reverienet | text | un: hudie

[man as important as bringing this up was she really wants a refund on having to think so much about "weird things being done to human brains".]

Ghosts aren't real. As such. Experiments are likely, if someone here was trying to "save the world".

Maybe. Is it readable? What's it about?

what?
okay i mean. ghosts may or may not be real?
but if heaven and hell are real, and aliens are evidently real...
that's a thing, btw?? aliens are just. real and there are some with us????
then why can't ghosts be real?

one sec let me go look...

"the rise and fall of the k'thrax empire."
i think it's an alien history book?
there's no art or anything on the cover so

[There's a lot to unpack there.

Also hell no ghosts aren't real.]

Maybe ghosts are real, but they won't be inexplicable, and once there's a realistic explanation for them you can't really call them ghosts anymore. Just ghost-like phenomena.

What language is it in? Can you tell?

"you can't really call them ghosts anymore?"
but like. what if they're literally ghosts?
that's not exactly unexplainable.
inexplicable? sorry. that looks weird.

like, just because we know how magic works doesn't mean it's not magic. you know?

Maybe. Part of the definition of a ghost as I know it is that it's supernatural in origin. I'd rather find a new word for a new phenomenon and leave the old one intact to preserve clarity.

[...]

I'm a programmer.

well, i mean, yeah.
but a lot of things that exist are supernatural?
god, and the devil, and all of that.
like i don't think it'd be fair to look at me and be like, "no, you're totally not the devil because i can see you."
that's not really how it works??

also i know literally nothing about programming.
but that sounds really cool?
you uh. you learn different languages in programming right? what do you like

[wot]

That's

I guess. [ghosts are NOT real] I'm no good with the supernatural. If it can be understood, I'd like to understand it. If not, there's nothing I can do about that, so I avoid it. Questions past that just go in circles.

[and, seeing that that segue makes erika feel awkward just reading it, which is kind of a feat]

You don't have to strike up small talk if you don't want to. That's something I'm no good with either.

[ that's okay, erika. venus sort of has that effect on people. ]

why can't the supernatural be understood?
just because something's not from earth doesn't mean it can't...
i don't know. be looked into??

and...
yeah. i guess i'm pretty bad at it.
but sometimes, i just sort of like listening to the things people like talking about?
even if i end up spacing out, and i don't understand most of it.

is there anything that would be more fun to talk about?
we could do, like, truth or dare or something.
but that's not really any fun without alcohol. haha.

[okay, first of all,

there is no first of all, there's just Erika feeling like a parrot that doesn't know enough words for this situation.]

Lots of things that aren't from earth are natural. That's what I mean. Once something can be understood, I don't consider it supernatural anymore. Just forget it.

[...]

I don't know? I don't talk to people just to talk to them much. [fucking thankfully she's aware enough to not wonder well golly gosh why on earth are you asking me these things?? no it's because that's what normal people do, pass time by talking to each other, that doesn't make it any less completely bizarre to be assumed to be in that group of people instead of being left alone to do her reclusive thing.

how do you explain to someone the sheer depths of how bad you are at this thing which really isn't supposed to be something you can be bad at,

the answer is that you don't because that makes you sound like a loser.]

I shouldn't be drinking anyways, I'm underage.

[ that makes sense. and besides, she just said to forget it. so... venus drops the topic. ]

haha, me too!
i think that's honestly part of the fun of it?
once you get over the soul-crushing anxiety.
but like, the cops aren't going to get called on us.
actually, we don't even have cops?

although with the whole roster thing that might change.
hmm.

[what does this MEAN]

Is this small talk?

[or are you seriously, like, offering, is this a serious topic of discussion]

not... really?
i mean maybe? i don't really know.
but there's definitely an open bar on deck 4 if you're interested.

[ listen. look. she's bored. and new friends are always fun!! plus getting drunk passes the time. ]

oh!!
but seriously, don't feel obligated to.
if you're not comfortable with the idea you don't have to come.
i just think it might be fun. that's all

Edited 2018-05-17 22:30 (UTC)

[she has just been invited to go drink with ???a devil??? and it's not even the weirdest thing that's happened to her lately.

The decision process for this involves staring Toto in her beady, embroidered eyes and holding court with Wormmon in her imagination. One good argument is raised against, and none for, except raw spite, which is awfully compelling even if it's not actually an argument.]

I'll stop by. Give me a bit.

haha. sure thing! i'll be there :)

[ and true to her word, venus is... well, there. at a swiveling seat at the bartop, taking in the empty room with every eye she can. for only two weeks, they've really cleaned the place up - bottles in their designated spots, stains starting to come out, rubble and dust mostly out of the way. it just seems like a poorly kept bar, rather than some urban exploration find.

she kind of likes it? it makes all of this feel... bad. but, like, in a good way. it reminds her of drinking shitty mixed vodka in a rickety cabin with the others. ]

[It takes a little while for Erika to work up the nerve.

She's explicitly not telling Hinata about this, she's decided. First of all, it'd just be kind of weird and unnecessary from a normal-people perspective. Second, it comes a little too close to feeling like she's using him to replace someone, or a trio of someones, and that feeling needs to go sit in the corner and think about the consequences of its actions for a while.

The nerve for this does not actually materialize by the time she gets to deck 4, but you don't actually need nerve, as it turns out. Without it you get kind of numb-feeling and your throat locks up, but you can still physically move to a place, and that's good enough.

Erika gets to the door of the bar.

Steps through, quietly.

And then just fucking stops there, which she would have anyways because self-introductions are hell on earth and waiting around for people to realize you're there is always the way to go, but more importantly, those are some fucking wings.

