un: werther

[imitationsoul]

This school boasts about forming a last bastion against Nightfall, but all I truly hear are tales of student-on-student violence and poor prevention measures for such incidents. I was brought here under the pretenses of 'channeling my talents more productively', but I can't help wondering if this isn't just a quarantine zone for those who are deemed potentially troublesome. Let them cause trouble for each other, rather than for those in power.

Not that I mind. I've never once considered using my talents 'productively'. That is just synonymous with 'for other people'. I hold no interest in becoming a tool for anyone.

in person option

[ Miach's been going to this school since the start of the semester, and she's spoken to exactly nobody since. She's just... around. A silent new presence on campus, always with a book in hand, never greeting anybody. If that's the kind of person you'd approach, you can find her anywhere, but most commonly in the library.

Note for faculty: Miach got transferred away from her last school for summoning a demon and getting students injured. Faculty would likely be informed of this ahead of time. ]

Comments

[notbornguilty]

I'll admit, I have the somewhat loose definition of "stopping more harm than you caused."

[hattersgonnahat]

no.

[playitagain]

[Nana wonders, of course -- she's too much a product of a upper middle class Japanese upbringing to really miss that someone skipped their last name. Even if she's come to appreciate that different cultures handle it in ways quite unlike her own.]

Mm-hm. It is my duty. Well... maybe it's not one of the duties of the Student Council President that's spelled out. But...

[She smiles, again.] I think it's important, so I do it.

[imitationsoul]

That begs the question of how 'harm' is defined. Plenty of things that are harmless to some are harmful to others. The world is full of 'well-intentioned' people hurting one another through their heroics.

Not that I care if you keep going this way, but it is rather unreflected.

[imitationsoul]

Oh.

Well, that is punching a small hole in my thesis. I got sent here for summoning a demon.

[imitationsoul]

New student, yes. Outlands... well, I've been there. But it's been a long time. I transferred from a regular Japanese middle school.

[ And that middle school is probably very glad to be rid of her. Miach doesn't even blame them. ]

Do I look so monstrous to you?

[imitationsoul]

[ Miach has encountered this type before, she thinks. Maybe the only reason this one sticks out is thanks to the fancy get-up. There's always girls who want to welcome the outcast, make themselves feel better by contributing to the 'community'. This nebulous concept of people who allegedly care for one another. ]

You don't know me at all. There's no reason to go out of your way for a stranger.

[hattersgonnahat]

you did?

[The most she ever did was enchant a hat. Nothing else.]

what kind of daemon? were they strong? most of them are, so i cant imagine it was easy to do.

[It eventually dawns on her, if Miach was brought here on less than favorable terms. Most daemons were not like the ones she's met either...]

............it wasnt a good daemon was it.[She finally adds on.]

UN: GreenDolphin

[strings_theory]

[Speaking of trouble students...]

lmfao, congrats on already pissing people off, I guess?

Damn, I think that's a new record.

Also, given how this place is, can you really blame people for being uptight and antsy enough to get into stupid shit?

I'm gonna take a wild guess that you're fuckin' projecting being called a troubled student onto the rest of us when you're new 'round here.

un: jaybird

[nor_iron_bars]

depends on whether we win.
if the school stops nightfall, then it was all a brilliant long-shot strategy carried out by heroic visionaries.
if it fails, then it was a deranged mistake foolishly indulged by those who should have known better than to blah blah blah.
you get the picture.

tl;dr hedge your bets.

[playitagain]

Maybe I don't, but... I want to. I want people to feel at home. And to try to get to know them, as best I can.

[She's not wrong, really. Nana tilts her head again, and the smile's not gone, though it's almost a challenge.]

...Do you not like that sort of thing?

[lastexit]

I know there are plenty of people, without magic, are monsters deep down. So if they have society doesn't matter.

But those monsters don't get you here. Normally.

[imitationsoul]

I'm not blaming anyone. Getting up to 'stupid shit' is just human nature. I have no interest of obscuring this or even excluding myself from it.

I came here because I made trouble. I became a bother to the society that insisted it could treat me with kindness until all my troubles are forced out of me. So they discarded me for the sake of themselves. It's only normal though.

[imitationsoul]

Not in the commonly used sense of Goodness, no. It wasn't.

Does that bother you?

[imitationsoul]

That is how history is written, it's true. Though history can only ascribe intent in hindsight, rather than accurately reproduce it.

I remain a little curious about how the people truly high up in the shadows think of us. Right now, at this very moment. We could go there and find out, if we really put our minds to it.

[imitationsoul]

I think niceties like that are meaningless contributions to upholding the status quo. It's the safe way, the way the world expects us to be. Be nice, conform, let your niceness guide others into conformity as well.

