Heart Game: Sol [#07]

[idolpro]

Note: please be as cryptic as possible regarding any specific actions your character takes when discussing them in the game channel to avoid influencing everyone else!

Comments

[bluerosestyle]

[I knew I should have made that head-in-hands screencap into an icon and now I'm regretting not having done it so much.]

That's what I've been trying to do. It's part of what I do here.

[we_meet_again]

Do you have anyone who takes care of you?

[bluerosestyle]

Who takes care of me...? Well, yeah, but the others need it more.

[we_meet_again]

Does it need to be a contest?

[bluerosestyle]

It's not a contest. But I know it can be too much to deal with one's own problems, so... adding to that feels too selfish to be right.

[we_meet_again]

That's very thoughtful of you. But please remember that your needs are just as important as everyone else's, and the people you care about also care about your happiness and wellbeing, too.

Speaking of which, where does your food normally come from, here?

[bluerosestyle]

[He looks a bit lost when Cobalt says the first part...]

Ah, I go back to my parents' home when I can, and I buy food back in the village.

[we_meet_again]

[BUDDY]

Do you need someone to watch the tree for you while you resupply? Or can I go pick some up for you?

[bluerosestyle]

[shakes his head]

All stores will be closed this late, and it's too late to have dinner at home. I'll be okay with this.

[EATS SOME MORE POCKY!!]

[we_meet_again]

Ah shoot... If I hadn't talked so much I could have at least gotten you some festival food or something.

I've got, uh... these instant noodles. I don't have any water to cook them with, but if it's an emergency, you can eat them dry.

[bluerosestyle]

It's fine, you might need that, right? And you didn't have to bring me anything.

...Actually, I'm a little surprised that you didn't stay at the festival.

[we_meet_again]

I ate before coming out here, and you've only had one box of Pocky for the whole day, right?! Please hang onto it?

Ah... I didn't stay at the festival because I suspected you might be around here and I wanted to check on you.

[bluerosestyle]

...

[takes it]

Thanks.

[for both things, probably? he's not specifying]

[we_meet_again]

Sure.

[chilling out a bit by the fire]

How long have you been out here?

[bluerosestyle]

[At least we're not dying of cold thanks to it.]

How long? Hmm... Since my second game, the one with the poison. My shifts were shorter back then, though.

[we_meet_again]

[it's not dark, either. 👍👍👍👍👌👍👌👍👍👌👌👌👍👍👌👌👌👌👌✨]

Why then, specifically?

[bluerosestyle]

[Win/win!]

Ah, it's kind of a long story, and it's not very interesting. You're sure you want to hear it?

[we_meet_again]

I do! If you don't mind sharing.

[bluerosestyle]

[Looks at the fire while talking.]

. . . I was chosen as a hostage during my first game. I think no one on your unit was present, but it was a bad game, and Yasuragi made the decision to sacrifice Cardigan to save me, even though there was a chance that both of us could have been saved. It was a timed decision.

Needless to say, I wasn't happy to be the reason someone died, or to have been considered so weak that I needed to be protected to that extent, but also... I was new, and I didn't expect anyone to care. I was a stranger to him, and to everyone else, yet Yasuragi did something that put his own life in danger for my sake.

From early on, being on a unit felt like something meaningful to me. I'd thought I had nothing, but I was on Taisho, and that meant I, too, had something to protect and fight for.

That's when I started looking after this tree.

[we_meet_again]

Ah, Sol... That's a really beautiful reason for doing this. Thank you for telling me.

What did the tree look like back then?

[bluerosestyle]

. . . Is it?

It was all red, same as the trunk.

[we_meet_again]

What causes the branches to change colors?

[bluerosestyle]

I'm not sure, they just started doing that one day. I thought I should take care of them at first, but then some of the colors started taking over the trunk, so I cut them and things went back to normal... or so I thought. Soon there were no red branches anymore, just colored ones, and it became harder to take breaks.

[we_meet_again]

Sounds like a lot of work...

What happens once you cut the branches down? It looks like the pep!pep! ones are next... Is it going to change things between us once they're gone?

[bluerosestyle]

. . .

Some of the colored branches didn't cause any sort of trouble at first. The blue ones were one of those, so it was fine to leave them there.

Your unit's color only started to spread recently, and that's my fault. So I don't think anything will change if I cut them. Nothing I tried to do made a difference anyway beyond staining the trunk, so I just need to go back to the way things were before.