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

[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.

[dorkypantsuit]

I know so.

Don't worry, we look out for each other around here.

[waitingforplayer2]

[ She feels a little awkward. She wishes she didn't have this foreign feeling of hope in her heart again. It's betrayed her before.

She leans back on the machine to think. ] You sound like you do a lot of that.

[dorkypantsuit]

Hm? A lot of what?

[waitingforplayer2]

Looking out for people.

[dorkypantsuit]

[Oh... Oh! His spots glow brighter briefly in his embarrassment.]

Do I?

[He knows it's not the way a troll would normally act but, not acting like a normal troll is what got him into this mess in the first place. Still, his life was pretty much forfeit at this point. The least he could do was help others.]

... It's just something that's important to me. I guess.

[waitingforplayer2]

Yeah! Um, Silver, and Carly, and...

[ Well. ... She's happy she's here too. But she awkwardly buries herself back in the machine she's fixing. ]

[dorkypantsuit]

[Frown...]

Are you alright?