3rd Course - Necessary Ingredients [Video]

[starofpleiades]

[Kazumi's expression is worried; not surprising after how the last few weeks have been. She wasn't really affected much, but she saw people who were...]

Is everyone alright now? Back to normal...?

[She sighs, looking a bit forlorn.]

Things making people act unlike themselves... what's "like yourself" though, other than how you acted before? I mean... what makes up a person? Our bodies? Our actions? Our memories?

[Memories...]

...hey, what do memories mean to you? How important are your memories? If you had something painful in your past... do you think it'd be better not to remember it?

[She's taking the video just outside the apartment complex, so anyone is free to run into her there or respond over the vine]

Comments

[swarmoflies]

[Sette just looks depressed. Her normally hyper-aggressive manner has become remarkably subdued.]

My memories o' me Da are the most important things ta me. No question.

[starofpleiades]

Mm, family is important! And friends too. I'd be really sad if I couldn't remember my friends, especially since they aren't here.

[swarmoflies]

Don't got none.

[starofpleiades]

Really? That's surprising... [Sette's kinda grouchy but... she seems like a fun person! And not, like... evil or anything...?]

[swarmoflies]

Closest thing I had back home was a kid who followed me around the docks and helped me with jobs. What was his...Twins, I can't even remember his name no more. He was a mute so he didn't say it much.

[starofpleiades]

Hmm... I woulda thought you'd know more people! You're really lively and all.

[swarmoflies]

I knew people but I wouldn't call'em friends. Business partners maybe. Backstabbing bastards for another.

[starofpleiades]

I'm sorry... no one you really got along well with?

[swarmoflies]

Nah...I s'pose there were some coves I coulda befriended if I had a mind. But I never did. Thought it'd be a waste o'time. Had better things to do.

[She sounds almost regretful. The month's events have left her seriously questioning her life choices up to this point.]

[starofpleiades]

Aww... well, maybe you can fix that if you see them again?

[swarmoflies]

Mebbe.

[She sits down with her chin in her hands, sighing.]

Oy, brainless. You ever felt like...like everything you'd done before was just a huge waste o' time?

[starofpleiades]

[B, brainless...]

I haven't. There's things I regret and wish I could change... but I don't think it was a waste.

[swarmoflies]

Like, you work at something, and work at it fer years, and then it turns out whoops, you can't do it after all, everythin' you just did was pointless?

[She pauses.]

Not that I'm talkin' about meself, mind you. It's a hyperthetical.

[starofpleiades]

No, that hasn't happened to me.

Um, even if it did... I don't think it was entirely a waste! You must have learned a lot, and the effort and work you put in must have mattered, right? Hypothetically.

[swarmoflies]

...I guess. Mebbe. Depends, probably.

What would ya do?

[starofpleiades]

Well... I'd try to figure out what I think I did wrong and what I did right. And I guess what I could fix, and try to fix that!

[swarmoflies]

What if...

[She can't believe she's turning to this airhead for advice. But any port in a storm...]

What if the problem ain't what you done, but who you are?

[starofpleiades]

Well... then maybe you can work on fixing that? I mean, you shouldn't change yourself just to make others happy but... if it's making you unhappy, change might be for the better?

[swarmoflies]

Dunno if you can change this. Me Da always says you either got it in you, or you don't. An' it turns out, I don't.

[starofpleiades]

That's not true! I think, if you really want, you can definitely change yourself!

[swarmoflies]

...you don't got a clue what I'm talkin' about, do ya?

[She chuckles morbidly.]

[starofpleiades]

Being... friendlier?

[swarmoflies]

Ha! No, try...

[She stops, and thinks better of it. Kazumi might not take that so well.]

No, ne'ermind.

[starofpleiades]

Huh...? If you say so...

[Kazumi wants to know! But she's not going to push it... she already feels like she's gotten a lot closer to Sette already, and doesn't want to ruin that today by prying further.]

[swarmoflies]

It ain't somethin' a do-gooder like yerself would get anyway.