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[he's not exactly an inspiring kid. or a talkative one—sorry, elcia, he's pretty terrible at this. most of the reason he has any friends aside from heung soo in his life is because his classmates are all obnoxious as hell and just latch to him.]

Uh... Nam Soon. Go Nam Soon. [he tilts his head a little, but says nothing else. it's kind of a quiet invitation for her to return the gesture. ]

Nam Soon.

[Weird name, but not too difficult unlike some of the names she's encountered here. She appreciates that.]

I'm Elcia. Nice to meet you.

[She doesn't seem to mind his lack of talking, at least. Bit by bit, they'll make progress. It just makes her even more determined, really.]

[it's a good thing one of them is, because nam soon doesn't really have that kind of motivation at all.

instead, he's just bowing his head a little, politely.]

You too. As much as it can be like that around here. It's probably not that nice though... [having to meet people this way, he means. not the act of actually meeting one another.]

[He's cute, like a puppy. A somewhat apathetic puppy. You know how it is.]

Harsh. [She's not actually offended though, and she smiles a moment later.] I think it's nice anyway.

[Granted, she's dead back home, so this is an improvement.]

There have to be some things that make you smile, even in a place like this.

[it's a pretty accurate description of him, in all honesty.

either way, he pauses, thoughtful.]

Mm. Not everything is bad. [he has heung soo, and their situation together is very good. and they've got their dumb robo pets and domestic life, which works out well enough when CERES isn't ruining their lives. the thought of it does make him smile, if only barely.] There are some things, sometimes.

There.

[She smiles in response, nodding to herself in a satisfied manner. It took awhile in their conversation, but even so...]

That's a much better expression on your face. I like it.

[Is there someone putting that expression on his face? She thinks of Livan and Belph and thinks she understands that, a little.]

Oh... ah...

[actual awesome conversationalist go nam soon, truly. the expression doesn't fade completely, but it's probably obvious that he doesn't really know how to take that sort of a compliment.]

Thanks. [he's such an awkward child, it's probably hard to believe that he was once one of the most feared teenage punks in his whole province.]

You're welcome.

[It's okay, the awkward is endearing.

Sort of like that awkward puppy tripping over his own paws sort of endearing, again. Either way, for now she's not going to dwell on it.]

So, got any other bits of wisdom to share with me before I go?

I'm not sure.

[he can't think of anything immediately, considering he's sure he covered the basics. but after a moment, he'll come up with something! how useful it is, well... that's up to elcia to decide.]

A lot of people here... They don't take it seriously.

...Really.

[That's....weird. Some sort of drug, maybe? Hallucinations? Things to suppress those urges? If she wasn't already someone who had hopped multiple times and places, she would also be panicking, she thinks.]

They must not care much about what happens to them, then.

I don't know. Some people care a lot... others treat it like nothing is strange.

[he sighs a little, trying to find the words for this.] We have to do things to get by—when weird things happen, though, something people don't seem affected. Or even like they want to put an end to it.

Maybe they've already given up.

[In which case, that's pretty sad...but even so, she should know better than anyone--]

For some people, that's the only coping mechanism they've got.

Maybe.

[he's done the giving up thing before, so he kind of gets it. except his idea of giving up isn't acting like everything is okay when it's definitely not, so it's hard for him to wrap his head around.]

It's annoying, though. That kind of thinking... it can't help us here.

People like that are always annoying. [oh. tell us how you really feel, elcia.]

It's selfish. Just because they can't cope, they're going to drag everyone else down with them because they can't handle the truth of the situation.

[Harsh.... but not wrong.]

[ouch.

it's harsh, but she's not wrong. nam soon knows it because there was a time in the past when he lived it. so maybe there's a brief flash in his expression because of that, but it settles quickly.]

There's a lot of that here. You'll definitely see it a lot, even if you're not looking for it.

...Oh well. Not my problem.

[She waves a hand, as if it's really possible for her to be entirely apathetic to the whole thing.

(It's not.)]

I'm not paid enough to deal with all of this.

...Or at all.

[which he's sure is the actual correct situation. at least someone can be apathetic about it, he guesses. nam soon can feign it well, but it bothers him.]

Right? What's up with that.

[A huff, irritated.]

They're making me work for money. [blehhhh]

...How else would you get money?

[isn't working for it a given? maybe he shouldn't ask that when everyone is anime as hell.]

Working, I guess. [conning people.]

But I had a perfectly good job, and now they brought me here and gave me less perfectly good jobs to do, which I'm not interested in doing.

I don't think you have to stay at the job they give you. [even if nam soon does, because it pays well enough for him.] ...What did you do before?

[Are you ready for this to get Super Anime, Nam Soon.]

I was a time traveler.

[Yeah.]

I don't think anything here is going to quite match up.

Ah.

[what does he even say to that? why does he always have to meet people with situations that he could never even fathom as actually existing until coming here? it is a mystery.]

I guess not. I haven't seen anything like that here. [or anywhere, except movies and dramas.]

It's okay, it wasn't really a common thing back home, either. Still, it'd be handy to have right now.

[If only she could time travel her way right out of here...]

My Operator is here, even, but he's as useless as ever.

Your... Operator?

[head tilt. clearly, he has no idea how any of this works.]

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