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 Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2017 4:21 pm
She folded her knees up and leaned forwards, resting her chin on them as she listened, curious, and occasionally a little appalled by the synopsis, but glad to see him clearly enjoying himself. When he finished, she nodded a little, and shrugged. "Sadly doesn't quite sound up my alley, but that's a weird and fascinating concept for an anime. I never really got to watch any when I was home." She glanced down at her boots, and sighed. "But I'd like to try some. Do..." She paused, sighed, then tried again. "Do you have any you'd recommend for an anime newbie, who loves fantasy and maybe a little Disney, what I got to see in school?" She ran a finger along the top of her boots, not wanting to discuss how it came to be that she didn't even have much experience with Disney, that quintessential children's cartoon and movie maker.
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Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2017 9:48 am
Terry mused on his knowledge, trying to come up with a decent list. "You might want to give Clamp animes a look. They have Magic Knight Rayearth for armored fantasy girls, or if you're alright with somewhat contemporary settings, Card Captor Sakura is just as good. You can also try asking your Division Lead. His collection on the island is Otaku God Tier."
The Life trainee would never consider changing divisions over something as simple as access to anime. But the sheer volume the Sun Lead had was tempting.
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Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2017 12:07 pm
She considered his words, nodding slowly. "I feel like I've heard people mention Card Captor Sakura at some point or other back in High School. I just never had... time, or the money or what have you to get into it." She brushed off a bit of grass that had blown onto her calf, while pondering all of that. "And um. Pardon me for not having a clue here, but what does... Otaku... mean?" Her cheeks turned red, because the way he said that made her feel that it was a common knowledge term she'd totally missed out on. And lordy-be did she hate encountering things like that, because it sometimes meant people figured out what her past was like.
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Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2017 7:15 pm
The blush prompted Terry to overthink his next course of action. Normally he would be doing his best not to sound like he was one of these otakus. He personally didn't see himself as one, just a regular old weeaboo, not exactly God-Tier level but definitely above the casuals, and certainly not a wannabee newb-f**. But life on Deus had shown him that there would be many things he could and would get poorly treated for (namely being a mere trainee, being in the proximity of one of the meaner leads, or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time) so he might as well just be open about his interests.
Life was too short and all that jazz.
Still, he didn't want to overwhelm Seren, and she was clearly receptive to the whole experience. So he decided to approach it somewhat academically, to lessen potential judgment, "It depends on whose point of view you take when defining Otaku. If you take it by the American definition, an Otaku is a person deeply and intensely enthusiastic about anime. And even then, you have people who treat it as a badge of honor to showcase their dedication to their interests, while others use it with a level of disdain to refer to the toxic, unwelcoming individuals who are very vocal and protective of their interests. So you have both negative and positives to the label."
A beat, "Over in Japan where the word originated, however, an otaku is constantly seen in a very negative light. They're the shut-ins, the obsessive fanatics, the socially awkward people who retreat into the comforting fantasy of their chosen anime and are, unfortunately, pandered to by marketing. Most of them have a very strong affinity for the moe-blobs, um, moe refers to overly cutesy and childlike aesthetics. When I refer to the Sun Lead's collection as Otaku God Tier, please take it as a positive description. He has a lot of titles and there is a ridiculously wide range of genres to choose from."
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Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2017 7:57 pm
Her eyes were wide, and interested, maybe even a little childlike in her fascination with the things he was telling her. She leaned forwards, a little eagerly, and drank all the information in. There was no judgement in her eyes, no accusations, none of it. Just curiosity, and a desire to learn about a world she'd never gotten to experience. She sighed, a little wistfully, when he finished. "Of course there's assholes who judge, and corporations who pander to them. It's hard enough for the socially awkward to make friends, but why do it when a company can provide them with something to simulate it?" Her tone was sad, still no judgement at all. It was clear she could understand the desires of people to want to do that, even if she was, or at least came across as, very outgoing. "Why try to fit into a society that doesn't want you when the very people who are in control make it easier not to?" She closed her eyes, and sighed, then added "Probably, if I'd had the money to spare after providing for myself and saving enough to get out, I might have gone that route. But thank you for explaining. I wish I could have had the time to participate in that culture, at least the... less obsessive side."
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2017 8:12 am
Terry let a shadow fall across his eyes, there was a sobering truth to Seren's words. He was pretty certain if his parents had been more permissible, or if he had the sort of job that allowed him to splurge on anything more expensive than a fancy-ish meal or a videogame every few months, he might have been swept up with all the merchandising that came with the fandoms.
"I feel I would have as well. There is something comforting about dealing with inanimate objects, or pixels on a screen as opposed to complicated creatures like humans."
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2017 10:47 am
She sighed at his words, her eyes reopening. "It's nice to know, at least, that we're not actually alone in this ******** up world of people who want to shove us into hiding." She turned her head to face him, and saw the shadows in his eyes. She gave him a sad, and understanding, smile. "I've heard of games like... dating sims, and other games where your character gets social interaction, makes friends... Feels wanted... Gods, If I'd had the money, and a rig for it, I probably would have been playing games like that all the time." She sighed. "There's so little that exerts more power, for me at least, as feeling like I'm actually wanted where I am, and that would be a fantasy I'd have fallen into." She found herself moving one of her feet to draw a line in the dirt as she spoke. "And once one caught me in... I'm sure I'd have wanted to surround myself with the things from it. I guess that's one..." She laughed bitterly. "Good side to having to support myself with the money I made. I never had much spare to indulge, so what I did, I had to pick with care."
