CYOA - W3

[afflictionmods]

ic date: friday, w3
ic time: 7pm - 10pm

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[undertakings]

[He'll be careful!! He does at least want it intact so he can bring it back to... wherever, assuming he's not trapped here in clowntown forever. Anyways, if there's nothing else of interest at the bus stop, then he'll wander over to the campus area afterwards.

Are there people around? Signs of students using some of the buildings?]

[afflictionmods]

[Yes. There are.

There are students lounging in the courtyard, chatting with each other even as the sky grows darker. He can see lights through the windows of the dormitories... It's getting late, so there's not a whole lot of people out and around, but there's life.

He can also hear singing, off in the direction of the fountain.]

[undertakings]

[A stray thought enters his mind that this is likely what the school is supposed to look like, unlike all the empty space they've been accustomed to. It makes him feel all the more out of place here, but he'll approach the fountain nonetheless.

Is it someone he recognizes?]

[afflictionmods]

[It is.

Though he's certainly not acting the way Shin might expect Xingqiu to be acting. He seems to be almost in a daze, singing a lullaby that's unfamiliar, but it doesn't seem like it could be anything else.]

[undertakings]

[Hm. Considering the events of last week and what he's gone through already, it makes him wonder if some of those ghosts came back to possess a few more of their number. So with some caution, he'll call out to the other.]

Xingqiu. What are you singing?

[afflictionmods]

[At the sound of his name, Xingqiu's head snaps up with a sickening cracking noise. The song fades away with a whine that sounds like microphone feedback.

Xingqiu smiles.

Or does he scowl?

It's hard to say. It's hard to make out what he's feeling, and it's hard to focus on his face the same way it was hard to focus on the bus schedule.]

You knew it was me?

[undertakings]

[He narrows his eyes at this unnatural reaction, and finds himself on guard for whatever may come out of this encounter. He can't hear anything in this place, and he doesn't even know if he'd be able to detect this particular brand of strangeness, but they know Florence exists in this world. Other machines built in the the form of people wouldn't be so unusual.]

Is there a reason I shouldn't have?

[afflictionmods]

[This Xingqiu-adjacent person looks quite pleased, honestly. He's basically preening.]

All the others said I was the worst one, but you know it was me, so that means I'm perfect.

[Which isn't a reason at all, but he seems very, very pleased with himself.]

[undertakings]

[...

There's honestly a lot he could ask, but let's start out with this one.]

Who are the others?

[afflictionmods]

Well, there's you.

[Obviously.]

The you that's not you, but it's you, but is he as perfect as you? As me?

[undertakings]

[He finds himself blinking at that, taken aback. Of course, it makes sense in some twisted way. If there was a double of Xingqiu, then there's nothing to say that there couldn't be a double of himself--a double of the person called Shinei Nouzen.

And while there's something rather eerie about the thought, he shoves it out of his mind almost automatically. That isn't something he needs to think about at the moment.]

I wouldn't know. I've never met "him".

[...]

What are you, then? Are you like Luscinia?

[afflictionmods]

Who?

[He seems legitimately confused by the question about Florence, but then he nods, brushing off the question entirely.]

You'll see him. You should see him. You'll know if you're you if you see you.

[undertakings]

[...]

...Where is he, then?

[afflictionmods]

I don't know.

[He's annoyed at that question, scowling - and as he does there's a sudden gust of wind.]

He's probably with the rest of them. They think they're better, but they're no. Are they? They can't be...

[undertakings]

[He turns his head away slightly at the gust of wind, but then he looks back at "Xingqiu", examining him carefully. Is there anything unnatural about his body? Say, like the eyes seeming glassier than a normal person's or if there's anything under the skin that shouldn't be there, etc.?]

Why do you care so much about what others think of you?

[afflictionmods]

[Nothing at first glance. He seems like a perfectly human, perfectly normal Xingqiu.

Except for his behavior.]

I need to be the real one, and that's the best way to prove it!

[Obviously!]

[undertakings]

[Shin's only known Xingqiu for a couple of weeks and he can tell they're already failing step one when it comes to being real, but he's not going to be the one telling them that.

Instead, let's question their motives more:]

Why do you need to be real?

[afflictionmods]

[Don't??? Break his heart like this??]

It's for your own good! All of you.

[undertakings]

[That's precisely why he's keeping quiet!!!

That gets him to blink though.]

...How is it for our own good?

[afflictionmods]

You don't fit in here. You come and go but you don't belong.

[Obviously.

Xingqiu(?) seems very convinced this is a fact, at least.]

[undertakings]

You're not wrong. [Because yes, he doesn't belong here in this quaint little town and this entire dimension as a whole.]

But if I don't belong here, then where's "here"?

[afflictionmods]

You're inside! It can happen to anyone, but because you don't fit, it's different for you, isn't it?

[Isn't it? Of course it is.]

[undertakings]

[Is it? He's not so sure.]

I don't know... what is it like for you?

[afflictionmods]

It's the same for me as it is for everyone else.

Or it's - it's supposed to be the same.

[undertakings]

If you're saying it's supposed to be the same, then it isn't.

And if that's the case, doesn't that mean you don't belong here either?