Impressions on Naoto?

Smart and nerdy and awesome. Clearly this is someone who he should continue to harass about projects and things he wants to learn all the time, even if he is occasionally self-conscious around her because she has an entirely different set of assumptions about what basic normal skills are. Mau in general is pretty comfortable around people who are more quiet and reserved; he's good at clowning and joking and being social, but a lot of that is a front he puts on to be normal and approachable and fit in. Company like Naoto's is generally more restful. He respects her intelligence and teaching skills and wants to get to know her better!

Reverse?

HEART ROOM

i don't have real questions i just love heart rooms

[You find yourself in a spacious, rectangular room with pale blue walls and a high, white ceiling. It's very quiet. The room has one window, and one door on the opposite wall. The window looks out onto a garden, much like Sapphire's garden, except open and sprawling across fields, though still orderly. Beyond the cultivated land, in the distance, you can see the sparkle of the sea. You seem to be at second-story height.

The room is furnished with a double bed, a desk, a little wood stove in one corner, and a wardrobe like the one in Sapphire. It's neat and tidy, and there's a collection of stuffed animals on the bed. The floor is soft blue carpet that muffles any noise.]

...who farms all of that.

[poking at the stuffed animals]

IDK WHAT A HEART ROOM IS.

You could relationship Sakuya and Jill or do that if nothing's changed!

A HEART ROOM is when you say GIVE ME A HEART ROOM and then I tell you what it would look like if I were to run a heart game for one of my characters and there was an area in it that represented your character/my character's relationship with your character/my character's thoughts and ideas on your character etc etc.

AND THEN IF YOU WANT you play out exploring it or whatever. I will do one for you after this if you want!

But as for relationship, Jill still thinks Sakuya is the coolest bird who tells the coolest stories, but by this point she's also noticed that he's kind of prickly. She doesn't really mind, but she thinks he seems lonely and defensive and she wants to be his friend '^' so yeah I guess on her side, the relationship has moved from sort of casual admiration centered on how much he can entertain Jill to a bit of genuine concern and compassion and the recognition of him as an individual with real feelings.

By the way, the fact that she didn't see him like that before has nothing to do with the fact that he is a pigeon, because Talking Animals are pretty much normal okok -- it has everything to do with the fact that she's a fourteen-year-old kid.

Reverse! Or if nothing has chanced tell me about Lenalee's thoughts on Mau.

H-How are we doing now?

Mau has been feeling kind of disconnected from Selenia lately (because he's busy ICly and because I OOCly avoid philosophical discussions between them but shhhh shhhh), which... mildly worries him because he likes to try and keep track of how everyone on Sapphire is doing at any given time. He's also worried about how Selenia will do in the wake of Nessa leaving.

His vague impression is that Selenia is on a fairly paranoid conspiracy theory driven kick right now, but he's not really sure why he has that impression, or if he's right, or what brought it on specifically. And he's not really sure where the line is between offering his support and prying, so he's kind of just... letting well enough alone.

Overall, Mau still sees his relationship with Selenia as one between equals; as far as he's concerned, they should be able to agree or disagree on any number of issues and still care about each other and work together! He loves him and wants him to be happy and wants to trust him to find his own way of doing things and getting by, so he's... trying to do that...

At the same time, he's a bit concerned Selenia will feel like Mau is rejecting him because he's trying not to police and question him so much. The conversation in which Selenia talked about not being able choose between Nessa and Apple compounded that concern for mostly unrelated reasons! There was obviously an opening there for Mau to invite Selenia home with him, and he did worry that Selenia would feel abandoned when Mau didn't take that opening, but he still wasn't going to do it. For one thing, if he ever does invite anyone home with him, he's never going to do it if he feels the least bit pressured -- it's going to be entirely freely offered. For another thing, he's not going to invite anyone home with him unless they literally have nowhere else to go without talking to the people at home, first. For a visit, sure! But not to live.

SO YEAH in reality that conversation didn't reflect on Mau's personal feelings for Selenia at all, but he was aware that it might seem that way. I bring it up because overall, Mau still more or less feels the same affection toward Selenia and the same interest in his well-being as always, but he's worried that the way he's acting -- trying to give Selenia more space and thus implicit trust, not inviting him home when it came up, and so on -- will have a negative impact on how Selenia feels about him!

...that was sort of a two part answer because Mau's observations about Selenia's behavior and mental state are somewhat separate from his feelings for Selenia or his thoughts about their relationship but... yes...

REVERSE.

There is some sense that the dynamic has changed but also that this is Probably a Good Thing, which is a concept he is learning. Selenia's been deliberately trying to back off from Sapphire since he had a pretty significant thread with Apple where they both kind of exploded and then talked about all the ways they hurt each other which was a bit of wake up call to how he was using Sapphire as a bit of crutch/ideological punching bag. Which with Mau specifically, when he doesn't know if what he's going to say is crazy and hurtful or not he just opts to...not say it.

Which goes over to the invitation. Selenia isn't going to take the 'not offering an invite home' thing as a rejection or attempt at abandonment. He mainly brought up Apple's invite because that was something on his mind and it happened very soon after 'losing' Nessa but then Mau asked if Nessa even invited him and he realized he was being a bit crazy and deluded and then backed off. Mau not inviting him home was actually a good thing because the thing that made Apple's invitation terrifying is that he would have to make a choice between going to her world and potentially leaving everyone else behind and choices are terrifying! He kind of wanted to articulate that but he has had a bit of a uh, Stressful Time and so he shifted the conversation to Mau's plans which didn't involve anything terrifying on his end.