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2017 5:00 pm
"I'm almost up for promotion," Terry said, seemingly out of nowhere. But there was a direction to this, it wasn't meant to downplay the seriousness of her past situation. "I'm going to try to get more experience in runicing devices. I have a couple of emulators in my laptop. I'm sure Kim wouldn't mind you joining us to play some of the otome games. I don't think my game library is as extensive as Allan's, but it has a decent number."
He couldn't help it, welcoming people into a fandom felt like a responsibility he wished he had the social know-how and desire to do before being so isolated from the rest of the internet as they were all now on Deus.
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2017 11:05 pm
She blinked at the apparent non sequitur, but when he continued, her brows rose, curiously. "Runicing... that's the thing that makes it possible for us to USE our devices, right?" She blushed again, still uncomfortable with how little she knew. "And... Oh! That..." She gave him a warm, very friendly smile, full of gratitude. "I... I really would appreciate that. It would be way more fun with friends around, too..." Her eyes dimmed a little, and she said "And less likely to end up with me giving in to the urge to just live in it, as well." Being offered the chance to play video games with people... That was awesome. She hadn't talked about it, but she had, once in a while when she'd had a little time, played like... Mario with Mica and Terri, and had sucked but the feeling of being able to do that had been amazing. She just would have to make sure they stuck to games that wouldn't remind her too much of that, or she might say something accidentally that would come off wrong, very wrong.
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Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 3:33 am
The Life trainee nodded, "It is highly possible to become addicted to these games. I believe the only reason I never fully went off the deep end, so to speak, was because of my parents' badgering."
Seren sounded like someone who wouldn't look down on him for still living with his parents up until signing onto Deus. He's thought of them now and again, briefly, but he's pretty sure they're happier without him.
"Rest assured, we are in an environment that will not allow a lifestyle that revolves exclusively to videogames and anime. At least, not without having to work a considerable amount before hand. And even then, I'd assume we'd get called out to missions at a moment's notice." And here his eyes narrowed at the memory, "Or have one dumped onto us without warning."
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Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 12:18 pm
She nodded, not at all surprised that the addiction possibility was real. So many things seemed to be addictive, and she just wanted to not become an addict to anything. She didn't react at all to the parents part, neither negatively or positively. She certainly didn't judge. Except maybe exercise. She wouldn't mind becoming addicted to that, a thought she stowed away for later. She seemed to be stowing thoughts for later a lot lately. She tilted her head, and hmmm'd thoughtfully. "Yeah, I suppose. But I could easily see myself like... Doing the work, and then neglecting my non-work life for just games, if I wasn't careful. Making it more social sounds like a good plan." She frowned at him, surprised. "What do you mean, dumped onto us without warning? An invasion?" It was the only idea she could come up with to make that make sense.
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Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 6:24 pm
If it were possible for Terry's poker face to become even more of a poker face, the need to clarify missions being dumped on them would have been the perfect opportunity to try. "I must preface that any and every division lead on Deus is someone not to be trifled with and are deserving of our respect and fear." it sounded like something Terry had prepared before hand, "However, Death Division's lead has an ability of suddenly, physically out of nowhere, managing to transport people to the Sahara for a Mission. There was a recent rash of trainee awakenings and as a means to gauge our skills, we were called in for an orientation."
He shifted stiffly at the memory, "We were in a room one moment. By the time we'd all gotten settled in, we were suddenly dropped into the Sahara."
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Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 7:58 pm
Seren's brows rose with every word in that explanation, and finally she said "I doubt I'll be considering changing divisions any time soon, but not to self, Death isn't the one I want to go to. I have no desire to report to a lead that might be suddenly right there at any time. That sounds like a level of creepy I have no interest in. Hello Death Division, I choose not to visit, K thanks bye." She shook her head, appalled. And the part about suddenly being dropped into the Sahara just made her eyes go wide. "******** INSANE. How... I just. That's ridiculous! Did he want to kill you all or something? In. Sa. Ne."
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Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 8:10 pm
"It might possibly be related to portals. But I have yet to become truly familiar with how they're manned, made, and managed." He ought to give that a closer look soon. There were so many aspects of being in Life he had to learn and it made him feel ridiculously inadequate and unworthy of being even awake.
"You hear things but unless you perform source verification, it's all rumors. The Mission forms do request we cease complaining about the leads, that they felt the need to include it might suggest either pranks or something insidious based on your own background. I've only heard Moon and Sun having the caring, if eccentric leads. Life and Death leads often lead to Life and/or Death situations." He shrugged, he had his own reasons of staying in his division. Most of it believing he wouldn't be accepted into any other division so he shouldn't rock the boat.
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Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 11:26 pm
She had a look on her face that showed him quite clearly that this was amazing, and somewhat unfathomable to her mind. "I still find the whole thing about 'portals' just utterly unbelievable and amazing, even after using the ones to get to training areas and the goddamn lighthouse." She made a pfooooooo sounding sigh, and shook her head, amazed. She listened to him talking, her eyebrows knitted together with serious consideration about the issues he was mentioning. "What about Mist?" She found herself thinking of her new friend Rhys, and his division. She hoped the Mist lead was a caring sort. He deserved a good lead, she thought. "And if I can avoid missions run by those two, then I think I will. Because that sounds like a really stupid plan to me." Her eyes were filled with disbelief at the decisions these people made.
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