Week 1 Afterparty / Friday

[turning_the_tide]

[ I hope y'all didn't expect a serious picture to go with this, because...

Percy's still kind of pissed off over everything, but he made a promise to Svin. He's gonna give everything he can to help get everyone through this twisted mess of a "game". One of the most important things for that? Trust and morale.

Everyone's gonna need as much of that within this group as they can get, which might be funny coming from him, since he doesn't have much of it himself.

But . . . that doesn't mean he can't still try. That's why he's in the kitchen now, grabbing ingredients, food coloring - whatever he can. He's gonna make some blue food because blue is a happy color, okay. And it helps cheer him up.

So... enjoy a bunch of blue pancakes, blueberries (and/or other berries that happen to be blue), blue macarons, purple potatoes, and... purple corn?

Also he's staring down some blue lobster, but heck if he knows how to make that. Maybe somebody who knows how to make lobster can show him what to do, though... ]

Comments

[pallidamors]

[ svin takes the glass of liquor like it’s something foreign and new to him, even looking at it with a raised eyebrow.

nevertheless he sets it down in favor of listening to fukuzawa’s story. and though he listens close, there is very little that he feels that he can sympathize with. he has never known war, never had a need to protect his country or family—though he supposes that his protectiveness of gray may be something similar.

but the idea of falling from an honorable place and turning into a murderer... well that’s something similar to his situation, isn’t it? to hear that it affects fukuzawa to this day is a bit shocking too, but it gives svin insight on the man’s nature: a good person who has simply done bad things. ]

What did you do after that? You don’t smell like a murderer still—something must have changed.

[allmenare]

I met a young boy, one about your age when our paths crossed. Before that, I had just been meandering through life with little care for the world outside of what I lived. But this boy, he was an idiot. Too smart for his own good, no parents to help guide hin, and no sense of self-preservation. I couldn't just leave him there, someone would have taken advantage of his genius.

[Picking up his own glass, Fukuzawa swirls the liquor around in it.]

And after him was a young girl, one with a broken soul and eyes searching for someone to help her. After her, a bookish educator-in-training who wanted to find order in the chaos of his life. And along with him, a shut-in with too much time on his hands. And so on, and so on, and so on, for twelve years.

What changed isn't myself alone, but the people in my life. And through those people, I began to change for them. People can certainly change on their own, but it is much easier when they open up their hearts to others.

[pallidamors]

[ while listening, svin feels like he understands fukuzawa more and more, like it's something that he has seen happen before. someone that brought him and other misfits together, giving them a new life when the entire world had turned their backs on them. hell, even the talk about a genius idiot brings back bittersweet memories of one of his classmates. svin looks at his own glass of liquor, taking a sip of it as a test. it tastes horrible and it burns down his throat--well that's one thing he won't miss when he's dead. but he looks up at fukuzawa when he talks about opening up to others. it's a complicated subject for him, especially in consideration of the society he grew up in. a place where there could be no show of weakness, where magi were constantly at each other's throats for whatever drop of power they could get. opening one's heart in such a society was nothing less than dangerous. ] I was a test subject for most of my childhood. Because I took my family's Magic Crest so well and didn't immediately go insane from it, the other Magi in my family realized that I was the perfect person to use as a study. And when they got all the information that they needed, I was tossed in the Clock Tower to study--but nobody wanted to take in a kid that was neither a beast or human. I can't blame them either. [ if it were him, he'd have done the same, to be honest. ] But one person...they did. I can't remember them, but I know they took me in. They treated me like I was just another student in their class and I even managed to surpass them and everything. So... [ svin looks down sadly. ] I can only imagine that that person would horribly disappointed in me if they found out what I did.

[allmenare]

I think that person would understand that accidents happen, and that as long as you grow from the experience and find ways to keep that accident from happening again then it's okay.

[That's how Fukuzawa feels, at least. And he imagines anyone who would take in someone like Svin would feel the same way. Helping to tame a beast takes a lot of patience, after all.

Fukuzawa takes a drink from his glass before speaking again.]

You said you were in a class. Is Miss Grey in it?

[He's giving Svin a chance to talk about his classmates here. Even if he doesn't remember his teacher, he might remember the others.]

[pallidamors]

Miss Gray—

[ his cheeks immediately heat up when she’s mentioned, which he tries to hide by downing the rest of the alcohol. mistakes have been made. he coughs a little, but eventually pulls himself back together. ]

Y-yes... she’s my classmate. I came in a few years before her but... she’s a very important person. I guess she... is the one that has the scent that’s closest to mine.

[allmenare]

[Baby's first drink! So adorable.]

What is it that you smell on her?

[His goal here is mostly to keep Svin talking and thinking about things other than his upcoming death, so if this is the way the conversation goes then okay.]