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[recollecters]

Hey, Users! This month's wikihow is right over here. In other news, don't you just love our logo colors? Such a nice shade of blue. I'm pretty fond of it myself! You know, Janet has blue eyes. But then, I guess you guys don't know anyone with eyes that color anymore, right? Whoops. Anyway, see you next month! Well, some of you anyway. :) Jim Halloway Research & Development Retrspec Incorporated As discussed on the monthly plot post the colors blue and green are now gray - except for the blue on the retrospec application logo and their building sign, although no NPC will be capable of seeing the color in these places. As stated in the plot post, NPCs will also seem to be completely unaware that the colors blue and green ever existed. Oops. Please feel free to use this post as a network mingle. Every toplevel can be considered a new post, and threadjacking is permitted. No NPC response will be given. Usernames are the character's full real AU names, not aliases or chosen nicknames or usernames, and seemed to have filled themselves in; nothing characters do can change or obscure their names currently. Last's month's application round characters are now capable of changing their profile pictures.

Comments

[lingeringwill]

fine

fine

if you insist

if you insist, you can come over...

[appraiser]

yep
this is me insisting
you said you lived at the dorms?
do you want to meet there or?

[lingeringwill]

sure, yeah...

[Terra rattles off his room number and other pertinent information.]

ill be here...

text --> action

[appraiser]

[ Those ellipses are concerning, Terra!! It takes a good hour before Ryoji gets to the dorms, but he does eventually, knocking on the door two raps at a time with his knuckles. ]

Hey, Terra. It's me.

[lingeringwill]

[The door swings open to reveal Terra's tall frame standing in front of him. He looks stressed out, but certainly not the disaster Ryoji may have expected.]

The boy himself. Wow. You actually showed up.

[He motions his head towards the inside of the room--there's a small couch with a coffee table in front of it--two glasses on top with ice in them. One is a clear liquid, the other has a red flush to it.]

C'mon, let's have a drink. [Runs his hand through his hair with a bit of exasperation.]

Long freaking day.

[appraiser]

Of course I showed up.

[ ...eventually. But not of reluctance to see Terra, it was distraction, because he'd gotten used to wandering the campus where everywhere was blue and white, school colors now grey and white and not at all inspiring. Wordlessly, Ryoji takes a seat on the couch, hoping that clear glass is sprite, but he can't tell if his color perception is all off. ]

Want to talk about your day?

[lingeringwill]

[Terra joins him, and lightly pats Ryoji's shoulder.]

You already know how my day went. Just...weird. [He drinks a little too much of the pinkish glass.]

Oh, the sprite's for you, dude. Although, I'm not gonna stop you if you wanna ask for something stronger.

[He takes another drink.]

I sure did.

[appraiser]

[ "Weird" is one way of putting it. Despite his attempts at reassuring Terra, "distressed" is the word Ryoji would have used for himself, nearly driven to tears at one point in consoling others who are taking all this very badly. Chocobos were weird. Dancing fruit were weird. Grey skies are just depressing. ]

Thanks. And sorry I took so long getting here. You've started drinking long before me?

[ It's a carefully measured question, him watching Terra for a while, just holding his glass until his hands start numbing from the cold. Eventually he does stick the tip of his tongue into the soda for it to fizz and sting, before taking a sip. ]

[lingeringwill]

Ryoji, my man, I've been drinking for like...since an hour ago.

[There's kind of a sad look in his eyes that more or less reveals why exactly he's been drinking.]

I guess that's pretty rude, huh? I'm not saying I have a drinking problem, I just...couldn't deal.

[He looks over at Ryoji curiously.]

It's okay if you don't like the sprite.

[appraiser]

I like sprite. [ He says it quickly, but it's not a lie, even as he scrambles to justify. ] Carbonation is just what I enjoy most about soda— the way it bites, and I can feel it down my throat.

[ Maybe he's defending soda a bit too much, but...

He glances at Terra— sad grey eyes, like his own— and decides. Time for an intervention. Terra might mix drinks, but he can too, picking up his cup and pouring half the sprite into the empty space in Terra's to dilute that alcohol, and then pouring half of that back over to his own cup.

