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npc contact.1
As the game progresses, different npc faculty and students will become available for threading. To request a thread, please comment below with the name of the npc and the ic date in the subject header. Threads may be cut short due to mod availability, so please have a reason in mind for the interaction.
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That's the tricky part, isn't it? You can't know what you don't remember, and you can't tell the difference when you have no comparison.
[ You just open your eyes and see the tallies on your wrist, knowing what they represent but not how they got there. ]
I hold on tight to what I believe in, and as long as that belief does not waver, any changes can only build a better future. I trust myself to be better.
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Natsume carefully tugs his long sleeves down again, just as inconspicuous as ever, and steps— to her right side so he can still see her a little bit with his left eye, but with some distance between them. The shade is nicer, at least.
He thinks about the weight of her silence as much as he thinks about her words and turns his face towards her slightly, mouth quirking up again as he looks down at her a bit. She's shorter than him, he has to. )
You're quite a strong little wolf, aren't YOU. I knew I was right in calling you ONE. ( Did he know at the time? ...Maybe not, but he's not usually wrong about people; he'll count it as a win. There's a lull as he opens his mouth, then shuts it and shakes his head. She trusts herself to be better, but that doesn't mean she trusts other people to be. Her belief probably doesn't lay in others either...
It really has been a waste offering her his services, at least in her eyes, hasn't it? He shouldn't offer it again, especially with his confessions, but he still wants to. It's important for people to know they're not alone, even if one of the alternatives is someone who doesn't remember. ) You say it so confidently it makes me want to believe in YOU... So I WILL.
( ...and if she ever needs a magician she knows who to call—
a sigh, though. They're dead, huh. Which means graduation is... trying again, maybe. Why is he a second year—does he have more to learn compared to the current third years? Subaru's one of those; is there some difference between them? )
Thank YOU. ( A little rushed, to get it out. ) And I'm sorRY.
( For having to help untangle... all of that. Even while he's still thinking it over. )
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She thinks of saying she doesn't need anybody to tell her she's strong, or to praise her confidence, or to believe in her, but those sorts of things goes without saying. Meaningless. ...but still nice to hear. ]
Why are you sorry?
[ The clouds look a little darker in the horizon. Hopefully it'll rain soon. ]
Only be sorry for things you regret.
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You shouldn't have to bear the burden of my confuSION, though I'm grateful you helped me find the answer anyWAY. ( Or the burden of his fear, or his uncoolness... He has an image to keep up in front of people and where is it now, this sucks. ) I don't regret speaking to YOU, but I do know right from wrong when it comes to other peoPLE.
( Does he always consider it? Not really, but he's considering it right now, for her. )
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...You went to the best person you could think of.
[ Natsume get better friends challenge ]
And I know you will make it up to me.
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Also: according to Maya they're not friends so he can't get a better one, he just needs more people he trusts who aren't also like, five seconds away from a breakdown from some bad news. )
I'm touched by the faith you have in ME. ( but he does try to keep things even between him and others, so that's only fair. ) Does that mean you really think I can help you in some WAY?
( After so many months of saying she doesn't really? )
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I know you hate being in debt. You're tenacious, so you'll find a way regardless of what I think.
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You can just say YES. I won't make fun of YOU, I proMISE ♪
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You promise and lie in the same breath, Sakasaki.
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I'm not making fun of you, hoNEST.
( it's hard to believe him when he's laughing but take him at his word... )
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Stop THAT— ( He puts his hands on her shoulders, but only to keep her at a distance. ) There's a difference between making fun of someone and laughing because they're...
( ...being cute... )
...reacting in an amusing WAY. ( Safer answer, comparatively. He waits a heartbeat to make sure she's not going to immediately step on his feet again before he lifts his hands off her shoulder again, brushing the tips of her hair as he draws back. ) I only tease you some of the TIME, Little Wolf. I was just reassuring you that you can be honest with me if I can be honest with YOU. That's how friendships—no, relationships in general operate, isn't IT?
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The frown deepens on her face when he touches her shoulders, but she doesn't pull away, instead glaring at Natsume to be the one to take his hands back. Her hair tickles when it falls back across her face. ]
I have always been honest with you. [ Saying only what she wants to say and nothing more does not constitute a lie. ] You can stand to extend the same courtesy to me.
[ Neither friendships nor relationships in general operate on pure truths, this she knows all too well. It creates a foundation, though, and hers and Natsume's... ]
If you needed help, ask me and I will help. If you needed somebody to listen, I will listen. Don't play coy and say you want to talk "for indeterminate amount of time, about various things." What was I supposed to think?
[ Obviously, that he was going to prattle on and waste her time. He'd given her nothing to work with, but she still came with him. ]
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Contrary to what you might beLIEVE, I didn't call you up here to talk me out of an existential criSIS.
( ...No, it really was just about memories on the fourth floor, and being on the roof with her, since she likes the view. )
My conversations with you never go exactly to PLAN. ( But he doesn't sound mad about it; if anything they just go better, overall, so he can't be. ) If I had told you, "I want to talk about hallucinations I had on the fourth floor of the school that I also purely coincidentally disappeared for a week because of during summer BREAK," what would you have DONE? Once we were done with the fourth floor chatTER, you would've LEFT. We probably wouldn't have even made it up HERE.
( Because that's all the conversation would need to be. And maybe that still would have led into the "are we dead" conversation depending, but who knows. Maybe it wouldn't have, and he could think himself into an early grave in the meanwhile. )
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[ If he were to say it like that???? please ]
But if you simply said that you experienced something strange that you wanted my opinion on, that would have been enough. If you said you wanted to eat together instead of baiting me to an auditorium picnic, that would have been enough.
[ If Natsume cuts out 99.9999% of what he does, everything would be fine, but instead he's like this. ]
You don't have to operate on the extremes, like it's the only way people will see you.
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Picking at people is only fun if he's the one doing it. )
You're the first person to tell me THAT. The rest of my life has been spent adjacent to or within the entertainment busiNESS. ( Outside of his pronunciation distortion, his voice is flat; it picks up a little bit after, but not by much. ) But don't talk like you know anything about ME, Little Wolf.
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You're right. I don't know you. I can't, when you never say what you mean.
[ When their interactions are all bait-and-switch. ]
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And yeah, he hasn't made it easy; he doesn't like being known, but he's still human. It's still nice. He just also doesn't like it. That's why he has so many words. )
...It's not like you want to, anyWAYS. ( He keeps his gaze off her, watching the gentle slope of trees instead. ) What does it matter if you can or CAN'T?
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...
Maya pushes off from the wall, as if to walk away, but instead she stops in front of him, face to face, her turn in the sun. ]
You said you wanted to be friends. Do you take that back?
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Are you taking back your words about not wanting to be FRIENDS?
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[ What she thinks has nothing to do with this. His decision and hers are separate, and she waits for his answer. ]
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...No, I'm not taking it BACK.
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Then there's your answer.
[ Now she's going to turn and leave. ]
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he steps after her, around her, to put his weight against the roof's door so she can't open it. ) That's not an anSWER.
( why does it matter? why does she care? does she want to be friends? )
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She hardly ever knows, when it comes to Natsume. ]
I don't know anymore. I feel like whether I say yes or no, nothing will change between us. We are still the same people.
[ Not a hard no, not a hard yes. Maya is in camp "friendship is just a word" like all of my friendless npcs, wary to pick up labels with all the expectations associated with them. ]
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