Izanagi's Ideal World - Session 2

[idolpro]

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[bondsofsuffering]

[He's very deeply asleep.

Third time's the charm?]

[at_heart]

[ Steels himself. Then shakes Izzy. ]

Because this is exactly how you should always wake people, obviously. Man.

[bondsofsuffering]

Ack-

[Blinking his eyes open. Squinting. And blinking again.]

-Did you really just come over to wake me up?!

[at_heart]

[ AND YET, the space isn't dissolving around them. Yeah, he didn't think it'd be that easy. ]

I mean.

Basically.

[ Looking Izzy over. Everything... normal? —The creepy surveillance earring's gone. And the devil tail, presumably, though less noticeable from this angle. ]

[bondsofsuffering]

[No earring, no devil tail, no strange warmth from corruptions. He seems perfectly normal and human.]

Why.

[at_heart]

[ ..........And if waking him up wasn't going to work, there's absolutely no way that just talking to him directly right now will, either. He has to play the game. But Lupine can't completely resist the wan smile. ]

Ever played a game where you had to go into somebody's mind and convince them to come back with you?

[ Should maybe be starting smaller than this. Should maybe be asking if Izzy even remembers the 'production'. But this is a blunt, one in a million try anyhow, so he might as well cut to the chase. ]

[bondsofsuffering]

...Oh, that kind of thing? From back in Imeeji, right?

[Kind of mildly baffled, like, where the hell did that come from.]

[at_heart]

—Yeah, back then. Is that a no?

[bondsofsuffering]

Yeah, they made us do them once.

What brought this on? Reminiscing about hell?

[at_heart]

[ His expression just — closing up. Pinching at little around the edges. ]

Anyone ever need to wake you up that way?

[bondsofsuffering]

Yeah. It was a whole thing.

[Kind of tilting his head at Lupine. Where is this even coming from?]

Seriously though, why bother talking about that place? We're free now, so there's no point dwelling on it.

[at_heart]

[ mrrrrr ]

Sure we are. [ All living together in a cute little suburb with cute little houses, and it's definitely not at all strange that he ranked a house this close to yours, considering all the people you know. ] But can you humor me for just a sec, and tell me — do you remember being brought out of it?

[ Because maybe you didn't, maybe you won't. Maybe this is something only the dream divers are going to remember. ]

[bondsofsuffering]

Well, yeah. Those kinds of games have to end at some point, don't they?

Even the worst games didn't continue forever, back in that place.

[at_heart]

...Do you remember what brought you out of it?

[bondsofsuffering]

...People, I guess?

If you're just going to talk about this kind of thing, can't you ask someone else? I was trying to catch a break on my day off, you know.

[at_heart]

[ Look, it was worth a try. ] [ Headtilt. ]

Your day off from what?

[bondsofsuffering]

Studies? The billions of projects I've got going on?

[at_heart]

[ why would anyone dream about more school who are you people ]

—Right, my bad.

[ Can't completely resist asking: ]

That... pays well, I'm guessing?

[bondsofsuffering]

Hopefully it will, anyway. There's too many hands taking from the shared fund as is...

But enough about business! I just remembered - have you ever been to an amusement park before?

[at_heart]

[ Imagine a dreamworld where you still give yourself financial anxiety. ]

—Well, not that I remember, anyway.

[ Easily. And only slightly watching Izzy's face for any hint of a Reaction. Maybe too subtle, but he feels like this scenario should have them all with their memories fully recovered. ]

[bondsofsuffering]

Want to check one out? I'm trying to decide between that and the night garden.

[at_heart]

[ ...? ]

—Sure.

[ Izzy, this sounds like an Imeeji upgrade. ]

[bondsofsuffering]

Then come back here later and we can catch a ride to the park. I hear they've got an awesome roller coaster!

[at_heart]

I'll do that.

[ Beat. ]

—Izzy. When you say you're trying to decide between that and a night garden, what do you mean?

[bondsofsuffering]

Where I'm going to hang out tonight, obviously. They recently put new lights up at the garden so you can explore it at night too, so I figure I can sleep all day and check out one of those places.