They can share. ]

[lingeringwill]

[Terra just kind of stares at him with complete awe. That was cool. Poetic, even. Like something out of a novel. This guy is really something else.]

...Incredible. [He takes a drink.]

...It's good, even. Jeez.

[Terra folds his arms and looks up at the ceiling.]

You're an amazing guy. Spec-tacular. [He slurs that last one a bit.]

[appraiser]

[ Are you drunk, Terra. Belatedly, Ryoji wonders if he should have just swapped cups, maybe he wouldn't even have noticed. ]

...Thanks. I'm sure lots of people like fizzy soda though.

[lingeringwill]

[Only a little bit. Probably.]

I used to drink a lot of soda. Too much sugar...Maybe that's my problem, not even sugar.

[He sighs and looks to Ryoji again.]

You're freaked out too, right? I'm not...crazy, right?

[appraiser]

[ Ryoji returns that pat on Terra's shoulder, remembering how he'd told Terra it was okay to freak out; sometimes, getting it all out is what one really needs to feel better, but he's never been a great example of that. ]

Yes. Consistently, for a good three, four months now. And I've done worse than drink.

[lingeringwill]

Shit. [Terra recoils a bit, but in concern rather than disgust.]

You didn't hurt yourself, did you?

[appraiser]

[ THERE'S A LONG PAUSE HERE. Because he sort of tore up a good portion of the forest and asked people to kill him and when that didn't work, he tried throwing himself into traffic, it was not a good time and everything was a mistake. ]

..........No.

[lingeringwill]

[Terra gives him a long, sympathetic stare. It's the same kind of pause he always gives off, too.]

...You wanna talk about it? [He takes a swig of his drink to fill the silence.]

[appraiser]

It's not really something I want to relive again...

[ It's hard to meet that stare, and he casts his gaze to the cup in his hands. This is where he would open up, but. He came here for Terra, not to be comforted himself, so while that question Terra turned back on him makes him smile a little, he shakes his head in the end. ]

Besides, you have a good opinion of me right now. I'd like to preserve that.

[lingeringwill]

[Terra moves a bit closer to the younger boy, noticing something very specific about the way he's conducting himself.]

We're more similar than you'd think.

...Than I thought.

My opinion of you isn't going to change, and your opinion of me isn't going to change.

Something something, let me make the decision...

[appraiser]

[ Ryoji doesn't move— sitting makes it hard to.

They barely know one another, it seems like all opinions can do is change. But at the same time, the words sound familiar, especially that about people making their own decisions about how to see each other. ]

I won't bore you with the details, but... [ Details. It feels like he's back in therapy again, casting his eyes down, to the left, talking more to himself than at Terra. ] Something changed for me too, like your eyes did. I didn't want to accept it, so I ran, and hid, and lashed out to those who tried to help me. I was scared, and didn't know what to do. I... felt like I didn't deserve to be around people, because all I did was hurt them.

[lingeringwill]

It's okay, man. We're all under a lot of stress here...[Terra thinks about putting an arm around the kid, but maybe that would be a little...strange.]

Did you hurt someone? [It's a pointed, painful accusation, but a necessary one, he feels.]

Here in Recolle?

[appraiser]

[ There's no way he can look at Terra when he says— whispers— ]

...yeah.

[lingeringwill]

...On purpose?

[He does, this time. He does reach out and lightly touch Ryoji's back. The same way Terra had always wished someone would do to him.]

[appraiser]

No!

[ He jumps at the touch on his back, swinging his head over to look at Terra and nearly upsetting his cup in the process. ]

No, I would never. I would never hurt anybody on purpose.

[lingeringwill]

Woah! Woah, woah dude, woah. [Pats the boy gently, this time...]

You're not on trial here. Even if you did, I wouldn't judge you.

I used to hurt people on purpose all the time. [He says it kind of flippantly, not even realizing the words coming out of his mouth. Has he...how many people has he even told that to?]

...As long as you didn't mean it, it's nothing anyone can hold against you.