A Gift for Anyone Who Asks - 5/11

[true_noir]

Chloe Bouchard shared a photo. 5/11 near Enchanted Blossoms, Tisse

Now that everything is back to normal, Retrospec has seen fit to send me a little gift, a pocketwatch that doesn't work. How very nice of them. Well, I have a gift for any of you who see this and want to stop by Enchanted Blossoms in the next week, anytime from about 9 to 5 during the week. Don't bother asking what it is before you come by, it's a surprise, no?

(OOC: Action tags are invited, and if you'd prefer to handwave stopping by, feel free to do so. Chloe's gift is a plastic version of a decoder ring that she ordered in bulk. She'll have enough to give anyone that stops by one of them and tell them how to use it, suggesting that people use them to code messages on paper notes to each other that they don't want Retrospec to see.)

Comments

[true_noir]

It can be, yes! It's the sort of game people play in treehouses with friends, yes? A bit of bonding, if you will, even if it is not always the most practical.

And I don't anymore either. I used to assume it was bad, but the longer it happens, the more I simply don't know. [She shook her head.] He's just unpleasant to deal with really. That's all I have taken away from the few times I have seen him. That, and dangerous.

[admiringly]

You don't have to be practical to make friends! You just have to have a good time together.

[ She moves to survey the bouquets and vases of flowers nearest her. She notes what stems need to be trimmed and what don't. ]

I hope they make someone else talk to us instead of him. I can't say if I like or hate the app, but it'd be nice to learn something from someone else. I'm not good at solving mysteries, but... I know others are.

[true_noir]

[She shook her head.] I am not sure that speaking with Janet would improve my mood, but I doubt it could make it worse than Jim does, so perhaps they will take a suggestion and not make him deal with us in the future?

That would be lovely.

[She smiled a little, shrugging.] And it is ok to not be so great at mysteries. All you have to do then is support those who are doing the mysteries, yes?

[admiringly]

I don't know if I've seen much from Janet, but I think she'd be less... frustrating. [ Is that the right word? The Retrospec staff in general didn't seem to want to help them in general, so they're all frustrating on some level, just in different degrees. ] We can hope!

And yes! I'm good at supporting, if I can say that! I love cheering all my friends on!

[true_noir]

We certainly can, though who knows if we will ever see any of them. She seemed to be using him as her PR person, after all, and putting up with his antics regardless.

[She smiled.] A good skillset to have though. I think some of us could probably use some cheering up before this is all over.

this is so late. please don't feel obligated to reply

[admiringly]

[ She scrunches her face up in distaste. ]

He's a really awful choice for PR. If they want us to like them... he's not doing them any favors.

[ She scratches the back of her head sheepishly. ]

Yeah, there have been so many weird changes. I really hope they don't continue into something worse that's unchangeable. I'm used to being small, but being a few inches tall was the worst.

[true_noir]

I suspect in the end that they don't care if we like them. In fact I am sure they don't care. Why send someone like him if they did?

[She nodded.] The only thing almost salvageable about it all was the fact that it didn't last forever. I do worry that one of these changes will happen, and not go away, something as bad as that one was.

We have each other, but it's a lot to deal with.

[admiringly]

Why talk to us at all, though? If they didn't care about us at all? They don't make any sense to me, as a company or whatever else.

[ She sighs. ]

I hope that isn't the case, or if it does happen, it's not a bad change? If we can get a change that's not terrible.

[ Time to knock on wood. Chiyo actually walks over to the nearest wooden thing and knocks on it. ]

[true_noir]

Well, let's try not to worry too much. It isn't as if we can change it just yet after all, so worrying about it won't do us much good. [She shook her head.] As for the other, I think the main reason he does it is to mock us.

He seems to like being mocking.

[admiringly]

You make a good point! Until something actually happens, it's better to concentrate on now. [ But some things are easier said than done, and stress comes easily to Chiyo, almost as easily as optimism. ]

What good does mocking do for them, though? What good does it do anyone?

[true_noir]

[She nodded back and smiled at her.] Exactly.

It doesn't really do him any good. People like this find it amusing. It's a certain sort of person who does, and you probably don't want to know them. They're rarely pleasant.

[admiringly]

I don't want to know him at all, but we get to see him at least once a month, and it looks like it's through him that we get any clue to what's going on. It's not a good clue, but we don't have too much else to go on, do we?

[ She sounds rueful. It's kind of a catch 22 in her mind. ]

[true_noir]

Not without setting off on our own, and we have to be careful in doing that, do we not? [She shook her head.] Certainly we don't want to stick our necks into some dangerous place without someone to watch our backs.