But he has some Good News for Mau in reserve once things have calmed down enough to actually talk, since Selenia learned a bit about how trauma games work from Jabberwock (and also that Jabberwock listened to the idea of not running trauma games and considered them and all without biting his head off) and he'd want to see if there's something to the idea of there being a Three-esque balance in the way trauma games are run in accordance to Mau's experiences, and also get his advice on what can be done with that information.

How is Jill doing? I noticed Edmund lent her a very strange cat for one thing!

Relationship for Silver and Nick?

Nick feels very indebted to Silver for helping him, and is always ridiculously touched whenever anyone expresses concern for his well-being, so he just thinks Silver is clearly such a good guy and wants to do anything for him and if Silver ever called him or even just said hello to him he would be ecstatic. HE CAN BE A GOOD SWANBOY, A GOOD SWANBOY LIKE YOU WANTED.

Reverse?

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Fleur is clearly an intelligent, forthright, kickass lady who is super easy to be around because she explicitly and specifically asks for the kind of help she wants and is willing to make exchanges and isn't weird about it. It's very relaxing. CASUAL BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP STATUS ACCEPTED IMMEDIATELY.

Reverse?

Ditto, basically. Mau gets a billion and a half extra points for seeming very uncomplicated, unimpressed and straightforward. Uncomplicated strangers are like the number one point on her list right now. She needs more of them.

She thinks he's very bright! Mostly though it's just helpful helpful helpful kind.

Who does mau wanna run classes with?

Relationship for Angie and Jill?

Jill keeps trying to place Angie as either an upperclassman or a grown-up, and she can't seem to make either designation fit. She really likes and respects Angie, and there have been plenty of situations, especially after trauma games, where she felt like she could both offer comfort and receive it freely... so she feels close to her, but in this weird way where she hasn't articulated it in her head like that and it's very perfunctory and taken for granted because on some level it feels like they have nothing in common except shared trauma and frustrations.

So I guess maybe it would be fair to say, she feels like her life is very bound up with Angie's but she still doesn't feel like she knows her well on a personal level. It feels like a wartime bond! Which is not abnormal for Jill, but it's why she doesn't really try to confide in or do normal things with Angie.

Reverse?

I am answering your question so you should write cool things while I do that. IDK DO...AN AU...where aather is now modern day high school???

As a ficlet or should I just babble about it or do you want me to set up a PREMISE COMMENT and then we thread it out?

In light of recent hilarity, HEART ROOM ME

[You are in a forest grove. On your left, a cliff of crumbling black rock towers up, the slope not quite vertical. It's overgrown with vines, orchids and flowers, and there are many handholds and footholds; it might not be a safe climb, but it wouldn't be a particularly difficult one. A thin, rapid waterfall splashes noisily white down the cliff, ending in a little clear pool with a black sand bottom, from which a little stream pours, cutting downhill across the clearing and into the undergrowth on the other side.

Ringing the rest of the area, and growing up quite close to the cliff base, are huge, ancient tropical chestnut and fig trees; their trunks are too smooth to shimmy up, their branches out of reach. All around the edge of the clearing, the undergrowth presses thick and high; the clearing itself has obviously been recently created by some human hand. The land has been cleared to the very soil, which looks fertile and rich.

It's very odd that nothing is growing here, when the plants in the surrounding jungle are unmistakably racing and competing for every inch of soil and sunlight, but it does seem to have been recently tilled... maybe it's been sown with something. Judging from the fact that sunlight is shafting through to the ground, obstructed only by the highest level of canopy, trees were felled to make this space.

The air is hot and humid, but a fitful breeze is blowing. Birds are singing -- some sweetly and some with harsh cries. If you look up, you can see them flitting about, but none choose the trees of this particular grove to land in. A well trampled path follows the stream out of the grove.]

Sure okay heart room.

[You are stone bathed in ocean. You are a long-dormant volcano, and the coral has grown up around you, and the ocean has surged up around you, and the jungle has grown to cover you. You are home to birds and fish and spiders, pigs and people and little darting lizards. You are aware of them all; of every leaf on every tree, of every beating heart.

Slowly, the vivid awareness becomes more distant, and you become aware of the contours of your own body. You are floating in a space that is no space. Perhaps you are in dark water, or deep in the hill, or among the stars... it makes no difference. You know if you concentrate, you could still send yourself to any part of the island that exists all around you, holding the space that holds you, and know its secrets; know the thoughts of its people, know every hill and valley. And you would be welcome.]

Hey Mau hey Mau are you happy to have me back TELL ME YOUR FEELINGS

SO HAPPY.

He missed her a lot! All his girls are going off to explore and that's really good but also he'll miss them but at least he knows they're doing what they want to do and he didn't know that about Bubbles and he felt so responsible BUT NOW SHE'S BACK and he's ecstatic.

He really likes Bubbles -- he knows she's scared of a lot of stuff, but she is still enthusiastic and kind and brave. He wants to be there for her and show her all kinds of stuff!

How is she settling in?