144.98750

[dorkypantsuit]

Hey, I know this is a kind of weird thing to say, but to all you newbies without common sense out there: Do not warn visitors about getting indebted to the carnival. I don't want to see anyone getting in trouble their first week, especially not anyone on my team. Got it?

Comments

[waitingforplayer2]

It traps people.

[ She mutters it quietly. Maybe she thinks he won't hear her if she says it more quietly, or can pretend not to if he doesn't want to answer it. He is her supervisor and she does need to follow what he says. ]

Couldn't she just ask?...

[dorkypantsuit]

[He sighs, looking away in thought for a moment before responding.]

I don't know why she does things this way. It's hard to talk to her about this kind of stuff. She doesn't think of things the same way as we do. Probably because she's semi-immortal or something.

But if it weren't for the carnival I'd probably be dead right now, and I don't know if I would have joined if she'd just asked.

I know it's wrong to pretend you don't know someone could get stuck here. But if you break the rules you could get really hurt, or worse. I don't want anything like that to happen to you. The carnival isn't the worst place to spend a year either, is it?

[waitingforplayer2]

You--

[ Him too? she wants to say. But she's a bit scared to, to be honest.

He's been here a while. Had a lot of changes. She looks at him almost like in a new light. ]

It's... [ She scratches behind her new ear, the feeling still a little strange but oddly comforting after all this time. ] Everybody's pretty nice, I guess. The work is taking some getting used to, but it's interesting.

[ She isn't bored. She's even losing at games again - there's something exciting about that. ]

I just... I have to get home to my friends. It feels like it's going to be a long year. [ She shrugs. ] Sorry...

[dorkypantsuit]

You don't have to apologize to me, if anything, I'm sorry, I haven't worked hard enough to change this system. I want to do what's right, but I also want to protect the people who get tricked into working here. It's hard to do both at the same time.

I hope you don't think I'm a bad person for working more on the later, but I understand how upsetting this could be.

[waitingforplayer2]

N-no...

[ The Carnival is-- it must be like a family for him. ]

I understand. [ She lowers her gaze. ] You have to protect everyone you can, especially if you care about them. Right?

[dorkypantsuit]

[He nods, the way she words it really making him think.]

When I was younger, there were things about myself I really didn't like because of the way it made others treat me. But as I got older, I realized what I thought was holding me back also gave me the power to help others.

I guess I feel like even if those things were nothing, but trouble for me, if I can help someone else it somehow makes it worth it.

[He's talking too much, being vague and boring and he knows it. Just the way she said it, made him feel like she'd get it.]

Sorry. I have a tendency to ramble if left unchecked.

[waitingforplayer2]

No, it's okay...!

[ She's stopped what she's doing, quietly listening. He's just opening up to her. How much faith must he have in people?

More than her, probably. ]

I... thought I could do something like that, I guess.

I'm not very good at anything but games... but I thought that I could use games to help me make friends. Someone I...

[ She swallows. ] Someone told me that, once.

But it didn't really work out.

But I kind of wish that it had.

[dorkypantsuit]

...It didn't work out for me either.

That's why I still haven't gone home.

[He doesn't want to face the chance of failure, as cowardly as he feels admitting it.]

[waitingforplayer2]

What happened?

[dorkypantsuit]

[He smiles weakly at her.]

That's sort of a long story.

The long and short of it is the people on charge didn't like what we were doing.

[waitingforplayer2]

... That sounds like a rebellion.

[ Plenty of those in games. ] But you don't want to do that here, huh?...

[dorkypantsuit]

I like it here. I get to meet new people and do things I never would have been able to without it. Plus, a year really isn't that much in the grand scheme of things. I wish things didn't have to be done this way, but I'm sure the ringmaster has a reason for it. Even if it's one I can't really understand.

She's not some horrible monster you know.

[waitingforplayer2]

She seems okay... just a bit strange.

[ She goes back to fiddling with the machine, still thinking. ]

[dorkypantsuit]

[The Psiioniic laughs, just a bit.]

Well you know humans seemed pretty strange to me when I first got here too.

[waitingforplayer2]

Mm....


[ Okay. Wait. ]

You aren't one?

[dorkypantsuit]

[He laughs again.]

No, I'm not. Of course I'm not.

[waitingforplayer2]

But... you look human! Just different.

[ Changed. ]

[dorkypantsuit]

[Chiaki.]

I'm a troll. Grey skin, horns, claws, and fangs are natural for my species. My eyes are a little less natural, but they were that color before I got here, I just used to only have two.

[waitingforplayer2]

Oh!

[ Look, some people have some really weird changes here, ok? ]

Sorry... I didn't know.

[dorkypantsuit]

That's okay! I shouldn't have assumed you would.

[waitingforplayer2]

Um...

[ She imagines the trolls from World of Warcraft, Dungeons & Dragons, Harry Potter... ]

I wouldn't have guessed you were a troll. More like an... insect person.

[dorkypantsuit]

We're closely related to invertebrates, actually. Troll is just the name we use for people. Just like you call yourself human. It doesn't have anything to do with mystical creatures. That part's just a coincidence.

[He's gotten this before, it seems.]

[waitingforplayer2]

[ She nods. ]

Well... human for now, anyway. [ She scratches her ear again. ]

[dorkypantsuit]

You'll always be you, no matter what changes on the outside.

[waitingforplayer2]

[ She looks at him with a startled smile. ]

I hope so.