babermetrics | IC OVERFLOW AND MISC.

Togami's here now too?

[Wow the whole triad's here now. He wonders vaguely if Togami, like Kirigiri and Naegi, hasn't encountered his class yet. If they stay true to trend, the answer is probably yes. But that's not really important right now. He'll just have to find the other blond heir at some point and ask.]

Anyway, yeah, it happens every time they bring in a new batch for whatever fucking reason. At least this time it hasn't been particularly dangerous. I guess that's some consolation. [But judging by the way he says it, it's not a whole LOT of consolation. This is still obnoxious.] You'll have to ask them though, I don't have an answer for you. Nothing here seems to work the way they made it out to be in that stupid powerpoint. To be honest, I'm not sure I buy the whole "saving the universe" bit anymore. Maybe this is all some kind of fucked up alien social experiment. Who really knows.

There's no friggin' way it's what they say it is.

[Leon listens to all of that, and feels like he's looking into . . . okay, listening to a mirror, whatever. As shitty as the current situation is--embarrassed as he still is, and they haven't lost their doubles yet, so there in the background there's still that stupid bullshit murder talk going on, and this place is so creepy--

Despite all of that, he feels a little better, and his tension and blush both begin to fade. None of this is much consolation, but it's something. It's company. It makes him feel less like the rug got pulled out from under his life somewhere back there and he never managed to find the floor.

He goes to stick his hands in his pockets and smears blood all over his shirt--dammit.]

--Shit! I'm never gonna get that out!

[But you know what, the shirt's already ruined, so he just wipes his hands off on it at this point. Whatever!]

There just ain't no way--look, they put stuff inside us, right? Ain't that what Hinata said? And they didn't tell us? If it wasn't somethin' fucked up, they'd have told us! And all that shit about our worlds, it's like, I'm not fuckin' doing anything here except gettin' jerked around by them like once a week! There's no way I'm helpin' save the universe or anyone else like this!

[He waves behind them, violently, at the doubles. Like this!]

What good's this stupid shit, huh?!

[He puts his hands up in a sort of half shrug.]

I wish I had an answer for you. All I can tell you to do is to not let it get to you, and try to find out whatever information you can. Eventually we'll be able to put that anger to use. They can't expect us to just lay down and let them fuck with us forever. I know that's a really shitty answer and it doesn't really help, but that's all I've got for you.

[He glances over at Leon's shirt.]

Well, that and you might not have to worry about getting that out. This is just a video game, after all. Don't hold me to it, because I don't play ViViD if I can help it, but it might not transfer out with you.

. . . Oh. Right.

[Right, he'd known that, duh. There's another flare of embarrassment in his stomach, but at least it's not so bad as--the other stuff. He doesn't play ViViD either, so it's probably understandable, right?

And he still feels better hearing the rest. Leon's not very good at being constructive with his anger, but he is a thousand percent ready to do something with it that isn't feel like a helpless inmate. It's good to hear he isn't the only one who struggles with all this.

He'd already been angry at ViViD before this whole thing happened, and this just reminds him of that. His voice lowers, and he's not sure why:]

I don't play it either. . . . Kirigiri, she went on one o' those tours, and they shoved her in a beta version. She started disappearing and couldn't breathe. How fucked up is that? Why's somethin' like that even still around?

[The thought of something happening to Kirigiri twists his stomach more than any embarrassment could.]

[Telling himself that he'll eventually be able to put his anger to constructive use is pretty much the only way Kuzuryuu's been able to keep himself from going crazy with rage. Because if there's one thing he's learned, it's that he really needs to watch his temper. Getting mad about things he can't control or change helps nothing, it just makes him feel worse.]

Smart man. I dunno what the point of ViViD is, but I don't trust CERES. So I don't trust their products that can affect me directly or think for themselves. Y'know, like those fucking CYbuddies. I don't even like sci-fi, and I can tell you that's just some kind of bad robot uprising bullshit waiting to happen right there. I can't understand why people are so quick to trust those things. Or why they play ViViD. I mean...how does a virtual reality program that immersive, run by a batshit company who fucks with us on a regular basis seem like a good thing to spend your free time messing around in? I just don't fucking get it.

[Whoops, he ranted a little. That wasn't supposed to happen, but dammit it's so rare that somebody actually agrees with him whenever he tries to point these things out. Maybe he's just not talking to the right people about it though. That's always possible.]

I don't fuckin' get it either!

