CATCHALL: Kazuki

[solesuccess]

Comments

w1 saturday

[teenrebellion]

[ voids us but kazuki will look for shoma eventually! ]

Are you gonna be okay? Viktor-san... you guys were friends, weren't you?

[solesuccess]

[ he's likely wandering around somewhere so it's easy enough to find him. ]

...depends who you ask. But I liked and respected him and his work. We had an understanding about stuff. And I knew all he wanted to do was save himself. So having this happen was...a lot.

[teenrebellion]

[ narrows eyes. what do you mean depends on who you ask. ]

I didn't know him all that well, but... yeah. It is a lot. No one should have to deal with that kind of thing.

[solesuccess]

[ it means sometimes you're insecure if people like you as much as you like them, damn. ]

I keep thinking about the chain of events and how it had to end. Like...it's twice now. And now we know it could be literally any of us. [ any of them who can kill or be killed. ]

[teenrebellion]

[ shoma..................... ]

Yeah... Not exactly comforting, is it.

I still don't really understand how it's even happening. It's pretty clear that neither of them wanted to do it, but there's something going wrong.

[solesuccess]

There're some theories going around...about the nanites and stuff causing the oddities and changing how a person thinks. I'm starting to think those might be more true than we wanna believe.

[teenrebellion]

We've all heard about it by now. It's the only thing we've got that makes any sense.

It'd be nice if there was a way to disable them.

[solesuccess]

That's the thing. There has to be if they were ingested to us and stay dormant for most of the week in the first place. [ he shakes his head. ] That's what I want to work on finding next. We can't just sit here and let this keep happening.

[teenrebellion]

Any kind of technology should have a workaround of some sort, right? It's just... getting to it. I thought Io-san would know since they're in our blood, but it sounds like they don't have the... I don't know, rank? Access? To do anything with them.

Maybe they can still try to help you with that, though?

[solesuccess]

[ there's a pause of thought. ]

Likely they haven't been promoted that far because it's affecting them too, yeah. I haven't actually spoken to Io that much, but maybe I'll send them a message to see what they think. [ ... ] I'm still trying to figure out how to talk to most of them.

[teenrebellion]

I haven't talked to many of them that often yet, but an easy thing to do would be to bring snacks. You can talk business over that, if it feels too awkward, but they're just people like everyone else.

You and Ganymede-san have gotten along well so far, right?

[ he remembers shoma wearing their jacket. ]

[solesuccess]

I usually talk to them by text and that's been working out okay. [ introvert. ] I get that they're people and we're all basically doing the same job but...I don't know. "Just people" can still be complicated.

[ but he nods. ]

Ganymede's answered some questions for me and given me some ideas. And Amalthea usually answers all of my other questions, and Metis is easy to talk to. But there's at least half of them I can't figure out.

[teenrebellion]

[ unsurprising. ]

You could try taking someone with you to talk to them. Might make it easier to have a buffer there, you know? I'd go, if you wanted, I just won't be able to talk much about the tech side.

Adrastea-san and Thebe-san are pretty easy to get along with, I think. I haven't talked to Io-san as much, but they seem nice enough, and they care a lot about everyone here.

[solesuccess]

[ a light frown. ]

That...feels a little too much like having a babysitter. [ which he would like to avoid, actually. ] But maybe if the other person had a reason to talk to them, too. I can always ask if it comes to that. I don't always have to ask about the tech stuff either. I think there's more going on here than we realize, so it's about balancing what to ask.

I've talked to Thebe a little, but not really Adrastea. Not since that first day. But those are good notes anyway.

[teenrebellion]

[ raises eyebrows. ]

There's nothing wrong with having someone there to smooth things over. I don't usually have a reason to talk to them, anyway, I just do.

[ he shrugs his good shoulder. whatever, kid, that's your baggage. ]

Whatever works best, I guess. If you're getting what you need with who you're already talking to, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[solesuccess]

[ an awkward pause. ]

...sorry. I get that. I'm just...used to not having that option? Never mind. [ MOVING ON. ] I'm not the one who can just strike up conversations out of nothing anyway, that's Mizuki's job.

We're going to be here for at least another month and a half. At least considering other options probably isn't the worst idea until I can find the real answers I want.

[teenrebellion]

You two do look pretty close. I doubt she'd have a problem with helping you out, either.

[ but again. not his business unless shoma makes it his business, which he probably won't! ]

It helps that you aren't going to be alone in trying to find answers. It's just a matter of what, and who's willing to share.

[solesuccess]

Yeah, she talks enough for both of us that if I get desperate I might ask. [ just casually talks shit, it's fine. ]

I don't think we're in a position that we can not share things if we're trying to find answers. But the tricky part is that we don't know who might be affected by the same thing that happened to Scien and Eunhyuk, and if knowing things would change the behavior further.

[teenrebellion]

She does, doesn't she?

I agree, it's just that in situations like this, it's just as likely that someone's hiding something as otherwise. We can't just expect everyone to share, even if it would benefit all of us.

[ which kazuki hates, thanks! ]

It sounds like it affected them both a little differently, so we can't expect it to be exactly the same every time. That's what's going to make it harder, though. We'd have to know each other well enough to know something's off.

[solesuccess]

[ there's a noise of annoyance which says that he knows and agrees and he also hates it. it would be nice if people shared so they could get on track, but...it's not like he doesn't get why people may hide certain things. ]

...on the surface, yeah, it affected them a little differently. But I think at their core it was a similar set of circumstances. Or at least a similar base. [ there's a frown. ] The problem is some people make it pretty hard to let themselves be known. So convincing them...might take a little longer than we really have.

[teenrebellion]

Depends on how you look at it, I guess.

...Including yourself in that?

[solesuccess]

[ he's not sure what to do with this callout. ]

Depends on how you look at it. [ he reuses the phrase because, well, he's not sure? he knows that he's a little guarded but he also knows that being here means they have to try not to be. ]

[teenrebellion]

From how I'm looking at it, you have a habit of absorbing everything you can about others and keeping everything about yourself close to your chest.

[ he's not being harsh about this, just. observing. ]

I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but. You know.

[solesuccess]

[ hm. still not sure how to deal with that read of him, so he's looking at kazuki for a long couple of minutes before he shrugs. he tries to appear unruffled about this, but it's kind of obvious the words landed. ]

It's just easier this way, I think. Or more efficient. But it's also not always on purpose.

[ just like 95% of the time because sometimes you really are just a person who doesn't want to be perceived because you're afraid people won't like, want or understand it afterwards. ]

[teenrebellion]

[ that's fine. kazuki will let him take the time he needs and just wait, fiddling idly with his bandages. ]

I get that. [ a slight hesitation before he continues. ] I have a friend who's kind of like that, too - mostly keeps to himself unless you force him to talk about anything besides music.

Like I said, I don't think it's a bad thing, and I'm not saying you should do a 180 and wear your heart on your sleeve. It's just that, if we really have to get to know each other better so we know what to look for when things get bad again, it's something to keep in mind. That's all.