37

[perfectsymmetry]

[Well, let's try to ignore traumatic date night, shall we? Crowe has other news to report to you all.

Call filtered from Rue:]

Um. I said I would let people know if I found out anything about what happened to those of us who were... victimized last week. Those of us who were infected with whatever it was. Mr. Hughes and I spoke with Rue, but it, ah, predictably didn't go very well. But, what we could gather from it was that it was due to something she slipped into drinks, that the town gave back to her. I think she knew it would do something strange to us, but not specifically what. And that once it started she had no way of stopping it. I figure that mostly from the fact that she herself was not affected by it.

But... I encourage you all to not do anything drastic. Please. She... I think she realizes how bad this all was, and is guilty enough about it. I don't think it'll happen again.

[A pause, and a quite sigh.] At least I hope not.

Anyway, I hope everyone is alright after, ah... a-all these recent events.

---

[Later, Crowe can be found back at the park per usual, with trees and ropes and the whatnot. Today he's got a rope tied in a high tree branch straight up vertically, trying his best to climb up it using only his arms. Woo upper body strength training! It's pretty tough, but he's going at a slow but steady pace. Surely there's no ulterior motives behind all this training lately...]

_{[[OOC: Chrona-mun, feel free to keep backtagging the date if you want~]]}

Comments

[teh-sword.livejournal.com]

[]

Kinda makes it sadder.

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

[He nods.] Unfortunately she brought this upon herself. She acted pretty guilty when we confronted her, though, so I hope she doesn't try something like this again.

It makes me wonder what compels people to do something like that. I should be us against Mayfield, not against one another.

[teh-sword.livejournal.com]

...people can't always help themselves. You sorta... learn to forgive them for that and love 'em anyway. One in ninety-nine, right?

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

[Oh Ren. You're so good. That gets you a small smile.]

That's pretty much the opposite of what everyone else has been telling me. Naturally a lot of people want to go deal with her themselves. But... it's tough to deal with people like this in Mayfield. The best thing to do is just avoid them, I guess.

[Just like his own housemates. Urgh.]

[teh-sword.livejournal.com]

Lots of ways to deal with people who've messed up and gone too far. Sometimes all it takes is understanding. [] Has to be something everyone agrees to do, though. Doesn't work well if some people forgive her and everyone else goes on a witch hunt and makes her lash out again. I dunno.

[] You're comfy, by the way.

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

That's what I'm afraid of. That's only going to make things worse. And we don't know what else she might be capable of.

[He gives you a bit of an embarrassed smile.] Ah. Thank you.

[teh-sword.livejournal.com]

[] But then, you have to forgive them too, because they're definitely trying to help.

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

I can't blame people like my friend Touma who's just going to try and help his friend that Rue hurt, but... well, I can trust him to not to do anything drastic. Not sure about others in this town though. I wish more people thought the way you did.

[teh-sword.livejournal.com]

Mm, yeah. There'd be a lot more smiling. Maybe more robot attacks too, though. Epic battles with Godzilla and Mothra out on the horizon. We'd make it happen if there were enough of us thinkin' it hard enough.

[]

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

[Life in Mayfield is rarely smile-inducing, unfortunately. But you manage to get one along with a chuckle.]

Or giant man-eating blobs, like in our latest feature presentation here. Or giant gila monsters. Or whatever other giant monsters the 1950s liked so much.

[teh-sword.livejournal.com]

Dude, they knew monster movies back in the day. [] The day that's now. [] Or whatever.

[] So if we assume we get a break after being locked in cars, and if we keep our fingers crossed no one plays vigilante with Rue... there's what? School?

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

I guess so. Can't believe summer is over already.

[He looks thoughtful. Once winter rolls around he's not sure what he's going to do with himself, since he spends all his time at this park in order to avoid his "family". He shakes it off, though.]

I figure as long as I get passing grades, it'll keep teachers off my back, and avoid getting droned. But I think I might join a club or two this time around. I'm not sure what, but I'll see what kind the non-drone students plan to run first.

[teh-sword.livejournal.com]

Already excited. 's gonna be awesome, Calleo.

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

[He laughs a little.]

Yeah, it's not too bad. Any idea what you might join? You can always join us on the blitzball team. You any good at swimming? [He grins.]

[teh-sword.livejournal.com]

[]

Swimming? Eh. 's it involve a lot of swimming?

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

[That won't keep him from asking his friends to join. They used to have a 10-year-old girl as a goalie after all.]

It does. It's actually played underwater, if you can believe that! It's a popular sport where my coach is from, apparently. He's a professional. It's part of the reason I'm doing all this training. I miss playing football sometimes, but, this is what coach teaches... and when I say "football" the drones all immediately think I mean American football. [Shakes his head.] But this is a lot of fun too. Coach Jecht is giving me combat lessons too. He's pretty impressive. You should come to practice sometime.

I want to join something that isn't sports-related too, if I can. But I'm not sure what.

[teh-sword.livejournal.com]

[]

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

[He laughs. He can't help it. He's used to that reaction. He had it himself when it was first explained to him.]

Yeah, I know, it sounds just... insane. But it's really fun. And with all the training I've been doing, I've actually been able to increase how long I can hold my breath. But we still don't have enough people for two teams, but I think we're close.

[teh-sword.livejournal.com]

[]

If you say so. Guess it'd be worth checking out.

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

[He shakes his head, but he's grinning.] I know it's probably not your thing. But you're always welcome to come check it out, of course.

So really, do you have any plans for school? Or do you just plan on riding it out? Classes with drone teachers are pretty boring, while the ones with non-drones are... interesting. So many people come and go here, I don't know who still is or isn't a teacher there. Do you know what grade you're in?

[teh-sword.livejournal.com]

I... I really don't know. The last time I stayed in a school long enough to really be in the swing of things was when I was seven, and... [] ...I guess I'm supposed to be going into my last year of high school now. I was just finishing up the second to last before I dropped out back home.

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. So it's been a long time for you. [You can tell he's curious as to why, but he's too polite to pry.] Are you excited to go back?

[teh-sword.livejournal.com]

[]

Think so. It'll be sorta nice not to be the only new kid for a change, at least. Not like I could've forgotten how to learn things or anything that'll make it horrible.

...right?

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

Of course. If you've forgotten how to learn things then you've got bigger problems to worry about. [He smirks.] As long as you get passing grades and attend every other day or so, it keeps drone teachers from hassling you, and you won't get droned either. It's not like getting good grades in Mayfield really gets you anything. So I figure I may as well just enjoy myself, and do all the social stuff instead, yeah?

[teh-sword.livejournal.com]

Nn, yeah! Guess that's really what'll be nicest. Didn't really get into any of that back home with all the moving, but... it's a way to meet people and make friends that's, like, acceptable, right?