[Maybe anger isn't the most productive emotion in the world. But right now, it's keeping Leon from freaking out about the situation, and that's something. He's animated and really annoyed, but he's moving through the hallways without getting distracted this time--or doubling over in embarrassment. As much as he hates people seeing him weak, it's better than being alone in stressful times . . . especially when the other person seems smart and together, which he has to assume of anyone suspicious of all this crap.]

I never looked into the Cybuddy thing . . . they seem kinda stupid, if you ask me. Like, wouldn't you want somethin' real? But the ViViD thing's totally obvious! Why would you even wanna do it after the first thing they do to us is force you into all this creepy shit with it? Like, who even comes outta that goin', let's do that again, that sounds toootally safe!

More people than you'd think. Some people even play it professionally...

[Again: why.]

I mean...if you take the fact that it's CERES-run out of the equation and just look at it for what it is, I guess I can see the appeal. Sort of. [Y'know, if he were a normal person who was into video games and had no past experiences with virtual reality to color his opinion.] But you can't really ignore that fact realistically!

No shit, you can't! Damn . . . that sucks. I mean, playin' video games for a living ain't for me, unless maybe it was tournaments or whatever. It sounds like the kinda thing a shut-in would do, right?

[Some days here he spends mostly inside playing video games--not ViViD, but the games that had come with him from home, normal old-fashioned things you hold in your hand instead of being immersed in--and he never actually feels better after those days. The idea of doing something even more immersive on the regular is definitely not an appealing one. He makes a face imagining it, and that's without the whole CERES issue . . . but all of this only makes the whole thing taste even more sour.]

Maybe they're takin' advantage of people like that. Who knows, man? It's suspicious as hell no matter what! They're gonna end up chasin' everyone out of it permanently the more they fuck up, and then what're they gonna even do? It's like they ain't even pretending anymore they're not evil.

[He gives a sort of non committal grunt in response to the shut ins thing. He can think of one person who would absolutely be all about ViViD and he doesn't like the idea of lumping her in with shut-ins. Even if she...kind of might actually have some of those tendencies, bless her little gamer heart.]

Well clearly they have ways of forcing us in here, even if we don't want to be. I sure as hell wouldn't be here right now if I had any say in the matter. Here's some good news though.

[He points a few feet away, to the set of stairs leading upwards that they've finally reached. Kuzuryuu was so absorbed in the conversation, he hadn't even noticed how close they were getting until they were almost on top of them.]

Looks like you were right, this was the right way.

Huh? --Oh! Ha ha, yeah! I kneeeew it!

[(No he hadn't.)

He'd also been absorbed enough in the conversation to not notice, too; it's a lucky thing he hadn't tripped right over the bottom one and fallen on his ass! Fuck yeah! He's so relieved that he pumps a fist in the air--and then turns on his heel to flip off his shitty doppelganger back there for good measure. It's so easy to be brave when you're two steps away from running up the stairs to safety.]

Screw you, CERES! You can force us in here, but you ain't gonna keep us down forever!

[Kuzuryuu is polite enough not to call Leon out on the fact that he obviously had no idea that this is the right way. However, he is not so polite that he doesn't roll his eye once the other boy has turned his back.]

[He doesn't offer so much as a glance at his tiny, still near-tears doppleganger as he trudges up the stairs after Leon. But there's still one last tiny and feeble "You murdered them," all the same. But that's the last one it manages to get in, of course. Because he can't follow them up the stairs and back into the hospital.]

[It's only when they're both safely upstairs that Kuzuryuu finally looks back. Just at the doorway leading to the stairs to make sure there's nothing there.]

Finally. Fucking glad that's over with and we can get on with our lives. Watch your step from now on so you don't get stuck down there again. I dunno if it was the same for you but I fell through a trap door...

What the hell, there's trap doors?

[Maybe he should have lied and pretended that happened to him too. Too late now. But "let's get on with our lives" sounds fucking awesome. Yes good plan! Leon takes a few overly-long steps away from the doorway, as if making a point of putting it behind him; even though he'd been managing to tune all that crap out near the end there, there's still a palpable sense of relief when the doppelgangers are gone for good, strong enough that it surprises him a little.

He looks back at Kuzuryuu, not the door, mildly embarrassed.]

I went in 'cuz I was getting chased around by those freaky nurses with the needles . . . they got me once, I wasn't goin' through that again! I've seen the weird stuff they can do to people with those! So I got in there, figurin' I'd go upstairs, but then it led downstairs instead, and I just went with it.

IC OVERFLOW AND MISC.

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