[Text; UN: DemonsandSugar]

[cultivatingsin]

What abilities should a sword have?

[Be basic. Be creative. Spring is about renewal, right? He wants to upgrade his Jiangzai.]

If you say it should cut parchment, I will curse you. Anyone can sharpen a blade. I want to talk about magic.

Comments

[fujimaru]

Ritsuka!
19 years old, definitely best as a background NPC type ＼(￣▽￣)／

[ Despite the way the words might sound, she's good-natured about it. Frankly, she doesn't want to be a protagonist. That sounds like way too much work. ]

[cultivatingsin]

Background NPC type? What the hell does that mean?

[Asks the villain. Well, a villain, though he isn't as villainous anymore.]

[fujimaru]

Oh
I mean like when you walk into like a store or even out onto the street and there are lots of people around just minding their own business
But they're living their own lives, so it doesn't intersect with yours?
Like that
In a video game or a story they'd be the characters that probably wouldn't even get a name

[cultivatingsin]

That...

Makes it sound like you don't have much self-confidence. I would want to stand out more than that if I was in a game.

[fujimaru]

It sounds like that, right?
But honestly I don't feel bad about it
To be honest, I think having everyone's attention on you would just be exhausting

[cultivatingsin]

Are those the only two options? When I want attention, I can get it. When I want to be left alone, I can disappear.

[fujimaru]

I don't think it's that easy
Once you have a reputation, it doesn't matter if you disappear
I guess I'd rather have things be steady, not a roller coaster

[cultivatingsin]

Reality is different. But nothing is easy, in a game or not, and nothing is a given except how you feel - if you're stubborn enough.

[fujimaru]

Trust me, I'm really good at stubborn *(੭*ˊᵕˋ)੭*
I know a lot of people who'd say it's the one thing I am good at
But having experienced both attention and being ignored, I think I'd rather lean towards living quietly

[cultivatingsin]

I'm good at it too. There was a time that my stubbornness was the only thing keeping me alive!

I guess I can understand that.

[fujimaru]

Ohhhh same hat
If I had 5 yen for every time I was supposed to die and didn't I'd be so rich
So hey!!
Congratulations to both of us for not giving people what they wanted there

[cultivatingsin]

So would I! What a shame we don't get paid for that, huh?

Fuck them. They're not worth your time or mine~

[fujimaru]

I got paid eventually for the work I did... but then things went wrong again, and I don't think I can access that money right now.

[ If she goes back home, and the world is properly restored, she's going to throw the biggest tantrum if the Mage's Association doesn't let her keep that backpay. ]

I mean especially right now, here, but even back home
Stuff's gone a little weird

[cultivatingsin]

You were seriously paid to almost die? What sadist did you work for anyway?

[Money can't make up for everything. But candy...c...an?]

I think we need to just accept it.

[fujimaru]

It's kind of complicated
I wasn't actually supposed to be involved at all
I signed up because I thought it'd just be doing some basic office work and getting some experience and money
But then there was a

[ She pauses for a long moment on that last sentence, though she doesn't send that it right away; her texting style is usually just a barrage of one-liners as she thinks of them.

But that last one gives her a pause. Calling it an "accident" isn't right, but calling it what it was--sabotage--also feels overly dramatic.

In the end, though, she goes for the honesty: ]

But then someone sabotaged the project
Out of forty-eight people, I was the only one left standing, because I was the only one who was so unimportant I wasn't in the room where it happened

[cultivatingsin]

Wow, that's tough! I take it you weren't close to any of those forty-eight?

[Not that her knowing or not knowing her coworkers helps exactly. It's still traumatic.]

Did you get revenge? I would've. I would've drawn it out too. Torture is one of my specialties~

[fujimaru]

It was my first day, so I'd only talked to maybe... five of them

[ Including the staff. Including the poor Director. Yikes.

And yikes again at the torture reference. She frowns a little at the words, but--it's not like he's the first person who's bragged about that sort of thing to her face. It's less off-putting than it should be, which is honestly the stranger thing, in her opinion. ]

I'm not really a vengeful person (￣Д ￣)
But I did find the guy who did it and when it came down to a fight
I won
So I guess that kind of counts

[cultivatingsin]

Of course it counts! Doesn't it feel better to know what happened to you...to them...is over?

[How optimistic! Violence, tragedy, loss is never over. He snickers at himself and then sighs.]

You may not like vengeance, but it's the only way to make sure your bases are covered.

[fujimaru]

It's not over though
Even if you beat someone who's beaten you, it doesn't undo those injuries
Killing someone who killed someone important to you doesn't bring that person back
Vengeance just seems like it's too much effort

[ She doesn't have any illusions that she'll change anyone's mind. The username isn't familiar, and she doubts that he's some hidden Avenger-class Servant who slipped under everyone's radar, but one doesn't have to be an Avenger to be fixated on revenge.

It's just that it isn't her style. ]

Anyway, it doesn't matter if one thing ends
Give it five minutes, there'll be some other disaster to worry about

[cultivatingsin]

[She strikes home a little too hard with that logic. Vengeance has gained him nothing. Taking a chance and opening himself to another, however, has shown him a whole new way of existing. But Xue Yang will never be soft and sweet to anyone but his precious daozhang.]

Don't be lazy! Life is all about effort. If there's something you want, you have to work for it.

[Even if it's not what's best for you.]

Disasters are endless. Everyone learns that the hard way. That's why the first disasters stick with you.

[fujimaru]

I WANT to be lazy but I can't
My life is hard that way (；′⌒`)
I'll work hard for a lot of things, but not revenge
That can be for other people
I'm not saying I don't understand it
I just don't think I'd ever get satisfaction out of it

[ Part of her wishes she could. There've been plenty of times where she's wished she could have some satisfaction in beating someone who thought they had gotten the better of her... and it's never come. It's forever beyond her. ]

[cultivatingsin]

No one can be lazy. Not in Avalon unless you're ridiculously rich and protected by your hoard of knights. But even then, there are dragons to slay, you know?

Don't tell your enemies that. [He used to be the type of person that would test her resolve. No revenge? Ever? He could make her hurt enough to break.]

And don't presume you'll never have enemies either.