( semi-open ) though it may hurt today

[gradenine]

WHO: Roland (gradenine) & some of you guys
WHAT: July catchall + event
WHERE: Vaults, then some formalwear shop (get in losers we're going shopping)
WHEN: The rest of July
WARNINGS: Major Ruina and Leviathan spoilers in the first prompt. Death, murder, the usual Project Moon warnings apply, probably. Please refer to his opt-out for more info.




art credit | plotting comment | event log
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Comments

[gradenine]

[ PLEASE he's too busy wallowing in despair rn. maybe later, because welt has been understanding so far, and even roland can't just deck him for being a decent human either. amazing how a little sympathy can do to a bittered individual.

in any case, roland rubs at his eyes and takes another deep breath. ]

Not frequently, but... [ nods ] I don't recommend it, 'cause other people can sometimes even see them.

[ welt should be thankful he's spared from seeing the wreckage and bloodshed. memshares are not good either way, but since the guy can't see it in his perspective, roland has no choice but to tell him. ]

My wife... She died from a sheer accident. I was away on a mission, and our house just collapsed with her and our unborn child in it. [ he looks down on her gloves. ] This is all what's left of her. The whole thing is common enough in our City so I shouldn't be this upset, but...

[ yeah. ]

[indwelt]

[ UNBORN CHILD? HELLO?? why is roland's backstory like this, i'm depressed ]

[indwelt]

[ Guess who else is depressed? This guy, standing right here, his expression growing increasingly more distressed the more Roland talks. Not like obviously so, because after 80-some years of constant loss, you learn to rein in your outward emotions, but enough that some of it shows on his face.

He's sorry, too, for making this man repeat a clearly unpleasant story. ]

Just because it's common doesn't make it any easier to swallow. Emotions are complex things and hard to control even during the best of times.

[ Sorry, he will continue to be a reasonable human being because it's either that or finding some trauma hole of his own to stick his head into, and that's not happening just quite yet. ]

Are you planning on keeping them [ with a nod towards the gloves ] despite everything?

[gradenine]

[ STOP the loss of a child is also a normal thing in their City. it's way too commonplace for everyone's liking, and for that they can both wallow in our trauma holes together, king.

but it's fine, roland can manage to sober up from his breakdown the more he focuses on other things, like the fact that welt is... sad about this. wild how people from other worlds are capable of something like that, and how a little sympathy can go a long way.

he swallows, and tightens his hold around the gloves. ]

...Yeah. I mean, I don't really trust this entire place. They'd pretty much given back what was rightfully mine with little consequence. [ just endure a little bit of trauma and they're all good to go! ] And-- I'll be fine. Thank you, uh...

[ he finally looks at the guy. shit, he really did break down in front of a complete rando, didn't he. ]

Name's Roland. I'm just a washed-up Fixer, but that ain't important in this City. You?

[indwelt]

[ i can truly never play this game or else i will die of depression

Good on Roland for taking things in stride though, even if the fact that he can so easily is, well, as stated before, extremely depressing. But if he wants to move on then the least Welt can do is respect his wishes and follow right along.

He's seen worse in his 80-some odd years of life, you good Roland. ]

Welt Yang. [ If that sounds familiar, it's because he's one of the handful of losers who only knows how to set his display name as his real name. When will someone teach him about internet safety. ] I'd say it's a pleasure to meet you but...

[ Well. That would be a bald-faced lie. MORE IMPORTANTLY! ]

A 'fixer'?

[ How obvious is that capitalization there.... ]

[gradenine]

[ HELP.... projmoon games are bleak but they got rly good storylines i swear by this

and - yeah, if only they'd met in better circumstances. technically roland had already met yang over the network, but it was behind a mask of anonymity so it doesn't really count. maybe. he rubs at his red eyes, grateful for this topic change. ]

Yeah. A mercenary. We "fix" whatever the client wants for a price. I'm Grade 9 though, so don't expect too much from me. [ hence the "washed-up" part. ] And being a Fixer means your life is always gonna be on the line, so...

[ gestures at the high mortality rate. really, these things are normalized in his field of work. ]

Like I said, that doesn't matter here. Jobs like that are rendered useless when this City can just give you whatever you want. Right?

[indwelt]

[ time to normalize personal happiness and self-satisfaction instead

Truth be told, while he understands the individual words - Fixer, Grade 9 - rattled off, in conjunction with each other they turn into something closer to a foreign language, evoking blurry images that don't fully click into place. It's fascinating in its own way though, his inherent love of history and culture poking its head foward despite the gravity of the situation.

If only he'd had the chance to pursue that path more thoroughly in the past. Ah well. ]

It doesn't seem like much matters here apart from following the arbitrary rules set up in this place.

[ He murmurs it mostly to himself, a frown on his face. Anyway. ]

Did you choose that career path for yourself? Most people with families usually opt for safer, more low stakes jobs.

[ Is the pay that good.... ]

[gradenine]

The keyword there is "usually". And I did want that for my family, but...

[ all he can manage is a sheepish laugh. at least he feels marginally better now that he can laugh about it. ]

Can't really afford it. I live in the poorer side of our District, and becoming a Fixer's the most lucrative job there is. We did plan on retiring for a while, though.

[ he got the money in the bag, can you believe it. but then shit happened so now he's back to square one u_u before he can elaborate though, the heavy vault doors open with a resounding creak; seems like someone else had finished their sharing session and has open sesame'd them to freedom. ]

[indwelt]

[ Sometimes it just be like that, huh....

At least Roland is spared from further personal questions by that low groan of the door opening. Finally, they're both (physically) free from the shenanigans piled onto them by the bank. (But are they free from the many ghosts that haunt them at night....probably not.)

Welt looks towards the door, then to Roland. He's not going to keep this man here any longer than necessary but: ]

Are you going to be alright?

[ To stumble off home or to some other place where he can pretend like nothing ever happened. ]

[gradenine]

[ it really do be like that. in fact, it's literally roland's thing to pick himself off the ground, dust off his clothes, takes a deep breath that sounds more like a resigned signed than anything -- like so. ]

...Yeah. I'm used to it. That's that and this is this, y'know?

[ he sounds fine, he looks fine despite the puffy eyes from all the crying, despite the hollow pit forming in the bottom of his stomach. no use dwelling too deep over stuff that had already happened. ]

please don't ask why i wrote my top level in this comment box, i'm in tears

[indwelt]

[ Is everything really fine....?

Well, Roland's a grown man capable of taking care of himself, and it's not as though Welt has that much to offer after stumbling his way into another man's very private moments. The least he can do is give this man a nice graceful out. ]

If you're certain.

[ He still sounds WORRIED because that's just how he is, but thankfully he doesn't make any further move to keep Roland in the vault. ]

Take care, then.

[ Please don't go stumbling into any other trauma while you're out there.... ]