[text/action/videro] An Invitation x2/MARIGOLD MADNESS!

[notvitiligo]

[text]
Since the Powers That Be have decided that they want to give us all cavities and diabetes, I am keeping a big pot of stew going at Beaumont for anyone who needs emergency food that is not candy. If I am not there, Bulbasaur or one of the robots will be in charge of it. Do not worry, they are all sanitary. It is free to use so do not avoid it if you do not have food. There are severe health consequences to eating only sugar, which I guess the people in charge do not care about.

-----

Also if there is anybody that needs a place to stay, Beaumont has a lot of rooms open. It is by the lake on the northwest side, and is pretty convenient as far as being close to places. There are some robots here that do the housekeeping stuff. Also you will get a lot of free snacks because I bake a lot. I guess that is not much of a benefit right now but there you go. Pets are OK.

[action/video]

[Hi, Ladygarden residents. Do you like your reality TV to have normally linefaced girls curled up on the ground and crying in the middle of nowhere? Because the Vine has decided that is the hot new thing in entertainment. (The more perceptive viewers might notice she seems less opaque around the edges than usual.)

[After a moment, she notices the mirror broadcasting her. She makes a few awkward attempts to turn it off, then lets her arm flop to the ground.]

Fine. I give up.

Comments

[notvitiligo]

You mean the ones that went back?

[fionna_time]

nah, the ones here!

Those that left, wish 'em luck. They're prolly happier back there.

[notvitiligo]

I know one isn't. She was happy here. She wanted to stay. She was married here.

She did everything right. She followed all the rules.

And now she's gone.

And you're trying to act like it's OK.

[fionna_time]

...

Who was she?

[notvitiligo]

Xion.

[fionna_time]

...


She got married?

It was her?

[notvitiligo]

They got older, from the magic dirt.

[fionna_time]

I didn't know dirt could make you older.

That sucks. I really liked Xion. She was always real cheerful, and liked being here.

[notvitiligo]

It does weird stuff to you.

[She lets her gaze fall to the grass in front of her.]

They don't care. There's no point to any of this, if they'd just let someone like her go.

[fionna_time]

Huh. Maybe...but nah.

There has to be a point. We weren't put here just to be unhappy, I know it! Maybe for some of us, its more important we were here than for others, but it can't just be to make us feel bad.

[notvitiligo]

That'd be a point, though. A crappy point, but... a point.

Maybe there's something else... we're batteries or something.

Hah. Yeah, right.

[fionna_time]

Huh, batteries?

What do you mean?

[notvitiligo]

Nothing... don't mind me. I think I've actually lost my mind.

Too bad I'm not back home. We had all sorts of doctors and shrinks begging to take a crack at me.




You ever think you'd be hanging out in a field with a naked crying girl that's a ghost?

[fionna_time]

Aw come on. you're not losing your mind, just thinking out loud. no harm in that stuff. I've actually seen people who've lost their mind.

...Nah, but I never thought I'd see lots of the stuff I've seen here. Besides, I always thought ghosts were cool.

[notvitiligo]

How much farther do I have to go before I get there? I'm already disoriented, seriously considering harm to myself or others, and now going way out into crazy ideas. What's my next goal?

Ghosts are a pain.

[fionna_time]

Maybe you need to find someone to help you, I dunno, bounce off ideas, talk with so you don't feel so cray cray, you know? I never thought of you as someone who wanted to go and hurt anyone.

I've been fine with them! Well, ghost prince and you so far, anyway?

[notvitiligo]

I don't... not really. But... it feels like that's the only way to get anything done anymore. Break everything apart. Dismantle the whole place into components. Find what's wrong.

Ghost Prince? That's obviously not someone here.

[fionna_time]

I can't see that being easy, not with how this place makes everything all wonky and strange. But if it'll make sense to you, you can try. It's just like, doing that MIGHT make you crazy, if you think about it too much. That's what I kinda think anyway.

Nah, back home.

[notvitiligo]

So what's the solution? How am I supposed to deal with somewhere with no real rules?

[fionna_time]

[Thinks about this. It is a hard question, and one that she had to deal with herself when her friends were taken away. Granted, she'd still had other friends, not to mention Amamiya to help her when these kinds of things got bad, and she knew she was not the best speaker].

I'd say try taking it one day at a time. No one can just magically find all the answers, and finding reason with someone who brought us here is just kinda difficult. The queen never makes sense, and she's like a kid, but she has a whole lot of power, more than a lot of people. I had friends help me through this stuff, and the longer I stay here, the more I see how them being around helps me cope.

[notvitiligo]

And when they get taken away, too?

[fionna_time]

...

Do you think they'll all be taken, and leave you alone?

[notvitiligo]

That's the pattern so far.

[fionna_time]

But even the queen can't take them all away.

Right?

[notvitiligo]

I don't really think she's in charge of that. If she were, we wouldn't lose couples like that.

You know, I was pretty alone before I came here. I didn't really realize it. But now that I've had friends like this... going back to the way it was is hard.