ic inbox; (cerealia)

[unpresidential]

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[compossible]

...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.

[unpresidential]

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.

[compossible]

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.

[unpresidential]

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.

[compossible]

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.]

[unpresidential]

[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.

[compossible]

...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.

[unpresidential]

...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.]

[compossible]

Right? What's up with that.

[A huff, irritated.]

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

[unpresidential]

...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.]

[compossible]

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.

[unpresidential]

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?

[compossible]

[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.

[unpresidential]

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.]

[compossible]

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.

[unpresidential]

Your... Operator?

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

[compossible]

Yeah, you know--the guy who's supposed to help me while I'm off in another world and time, but mostly the guy who slacks off or makes snarky comments instead of being of any actual use--

[....yeah.]

That's my Operator.

[unpresidential]

Ah.

[was he supposed to know that? he doesn't know how time travel works outside of movies and dramas. and none of those had operators.]

The only operators I know... they're the ones for phones. That's all.

[compossible]

It's okay, he doesn't deserve to be known anyway. [wow, harsh.]

Operators for phones? I don't know anything about that. [A pause, and she smiles.] See? We're even.

[unpresidential]

[it sounds harsh, but he's not judging. he doesn't have the right to.]

Mm... looks like it. You'll run into that a lot around here, probably.

[compossible]

Hey, when I do, can I bring things to you to ask about? You seem like the sort of guy who won't take advantage of a poor, lost, confused young woman.

[you are none of those things, Elcia]