “A party? Did I hear that right?” the new-newcomer said, projecting like she wasn’t talking to the one person right in front of her, who’d almost had to get out of the way. But this one had the decency to introduce themselves also, so Hannah responded in kind. “Hi! I’m Hannah Elliot, the Ultimate Auteur. Um, I don’t know exactly going on with the party business, but they seemed to know what they were doing so I kind of just, you know, let them at it. I was just going to wait out here if you wanted to… also do that, I guess?” “Auteur?” Talia paused for a moment, before shaking her head a tiny bit as she glanced back towards the kitchen, sighing gently. “I suppose it’s not too important to go asking why… Those two weren’t together, right?” Her voice was soft as she said that, directing her question solely at Hannah. “Oh, yeah!” Hannah said, “It’s a French term that means ‘author,’ though it more broadly refers to the sole creator of a piece of media. You see, back in the nineteen forties, some film critics realized- you don’t care. Okay.” It was her fault, really, latching on to the first sign of interest like a moth to a flickering candle. Talia was clearly more interested in other things. Talia chuckled. “You can tell me more about it when things are a little less tense, how’s that sound? It’s not that I don’t care, just...” “No, I get it,” said Hannah. She beckoned -- though perhaps a better verb was “pulled?” -- Talia over to a corner of the Dining Hall, sat down, and said, “So I met one of them already. The guy with the eggs was Casper Keller, the Ultimate Therapist. But he was here when I got here. Um, the other one- the other two, I guess -- did you see the other girl when you came in? -- they got here after and started talking parties. I guess the answer is no, then? The answer to your question, I mean.” Hannah noticed Talia’s hands were fidgeting with her bow as she sat down, plucking the string almost like an instrument. “Okay good,” Talia said. “If… Casper wasn’t with her then we have someone in there watching the food. I don’t want to believe that anyone would… go along with what that damn bear is saying, but it’s better to be safe than sorry, you know?” “Well, the coffee wasn't poisoned, at least when I had some,” Hannah said. “Unless it was iocane powder or something like that.” Did iocane even exist in real life? Hannah wasn't sure. “I’ve had the same fears though, don't worry.” Despite Hannah’s reassurances to the contrary, Talia did have a point. Maybe they should still be in there? No, surely between two people who probably hadn’t even met yet, they couldn’t both be killers, right? And yet, Hannah was at least curious as to what they were doing. There wasn’t really any way to be discreet about it, though, which was a problem. The solution was obvious, though: Just don't even bother! Instead, Hannah excused herself from Talia's company, walked right back into the kitchen, and said, to nobody in particular, “Hey, are you sure there’s nothing I can do to help?”

