TEXT; 001 - locked from laurent

[reticence]

[Faolan is definitely not the sort of person to use the network, not even to respond to it never mind to post to it. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and certainly this is a desperate time indeed.

How do people even usually address posts on this thing? He goes through the last month or so of them before giving up and just flying by the seat of his pants.

You don't even know how many times he rewrote this thing in the first place.]


Let's say, hypothetically speaking, that there was something quite expensive that you had wanted very much, and that someone purchased that something for you when they really didn't have to. Let's say that you could never hope to come up with the money to pay them back in full, but you would like to do something comparable for them for the holidays.

What would you do in such a situation?


[Help him, Retrospec, you're his only hope he desperately needs some advice here.]

Comments

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[stagemagic]

That depends entirely on if you have a unique skill or service you could offer them as way of thanks.

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[reticence]

I suppose there is a unique skill to be shared. But I'm not sure it's very special. Especially since that skill has been offered since already.

[thebeastwithout]

marry 'em and hope they give me cool stuff every year for the rest of my life

[the problem with posting on the network is that fifteen year olds try to give advice]

or i dunno
what kinds of stuff do they like?

[reticence]

[MARRY THEM oh dear lord Faolan you did open yourself up to this by posting to the network like this though...]

They like. Books? And music, I suppose.

[Laurent has put up with far too much of his own musical exploits NOT to, never mind his penchant for putting something on in the background while he works.]

[thebeastwithout]

uh sure that's waaaay generic dude

ok make 'em a mix tape of their favorite songs or your favorite songs or like, songs that are important to both of you or symbolic or whatever

i've watched rom-coms, i'm not afraid to say it

[dulynoted]

Asking for a friend?

[ Ah, the burden of gift giving. ]

[complementing]

[Lil sis here to the rescuuuuuue! Or to make it worse, it's debatable.]

uh huh

theoretically speaking

right




anyways! If it were me, I'd give them something handmade

it's more valuable since they wouldn't be able to find it anywhere else, and it's full of your feelings

[reticence]

A mix tape? I would have to think. I guess there are certain songs played more often than others, that would imply they were favorites. Wouldn't it...?

Does anyone even own a cassette player these days?

[Does Laurent, for that matter? How does his music get on there? He'll have to investigate his soundsystem.]

[reticence]

Something like that, yeah.

[Faolan, you are awful at this hypothetical situation business, just give it up already...]

[reticence]

Minako, please.

[Look, he's not about to go asking for specific advice on a network like this. Not outright at least. There are some people, yourself included, who are going to be able to see right through him. Hell, most people are going to see right through him, but you might at least piece together a little more of this puzzle.]

Something handmade...

I don't know. I've never been very craftsy.

[He's not going to even bother trying to stay hypothetical with you okay let's just out with it.]

[mr_fancy_car]

That depends. What are you good at?

[reticence]

[Yes, alright, he will drop the hypothetical here. It's very obvious he knows that he's talking about himself.]

Well, music, I suppose. But I've already played for them before. I do quite often, really.

[Since they live together and all. A hazard of being the man's live-in bodyguard.]

[thebeastwithout]

ok it doesn't have to be a tape
i don't think i've ever even seen a tape

burn it on a cd or something

anyway, this is 100% guaranteed to get the chick. staking it on my rep as a professional movie watcher

just don't pick lame songs

[mr_fancy_car]

[Also, Miles knows this old "let's say I have a friend" trick from his students.]

Why don't you learn an entirely new piece?

[reticence]

100% guaranteed...

[Never even seen a tape good lord how old is this kid then...]

So songs that they like, or that I like, or that are important to both of us or are symbolic but are not lame. Have I got this down right?

[reticence]

[Faolan may be 29 years old but he hasn't really gotten any better at this sort of thing.]

Hmm. I could... Something a little more specifically significant perhaps?

[But. What would that be, even.]

[frisyr]

Um... a massage, a home-cooked meal and doing chores for them maybe?

[thebeastwithout]

[gar is the correct age everyone else is too old and like, probably dying of oldness already]

you get the idea

it has to be all romantic and meaningful and crap but i can't help you there

i mean i could help you but i dunno if you wanna put trancecore on your mixtape

[originallutece]

Hypothetically speaking.

[complementing]

that's not a problem, there are tutorials for everything on Youtube, and I can help you if you need it!

what would be useful to them, or what would they use often in daily life? You can make your own version of it, or embellish something to personalize it for them

or you can go the homemade meal route!

[bitemefightme]

[Wait, he needs a moment to give a proper response.]

.....Is it someone you like?

I mean.... like like.

I mean....... You know what I mean, right?

[Help him, he's a grown man of 25 and he doesn't know how to say love yet.]

[doitrockapella]

Who's to say that the gift you give in return has to be comparable monetarily? Is there something the person might want that's valuable in a different way?

[imaginex]

Does the person who paid for the item want something comparable?

I mean... if I were in that person's position, I would've bought the item because I cared and wanted to see you happy, so just verbal gratitude would mean the world.

[reticence]

[Huh. That's. Not all that bad a suggestion, actually.]

So essentially. Pampering them for the day, perhaps?

[reticence]

[Dying of oldness at 29, it is quite the fate...]

Trancecore? Like. Club songs?

[Ironically enough there is quite a lot of it on the soundsystem. Perhaps to help Laurent focus as he works? Or does Laurent truly like that genre as well. Still.]

Well... I suppose you're right in that it doesn't quite make the statement another choice might, no matter how much of it they listen to.