awashlogs | Event Thirteen.

To love a human face was to discover
The cracks of paint and varnish on the brow;
Soon to distrust all impulses of flesh
That strews its sawdust on the chamber floor,
While at the window peer two crones
Who once were Juliet and Jessica.

t's a regular morning here in the Town. The sun isn't shining at all, snow is falling like crazy, and...there may be the sounds of shouts coming from the well, thoroughly muffled.

Okay, so it's not a regular morning at all, but you'd better go help those people! The newcomers are here again. Of course, once you get to the well, you'll notice that there's actually no real help you can offer -- it's totally frozen over.

As for the newcomers, well... hopefully being suddenly dumped into freezing cold water in the middle of November in a dark, damp well is your idea of a good time, because that's your life now!

And that's not even taking into account the mirrors in everyone's homes that are about to wake up and start chattering...

Welcome to Awash's thirteenth event log, everyone! Further information on this event can be found here at the OOC post. Please keep in mind that while this is a general event log, it is also an intro log; be sure to pay plenty of attention to our newcomers!

If there are any questions, please ask them here. Thank you!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Not-- oh my god. You've existed for five months? Are you a clone or a robot or what?

[ Wow, no! Have this indignant side-glance. ]

Of course I'm not. I suppose I've been around for far longer, but as I am now— as "Ryoji Mochizuki"— it's only been a handful of months.

[ Vriska gives him a weird look for a second,

then heaves a sigh and shrugs. ]

Whatever. I've heard weirder. Explains why you're so incompetent, though!

I'm not that incompetent!!

[ ... ]

Am I?

[ Girl would fall head over heels for him. Junpei and Minato were always kind to him. Aigis and Yukari aside-- was the rest of his life a lie? ): ]

You tell me, loser.

[ You know what, Vriska? You are absolutely right. Each person decides for themselves what they are and what they're like, and Ryoji can't believe he forgot something as fundamental as this. He draws himself up to his full height and places a hand over his chest, proclaiming loud and proud- ]

I am not incompetent, and I am not a loser!!

Not really where I thought this was going, but good for you, I guess.

[ Ryoji smiles at the praise, taking it at face value and turning to stand so that he fully faces Vriska. ]

And what about you? The being in the mirror has been putting you down for quite some time now. Why don't you tell it how you really are?

[ IT'S NOT PRAISE!!!!!!!!!

Vriska's eyes flare wide, and then narrow at him. ]

I get the point you are trying to make, but you know that's an argument I won't win, right? I'm not going to school my mirror self and shut her down, and cause everyone in the vicinity to spontaneously burst into applause. These things are geared to fuck us up, not play into our self-affirming fantasies. All I'll get out of that kind of exchange is frustration and self-doubt. I can't believe I have to explain something so obvious to you!

[ With the confidence with which she speaks, Ryoji's a bit surprised how set she is on deciding the argument isn't one she would win. A part of him can understand that- he'd interacted with the town's demons before, had his own shadow and the walls of his own house call out his worst traits, and somewhere in the town is his face in a mirror telling people, with all gentleness, that they look tired, that they deserve rest, that they should embrace death and free themselves from this world created to do nothing but torment them.

He'd argued with his demons too, had let those doubts sink in and take root, and yet he doesn't regret talking to them at all. ]

Frustration and self-doubt, it's scary, isn't it? I would also do everything to avoid it. ...But they're not all bad things, aren't they? Humans tend towards reflection, and grow from their reflections. That's something I think is wonderful about them.

[ He considers Vriska and her blatant non-humanness... She counts too. ]

[ The look she gives him is about a thousand yards long. ]

It is amazing how presumptuous you are, acting like you think I've never reflected on myself, like my species has some kind of bearing on that. Which it doesn't, by the way, but congratulations on being a racist shithead for thinking it. I have had more time for granular, exacting self-reflection than you can possibly imagine. I don't know if you're being deliberately obtuse or what your fucking deal is, but I'm saying there is no point in arguing with a fucking bullshit magic mirror. It has nothing to do with actually trying to grow as a person. What the fuck is wrong with you?

[ Vriska's words are harsh, but they only serve to confuse Ryoji; with those horns and tone of her skin, it's clear that she isn't human- but how she acts and speaks and believes, she's infinitely more human than Ryoji could hope to be, and that's where he falters. ]

I'm not saying you've never reflected upon yourself, or that you haven't done enough of it... But that mirror is not just a mirror, is it? There's a part of you in it too.

[ Vriska arches a brow. ]

Is there? Or is it, and I repeat, magic fucking bullshit that does a great "Vriska is a horrible person" impression? I have no idea why you are so hung up on this mirror thing. Whoever or whatever "she" is, I don't care, because she's not actually real. The mirror is just total nonsense the town decided to inflict on us, again. I am not going to let this bizarro, endlessly grating fuckcircus dictate how I should handle my problems, thanks.

Event Thirteen.

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