Right! Right, shoot the bear, of course! Of course that would work. Hannah had just been overwhelmed with the whole “someone’s probably going to kill you” aspect that she’d completely overlooked the obvious solution. And then after that, like, they’d have all the time in the world to overcome whatever else was keeping them in the school, no murder required. Or even, if they were really lucky, they could just leave. Wouldn’t that be something? In the meantime, the other girl had taken it upon herself to go forward with the conversation, starting with introductions. Aya Kuroi, the Ultimate Storm Chaser. It was a profession Hannah was only familiar with by reputation. Or maybe just, like, a single lyric in that one TV commercial (“I love tornadoes,” the guy said/sang). And Aya was the ultimate version of that. That was pretty cool. Maybe they could bond over their shared love of getting just the right shot. Maybe they’d argue about what lenses they preferred and break up over that before making up within the hour. It was a nice thought, at least. But she was getting ahead of herself. First, she had to reciprocate the introduction. “My name’s Hannah Elliot,” Hannah said. “Um, when I was accepted, the letter said ‘Ultimate Director,’ but, like, I do a lot more than just directing for a lot of my stuff. I mean, I write, produce, sometimes score, sometimes- aaaaaaand you’re gone.” It was true. While Hannah was off monologuing about how great she was, Aya had wandered off to some other kid. She’d probably said something to that effect, too, and Hannah just hadn’t heard it. The other shout, the “Spread out and let’s figure out what’s going on here!”, she heard loud and clear though, so she left that pair to their own devices and went out to the rest of the school.Hannah took some of that in-between time while wandering around to actually look at her eHandbook. “Hannah Elliot,” the thing said as she booted it up. It was nice to confirm that she grabbed the correct tablet, but she was more interested in other things right now. For example: Rule #4: Violence against Headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited! Along with this, breaking any security cameras or monitors is also prohibited and will be punished accordingly. So maybe shooting the bear wouldn’t work.When Hannah looked up from her eHandbook, she found herself standing at the entrance to what her map said was the Dining Hall. Which reminded her: she hadn’t really had the best of breakfasts, had she? At the very least, the prep time could give her some time to think things through a bit more clearly, and the extra meal would help give her the energy do whatever she needed to do. And hey, maybe nobody had come here yet. She could be the first to scout it out and report back. “Hello?” she said as she entered, her eyes lazily scanning the room in search of anything that might talk back, eventually focusing on a boy lounging in one of the seats, a small cigarette in his hand. He took a little glance towards the door as Hannah entered, before putting it out a small portable ashtray. “Oh, hello!” Hannah said. “Looks like we had the same idea, coming here.” “Eh? I suppose so, hello.” He stood up slowly, his hand shifting to rub at his neck for a moment as he turned to look Hannah’s way. He scooped up the ashtray and slid it into his pocket, “I wasn’t sure what I would find here, but I needed to sit down after… Well, that entire ordeal. I’m Casper Keller, I’m the Ultimate Therapist.” “Hannah Elliot,” Hannah said, sticking her hand out. “Ultimate Dire-aaah --” It wasn’t worth ranting a second time. “-- Ultimate Auteur. I was just coming to make an actual proper breakfast. Starting with coffee, at the very least. Did you want any?” A small grin appeared on Casper’s face as he took her hand and gave it a little shake, “We’ll get along just fine, I already started a pot of coffee in the kitchen. It should be good enough for you to get a cup if you want one…” Hannah was already on her way over. “Alright, well, I don’t have the biggest sample size yet, but you are officially my favorite person so far,” she said. And Casper was right. Right there, just as she crossed the threshold, was a huge pot, all hot and ready and waiting for her. After that, only one (immediate) problem remained. “Is there cream and or sugar anywhere? Do you know?” she called out through the kitchen door. “Sorry, I’m kind of basic when it comes to coffee.” She could hear Casper groan even before he followed her inside. “The fridge has creamer and some milk if you like that in it…” he said. “Sugar…” He stepped over to one of the cabinets over the counters, opening it up to dig around for a moment, before pulling out a massive bag of sugar, “...Yeah, there’s plenty of sugar for us.” “Oh, neat,” Hannah said. “And mugs…? Oh, here they are.” There were so many! And of so many different sizes and shapes, like, that was apparently a consideration among the biggest coffee connoisseurs? “Whatever,” Hannah mumbled. She looked back over her shoulder. “You were getting one too, right?” She grabbed a pair of the medium-sized mugs and filled them both up, leaving room in hers for the equivalent of her preferred two creams and five sugars. Once she was satisfied, she gave Casper a warm smile and brought the mug to her lips. And then she remembered: Casper might be trying to kill her. Slowly, as calmly as she could, Hannah lowered her mug back down, and said, “Actually, this is stupid, but do you think we could drink at the same time? It’s dumb, I know, but… yeah.” Casper, Hannah noticed, was one of those nerds who took his coffee black, which was fine. But she also noticed he cared a lot less about the whole “One of us could have slipped poison in this while the other wasn't looking” idea. He lowered his own mug with a slight smile on his face and said, “So that bear’s got you on edge, huh? I guess I can’t blame you… It’s the reason I went off for a smoke once everything there was done.” He held up the cup, motioning towards her as he did, “To our health… And our survival in this strange school.” He took the lead, closing his eyes and bringing his cup back to his lips, and began to drink. “To our health,” Hannah echoed as she took her own sip. Once that was finished, she once again put down her mug and said, “Alright, now for phase two: Breakfast. You want anything cooked? I bet there’s a griddle in here somewhere and I’m craving some french toast.”

“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” Isaiah 43:25 (NIV)Melissa frowned. Not because she thought she was being bought out or bribed or whatever Hitomu thought he was doing (he had to be joking, right?), nor because it was clear he hadn’t paid any attention to anything Melissa had said since she’d approached the table (she was used to being ignored), but because, well… Well, okay, it was both of those things, and if she hadn’t already met Gabriela, she’d probably have taken them as a sign that she should just run off and… yeah. Instead, she tried to focus on the actual problem. Step one was repeating herself, a little louder this time. “It’s alright about the chips. I just went and-” And then Gabriela made her presence known again. “Of course not!” she said, and despite having just asked the question Gabriela was responding to, it still took a second for Melissa to remember what it was. It took several seconds after that, too, for Melissa to wade through the Gabriela-isms to the actual answer. To be clear, that wasn’t something she minded doing. Melissa still felt attached to Gabriela in some way. Who invited her from nosebleed seats all the way down to midfield? Who bought her chips and selflessly replaced them seconds later? Melissa didn’t treat these as events to feel self-righteous about, but as links of trust between the two, links that could only get stronger with age. Failing to put forth the prerequisite effort to understand each other would certainly break that trust. So even exhausted as she was from Elizabeth and the… events following Elizabeth, Melissa was still willing to soldier on. It turned out that this was her duel team audition. How nice! That was much better than Melissa’s fear. It was unfortunate that she had to face Hitomu, but the way Gabriela was acting, Melissa guessed this was what she preferred anyway. “The physical cost of your transgression is paid, but one does not slight somebody of my caliber and importance and have that black mark erased so easily." Melissa turned to Hitomu, adding, “Well, I forgive you, at least. Um, no Watapon required.” She was willing to forgive spiritually, too, even if Gabriela didn’t. Her stomach gurgled a little, and Melissa realized Hitomu had mentioned something about lunch, a meal she hadn’t had yet. “Um, I think I’ve been here long enough that I should order something,” she said. “I’ll, uh, I’m going to go do that.”

:thinking:

I'm in. Still don't want my name changed though.