week 1, Friday

[vipmix]

[maybe they are continuing their conversation but in private? maybe it's a second conversation later?? look i don't know i just came home from work and i am making food this was a terrible idea. WHATEVER IT IS, it's time for josh and fie to have a ... pleasant... um ok it'll at least be private, conversation!!!!!]

Comments

[sylfied]

[ it sure will be private!! But does Joshua even know how to pleasant we just don't know--

Either way, Fie has since gone her separate way to like... you know, wash the feeling of detached legs off her hands or something and is now flopped on a less gristly part of the beach, staring up at the sky.

Until footsteps happen and she-- doesn't even bother to look over in their direction. ]

Hi.

[ this is going to be a meaningful conversation. ]

[vipmix]

Hello again. We keep running into each other, don't we?

[its not that big of an island, josh. also, she wasn't walking.]

[sylfied]

Funny how that keeps happening.

[ she wasn't even walking!! ]

[vipmix]

It's almost like there's a limited amount of space and people here. [thanks, josh. thanks. he doesn't sit down next to her but does watch the sky himself] I wonder... What do you think of all of this?

[sylfied]

[ and out of the limited amount of people he could bother, here he is. Oh boy.

Fie stays put, though, wondering why people keep asking her this. ]

This... game? Or everything that happened today?

[vipmix]

People's reactions. Mostly.

[because her lack thereof is a lot more interesting than everyone else being angry ok]

[sylfied]

... We have a lot of bleeding hearts here. And people who don't think before they act, which is usually the first step towards getting yourself killed.

[vipmix]

Hmhmm. And it's not going to get any easier for either of those groups. [he says, like he actually ...cares] Are you worried? You seem to have made some friends here.

[sylfied]

[ Josh, caring. What an odd thought. ]

There's only so much I can do for them. I can tell them not to be stupid and I can teach them how to defend themselves, but in the end, what they end up doing is their choice. I think worrying would just make me tired.

[ Everything makes her want a nap, though. ]

Besides, no one here really knows me. And I don't know them. Getting that attached to people seems sort of like a bad idea here.

[vipmix]

A very logical answer. [he hums] So you just won't care, no matter what happens? Perfect indifference is kind of hard to achieve, you know.

[it's not even like he disagrees with her plan, but it's ingrained in him to point out the flaws in people's logic because he is. like that.]

[sylfied]

It's not that I won't care. [ She'll admit that, because Fie doesn't, you know, hate all of humanity or whatever. ] But I don't have to let that be the driving force behind what I do or how I act. Basically...

[ Hmm. ]

I told you about jaegers once, right?

[vipmix]

Hmmm... You dropped the name, but you never told me what they were.

[wow joshua it must suck when that happens to yourself vs you]

[sylfied]

[ aren't you glad you're getting incredible life experiences ]

They're pretty much like mercenaries. They don't serve any one nation or side, they just do what they're paid to do. Bodyguard work, infiltration, cleaning up messes. There's a ton of different corps but they all have one basic rule.

[vipmix]

[german for hunter totally worked for that. cool. he was sorta right.]

And that rule is...?

[sylfied]

Jaeger corps can work together on different jobs and off the field, they can sit down and drink together and talk about what makes them happy or whatever. But there's this understanding-- the person you sit and laugh with one day could be the person you're pointing a blade at tomorrow. If you both survive, great, back to the bar. And there's no hard feelings, it's just doing your job.

So even when you care, you acknowledge it: to get through it, and to survive, you put that second.

[vipmix]

Compartmentalizing ... I see. [it's an interesting concept, and-- not actually that far off from the reapers in shibuya. they were all players, once.] And you're one of them?

[sylfied]

[ There's a very soft snort. ]

I'm just a student, remember?

[vipmix]

Then you were one of them.

[how else would she know them so well!!! what is "family and friends" what. thats not a thing]

[sylfied]

Can't a girl just know some?

[ geez Joshua??? ]

[vipmix]

[absolutely not, denied--]

Whichever it is, it sounds like with that philosophy you're set for the game. I'm almost jealous.

[he says like he has ever had a single human emotion about people]

[sylfied]

[ RAISED BY JAEGERS FOR TEN YEARS MOFO SUCK IT-- ]

Yeah? What are your thoughts, then?

[ does Josh even have human emotion about anything ]

[vipmix]

About what?

[feigns like he doesn't know look they talked about a few subjects!!]

[sylfied]

About people's reactions.

[ Not that she thinks he has friends here because she's starting to think it takes a certain type to even talk to him without wanting to kick him. ]

[vipmix]

Predictable.

[reflexive and derogatory at once; fie is right on the money about this.]

It's death. Their reactions are to be expected. No one takes well to facing anyone's mortality, especially not with that added brutality in the mix.

[sylfied]

You've been pretty calm about it this whole time, though.

[ Fie, you can't talk. ]

[vipmix]

Coming from you? I'll take it as a compliment.

[isnt... answering the question]

[sylfied]

You're welcome. [ NOT MISSING A BEAT. ]

So you're not counting yourself in that group?

[vipmix]

Oh, I'd never consider myself predictable.

[why is he this way]

[sylfied]

Funny, I thought you'd say that.

[ why is she this way ]

[vipmix]

Hee hee... Well, now. That sounds like a problem for me.

[he could try to sound bothered about it. does he? no]

[sylfied]

Well, it's not my business whether you care or not. People deal with death differently, even if you're saying the majority's predictable.

[ which... honestly isn't wrong, most people will get upset over death, and even Fie can feel grief when she's invested. But then again, she thinks, there are men like some Jaeger leaders who run right into their own. ]

[vipmix]

It's easier to get desensitized when you're expecting it. [and they'd had all week to expect it, too] It almost makes me wonder how everyone's reaction will change in the coming weeks.

[sylfied]

You mean whether they'll get used to it and save their energy? Or just kind of lose their optimism?

[vipmix]

A little of both. It all depends on what happens tomorrow.

[sylfied]

Well, we won't know until then. I guess we'll see.