[ Miach watches that smile very closely. By now she's gaining a playful interest in just how long it will remain when faced with adversity. Though it's not like Miach is going out of her way to be antagonizing - everything she's saying is just her genuine opinions. She doesn't believe in being nice or polite, after all. ]

I think it's silly. Censoring yourself for the sake of strangers, exerting yourself for the sake of strangers... It's a very elaborate system that I don't want a part in.

[imitationsoul]

That's exactly the right thinking. People like to think of 'human' and 'monster' as mutually exclusive terminology, but I'm also inclined to disagree. There is nothing inherently holy about mankind.

[playitagain]

[That smile flickers a little. It doesn't vanish entirely; Nana looks thoughtful, rather than angry. Even if she feels a little annoyed. She breaks eye contact, the way she tends to when she's thinking something through.]

Maybe, but... the world expects us to be mean--mm, no, not mean, but professional and pragmatic. [She's an actress, so she changes her voice for each; drops an octave, makes herself more nasal, adopts a rougher or more refined way of speaking, to make it clear she means different people are saying these things.] "The world is ending." "We have to take this seriously." "There isn't time to enjoy things." "Smile if you survive." "With how bad things are getting, there isn't time to be happy."

[She tugs on her hair. Later, she'll realize that was entirely too honest, too much like how she really thinks. She shouldn't be saying things like that.

But, here she is.]

People expect us to be nice. But... they expect us to be gracefully miserable, too. I'd rather be nice and try to be happy.

[imitationsoul]

So you did put some thought into this.

[ There is honest surprise in Miach's voice. Most girls would have given up by now. In her old middle school, she'd experienced waves of people trying to befriend her, because she stood out so much and yet was always alone. None of them could weather her rejections.

'I'm not interested in mere humans' is what she used to tell people and that was the end of it all. But at this school, nobody really is a mere human, huh?

And the acting gives bonus points, it was fun to listen to. Now Miach's the one who is smiling. ]

But so much happiness is a sham. Collective happiness is built on restriction and suppression. Invariably, to make the group happy means to shun the individual's needs. And yet... you do have a point. By default, nobody here is happy. They don't have the luxury of obliviousness that is granted elsewhere in the world.

Is your smile your way of making a declaration, then?

[nor_iron_bars]

odds are?
they don't.

["Paranoia is a comforting state of mind. If you think they're out to get you, it means you think you matter to them."]

they got their own goals.
might be relevant to us, might not.
fuck if i know.
but hey- you could always just ask.
your chances of getting an honest answer aren't that much worse than any other question.
still not great, but whatevs.

[playitagain]

[Nana smiles a little more -- a different one, too, like maybe she's happy Miach noticed or said so. Besides, it's nice to see her smile.

She relaxes a little; her left hand ends up on the back of her neck, as she thinks about that. Is what Miach says really true? She thinks about when she was younger; shy, in a classroom full of peers, and still feeling utterly alone.

Well...]

You're not wrong. A lot of the time, people are expected to feel happy -- at least, to act happy -- no matter how they feel. But... in this case... yes, I think it is.

I don't want to miserable -- or nobly self-sacrificing -- or anything else because it's the right way to respond to the situation. I think I'd rather smile, even when I don't really want to.

[imitationsoul]

Well, I certainly don't want to sacrifice myself or my own needs either. We have that in common, Nana Daiba, if nothing else.

[ Though they've arrived at entirely different conclusions and behaviours, maybe the way they got there isn't as different as one might have assumed. Though she is loathe to admit it, Miach had never considered the idea of being nice for selfish reasons. It is palatable in a way that mere conformity is not. ]

As student council president, do you want to change the status quo? Make your way the right one?

[imitationsoul]

Maybe I might, if the whim strikes. It's not like it's impossible. They say that one person alone can't do anything against the powers that be, but that's just to make it sound too daunting to even try.

In truth, everything is a matter of good planning and attacking the right weak points. Society leaves a lot of open holes and the only thing stopping people from exploiting them is the simple thought that they 'can't'.

They may not be thinking of us, or of anybody, but it'd be smart of them to do so.

[nor_iron_bars]

preaching to the choir, kid.
how do you think i made a living, before this place offered me a paycheck?
half the time if somebody shouts "stop, thief!" and you don't slow down, they get confused as fuck.
it's hilarious.

[Forget delinquent students- what Daybreak has a real problem with is delinquent teachers.]

un: anarose

[highelves]

Interesting analysis. I do appreciate seeing another perspective, but I also cannot help but wonder why you're still here?

It isn't meant to sound hostile or defensive. I'm definitely curious.