Week 5

[grimgrinningghosts]

[...So that was a mess. All of it was a mess, and things don't look to be improving any time soon. With tensions at an all-time high and conditions worsened, it seems pretty safe to say that this whole week promises a great deal of foreboding atmosphere.

But, hey, things aren't entirely bad. Just as Randall promised, you're now able to leave the Manor! 

Just don't stay out there for too long. There's still a lot of you, and you just can't afford to lose numbers.

24 guests remain]

[SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY]

[OOC: and don't forget to fill out this week's activity check!]

Comments

[upgradeit]

Because that's what friends do?

[Right????????]

[pinkflip]

Okay... Well, I tease my friends sometimes, but we're usually able to have a connection based on sincerity. Besides, you- you don't do that with me, what's different with Marco?

[upgradeit]

Well, I mean. If I'm too mean to you, you might cry? And that would be bad, but Marco will just be mean back to me, so it's fine.

[Translation: "We're just shitty to each other."]

[pinkflip]

...Is this because he's a boy and I'm a girl? Oh, my gosh- boys can be sincere to each other too, Hiro.

[upgradeit]

No! I mean, I wouldn't be mean to Wasabi! He would probably cry too.

[That's a Slight Lie, but he tries to be nicer to Wasabi than he is to Fred. Wasabi has anxiety and OCD. He doesn't need more stress.]

[pinkflip]

[ SHE...JUST...SIGHS... ]

Look. Hiro. Maybe you need to...try looking at it in a different way. Every time you've interacted with Marco, it's been..."here's my friend," right? Well, maybe if the circumstances are a bit different...

[ ...Gears are turning in her head. Oh no. ]

[upgradeit]

What, you mean like if we weren't stuck in a crappy Battle Royale knock-off where if I tell him I like him he'll probably immediately die?

[Haven't you ever seen a movie, Kimberly!!!! Gays get buried!!!!!!!]

[pinkflip]

...What? No? Where'd you get that idea?

[ HIRO WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT EVERYTHING IS FINE ]

[upgradeit]

It's a whole thing, Kim! Whenever there's gays on a TV show and they're happy, one of them dies.

[Well, okay. Mostly in period dramas set in the aughties or on the telenovelas that Honey Lemon always watches.]

So I double can't tell Marco I like him, even if I did like him. Which I don't.

[pinkflip]

Hiro, that's on TV, not- not in real life! [ ...its funny, except its not ] You can't let something that might happen keep you from...from taking a risk that could make you happy! Especially in this place.

[ ...hypocrite thy name is kimberly but shush ]

[upgradeit]

Um, in case you haven't noticed? We're on a TV show. [HE'S JUST SAYING.] So it's totally relevant.

[pinkflip]

Yeah, but- it's not a scripted TV show, it- ohhh, just look, it's a good idea to talk to him!

[upgradeit]

I don't want to be a statistic, Kim!

[Now he's just whining.]

[pinkflip]

Buck up, mister! Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

[ Hands on his shoulders! ]

Why are you letting fear hold you back so much?

[upgradeit]

Because the last time I didn't, my brother died!

[Oh. Womp, there it is.]

[pinkflip]

[ Her expression melts just like that, to one of sympathy. Her hands go from his shoulders to his face. ]

Hiro... You didn't cause your brother's death. You know that, don't you?

[upgradeit]

. . . If I hadn't wanted to go to stupid nerd school so badly, I never would have - the microbots wouldn't exist. I never would have come up with the technology that Tadashi got killed for if I had just -

[Stuck to what he was good at. What he knew best.]

- stuck to bot fighting.

[pinkflip]

[ There are so many details Kim's missing. But she still has enough to tell him this. ]

You didn't start that fire. You didn't make the choice for him. He did that because...because that's who he was. Who he is. You can't make it your fault. And I bet Tadashi will tell you that too.

[upgradeit]

No, but Tadashi died for nothing because I - because I made a technology that caught the attention of the wrong people. [He draws in a deep, shuddering breath.] Even if I didn't start that fire, I'm the reason why it was started at all.

[pinkflip]

[ She pulls him into a hug. ]

Tadashi died because those people made a choice. Not because you were trying to...to be happy. [ ... ] You can't let what might happen again...prevent you from trying, Hiro.

[upgradeit]

Every time I build something, it just ends in something getting hurt. [His track record is incredibly bad on that front.] I don't - I don't want that to happen anymore.

[pinkflip]

I can't...guarantee that it won't. But I can tell you? You...building something doesn't mean it'll break something else. And if you don't try...you'll never know just what beautiful things you could have.