lostcarnival | [OPEN] Ways to Cast Blame

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[OPEN] Ways to Cast Blame

WHO: Anyone and Psi
WHAT: Moping.
WHERE: Here and There
WHEN: After Agent-nappings
WARNINGS: None!

No matter where you see Psi that day he's far from his usual cheerful self. Whether you need help from him throughout the work day or see him after hours, he appears down and silent. The troll is normally quite talkative, usually involving himself in everyone's business, so it's strange to see him so quiet, even if you don't know him that well.

He goes about his day, handing out assignments to various people and helping with the things that unexpectedly happen now and then. The animal work goes to Ginko and Bonnie, Papyrus is cleaning the mess created by guests the previous night. He checks in on Lars, Yuugi, and Chiaki at various points throughout the day once the carnival opens, helping when he can. His mood rotates between gloomy and frustrated at various points, no doubt a strange sight to some of his newer coworkers especially. Overall he tries to stick to the sidelines, working silently whenever he's able.

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...Yeah, this is really weird, and to someone as prone to prying into other people's problems as Ginko is, just letting this go by without comment isn't an option. He knows something happened in the Matrix, and he assumes it probably has to do with that - but that's really about it.

Ginko catches sight of the Psionic working nearby just before his break, and as soon as he's able he goes to find him. "Hey. You doing alright?"

Psi is basically just moving around some boxes when Ginko approaches. Prizes for the games, condiments for the snack stands, their all light things, but there's a lot of them. Whether the Psionic uses his powers to move things oe his hands is a pretty even split most days. If it's something particularly heavy or if there's a lot to move he'll probably use his psionics. Otherwise he just moves things the old fashioned way. It's not like anyone pays particular attention to the Psionic's work habits, but it might strike someone as odd to see that he's committed to moving so many things by hand.

He see's Ginko coming over and feels himself getting nervous. He pushes one box to the side as his thoughts run rampant. Nothing bad had happened between them. They hadn't even had any kind of serious conversation since that day, but that one conversation had ended so awkwardly that the Psionic couldn't help but feel uncomfortable in Ginko's presence lately. The Psionic knew Ginko hadn't meant anything he'd said to sound flirtatious. He knew that humans didn't have those kinds of relationships. That didn't mean it was any less difficult to stop thinking about. It was hard to view things from outside his own cultural framework, and that framework said that Ginko had basically come on to him. Even worse, once the idea was there the Psionic had a hard time not thinking about it.

He tried to tell himself to just forget about it. Moirallegiance with a human wasn't a possibility. Still, it would be nice to have someone to talk to around here and Ginko had offered. It wasn't like he'd be taking advantage of the human by confiding in him. Right? Either way, Ginko was one of his workers. Psi couldn't let himself keep acting so weird around the other man. He tries his best to keep it together as Ginko approaches, but then he's asking the Psionic how he's feeling and Psi has to look away to hide his embarrassed expression. He busies himself by looking through a box, apparently full of cups for the food stands as he shrugs. He thinks carefully about how he should respond. It would be rude to be dishonest...

"Not really." he finally admits, closing the box back up again and lifting it with his hands.

Ginko leans over with a frown when Psi looks away, but only tries to see his expression for a moment before giving up and standing up straight. Maybe he's just... jumpy or something. He's acting weird enough already, worrying about one more uncharacteristic bit of body language seems like a bit of a waste of time.

"...Yeah? Sorry to hear that." He hesitates and presses his lips together in thought. "Does this... have anything to do with the, uh. The Matrix and everything?"

Edited 2016-12-13 02:47 (UTC)

He hesitates again, not meeting Ginko's eyes as he shifts to hold the box more comfortably. Then he nods. He sighs, he knows he shouldn't do this, but he also knows he's going to anyway. There's no sense in pretending otherwise.

"It's complicated." he finishes, finally glancing over to Ginko. He steps forward with the box. "Walk with me?"

Edited 2016-12-13 03:54 (UTC)

He nods and falls into step beside the Psionic, tucking his hands into his pockets. He'll wait quietly for Psi to start talking, not wanting to interrupt him or anything.

The problem is, he didn't actually think about what he would say. He'd sort of assumed Ginko would ask him something, but as the silence drags on it becomes clear that isn't going to happen. He's starting to get nervous again, the silence is terrible and he has to say something to break it. Really, anything, just say something!

"I guess you... Heard about what happened?"

PERFECT.

"Yeah. Seems like just about everyone has by now, or at least the basics of it."

Despite his answer basically being "of course", there's nothing judgmental in his tone. It seems to him like a perfectly acceptable way to lead into the conversation.