Her expression is wide-eyed, but not alarmed. Startled, maybe. Rapidly processing.]

[ unfortunately for erika, this isn't the kind of situation where silence is going to buy her time. the moment she steps through the eyes on the back of venus's wings swivel, pivoting to look in unison at her. they're clearly not for show, either, judging from the way venus responds immediately - pushing herself around in the bar stool, cheerfully turning until she can give a little wave erika's way. ]

Hey! You're, uh... [ oh. oh no. what was it- ] Hudie, right?

[ the pronunciation is... surprisingly on point, even if it's completely on accident. she pronounces it like a choral "hodie," drawing out the i just a bit too long. it could almost be mistaken for the chinese character, if venus weren't the whitest girl on the face of the earth and also glowing.

when she realizes erika hasn't said anything yet, she giggles - a bit nervously. ]

Oh, um. Haha. Don't worry, I won't bite or anything.

[She straight up turns red out of sheer mortification.]

-Obviously. [Normally, she doesn't make eye contact at first. In this case that is LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE, and her gaze does a panicky series of jumps across Venus' silhouette before slamming down to the floor and sticking there.

This is so dumb. Everything is so dumb. Also, devil is false as hell advertising.

She wills her feet to get her over to the bar, and they comply just fine, even if there's nothing graceful at all about the way she hesitates and takes a stool for herself once she's there, shoulders hunched in a little. (This place looks a bit cleaner than it did a few days ago...?)]

Erika. Is me. Is "Aphrodite" your real name? [She makes eye contact with...one of the ones on the outer edge of a wing. That's easy enough. It doesn't feel quite the same as looking at a face, even if it is blinking and moving and watching.]

[ oh no. oh, no. it's less mortification and more pained understanding that venus feels. this is, like, exactly how she'd have handled this situation?? so she tries to at least keep some of her eyes off erika - give her a little room to breathe. (the one eye erika focuses on isn't one of them. it immediately faces her, blinking and watching normally, or as normally as an eye on someone's wing can get.) ]

Haha. I wish? [ she taps at her leg lightly with a finger, giving an awkward smile. ] It's Venus. After the planet. So I guess it's still sort of close?

[ she stands up from her seat, wings giving a tiny flutter to keep her balance, and walks to the other side of the bar. she pokes at a few of the bottles, sorting through them by some inexplicable criterion. ]

Either way. It's nice to meet you, Erika. [ and then, picking up a clear bottle with clear liquid inside- ] Do you know what any of this is supposed to taste like?

[Erika narrowly avoids babbling out something about how yeah Venus was the Roman name for Aphrodite so it's plenty close.

Oh, she's moving. Oh, okay, that's good, because Erika doesn't have to. She laces her fingers together on the bar and leans forward a little, putting weight on her hands, studying her thumbs in place of Venus' outer eyes. (Should she ask...? Maybe.)]

...I know what rubbing alcohol smells like.

[How different can it be, really.]

[ venus giggles at that, doing her best to keep her vision focused on her actions. all eyes on the bottle; all eyes on the glasses she's picking out; all eyes on the pour. it's not much, but hopefully it makes things a little easier on erika. ]

Great. It's basically like that. [ two shots poured, nice and neat - just below the brim. venus sets one in front of erika and one in front of the seat she took originally, walking back around to sit down again. ] I mean, not quite that bad? But it's pretty bad. Just to warn you.

[ she taps the shotglass, a few of her eyes rolling over to watch erika as she lifts it to her mouth and knocks it back. almost in unison, every eye on her squints; she makes a face like someone just suckerpunched her with a lemon and coughs gingerly into a hand. ]

This one's actually not the worst? It doesn't have an aftertaste, at least. [ ... ] Wait, I lied. Eurgh. There it is.

Edited 2018-05-18 04:29 (UTC)

[For someone that's just not very expressive, Erika goes through a bit of a face journey watching Venus take that shot.]

...You're not exactly selling it.

[She mumbles, and eyes her own, reconsidering. With a task at hand, something to focus on, already she seems less nervous. Less rigid, less bottled-up anxiety behind a frozen facade - there's still a quiet intensity about Erika normally, though, thoughts churning behind her eyes and movements small and efficient.

She pulls the glass towards herself with a furrowed brow, sniffs it, and draws back with her nose wrinkled. Why is she doing this, again? To tempt fate? To make a friend? This isn't something she'd consider a bucket-list item. To not be left behind? Yikes. Maybe it's to avoid thinking of herself as such a kid. Double yikes.

....

Fuck it.

She tries to down it.]

[oh god]

[The last 30% or so of it ends up down her chin and jumpsuit, but that means about 70% of it actually made it down her throat, which is a passing grade, so Erika will consider that a win why is it so bad oh god.

She refuses to make any noise, though. She will gracelessly dribble a third of it down her front. She will screw her eyes shut and cover her mouth. But she will not sputter, and she will not yell "UGH" or anything of the sort.

Succeeded?]

[

succeeded.

This was SUCH A DUMB IDEA]

Mng.

[Look at all this fucking poise. Scowling at the glass. Wiping her face on her arm. This is the face of a winner.]

Oh my god? Oh my god. [ she's smiling, and staring at erika, but it doesn't look like she's trying to mock her. in fact, she looks impressed?? ] You are way better at this than me? I still can't do it without wanting to die a little.

[ it finally hits her that erika is wiping her face. her eyes drop down to erika's chin. then down to her jumpsuit. after a moment, venus brings a hand up to her mouth. ]

Um. Do you need a towel...?

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--> action?

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/something

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done

i'm so sorry.