theairlock | week 1

Entry tags:

!round 5,
!week 1

week 1

Week 1

[After the reveal of their handsome and well-dressed but stern-looking Overseer on Sunday, the Champions were left to their own devices in investigating the mall to their hearts' content. At around 10 pm every night the lights in all the shops will go down and the sturdy metal grates over the doors of the restaurants will go down. The stores will remain unlocked, though.

On Monday morning, a buzzing alarm chirps at them again from their PIPs at 7 am on the dot. There's also a pop-up message waiting for them: a notice announcing Xander will be holding office hours

Enjoy your week, Champions.]

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

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[ He comes here quite a bit? Chocolate, man. Who doesn't like chocolate. Noctis had talked with Nari a little bit last time, and now... ]

Hey, Touko.

[ Does he sound relieved? Sure does. ]

[Fukawa jumps a bit-- she's.. just really on edge. He's probably not the worst she has to worry about but she isn't looking forward to it. The poor chocolate she was working on though got Extra deformed in the process of her freaking out.]

...i-if you have a complaint about s-something she said, get in line.

[ Oh, she's making chocolate. Well, if the supplies is here and they've got room, he guesses.

Man, Ignis would love all the stuff here. ]

Nah, nothing like that. I'm glad you're back.

[She stops what she's doing-- it was just a pointless distraction anyway. She wasn't planning on keeping them. They're not good enough for anything anyway.]

You're... what?

[She blinks and stares down at the misshapen chocolate.]

...why? So you can get rid of her? [...] Even someone like me is preferable to her I guess...

[ He sighs. She did make him uncomfortable. But it's... more than that. ]

Not exactly wanting to get rid of her. I just want to get to know you better. Can't do that if she's the one calling the shots.

M-me? Why would you-- [But she stops. Ah-- she's messing up her orders. She's supposed to be observing these people-- socializing. If she keeps this up she's going to be a failure to him and they might not be able to stop this-- she can't do that. She can't fail.] ...Master told me I should speak with all of you.

So... if you really want to, w-we can... talk.

[ .... hm.

He watches her evenly. ]

Why do you call him "Master," anyway?

[Of all the questions-- that's both the least unexpected and the most difficult to answer. Because it just... is. It's not something she's thought about in great detail.]

B-because he's my superior. A-and... s-someone I love and admire.

So you did know each other before coming here.

[ He... okay. He hasn't talked to Togami but he's observed him, and he's not sure how he feels about the guy. Touko loves him?

Hm. ]

Y-yeah. We... went to school together.

[You know. Murder school.]

...wh-what? Y-you look like you have something you want to say.

Nothing. Just thinking.

[ .... ]

Is he usually that... abrasive?

He's... honest. Unlike other people.

[She prods at the lumpy chocolates, a nervous habit, while she puts together her thoughts.]

Master won't just say what you want to hear to appease you-- h-he's going to tell you what he thinks, e-even if you don't like it.

[ There's a line between honesty and rudeness, he almost says, but. He holds back.

And pops a chocolate into his mouth instead. He chews, looking thoughtful. ]

Not bad at all.

[Her face almost dares him to say it--

Until he puts the chocolate in his mouth and her serious expression is broken with flustered panic.]

Th-those aren't for eating!

[Fukawa, they're chocolates.]

...th...they aren't?

[ Hmmm. ]

Why wouldn't I eat them? They're fine, no matter how they look.

Y-you don’t just put weird things in your mouth!! Wh...what if I’d messed them up?! I’ve obviously never done this before!!

I've eaten weirder things.

Besides, you're doing fine with them.

I wasn’t going to make anyone eat them. I mean— Just look at them. Wh-who’d want something like that?

[She sweeps the lot of them into a box in haphazard fashion.]

...it’s the same with people. Look at them and... y-you can see what you’re going to get.

[In her case, what she saw was worse than the deformed chocolates. And she viewed other people with a similarly judgmental gaze.]

I try not to judge people or chocolates by the way they look.

[ He shrugs. Noctis looks away briefly. ]

If people take one look at a person and decide on the spot, those are people I don't want to waste time with. What matters is who they really are. Their actions.

[ And Noctis has some experience with that. Most of the people he'd gone to school with had wanted to get on his good side just because he was the prince. He isn't about that. ]

There's nothing wrong with it-- it's just reality. Even though Master and I both came from the same prestigious school with our own Ultimate talents, it's obvious that we're not on the same level.

[ He thinks for a moment. Well... he might as well, right? ]

You know I'm royalty, right? When I was younger, there were a lot of people I went to school with who wanted to be my friend for no reason other than that I was a prince. They just wanted to be able to say that they were friends with Noctis, Prince of Lucis.

When it came down to it, it wasn't me they were interested in. Just my title.

[Fukawa frowns and bites her lip.]

Yeah, I read that dumb thing.

[A space pirate captain too... it stood out a little.]

P-people will a-always lie to you. Wh-whether it's... a-acting like they like you when really th-they're just tolerating s-someone who annoys them, o-or th-think you're something you're not before they realize it and g-get disappointed when the person who's work they liked was actually n-not what they pictured at all.

S-sure there are exceptions, b-but you'll find maybe o-one in a hundred thousand.

...I feel uneasy wh-when I can't predict what people are really thinking. I don't like having unrealistic expectations for the people around me.

[So... someone who uses her-- someone who will tell her he's using her in no certain words, and brutally lay out the truth-- someone like that is preferable to someone who might get truly attached to her. "Fantasy" is all about something you know you'll actually never obtain after all. Despite her behavior, she's not looking for anything to change. If it did-- that would be scary.]

[ He watches her, and... he's sad. Sad that she's been hurt so much that she doesn't trust people. He crosses his arms. Other than the killing game she was a part of... what else has she had to deal with? ]

... I don't know if I can agree with that. Or I'm just really lucky.

[ Prompto. Luna. Ignis and Gladio. Iris. Talcott. Aranea, when it came down to it--she could be trusted to have their backs in a fight.

His dad. ]

... Then you just have to get to know people, right? I know it's way easier said than done, but, uh. I'm a good place to start, if you wanted to.

[That's... not the response she expected. So many of these people don't do the things she expects them to. When she says hurtful things, they don't immediately shun her-- and even though they know about her horrible side and at least had to have some idea of the things she's done, some of them continue to seek her out and are willing to get to know her.]

Y-you don't have to agree.

[...]

If... you want... I won't say no...

[It's not the strongest response, but it is a start.]

[ There we go.

How shy she is, how... unsure, it kind of reminds him of how Prompto was before he actually plucked up the courage. It's encouraging to know she's willing to let him reach her, and he gives her an easy smile. No arms crossed. No closed-off expression.

Open. Easy to read, he hopes. ]

So. Got any hobbies?

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induality - 2018-02-11 04:44 (UTC) - Expand

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