"Some workers were attacked in the Matrix, right? And a few..."

He hesitates mid-step, but picks it back up again. "...are they still in there?"

...Look, there's only so much he can do to pretend that he's not kind of nervous, himself.

Edited 2016-12-14 05:02 (UTC)

He glances to Ginko, his own nerves fading in the face of Ginko's obvious concern. He wishes he could answer differently, but he can't. He nods.

"Yeah. We haven't recovered them all yet." Things were in the works, but right now everything was uncertain. Honestly, he knows it isn't even remotely his fault, but still, he feels like he could have done something.

"Some of them were helping me when I was searching for the rebels."

It goes without saying that he's worried.

Edited 2016-12-15 04:02 (UTC)

Ginko nods, slowly. It's not as if it's unheard of for workers to run into trouble in the worlds they visit, but that doesn't really make it less stressful.

"D'you know if there's been any luck with locating them, at least?"

He shakes his head. He hates sharing bad news, but he wasn't going to lie.

"There are a couple people working on locating them. I'm sure they'll find them soon."

It just might not be soon enough. So many bad things could happen in the span of a single day. It hadn't been long yet, but for some of them it could already be too late. He'd know. His entire life had changed in the span of a day on at least three different occasions. He didn't want to assume the worst, but he'd seen so many psionics on Alternia who were captured and sold. When it came to kidnapping that was the first thing he thought of, even if it wasn't realistic in this case.

Well, Ginko would rather get the unfortunate truth than be kept in the dark. His ears swivel to lie against his head for a moment, then back into place.

"...So am I. It shouldn't be too long."

Unfortunately, he's having about the same thoughts as Psi. Even if the missing workers were found quickly, a lot could happen before then. He didn't want to let himself overthink it, but... there were a lot of ways things could go even more wrong here.

"Chances are, things will work out, one way or another. Until then, I guess we can just... be patient. Unless there's something else we can do on our end."

There really wasn't anything else they could do and that was the problem. Psi hated sitting around and waiting, it made him feel so useless. He knows Ginko is right, but that doesn't mean he likes it and he definitely doesn't want to admit it either. He slumps a bit, shifting his hold on the box as they move through the carnival.

"I should have never asked for help trying to reach the resistance members."

He had been so stupid in thinking he could help. All he'd done in the end was stir up trouble for everyone.

Ginko's frown only deepens as he examines Psi's face.

"...You couldn't have known this was going to happen. Trying to get help made sense; it's not your fault that things went downhill."

Trying to get help made sense. He can't help the snort of derisive laughter he makes at the comment. It was just so ironic. Was that the right way to use ironic? It was certainly something cruel. He used to think asking for and receiving help were proof he was doing things right, now it just felt like a way to excuse his own failures.

"If I hadn't asked some of them would be safe right now."

It wasn't anything more or less than that. His actions put other people in danger. No matter who you assigned the blame that much was true.

"...You couldn't have known."

Repeating it is all he can think of at first.

"You shouldn't beat yourself up over mistakes that you couldn't have anticipated."

You're one to talk, Ginko.

He should have anticipated them though. That was the very reason he was so upset. He knew things would always go wrong if given the chance. It's just being here that had made him start to forget. He can't say that to Ginko, though. Admitting his grim thoughts opened them up for question and debate. The Psionic didn't feel like talking about things like that right now. Especially not with one of his workers.

He was supposed to be the experienced leader who knew what to do. He took this job because he wanted to protect people. Maybe he really was too 'young' to know what was best, or maybe he was just too stupid. Ginko's words only make the Psionic feel even gloomier and it shows in the slump of his shoulder his slowing steps. There's a lot he wants to say and no one he thinks he can say it to.

"Sorry... I'm just in a bad mood I guess."

Ginko's expression doesn't change much as he watches, but he can't stop his ears from drooping. That sure didn't seem to make him feel any better, but he guesses that isn't too surprising.

"It's fine. That's understandable."

He sighs. He used to think this place was safe, before the vampires, but now it felt like things were getting more and more dangerous all the time. It was still better than Alternia, but maybe not for the other workers here, some of whom weren't even given a choice. That's something he can't talk about either.

"...Thanks for the company anyway." he stops, setting the box down before turning to regard Ginko. "But I'm sure you have something better to be doing right now."

This is your chance to escape his depressing aura Ginko. Take it!

"No problem." He shrugs and waves off the suggestion. "Not really; that's why I did this on my break, after all."

So that he wouldn't have anything else he had to do, or because he doesn't have anything better to do? Maybe both simultaneously. "I'll leave you alone if you want, though."

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[OPEN] Ways to Cast Blame

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